(Socrates) “Could anything great really come to pass in a short time? And isn’t the time from childhood to old age short when compared to the whole of time?” (Glaucon) “It is a mere nothing.” (Socrates) “Well, do you think that an immortal b … [Read more...]
Summer Reading for August 2015
July 27, 2015 by Book Reviews
The One-Minute Aquinas: The Doctor’s Quick Answers to Fundamental Questions. Kevin Vost, Psy.D. (Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press, 2014) 265 pages. $24.15. (Reviewed by Jeffrey S. Burwell, SJ) The Saint Jerome Study Bible: Genesis t … [Read more...]
Same-Sex Marriage?
May 12, 2015 by Fr. William P. Clark, OMI
The question of same-sex marriage is complex in various ways: legally, morally, sociologically, and psychologically. It is not the purpose here, however, to analyze the phenomenon of same-sex unions under any of those aspects. The more … [Read more...]
Spring Reading for April 2015
April 27, 2015 by Book Reviews
The Charism of Priestly Celibacy. Edited by John C. Cavadini (Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 2012) 184 pages; $13.25. (Reviewed by Fr. Jeffrey Kirby) --------- The Classical Moment: Selected Essays on Knowledge and Its Pleasures. Fr. … [Read more...]
Reclaiming the Fifth Way
February 12, 2015 by James Iovino
“New Atheists” such as Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Sam Harris utilize evolution’s supposed purposelessness to cast doubt upon God’s existence, and draw atheistic conclusions about morality, ethics, and human nature.[1. See, for exam … [Read more...]
Breaking Free of Our Metaphysical Winter
On Why Christians Must Study Philosophy
January 12, 2015 by Brian Jones
In diagnosing the philosophical mentality of modernity, the Catholic novelist-physician-philosopher, Walker Percy, once wrote the following: The distinction which must be kept in mind is that between science and what can only be called … [Read more...]
Why Do Priests Need Philosophy?
December 27, 2014 by Fr. James V. Schall, SJ
When he (Aquinas) was not sitting, reading a book, he walked round and round the cloister, and walked fast and even furiously, a very characteristic action of men who fight their battles in the mind. (G. K. Chesterton, St. Thomas Aquinas.) … [Read more...]
Questions Answered
December 15, 2014 by Fr. Brian Mullady, OP
Can you tell me what the origin is of our rights and how this relates to the laws of the state? Pope Francis recently caused a reaction in the United States by condemning “unfettered capitalism.” Is this an innovation in Catholic tho … [Read more...]
Yes, We Can Know Truth Today
December 2, 2014 by Fr. Paul Conner, OP
How astonishing it is to be a human person! Like vegetables, it is wonderful enough to be able to assimilate inanimate minerals and grow, as well as to reproduce our own kind. Like our dear pets, it is amazing that we have senses to know … [Read more...]
Questions Answered
November 14, 2014 by Fr. Brian Mullady, OP
Does the Church endorse a school of philosophy? Is there only one standard for all justice? Question: I have heard that the Church does not canonize any particular philosophical school. Is there any guidance given from recent … [Read more...]
Questions Answered
October 13, 2014 by Fr. Brian Mullady, OP
Is it true that Vatican II was a complete break with the past? Is authority in society optional? Is it primarily a matter of the intellect or the will? Question: This year the Church is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the … [Read more...]
On “Whose God Is God?”
December 12, 2013 by Fr. James V. Schall, SJ
The problem is not with God. The problem is already located in the classical Garden in Genesis, the question of man preferring his own world to that more noble world that God has destined him for, and in which, being the kind of being he … [Read more...]
God and Caesar
November 20, 2013 by Fr. James Swetnam, SJ
In the Catholic view, the religious sphere is based on the virtue of faith. This faith is a gift of God ... In contrast, according to this Catholic view, the civil sphere is based on experience illumined by faith. That is to say, it is … [Read more...]
Remembering Who We Are: Recovering from Cultural Amnesia.
March 4, 2013 by Wanda Skowronska, PhD
The western loss of the larger and smaller narratives which depicted the horizons of life, is a loss of memory on a grand scale, a sign of some deep disorder for those who see it. Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus, Western Civilization … [Read more...]
Legislation creating ”same-sex” marriage: What’s at stake?
Bishop's Corner
February 9, 2013 by Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I.
Marriage comes to us from nature ... neither Church nor State invented marriage, and neither can change its nature. At the beginning of the New Year, 2013, a law is being proposed in the General Assembly to change the legal definition … [Read more...]
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