Saving Babies and Time Off in Purgatory As I write, Washington lies under light snow and, with wind chill, is 90 F. In most of the country, not too bad for January. In Washington – between the incompetence of government and a population that rarely encounters (read: “drives in”) snow – it means near paralysis. During the Cold War, I used to say that the Soviets were wasting money on nukes and sophisticated weaponry; a few well-placed snow machines would have crippled the capital of the West. But as decades of experience have proven, none of that will stop tens …
Author: Manuel Xavier
The Moral Crisis of Our Time
The Moral Crisis of Our Time Nineteen sixty-eight is rightly remembered as a year of chaos, confusion, and confrontation. As the year began, the noted sociologist of religion, William “Will” Herberg (1901-1977), published an essay entitled “What Is the Moral Crisis of Our Time?” in the Intercollegiate Review (January-March 1968). As a college senior reading that essay, I was struck by its analytical and prophetic power. In Catholic tradition, the word work means efforts that bring order out of chaos. Will Herberg’s essay “worked” for me. Its thesis was – and, I believe, is – so clear and so compelling …
The Miraculous Medal
THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL HOW IT CAME TO BE On November 27, 1830, Mary, the Mother of Jesus, appeared in a vision to Catherine Laboure, a novice in the Sisters of Charity convent in Paris, France. Our Lady manifested the pattern of a medal to Catherine. Mary promised that “All who wear it will receive great graces; they should wear it around the neck. Graces will abound for those who wear it with confidence.” MIRACLES In 1832, the first medals were made and distributed in Paris with the approval of the Church. The medal quickly became known as the “Miraculous Medal” …
The Irish Referandum
Well, the Republic of Ireland is gone. Gone to the dark side. It has repudiated the Catholic religion. It did this on Friday May 25, 2018, when the citizens of Ireland, the great majority of whom are at least nominally Catholic, voted by an overwhelming majority (roughly 2 to 1) to repeal the article of their constitution (the 8thAmendment) that banned abortion except to save the life of the mother. After having stood by the faith during hundreds of years of Protestant oppression and persecution, they have succumbed to atheistic seduction. More than 1,500 hundred years after St. Patrick, they’ve …
The Heart of the Legion of Mary
The Heart of the Legion of Mary Priests and lay people that are not in the Legion sometimes ask me if I would sum up in a few words what the Legion of Mary is all about. This is not easy because the Legion is like a multifaceted diamond that sparkles in every way you look at it. But normally I tell them about the Standing Instruction that is read after the signing of the minutes at the first meeting of every month by the President of the praesidium. If my listener is in a hurry and wants me to …
The Glorious Mission of Theology
I recently mentioned to my new boss that I was pursuing a masters degree in theology. “Oh, theology!” he said. “I met some people when I studied in Europe who were into theology. It must be nice to get to sit back and just ponder those big, impenetrable questions.” It was probably meant as a compliment, but it made the field sound obscure and impractical. To an outsider, the doctrine of the Trinity, the homoousion (or sacramental theology) can seem opaque. Yet I’m increasingly convinced that if your theological study results only in esoteric musings, completely detached from your Christian …
The Decipherment of Cupich
The Decipherment of Cupich Basilides Melchischyros offers thoughts on Blase Cardinal Cupich’s recent elucidation of Amoris Laetitia. Having recently returned to Utopia from a scholarly visit to Cambridge (England), Basilides Melchischyros, of the Academia Moriae in Amaurote, offers these tentative thoughts as a reflective accompaniment to the cardinal archbishop of Chicago’s recent elucidation of Amoris Laetitia, which he was privileged to hear at the Von Hügel Institute. He argues that, widespread criticism notwithstanding, the cardinal’s pronouncements are, when properly interpreted, not only consistent with traditional Catholic teachings but a ringing endorsement of them. Of course, he submits all that he proposes here …
The Comitium of Columbus
THE COMITIUM As Misunderstandings occur sometimes in regard to the role and functioning of a Comitium, it may be useful to analyze here what the handbook says on THE COMITIUM in chapter 28:2:2 : 1. “Where it is found necessary to confer on a Curia. in addition to its own proper functions, certain powers of over one or several Curiae, such higher Curia shall be styled more particularly a Comitium.” (Handbook) Comments: The raising of a Curia to Comitium may only be done with the sanction of a Regia or a Senatus or Concilium. It may not he done by …
The Church Teaches and Judges Consciences
The Church Teaches – and Judges – Consciences A number of bishops have announced that Catholics in irregular unions whose consciences are “at peace” with God must be allowed to receive Holy Communion. This has never been the belief or practice of the Church, yet they assert it is rooted in the traditional teaching that conscience must be respected, even when mistaken. They fail to mention, however, that only the dictates of conscience are binding, not all its judgments, and that conscience is subject to the teaching and judgment of the Church. Once these truths are taken into account, the …
The China Syndrome
The China Syndrome In several decades of living in Washington, D.C., I’ve met my share of scamps and scalawags, fabulists and outright liars. It would take a modern Dante to determine which circle of Inferno each type of misbehavior merited. But of one thing, I am certain: at least in my own experience, I’ve never encountered more brazen and manipulative liars than Communist Chinese officials responsible for relations with religious believers. Which is what makes it so disturbing that last week reports surfaced that the Vatican asked two underground Chinese bishops, loyal to Rome, to step aside in order to …