"My kingdom is not of this world," Jesus says to Pontius Pilate (John 18:36). Our journey to that kingdom lies along a via dolorosa in this one: we can depend upon the powers of this world to save us no more than Jesus could rely on Pilate to save him from Calvary.
Appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World
This July 4th is the 245th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which grounds the founding of the Unites States in a theological argument: . . . that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the … Continue reading Appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World
The Bishops, the Politicians, and Abortion: What Would St. John Fisher Do?
You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you. The quote above is often attributed to communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky. There is no record of his actually having said it, but it's widely repeated because it pithily sums up a terrifying truth about the relentlessness of war. In an age when a large … Continue reading The Bishops, the Politicians, and Abortion: What Would St. John Fisher Do?
Discerning the Body: The Bishops, The Politicians, and The Eucharist
The issue here is not that the politicians in question are politicians per se, it is that that as prominent people they are publicly using their influence to promote things that are gravely sinful. When those responsible for teaching, governing, and sanctifying fail to distinguish the true dimensions of the problem, and fail to govern by allowing those who persist in openly promoting sin to receive communion they are teaching, by their actions, that the Body and Blood of Our Lord is simply not that important.
Who’s really “politicizing” the Body of Christ?
An unusual and unfamiliar expression, "Eucharistic Coherence", has been showing up on a lot of Catholic websites lately. I've written about the abuse of language on more than one occasion in the recent past (here and here, for instance), but this term is not itself abusive, rather it's intended to expose and correct abuse. It refers … Continue reading Who’s really “politicizing” the Body of Christ?
What Do We Do When Our Priest Is A Communist? (Part II)
Our culture has become toxic, and it is actively hostile to Christian belief and practice. Not only that, the toxicity has infected a large part of the institutional Church. What can we do if leaving the Catholic Church itself is not an option?
What Do We Do When Our Priest Is A Communist? (Part I)
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68) Your parish priest? We live in scary times. It looks like our secular institutions in the West are collapsing, to be replaced by mob rule (which really means, as always, a tyranny of the elite who manipulate the mob). More frightening still … Continue reading What Do We Do When Our Priest Is A Communist? (Part I)
What We Owe to Caesar
Deciding how to balance what we really owe to Caesar with what we owe to God is a perennial issue for a believing Christian. In the age of Covid and related governmental tomfoolery that question has become, let us say, even more acute. T
The Christian Cannot Live Without the Eucharist
We need the Eucharist. The Second Person of the Trinity did not simply become man: He suffered as man, died, and was resurrected as man, so that He could share his Divine Life with us. The primary, tangible means with which he does that in this world is through the Holy Eucharist . . . that's why the early martyrs told their Roman persecutors, "The Christian cannot live without the Eucharist", that's why St. Tarcisius gave his life protecting the consecrated Body and Blood of Christ.
In The World, But Not Of It
In the World: Politics is a Means, Not an End The problem is, we're in the world for now. But where was I? Oh,Yes. Last week I promised (or threatened) to discuss the issue of the relationship between faith and politics more fully (see last week's post "Religion, Culture, & Politics"). Something really helped lead me to … Continue reading In The World, But Not Of It