The Trinity and Valid Baptism Q: Dear Father Cush, My coordinator of faith formation accepted someone who was a Mormon as a “candidate” for the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults in our parish program. As the pastor of the parish, I ha … [Read more...]
Book Reviews – February 2024
January 26, 2024 by Book Reviews
The Bible and Baptism: The Foundations of Salvation. By Isaac Augustine Morales, O.P. Reviewed by Randall Woodard. (skip to review) The Obscurity of Scripture: Disputing Sola Scriptura and the Protestant Notion of Biblical … [Read more...]
Is the Universal Call to Holiness a New Teaching?
September 22, 2023 by Alessandro Cota
It is not uncommon to find the opinion that the Church has introduced a new understanding of what it means to be holy and who is called to it through Lumen Gentium’s teaching on the universal call to holiness. Oftentimes, this claim of n … [Read more...]
In Memoriam: Fr. Fred Miller
October 27, 2022 by Rev. Brian X. Needles
Rev. Frederick L. Miller, a beloved priest of the Archdiocese of Newark, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on September 28, 2022. He was the Spiritual Director of St. Andrew’s Hall College Seminary and Adjunct Professor of Systematic T … [Read more...]
The Terminal State of Unbaptized Infants
June 24, 2022 by Nate Guyear
Since the earliest centuries of the Church, Christians have debated the terminal state of unbaptized babies. (This paper will use the term “unbaptized babies/infants” to represent all who die without baptism and without the cognitive abi … [Read more...]
Dying With Christ
A Mystery Begun in Baptism and Perfected in Death
March 26, 2022 by Dr. Katie Froula
“What is essentially new about Christian death” — declares the Catechism — “is this: through Baptism, the Christian has already ‘died with Christ’ sacramentally, in order to live a new life; and if we die in Christ’s grace, physical death co … [Read more...]
Questions Answered – July 2021
July 29, 2021 by Fr. Brian Mullady, OP
Why Jesus Is Called the “New Adam” Question: I am a bit troubled by so many people calling Jesus the new Adam. I think to do so gives the Jehovah’s Witnesses an advantage they can easily take, that is to prove Jesus is a creature and not th … [Read more...]
Questions Answered – April 2019
April 30, 2019 by Fr. Brian Mullady, OP
Do Baptized Converts Need Confession First? Question: During the Easter Vigil, non-Christians are baptized, receive First Communion and are confirmed, while converts are received into full communion with the Church, meaning also and above … [Read more...]
A God with Skin
Recapturing the Incarnational Nature of the Sacraments
January 1, 2019 by Mark C. McCann
And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. (Jn 1:14) Since her beginning, the Catholic Church has been an incarnational institution, a B … [Read more...]
Late Summer Reading
September 2, 2018 by Book Reviews
Liturgy and Personality: The Healing Power of Formal Prayer, by Dietrich von Hildebrand; with a new foreword by Bishop Robert Barron (Sophia Institute Press [1943] 2018) $29.00. Reviewed by Fr. Ryan Rojo, S.T.L. The Porn Myth: Exposing … [Read more...]
Encountering Christ’s Love in the Sacraments
September 27, 2017 by Douglas G. Bushman, STL
In every way, the sacraments are about God’s love, fully revealed in Jesus Christ. In them, Jesus makes Himself present as the one who loves us “to the end” (Jn 13:1). In each Sacrament, He says: “I love you; I have given my life for you (Jn … [Read more...]
The Imperishable Crown
Martyrdom as the Fulfillment of the Baptismal Call
April 8, 2017 by Tyler J. Worthy
At the heart of the mystery of Christian life is a paradox: although those who are baptized receive all of the supernatural grace necessary for entering eternal life, they do not on that account escape the harsh reality of the present … [Read more...]
Questions Answered
April 8, 2017 by Fr. Brian Mullady, OP
Question: Why was baptism by John so crucial for Jesus, but not for Jesus’ followers? Answer: The baptism by John is the last in a number of rituals established by God as a part of the progressive preparation of the human race for the co … [Read more...]
Questions Answered
June 30, 2016 by Fr. Brian Mullady, OP
Question: Please distinguish between baptism by water, desire, and blood. Answer: Since the Second Vatican Council, there has been a lot of misunderstanding about the necessity of baptism for salvation. Prior to the Council, theologians … [Read more...]
“The Indelible Mark”
Sacramental Character in Patristic and Scholastic Theology
May 12, 2015 by Nicholas Senz
The history of the development of doctrine is, in many ways, a history of language. It is a story of the perpetual struggle to adequately communicate the divine realities in human words, or at the very least, to attempt to do so without … [Read more...]
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