This week the USCCB released a report with the bureaucratically self-important title, “National Synthesis of the People of God in the United States of America for the Diocesan Phase of the 2021-2023 Synod.” Essentially, it’s a report from the bishops summarizing the results of the past year’s synodal “listening sessions” held in dioceses throughout the … Read more
Speak only good things of the dead, the saying goes. The yoga division of The New York Times assumed a veritable Möbius strip of a position to attempt to write a laudable obituary for Rembert Weakland, the disgraced former archbishop of Milwaukee, who died the other day at the age of 95. It wasn’t entirely … Read more
In the classic The Spiritual Combat, the first weapon needed for sanctity is self-distrust. Or, as Chesterton said, “Complete self-confidence is not merely a sin; complete self-confidence is a weakness.” Some in Rome should think about this before they cause even more Catholics to question the Faith (or at least the Church). They—and we—should also … Read more
Over at The Lamp, an anonymous writer—a layman in the Archdiocese of Washington—has written movingly about the possibility that Cardinal Wilton Gregory will abolish the Extraordinary Form in his diocese. A group of Latin Mass-goers gathered outside Cardinal Gregory’s “Synodal Listening Session.” According to The Lamp, Among others who intervened was the mother of seven … Read more
It wasn’t long into my study of the sex abuse crisis in the Church that I realized that many or even most bishops customarily respond to a report about abuse 1) by feeling sorry for themselves that they have another mess on their hands; 2) by feeling sorry for the priest whose priesthood may be … Read more
The Vatican is currently conducting the trial of Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who stands accused of financial embezzlement and abuse of office regarding his involvement, with nine other actors, in the multi-million-dollar purchase of luxury London real estate. It remains to be seen whether Becciu will be found guilty in one of the most high-profile financial … Read more
How bad must things get before we can all agree that the sky is actually falling and that Chicken Little was right all along? Forget the secular scene, where Biden-induced disasters have become pretty much standard issue. What about that far greater and deeper and richer dimension, the one that Holy Mother Church herself presides … Read more
Those who have become familiar with the fate of persons sexually abused by priests know that victims experience the indifference (or worse) of Church authorities to their abuse as a tremendous betrayal—something that does more harm than the abuse itself. They experience the Church more as Judas than the Bride of Christ. Indifference, dismissal, cover-up, … Read more
I have been asked by several people now, Protestants and sedevacantists alike, how it is that I can remain so loyal to a Church that is run by corrupt and malicious men, by hirelings and wolves, who devour the flock as they pursue their own good instead of the good of all the Holy Church. … Read more
Last week I shared a video on social media that went viral (with more than 59,000 views at last count). What was this video? Was it a cat doing a cute trick? Or a Karen going crazy at an unmasked man? No, it was a boomer priest hamming it up for the camera and engaging … Read more