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Q: What’s the canonical status of priests ordained by SSPX bishops, and what’s the canonical status of the sacraments they administer? –John A: It would have been marvelous to be able to respond to John that the priests of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) were now fully united to Rome, and thus had a status comparable to the members of any other religious institute in the Church. Sadly, however, this is not the case! While Pope Benedict was clearly hoping to reconcile the SSPX to the Church during his papacy, the fact is that this important item on...

Featured Term (selected at random):OBEDThe son of Ruth and Boaz. From Obed descended Jesse, David, and Jesus (Ruth 4:17-22). All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

August 1, 2013 Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguouri, Bishop and Doctor of the Church    Reading 1 Ex 40:16-21, 34-38 Moses did exactly as the LORD had commanded him.On the first day of the first month of the second yearthe Dwelling was erected.It was Moses who erected the Dwelling.He placed its pedestals, set up its boards, put in its bars,and set up its columns.He spread the tent over the Dwellingand put the covering on top of the tent,as the LORD had commanded him.He took the commandments and put them in the ark;he placed poles alongside the ark and set the...

CHICAGO, IL, July 31, 2013 (LifeSiteNews) – After a group of eight Catholic Democrats published an open letter in the Chicago Tribune Monday accusing Cardinal Francis George of political blackmail for threatening to withhold charitable funding from an immigrant group that recently came out in favor of same-sex “marriage,” the cardinal fired back in a statement, calling the letter’s signers cynical and “intellectually and morally dishonest.” The Chicago diocese’s Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) had been contributing between $25,000 and $30,000 each year to several member groups of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) to aid...

What We Can Learn from St. Ignatius He shows us how to pay attention. By: Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJIn third grade Sr. Cordelia gave out free tickets to the movies for every student in the class. In fact, Catholic school kids throughout Chicago were offered the tickets to see a movie about a Catholic saint. We talked Mom into driving us to the theater. What made an impression on me then was a big battle at a castle and a brave soldier wounded there. After the fights ended, not much else made sense to me. Ten years later I...

Featured Term (selected at random):MANICHAEISMA dualistic heresy initiated in the third century by a Persian named Mani, Manes, or Manichaeus (215-75). He was considered divinely inspired, and he gained a large following. In the Manichaean system there are two ultimate sources of creation, the one good and the other evil. God is the creator of all that is good, and Satan of all that is evil. Man's spirit is from God, his body is from the devil. There is a constant struggle between the forces of good and those of evil. Good triumphs over evil only insofar as spirit...

Chicago politicians this past weekend asked Cardinal Francis George not to pull funding from immigration campaign groups who support legal recognition of same-sex marriage. Groups that potentially could lose funding of between US$25,000 and US$30,000 a year include organizations affiliated with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Latino Union, Resurrection Project, United African Organization, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos, Albany Park Neighborhood Council, ARISE Chicago, Chicago Workers Collaborative, Interfaith Leadership Project and Most Blessed Trinity. The funding for these organizations comes from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development which requires fund recipients to be compliant with Roman Catholic teachings....

The spectacle of a Pope visiting a muddy Brazilian slum in order to scold the rich has delighted most Catholics. Some traditionalists are less easily won over, however. They distrust a humility that's expressed in soundbites and photo-ops. Benedict, they point out, is just as humble a man. When Francis said last week that the Catholic Church was "perhaps too cold, too caught up with itself, perhaps a prisoner of its own rigid formulas," they take it personally. [SNIP] On the other hand… what if Francis succeeds in decontaminating the Catholic brand? Sorry about the jargon, but if Catholicism really...

July 31, 2013 Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest    Reading 1 Ex 34:29-35 As Moses came down from Mount Sinaiwith the two tablets of the commandments in his hands,he did not know that the skin of his face had become radiantwhile he conversed with the LORD.When Aaron, then, and the other children of Israel saw Mosesand noticed how radiant the skin of his face had become,they were afraid to come near him.Only after Moses called to them did Aaronand all the rulers of the community come back to him.Moses then spoke to them.Later on, all the children of...

It's hardly surprising that the world, especially Roman Catholics like myself, is breathlessly decoding what Pope Francis told reporters on his flight back to Rome from Brazil on Monday regarding homosexuality: “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” The Pope’s remarks... hardly represent a break with Catholic church doctrine, which still condemns homosexuality. The Vatican’s catechismal stance regarding the LGBTs in our midst remains the same: The church may love the sinner, but it hates the sin. And since Francis was referring specifically to gay priests—who like other...

Featured Term (selected at random):AGNUS DEI (liturgy)The invocation Lamb of God is sung or recited at Mass during the breaking of the bread and the commingling. It may be repeated as often as necessary, but the conclusion is always "Grant us peace." All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission. 

July 30, 2013 Tuesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Ex 33:7-11; 34:5b-9, 28 The tent, which was called the meeting tent,Moses used to pitch at some distance away, outside the camp.Anyone who wished to consult the LORDwould go to this meeting tent outside the camp.Whenever Moses went out to the tent, the people would all riseand stand at the entrance of their own tents,watching Moses until he entered the tent.As Moses entered the tent, the column of cloud would come downand stand at its entrance while the LORD spoke with Moses.On seeing the column of...

"On flight from Rio de Janeiro to Rome" Journalists fired improvised questions at the Pope for one hour and twenty minutes. The Pope agreed to hold the press conference straight after take-off, despite how tired he was after an eventful World Youth Day week in Brazil. Francis surprised journalists with his willingness to answer all questions put to him, even those which touched on really thorny issues like the reform of the Vatican Bank (IOR), the Ricca case, the gay lobby, Vatileaks and even the content of the black leather bad he carried on to the plane which flew him...

Mt. Athos Monks Battle Police Over Eviction By Andy Dabilis on July 29, 2013 in News  87  16    2  213 An earlier clash between the Mt. Athos monks and police Angry monks at the Esphigmenou Monastery in the monastic community of Mount Athos in northern Greece, refusing to obey an eviction order, tossed Molotov Cocktails and rocks at bailiffs attempting to serve them on July 29, chasing them off the premises of the famed peninsula.“The monks of Esphigmenou Monastery who are in the residential quarters and are in a defense position to defend it, threw some objects from inside...

Fort Collins Police are warning Catholic and Mormon churches in the area to be on alert after a threat from a "Islamic Jihadist." Police are looking for a white male in his 30s, approximately 6 feet tall and weighing 185 pounds, with brown hair, a full beard and green eyes, according to the Fort Collins Police Dept. He has threatened Catholic and Mormon churches saying "they would be destroyed."

Those who complain that the mainstream media doesn’t report on church matters should stop complaining….or should they? CBS, CNN, the BBC and the Daily Telegraph all report on the Pope’s conversation with reporters on his flight back to Rome. All have the screaming headline, “Pope Francis: Who Am I to Judge Gays?�One of the articles has the subtitle, “Pope answers questions on the possibilities of gay and women priests�….as if there were such possibilities. In fact Pope Francis spoke most clearly and firmly about the possibility of women priests saying, “The church has spoken on this matter. The door is...

The interview that will be making headlines around the Catholic media this morning, from John Allen in NCR: On the way to Rio de Janeiro on July 22, Pope Francis told reporters that “I don’t give interviews.” But at the end of his seven-day tour de force in Brazil, not only did the pope give an interview, it was a whopper.He took questions from reporters traveling aboard the papal plane for a full hour and twenty-one minutes, with no filters or limits and nothing off the record.Francis stood for the entire time, answering without notes, and never refusing to take...

The Pope, Homosexuality and Abortion in Brazil By Julio Severo As reported by Daily Mail, “The pope has said that he ‘will not judge’ gay priests. Speaking to reporters on a flight back from his week-long visit to sexually permissive Brazil, Pope Francis said he ‘would not stand in judgment’ of gays in the Vatican and that they should not be discriminated against. The pontiff’s remarks about gays mark a more conciliatory approach than his predecessor. Benedict signed a document in 2005 saying that men with deep-rooted homosexual tendencies should not be priests.” Speech about not judging gay priests...

Rome, Italy: Pope Francis made a seismic shift in Vatican policy this week. He appeared to accept the service of gay priests who don’t act on their sexuality. The implications can’t be overstated. It has the potential to influence the views of those opposed to LGBTQ legal rights in many American states and countries throughout the world. Celibacy is a requirement to serve in the Catholic priesthood. Hence, it shouldn’t matter if the priest is gay or straight. Hence, celibacy becomes the key, not the sexual orientation. This changes much of the discussion. According to the pope, “If someone is...

The UN Convention On The Rights Of The Child have backed a Mexican sexual abuse victims group that formed in response to the impending canonization of late Pope John Paul II. This is the first time a group has formed to challenge the Vatican when it comes to a person's sainthood. The current Pope Francis will now see a case that gives him a chance to reveal pressing questions about the Catholic Church's history with child sexual abuse. He has until Nov. 1 to come forward with any and all evidence pertinent to the case.

Featured Term (selected at random):FREQUENT COMMUNIONThe daily reception of Holy Communion, as Pope St. Pius X explained the meaning of "frequent." The conditions required for daily Communion are freedom from conscious, unconfessed mortal sin, and the right intention, namely to honor God, grow in Christian charity, and overcome one's sinful tendencies. In the early Church, daily Communion was common. Later on it fell into disuse, and only in modern times is the practice being gradually restored. The Church's grounds for urging the faithful to communicate daily are based on patristic tradition. "We are bidden in the Lord's Prayer," wrote...

The Catholic church in Scotland faces a fresh sex-abuse crisis involving some of the country's senior clerics. The Observer has seen documents suggesting a scandal similar to the one that led to the resignation of Cardinal Keith O'Brien as Archbishop of Edinburgh and St Andrews. As a seminarian, a priest known as "Father Michael", who wishes to remain anonymous while an appeal to Rome is made, said he was sexually assaulted by a parish priest, Father Paul Moore. Father Michael said the church failed to deal appropriately with his complaint over a 17-year period, and that he is now being...

Pope Francis reached out to gays on Monday, saying he wouldn't judge priests for their sexual orientation in a remarkably open and wide-ranging news conference as he returned from his first foreign trip... "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?" Francis asked. His predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, signed a document in 2005 that said men with deep-rooted homosexual tendencies should not be priests. Francis was much more conciliatory, saying gay clergymen should be forgiven and their sins forgotten. Francis' remarks came Monday during a plane journey back to...

July 29, 2013 Memorial of Saint Martha    Reading 1 Ex 32:15-24, 30-34 Moses turned and came down the mountainwith the two tablets of the commandments in his hands,tablets that were written on both sides, front and back;tablets that were made by God,having inscriptions on them that were engraved by God himself.Now, when Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting,he said to Moses, “That sounds like a battle in the camp.�But Moses answered, “It does not sound like cries of victory,nor does it sound like cries of defeat;the sounds that I hear are cries of revelry.�As he drew near...

Father Z Equates Catholic Bishops at WYD 2013 with Nazis UPDATED July 27, 2013 By Sam Rocha 31 Comments Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, also known (and hereafter referred to) as “Fr. Z,� will surely dispute the claim of this headline, however, this post will show that the proposition “Father Z equates Catholic Bishops at WYD 2013 with Nazis� is true, by examining the words used by Fr. Z in today’s post at his web log, “Your Excellencies? REALLY?!?�Fr. Z’s post begins with the YouTube video (below) of a large group of Catholic Bishops, dressed in ecclesial attire, rehearsing hand movements to an upbeat religious...

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July 28, 2013 Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Gn 18:20-32 In those days, the LORD said: “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great,and their sin so grave,that I must go down and see whether or not their actionsfully correspond to the cry against them that comes to me. I mean to find out.� While Abraham’s visitors walked on farther toward Sodom,the LORD remained standing before Abraham. Then Abraham drew nearer and said:“Will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty? Suppose there were fifty innocent people in the city;would you wipe out the place, rather...

July 27, 113 A Catholic Answer to Catholic Answers Christopher A. Ferrara POSTED: 7/24/13 REMNANT COLUMNIST, Virginia ______________________ Share Patrick Coffin, Street Magician and Catholic Answers' Hammer of Traditionalists Since the close of the Second Vatican Council the Catholic Church has experienced the greatest crisis of faith and discipline in her history, caused by the spread of what Msgr. Guido Pozzo, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, has described as “a para-Conciliar ideology … that substantially proposes once more the idea of Modernism.” By Modernism is meant the “synthesis of all heresies,” as Saint Pius X called it, a...

July 27, 2013 Saturday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Ex 24:3-8 When Moses came to the peopleand related all the words and ordinances of the LORD, they all answered with one voice,“We will do everything that the LORD has told us.�Moses then wrote down all the words of the LORD and,rising early the next day,he erected at the foot of the mountain an altarand twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. Then, having sent certain young men of the children of Israelto offer burnt offerings and sacrifice young bullsas peace offerings to the LORD,Moses...

PETALUMA, Calif. — Do all animals go to heaven? The National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi wants them well-positioned for the possibility by creating San Francisco's first pet columbarium, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. Church leaders are currently raising funds for the 850-square-foot pet memorial space, the city's first "final resting place for the furry and feathered," as the Chronicle cutely put it. The new columbarium, which organizers hope will be up and running by spring, will be able to hold the ashes of up to 1,000 animals, according to the Associated Press. Cremation costs have not yet...

Question:What would a baptized and confirmed Roman Catholic need to do in order to join the Orthodox Presbyterian Church?Answer: Allow me to answer you question with a brief autobiographical anecdote. I was born, baptized, raised, confirmed, and educated in the Roman Catholic system. In fact, it was while I was at a Roman Catholic college (of all places) that I was converted by the grace of God. After realizing how different the teachings of the RCC are from Scripture, I joined with a Baptist church. And that church required that I be rebaptized as an adult. So, I went through...

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Featured Term (selected at random):HIS HOLINESSA title of honor and respect reserved in the Western Church for the Holy Father, the Pope, because of his administrative office of holy things. The term is sometimes applied to patriarchs in the East, e.g., to the Melkite patriarch in Antioch, in union with Rome, who is called "Most Holy in the Liturgy," and the Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople, who is spoken of as "His All-Holiness." All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Last year, Entertainment Weekly magazine honored the arrival of a viciously anti-Catholic tilt on the FX show "American Horror Story: Asylum" by promoting how actress "Jessica Lange returns, this time as a terrifying nun." Bigotry sells -- big -- in Tinseltown. This year, after that "Asylum" season aired, Hollywood has honored the show again by showering it with 17 Emmy nominations. There's a reason Hollywood revels in Catholic-bashing. The Catholic Church best represents for them an ancient organization with a creed, which refuses to genuflect before the modern god of La La Land: untrammeled whims of lust and greed. Ryan...

July 26, 2013Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary    Reading 1 Ex 20:1-17 In those days:God delivered all these commandments: “I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.You shall not have other gods besides me.You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or worship them.For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting...

Life Begins in the Womb “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." (Jeremiah 1:5, ESV) Every Christian living in the United States is confronted with a question. Is abortion permissible? Abortion is lawful. Many people consider it a viable alternative to an unwanted or unplanned pregnancy. Many of the people who espouse such a belief are intelligent and appear to be well informed. Regardless of a person's social status or level of education, that person is still subject to truth. Truth...

Featured Term (selected at random):PREAMBLES OF FAITHThe main premises of reason on which the act of divine faith depends as on its rational foundation. They are mainly three: 1. the existence of God; 2. his authority, or right to be believed because he knows all things and is perfectly truthful; and 3. the fact that he actually made a revelation, which is proved especially by miracles or fulfilled prophecies performed in testimony of a prophet's (or Christ's) claim to speaking in the name of God. (Etym. Latin praeambulus, walking in front: prae, in front + ambulare, to walk.) All...

July 25, 2013  <Feast of Saint James, Apostle    Reading 1 2 Cor 4:7-15 Brothers and sisters:We hold this treasure in earthen vessels,that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us.We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained;perplexed, but not driven to despair;persecuted, but not abandoned;struck down, but not destroyed;always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus,so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.For we who live are constantly being given up to deathfor the sake of Jesus,so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our...

One of the key elements in any contest is to understand the tactics of your opponent and to recognize the subtleties of the strategy or moves they may employ. In the spiritual battle of life we need to develop some sophistication in recognizing, naming, and understanding the subtleties of common tactics of the Devil.A 2011 book by Fr. Louis Cameli, The Devil You Don’t Know is of great assistance in this matter. Having read it recently, I think it would be of value to reflect on four broad categories of the Devil’s tactics that Fr. Cameli analyzes.While the four...

Full Title: Archbishop Chaput: Non-Catholic enthusiasm for Pope based on hope he’s unconcerned with moral issues RIO, July 24, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In an interview with John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter, Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput noted the enthusiasm for Pope Francis coming from “alienated Catholics, non-Catholics and non-Christians,” even more than from the faithful. Asked for an explanation, the Archbishop said it is possible that these admirers “think they would prefer a church that wouldn't have strict norms and ideas about the moral life and about doctrine, and they somehow interpret the pope's openness and friendliness as being...

Featured Term (selected at random):AUSTERITYThe quality of being severe in one's demeanor or way of life. More commonly in the plural, austerities. These are vigorous forms of bodily penance that persons impose on themselves in order to bring the passions under control, expiate one's own or other people's sins, and help the spirit to more effectively respond to the will of God. Austerities are only a means to perfection and not an end in themselves. They are to be undertaken only under competent spiritual direction. (Etym. Latin austerus; from Greek austeros, harsh, severe.) All items in this dictionary are...

On 24 July 1936, exactly a week after the Spanish Civil War broke out, three women, who had taken up the habit of their countrywoman, Saint Teresa of Avila, were brutally executed by the anti-Catholic Republican faction in the Castilian city of Guadalajara. Their names were Sister Maria Pilar of St. Francis Borgia, age 58; Sister Maria Angeles of St. Joseph, age 31; and Sister Teresa of the Child Jesus and St. John of the Cross, who was only 27 years old when she was martyred with her two friends. The three had fled from their Discalced Carmelite monastery two...

July 24, 2013 Wednesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Ex 16:1-5, 9-15 The children of Israel set out from Elim, and came into the desert of Sin,which is between Elim and Sinai,on the fifteenth day of the second monthafter their departure from the land of Egypt.Here in the desert the whole assembly of the children of Israelgrumbled against Moses and Aaron.The children of Israel said to them,“Would that we had died at the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt,as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread!But you had to lead...

What’s in a baby name? Money, for one, for those among the Britons who’ve bet on the name of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s new son, born July 22 in London. According to multiple sources, the bookmakers are betting on a traditional moniker such as James or George. Similarly regal names were predicted if William and Kate, as the parents are better known, were to have had a girl. For Catholics, a name also traditionally includes a patron saint. Catholics have a long history of naming their children with recognized saints in mind, making a name like “North” –...

eatured Term (selected at random):MAJOR BASILICAA title of honor conferred by the Holy See on certain outstanding churches in the Catholic world, namely the patriarchal basilicas in Rome. Among the major basilicas outside of Rome the best known is St. Mary of the Angels in Assisi, Italy. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission. 

July 23, 2013Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Ex 14:21—15:1 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea,and the LORD swept the seawith a strong east wind throughout the nightand so turned it into dry land.When the water was thus divided,the children of Israel marched into the midst of the sea on dry land,with the water like a wall to their right and to their left. The Egyptians followed in pursuit;all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and charioteers went after themright into the midst of the sea.In the night watch just before dawnthe LORD cast...

Featured Term (selected at random):DIOCESAN INSTITUTEA religious institute of men or women, erected by a local ordinary, that has not as yet obtained "Pontifical Recognition" from the Holy See. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission. 

July 22, 2013 Memorial of Saint Mary Magdalene    Reading 1 Ex 14:5-18 When it was reported to the king of Egyptthat the people had fled,Pharaoh and his servants changed their minds about them.They exclaimed, “What have we done!Why, we have released Israel from our service!�So Pharaoh made his chariots ready and mustered his soldiersBsix hundred first-class chariotsand all the other chariots of Egypt, with warriors on them all.So obstinate had the LORD made Pharaohthat he pursued the children of Israeleven while they were marching away in triumph.The Egyptians, then, pursued them;Pharaoh’s whole army, his horses, chariots and charioteers,caught up...

Depending on whom you ask, it’s either the infamous “gay lobby” scrubbing the personnel records of a misbehaving priest to protect one of their own, or it’s opponents of Pope Francis’ efforts at reform – who may or may not be members of the infamous “gay lobby” – whipping up falsehoods about a priest who only wants to help Francis hose out dirty dealing from the Institute for Works of Religion, aka the “Vatican bank.” Both options are unsavory, and neither one bodes well for the 76-year-old Argentinian-born pope’s aim of stamping out corruption in the heart of the Roman...

July 21, 2013 Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Gn 18:1-10a The LORD appeared to Abraham by the terebinth of Mamre,as he sat in the entrance of his tent,while the day was growing hot. Looking up, Abraham saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them;and bowing to the ground, he said:“Sir, if I may ask you this favor,please do not go on past your servant. Let some water be brought, that you may bathe your feet,and then rest yourselves under the tree. Now that you have...