Commentary
5.17 St. Albert the Great: Universal Doctor
St. Albert the Great (1206-1280) was one of the real geniuses of the middle ages, and was the teacher and mentor of St. Thomas Aquinas. St. Albert had mastered virtually every field of study available to him, and he is one of the most important bridges between ancient and medieval philosophy.
St. John Henry Newman—The Oxford Sermons | 3. Evangelical Sanctity the Completion of Natural Virtue
"The true light of the world offends more men than it attracts; and its divine origin is shown, not in its marked effects on the mass of mankind, but in its surprising power of elevating the moral character where it is received in spirit and in truth."
The Confessional Echo Chamber of Verbal Articulation
We often hear, “I don’t need to go to a priest for Confession because I confess my sins directly to God.” Good for you! Statistically, I can’t bring myself to believe the many who make the claim.
St. Thomas on why hierarchy is good for everyone
Hierarchy does not just mean that some things are better than others, but that there is an ordered relation between higher and lower: "the perfection of divine providence requires that it should reduce the excess of certain things over others to a suitable order. And this is done by allowing those who have less to benefit from the superabundance of others."
About those annual Aug. 6th Hiroshima posts
Here’s what I’d like to say to the perpetrators of the annual August 6th Catholic Facebook beatdowns. Give that poor guy a rest. Let him drink his beer in peace
Our own personal love is not as good as the love of Christ
The primary human problem is that despite God’s astoundingly generous plan of salvation, we are all prone to put what we see as our immediate particular problems or desires ahead of the deeper quest to understand why we remain both so restless and so wayward. But the only thing that stills that restlessness and waywardness long enough to provide a positive orientation to our lives is the love of God as it is typically manifested through those who have already sought to draw close to Him.
A Rocker and a Doctor Meet in Birmingham
Cardinal Newman and Ozzy Osbourne have more in common than Birmingham. They are both products of the Via Media that the Church of England once purported to be. They both showed by their vastly different lives that this middle way is not viable. Newman took the high road and became Catholic. Osbourne took the low road against which Newman spent his career warning. The rocker shows the doctor’s work, still poignantly relevant, is still needed to bind the wounds of doubt that debilitate the modern age.
Sister of heroic Vietnamese Cardinal imprisoned by Communists tells his story
Elisabeth Nguyen Thi Thu Hong joins the podcast to tell the inspiring story of her older brother, Venerable Francis-Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, the heroic Vietnamese Cardinal who was imprisoned by the Communists for 13 years, 8 of those in solitary confinement. Thuan was descended from a line of Vietnamese martyrs, and his uncle was the devout Catholic President and Prime Minister of Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem, who himself was something of a martyr.
The perils of working for the Church
Those who work for the Church—whether as lay employees or in sacred ministry—serve at the whim of their ecclesiastical superiors. They may be dismissed or reinstated, silenced or promoted, irrespective of past performance.
Principles and Prudential Judgments
We may try to defy the law, but gravity will always win. Rocket science only works by taking into account the law of gravity. So it is with morality.
Thoughts on Newman’s new honor
St. John Henry Newman has been an inspiration for us at Catholic Culture for years, and even an official part of our mission since the day he was canonized in 2019.
Just-war thinking: a Substack Seminar
In leading Just War seminars for college students and in countless discussions with colleagues and friends, I’ve found that this topic never fails to stimulate lively debate.
The Studied Silence of American Catholic Conservatives
Israel’s demand for “no moral equivalence” is either irrelevant or mischievous. It is irrelevant if it means Israel has a right to defend itself. She does, and she doesn’t need a slogan to justify a just response. But it is mischievous if Israel uses it to justify overwhelming and indiscriminate violence.
Ousted Vatican auditor: ‘I need to speak to the Pope!’
During his term as auditor, Milone reveals, he sent 15 reports to Vatican prosecutors, providing evidence of wrongdoing. “On how many did they act?” he asks rhetorically, before answering his own question: “None.”
Data show: Vatican II triggered decline in Catholic practice
This working paper is a product of economic research, prepared by experts analyzing statistical data. Unlike many other contributors to the arguments about the effects of Vatican II, the NBER authors show no interest in intramural Catholic arguments. They don’t have a dog in that fight
The Splendor of the Liturgical Year
Summer is the season of growth, and the green vestments of Ordinary Time remind us that our faith, like field grass, imperceptibly grows with our devotion.
Family life: The ultimate school of faith and holiness
Of paramount importance in raising a family is the proper Catholic education of children. It is almost always literally worse than useless to send our children off to secular schools, and even secular universities, which are in our days effectively designed to destroy in their students any belief in God, commitment to truth, or life of prayer. If we want them to reach heaven, we must ensure an authentic Catholic education for our children, and not just a nominal one.
We are on the team that’s winning
Whence came all this winning? How did that happen? Who created that space?
Archbishop Weisenburger and the episcopal double standard
Is Archbishop Weisenburger acting quickly, to present the Catholic world with faits accomplis before Pope Leo weighs in with what might be moderating directives? Or is he acting in full confidence that the new Pope will approve his moves?
Just-war thinking: an answer to George Weigel
When we “let slip the dogs of war,” we accept the likelihood that many people—including our own—will be killed, maimed, or scarred for life, that families will be shattered, property destroyed, vulnerable people neglected or exploited. Any sane person, not to mention any Christian, approaches a foreign-policy crisis with the understanding that war is undesirable.
5.16 St. Anthony of Padua: Hammer of Heresy
St. Anthony of Padua (1195-1231) is actually called the Hammer of Heretics, but the truth is that even in his uncompromising critiques of heresy, he had compassion for those who were led astray by the heresies, and he refused to engage in the personal attacks and name-calling that are so prevalent in apologetics, even among some other saints. So his homiletical hammer, as it were, was aimed more at the heresies than at the heretics.
Soul of the Apostolate—Ep. 2—Union of Active & Interior Life
"The life of action ought to flow from the contemplative life, to interpret and extend it, outside oneself, though at the same time being detached from it as little as possible."
Celibacy is better than marriage—don’t be threatened by this truth
Hierarchy is not the only truth that matters—equality has its place too—but it is one without which the order of the universe and the right ordering of our lives are unintelligible. Embracing it is essential to destroy pride, the principal vice of the modern world. It strikes at the heart of Satan’s resentment against God, and the reason our first parents fell. We cannot downplay it without consigning ourselves to spiritual mediocrity, or worse.
200—Moral Questions about NFP w/ Eamonn Clark
NFP is often taught without the necessary context of Catholic teaching on the right use of marital relations, practically encouraging venial sin through an excessive use of the marital act unsubordinated to its proper end. Moral theologian Eamonn Clark has written a groundbreaking study of the ethical issues related to NFP - the first such book since the 1940s. He begins a necessary conversation which will encourage married couples to seek the asceticism necessary for growth in holiness.
The Ten-Point Plan to Overcome Hyperactivity
We are God’s handiwork. We discover our dignity by surrendering ourselves to His loving providence in our encounter with Jesus in the Sacraments. Our cooperation is reasonable
Motives of credibility and predispositions to faith
These motives of credibility are just that: Not proofs but motives, that is, realities that attract us in ways that may induce us to look more carefully into the nature and claims of Christ and the Church. For most people, such motives—such movements of attraction—play an important role in stimulating interest and bridging the gap between vaguely knowing something about Catholicism and taking it seriously enough to look into it more deeply.
Through years of scandal, has the Vatican learned nothing?
Every year, especially around the time of the Peter’s Pence collection, Vatican officials assure us that now--this time--they are really determined to eradicate the corruption. Trust us, they complacently admonish the faithful. At this point, why should we?
A hard world for little things: The Night of the Hunter (1955)
James and Thomas discuss one of their favorite films, The Night of the Hunter, directed by Charles Laughton. It’s about the sacred innocence of children, and discerning true vs. false prophets. A unique mix of fairy tale, horror, and Southern gothic with expressionist visuals, The Night of the Hunter contains some of the most striking and poetic sequences ever filmed.
Hell, yes!
If we are not called to repentance—if instead we are encouraged to presume on God’s mercy—why bother to repent and confess our sins? Msgr. Pope remarks: “People who think they are well don’t go to the doctor.”
Superman: controversy and faith
When liberal defenders of today’s comic book superheroes say the comics have always been Woke, what they really mean is that the comics have always been liberal. But Woke is a whole different level.
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