Liturgical Scholar, Not Theologian or Bishop

Byz Tx: Sr. Vassa: There's no ontological impediment to priestesses

Is the rationale for the prohibition against women receiving Holy Orders (setting aside the claim by Byzantine Christians that deaconesses are a major order) merely that it has been prohibited by God or the Church? Or is there something more? Is Christ a male for a reason? Could the Second Person of the Trinity have become Incarnate as a woman? Could the Second Person of the Trinity exercise authority over men as a woman?

Fotx XI International Liturgical Conference

Eastern Christian Books: Tradition and Transformation in Christian Iconography

Eastern Christian Books: Tradition and Transformation in Christian Iconography 

Eastern Christian Books: Christos Yannaras

Eastern Christian Books: Christos Yannaras

Leonardo Polo

Learning Polo: An introduction to the Spanish “metaphysician of freedom” by Alvino-Mario Fantini

The late Spanish philosopher’s works encourage us to remain faithful to the constant, rigorous questioning required by the philosophia perennis.

On the Conversion of the Western Roman Empire

It would not be surprising if Latins think first of all of the persecution of Christians in Rome in connection with its eventual conversion. But in considering the historic relations between Christians and their pagan neighbors, and to what degree they co-existed, does Rome give us a representative picture of what was happening elsewhere in the Roman Empire? And was it truly the case that Rome converted because the blood of martyrs is the seed of faith? Or because of the rise of the "Constantinian Church" and the subsequent declaration of Christianity as the official religion of the empire, along with the outlawing of other religions? Is this pattern of apparent conversion replicated elsewhere, with the conversion of tribes and kingdoms? And should we really consider that a viable model of evangelization? After all the persecutions (and martyrdom) of Christians in China, Korea, and Japan, for example, has not had similar results yet; and Christians not having the reins of state in these polities is not an insignificant difference. Even if we think of Mexico converting not because of the prestige and power of the Church under the Spanish but because of the intervention of Our Lady of Guadalupe, what about the rest of Ibero-America?

A Church of the Many or a Church of the Few? Louis Bouyer's question remains relevant today, especially with the latest Apostolic Exhortation repeating the calls of previous pontificates for a new evangelization.

Not Mutually Exclusive

Hell: punishment or self-inflicted? What if it is both, especially if we keep more than the sense of poena in mind -- that it is a privation. Secondly, God's judgment is not a distinct act from His being or His love.

The Heresy of Hell as Self-Inflicted by Charles Robertson

I also note that while the title calls it a heresy, there is no evidence that it is so, other than that the position that Hell is self-inflicted seems to go against Scripture. And this only if we hold that Hell being self-inflicted contradicts it being a punishment. But more likely than not supporters of Hell being self-inflicted can offer an explanation of how it is still a punishment, or harmonize it with the words of Christ.

English Translation of the Psalter

For Latins --- what is available?

Magnificat, Give Us This Day: do they use the same English translation of the Psalms?

I don't think Word Among Us provides a version of the Divine Office for laity. I don't think Living With Christ does, either.

Then there is the Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham, which uses a version of the Coverdale translation.

How good is the Grail translation for private devotion and singing? (I should ask, is it a faithful translation of Scripture? And how about the Revised Grail Psalms?)


Revised Grail Psalms

I need to do some research on Psalm tones too...

Interviews with Ulrich Lerner

Rod Dreher

‘God Is Not Nice’: Speaking with Ulrich L. Lehner about his new book

No God But Santa

Meeting of a Working Group for the Dialogue between Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches (via Byx TX)

Venice in the East

Not Really an Assessment

But a gathering of opinions from different people.

NCReg: ‘Gaudete et Exsultate’: An Assessment by Edward Pentin
Cardinals Daniel DiNardo and Gerhard Müller praise holiness document; others express concern about content regarding sanctity of life, heresies.

The "Conversion" of St. Paul

OAJ Interview with Ioan Popa

A Decree from 1847

During the peak years of papal maximalization?

If there is to be a patron of the Church other than the Bridegroom Himself, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, why would it not be the Theotokos? Of course this is linked to the growing cultus of Holy Joseph in Roman Catholic Christianity. Still, if he is not accepted as the designated patron of the Church Universal by the Church Universal, does the decree really mean anything? It is just an example of the pretense of the patriarch of Rome to be a universal pastor.

And yet, he still went through with it.

Too nice to say no? Or too indecisive to reject a bad reform? A lack of leadership. A worthy candidate for canonization? No.



Rorate Caeli: Don't whitewash history: Paul VI was front and center the creator of the New Mass of Paul VI

Sandro Magister

May God Grant Him Many Years

Fr. Andrew Louth on the Greek Schism

Theological Casuistry

Re: Ott (and similar manuals) weighing or attempting to weigh the certainty or probability of theological opinions -- upon what crtieria is one opinion deemed to be merely probable versus being of common consensus? (It's been a while since I've picked Ott up so I probably have the exact terms wrong.) Does the author look not just across space but across time? Is there any evaluation of the strength of the opinions themselves other than authority or number of adherents?

Byzantion Choir