I used to think that the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, was “just fine” if you took it at face value, and that the problem was people ignoring it or implementing it in a one-sided or distorted manner. I used to think that a “reform of the reform” could take [...]

American Evangelicals, a catch-all term for conservative, low-church Protestants, are currently reeling from multiple, simultaneous sexual-abuse scandals—leading to a sense of pain, embarrassment, and anger familiar to Catholics.  Like with our own recent scandals, Evangelicals are realizing that those they trusted with their faith, their tithes, and their families have failed them to a degree [...]

I think we were all heartened by the news of new sanctions on “women’s ordination” in the Vatican’s newly revised canon law. We have no way of knowing whether Pope Francis shares our revulsion for those posing as liturgical ladies, but it’s comforting to know that “going to the peripheries” has its limits. Of course, [...]

(The laity) are, by reason of the knowledge, competence or outstanding ability which they may enjoy, permitted and sometimes even obliged to express their opinion on those things which concern the good of the Church. —Lumen Gentium, #37 It is a sad day in the Catholic Church when a partial Pentecost—one in which only a [...]

Fr. Dwight Longenecker’s recent Crisis article, “The Tale of Two Fr. Jameses,” warrants a revisit in light of the emergence to the national stage of a third Father James, Fr. James Parker of the Rockford, Illinois, diocese. In his article, Fr. Longenecker suggests that neither of the two ways, represented by Fr. James Martin and [...]

“Are they ashamed of the abomination they have committed? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush.” (Jeremiah 6:15) Nuisance callers want the person called to talk, so they will often ask, “Can you hear me all right?” or “How are you today?” Television shows have “teasers” at [...]

Many Catholics are divided on the subject of abortion. Even though Church teaching on this matter is crystal clear (CCC 2270-2275), Pew Research reported that more than half of U.S. Catholics favor legalized abortion (i.e. “pro-choice” Catholics), and a subset from this group upholds that the Church ought to reverse her teaching on abortion to [...]

Often, prophecies come from the most unexpected of places: a talking donkey, an old man in the Jewish temple, three poor Portuguese children. One can add to that list a prominent Southern Presbyterian theologian, Confederate army chaplain, and virulent anti-Catholic by the name of Robert Lewis Dabney. For it was Dabney who discerned (and feared) [...]

The Vatican announced recently that the next synod of bishops will now extend over a two-year period of various “phases.” According to Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, the hope is to turn the synod from “being an event into a process.” This worries me.  The idea of a sort of [...]

Update 6/15/21: Recently, the Lozier Institute learned that Sanofi-GSK used abortion-derived HEK293T cells to produce pseudovirus in some of their confirmatory lab tests.  This was also the case for the Inovio and Novavax vaccine candidates mentioned in the article, the latter of which was reported this week to be close to seeking FDA approval.   [...]

The rumors appear to be true: Pope Francis is planning to rescind Summorum Pontificum, Pope Benedict’s 2007 motu proprio liberalizing the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass (TLM), which Benedict dubbed the “Extraordinary Form” of the Latin Rite. This at a time when the TLM has been flourishing while most of the Church is experiencing [...]

The learned and the mighty have been weighing in now for weeks regarding the ongoing scandal of Catholic pro-abortion politicians, particularly Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Joe Biden, and the question of giving and receiving the Holy Eucharist. I wonder if the USCCB will listen to a voice like mine. I am not a theologian [...]

With the news that conservative priest Fr. James Altman has been asked by his bishop to resign, one is faced with the contrast between Fr. James Altman and another controversial priest, Fr. James Martin, SJ. Both priests have somewhat of a prophetic voice in the Church—Fr. Altman from the conservative side and Fr. Martin from [...]

Can non-Catholics be saved? If so, how? These questions have been debated by Catholics since the time of the early Church. Back then, Catholics wondered about the Jews and Gentiles who lived before Christ, as well as believers who were martyred for the Catholic Faith but had not yet been baptized. In later centuries, the [...]

Nothing has been typical about this spring’s commencement ceremonies at Catholic colleges. Many of the ceremonies are socially distanced, outdoors, or even online. But the limitations are unlikely to dampen excitement about the distinctive achievements of the Class of 2021, who endured more than a year of COVID-19, financial struggles, and safety precautions to get [...]

The ongoing sexual abuse crisis in the Church has left many good Catholics shaken, and like many I have tried to understand how this has happened. Obviously, homosexuality in the clergy plays a role, and the all-male nature of the priesthood provides opportunities for such abuse. But here I want to explore the larger historical [...]

Nearly 100 years ago my great-great grandfather, T.T. Martin, descended upon Dayton, Tennessee, in the heat of July. Typically, his evangelical fame would have been enough to draw crowds in any Southern town he may have visited, but in this particular case, he was following the crowd. They needed his perspective, his vision, his truth, [...]

In his America Magazine essay, San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy addresses the question raised by many in the Church who call for the denial of Holy Communion to professed Catholic politicians who advocate laws that promote moral evils such as abortion, euthanasia, etc., especially President Biden. The foundational shortcoming in the essay is that it [...]

On May 10, 2021, over 500 Catholic priests throughout Germany will hold a mass blessing of gay unions that will take place in 50 different parishes. Most of these clerics have the unequivocal support of their bishops and have been told that they need not worry about canonical sanctions.  This heterodox and defiant event, which [...]

It has rightly been said that in order to appreciate the “Good News” of salvation we first need to recognize the bad news of damnation. This point appears to have been lost on the likes of Bishop Robert Barron with his echoing of 20th century Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar’s suggestion that we might [...]