Is socialized medicine ethical? When the Pope recently washed the feet of women on Holy Thursday, does that mean that the liturgical law is changed which prescribes that only men should have their feet washed? Question: Is so … [Read more...]
Decoding Vatican II’s Marian Paradigm Shift
June 26, 2014 by Fr. Timothy J. Sauppe, STL
This Vatican II Mariological paradigmatic shift reverberated into all areas of ecclesial theology and liturgy, through a new hermeneutic or interpretation that went beyond the council’s purview and became what is described as a new ethos, t … [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...]
Pope John XXIII, 1958-1963: A Brief Biography
April 23, 2014 by David Vincent Meconi
"Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do." - … [Read more...]
Understanding the Theology of the Baptistery
April 23, 2014 by Dr. Steven Schloeder, AIA
We might start by understanding that the holy water stoup receives its symbolic imagery from the baptismal font, but the font receives its imagery from creation itself. When we enter a Church, we reach for the holy water stoup to … [Read more...]
What Happened to Catholic Ireland: An Irish-American Historian’s View
March 6, 2014 by John P. McCarthy, PhD
Just like the Church in the United States, the Irish Church is enduring hard times. However, what makes it so upsetting in Ireland ... is the disappearance of what had been a Catholic society. When first coming to Ireland more than a … [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...]
Questions Answered
February 20, 2014 by Fr. Brian Mullady, OP
What concerns should a priest have in the weekly homily? “New Evangelization:” What does it mean, and what are its primary focuses? Question: What concerns should a priest have in the weekly homily? Answer: Priests know that the … [Read more...]
Where is Prayer for Christian Unity in Our Parishes?
January 19, 2014 by James Likoudis
Every post-conciliar Pope has emphasized, with Vatican II, that ecumenism is a necessary aspect of the Church's mission, and one involving the effort of all the faithful, clergy, and laity alike. It was once quite common for many C … [Read more...]
The Person of Jesus Unites Himself with the Unborn
January 18, 2014 by Robert J. Boackle, PhD
I began to meditate on the awesome truth that Almighty God, became fully human, feeding on nutrients and oxygen within the blood of his Blessed Mother, as is every human fetus fed by his or her natural mother. ...Jesus teaches, by his … [Read more...]
Combating the Contraceptive Understanding of Celibacy
August 22, 2013 by Dr. Eric M. Johnston, PhD
On the one hand, we must appreciate how sex is holy. It might be good to say “holy” instead of “good.” Ironically, the idea that celibacy is a sacrifice treats sex as a good in the same way that a candy bar is a good. But this view belongs t … [Read more...]
Recovering the Christian Tradition: Self-denial & Self-fulfillment
August 7, 2013 by Fr. Val J. Peter
It is time now, on the 50th anniversary of Vatican II, to focus the light on the recovery of the riches of the Christian message regarding self-fulfillment and self-denial ... to enrich the new culture with the old. Christ and the Woman … [Read more...]
Should homilies offer systematic instruction?
June 2013 Editorial
June 21, 2013 by Fr. Kenneth Baker, SJ
...there has been, in my view, a serious neglect of instruction of the faithful in the fundamentals of the Catholic faith in a systematic way in most of our parishes. Recently a priest friend asked me, “How can we teach the faith during S … [Read more...]
The New Evangelization: The Holiness of the Church
April 22, 2013 by Michael Hull
The New Evangelization is our cooperation with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the 21st century ... an evangelization foreshadowed by Vatican II, according to Popes John XXIII and Paul VI ... an evangelization whose importance became m … [Read more...]
Symbols and the “Hermeneutic of Continuity”
February 21, 2013 by Fr. Brian Van Hove, SJ
The camauro appears in the portraits of popes before the Reformation. Its revival for a single occasion by Pope Benedict XVI was surely within his well-known program of the “hermeneutic of continuity." From left to right: Pope Innocent V … [Read more...]
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