outside.” Those of us who have been out and now are in (back in, for some of us) know how true it is. And it stands to reason: as both a worldly and a spiritual entity, the Church cannot be contained within purely physical bounds.
Finding the Future in the Past: Why The Latin Mass is not Going Away
The scene is a parish church. A congregation has assembled for Sunday Mass. The opening hymn begins with a grand flourish. The celebrant processes into the church amid alleluias and mighty blasts from the organ. We reach a mini-climax. The music ends. Then, there is a moment of silence while the celebrant adjusts his microphone. He smiles. And what … Continue reading Finding the Future in the Past: Why The Latin Mass is not Going Away
Darmok and Jalod Ad Orientem (Cardinal Sarah was Right)
The Tamarian captain understands that actions, that experiences, can communicate in ways that words cannot, which is of course as true of human beings as much as it is of fictional extraterrestrials. This is a large part of why so many religions rely on ritual and formal rites: the actions communicate to us much more deeply than mere words, because we are actually living out what they want to convey. In fact, the true meaning of the term “mystery” (from the Greek μυστήριον) is not something unknowable, but something that can only be known experientially, through doing. Traditional Christianity tells us that God uses these mysteries as a means not only of imparting His Grace, but of revealing himself to us.
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?
A Tertullian for our Time: Merton for Better and for Worse
Despite his enormous achievements, however, and his lasting influence, Tertullian is not considered a Father of the Church; we don’t even call him “Saint” Tertullian: he chose, sadly, to follow his own judgment rather than that of the Apostolic Church, and fell into heresy in the latter part of his life.
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)
Merton’s Parable of the Trappists and the Icarians
". . . the monks had Christ living and working in them by faith, by charity. The monks were united by the Holy Spirit in the peace of God . . . But the Icarians were united only by the frail bonds of an “armed neutrality” of insatiable animal appetites."
Why the Church is not a Granfalloon
The point is that the Church doesn't exist as a community for the sake of the community itself, it exists to bring us into communion with the Trinitarian God. Even fundamentally good and essential communities such as the family can't do that.
Welcome to Mission Territory
So, yes, by all means, let's keep fighting the political fight, but given the societal trends (and the Gallup data above is just the latest evidence), we can expect the political arena to become increasingly difficult. Long term we need to work on bringing our country back to Christ.