De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

As if it could get any more shocking - this morning the fight between the Vatican & the US was ramped up to defcon 9 when the Papal Nuncio made the weird announcement that The Pope wants his magisterium of Evangelium Gaudium , Amoris Laetitia , Laudato si implemented. The trouble is, because of all his double-speak, no one has got any clue what that means! It's true that the vast majority of US bishops have completely ignored Chapter 8 and the Buenos Aires guidelines in their 'implementation' of Amoris laetitia. The same goes for the vast majority of bishops worldwide; maybe some signs that the Pope isn't happy with this situation. https://t.co/0PF7YErDIf — Catholic Sat (@CatholicSat) November 11, 2019 Also, what happened to synodality ???? It's fine for ze Germanz when they want gay priests and married women eucharist ministers - or whatever, but the bishops of the USA MUST TOW THE LINE ACCORDING TO THE Furer! I mean FRANCIS! This will go unrema...

In this recent post , I quoted an article by Austen Ivereigh from last July which criticised the Polish faithful. In that article Ivereigh writes: Some Polish bishops have publicly critiqued the document as “ambiguous.” They argue that sections that are unclear should be interpreted according to the teachings of Francis’ predecessors — by which they mean John Paul II’s 1981 teaching document, Familiaris Consortio . In Catholic terms, this amounts to something close to a rebellion: Amoris Laetitia is authoritative magisterial teaching, and should be the dominant point of reference. Why is  Amoris Laetitia  *more* magisterial than everything that preceded it? Surely it can only be seen as Magisterial insofar as it affirms and expounds what the Church has already said? For me, it utterly fails in this regard, because regardless of the intent, it has only served to breed dreadful confusion. It is, at least, ambiguous enough for many clergy to feel it justifies abandonment ...

Further to my comments yesterday regarding Prof. Tina Beattie's controversial and open dissent, I wanted to look deeper at the problem to illustrate that I am not just being rude about an individual, but rather, I feel, undertaking an important critique of an untenable Catholic position. The point is not to attack an individual, but to demonstrate that for such academic positions to remain unchallenged and unclarified by those who's duty it is to shepherd the faithful, constitutes the source of a great deal of our malaise in the Church. As I stated yesterday, at the most basic level it seems obvious that our unity is utterly dependent on our common profession of faith. When we compromise the integrity of that professed faith, unity ceases to be a reality. Theologians like Beattie have attempted to assimilate post-modern ideas into Catholic theology in an attempt to help the faithful feel more comfortable in the "real" world. The demonstrable reality is that ...

I was sorely tempted to title this post "Know Your Local Heretic". Recently, I drew attention to the fact that Jean Riordan, the Chair of A Call to Action’s National Steering Group, has sent out an email to its 1,200 registered members encouraging them to form a group in every diocese to spread its mission of dissent, or as they frame it, ‘dialogue and openness’. Jean Riordan also wants ACTA members to tell other parishioners about ACTA and invite local priests and members of religious orders to join as well.  Are our bishops happy about a dissent group establishing diocesan groups with representatives pushing their agenda in every diocese in our country? I noticed a comment on Protect the Pope's post regarding Bishop Conry's alleged endorsement of ACTA where the poster said they were unaware of any ACTA activists in their diocese, so, in order that we can all be clear, here is their own public list of people they term diocese coordinators, and which w...

Some great news today: Archbishop Nichols ends ‘Soho Masses’ after six years For those who don't know, these infamous Masses have been a source of contention for six years now, and have stood in stark contrast to the courageous endeavours of homosexual Catholics by flaunting the Church's express teaching and celebrating heterodoxy. Now, you might already be backing away from this post frantically, but look, one of the most important insights I have gained over the years concerns fidelity to the Magisterium. This takes courage and the engagement of one's grey matter. You might find yourself fundamentally at odds with something the Church teaches, and you might consider it is wrong. But I promise you, that's pretty much certainly because you have not understood the teaching. I have posted on my own journey towards understanding what the Church teaches in this regard, a teaching which is subtle, nuanced and worthy of deep reflection and consideration. Th...

I've been in the beautiful, wild, West of Ireland for ten days with my family. I love it here, it is home to me, a place that has constantly been a part of my life no matter where I have been or lived in England. Mayo has always been home, where the family are, where the familiar places are. I often wonder, and am often asked if I could live here. I dream about it all the time, but one of the real problems I would have would be the Church here. The liturgy is poor, the people seem spiritually starved. The Mass is often dreadful, occasionally bearable. There is no sense of reverence or sacredness, the best you can hope for is an enthusiastic or genial delivery of the canon of the Mass; the responses are rushed and formulaic. Yet Ireland IS Catholic. I went to Mass last Sunday and there were literally thousands of people in St. Mary's Church, Westport . Thousands! It's awesome! Irish people ARE Catholic—it's in their nature, their bones, it oozes out of their p...