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The Jesuit review La Civiltà Cattolica recently published a “Conversation with Cardinal Christoph Schœnborn about Amoris Laetitia.” The Cardinal answered various pointed questions in terms that reveal a troubling effort to justify the well-known ambiguities and possible errors in AL by appealing to St. John Paul II’s Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio. And he even claims, “now we must read the previous statements of the magisterium about the family in the light of the contribution made by AL.” Fr. Antonio Spadaro, S.J. asked this question: “After this Exhortation, therefore, it is no longer meaningful to ask whether, in general, all divorced...

Patient Autonomy? Q. I am a student nurse, and I never have yet had to deal with questions from patients about euthanasia. But I was wondering: When I am a nurse, if I have a patient who is serious about euthanasia and feels that it is the best choice for him or her, how should I respond? Would I be indirectly allowing that person to die by “passing the buck”? The nurse is the patient’s advocate, but what can I morally do if the patient’s wishes are incompatible with my morals as a Catholic, without stifling the patient’s autonomy? Kelley,...

45 Catholic academics urge cardinals to ask Pope Francis to fix exhortation’s errors July 14, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – Forty-five Catholic prelates, academics, and clergy have submitted an appeal to the Dean of the College of Cardinals in Rome requesting that the cardinals and Eastern Catholic Patriarchs petition Pope Francis to repudiate a list of erroneous propositions that can be drawn from Amoris Laetitia. The appeal will be sent in various languages to the 218 living Catholic Cardinals and Patriarchs over the coming weeks. The unnamed signatories contend that the exhortation contains “a number of statements that can be understood in a...

July 16 What Does God Want? “I am the Way.” JOHN 14:6 What is God after? What does He seek from us? What does He want? First and foremost, He desires a people who will be conformed to the image of His Son, that they may demonstrate the preeminence of Christ in all things. But how does He gain such a people for Himself? The first step is to reveal His Son to us. This is the narrow gate. We cannot begin to walk the narrow path until we have entered the narrow gate. Upon entering the narrow gate He...

An "Open Letter" from Athonite Fathers to the Holy Community of the Holy Mountain of Athos is calling for an immediate convocation of the governing body of Mt. Athos in order to condemn the "false council" of Crete and cease the comemoration of the Patriarch of Constantinople on Mt. Athos. OVER 60 Hieromonk and monks, with a disciple of Saint Paisios, Elder Gabriel of the Kelli of St. Christodoulos (Holy Monastery of Koutloumosiou) at their head, have written an open letter to the Holy Community of Mt. Athos calling upon the Abbots to reject the Council in Crete and stating...

The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in. There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone. In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction. When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.(Isaiah 24:10-13)From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the...

Straining Out Gnats but Swallowing Camels, as Seen in a Commercial Msgr. Charles Pope • July 14, 2016 • Today’s Gospel (Mat 12:1-8), in which Jesus is rebuked for violating the Sabbath, reminded me of the video below. It illustrates how we sometimes follow smaller rules while overlooking bigger ones in the process.The Lord Jesus was often scorned by the people of His day, who claimed that He overlooked certain details of the law (often Sabbath observances). But those who rebuked him for this were guilty of far greater violations. For example, [Jesus] went into the synagogue, and a...

(Rome) Last Friday to representatives of militant women's association Women's Ordination Worldwide (WOW) have been received in the Vatican. The organization calls for the introduction of women to the priesthood by the Catholic Church. According to a WOW spokesman, the excommunicated Pole, Janice Secre-Duszynska, she had been received by a "senior official" of the Vatican Secretariat of State, together with other WOW "priestesses". They wished to leave a petition with which they begin a dialogue and the lifting of the excommunication against persons called by Pope Francis, who work for women priests in the Catholic Church. Ambiguous wording of Pope...

Fear No Evil “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.” John 17:15 ESV This prayer of Jesus is answered when we embrace the Cross... Why? The Cross renders us dead to the world so that we can bring Life to others who are in the world and not worry that we may become contaminated or polluted by the things we encounter. Jesus was not afraid of being around sinners. He affected them for good, and they were powerless to affect Him for evil. This same Jesus...

There’s a Yoke to Be Carried in Following Jesus -- Make Sure It’s Jesus’ Yoke, Not Yours Msgr. Charles Pope • July 13, 2016 • 0 Comments The Gospel from Wednesday’s Daily Mass contains memorable but often misunderstood lines:Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest … Take my yoke upon you … For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.The most important word in this sentence is the word “my.” Jesus says, my yoke is easy; my burden is light.What is a yoke? It’s a wooden truss that makes...

If all Church doctrine must be read in light of Amoris Laetitia, then all Amoris Laetitia must be read in light of Church doctrine, Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, archbishop emeritus of Bologna and a former member of the Pontifical Council for the Family, said in a wide-ranging interview. Caffarra addressed the widespread confusion within the Catholic Church over the nature of marriage and the proper response lay Catholics should have to the confusion. “To Catholic faithful who are confused about the Doctrine of the Faith concerning marriage, I simply say: ‘Read and meditate upon the Catechism of Catholic Church nn.1601-1666,’” Caffarra...

Conservatives may be tempted to wonder whether it’s worth fighting. In this soundbite, instant­dislike, tl;dr, flashsnipe, banal, fractious, impressionistic, politicized culture of ours, our instinct can be to retreat, to separate fully, to disengage. I’ve been there, and when I have, I’ve been wrong. So long as we are alive, there is ground to be gained in the battle for truth. Yesterday’s results from the 2016 Synodical Convention of the Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod are such a gain. In three key resolutions, which passed with remarkable success, delegates to the convention voted to affirm that only pastors may do what...

For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.(Matthew 24:7-8)Jesus, in his last appeal to the leaders of Israel in the temple, recorded in Matthew 23, summed up his scathing denunciation of the leaders who had led Israel so far into apostasy that they couldn’t receive their Messiah, with two warnings. First He warned them that their “house had been left to them desolate”. In other words he warned them that God no longer inhabited the temple. Secondly He warned...

Bishop Schneider called it “very urgent” that the pope “states more clearly, in a very unambiguous manner — in such a manner which will not leave any space for misinterpretations — [on] the issues of family and the sacredness of marriage.” The film contains an impressive lineup of international life and family advocates who decided that the time had come to voice their concerns for the good of the Church, of souls, and of nations.

"For those who disbelieve, 'the stone which the builders rejected, this became the very corner stone,' and, 'a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense'; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed" (1 Pet. 2:7-8). Rejecting Christ leads to spiritual damnation. Israel was a unique nation, chosen by God to be the guardian of His Word and proclaimer of His kingdom. The Old Testament records His miraculous and providential care for her throughout the centuries, and the prophets told of One who would come as her great Deliverer....

“Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). Genuine believers love God and reject the world and all its philosophies. As the “god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4), Satan has designed a system that the Bible simply calls “the world.” The Greek term (kosmos) refers to a system encompassing false religion, errant philosophy, crime, immorality, materialism, and the like. Of it the apostle John wrote, “All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust...

Is It Time to Flee the World? Msgr. Charles Pope • July 12, 2016 • As we go through the Book of the Prophet Isaiah at Mass, we read of Israel’s painful purifications and also of a coming punishment of the surrounding nations. These ancient stories have something to say to us today.As Isaiah sets forth, God permitted the nations to persecute Israel in order that she be purified. But the iniquity and sin of the nations and of this world cannot go on forever; wickedness must be ended. The Lord will judge the nations, not merely purify Israel.In...

July 13 **The Kingdoms of Our Lord** “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” REVELATION 11:15 God WILL establish an Irresistible Kingdom on the earth. This Kingdom does not rise up from the earth, but it comes down from heaven. This Kingdom will break to pieces and consume all the other kingdoms. And this Kingdom will increase from a single Stone into a great mountain that fills the entire earth (Daniel 2:35). It is an Irresistible Kingdom! Not only can this Kingdom not be...

"This precious value, then, is for you who believe" (1 Pet. 2:7). Love for Christ is the primary characteristic of a true believer. First Peter 2:7 speaks of the believer's affection for Christ as contrasted to an unbeliever's rejection of Him. The first part of that verse could be translated, "To you who believe, He is precious." "Precious" means "valuable," "costly," "without equal," or "irreplaceable." Christ is all that, but only believers recognize His supreme value and regard Him with affection. Affection for Christ is the bottom-line characteristic of true believers. Believing in Him and loving Him are inseparable. In...

“By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments” (1 John 2:3). True believers obey God’s commandments. Before Jesus ascended to Heaven after His resurrection, He gave the following Great Commission to His disciples: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20). Notice that a true disciple was to observe, or obey, all of Christ’s commands. The apostle John understood well the Lord’s instruction. He knew...