Indifference and the Eucharist Do Not Mix – “As any decently catechized Catholic knows, reception of Holy Communion indicates full and public communion with the Church, which is the household of God (1 Tim 3:15), headed on earth by the successor of St. Peter (cf. Matt 16:16-20), and which is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.” A Eucharistic Potluck with Protestants (Catholic Answers)
A Catholic Majority – “As Democrats and others assess the fallout from last week’s red bombshell, they’re looking at surprises in the exit polls. Here’s one that shouldn’t be missed: The nation’s Catholic voters split 56 to 41 in favor of Donald Trump.” Why Catholics Voted for Trump (First Things)
Burning for God’s Peace – Augustine’s ‘Confessions’ is first and foremost a prayer to God. Indeed, unless we read it as a prayer, we will not understand it; we will only study it. Augustine’s “Confessions” Unpacked (The Imaginative Conservative)
Evils of Totalitarianism – “While the language of left and right suggests opposites, the martyrdom of Teresa Benedicta and Olympia reminds us that politics, whether left or right, end in the same place when straying too far from the laws of God and nature.” A Tale of Two Nuns Martyred Under Fascism & Communism (Providence)
Transparency and Accountability – “One month after an extraordinary attempt from the pope’s chief of staff to reinstate a laicized sexual abuser, questions remain about who in the Vatican did what in the case of Alberto Ariel Príncipi.” What we know about the Príncipi case, and why it’s a scandal (Pillar)
Harris’ Womanly Joy – “Harris made the fatal mistake of abandoning the one thing that even her worst enemies have to agree she had going for her: the ‘politics of joy.’ Opinion: Harris’ real error — not bros, not Biden, not the border
To Limit Abortion as President – “What do Catholics want Donald Trump to do? The answer is another seemingly impossible task. Catholic voters overwhelmingly want to protect pregnant mothers and their unborn … ” Why Trump Should Not Turn His Back on the Pro-Life Cause (National Review)
What Is Synodality? – “Pope Francis has made it clear from the outset that the real purpose of the Synod was to begin a process, to create a new understanding of what it means to be the Church, to usher in a new “synodal” approach to Catholicism.” The dangerous ‘spirit of synodality’ (Catholic Culture)
Fleeing X – “the new dance that all the hep-cat kids are doing is apparently ‘leaving twitter/X in a huff because trump won.’” leaving in a huff (Bad Cattitude – Substack)
A Peculiarly English Cult – “The camps were specifically designed to train young men from the most elite public (that is, extremely expensive and rather private) schools for leadership in the Anglican evangelical world.” The Fall of Archbishop Welby (First Things)
Light a Candle – As our Fall fades into winter and days grow shorter and darker, we should consider lighting candles more regularly. Embracing Candlelight in Darker Days (Theology of Home)
(*The posting of any particular news item or essay is not an endorsement of the content and perspective of said news item or essay.)
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Re: The Principi Case
Popesplainers everywhere need to read this article and understand what it is they’re defending.
The Bergoglian debacle is putrescent with the rankest corruption the Church has seen — for many centuries at least.
@ What is Synodality
We read: ” “Theological criteria and synodal methodologies for shared discernment of controversial doctrinal, pastoral, and ethical issue.”
QUESTION, “how do you expect to get there?”
ANSWER: “There is no ‘there,’ there!” Instead, contextualization…
Consider the fluid MENTALITY that all conceptualization are culturally limited and, indeed, that the notion of concepts is itself culturally limited, an artifact of the Greeks. And, obsolete. We might even expect that on the 1700th anniversary of Nicaea we will be “walking together” (with Leopold von Ranke!) toward the notion that even the Creed is more of a cultural artifact…contexted by its time, just as is the Second Vatican Council was contexted when it affirmed, also quaintly: “The Christian dispensation, therefore, as the new and definitive covenant, will never pass away, and we now await no further new public revelation before the glorious manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ (cf 1 Tim 6:14, Tit. 2:13)” (Dei Verbum, n. 4).
NOT definitive truth, divinely revealed, but only our contexted expressions separated by paradigm shifts? Not that the Creed will actually be abrogated, but rather modulated alongside other historical and culturally contexted expressions, or maybe continental assemblies. Like, say, Pachamama restored to a niche in St. Peter’s Basilica, or maybe like an in-sin-uated redefinition of natural law as in the half-blessing of “irregular” and anti-binary couples as “couples”? Or, a unisex priesthood?
NEXT YEAR in 2025 will amnesiac study groups signal that Nicaea was about consensus and inclusion, and not anamnesia (remembering) toward what is believed from the beginning? Not a clarified rejection (non-inclusion!) of today’s zeitgeist? With Jerome, will “the world groan and be astonished to find itself Arian”?
Synodality = NOT the 12 Apostles as the context, BUT now a different 12 (10 study groups + 2 Synods in 2023/2024). The contextual New Math: 12 = 12!
@ Indifference and the Eucharist Do Not Mix
Occasionally there’s a Catholic who believes the presence of Christ is symbolic, or seems to strain in the real presence when they say they believe. Ms Giordano, well meaning reinforces that lack of belief in the real presence largely due to poor catechesis.
Olson’s point is well made regarding this on the Protestant emphasis on Sola Scriptura. Although, even there, Christ did say This is my body. We need to emphasize that the bread becomes Christ.
@ What Is Synodality?
Lawler’s fears find justification in what already exists, a green light to the universal Church to fragment into a plethora of culturally localized discussion groups. Envisioned by Select Group 9 as a horizontal authority structured to be a Church for the people and of the people. A republic democratically structured was initiated here at home with the best of intentions, embedded with natural law principles and acknowledgment in God we trust. A similarity was the Christian mentality of our founding fathers. What should be the danger?
Christianity in its raw revelation was not embedded as a doctrine within our constitution. It took 200 years for the progressive opinion of an enlightened, free society to define the concept of Liberty realized in the freedom of the individual rather than as a self correcting natural law body. Theoretically the synodal Church has Christ’s revelation embedded in its bloodstream. Nevertheless that revelation is under constant review, subject to reinterpretation on the basis of correspondence with the world. Remove the seat of authority, the Petrine Chair, as the final judgment on beliefs and practices and reversible opinion becomes the acceptable rule.
Ironically, pope Francis has absorbed absolute judgment on the process, exerting power to permit a process that ultimately diminishes that power, to wit papal authority [when he leaves the scene]. Judgment will then rest with the opinion of the consensus and ultimately the individual. Inevitably, the outcome in the Church [or churches] will image what occurred in the US regarding moral practice. Synodality in effect is a recipe for a return to paganism.