Category: Magisterium

Biblical Interpretation in Crisis — Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, 1988

Biblical Interpretation in Crisis. On the Question of the Foundations: and Approaches of Exegesis Today by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, 1988 In Wladimir Solowjew’s History of the Antichrist, the eschatological enemy of the Redeemer recommended himself to believers, among other things, by the fact that he had earned his doctorate in theology at Tübingen and had… Read More Biblical Interpretation in Crisis — Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, 1988

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Fr. Frank Pavone and Contraception Rumors. Updated.

Newsmax. “The Vatican has defrocked Father Frank Pavone — who has been described as “the most vocal Catholic priest in America for the pro-life movement” — in a move that has shocked Church conservatives. This past weekend the Catholic News Agency (CNA) revealed the full text of a letter from Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Apostolic Nuncio to… Read More Fr. Frank Pavone and Contraception Rumors. Updated.

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Acedia and Its Discontents: Metaphysical Boredom in an Empire of Desire

“In the arid wasteland that is academic writing, amid the wider desert that is modern secular thought, R. J. Snell’s book on acedia is an oasis of flowers and fruit and fresh water. Professor Snell reminds us that man must never be made subordinate to work, nor even to the empty ‘vacations’ that are but interruptions in work. He… Read More Acedia and Its Discontents: Metaphysical Boredom in an Empire of Desire

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Catholicism, Tradition and Protestantism

“One body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one Father of us all” — Eph. 4: 4-6 Every ecclesial community brings its tradition(s) to bear in the exegesis and understanding of Scripture. Even independent Protestant Fundamentalist pastors and larger Protestant denominations employ their traditions [i.e., their received community understanding of texts] as a… Read More Catholicism, Tradition and Protestantism

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John Paul II on the Most Decisive Confrontation —and History’s ‘Last Lap’

Karol Wojtyla (JPII) wrote, “A non-Catholic philosopher once said to me: ‘You know, I just can’t stop myself reading and rereading  and thinking over the first  three chapters of Genesis.’ And indeed it seems to me that unless one does so reflect upon that fundamental Ensemble of facts and situations it becomes extremely difficult if… Read More John Paul II on the Most Decisive Confrontation —and History’s ‘Last Lap’

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Traditionis Custodes. New Oxford Review.

Traditionis Custodes: Taking a Bulldozer to an Anthill. Traditionalists and Pope Francis by Pieter Vree, editor |New Oxford Review, October 2021 “Nobody comes out clean…” In January 1985 President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, signed the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits federally funded nongovernmental organizations from performing or promoting abortions in foreign countries. The next Democrat… Read More Traditionis Custodes. New Oxford Review.

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Dogmatics Clarified, 2007: Second Vatican Council doctrine of the Church

Prescinding from any questions regarding the wisdom of calling the Council in the time and manner it did, regarding the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, and its Decrees on Ecumenism, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2007 clarified confusions, showing again that the Holy Spirit protects the Church from dogmatic errors through the… Read More Dogmatics Clarified, 2007: Second Vatican Council doctrine of the Church

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In the Most Grave Confusion(s): “The People Are Not Oblidged to Know…”

St. Antoninus: In the Event of the Most Grave Confusion(s): “The People Are Not Oblidged to Know…” And St. Thomas Aquinas on whether one must avoid (ipso facto or otherwise) excommunicated persons before sentence has been passed Principles St. Antoninus, commenting on the Great Western Schism “The question was much discussed and much was written in… Read More In the Most Grave Confusion(s): “The People Are Not Oblidged to Know…”

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No More Traditional Priesthood a Goal for Some?

Recent events among so-called “Progressive” Catholics, gleefully talking about the “devolution” of Church authority in our time, especially since Francis, has reminded me several times of something I was told by an Oblate priest while I was making a personal retreat in the late 1980’s. It was at the Oblate Fathers Retreat Center in Hudson,… Read More No More Traditional Priesthood a Goal for Some?

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A Review of Roberto de Mattei’s “The Second Vatican Council: An Unwritten Story”

The who, what, where, when, and why of the Council by Michael J. Miller. Catholic World Report The famous black-and-white photograph of the Second Vatican Council in session, taken from a high balcony at the back of Saint Peter’s Basilica, shows more than 2,000 Council Fathers standing at their places in slanted stalls that line… Read More A Review of Roberto de Mattei’s “The Second Vatican Council: An Unwritten Story”

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Tradition and the Living Magisterium.

“The living magisterium makes extensive use of documents of the past, but it does so while judging and interpreting, gladly finding in them its present thought, but likewise, when needful, distinguishing its present thought from what is traditional only in appearance. “It is revealed truth always living in the mind of the Church, or, if it is preferred, the… Read More Tradition and the Living Magisterium.

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