On the Culture

March 15, 2010 4:30 PM Vatican II on the Church: Mary By Dr. Jeff Mirus

The final chapter of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church is devoted to “The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God in the Mystery of Christ and the Church”. This is the only chapter divided into sub-sections. It had been

March 12, 2010 3:07 PM Hugh O’Flaherty: The Vatican Pimpernel By Dr. Jeff Mirus

Daniel Heisey's article on Msgr. Hugh O’Flaherty (1898 – 1963) in the current issue of Homiletic & Pastoral Review reminds me to recommend a fine movie called the The Scarlet and the Black. It stars Gregory Peck as

On The News

March 12, 2010 4:30 PM the effort to implicate the Pope By Phil Lawler

Count on the London Times to offer the most sensational coverage of a news story involving the Catholic Church. The headline on today's report by Richard Owen screams:  Pope knew priest was paedophile but allowed him to

March 05, 2010 4:00 PM the trail that doesn't lead to the Vatican By Phil Lawler

For more than a decade, some journalists have been trying to trace the responsibility for the sex-abuse crisis to the Vatican, and preferably to the Pope. They haven't found a connection yet, but they're still trying. At times their

In Depth Analysis

March 11, 2010 On Prudence and the Tyranny of Tolerance: A Case Study By Dr. Jeff Mirus

Our coverage of the decision of a Catholic school not to enroll a student being raised by lesbians has stimulated a vigorous exchange of ideas (see Denver Catholic school: Lesbian couple’s child may not re-enroll, and Archbishop Chaput defends school’s decision not to re-enroll lesbian’s children and my commentary, Teaching with Blood). Many readers offered opinions on the question of whether the school was right or wrong to exclude the child, with some holding that the

In Depth Analysis

March 05, 2010 The Nature of Infallibility By Dr. Jeff Mirus

I’ve alluded frequently enough to the four basic arguments that establish the teaching authority of the popes (for a brief summary see my 2005 blog entry on The Primacy of Peter). But the topic of papal infallibility concerns me again just now in a somewhat more precise way, especially in light of last week’s In Depth Analysis (Escape from Theological Minimalism). The precise issue is this: Granted that the pope can teach infallibly, how do we know when he is doing so?

On Business

March 14, 2010 4:08 PM If God Wants It to Happen, It Will Happen By Peter Mirus

I tend to inwardly bridle (more or less, depending on the day) when I hear “If God wants it to happen, it will happen” in regards to business dealings (including apostolic work). This is primarily because it is a fact that God

Off the Record

• 03/16/10 the no-vote vote
• 03/12/10 devout atheists
• 03/11/10 hate crime
• 03/11/10 purported priests
• 03/10/10 lights out
• 03/10/10 never change a winning game