Creeping Towards Schism?

Rod Dreher: Is US Orthodoxy Going Pro-Gay?

Dionisius the Wise

Liturgical Colors

Good Advice?

Co-Redemptrix?

Sandro Magister: The Revolution of Francis Doesn’t Even Spare Our Lady. Here’s What He Would Make of Her

Mary as Co-Redemptrix: God’s Foolishness by Christopher Malloy

St. Peter in Rome

The Point of a Fast

Sure to Scandalize Some

Andrei Rublev

Interview with Peter Bouteneff

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

The Genealogy of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Changing or Updating the Roman Canon?

The unilateral decision by the bishop of Rome for all of his patriarchate, without consultation with the bishops of his patriarchate, an the endorsement of the development in Latin piety towards St. Joseph. Did St. John the Baptist ever hold second place to the Theotokos in the Roman tradition?

From 2013: “With Blessed Joseph, Her Spouse”

Archpriest Sergy Baranov on Prayer

“When Christ Comes, Questions Disappear.” Part 1
A talk on acquiring a taste for prayer

Part 2

Reading the Old Testament

Music of the Mozarabic Rite

NLM

Theophanes the Greek

More Drama in Rome?

Sandro Magister: The Pope's Latest Speech To the Cardinals Has a Backstory. That Was Supposed To Stay Secret

A Latin Essay, Through and Through

From content to its sources of authority. But still worth a read.

Fatima to Vatican II: Mary, ‘Mother of the Church’ and Our Loving Mother by Matthew Tsakanikas, STD
Called to be the God-bearer, Mother to the Head of the Church, Mary was commissioned and called implicitly to be mother of every member born of the virginal womb of the Church in baptism.

The Gift of God

The Gift of God: Preparing for the Nativity of the Lord from God With Us Online on Vimeo.

Byzantine Advent

Language as a Proof for God's Existence

The O Antiphons

Joseph Ratzinger on the Meaning of Christmas

The undefeated light: Joseph Ratzinger on the true meaning of Christmas

The Gift of God

Questionable Biblical Anthropology?

Rorate Caeli: On Pontifical Biblical Commission document and homosexuality, better not to rush to judgment

Some Posts from NLM

Charle Marge

David Clayton on One of Feingold's Books

The Septuagint

Holy Barbara

Theotokos of the Sign

Don't Be an Accidental Iconoclast

Byzantine chant (Cyprus)

The Book of Psalms

Ratzinger on the ITC

Sandro Magister: From Ratzinger’s Diary, Deeds and Misdeeds of the International Theological Commission

Eastern Christian Publications: Updated: Nicholas Denysenko on His Superb New and now Award-Winning Book

Eastern Christian Publications: Updated: Nicholas Denysenko on His Superb New and now Award-Winning Book

Not Getting It

Latin traditionalists still failing to grasp that the problem is not Vatican I or Vatican II or even the Council of Florence; it is Latin ecclesiology concerning the primacy of the bishop of Rome, as Latin pretensions concerning the primacy of the bishop of Rome arguably go back to the first millenium. Did any other Apostolic Church accept them? Would it have even made sense for them to, in an age of limited communication and an already multiethnic and multicultural Church? Perhaps the claim could have been sustained when the whole Church still understood and spoke Greek, including the bishop of Rome, but once that linguistic unity passed? How could the bishop of Rome possibly be competent to teach Christianity in any other language except his own? No man can be fluent in every single human language, and there is no special divine gift or charism that makes the bishop of Rome such a panglot.

What sort of rationalist apologetics for such an exaggerated notion of primacy can Latins pull out of their hats now?

1P5: The Second Vatican Council Is Now Far Spent by Peter Kwasniewski

What Is the End of Political Life?

CWR: Thomism and Political Liberalism, Part 3 by Joseph G. Trabbic
St. Thomas says that “the whole of political life seems to be ordered to contemplative happiness.” What would a life ordered to divine contemplation look like? And how would politics support it?

A take on this comment.

Is Thomism too rationalist in its conception of eudaimonia? More and more I think that it is unsatisfying, as it is usually presented, and perhaps Pinckaers' modification may not be sufficient. A political life should have sufficient members and organized in such a way that it makes a local ecclesia possible, including the selection of men to become presbyters/episkopos to minister the Holy Mysteries. Through the Holy Mysteries and the Christian life is the ultimate end attained, the encounter of God and man in love, and this Christian life includes prayer and "contemplation." While the
he political community is ordered to human happiness, which according to Christianity is supernatural, a Divine gift of friendship with God, its immediate end is political friendship, and it is on this point primarily that liberalism, which serves the state and statism, differs from Aristotelianism and arguably Thomistic political theology. It is also a first principles that is obscured in Roman Catholic social teaching, written mostly or wholly by men who have no experience living in an authentic political community. It is because of this that RC social doctrine is easily exploited to serve the purposes of the state, and I expect more to be written about obedience to the secular authority in the future.

50 Years of the Pauline Reform

NLM

[Active] Participation

NLM

What is done in the liturgy is done by Christ, not by us. For the liturgy is the worship offered by Christ in His Church through the power of the Holy Spirit to God the Father. It is not something primarily that we do. We certainly, by right of our baptism, are able to participate in that offering. Indeed, it is our baptismal duty to do so to the best of our ability and according to our particular vocation. But the liturgy is first and foremost Christ acting in the world today through the rites of His Church. Because of this, through this, we are able to share in His saving acts—the Redemption He wrought for our sins on the cross, and the hope of eternal life made manifest in His glorious resurrection. In short, the sacred liturgy is Christ’s saving action in our world today. ...

The understanding that the liturgy is an action, not a text, and indeed that it is first and foremost the action of Christ Himself, is crucial if I am to participate in any liturgical rite, if I am truly to engage consciously and actually in that action, if I am in fact to pray the sacred liturgy. Otherwise I shall be a mere spectator, possibly a bored one, or maybe even a well-entertained one. But the liturgy is not a spectacle or entertainment to be watched. It is an action in which I must be engaged. It is worship. And it is prayer. ...

Therefore praying the liturgy, which is simply true or actual (sometimes called ‘active’) participation in the liturgy, is not so much saying the right words, ‘making the responses’ or ‘joining in the singing’ (these are means, not ends) as it is immersing myself in, losing myself in, allowing myself to be caught up in, the action of the liturgy.”

What is it to immerse one's self or to be caught up in the action of the liturgy if there is no act on my part? Is it simply comprehension and the proper will act? On the other hand, does this not undermine the traditionalist case against the reform if the main or essential acts of participation are to be found in the intellect and will? So long as these are present, what difference does it make if one says the "right words" or "makes the responses" or uses the EF? And who is to say that the subjective experience of the typical participant in the OF, in the vernacular and with contemporary worship music, cannot be ordered by these essential of participation? If those fundamental acts are present and sustained, then what difference do the means make? Would Reid argue that the some means are more proportioned to the end?

More importantly, what are these fundamental acts, if not the Son's knowledge and love of the Father, in which we participate thanks to Baptism and Confirmation/Chrismation? And is worship to be identified with these acts? A Thomist might respond that worship or prayer are acts of religio, not acts of the theological virtues but acts ordered by the theological virtues. I wouldn't disagree with that, though I would emphasize that Christian worship, our participation in the Son's praise of and thanksgiving to the Father, are secondary acts motivated by filial knowledge and love of the Father, and so Reid is incorrect on this point. However, if he does argue that the texts, singing, etc. are important in so far as they serve these secondary and some forms are more better suited than others (and at this point I don't have any reason to think that this is not his position, though I would disagree with him as to which forms are better suited, at least some of them), I think that part can be retained.

Miracles of Elder Porphyrios

Eternal Memory!

Magnificat

We are children of God in Christ, sharers in the eternal filiation of the Only-begotten Son of God the Father!

Opus Dei: "The freedom and trust of being God's children"
Homily of Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz for the liturgical memorial of Saint Josemaria, given in the basilica of Saint Eugene in Rome on 26 June 2018.

Holy Nicholas, Pray for Us!

Hans Boersma on Supersessionism

First Things

Another Conundrum

Are Latin traditionalists in communion with the bishop of Rome or not? And if they are, then who has the proper authority to authorize such modifications to the Extraordinary Form, if not the pope, according to their ecclesiology and canons?

Breaking News: Optional commemoration of seven new Saints addded to "Extraordinary Form" Calendar?

St. Sabbas

Deification in the Latin Patristic Tradition

CWR: The ancient roots of deification in the Latin tradition by Carl E. Olson

Dr. Jared Ortiz is Associate Professor of Religion at Hope College, author of You Made Us for Yourself: Creation in St Augustine’s Confessions (Fortress Press, 2016), founder and executive director of the Saint Benedict Institute, [...]

ἱερεύς v. πρεσβύτερος

Ordinations at Clear Creek Abbey

Rorate Caeli: Video of Ordinations at Clear Creek Abbey (a Fontgombault foundation)

"Apostolic Tradition"

Sandro Magister: A Missionary Writes After the Synod For the Amazon. Married Priests Perhaps, But In Perfect Continence

Lay Leadership?

Church Life Journal: Taking the Role of All the Baptized in Church Leadership Seriously by John Cavadini

Does the proposal or will the conference properly address the clericalist structure of the institutional church and the limits to the authority of the bishop? It doesn't seem likely.

Louis Tofari: Mediator Dei and the Liturgical Movement

No reform, not even a reset, just a return to 1951 before the reform of Holy Week rites or 1911, before Pius X reformed the Roman office?

Elder Sophrony and Elder Ieronymos of Simenopetra Canonized

OrthoChristian: Elder Sophrony officially canonized together with Elder Ieronymos of Simenopetra

Plus: The Theology and Memory of Elder Sophrony (Sakharov)

Message of Benedict XVI to the ITC

text

CWR Dispatch: Benedict XVI reflects on 50 years of the International Theological Commission
Joseph Ratzinger served as president of the International Theological Commission from 1982-2005 as prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith under St. John Paul II.


Related:

Gratitude

OrthoChristian: On Gratitude and Human Happiness by Sergei Khudiev

King Doesn't Quite Capture It

From 2014: Not Just in Our Hearts: The True Social Kingship of Christ by Steve Skojec
Christ the King and Original Sin by Timothy Flanders

Pius XI, Quas Primas

Pantocrator sounds much better to my ears. Chris is the Ruler of All because he is the rule, God's Law, the word, Divine Wisdom. Rulers do not rule in his place but in Him, participating in Him. If we accept the development of the three-fold office of the laity as a legitimate theological development, then all are kings even if not all share in political governance. They participate in the Divine Law who is Christ, even those who are subject or subordinate to others.

Some nuances are needed to correct exaggerations of the sacred status of authority in pieces such as this: First Things: Sacral Presidency by Peter J. Leithart

Fake Synodality, You Mean?

CNA/CWR: Pope Francis: Synodality is what the Lord expects of the Church

ITC: “Synodality in Life and Mission of the Church”

Definitely a Latin View of the Kingdom of Heaven

NCReg: Four Exorcists Urge Day of Fasting, Prayer and Reparation Dec. 6
The priests suggest the Rosary and prayers to the Sacred Heart, as well as “some form of penance, such as fasting, abstinence and other forms of mortification”

Orthodox "Traditionalists"

Fr. Peter Heers and Jay Dyer - An Orthodox Response to Ecumenism and Modernism (Video)

Unto Thee, O God, Do We Give Thanks

Eastern Christian Books: Christiaan Kappes on the Epiclesis Debate at Florence

Eastern Christian Books: Christiaan Kappes on the Epiclesis Debate at Florence

Weigel Wades Into the Debate on the Roman Rite

The Reformed Liturgy, 50 Years Later by George Weigel

While the Pauline reform of the Roman rite itself had some major problems (though not all of the problems listed by Latin traditionalists are as serious as they think -- Bouyer's judgment would probably more reliable in this respect), in the larger historical context the reform was just another consequence of a more serious problem, the centralization of the patriarchate of Rome and an over-reliance on that centralization for solutions to pastoral problems, whether it be the theological formation of its clergy or the lack of a proper liturgical piety among the people. A conception of Rome as the head of a Christendom which was the replacement for the Roman Empire, unified by Latin and a supranational identity may have had a part to play in this, combined with the private opinion of certain popes in the first millenium on the role of the bishop of Rome with respect to the Church Universal.

Rule of Faith Journal

Patrick Henry Reardon on the Reading of the Hebrew Scriptures

What's Going on in the Vatican?

Sandro Magister: Money Wars At the Vatican. With the Pope Among the Belligerents

Liturgy

The Third Hour Troparion Interpolation

Link

Pope Francis in Japan

Is an organ really necessary for such public Masses? And has no one attempted to develop a Japanese form of sacred singing, one that is not Western in inspiration? What happened to inculturation? I see a lot of women in the choir for the Mass in Nagasaki (the heart of Catholic Japan) - how many Japanese male Catholics participate in Latin liturgical life in Japan? Even in Nagasaki, they had to feature multilingual readings...

That's St. Paul VI to You Latins

Paul VI’s Contempt for Catholics Who Did Not Welcome the Liturgical Reform

How does the liturgical reform of the Roman rite and Paul VI's commentary contradict the documents of Vatican I and Vatican II on the authority of the pope? When is a Latin traditionalist going to honestly deal with this question?

Rod Dreher: What About The Protestant Catholics?

This Week!

The Fruits of... Vatican II? Assissi?

LSN: Abp Viganò decries Pope-approved plan to build ‘Abrahamic’ religious site with Muslims, Jews

Fr. Christiaan Kappes Introduces His Latest Book

Eclectic Orthodoxy: The Epiclesis Debate at the Council of Florence

UND Press

Traditional Dancers Perform for Pope Francis in Bangkok

Fake Synodality and Agendas

CWR: The Final Report of the Amazon Synod and the “conversion” of the Church by Thomas R. Ascik
A limited number of bishops from a limited locale of the Church has promulgated the agenda for the “synodal conversion” of the worldwide Church.

A Call to Action

Remnant: The Catholic Obligation to Resist by Roberto de Mattei

The Presentation of the Theotokos

NLM

A Romanesque Crucifix

NLM

TLM Conferences in Houston

The Seventh Ecumenical Council

To What End?

Will Watch the Video

CNA/CWR: Alasdair MacIntyre: True friendships are rare, but possible

Overstating the Case?

Transubstantiation is not, then, one disconnected and esoteric doctrine that a Catholic can take or leave. It is an articulation of faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist seeking understanding in the theological context of a deep appreciation of the relationship between God and creation. To affirm it is to affirm something foundational to the whole Christian worldview. Not to put too fine a point on it: it affirms that God is God and creation is creation.

Transubstantiation is more than the doctrine of the Real Presence. It is a theological explanation of the latter.


Church Life: Transubstantiation Isn't a Disconnected Doctrine by Brett Salkeld

Cappella Romana

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle on the Meaning of Church

Interview with Cardinal Sarah

Square Notes Podcast


(Part 1 here)

Permissive Will, Again

But is this what Francis meant?

CWR: Which God’s Will? by Dr. Randall B. Smith
On permissive and positive will, the multiplicity of religions, salvation, and the mystery of evil.

Cardinal Ruini Breaks His Silence

Sandro Magister: Cardinal Ruini’s Return to the Field. On the Amazon, Married Priests, Risk of Schism, Alienation from God

Unpublished Anecdotes About St. Joseph the Hesychast

OrthoChristian: Unpublished Anecdotes About St. Joseph the Hesychast by Hieromonk Ephraim

Cars, Coffee, Theology (1:5) Matthew Levering

Anglicanorum Coetibus Society 2019 Conference

Why the NYT?

AmCon: The Trial Of Conservative Catholicism by Rod Dreher

Dreher links to Douthat's analysis and interview of Cardinal Burke. Why is the NYT publishing this? Why did it hire Douthat in the first place? To demoralize its enemies?

Elder Joseph

OrthoChristian: The Story Behind “My Elder Joseph the Hesychast” by Hieromonk Ephraim, St. Nilus Skete, Alaska

Distributism

1P5: Distributism and the Purpose of Private Property by Thomas Storck

Eastern Christian Books: The Florentine Fate of the Epiclesis (Updated)

Eastern Christian Books: The Florentine Fate of the Epiclesis (Updated)

"Bring Us, O Lord God"

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò on the Amazon Synod

LSN: Abp Viganò: ‘The abomination of idolatrous rites has entered the sanctuary of God’ (Exclusive)

Neo-Coptic Icon of the Pantocrator