Blogposts

No one will ever replace priests! Nothing will ever replace Holy Mass!

08-28-2022Weekly Reflection

'Shun the worship of idols!', (1 Cor. 10:14), [Saint Paul] writes to a community deeply marked by paganism and divided between the observance of adherence to the novelty of the Gospel and the observance of old practiced inherited from their ancestors. ...

The word 'idol' comes from the Greek and means 'image', 'figure', 'representation', but also 'ghost', 'phantom', 'vain appearance'. An idol is a delusion, for it turns its worshiper away from reality and places him in the kingdom of mere appearances.

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“There is no peace to be compared with that of the souls in purgatory, save that of the saints in paradise”

08-24-2022From the desk of Fr. Villa

“There is no peace to be compared with that of the souls in purgatory, save that of the saints in paradise”

As far as I can see, the souls in purgatory can have no choice but to be there; this God has most justly ordained by his divine decree. ...They retain no memory of either good or evil respecting themselves or others which would increase their pain. They are so contented with the divine dispositions in their regard; and with doing all that is pleasing to God in that way which he chooses, that they cannot think of themselves, though they may strive to do so.

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The Missions and Missionary Activity in Canada

08-21-2022Weekly Reflection

Over at the Rorate-Caeli blog historian Roberto De Mattei comments on the papal trip to Canada and his apologies concerning the resident schools and the indigent peoples. You can read the whole piece here: rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2022/08/francis-unwise-mea-culpa-in-canada-by.html#more

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The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights reported the following: The Genocide that Wasn't

08-18-2022From the desk of Fr. Villa

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the Canadian Report on the residential schools for Indigenous people: There has been much recent discussion about the Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. It found that 150,000 Indigenous children were taken from their homes and forced to attend schools that would assimilate them into the dominant culture. It was the Canadian government that made the decision to suppress the culture of Indigenous persons, sending children to residential schools operated by the government, Catholic religious orders, and Protestant denominations.

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How to tell a duck from a fox?

08-14-2022Weekly Reflection+ Archbishop Charles Chaput

An Essay from Archbishop Charles Chaput on the Responsibilities of Catholic politicians and Catholic citizens.

Thinking with the Church as we look toward November

"If it quacks like a duck and looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it's probably a duck. A fox can claim to be a duck all day long. But he's still a fox." We've all heard that saying, or some version of it, a thousand times. The reason is simple: It's true. Our actions prove who we are. If a gulf exists between what we say, how we look and what we do, we're not living in a spirit of truth. A fox, even if he quacks, is still a fox. Sooner or later, it becomes obvious.

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Society and Sanity

08-10-2022From the desk of Fr. Villa

Every question under discussion, every revolutionary idea and every conservative reaction—all boil down to the question, How should man be treated? and we can only answer this in the light of our view of what man is. No society can be united, if it is not united about this fundamental question… case. We will not forever go on agreeing in practical action when all agreement about the reality involved has vanished.

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