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At The Catholic Thing Fr. Jerry Pokorsky has a good piece about being non-judgmental, particularly about non-judgmental priests.  I think we have all met that sort, right?  These pathetic, flexi-spined cowards who would be, were Dante in charge, consigned to chase the pointless ever-whirling banner on the empty plain, pursued by stinging flies, treading upon hideous worms.Two snips: Non-Judgmental Shepherds[…]Someone recently told me about a Catholic religion teacher who was called by a concerned parent. The teacher was presenting the Catholic faith in a methodical fashion. An upcoming topic was to be love and marriage. The parent wanted assurances that his...

Church architecture reflects the faith of the people who build churches.These days many of the modern Catholic churches I have seen look more like municipal airport buildings than structures to house the most sacred thing humans can undertake, the place where heaven and earth meet.I was recently sent a link to a site about a new church in Moscow. The church was recently completed and consecrated by Patriarch Kirill in December 2015. A Miracle of Liturgical Art: The Church of the Protection of the Mother of God at Yasenevo[…]But most astonishing by far was the project to decorate the interior...

From a reader…QUAERITUR: Who is a member of the Roman Catholic Church? Is baptism all that is required? What about people baptised into the RC Church who later in life do not believe in some of the teachings of the RC Church (eg regarding homosexuality) but still go to Mass & Holy Communion? Can they still claim to be members? This seems like a simple question, calling for a simple answer.  It isn’t.From the perspective of the world, the Church, like any other “club” should have clearly demarcated lines of membership, with an initiation process, rules for membership, and penalties...

Another bishop supports the idea that teachers in Catholic schools must serve also as role models. The Cardinal New Society, which watches the status quaestionis of Catholic education in these USA, has a letter that His Excellency Most Rev. Richard Lennon, Bishop of Cleveland, sent to teachers in the diocese entrusted to his care.Find the great news feed of the Cardinal Newman Society on the sidebar of this blog! Teachers ‘Instrumental’ in Developing Students’ Catholic Faith, Says Cleveland’s Bishop LennonCatholic school teachers must be role models of faith and morality for their students to emulate, Bishop Richard Lennon of Cleveland,...

From a reader (who has sent queries before about a writing project): I’m sorry if I’m been annoying at all in the past. But I have another question this one is for a writing project that might never get off the ground, but in case it does. Could water that is extratrestrial in origin e.g from a comet or another planet be valid matter for baptism? I parried back: Water is water. H2O. Right? And I went about my day, self-assured in my concise response.The inquirer reposted: Yep, essentially. But there exist other types of water like D2O [which everyone...

Yesterday I posted an ACTION ITEM! for your kind attention, a poll on a Michigan media site (please go an vote!) about an upcoming fauxdination of a woman that was to take place at a Congregration Church. You could tell how the paper/site was biased in favor of this offensive fake ordination.Our own eagle-eyed Elizabeth D, frequent commentatrix here, saw this followup story: Harassment forces relocation of Womenpriest ordination SaturdayTHREE OAKS, MI — Lillian Lewis, who is to be ordained [nope] as a priest [nope] Saturday by a dissident [yep] Catholic group, says harassing phone calls have forced relocation of...

We have come back to the last Sunday of the liturgical year.  In the post-Conciliar calendar of the Roman Church this is the Solemnity of Christ the King.  In the older calendar, this is celebrated (with a rather different meaning!) at the end of October.Each year Holy Church presents to us the history of salvation, from Creation to the Lord’s Coming (the First and also the Final).Today’s Solemnity is an anticipation of the season of Advent, which  focuses on the different ways in which the Lord comes to us, especially in the Second Coming.At this time of year (November) we...