On the few occasions that the USCCB has, as a body, decided to publicly criticize now-President Joe Biden for his more egregious rejections of Church teaching, a reminder has always been included that the bishops eagerly look forward to working with the new administration on those issues in which Biden’s politics do not contradict (or, [...]

When I decided to return to class at Catholic University of America in the spring, I knew things would be different. I was ready to face the challenge of the COVID-19 restrictions, as well as the political climate revolving around the election and BLM movement. What I was not ready for was to watch as [...]

Last week, The New York Times published a blistering attack on the Dominicans of the Saint Joseph’s Province for their supposed laxity in investigating abuse charges against one of their priests. (Full Disclosure: I served for a time on the Dominican Foundation Board of Directors.) The Dominicans have cried foul. And, indeed, there are several [...]

Today there is a sacred, orthodox Catholic Church, and there is a mundane or secular Catholic church. Today’s secularized Catholic “church” is not precisely a parallel, nor is it an ersatz, religious institution. This secular church is a profane perversion, a sacrilegious caricature, attempting not just to substitute for Christ’s Church but to hallow pan-sexualism, [...]

There are many different kinds of bishops. The basically good bishops lead morally upright lives, are faithful to the magisterium, and are dedicated to service. There are numerous varieties of bad bishops: those sexually active with females or males; those who cover up for priests who engage in immoral behavior; those living luxurious lives and [...]

For a universal re-establishment of the Minor Orders according to the perennis sensus of the lex orandi of the Church. Pope Benedict XVI reiterated the following principle, perennially valid in the life of the Church since apostolic times: "In the history of the Liturgy there is growth and progress, but no rupture" (Letter to the [...]

It is not likely that anyone will have heard of Heywood Broun, but he was a once very well known, well-connected newspaper columnist. His take on the world was fairly cynical, especially on the subject of organized religion, which he held in some contempt. But everyone will have heard of Fulton Sheen, the world’s first [...]

Cardinal Cupich was not happy on Wednesday. He probably should have been; after all, the end of the Trump presidency was supposed to be a joyous day for denizens of the Left like Cupich. But the celebration was spoiled for the most vocal of the USCCB’s left-wing bishops because of a statement issued by USCCB [...]

The Catholic Church in America has been thrust into a new and unprecedented crisis—namely the election of Joseph Biden to the presidency. If not dealt with properly, Biden’s presidency will cause serious damage to the very truth of what it means to be Catholic. Of course, I am referring to the fact that while Biden [...]

Chills ran down the spines of Catholics on January 12 when North Dakota lawmakers announced their intention to amend the state’s Century Code relating to mandatory reporting. Under the current law, “a member of the clergy...is not required to report [knowledge or suspicion of child abuse] if the knowledge or suspicion is derived from information [...]

The obvious problems with the recent opening of the ministries of lector and acolyte to women by Pope Francis has already been the subject of a number of articles, including one that I wrote earlier this week. As I reflect further on the motu proprio Spiritus Domini, I see more and more disturbing implications of [...]

The Biden Catholics at the National Catholic Reporter are feeling righteous. The editorial staff has demanded that the Catholic supporters of President Trump “confess their complicity in the failed coup.”  Beginning with the fact that there was no attempted “coup,” the NCR crowd has provided much high-flying moral outrage worthy of an SNL sketch—“Sackcloth and [...]

If anyone asserts that this sin of Adam…is taken away either by the forces of human nature or by a remedy other than the merit of the one mediator, our Lord Jesus Christ, who has reconciled us to God in his own blood, made unto us justice, sanctification and redemption…let him be anathema; for there [...]

More than 38 years ago, Ralph McInerny and Michael Novak founded a new journal called Catholicism in Crisis, later renamed Crisis Magazine. In its opening editorial, entitled “The Present Crisis,” they wrote, “The crisis in which we find ourselves is one of faith and theology, especially concerning questions of the temporal order and the role [...]

On Saturday, Pope Francis released an apostolic letter in the form of a motu proprio. In this letter, he announced the transfer of several financial competencies within the Vatican from the Secretariat of State to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA). The Secretariat of State has been embroiled in several criminal [...]

When an Episcopalian cleric-cum-Dartmouth professor criticizes the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, it’s a safe bet our prelates have done something right. Indeed, such a man—one Randall Balmer—wrote an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times titled, “In What Moral Universe Does Biden Require a Catholic Task Force when Trump Got a Free Pass?” No need [...]

In his letter to a confused Church in the city of Corinth, Saint Paul wrote this exhortation: Whoever… eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of [...]

Despite their terrible suffering, not just in recent years under ISIS, but after centuries of being treated as second-class citizens, Iraqi Christians are happy people. There are two things that are guaranteed to make them smile, if not actually laugh out loud. The first is to ask them what they think will happen to the [...]

Many Catholics were probably surprised to see Pope Francis’s name appear on the op-ed page of The New York Times. (Then again, maybe not.) The article—which was actually an excerpt from his new book Let Us Dream—confirms what we already knew: the coronavirus pandemic has weighed heavily on the Holy Father’s mind. Like all crises, [...]

It has always surprised me that the mainstream press is so down on Theodore McCarrick. In fact, one would expect them to take his side. An elderly gay man trapped in a homophobic institution, taking young men to his beach house so he can seduce them… I’m surprised The New York Times hasn’t asked Mr. [...]