This is the first of what I hope to be a series of articles that provide short answers to questions about the faith. In this
Origen (c.185–253) was lauded as “the greatest teacher in the Church, after the Apostles,” by Didymus the Blind (d. 398). But he was also condemned
Background: NYC Was the One-Time Home to the First U.S. Saints In 1946, Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini was the first U.S. citizen that the Church
Click here to read Part I of this article. Punishment What is punishment? The Catholic Dictionary defines punishment as, Any ill suffered in consequence of
Many people, including my past self, say the word grace without knowing exactly what it is or what it does. We sometimes think of it
Background On Patient Justice We can see the patient justice of Jesus in the peace that Irish and Italian Americans achieved: So many people share
By Fr. James Barry On December 18, 2023 the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued the declaration Fiducia Supplicans: On the Pastoral Meaning
I have always been a big fan of Johnny Cash, and I was listening to some of his music the other day. His song/poem “Ragged
Since the Church’s beginning, we sinful people have acted as though Jesus’ magnificent message about marriage/family/sexuality was NOT abundantly clear. As a result, there has
Before I get going on the ordination of women, I just want to be clear that I am not against female leaders. In fact, I
We have all heard the usual arguments for the sacrament of confession. And they are great for showing that Scripture contains plenty of support for
Introduction I may need to be disabused of simplistic notions of church history and the Eucharist during my life time. It is clearly the case
Recently my mother sent a letter to the pastors in her local diocese—that’s 127 Catholic churches. The purpose: Display the Ten Commandments. As my mother
Media vita in morte sumus Quem quaerimus ad iutorem nihi site domine Qui pro peccatis nostris Sancte Deus, sancte fortis Sancte misericor salvator Amare mortis
The headline on a recent article at The Stream was an attention getter. It read “After Vatican II, the Catholic Church Went Whole Hog for
The First Vatican Council (1870) said that the pope has supreme authority in the Church (Pastor Aeternus 3.2). The Second Vatican Council (1965) said that
Since the early 1950s there have been five versions of the (Catholic) Good Friday prayers for the Jews. Yet the issues still generate differences of
Conflict has always existed in the Church. It is, after all, made up of people who are far from perfect. In the Acts of the
While I am not a degreed historian, I have been a history buff all my life. Studying Church history, especially early Christianity, the Church fathers,
Supersessionism is the view that Christianity has “superseded,” or “replaced,” Judaism as the (single) path to salvation. In 2015 the Vatican said: Supersessionism steadily gained
Supersessionism (also called Replacement Theology or Substitution Theory) is the idea that Christianity has superseded Judaism, and replaced it as the (single) path to salvation.
In his 1907 Syllabus Condemning the Errors of the Modernists, Pope St. Pius X rejected the idea that the discoveries of science or history should
