One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic

Hey there, friends!   I know you’re just counting the hours until the infamous Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon kicks off this week.   (If you’re not excited, then you simply haven’t been paying attention.)   This will be a game-changer for the Church.   If you’re a “Modern Catholic” type, this will be the big break you’ve been waiting for:   by approving lady deacons, married clergy, “eco theology,” and generally tapping into native pagan wisdom, we will accomplish many wonderful things: We’ll save the environment, and Mother Gaia will surely thank us for We’ll end the oppression of women because lady deacons will open the door for lady priestesses. Having elder married shamans saying Mass will allow them to impart ancient lost earth-wisdom on us.   The Church has been off-track from the beginning, don’t you know, and a little mysterious Amazon spirit-healing is just what the (witch)doctor ordered! Why, I can feel ...

Excerpt from remarks delivered by Michael Matt at the Voice of the Family conference in Rome, 4 October 2019. "We need to defend the doctrine of the Papacy.  We have to make sure in our resistance that, in our resistance to one pope that we do not do incalculable damage to the Papacy itself."

For anyone who might happen to be following the events leading up to the Amazon Synod (and there might not be too many; we Catholics can be a pretty complacent lot at times), I offer the following statement made by Cardinal Burke and Bishop Athanasius Schneider on 24 September. ------------------------------------------------------- A clarification about the meaning of fidelity to the Supreme Pontiff No honest person can anymore deny the almost general doctrinal confusion which is reigning in the life of the Church in our days. This is particularly due to ambiguities regarding the indissolubility of marriage, which is being relativized through the practice of the admittance of persons cohabitating in irregular unions to Holy Communion, due to the increasing approval of homosexual acts, which are intrinsically contrary to nature and contrary to the revealed will of God, due to errors regarding the uniqueness of the Our Lord Jesus Christ and His redemptive work, which is bein...

It’s good that our Holy Father isn’t worried about an American schism, since there won’t be any. Hopefully, though, he’s keeping a close eye on the Germans. Reinhard Cardinal Marx, head of the German bishops’ conference, is planning to convene a two-year-long “binding synod,” in which certain influential laymen will be invited to participate. Its stated topics are a laundry list of progressive euphemisms: the “authority and separation of powers” (Gallicanism), “sexual morality” (legitimizing adultery and homosexuality), “the priestly mode of life” (abolishing clerical celibacy), and “women at the service of ecclesiastical offices” (female deacons, priests and bishops). In June, Pope Francis sent a letter rebuking his ally Marx and all the participating bishops, ordering them not to go ahead with the sham synod. Marx ignored the pontiff. Then, last week, the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops sent a letter to Marx informing him that the synod was “not ecclesiologically valid,” and th...

The forty days of prayer and fasting for the Pan-Amazon Synod have begun.  I'm curious to know: Are any of the readers/participants/casual browsers here at OHCA participating in this prayer event? To what extent (if any) were you aware of the recommendations and goals put forth in the synod's working paper (the Instrumentum Laboris )? Are there any particular provisions in the working paper which you find particularly disturbing, or any provisions which sound like good ideas which should be explored further and eventually adopted/implemented? Is the Pan-Amazon Synod, in your opinion, a big deal, or is it one of those things where the bishops and participants will do what's best for the Church, and everything will work out? I really would like to know your opinions on the matter.  If you think I'm being shrill and unnecessarily alarmist, tell me.   Take a few moments to think about this synod.   I implore you, my fellow Catholics and readers at OHCA, to join ...

J. R. R. Tolkien is for us Catholics what C. S. Lewis is for protestants: a master story teller who reveals the truths of the Faith through allegory and just darn good tales! In his works on Middle Earth (which are far vaster than The Hobbit and Ring Trilogy), there is the enduring theme of "the long defeat." During the course of this defeat which runs through thousands of years, there are tales of individual heroes who kept faith and were able to perform mighty deeds as a result. There's a lot of thoughtful comfort in his works to be found alongside the pure entertainment of it. I was delighted when Catholic apologist Matt Fradd posted an excerpt from The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (Houghton Mifflin, 1981). Here are some snippets, for those who enjoy snippet-browsing: ---------------------------------------------------- "You speak of 'sagging faith', however. That is quite another matter. In the last resort faith is an act of will, inspired by love. ...

As the crisis in the Church deepens to critical proportions, look to the example of St. John.  The Beloved Disciple had a winning game plan for he darkest day in human history.  We can follow the same strategy today.