Commentary

Sacraments, according to the Baltimore Catechism, are outward signs instituted by Christ to give grace. The Sacraments define and direct our lives. Our choices form us. When we choose to live a sacramental life, in a sense we become sacraments reflecting the Lord. But the contrary is also...

The rumors are true. My sources in Rome—too many and too reliable to be doubted—confirm that a document is circulating at the Vatican which, if given papal approval, would significantly restrict use the “extraordinary form” of the liturgy, the traditional Latin Mass...

I wish to address the statement promulgated a week ago by five bishops insisting that it is in all cases immoral to allow oneself to be vaccinated with any vaccine which has been tainted by the use of fetal cell lines. This statement was apparently written by the very articulate Athanasius...

Set aside, for a moment, the practical and medical questions about any Covid vaccine. (Will it work? Will it be safe? Will it have serious side effects?) Let me return to a question that I raised in in April and again in May: Should Catholics accept a vaccine that has been developed using fetal...

The second volume of our ebook series for the 2020-2021 liturgical year has been released in our ebooks download area. This volume covers the initial period of Ordinary Time between Christmas and Lent, from January 11th through February 16th. It may be downloaded free of charge in the following...

We have just released the fifth volume in the 2020-2022 Liturgical Year series of ebooks. Volume five covers the first half of the long stretch of Ordinary Time between the close of the Easter Season on Pentecost and the beginning of Advent. Like all CatholicCulture.org ebooks, this volume is...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has imposed a Gag Rule on Catholics and other Christians who are the targets of her pro-LGBTQ so-called “Equality Act,” HR 5. No Catholic or Evangelical representatives who opposed HR 5 testified before the April, 2019 Judiciary Committee hearing, yet...

How much longer can sensible Catholics maintain that Pope Francis is merely trying to develop—rather than to change—the teachings of the Catholic Church? With the release of Fratelli Tutti this week we have seen a pattern of media coverage that is now familiar. First there are...

Yesterday I wrote about “the abuses of language…that I see in many recent pronouncements from our Church leadership,” with my focus on two recent Vatican announcements. Now let me turn to a few noteworthy American examples. Sometimes the misuse of language is downright...

Last week Pope Francis took another step to dismantle the edifice of teaching on marriage left to the Church by his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. You already know, I trust, that Pope Francis has made it easier for Catholic couples to obtain an annulment: a declaration that their union was...