The Narthex

Another Example of Inverted Pneumatology I’ve criticized a distorted theology of the Holy Spirit I’ve called “inverted pneumatology,” which pretends that today the Holy Spirit primarily speaks not to the world from the Church but rather teaches the Church from a secularized world. Writing in the National Catholic Reporter (I…

Given that St. John Henry Newman was made a Doctor of the Church on November 1, I am sharing with you the materials I provided students in grades 6 through 9 whom I tutored on 50 great speeches of the Western world in 2020-21. Newman’s “Second Spring” sermon is an…

Every December 8th, Catholics celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Most reflections highlight Mary’s unique grace and her call to become the Mother of Christ. The doctrine is beautiful, and the celebration often stops there. In doing so, we risk missing the deeper invitation hidden within it. The medieval…

Recent years have seen a “war on Christmas.” It takes the form of turning Christmas into a holiday in the closet, daring not to speak its name. Instead, we say “happy holidays,” while kids get “winter break” from school. Those who contend there’s a war on Christmas argue that its…

Advent comes with a repertoire of hymnody unique to the season, such as “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” Among traditional Advent hymns now sung in English-speaking Catholic churches is Englishwoman Eleanor Farjeon’s “People, Look East,” which was sung in my parish last Sunday. I had to wonder whether some dioceses…

Some Western European clerics are again singing the praises of secularization. The latest, according to Stefano Fontana, is Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Italy. (His November 17 opening address to the bishops’ meeting in Assisi is linked below.) That song, however, is hardly…

Reports, officially unconfirmed, are circulating that some dioceses in the United States have prohibited celebration of the Novus Ordo Missae (NO) with a versus orientem posture. I offer some theological reflections: Since introduction of the NO in 1969, the usual posture for celebration of Mass has been versus populum, “towards…

The Third Synodal Assembly of the Italian Church marked a historic turning point in its pastoral approach to LGBT people. With approval of the Synodal Path's summary document, "Yeast of Peace and Hope," the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) overwhelmingly approved proposals that represent an unprecedented openness toward homosexual and transgender…

Pope Leo has made it official: St. John Henry Newman is a Doctor of the Church. In this I rejoice; Newman has long been a favorite of mine. I often taught his An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent (1870), a classic in the epistemology of religion, in…

SNAP Shutdown The continuing shutdown of the federal government has interrupted SNAP payments. SNAP is a federal program to provide food money to the poor. There are currently more than 41 million SNAP recipients. This seems to be one of those areas where the priority of the poor comes into…

In a recent essay, I quoted approvingly Oren Cass’s observation that employment, labor, and immigration law form a coherent legal whole that protects both national security and domestic workers. Summarizing Cass, immigration law determines who can work; employment law fixes “baseline” criteria for the employer-employee relationship; and labor law protects…

The Third Synodal Assembly of the Church in Italy marked a historic turning point in the pastoral approach to LGBT people. With the approval of “Yeast of Peace and Hope,” its Synodal Path Summary Document, the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) overwhelmingly approved proposals representing unprecedented openness toward homosexual and transgender…

Pneumatology is that branch of theology dealing with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is understood as indwelling in the Church and keeping her from error. The Church’s inerrancy is neither political nor historical; she can and has made mistakes in those areas. The Church’s inerrancy is related to her…

Writing in the Chicago Catholic (Sept. 3, linked below), Cardinal Blase Cupich tries to distinguish between “tradition” and “traditionalism,” invoking Ss. Vincent of Lérins and John Henry Newman on development of doctrine to make his case for Vatican II’s reform of the liturgy. He’s concerned that “traditionalism” is obscuring the Council’s…

Just last week we celebrated the Feast of Pope St. Pius X. Even as children, we cradle Catholics learned that Pius X had opened the reception of the eucharist to young people like us. But the day’s liturgy, it turns out, presents us with a dark reading from the Book…