09 Thursday Jul 2009
(This is the paper written in preparation for a talk given at the 2005 St. Benedict Center Conference.)
In this talk, I am going to propose that the building blocks of tomorrow’s Christendom are Catholic Communities. Before I proceed in explaining why I believe this is the case, and before I explain the principles behind it and what it entails, it would be appropriate to give some definitions. Continue reading
29 Friday May 2009
Recently brought to my attention is this posting by Father John Zuhlsdorf (“Father Z”). In it, the popular Wanderer writer and Internet peritus presents some thoughts on relations between the SSPX and the Holy See. While some may consider that Father Z is glossing over the real issues and addressing only superficialities, I would have to agree with him — at least on the issue of practical paths to canonical normalcy for traditionalist groups.
The theological disagreements, without being papered over, can be discussed calmly where and when the “atmosphere” and “climate” has changed. Continue reading
28 Thursday May 2009
In his Epistle to the Hebrews, St. Paul calls Our Lord the “high Priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle” (9:11). Greater than the Israelite priests — those who “serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things” —Christ Our Lord has “obtained a better ministry, by how much also he is a mediator of a better testament which is established on better promises” (8:5-6). To St. Paul — and to all other Catholics — the Old Law was both finished and surpassed by the New Law of the Gospel. Continue reading
28 Monday Jan 2008
Philip F. Lawler , Editor of Catholic World News, has authored a new a book called The Faithful Departed, The Collapse of Boston’s Catholic Culture. Not yet released, the book can be ordered from Amazon.com at a pre-publication special price. Mr. Lawler has posted a sneak preview online, from which we excerpt the paragraphs below. Continue reading
10 Thursday Jan 2008
In the post, “The Status of Father Feeney’s Doctrinal Position,” I stated that the Sisters of Saint Ann’s House do not have a website. That has changed. The good Sisters now have a site here: Sisters of Saint Benedict Center, Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Continue reading
20 Thursday Dec 2007
Father asks: “Can an ‘implicit faith in Christ’ be sufficient for salvation?” He answers “No.” And he does so in over thirty pages of serious scholarship, with copious references to Fathers, Doctors, approved theologians, and magisterial pronouncements.
Father Brian Harrison, O.S., M.A., S.T.D., is Professor Emeritus of Theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico in Ponce, P.R. In 1997 he gained his doctorate in Systematic Theology, summa cum laude, from the Pontifical Athenæum of the Holy Cross in Rome. Father is a priest in good standing of the Diocese of Ponce. (Read more about him here.)
Father Harrison’s 33-page paper is online here as a PDF file: http://www.catholicism.org/downloads/FrHarrison_Implicit-Faith.pdf
19 Monday Nov 2007
This is a shortened and edited version of “Our Status in the Church” on the Catholicism.org site. Material relevant only to the New Hampshire Community has been removed so that it is strictly ad rem to the title I’ve given it on this blog.
The right of his followers to defend Father Leonard Feeney’s doctrinal position has been affirmed by Church authorities. This includes our current Holy Father, while in his former capacity as Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Continue reading