The Narthex

“I want to make history” is something heard at least from the ambitious. Yet it seems those who succeed are few and far between. Go check out an encyclopedia and pick any “historical” figure at random. I’ll bet that, with very few exceptions, if their life gets to fill half…

Frenchman Xavier Léon-Dufour and Australian Gerald O’Collins were two giants of contemporary theology on the Resurrection. Both emphasized the need to make the Resurrection central to Catholic theology. O’Collins specifically called for recognizing how the Resurrection shapes every branch of Catholic theology. (O’Collins died just last August, making this Easter…

We recently considered the less-than-pretty side of the “ecumenical” push to impose a common Easter. (See my post from two days ago.) That essay notes that most discussion focuses on three possible approaches: have the East adopt the Catholic approach; have the West adopt the Orthodox approach; or have both…

Much attention has been given this year to a push by the late Pope Francis (with Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew) to find a date for a “common Easter.” Francis had resurrected a dormant appendix of Vatican II’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy as his warrant for the push which, one senses,…

Back in my undergraduate theology days Fr. Robert Werenski, our Bible professor, regularly came back to what he called the “PDR” -- the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. We Catholics call it the “Paschal Mystery,” which we just finished celebrating during the Paschal Triduum but still have seven…

The Erasure of Easter Easter is less than a week away. Among non-believers it’s easier to ignore than Christmas, as it always falls on a Sunday. You can say “goodbye” to a co-worker on Friday and return on Monday and Easter weekend will not be noticeably different to the broader…

Romanian Rain on Francis’s Common Easter Parade Pope Francis’s idea of launching a “common Easter” hit a road block when the Orthodox Patriarch of Romania voiced objections. His primary objection was exactly the condition Vatican II set 61 years ago in the long-dormant appendix to Sacronsanctum Concilium that Francis wants…

This past Sunday, May 5, was Easter in various parts of the Orthodox Church which still use the Julian Calendar for liturgical purposes. To these Orthodox: Christos voskrese! Voistinnu voskrese! (Christ is risen! He is truly risen!) I mention Orthodox Easter because while this year (as is typical) it falls…

The past few years have seen a preoccupation in various ecclesiastical quarters about the Church’s “welcome.” It’s a strange preoccupation for an institution that has been around roughly two millennia and hitherto seemed to lack neither clarity about its welcome message nor success in its promotion. This year’s readings for…

I’ve regularly criticized the contemporary Church’s generous toleration of cremation. I’ve voiced many reasons why this indulgence of cremation is wrongheaded, but one reason that I think gets too little attention is the symbolic confusion that cremation generates. Man is a symbolic creature, one who is prone to see, recognize,…

Pope Francis has on several occasions voiced support for an idea, percolating among the Vatican’s professional ecumenical and liturgical classes, to establish a “common” date for Easter between Catholics and Orthodox. The current driver seems to be wanting to “do something” to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council…