John M. Grondelski (Ph.D., Fordham) is the former associate dean of the School of Theology, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey. He is especially interested in moral theology and the thought of John Paul II. [Note: All views expressed in his National Catholic Register contributions are exclusively the author’s.] Recovering First Friday devotions can be a critical way to restore an awareness of the Eucharist as the “source and summit” of the Christian life. On Sept. 14, I recommended Catholic schools start an effort on Oct. 7 to take school children to Mass on First Fridays through June so that, at …
Category: Apologetics
Cardinal Müller on Synod on Synodality: ‘A Hostile Takeover of the Church of Jesus Christ … We Must Resist’
Raymond Arroyo is the host of EWTN’s The World Over with Raymond Arroyo. An internationally known, award-winning journalist, producer, and best-selling author, his interviews have included Presidents Bush and Trump, Pope Benedict XVI, Mother Teresa, Mel Gibson, famed tenor Placido Domingo and comic legend Jerry Lewis. Cardinal Gerhard Müller spoke about the papal silence surrounding the arrest of Cardinal Joseph Zen and the Synod on Synodality, saying the Catholic Church is facing a hostile takeover’ by people who ‘think that doctrine is like the program of a political party that can be changed by votes. Editor’s Note: Cardinal Gerhard Müller appeared on …
Reacting to the pontifical academy, theologian says teaching of Humanae vitae can’t change
By Carl Bunderson for CNA Denver, Colo., Aug 8, 2022 / 19:01 pm (CNA). The teaching of Humanae vitae on contraception is an instance of the ordinary and universal magisterium, and as such is irreformable, a moral theologian has said in response to a statement from the Pontifical Academy for Life. Father Thomas Petri, O.P., president of the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., noted that even critics of the teaching on contraception have “acknowledged that this was always the Church’s teaching” and that nowhere in the Church’s teaching has there been permissiveness, of any form, of contraception. “This suggests that this …
Heaven on Earth: Liturgical Wisdom from Eastern Christianity
R. Jared Staudt PhD, serves as Associate Superintendent for Mission and Formation for the Archdiocese of Denver and Visiting Associate Professor for the Augustine Institute. He is the author of Restoring Humanity: Essays on the Evangelization of Culture (Divine Providence Press) and The Beer Option (Angelico Press) and the editor of Renewing Catholic Schools: How to Regain a Catholic Vision in a Secular Age (Catholic Education Press). He and his wife Anne have six children, and he is a Benedictine oblate. It is easy to forget that the Catholic Church is composed of 24 self-governing Churches with distinct liturgical rites. We lose sight of this because the …
The Martyrdom of ‘the Most Beautiful Woman in Europe’
K.V. Turley is the Register’s U.K. correspondent. He writes from London. “The Lord found that it was time for us to carry his cross. Let us strive to be worthy of that joy.” Described as “the most beautiful woman in Europe,” she was to marry a prince. And yet that same woman was to end her last days in the service of the sick and the poor, wearing only the plain garb of a nun, eventually, to die in an industrial wasteland as a martyr for her Christian faith. A journey that started for her on the Mount of Olives, …
It’s Time to Clean Up the Mess
By Regis Martin Regis Martin is a 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, published by Scepter, is called Looking for Lazarus: A Preview of the Resurrection. How bad must things get before we can all agree that the sky is actually …
Resetting the Old Mass/New Mass Conversation
By Eric Sammons Eric Sammons is the Editor-in-Chief of Crisis Magazine and the Executive Director of Crisis Publications. The orthodox Catholic world today, while in theory united in the shared acceptance of the Catholic Church’s authority to declare binding doctrine, is not always united in practice. The greatest, and perhaps most toxic, divide within orthodox Catholicism revolves around the liturgy, and particularly the differences between the Old and New Masses. Heck, orthodox Catholics can’t even agree on what to call these two different celebrations of the Mass—or even if they are different forms or different rites. Is it the Novus Ordo and the traditional Latin …
How to Protect Your Family From Spiritual Attacks
Patti Maguire Armstrong is a TV talk show host of Ladies of Another View and an award-winning author and journalist. She was managing editor and co-author of Ascension Press’ bestselling Amazing Grace series. Her newest books are Holy Hacks: Everyday Ways to Live Your Faith & Get to Heaven and Big Hearted: Inspiring Stories from Everyday Families. She has a B.A. in social work and M.A. in public administration and worked in both those fields before staying home to work as a freelance writer. Patti and her husband, Mark, live in North Dakota, where they raised their 10 children. Follow her on Twitter at @PattiArmstrong and read …
Nancy Pelosi Banned From Communion: 5 Key Takeaways
Jonathan Liedl is a senior editor for the Register. His background includes state Catholic conference work, three years of seminary formation, and tutoring at a university Christian study center. Liedl holds a B.A. in Political Science and Arabic Studies (Univ. of Notre Dame), an M.A. in Catholic Studies (Univ. of St. Thomas), and is currently completing an M.A. in Theology at the Saint Paul Seminary. He lives in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. Follow him on Twitter at @JLLiedl. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, Pelosi’s local bishop, has instructed her not to receive Communion because of her extreme pro-abortion-rights actions. Jonathan LiedlNationMay 20, 2022 …
Eucharistic Revitalization: Daring to Do All We Can
Father Roger J. Landry, a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, is national chaplain for Catholic Voices USA. COMMENTARY: As the Second Vatican Council famously described, the celebration of the Eucharist is the source, summit, root and center of Catholic faith and life. Father Roger LandryNationMay 20, 2022 In the epic Lauda Sion Salvatorem Gospel sequence he wrote for the inaugural celebration of Corpus Christi in 1264, and still used today, St. Thomas Aquinas touched upon the spirituality that should motivate Catholics in their approach to the Holy Eucharist. “Quantum potes, tantum aude,” he wrote in the second of 24 …