Via the FB page for St. Joseph the Betrothed Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church: "A Divine Liturgy at the tomb of St. Peter in Rome celebrated by Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk to mark the beginning of the Great Fast."

A FB page for the Archbishop.


Greek Patriarch to Attend Papal Inaugural Mass for First Time Since 1054

"The Greek Orthodox patriarch will be accompanied by Ioannis Zizioulas, Metropolitan of Pergamon and co-president of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches. Also part of the delegation will be Tarassios, Orthodox Metropolitan of Argentina, and Gennadios, Orthodox Metropolitan of Italy."

Techniques of Icon and Wall Painting by Aidan Hart

May be somewhat difficult to obtain through Amazon US (there are some copies available) but it can also be purchased through Liturgy Training Publications in the U.S.

Gracewing

The Lynchpin of High Scholasticism: Hugh of St. Cher by Donald S. Prudlo

EWTN: Mass For The Inauguration Of The Pontificate Of Francis

Schedule:
Mass For The Inauguration Of The Pontificate Of Pope Francis
Tues. Mar. 19 at 3:30 AM ET, 6 PM ET, 12 PM ET
A Mass of Inauguration for the 266th Successor to St. Peter, Pope Francis.

The Brethren

"One Day in the Life of a Men's Monastery"

Chiesa: The Name of Francis, the Rule of St. Ignatius, and the Example of Jonah

His first homily.

Orthodox Marriage & Its Misunderstanding- By: Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev

Valaam, l'archipel des moines .

The news about the documentary was posted here. I don't see the version with the English subtitles though.

Bibliothèque de la Revue thomiste

Found out through Amazon.fr that the Dominicans of Toulouse are publishing theology treatises, including:
Michel Labourdette, Cours de théologie morale, Petit cours,
Tome 1 : morale fondamentale (2010)

Michel Labourdette, Cours de théologie morale, Petit cours,
Tome 2 : morale spéciale (2012)

Pope Francis

Unfortunately, Daylife is no longer available.



Rome Reports:
'Habemus Papam': Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio is the new Pope of the Catholic Church


New Pope greets the World Francis I


Francis I to faithful: pray for me, trust in me


Pope Francis: His First Words

Chiesa: The First Pope Named Francis
From 2002: Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Profession: Servant of the Servants of God

Vatican Insider:
Jorge Mario Bergoglio is the new Pope of the Catholic Church: Francis I
Photo Gallery

First Things
Ethika Politika

Zenit:
Cardinal Bergoglio Is the 267th Successor of St. Peter
A Profile
1st Words

Francis Has Spoken With Pope Emeritus
And Journalists to Be Among First to Have Papal Audience

Patriarch Sviatoslav: Newly elected Pope knows Ukrainian Catholic Church, its Liturgy and Spirituality

Pope Francis, Not Francis I

Byzantine, TX: Oriental Orthodox respond to John X of Antioch's overtures

What about the dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches?
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity: Dialogue with the Oriental Orthodox Churches
UK: Catholic-Oriental Orthodox book launch

Books by Hilarion Alfeyev

and published by St. Vladimir's Press - The Mystery of Faith, Orthodox Christianity Volume I: The History and Canonical Structure of the Orthodox Church, and Orthodox Christianity Volume II : Doctrine and Teaching of the Orthodox Church.

I finished editing this post on the question of whether sinners naturally love God more than themselves and published it - it's not a complete reflection, but it does reflect my thoughts at the time I started it.

Kiko Arguello Gives His Opinion

And who is paying attention to it? The followers...

Rome Reports


A student project:


Is the Neocatechumenal Way... Roman Catholic?

Less Than One Day to Go

Cardinals hold their last general congregation meeting before Conclave

More on Liturgical Postures

The removal of pews from Roman-rite churches would require the education of the faithful on what to do during the liturgy - ideally it would probably be concurrent with other changes in the liturgy, though I suppose the typical English OF liturgy could be implement this change - would standing enable people to realize how inadequate contemporary American liturgical music is? Or would we see more ridiculousness - clapping, stomping, swaying, and such?

Having attended the Anglican use liturgy at Our Lady of Atonement (which has incorpoated some "Eastern" elements into the texts?), it might be the case that the laity could adapt to a more "traditional" way of worship more easily, once the pews were removed. Which reminds me - isn't kneeling a rather traditional posture in the Roman rite? Would the laity be able to do so for along period of time without some sort of kneeler? Kneelers are conveniently built into the back of pews - without pews, would churches be willing to purchase prie-dieus? I personally do not like the use of carpeting inside churches - without pews and carpets, would the use of prayer rugs become acceptable? Or prayer knee pads? There is kneeling in the Byzantine rite, but it seems to be for shorter periods of time than in the Roman rite. There has been a movement by some Roman-rite liturgists and bishops to replace kneeling in the liturgy (particularly during the Eucharistic Prayer) with standing, though this has been resisted by those who are more "conservative" or "traditional" (and this preference is still protected by instructions from Rome). Standing by itself seems to be an insufficient acknowledgement of what takes place during the Eucharistic Prayer - and yet I've never heard anyone say that the faithful should bow or do any other external action - this may be done by some, out of some sort of instinctive awareness that they should do something more, or as an adapting of the observances they practice while kneeling, or because they are somewhat familiar with Eastern customs.

Long day in San Francisco; I attended the special liturgy at the National Shrine of St. Francis sponsored by Our Lady of Fatima Byzantine [Russian Catholic] Church. I was talking to one of the members of the parish, who is also originally a Roman-rite Catholic. I mentioned to him that one reform that very few Roman-rite Catholics talk about is the removal of pews from a temple. This change might be too radical, but I think it might be a start to a better appreciation of liturgical prayer and the importance of prayer posture to being attentive. It may not be as important as other reforms (a return to ad orientem), but it may be a way to re-start organic development of the Roman rite, with respect to the liturgical piety of the laity. (And I don't have a problem with Roman-rite Catholics learning or even borrowing something from Catholics of other liturgical rites.)

More on the question of the pope emeritus:
Notice of Danger: A Church with Two Popes
The imminent conclave will elect the new pontiff. But it will not dismiss the uncertainties about the role of the so-called "pope emeritus." A great canonist reveals the risks of this title. And of other ambiguities that surround it

Allergies!

Pravmir: Teaching Prayer to Children (mp3)

OCA: OCA Representative greeted by Patriarch Kirill

Vatican Insider: Patriarch Raï: The Conclave from a Middle Eastern perspective

Pravmir: Prayer is Our Life by Priest Emmanuel Stamatiou

Related:
Lent – an Intimate Journey to God. Lessons from the Sermon on the Mount

Patriarch Kirill's Letter to Pope Benedict XVI

Liturgia: Lettre du Patriarche de Moscou au Pape émérite

Zenit Coverage

Zenit: From Castel Gandolfo, Pope's Final Farewell
Pope's Address to Cardinals
'Motu Proprio' Apostolic Letter Regarding the Election of the Roman Pontiff

Chiesa: The Testament of the Wise Helmsman
The central passages of the last address of pope Joseph Ratzinger, Wednesday, February 27, 2013. "I no longer bear the authority of the office, but I remain within the enclosure of Saint Peter"

More:
Toward the Conclave. The Pressure on the Cardinals
Yesterday the vetoes of the governments. Today the onslaught of the media. The turbulent run-up to the election of the new pope

Vatican Diary / The last appointments before the departure
From Gänswein to Balestrero, passing through the IOR. An analysis of the appointments decided by Benedict XVI in the final phase of his pontificate. Not all of them were obligatory. Will they be a hindrance or a help to the future pope?

It's been a rather busy week; I haven't had the opportunity to look for videos of Benedict XVI's last two days in office.

Yesterday's Aquinas Lecture

The video is available online - Aquinas Lecture 2013: Fr. Augustine Thompson, OP "Baptismal Theology and Practice in the Age of St. Thomas Aquinas"

Liturgical Piety

Someone has uploaded Fr. Bouyer's Liturgical Piety to scribd.

More on Fr. Ashley

Sacred Page - OP official

Tonight

At the DSPT (7:30 P.M.): Aquinas Lecture 2013: Fr. Augustine Thompson, OP "Baptismal Theology and Practice in the Age of St. Thomas Aquinas"

I probably won't be going given the journey that it requires, but the event will be available livestream.

thomistica.net

More on Prayer from an Orthodox Perspective

Pravmir: The Holy Fathers on Prayer

Deacon = Servant [of Works of Charity]?

Internet Archive: November 2006 issue of the Pastoral Review: Deacons and the Servant Myth by Anthony Gooley

It is frequently argued that the distinctive character of deacons is that they are servants called to the charitable and social justice ministry of the Church. The belief that service is distinctive of deacons is the servant myth. It is based on a false reading of Acts 6 and it has consequences for the way in which the Church receives the ministry of deacons. Breaking down this myth is the first step in restoring an authentic diaconate in the life of the Church. Anthony Gooley is a deacon and Ministry Development Officer in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane, Australia.

A proper understanding of what the order of the diaconate is necessary to address the question of whether there can be "ordained" deaconesses or not.

If we take the Greek text, as it is reproduced in RSV, we are able to construct a better picture of what is really happening in Acts 6.1-7. The Greek speaking Christians are complaining that their widows are being neglected in the daily diakonia. In Acts the diakonia is the proclamation of the Gospel.3 They are neglected for two reasons, the Aramaic speaking Apostles predominantly concentrate their proclamation in the Temple and the widows, who cannot comprehend the language and for social reasons are mostly restricted to the home, are overlooked in this daily diakonia. The solution proposed by the Apostles and agreed to by the whole Church is to appoint seven from among the Greek speaking community to do that daily diakonia in the homes of the Greek widows or as the expression in the Greek has it, to minister tables.4 Both the Apostles and the Seven had been entrusted with the same diakonia which is to minister or proclaim the word. To underscore this interpretation we see that Stephen immediately commences to proclaim the Gospel to the point of giving witness with his life (Acts 6-7.50) and Philip commences his diakonia of the word in proclaiming the Gospel, catechising the Ethiopian and baptising (Acts 8). The laying on of hands becomes the concrete sign that the ministry entrusted to the Apostles is to be entrusted to the Seven. The one thing we do not see the Seven do is charitable works or distributing food or funds to the widows, in fact we do not see anyone in the New Testament with the title of diakonos engaged in a specifically charitable service activity. This should give us some clues as we address the servant myth.

Would we have needed the development of the mendicant orders and their emphasis on preaching if we have a living, energetic diaconate at the time?

Related:
International Theological Commission - From the Diakonia of Christ to the Diakonia of the Apostles (2002)

Unlocking Divine Action: Contemporary Science and Thomas Aquinas

DSPT: Book Launch: “Unlocking Divine Action: Contemporary Science and Thomas Aquinas” by Fr. Michael Dodds, OP - Tuesday, April 23, 7.30pm

CUA Press

Related:
The Nature of Scientific Explanation by Jude P. Dougherty

Fr. Ashley's last? book: Healing for Freedom: A Christian Perspective on Personhood and Psychotherapy by Benedict M. Ashley, OP

The Scale of Perfection by Walter Hilton

Currently on sale at Ignatius Press. (web edition)

I had not heard of him before...

THE SCALE OF PERFECTION: INTRODUCTION
Gloriana.nu
EWTN

CCEL

Pope Benedict's Final Angelus Address

Benedict XVI: I am not abandoning the Church (YT)

Último Ángelus Benedicto XVI - 24-02-2013
Ultimo ANGELUS di BENEDETTO XVI - VERSIONE INTEGRALE -
[HD] - Ultimo Angelus Del Papa 24022012 Last Angelus Pope

Pope Benedict XVI's farewell Angelus: I will never abandon the Church
Catholic World Report
Zenit: On the Transfiguration
The Lord is Calling me to Scale the Mountain,

Pope's last Angelus: I will not abandon the Church. I will serve in a different way
Saying Farewell to Benedict XVI in his last Angelus

Related: Benedict XVI: A Brief Theological Appreciation
Pope's Address At Conclusion of Lenten Spiritual Exercises

Fr. Benedict Ashley, O.P. Has Passed.Into Eternity

Notice from Communio.

Requiescat in pace.

When Fr. William Wallace meets His Creator and Savior, who will be left to represent the River Forest School?

I didn't know Fr. Ashley had written an autobiography.

More:
How the Great Books seminar turned a radical poet into a philosopher and priest. by Benjamin Recchie, AB’03 (Ordo Praedicatorum)

The Dominicans
St. Catherine and Contemporary Spirituality

The Dominican Friars of the Province of St. Albert the Great
Aquinas Institute

Related:
Credo: Timothy Danaher finds rich rewards in austere monastic life

Less Than a Week to Go

Rome Reports: Benedict XVI finishes spiritual exercises, enters last phase of pontificate


Pope Benedict changes rituals for new pope's inauguration

Bishop Emeritus of Rome

Rome Reports: Top ranking cardinal reveals future title for Benedict XVI

Zenit: Pope's Reflection on Vatican II

Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4

Book Collects Ratzinger 'Communio' Articles

More from Crisis on Benedict XVI

Benedict’s Intellectual Mentors and Students by Tracey Rowland
The Strange World of Garry Wills by Tom Piatak
Will the Next Pope Oppose the “Dictatorship of Relativism” as Fiercely as Benedict? by Dr. William Oddie

Metropolitan Hilarion Interview

in which he discusses the abdication of Pope Benedict XVI.

MosPat: Metropolitan Hilarion’s interview with the Vesti v Subbotu (News on Saturday)

The metropolitan's remarks make for a contrast with the pleas by Roberto de Mattei and Enrico Maria Radaelli - Last-Ditch Appeal: The Pope Should Withdraw His Resignation. The two traditionalists seem to have a very "high" conception of the office of the pope, but I wonder if their conception is really warranted by Sacred Tradition, or if it is tied to a brand of ultramontanism.

Two from Ethika Politika

Monks Still Matter by J. L. Liedl
With Love as Our Byword: Ecumenism, Asceticism, and the Common Good by Dylan Pahman

Tracey Roland on the Pontificate of Benedict XVI

The Pope and the Philistines by Tracey Rowland
Benedict XVI’s papacy has been one of imagination and urbanity hampered by bureaucracy

A Piece on David Schindler

Philosopher of Love by Jeremy Beer
David Schindler has a remedy for the religious right

For the orthodox Christian, is doing one’s public duty more or less reducible to voting for the most socially conservative Republican on the ballot—and then shutting up about whatever misgivings one might have? Surely not. Yet for many election cycles, this has been often implied by the self-appointed guardians of practicality and political realism. It is even increasingly heard from the pulpit.

The assumptions that lurk behind this idea are that when it comes to ordering public life, modern liberal democracy in its best sense has things basically right. America rightly understood is the highest exemplar of this kind of liberalism. And the Republican Party is our best reasonable hope for defending this liberalism’s political, economic, and cultural accomplishments from its enemies. To question these assumptions is to be naïve or—a favorite epithet—utopian.

Is it truly the case...

that Latin theology has been deficient in comparison to Eastern theology with respect to the Holy Spirit (until, maybe, rather recently)? Were the medieval theologians, both the scholastics and the monastics, lacking with respect to Pneumatology? How good, then, is Yves Congar's I Believe in the Holy Spirit?

How about the place of the Holy Spirit in the Roman-rite liturgy, which is said to be more Christocentric than the othe rites of the Church given its antiquity? (I believe this is the thesis established by Fr. Jungmann.) In contrast, could it be said that the Byzantine rite is more "Trinitarian" (or, perhaps, it gives attention or invokes both Christ and the Holy Spirit in the worship of the Father)?

Is it possible for the Roman rite to "organically" develop in such a way that it retains the Christocentric texts for certain parts of the liturgy while other texts are added or emphasized in order to draw our attention to the work of the Holy Spirit in the liturgy? (I am thinking beyond the addition of a [quasi-]epiclesis to Roman rite.)

Related:
Fr. Hunwicke: The epiclesis of the Roman Rite
Fr. Z: QUAERITUR: Epiclesis in the Roman Canon
Hogardelamadre
Discussion at the Byzantine Forum.

Orientale Lumen XVI

Someone alerted me to the fact that the audio files for Orientale Lumen XVI are available. The theme of the conference was "Theology of the Laity."

Metropolitan Kallistos Ware - What is Prayer?

From 2009 - not sure if the content is similar to his first lecture from this past weekend.

Pravmir: The Struggle of Prayer – a Short Practical Guide by Fr. Vasile Tudora

Ordering Love: Liberal Societies and the Memory of God by David L. Schindler (via The Imaginative Conservative)

Related: America's Technological Ontology and the Gift of the Given (pdf)

Sandro Magister Guesses

Who Will Take Up the Keys of Peter

Related:
The War of the Two Councils: The True and the False
Pope Benedict's last great master class: Vatican II, as I saw it [full text]

Fr. Lev Gillet, The Jesus Prayer

@ Myriobiblos

Making Headway in Ecumenical Dialogue

At this point in time, would the Orthodox be willing to undertake a systematic analysis of their understanding of the offices of the bishop, metropolitan, and patriarch with the science of politics, or the study of constitutions, authority, rights and powers, and so on, as a tool? What of consent and the delegation of authority (and the question of whether such a delegation can be withdrawn - perhaps not individually but through collective action)?

To end the discussion by appealing to the canons does not seem to work, if the canons are instances of human positive law and not divinely instituted law?

A Precursor to His Work on the Russian Orthodox Catechism?

The book stand operated by HVC Bookstore had this title on display: The Mystery of Faith by Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev. I will pick up a copy eventually.

Orthodoxy and the Roman Papacy

Started reading Adam A. J. DeVille's Orthodoxy and the Roman Papacy: Ut Unum Sint and the Prospects of East-West Unity today - it's been quite good so far, question-provoking and containing a lot of references to other works on the subject of the papacy and the patriarchal office. There is a review by William Tighe of the book for NOR here.

If the office of patriarch and such constituted through human positive law? Tighe's review makes note of an important distinction between the office of patriarch and the primacy of the bishop of Rome in the Church Universal.

A Manufactured Crisis?

From The Impossible "Road Map" of Peace with the Lefebvrists (via Pertinacious Papist and Rorate Caeli):

Fr. Barsotti wrote:

"I am perplexed with regard to the Council: the plethora of documents, their length, often their language, these frightened me. They are documents that bear witness to a purely human assurance more than two a simple firmness of faith. But above all I am outraged by the behavior of the theologians.”

"The Council is the supreme exercise of the magisterium, and is justified only by a supreme necessity. Could not the fearful gravity of the present situation of the Church stem precisely from the foolishness of having wanted to provoke and tempt the Lord? Was there the desire, perhaps, to constrain God to speak when there was not this supreme necessity? Is that the way it is? In order to justify a Council that presumed to renew all things, it had to be affirmed that everything was going poorly, something that is done constantly, if not by the episcopate then by the theologians.”

"Nothing seems to me more grave, contrary to the holiness of God, than the presumption of clerics who believe, with a pride that is purely diabolical, that they can manipulate the truth, who presume to renew the Church and to save the world without renewing themselves. In all the history of the Church nothing is comparable to the latest Council, at which the Catholic episcopate believed that it could renew all things by obeying nothing other than its own pride, without the effort of holiness, in such open opposition to the law of the gospel that it requires us to believe how the humanity of Christ was the instrument of the omnipotence of the love that saves, in his death.”

I think Fr. Barsotti may have just been musing, but if he was dead set in his judgment, he may have been wrong. The pre-conciliar Church may have been in bad shape after all, a decline that first began with the rise of the modern nation-state and nationalism. In the struggle between the Church and the state [at first nominally Christian but progressively secular], the Church has been losing? What is the nature of the defeat, and how did it happen? I will leave that speculation for a future post. What if the theses of the Constantinian Church/Constantinianism/Constaninian shift are not wholly wrong? The overlap between civil society and the Church was bound to lead to problems as the different authorities, temporal and ecclesial, came into conflict. The questions of the nature of each authority and their limits must be constantly revisited and rethought, and there is no guarantee that the answers of the virtuous and wise will prevail.

But Fr. Barsotti may be right to think that some thought they could renew the Church without first renewing themselves and focusing on their duties. Or they thought they could accomplish it by merely being academics and advocates, rather than as saints and true sons of the Church.

Related:
Robert Louis Wilken, In Defense of Constantine

Holy Resurrection Monastery Videos

Link More videos.

Fr. Rutler on Pope Benedict XVI's Decision

Benedict's Decision in the Light of Eternity(via Fr. Z)

More on Pope Benedict XVI

Dominicana: The Empty Chair, by Br. Henry Stephan, O.P.
Media Madness About Catholicism
Pope Benedict XVI's Musical Legacy by Jeffrey Tucker
The Debate Over the Council Continues and Quo Vadis?: The New Liturgical Movement Post-Benedict XVI by Shawn Tribe
Benedict: Last of the Heroic Generation by R. R Reno
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on Benedict
Papal Resignations by Kevin White
Benedict XVI's Last Days
The Meaning of the Pope's Gesture
Nemi: Benedict XVI’s fond memories of Vatican II
Benedict XVI’s resignation is a first for Canon Law
The Radical Return to Ratzinger by Sean Fitzpatrick



After a surprising abdication, an examination of Pope Benedict XVI's legacy
The Cycle hosts, Father Robert Barron, and NBC’s Claudio Lavanga talk about the pope’s abdication and the process of selecting his successor.

Fr. Robert Barron on the Next Pope

Key players in the conclave to choose the next Pope

Dcn. Andrei Psarev Interviews Fr. Robert Taft, S.J.

Are You Part of the Problem, or Are You Part of the Solution? An Interview with Fr. Robert Taft

Interesting:

I have tried to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. My latest paper that I will be giving at the North American Academy of Liturgy congress is an attempt, an ecumenical attempt to reconcile the Catholic and Orthodox views of the consecration of the Holy Eucharist. I try to show that both of these are different expressions of a system and are truly reconcilable, and I give the evidence for that. I’m a bridge builder.

I hope this paper becomes available online.

Pope Benedict XVI Resigns [Abdicates]

Pope announces he will be stepping down citing lack of strength
What was the cardinals' reaction to the Pope's announcement?
What will the Pope do when he is no longer Pope?
Sandro Magister

Archimandrite Irenei on the State of Orthodox Theology in America

Ancient Faith Radio: Orthodox Theology in America Today with Archimandrite Irenei (Steenberg) (mp3)

Fr. Irenei will be giving a talk at next weekend's symposium.

"Emotion and Virtue in Thomas Aquinas," by Fr. Nicholas Lombardo

Lumen Christi Institute

EWTN: Today's Homily 2013-01-30 - Fr Brian Mullady OP

Father was on EWTN Live this week.

"Thomas Aquinas on God and Evil," with Brian Davies, Denys Turner, Michael Kremer

Lumen Christi Institute

Dumbarton Oaks: The New Testament in Byzantium

2013 Byzantine Studies Symposium, April 26-28, 2013, Symposiarchs: Robert S. Nelson, Yale University and Derek Krueger, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Pravmir: China, Japan officially added to list of canonical territory of Russian Orthodox Church

I suppose the Nestorians aren't around to defend their claims, and Roman claims do not matter, either. Any dispute would be between Orthodox churches. A brief note at Byzantine, Texas.

Ordo Praedicatorum: Fr. Peter John Cameron Keynote Address

“The Catholic Roots of Religious Freedom,” by Robert Wilken

Lumen Christi Institute

“Newman, Vatican II, and the Hermeneutic of Continuity,” by Ian Ker

Lumen Christi Intstitute
http://player.vimeo.com/video/41242037

Chiesa: Between Rome and Dakar, the Machiavellianisms of Sant'Egidio

Summer 2013 Lumen Christi Institute Graduate Seminar with Russell Hittinger

Catholic Social Thought: A Critical Investigation
August 5-9, 2013
, University of California, Berkeley


More Graduate Seminars in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition.

Thomistic Institute Summer 2013 Conference

Dominicans and the Renewal of Thomism - July 1-5, 2013

Pacem in Terris

A conference last year -

Tu Weiming

Website.
Philosophy Now interview.

He is no longer director of the Harvard-Yenching Institute. I see that he was giving some public lectures last year at Stanford. I missed out... but some vidoes are available below.





Confucian Humanism as Spiritual Exercise
Confucian Humanism as Scholarly Inquiry

Marek Jeziorek has some more videos of Professor Tu.

In a documentary by Bill Moyers -

Parts 2 and 3.

Homi Bhabha hosts Tu Weiming (杜维明) on 2010-04-07 at Harvard Humanities Center

Dr. Hittinger for the Lumen Christi Institute

VIDEO NOW AVAILABLE: "Benedict's Teaching for Dark Ages, His and Ours," by Russell Hittinger

Fr. Joseph Kenny, O.P., RIP

The Living Bread from Heaven

Nagel on Scientific Materialism

Is Scientific Materialism “Almost Certainly False”? by John Horgan

A review of Thomas Nagel's Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature Is Almost Certainly False.

Edward Feser has a series of posts on critics of Nagel; unfortunately he has not labelled his posts.


Related:

A Historical Survey of Liturgical Praxis in the Latin West

by a historian who has written about St. Thomas More, James Monti - A Sense of the Sacred: Roman Catholic Worship in the Middle Ages.

TAC: College Unveils Renderings of New Building, St. Gladys Hall

English Translation of Roberto de Mattei's Book Now Available

Loreto Publications

SPIRITUAL WAVES || Documentary about the Restoration of Jordanville

Related:
Ordination of Father Philosoph to Priesthood at Holy Trinity Monastery

Dr. Demetrios Katos on the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom

OCN (mp3)

Divine Adoption

Zenit: ON GOD THE ALMIGHTY FATHER
"Despite the Crisis of Fatherhood in Many Societies, the Scriptures Show us Clearly what it Means to Call God 'Father'"

On the Lord’s Prayer
By Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh (+2003)

News.Va: Ukrainian eparch reflects on New Evangelization

Fr. Sherwin's Lecture at TAC

“Virtue, Ethics, and the Christian Life: Thomistic Reflections”

Remembering Ralph McInerny by Christopher Kaczor (via TAC)

Rome Reports: Latin, the most modern dead language in the world

For the Feast of St. Thomas

Whether St. Thomas is Boring? by Br. Raymund Snyder, O.P.

The New Definition of Common Good, Again

Begun on January 17.

How often does it need to be repeated and referenced, before it is established in the minds of Catholics as being of Tradition? As it stands, is the definition currently in vogue sufficiently precise? What is a necessary social condition and what is ideal or desirable but not necessary?

Zenit: NOTE ON THE CATHOLIC CHURCH'S FREEDOM OF INSTITUTIONAL AUTONOMY

Given by the Permanent Representation of the Holy See to the Council of Europe regarding the Catholic Church's freedom and institutional autonomy.

1. The distinction between the Church and the political community
The Church recognizes the distinction between the Church and the political community, each of which has distinct ends; the Church is in no way confused with the political community and is not bound to any political system. The political community must see to the common good and ensure that citizens can lead a "calm and peaceful life" in this world. The Church recognizes that it is in the political community that the most complete realization of the common good is to be found (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1910); this is to be understood as "the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or individuals, to reach their fulfilment more fully and more easily" (ibid., n. 1906). It is the State’s task to defend it and ensure the cohesion, unity and organization of society in order that the common good may be realized with the contribution of all citizens and that the material, cultural, moral and spiritual goods necessary for a truly human existence may be made accessible to everyone. The Church, for her part, was founded in order to lead the faithful to their eternal end by means of her teaching, sacraments, prayer and laws.

Returning to the exposition given in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, it is stated that the common good is not "the simple sum of the particular[private?] goods of each subject of a social entity." Rather, "belonging to everyone and to each person, it is and remains 'common', because it is indivisible and because only together is it possible to attain it, increase it and safeguard its effectiveness, with regard also to the future." What, then, is it, if it belongs to each person and not common in praedicando? "The common good, in fact, can be understood as the social and community dimension of the moral good." Para 165 continues this line of thought. As stated before, the latter development is quite in harmony with Thomistic (traditional?) teaching on the common good.

It is still not clear to me if the first (or instrumental) sense can be harmonized with the second (or holistic) sense given in the Compendium. If the social or community dimension of the moral good is identical to the fulfillment of people as a group (specifically as the political community), then how can it be identical to the social conditions which enable it to be brought about? This confusion needs to be resolved - otherwise, devout Catholics who seek to talk about the common good may be doing so erroneously.

End of Christian Unity Week

Rome Reports: Benedict XVI meets with Oriental Orthodox Church leaders


Benedict XVI: Ecumenism requires a personal conversion to heal past wounds


Zenit: Papal Address to Orthodox-Catholic Commission
"All Christians need to work together in mutual acceptance and trust"

Medievalists.net: Ordering the medieval past : England and the continent compared

Pravmir: The Great Fathers of the Fourth Century and Their Significance for Us Today by Fr. John Nankivell

C21's issue on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition

here (via Mirror of Justice)

Enough for some to repudiate the use of that term?

BC's The Church in the 21st Century Center hasn't gone out of business yet. C21 videos.

Other Speakers for the Upcoming Saints Cyril and Athanasius of Alexandria Symposia

Information on our Symposia Speakers and Titles

Interview with Iconographer Marek Czarnecki

Seraphic Restorations

Rome Reports: Vatican sends proposal letter to Lefebvrians

Ethika Politika: Filling the Holes in the Swiss-Cheese Theory of Natural Law By Michael W. Hannon

The Beautiful and Efficient Anatomy of Pregnancy

Byzantine-rite Liturgy of the Hours

Thread at Byz Cath. Eastern Christian Publications - Let Us Pray to the Lord.

Rorate Caeli: Di Noia's letter - full text in French

(Some background info: Di Noia sends letter to SSPX priests - via Menzingen)