Blogposts

Vatican news commentator, Sandro Magister, recently commented on Pope Benedict’s book , which came out after his death, called What Christianity Is and its comments on the sacrifice of the Mass. Here are some bullet points from Magister’s essay and then from an excerpt from Benedict’s book. You can read the whole commentary and essay here.

“The end of the family is threefold: to provide its members in body and mind with the necessities for an ordered life; to bring up the children; to be the cell of society. Upon these individual social existential ends rests the primacy of the family among all other social units, including the state…(T)he family is prior to the state and holds natural rights which the state is bound to recognize…”

For the Fathers* (of the Church), tradition** presents first the content of the Scriptures, which contain in one way or another all that is necessary to live as God wishes us to, and it interprets the meaning of the Scriptures. In fact, this meaning is not given clearly by Scripture itself and is found, in a certain way, outside it. To understand this fully, it would be necessary to develop the traditional conception of how the sacred texts should be read for a true perception and enjoyment of God’s Word. The divine Scriptures are regarded as a kind of sacrament: a grace-bearing sign that effectively realizes communion with God, and salvation, when it is used in the right conditions.

The death of Terri Schiavo years ago raised a number of issues, moral, legal and constitutional, about the right to life and the so-called right to die. Most coverage of the case focused on the question of her guardian's right to decide according to her alleged wishes and the due process of the judicial proceedings. However, at base, the question was a moral, not a legal, one: under what conditions, if any, may a patient, a guardian, medical personnel or civil authorities, withhold or withdraw nutrition and hydration.

A French-Algerian actor recounts his conversion from Islam to Catholicism via Protestantism. Born in a difficult neighborhood, rescued from the theater by delinquency, in his show “Coming out” he bears witness to his spiritual journey and his journey towards true freedom. The one staged by Mehdi Djaadi, a French-Algerian actor in the theater, is decidedly out of the ordinary. No, it's not what you think. The one represented by Mehdi in his monologue entitled "Coming out" is not the story of an exit from some dark closet: it is the story of a conversion, of a gaze that gradually opens up to the true light, the one that illuminates every man.

Pope Benedict, before he was Pope, as Cardinal Ratzinger, expressed himself on the title of this essay in a book called The Ratzinger Report. He said: It seemed exaggerated to me. So it was difficult for me to understand the true meaning of another famous expression…the declaration that designated the Virgin Mary as the “conqueror of all heresies.” Now in this confused period where truly every type of heretical aberration seems to be pressing upon the doors of the authentic faith-now I understand that it was not a matter of pious exaggerations, but of truths that today are more valid than ever.

A young woman, Megan Besham, wrote in the December 2022 issue of the magazine, First Things: “Like many a wayward daughter of middle-class America, when I was in college I took up academic culture’s invitation to throw off the moral restraints of my Christian upbringing. I experimented with all manner of substances and licentiousness—even with feminist theory, which almost proved intellectually fatal. “This was the second of two essays about college and the Faith. The first essay was by a different young woman, Veronica Clarke, who chose her college because it was “unapologetically Catholic.

There was a news item about the University of Minnesota Medical School promoting (imposing) a “woke” political agenda on faculty and applicants.  You would think that the goal of a medical school is to form competent doctors in the healing arts.  It’s not just at this medical school.  Some of the nation’s best medical schools are weeding out applicants who are insufficiently devoted to DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) efforts. A review of the admissions process at 50 of the top-ranked medical schools found that 36 asked applicants their views on, or experience in, DEI efforts.  Many were overt in asking applicants if they agreed with certain statements about racial politics and the causes of disparate health outcomes.

A headline ran: “Neither Mother nor Goddess. Even Gregorian Chant Is Against the New Idolatry of the Earth.” Fulvio Rampi writes: One of the threads that can be discerned is the theme of the earth, meaning the regard in which Gregorian chant holds the “ecological question,” so to speak. The theme of the earth is dear to Sacred Scripture, which from the book of Genesis teaches us that man and the earth are placed by God in a close relationship with Him and with each other.

Much ink has been spilled about Ruth Bader Ginsberg as a model and heroine, especially for women, if not a “secular saint.”  She was a fervent supporter of Planned Parenthood (originally called The Birth-Control League) and abortion despite Planned Parenthood’s racist past.  An element of that racist past is exemplified in a quote the media does not usually refer to. With respect to abortion, she was asked in a NY Times interview about various aspects of abortion law (July 7, 2009):

In the Sacrament of Penance man is reconciled with God and with the Church. It is one of the most intimate and personal of human acts, and brings about many fundamental changes in the sanctuary of each man’s conscience. Yet at the same time this Sacrament also possesses a deep and inseparable social dimension and also brings about many changes in the family circle, the studies, the work, the friendly relationships etc., of the person who goes to Confession. The greatest tragedy in any man’s life is sin, because the result of sin is a far reaching disorder which starts in the very centre of his being and spreads outward to affect all those around him.

Alexis Carrel was born into a Catholic family in a small town in France in 1873. He attended Mass regularly and went to Catholic schools run by Jesuits. Unfortunately, by the time he went to college he was an agnostic. He completely rejected the Catholic faith and wasn’t even sure if there was a God. However, he wouldn’t stay that way. And an extraordinary miracle from Lourdes helped lead him back.