About Peter M.J. Stravinskas 189 ArticlesReverend Peter M.J. Stravinskas is the editor of The Catholic Response, and the author of over 500 articles for numerous Catholic publications, as well as several books, including The Catholic Church and the Bible and Understanding the Sacraments. This Lenten series began by urging the reader to a deeper love of the Commandments by putting on the mind of a devout Jew. That will be even more necessary now if our present reflection is to make any sense. The biblical story of Creation bears a striking resemblance to many pagan versions of the same event, with one notable difference. The Hebrew account …
Author: Manuel Xavier
True Patriotism in a Marxist Wasteland
By Kennedy Hall Kennedy Hall is the author of two books. He is married with four children and lives in Ontario, Canada. His work can be found at kennedyhall.ca. This past Christmas Eve, I sat with my wife, sister and brother in-law, and my four small children in a small elementary school gymnasium. We sat on old foldout chairs made of plastic in groupings of seats that were set at least six feet from the next grouping. When we knelt, we knelt on the hard, tile floor. This was our setting for Midnight Mass, due to the government-imposed lockdown restrictions. I am blessed …
Does the Church No Longer Defend the Deposit of Faith?
By Regis Martin Regis Martin is Professor of Theology and Faculty Associate with the Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. He earned a licentiate and a doctorate in sacred theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. Martin is the author of a number of books, including Still Point: Loss, Longing, and Our Search for God (2012) and The Beggar’s Banquet (Emmaus Road). His most recent book, also published by Emmaus Road, is called Witness to Wonder: The World of Catholic Sacrament. He resides in Steubenville, Ohio, with his wife and ten children. When I first heard …
Contraception and Wet-Blanket Ecumenism
By Jerome German Jerome German is a retired manufacturing engineer, father of eleven, and grandfather of a multitude. His parochial activities have included music ministry, faith formation, and spiritual direction/talks for men’s retreats. Before retirement, Jerry’s writing was largely in the technical realm and he is a late-bloomer to writing for faith formation. The Wisconsinite and his wife spend summers in Wisconsin and winter on the Riviera Maya where they own a small vacation rental business. I was just a kid when the Second Vatican Council was brewing. It was called an ecumenical council; that is, a council meant to be …
The Pornification of Society
By Auguste Meyrat Auguste Meyrat is an English teacher and department chair in north Texas. He has a BA in Arts and Humanities from University of Texas at Dallas and an MA in Humanities from the University of Dallas In those periodic moments where public discourse centers on the topic of pornography, it is always put in terms of the individual. There is abundant science behind pornography consumption, showing its effects on the brain and one’s reproductive health as well as its addictiveness. Many critics will also point out how constant stimulation of pornographic content warps a person’s view of sex and other people. …
Should Scripture Be More Trans-Friendly?
By Donald DeMarco Donald DeMarco is a professor emeritus of Saint Jerome’s University and an adjunct professor at Holy Apostles College and Seminary. He is a regular columnist for the Saint Austin Review and the author, most recently, of Reflections on the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Search for Understanding. The Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals (U.K.) have issued a new set of guidelines that introduces an assortment of “trans-friendly” terms. The concern is to avoid offending people who have been transgendered by insisting that there is such a thing as distinct sexes. The guidelines instruct doctors, nurses, and midwives to use gender-neutral terms. Thus, “chestfeeding” should …
The Betrayed Church
By Eric Sammons Eric Sammons is the editor-in-chief of Crisis Magazine. His upcoming book Deadly Indifference (May 2021) examines the rise of religious indifference and how it has led the Church to lose her missionary zeal. Today is the Wednesday of Holy Week, also known as Spy Wednesday, when we remember the most infamous act of betrayal in human history: Judas agreeing to deliver Christ to His enemies for 30 pieces of silver. This act of betrayal is still shocking to the Christian; we cannot imagine how an apostle, so close to Christ, could betray Him. Yet today the Body of Christ, the Church, …
The Threat of Christianity
By Regis Nicoll Regis Nicoll is a retired nuclear engineer and a fellow of the Colson Center who writes commentary on faith and culture. He is the author of Why There Is a God: And Why It Matters. Some time back, I was engaged in an online forum with some religious skeptics. Under discussion were the usual: the existence of God, the divinity of Jesus, evidence for the resurrection, and so on. For the most part, the participants were civil and without the animus that has been far too typical of these exchanges. After one of the discussions was gaveled, a person …
Resisting Abortion-tainted Vaccines and the Culture of Death
By Bishop Athanasius Schneider Bishop Athanasius Schneider is auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Mary in Astana, Kazakhstan. Anti-Christian world powers that promote the culture of death are seeking to impose on the world’s population an implicit—though remote and passive—collaboration with abortion. Such remote collaboration, in itself, is also an evil because of the extraordinary historical circumstances in which these same world powers are promoting the murder of unborn children and the exploitation of their remains. When we use vaccines or medicines which utilize cell lines originating from aborted babies, we physically benefit from the “fruits” of one of the greatest …
A World in Crisis Needs Good Friday
By Thomas Griffin Thomas Griffin teaches apologetics in the religion department at a Catholic high school on Long Island. Read more at www.EmptyTombProject.org. The story of Holy Week recounts the historical events surrounding Jesus’ Passion, Death, and Resurrection; but it also pinpoints common failures of humanity while providing the antidote that ultimately saves us. A suffering world needs to dive into the causes of darkness that surround it and investigate deep within itself to ask how we ought to move forward toward the light of the empty tomb. Surveying the past year in our Church, nation, and world allows for easy access …