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[Catholic Caucus] Pope Leo XIV: Catholics need to rediscover ‘sense of mystery’ in the liturgyPope Leo XIV's praise for the beauty and 'mystery' of the Eastern liturgy has given hope to Catholics that he might be more favorable to the traditional Mass than his predecessor.VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Praise from the pope for the beauty and “mystery” of the Eastern liturgy has given hope to Catholics that Leo XIV might be more favorable to the traditional Mass than his predecessor.In recent years, the long-standing so-called “liturgy wars” have become even more painful due to the sweeping and punitive restrictions placed...

[Catholic Caucus] Better death than devotion: Indiana Novus Ordo parish kicks out Latin Mass community, gets closed by bishop several years laterAn Indiana parish that ran to the National Catholic Reporter to stir up animosity against the Latin Mass community found out this week it will be closed due to lack of vitality.St. Joseph's Church, Hammond, INOn Sunday, the parish officially announced it would be closing sometime in 2026, following a series of discussions with other churches in the area over how to address demographic changes and a declining number of priests.Yet things could have gone so differently.St. Joseph’s Church...

“‘So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him’” (Matthew 6:8). We do not have to badger or cajole God to ensure that He will hear and answer our prayers or to convince Him that our requests are sincere. Prayer is more for our benefit than God’s, as Luther said, “By our praying … we are instructing ourselves more than we are him.” Our prayers, no matter how eloquent or earnest, can never really inform or persuade God. Our responsibility and privilege is simply to approach Him with sincerity, purpose, and true...

(Hymn at the link.) With everyone so urgent about who is Pope Leo XIV, we may want to pull back and think about who he will seem to be in a year, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, after his death, after the next Pope. When God sends the people a scourge because they dispise his blessings, and they are trying to understand why bad things are happening to supposedly good people, you can't just look at the punishment, you need to examine those who are the punished. The punishment for our faithlessness was a Dictator Pope who deliberately promoted...

“‘And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words’” (Matthew 6:7). If we’re honest, all of us have been guilty of repetitive prayers—before meals, at prayer meetings, before bed—with little or no thought to what we are saying or how God feels when He hears us do that. But such prayers are offensive to God and should be to us as well. We should understand, however, that Jesus here is not forbidding the repetition of genuine requests. In His parable of the midnight...

[Catholic Caucus] As a priest, Pope Leo XIV opposed the Western media’s pro-LGBT lies and promoted truthPope Leo XIV has understood what Pope Francis did not: it is precisely the hard teachings of the Gospel that draw people to salvation through Jesus Christ.While there are only a few recorded examples of Pope Leo XIV’s history with LGBTQ issues, his statements stand in stark contrast with those of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who early in his pontificate wondered aloud, “If a person is gay … who am I to judge?” He later allegedly told a young man, “God made you gay.”At...

“‘But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you’” (Matthew 6:6). Jesus’ primary instruction about prayer here is not about the location, but about our attitude in realizing that God constitutes our audience. If you go to a quiet, private place and shut everything else out as you pray, you’ll turn your focus from yourself and others and over to God exclusively. Jesus regularly got away to pray alone so He could have effective...

Religious people (whether it be the Jews of Christ’s day or the Christians of our own) are keenly aware of sin—often, this is what drives us to religion in the first place—but we often have a nasty habit of seeing sin more clearly in others than in ourselves. We heap curses and hellfire upon the prostitutes and tax collectors of our time, without giving serious consideration to the prostitutes and tax collectors of our own hearts. Prostitutes and tax collectors had one thing in common: they could not hide the fact that they were sinners. Everyone would notice the callers...

I ask you to look up. Look past the ceiling. Past the clouds. Past the stars that twinkle in the silence of night. And ask this question — not with your eyes, but with your soul: What is this universe?...

“‘They love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full’” (Matthew 6:5). In Jesus’ time, the synagogues were the likeliest and most appropriate places for sincere public praying. Devout Jews also offered many prayers on street corners, if that’s where they were at the appointed hour of prayer. But the word Jesus uses here indicates a major street, and therefore a major street corner where a bigger crowd would likely be. By inference the hypocrites were at...

Isn’t honoring Mary a Roman Catholic thing? This general ethos can cause Evangelicals to get particularly squeamish around the language of “theotokos” the Mother of God… In the garden of Eden, after Adam had disobeyed God and before he was forced out of the garden, God promised in Genesis 3:15 that a seed would come from the woman, who would crush the head of the Serpent, thereby turning back the curse and putting an end to the enmity between man and God. This Seed, therefore, would need to be a new Adam—a new head of a new human race, since...

By Dr. John BergsmaThis upcoming Lord’s Day is often known as “Good Shepherd Sunday,” since each year the Gospel reading is taken from John 10, the “Good Shepherd Discourse.” It’s also often observed as a day of prayer for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, since priests and religious are visible manifestations to us of Christ in his role as the Good Shepherd. Most of the Readings are tied together by a shepherding theme. 1. The First Reading continues the traditional Christian practice of reading Acts during the season of Easter. We are up to Acts 13, the point...

“‘When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full’” (Matthew 6:5). Over the centuries, various questionable practices and attitudes have affected the prayer life of God’s people—ritualization, prescription prayers, limitations of time and place, the love of long prayers, and meaningless repetitions. But the worst fault was when God’s people prayed mainly to be noticed by others, especially by fellow Jews. This fault was...

This recent Pew survey shows why the Catholic Church cannot be ‘synodal’A recent Pew survey showing that most self-identified US Catholics reject fundamental Church teaching shows plainly the danger of the Synod's redefinition of 'sensus fidei.'In his pre-conclave address to the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Joseph Zen spoke in dramatic terms about the Synod on Synodality:The electors of the next pope must be aware that he will bear the responsibility of either continuing this synodal process or decisively halting it. This is a matter of life or death for the Church founded by Jesus.Like Cardinals Burke, Sarah, and Müller, Cardinal...

Join us as we explore the topic of spirituality, specifically when it comes to demons and the Devil. Lucifer, an archangel created by God, also known as Satan, possesses remarkable power, yet it pales in comparison to the infinite power of his Creator God. Join Pastor Jack as he gives Biblical insights and opinions on the demonic spiritual realm, as well as what some denominations choose to talk and not talk about regarding this important topic. Video is 30:34 minutes long

“‘When you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you’” (Matthew 6:3–4). When you give as Jesus directs—lovingly, unpretentiously, and with no concern for public recognition—“your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” In other words, if you remember, God forgets; and if you forget, God still remembers. You should simply try to meet every need you can and leave the bookkeeping to Him. This kind...

Isaiah 53:10 "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand." John 12:27-28 "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. (28) Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." Luke 22:42-43 "Saying,...

Could Cardinal Prevost be the first American pope?Seemingly out of nowhere, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost is being discussed as a serious candidate in the upcoming conclave.Why this piece is important: Prevost is being seriously considered as a papal candidate—but questions surround his silence and his actions as Prefect for the Dicastery of Bishops. The big picture: Prevost has cooperated in advancing Francis’ agenda, facilitated the appointment of heterodox bishops throughout the world, and tacitly denied the traditional teaching on the episcopate. Flashpoint: He oversaw the deposition of the most conservative U.S. bishop (Strickland) and the appointment of a notorious liberal...

“‘When you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you’” (Matthew 6:3–4). Continuing from yesterday’s list of scriptural giving principles, four more come to mind. First, financial giving correlates to spiritual blessings. God will not entrust things of greater value to those who are not faithful with lesser things. Jesus asks, “If you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to...

Isaiah 59:1 "BEHOLD, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:" Psalm 138:3 "In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul." Daniel 9:21 "Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation." Psalm 27:9 "Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me...