At the start of every semester, I know that I will need to undertake a kind of philosophical apologetics. I need to make my students see that philosophy is important. Indeed, it is really a matter of making them see that it actually exists, … [Read more...]
The End of Time
December 20, 2016 by Fr. James V. Schall, SJ
This is our humanity: Not to know who we are or what we will become.—David Horowitz, The End of Time, 2005.[1. David Horowitz, The End of Time (San Francisco” Encounter Books 2005), 19.] Therefore, despite the fact that the Christian’s at … [Read more...]
Late Fall Reading
November 4, 2016 by Book Reviews
What Does It Mean to Be Catholic? by Jack Mulder, Jr. (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2015). Reviewed by Dr. Rick Janet. The Heart of the Diaconate: Communion with the Servant Mysteries of Christ by James K … [Read more...]
Can Philosophy Strengthen an Ecumenical Approach to Issues of Morality?
September 13, 2016 by Kathleen Curran Sweeney
There has been considerable discussion in recent years about the philosophical assumptions that underlie false understandings of morality in our society. These assumptions have affected not only secular developments but also practices and … [Read more...]
Thomistic Reflections on Divine Mercy and Divine Justice
June 30, 2016 by Matthew Minerd, Ph.D.
Many paths can be taken during this Year of Mercy. Above all, we must tread the path of experiencing mercy—in our own participation in the Sacraments, and in our extension of Divine Mercy to others. Nevertheless, knowledge of the faith and, … [Read more...]
Philosophy Is About Real Questions: Why the Pain If There Is No One There?
June 13, 2016 by Francis Etheredge
Although we are naturally philosophers (cf. Fides et Ratio, 3-4, 33), what will bring that search for the truth to the fore and confront us with a question in search of an answer? There are those, however, that claim that truth does not … [Read more...]
Summer Reading for June 2016
May 28, 2016 by Book Reviews
David L. Schindler and Nicholas J. Healy Jr. Freedom, Truth, and Human Dignity: The Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on Religious Freedom. A New Translation, Redaction History, and Interpretation of Dignitatis Humanae. Grand Rapids, MI: … [Read more...]
Ideas for Pastoral Ministry from the Philosophy of Love of Dietrich Von Hildebrand
April 27, 2016 by Ronda Chervin, PhD
My Encounter with the Philosophy of Love of Dietrich Von Hildebrand In the year 1958, I was a young atheist philosophy major about to give up on finding truth or love—as I couldn’t find either truth or love at the non-religious uni … [Read more...]
The Twin Treasures of Life and Love that Gush Forth from the Sacred Heart of Jesus
April 14, 2016 by Jayson M. Brunelle, MEd, CAGS
Using concepts derived from Aristotelian philosophy, Aquinas provides a tremendous insight into God’s essence by explaining how the latter is the sole Being whose “essence” and “existence” are one and the same: “... God is not only his own e … [Read more...]
Getting “The Benedict Option” Right
January 15, 2016 by Deacon Peter Trahan, MATh
If you haven’t heard of the "Benedict Option," or even (especially) if you have heard of it, it really needs explaining for it to be a real option. In December 2013, Rod Dreher, a writer for The American Conservative magazine, wrote an e … [Read more...]
Questions Answered
December 14, 2015 by Fr. Brian Mullady, OP
Question: I would like to study the problem of universal ideas in Thomas Aquinas. Can you give me some insight into understanding this problem, and some sources on how to research this problem in Catholic authors? Answer: Pope Benedict i … [Read more...]
An Old Philosophy and a New Theology
Jean-Paul Sartre (ca. 1950) and the “Shadow Council” of 2015
November 29, 2015 by Deacon Peter Trahan, MATh
It is well known by now that there was a concerted effort on the part of some German Bishops, led by Cardinal Walter Kasper, to engage the 2014 Synod, and interject a liberal agenda into the 2015 Synod. This was an attempt to sway the … [Read more...]
Maritain on Just About Everything
October 26, 2015 by Fr. James V. Schall, SJ
“God is an All-powerful Cause because He gives to all things their being and their very nature and acts in them, more intimate to them than they are to themselves, in the way that is proper to their essential being; thus assuring from w … [Read more...]
The Gift of Law and the Law of Gift
August 30, 2015 by Dusty Gates
“I can’t understand why your Church makes you live that way,” a friend of mine once said to me, “it’s just not natural!” I fear that many, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, have a similar misunderstanding about nature, law, and the foundati … [Read more...]
How Augustine Made Us More than Matter—and Immortal
August 9, 2015 by Brother Justin Hannegan, OSB
St. Augustine was fascinated by the human soul. Before and after his conversion to Catholicism, he strove to understand its nature, its relation to the body, and its duration. Augustine’s thinking on the soul, like the rest of his life, fo … [Read more...]
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