Does God change His mind when we pray?
I will take you through St. Thomas Aquinas’ answer to this puzzling question. Aquinas says that prayer is not about changing God’s mind, but about changing us to conform with God’s plan. We pray that we may obtain by intercession that which God has disposed from the beginning to be fulfilled by our prayers. Since God is outside of time, he knows from all eternity that for which we will pray...
German Bishop Heiner Wilmer, who may still be named prefect of the DDF, says “we need significant changes in sexual morality in the Catholic Church,” ...
Shortly before Christmas 2022, it seemed likely that Dr. Heiner Wilmer, SCJ, bishop of Hildesheim and a prominent proponent of the German “Synodal Way,” would be named prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in succession to Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, SJ. Bishop Wilmer’s statements on a number of doctrinal and moral matters drew the concerned attention of senior churchmen in Rome and elsewhere...
Suspect in Murder of LA Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell Pleads Not Guilty...
Imagine going to school every day in Narnia...
Mary in Ohio has done just that. The mom of two created a homeschooling classroom inspired by the wonder and joy of the hidden world found in C.S. Lewis's classic collection of fiction, The Chronicles of Narnia. Mary, her husband, and their two daughters moved into a new home just under a year ago. Mary has added her own touches to every room. I was able to visit this delightful room on a recent trip to Ohio and was completely charmed...
These days, “accompaniment” has become just another buzzword, but here’s how it looked in the early Church...
If we made a list of commonly used Catholic buzzwords, then we have to put “accompaniment” near the top. It is used in a lot of different ways and many uses are rather nebulous. I hope to dig a bit deeper in this blog about what the term is really supposed to mean for us as Catholic evangelists and leaders. The term accompaniment was made popular by Pope Francis...
German Prosecutors Drop Case of Alleged ‘Cover Up’ Against Benedict XVI...
“It is the Devil”: Exorcist warns of dangerous an deceptive board game sold on Amazon...
A spirit of laxity is eroding the life of billions of Christians. This spirit will depart the Church only by our prayer and fasting...
Laxism is a moral position that in a position of doubt tends to the easiest or least demanding alternative. Christians certainly suffer from this position, but I want to focus rather an the general laxity of the practice of penance, which continues to wear thin with almost nothing expected of Catholics any longer...
I’m breaking up with Barnes and Noble...
Pope Francis Invites Catholics to Renew Consecration to Immaculate Heart of Mary on March 25...
Pope Francis has invited Catholics to annually renew an act of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on March 25. The solemnity of the Annunciation on Saturday marks one year since Pope Francis consecrated Russia and Ukraine to the Blessed Virgin Mary in St. Peter’s Basilica with a prayer asking for peace in the world...
Mary Eberstadt is right: The “new intolerance” around sex is not an accident...
Very early in her new book, Mary Eberstadt notes that a new kind of intolerance is “strangling open discussion across the West.” And as she argues in her text, this new brand of intolerance is linked closely with the sexual revolution. Now, at first hearing, that just doesn’t sound plausible. The sexual revolution was about an end to repressive moralizing. But here’s the catch...
How dangerous is turbulence on airplanes? Here’s what you need to know...
How to ‘Put the Devil on the Run’ as Cultural Interest in the Occult Grows...
It’s World Down Syndrome Day, and I’d like you to meet my brother Gabriel...
7 teachings on Hell from St. Thomas Aquinas...
The teachings of the Lord on Hell are difficult, especially in today’s climate. The most difficult questions that arise relate to its eternal nature and how to square its existence with a God who is loving and rich in mercy. First, does God love the souls in Hell? Yes. How could they continue to exist if He did not love them, sustain them, and continue to provide for them? God loves because He is love...
The Catholic Church is truly “intersectional.” Abortion doulas and their supporters are not...
An abortion doula and a historian of transgenderism ardently advocated abortion rights Monday on a zoom panel here at the University of Notre Dame titled “Reproductive Justice: Scholarship for Solidarity and Social Change.” The freedom to have abortions intersects with women’s autonomy, racial justice, and transgenderism, they argued. Intersectionality is a popular concept now in academia.
The good news about Substack, Germany, and firing squads...
The Archdiocese of Milwaukee announced Wednesday that a priest has lost the faculty to hear confessions, after he argued in favor of a bill that would force priests to violate the seal. Fr. James Connell, who is retired from active ministry but previously served as vice-chancellor of the Milwaukee archdiocese, wrote an op-ed in a Delaware newspaper last week, arguing in favor of a state law to repeal the priest-penitent privilege.
There’s nothing like sharing insights with a friend. So why is it so difficult?
One of the great paradoxes of our day is that with seemingly limitless outlets for ‘sharing’ thoughts, so little deep sharing actually happens. We are often stifled, cut off, and isolated. In the cacophony of words, it is difficult to say the things we want to say. We are beginning to realize that the tools billed as making connections have in fact undermined them, with devastating consequences even in our close relationships.
“Dad jokes? That’s the way eye roll”: Why this much-maligned art form is actually good for kids...
Naaman, the Nazarenes, and the Germans...
William Shakespeare Was a Defiant Catholic to the Last...
The 2018 film, All is True, starring Kenneth Branagh as William Shakespeare and Ian McKellen as Shakespeare’s patron, the Earl of Southampton, purports to be a depiction of the Bard’s final years in Stratford following his retirement from the London stage. Making no effort to remain true to the known facts of Shakespeare’s life, preferring instead to follow the path of pride and anti-Catholic prejudice, All is True reinvents him in the image of our own deplorable epoch.
Do not fear: The confessional seal will always remain inviolable...
Unless you’ve been living in your crawl space, you know that the sacramental seal of the confessional has been increasingly under attack in recent years, especially amid the growing recognition of child sexual abuse throughout our society, including among Catholic clergy. One may well be astonished at the modern world’s inability to connect the dots between disordered sexuality generally and child sexual abuse in particular...
Don’t blast the media. Engage!...
As I write, I’m about to speak for the second time in a week about the media. Both invitations, at two very different conferences, I almost turned down, because I don’t think much about the media. I obviously work in it. I’m tremendously grateful to have platforms to highlight the good and to work through contentious issues. But early on in my life as an opinion journalist...
Should the Moon have its own time zone?
Here’s how to define “wokeness”...
Fry pizza, add Marmite to roast potatoes: 27 eye-opening and invaluable tips from top chefs...
This epic NASA map shows where you can see two US solar eclipses in 2023 and 2024...
The news, the glory of God, and St. Benedict’s holy death...
Vatican Largely Silent as China Forces Catholics to ‘Adapt to Socialist Society’...
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