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The Church Prior to the Reformation: The Mass Medieval conception of Purgatory As Protestants, we all seem to know that the Roman Church was very bad during the middle ages, but in what ways? What, precisely, was being protested? In his work “The Reformation: A History”, Diarmiad MacCulloch gives a brief overview of the Roman Church prior to the Reformation. He introduces that overview with this passage: Nicholas Ridley, one of the talented scholarly clergy who rebelled in England against the old [Roman] Church, wrote about this to one of his fellow rebels John Bradford in 1554, while they both...

Featured Term selected at random:BAPTISMAL VOWS Profession of the Christian faith by an adult candidate for baptism or by the sponsor in the name of the infant to be baptized. The solemn renewal of these promises is a widespread act of piety usually at the close of a mission or retreat or when receiving First Communion or the sacrament of confirmation. It is a part of the Eucharistic liturgy at the Easter Vigil and on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. BAPTISMAL WATER. The water used for the administration of the sacrament of baptism. For the valid conferral...

HE BEST AGE to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation is a matter of discussion in my diocese, as it is in many others. There are advocates for quite a wide range of ages, from as early as Baptism to the latter years of high school. Reasonable arguments can be made in favor of almost any age between these two mileposts. But which age is best? Anyone involved in Catholic education/catechesis will know the struggle it is to keep young people in religious education after their Confirmation. A common tactic in many local Churches has been to raise the age at...

The Bread of Affliction: A Meditation on What Jesus Endured at the Last Supper By: Msgr. Charles PopeThe Last Supper is, strangely, a sad study in the kind of affliction the Lord had to endure from His own disciples. Of all the meals the Lord must have shared with them, this was the one that should have gone beautifully and perfectly; it did not. From one moment to the next the blows just got worse. There were inept responses, distractions, bullheaded debates, and rebukes directed against Jesus … and then of course betrayal. It was nothing short of a disaster. The...

"Priest: I’ll never ‘profane’ the sacraments by following Kasper’s proposal, no matter who tells me to do it" Unto the encouragement of those loyal parts of the Catholic Church that are keenly concerned about the rise and growing influence of Walter Cardinal Kasper and his lenient proposals to slacken the Church's discipline concerning adultery, there is a growing resistance against this ambiguous and subversive relaxation, and it is coming from several countries. We shall thus consider now four different voices that show to us a highly differentiated resolve and loyal love for the Faith in resistance against those who would...

Equal in Dignity and Responsibility: Ministering to Those With Same-Sex Attraction By: Msgr. Charles PopeA conference is being planned in August to ponder an authentic pastoral response in ministering to those with same-sex attraction. Dr. Janet Smith is the organizer; Courage International and the Archdiocese of Detroit are the sponsors. It looks to be a  fine gathering of solid speakers. Though I am clearly a “back-bencher” among the fine speakers being lined up, I was asked to submit a paper for possible inclusion in the book that will likely be published by Ignatius Press just prior to the conference.As a...

Mercy! So Great a Gift – Why Many Parishes Need to Reconsider When They Offer the Sacrament of Confession By: Msgr. Charles PopeAt tonight’s Chrism Mass, the Cardinal chose to focus his remarks to the more than 300 priests in attendance on the beauty of the Sacrament of Confession and the power of mercy. What a magnificent gift the Lord gave His Church through the ministry of priests, that we can hear His blessed words, I absolve you from your sins … go in peace.My mind goes back to a beautiful story of St. John Paul II and a certain bishop (not of...

CONFIRMATIONConfirmation was instituted by Christ Our redeemer . This Sacrament was then practiced by His Apostles who were the first Bishops of the Church. "But you shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto Me...and even to the uttermost part of the earth." The Acts 1:8 Confirmation is the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit and is usually administered by a Bishop, in accordance with the traditions of the Church. For it is the Bishops who have the fullness of Gifts from the Holy Spirit, the same and equal Gifts...

CONFESSION " Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained" - John 20:22"He that covers his sins shall not prosper; but whosoever confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy" - Prov 28:13 "My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto Him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me" - Josh 7:19   The Biblical TeachingThe Catholic Priest forgives sinners of their sins in the name of Jesus Christ, by the Authority given to priest...

BAPTISM[Prophecy] Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. - Ezekiel 36:25  Baptism is the First Sacrament, without it, no other sacrament can be validly received. The Old Covenant was entered into through circumcision; the New Covenant is entered into through Baptism. "Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of GOD...Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again of WATER AND THE HOLY GHOST, he cannot enter...

Featured Term selected at random:SACRAMENT OF PENANCE The sacrament that, by means of certain acts of the penitent and by the absolution of a qualified priest, remits sins committed after baptism. As defined by the Catholic Church, it is "truly and properly a sacrament, instituted by Christ our Lord, for reconciling the faithful to God as often as they fall into sin after baptism" (Denzinger 1701). The required acts of the penitent are contrition, confession, and the willingness to make satisfaction. These acts are called the matter of the sacrament. The priest's absolution is the form. The sacrament of penance...

There is something almost indiscriminate in the generosity of the Precious Blood. It appears not to regard the probabilities of its being used, or appreciated, or welcomed. It goes in floods through the seven mighty channels of the sacraments. It lies like a superincumbent ocean of sanctifying grace over the Church. Truly, the sacraments are an invention of love, yet are thy not also as truly a necessity for our salvation? Would not the divine assurance of our salvation be a very heaven begun on earth? Yet the Sacraments are the nearest approach to such an assurance as the love...

“Return of the Prodigal Son” (detail) by Murillo Have You Been Saved? In Acts 4, St. Peter delivers a powerful sermon. He concludes by saying, “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.”I have written before in these pages of the time when I was growing up in the southern part of the United States and how I would from time to time encounter young, protestant teens and adults who would excitedly take to the streets to witness for Christ.Now...

Will today be remembered as the first day that led to the Church’s prophesied schism? Quite likely yes. By many accounts people are waking up to see that the Family Synod of October 2014 is an officially Vatican-orchestrated work of manipulation. The mid-way report was released, October 13th, a day of great spiritual significance. This report has been called an “earthquake” by one Catholic reporter, and “one of the worst official documents drafted in Church history” by John Smeaton, co-founder of Voice of the Family. He went on to say: “We urge Catholics not to be complacent or give in...

As if we didn’t know it before, today we learned why the Secret Synod was conducted in secret, with the faithful not being permitted to see the texts of the participants’ addresses or even to know which bishop or cardinal was advancing which position. The Secret Synod was conducted in secret because evil advances in shadows. Many others, and not just traditionalists, have already expressed outrage over the disastrous “Relatio post disceptationem,” which appeared on the Vatican website today, October 13. This is the anniversary of Pope Leo’s vision of Satan’s attack on the Church (leading to his composition of...

If someone in Germany who is divorced and civilly remarried can receive Communion without being expected to change his lifestyle, why can’t someone in Africa who is “married” to two women do so as well?That’s the question that Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, the archbishop of Durban, South Africa, asked in a recent interview with Catholic News Service. Napier added that a better way forward for the Church than the recommendation made by the German Cardinal Walter Kasper is to recommend the traditional Christian practice of fortitude in the face of suffering; the carrying of the cross. “Jesus didn’t say ‘I want...

Catholic Church sources have dismissed rumors that Pope Francis is annoyed by an Ignatius Press book critical of Cardinal Walter Kasper’s position on Holy Communion for the divorced and remarried. The French Catholic newspaper La Croix said Sept. 17 that “a senior source close to the Argentine Pope” claimed that Pope Francis would be “annoyed by the publication of this collective work.” However, sources close to the Pope denied this claim, telling CNA that the Pope is not even aware of the book. The book, from Ignatius Press, is titled “Remaining in the Truth of Christ: Marriage and Communion in...

I begin with a piece, spotted by Fr Tim Finigan and reported in his indispensable blog The Hermeneutic of Continuity, which had been published in Sandro Magister’s blog—not his English one, Chiesa, but his Italian language blog for L’Espresso, Settimo Cielo.A few days ago, Magister told the story of a parish priest in the Italian diocese of Novara, Fr Tarcisio Vicario, who recently discussed the question of Holy Communion for the divorced and remarried. This is how he explained the Church’s teaching on the matter: “For the Church, which acts in the name of the Son of God, marriage...

Why We Should Go Back To the Traditional Reception of Holy CommunionThe Traditional Reception of Holy CommunionThroughout the history of the Catholic Faith specifically in the Roman Rite of the Mass, the reception of Holy Communion kneeling and on the tongue is the established tradition. This has been true for various centuries dating as far back as the Early Church. This is itself the tradition of the Church and is still the norm in the Extra-Ordinary form of the Mass. It was not until the ecclesiastical revolts and dissent during the 1960s and 1970s in which this tradition started falling...

Everyone has a church and everyone has an understanding of the marks of the church, of what makes their church the true church. For the Roman Catholic, the mark of the church is the pope. In his mind, if you don't have the pope, then you don't have the church as God instituted it. And so a faithful Catholic would get furious if his priest rejected papal supremacy, because doing so would stop the church in his midst from being what the church is and doing what it should do. For the Lutheran, the marks of the church are the...