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All Catholic commentary from October 2024
Francis, false hopes, and the Church’s Divine Constitution
It defies the imagination how dense so many Catholic leaders can be about what constitutes authentic Catholic renewal. People always seem to want to tinker with structures, rules, sacraments, liturgy or patterns of consultation when the fundamental call to renewal has always been exactly the same as when Our Lord proclaimed it at the beginning of his public ministry: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel.”
St. John Henry Newman—Three Poems on the Angels
"My oldest friend, mine from the hour / When first I drew my breath; My faithful friend, that shall be mine, / Unfailing, till my death..."
Vance’s incoherence on abortion
If it is barbaric to watch a living baby die after a botched abortion, why isn’t it barbaric a few minutes earlier, when the abortionist tries to kill the baby in the womb?
Three blockbuster books on our contemporary gender crisis
When the Pontifical Academy for Life muddied the waters of human sexuality still further in 2022 by casting doubt on the veracity of Catholic teaching on contraception, a group of distinguished Catholic scholars participated in a conference in Rome designed to offer a response to the PAL. Out of this conference grew three major works on the severe problems occasioned by our contemporary confusion about human sexuality and gender identity.
St. Francis of Assisi—Setting the Record Straight
Who is St Francis? A saint who radically followed the heart of the Gospel.
An extraordinary statement from the world’s Orthodox leaders
"Our Churches categorically reject the justification of same-sex relations ...."
The Israel-Gaza War: Evangelical vs. Catholic reactions
I am aware of no distinctly Catholic theological reason for supporting Israel. In fact, the distinctly Catholic commentaries that I have seen on the Israel—Gaza War tend to run the other way. Nevertheless, I’m with Israel. Not “to the hilt, no questions asked, end of story.” But at the end of the day, yes, with Israel and against her enemies. Here’s why.
Highlights: making the Church less worldly, a Catholic movie from 1903, music and conversion
A collection of highlight clips from past episodes.
Jesus Does Not Follow the Science
The social sciences also reveal -- with absolute certainty -- that the abuse of human sexuality and the breakdown of the family leads to poverty, despair, single mothers, abortion, perversions, disease, gangland violence, and a host of other disorders.
Harris campaign rhetoric in the Vatican newspaper
What makes his analysis remarkable is not his obvious sympathy for the Harris campaign, but the reasoning that leads him to the conclusion that a Trump victory would cause “an unprecedented twisting of democracy.”
My truth? The real Personal truth is neither mine nor yours
If the first mark of our human freedom is indeed that we are capable of seeking the truth, then the chief result of our proper exercise of that freedom is not only the conformity of our minds to reality (the human definition of “truth”), but also a direct participation in the life of our loving Father, to whom we come through Christ, who is not only the truth, but the way and the life (Jn 14:6)
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