Oct

25

Grace and the “Problem” of Man’s Desire for God

October 25, 2007 | 7 Comments

This problem is important in establishing the relationship of nature to grace because it offers something of a “test case” by which we can illustrate certain fundamental truths of the Catholic Faith. These truths regard man’s natural powers and the elevation of those powers by grace that he may achieve his final end, the Beatific [...]

Oct

19

Archbishop Ranjith’s address in the Netherlands: Some Encouraging News

October 19, 2007 | 3 Comments

Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don is the Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
The full text of the Archbishop’s address, “Faith, Obedience, and Theology, Challenges to the Mission of the Church Today,” can be found here. I would like to point out some interesting highlights from this speech, [...]

Oct

18

Vatican II: Some Clarity, Please

October 18, 2007 | 4 Comments

Recently, I witnessed a very animated discussion between a Scripture scholar and a religion teacher. The subject of the disputation was Biblical inerrancy. The scholar is a highly intelligent man, but a liberal. (In fairness to him, I must say that he avoids the more ridiculous ideas of biblical scholars, such as the fantastic “Q [...]

Oct

12

Venerable Emmanuel d’Alzon and his “Noble and Frank Intolerance”

October 12, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Venerable Emmanuel d’Alzon first caught my attention when I came upon the following paragraph from an address he gave to his religious congregation.
“We love Christ with the same kind of love as the early Christians because He still faces the same kind of enemies that he faced then. We love Him with the love that [...]

Oct

6

Christ’s Theandric Role in our Sanctification

October 6, 2007 | 1 Comment

Here is the assignment: “The Church teaches that Christ is truly human and truly divine. Comment on the significance of each of the aspects of the mystery of Christ with regard to our sanctification and our salvation.” The title I gave it for the blog uses the word “theandric,” which Father John Hardon, S.J. [...]

Oct

1

J.R.R. Tolkien and the Eucharist

October 1, 2007 | 7 Comments

It is well known that J.R.R. Tolkien, the celebrated fantasy writer who gave us The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, was a Catholic. He was not a writer who just happened to be also a Catholic; he was a writer whose Catholicism permeated his work.
Although there are those who object to a world [...]