Annulments and the Catholic Church

Our Sunday Visitor had an article on “Top 10 Annulment Myths.” It provoked this response from Bai Macfarlane (divorced in scandalous fashion by her Catholic celebrity husband, Bud). For more about Bai and her struggle to save her own marriage and the marriages of others, see Mary’s Advocates.

There Be Dragons

I don’t care what the critics say … I liked “There Be Dragons.” As in “The Mission,” Joffe juxtaposes two contrasting characters. He portrays men of faith (Fr. Gabriel in “The Mission” and Josemaria Escriva, here) sympathetically, without Hollywood cynicism. He may not be a believer, but he creates believable stories in which people of…

Another Marian Dogma?

Inside the Vatican magazine and Thomas More College are sponsoring a forum on Mariology, addressing the question of whether the Catholic church should proclaim a fifth Marian dogma, namely, that she is Co-redemptrix and Mediatrix of all graces. Presently, the Church has proclaimed four dogmas regarding the Mother of Jesus: (1) her maternal role in…

Kennedy’s Houston Speech After 50 Years

It was fifty years ago this September that John F. Kennedy spoke to some ministers in Houston: I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for…

What’s a Megachurch?

Is it just a large church? Not according to Hartford Seminary researchers. To them, a megachurch has to be Protestant. And it has to meet these other criteria: … strong charismatic senior ministers, many associate pastors, large staff, robust congregational identity that empowers 100’s to 1000’s of weekly volunteers, an identity that draws people from…

Dale Fushek

One of the most read posts on this blog each week is one I wrote over two years ago about Dale Fushek, the founder of the Catholic youth program, LifeTeen. He was removed from ministry because of accusations of sexual misconduct, but started his own quasi-church. This led to his excommunication and, this week, his…

Catholic Charities and USCCB Office Abetted Abortion

Rod Dreher links to Washington Times report: Federal authorities are investigating the actions of a Catholic charity in Richmond which helped a 16-year-old Guatemalan girl to receive an abortion in January, in possible violation of Virginia law. Officials have called the matter to the attention of U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) headquarters in Washington,…

Nothing to Hide

Russell Shaw has a new book: Nothing to Hide: Secrecy, Communication and Communion in the Catholic Church. A former communications director for the US Catholic Bishops, he is appalled at the culture of secrecy in the Catholic church, and the harm it has done.

Catholicism and the Bible

RNS has a story about the upcoming Synod of Bishops, noting that the synod’s Instrumentum Laboris, or “working document,” warns against literal understanding of the Bible. The section in question is quoting the 1994 document, “The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church.” Here’s a longer selection than what is in either the Instrumentum laboris…

Corpus Christi

Today in the Catholic calendar is Corpus Christi, the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ–a day established to honor the Catholic church’s dogma of transubstantiation, the teaching that “by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the…

The Push For a New Marian Dogma

For some years now, some Catholics have been pushing to get the pope to declare a new Marian dogma, that she is “mediatrix of all graces” and “co-redemptrix.” Mark Miravalle of the Franciscan University of Steubenville is one of the most vocal proponents of this. In January, five cardinals wrote to Pope Benedict XVI and…

When Catholic Laity Complain

Rod Dreher tells the story of a Catholic layman in Dallas who complained about a priest to then coadjutor bishop Joseph Galante. The layman, Steve Sandifer (a lawyer), had recently been received into the Catholic church by Fr. Art Mallinson. He learned that Mallinson was involved in a ring of homosexual priests. The story Rod…

Priest Files Restraining Order against Autistic Teen

A priest in Minnesota has filed a restraining order against a 13-year-old boy and his parents, to forbid them from attending mass at their parish. The boy has autism. Though 13, he’s 6 feet tall and weighs 225. The Races and their five children typically sat in either the church’s cry room or in the…

Clerical Narcissism

Rod Dreher has a chat with a former Catholic priest about attitudes. The former priest thinks that the Catholic problem is not so much clericalism as it is narcissism. The latter is the “underlying pathology,” which is supported and nurtured by clericalism. Lots of examples given, like Bishop Kevin Farrell’s purchase of a $1.3 million…

More Indulgences

In commemoration of a year devoted to St. Paul, the Vatican is offering special indulgences. “All Christian faithful – truly repentant, duly purified by the Sacrament of Penance and restored with Holy Communion – who undertake a pious visit in the form of a pilgrimage to the papal basilica of St. Paul on Rome’s Via…

Gone to Canossa

Catholic Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas has made public what he calls a “pastoral action,” telling Gov. Kathleen Sebelius that she is not to present herself for communion. This action is taken as a quid pro quo for her recent veto of a piece of legislation the Bishop favored. News report.…

Teflon Bishops

Amy Welborn reviews Phil Lawler’s book, The Faithful Departed, on the sexual abuse scandal in Boston. She also mentions a documentary, “The Sermons of Sister Jane,” about a nun’s efforts to bring to light sexual misconduct by Bishop Patrick Ziemann. A related story: John Allen looks at the question of why the Vatican is soft…

A Cardinal Accused

Richard Sipe has written a letter to Pope Benedict XVI accusing Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of preying upon seminarians and young priests. This sexual aberration is not generated from the bottom up—that is only from unsuitable candidates—but from the top down—that is from the sexual behaviors of superiors, even bishops and cardinals. The problem facing us…

USCCB Priorities

It’s useful to read not just what the pope said to US Catholics and politicians, but to read what they said to him. For example, here’s how Cardinal George outlined the priorities of the USCCB: The episcopal conference has recently identified the strengthening of marriage and of family life as one of five priorities for…