Upon commissioning the preaching of the Gospel, our good Lord said to His Apostles, “He who hears you hears me.” (Luke 10:16, RSV) These words the Catholic bishops applied to themselves: “This sacred Council teaches that the bishops, from di … [Read more...]
Questions Answered – October 2022
September 30, 2022 by Fr. Brian Mullady, OP
Church Teaching and the Theological Ethics of Life Question: There has been much talk about the Church changing her teaching on Humanae Vitae. This apparently is due to a recent document from the Pontifical Academy of Life: Theological … [Read more...]
Contradiction: On Libertarianism and LGBTQ Orthodoxy
July 29, 2021 by Fr. Bill Fox
On February 23, Blaise Cardinal Cupich reiterated an objection to the hijacking of Catholic teaching by libertarian ideology. He was reflecting on how libertarianism impedes Catholics receiving Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ as the aut … [Read more...]
Clericalism and the Crisis of the Church
When Steve Skojec and Cardinal Marx Agree
June 30, 2021 by Richard H. Bulzacchelli, STD
It’s not news to anyone who’s been paying attention that the broadly-Catholic world is in a state of crisis. If you’re interested in the long history of how we got to this point, there are plenty of places to look, but that’s not what this e … [Read more...]
“The Canon of Issues”: When Catholics Disagree With the Church
February 12, 2021 by Dr. Stuart Squires
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI named the long list of questions that we Catholics confront in contemporary society the “canon of issues.” This canon includes women’s ordination, contraception, celibacy of priests, and remarriage of divorced pers … [Read more...]
Teaching Humanae Vitae in the “Front Trenches” — Where It Ultimately Counts
January 17, 2019 by John S. Hamlon
Tumult Late July, 1968; large-tiered classroom at a Jesuit university. New Testament scholar Max Zerwick, SJ, is expounding upon the prologue to John’s Gospel, word by word, pericope by pericope. We graduate theology students, 150 s … [Read more...]
How the Synod of 2015 Ignored the Real Problem, 50 Years in the Making
January 15, 2016 by Fr. Regis Scanlon, OFMCap
It’s hard to believe now, but at the beginning of the year, Synod 2015 was predicted to be a possible game changer for the Church. According to various media reports, the Synod promised to be: “stormy,” “intense,” a time of “great expectatio … [Read more...]
Change and permanence
May 22, 2013 by Fr. Kenneth Baker, SJ
The Catholic Church has always seemed to me to be like the solid Rock of Gibralter — stable and permanent. Even though we live in a world of constant change and are able to adapt ourselves to it, most of us feel more at home with t … [Read more...]
Questions Answered
June 30, 2012 by Fr. Brian Mullady, OP
Why is the Vatican investigating some orders of women religious? Why are so many Catholics, and some theologians, dissenting from Church teaching? Archbishop Sartain will work with the Leadership Conference of Women Religious … [Read more...]
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