Engaged so deeply in earthly human affairs and believing in each persons’ goodness, John Paul seems to be calling us from heaven with a special request for solidarity of those who live on earth, and those living, though yet unborn. … [Read more...]
Beauty and Biblical Interpretation: Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Response to Modern Biblical Studies
May 24, 2014 by Luke Murray
Key to Balthasar’s response to modern biblical studies is his concept of beauty ... Balthasar links beauty to human perception, and the way human beings gain knowledge. Over the past 100 years—amidst the confusion and darkness sur … [Read more...]
The Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary: Detecting a Pattern of Internal Consistency
May 24, 2014 by Jayson M. Brunelle, MEd, CAGS
Against the background of the words, Ave Maria, the principal events of the life of Jesus Christ pass before the eyes of the soul. They take shape in the complete series of the joyful, sorrowful, and glorious mysteries, and they put us in … [Read more...]
Catechetical and Pastoral Emphasis in the Apologetics of Frank Sheed
May 9, 2014 by James Iovino
Vatican II calls the laity to take a more active role in not just the worshipping life of the Church, but the teaching life, too. While Sheed agrees ... we evangelize best principally through a pastorally oriented and properly formed … [Read more...]
Poland Remembers: A Firsthand Look at Blessed John Paul II’s Impact on the People of His Homeland
May 9, 2014 by Christina Serena
The reason Pope John Paul II had more of an indirect spiritual impact on Poland than the United States is because his way of speaking about God, and his Church, is so fundamentally Polish. "Santo subito! Santo subito!" ("Saint now!") … [Read more...]
Images of the Priest in the Life and Thought of John Paul II
April 23, 2014 by George Weigel
February, March, and early April 2005 unfolded as not just an extraordinary human drama, but as an extraordinary Christian drama and, indeed, an extraordinary priestly drama ... what the world saw ... and what the Church lived through ... … [Read more...]
Faith Needs Philosophy: A Primer on the Relationship between Reason and Revelation
April 23, 2014 by Brian Jones
The great philosophers that preceded the Judeo-Christian Revelation demonstrated many of the truths about God and the faith that are affirmed in Scripture, and are what St. Thomas calls the preambles of faith. I recently had a brief … [Read more...]
‘Til Death Do Thee Part
April 10, 2014 by Rev. Joseph C. Klee
The necessary manifestations of love, to include self-sacrifice and self-giving, and an ongoing readiness to forgive, could only continue to be present in a marriage fueled by God’s graces. By the basic principles of neurology, we know t … [Read more...]
The Side Effects of the Pill: Why the Church Has So Much to Say about Contraception
March 21, 2014 by Dr. William Newton
The Church pays special attention to the issue of contraception ... because so many of the modern errors in moral theology converge in this particular question of conjugal morality. There is an impression out there–in the world and even w … [Read more...]
“Where your synthesis is, there lies your heart.” An Early Look at Pope Francis’ Vision for the Church
February 21, 2014 by Fr. Joseph A. Tetlow, SJ
Jesus Christ is the center – the driving source – of the entire Exhortation. Those who have been called, and have accepted Christ are sent into their particular life’s world to spread his name, and to do it joyfully. The sentence: “Wher … [Read more...]
God Gave Burdens, Also Shoulders: A Yiddish Proverb
February 20, 2014 by Sister Joseph Andrew Bogdanowicz, OP
In all of our lives, there are times when encouragement makes or breaks our stamina. Even when all is well, we know a deeper happiness if our efforts find appreciation. Recently, I came across a publication of the Mayo Clinic and was … [Read more...]
An Essay on Natural Family Planning
February 8, 2014 by Dr. Charles W. Norris, M.D.
The Catholic Church has never opposed family planning, but she teaches through her Magisterium, or teaching authority, that man may not, of his own volition, separate the two meanings of the conjugal act, the unitive and the procreative, … [Read more...]
A Liberationist Pope
February 7, 2014 by Dr. Michel Therrien, STD
Read carefully: We should see in this critique (by Pope Francis), not an embrace of socialism, or a condemnation of the market economy, but a call to adopt a different ethic for the marketplace. Pope Francis is a Jesuit, a prelate from … [Read more...]
Observations on “Ex Corde Ecclesiae” and Its Fitful Implementation
February 5, 2014 by Dr. Eric Cunningham, PhD
Ex Corde was promulgated in 1990, and its purpose was to lay out the general place and function of Catholic universities in the modern Church ... {providing} a useful starting point for dialogues on Catholic identity. I suppose the … [Read more...]
Grace and Reason According to St. Paul and St. Thomas
February 5, 2014 by Dr. Eric M. Johnston, PhD
...the world we live in is overwhelmingly irrational. Our popular discourse doesn’t make any sense at all. As Catholics, we need to understand what our faith teaches about this irrationality. We need to look to Scripture and t … [Read more...]
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