The Narthex
The States & Free Exercise of Religion
Let’s amend state constitutions to prevent future shuttering of churches
By John M. Grondelski | May 27th 2024 3:17 PMPaul Benjamin Linton is author of the magisterial Abortion under State Constitutions -- which has gone through three editions -- and the recognized pro-life authority on that subject. While Roe v. Wade held abortion policy hostage to an imagined federal “right,” Linton reminded us that every state has its own…
READ FULL BLOG POSTOn Ecclesiastical Growth
I do not believe the “Holy Spirit” is leading us into ecclesiastical shrinkage and retreat
By John M. Grondelski | May 1st 2024 12:05 PMA subtle aspect of last Sunday’s First Reading has to do with ecclesiastical growth. The main thrust of the reading was the suspicion with which the Church in Jerusalem (i.e., Peter and the other Apostles) initially received Paul, former persecutor and now evangelist, who “spoke out boldly in the name…
READ FULL BLOG POSTTabernacles versus Tuppernacles
Utilitarianism has beset Eucharistic praxis for a long time
By John M. Grondelski | August 24th 2023 6:44 PMSeveral writers have already addressed the question of how the Eucharist was treated during the just-concluded World Youth Day in Lisbon. I want to focus on a particular attempt to justify the use of “Tuppernacles” and the way the Blessed Sacrament was mass-packaged in plastic containers (“Tuppernacles” is Peter Kwasniewski’s…
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