De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

The English Weekly Edition of L'Osservatore Romano publishes an article attacking dissenters of Amoris laetitia , saying Pope Francis supports the Kasper proposal (explicitly rejected at the two Synods). By anyone's standards this would seem quite extraordinary, but it is also printing verifiable error! This paragraph (below) is completely ridiculous as well as being verifiably false. What an extraordinary thing for L'Osservatore to print?! This question has been addressed before, by Jesus Christ. It was also addressed in Familiaris Consortio  (no. 84) which upheld the Church’s perennial practice of “not admitting to Eucharistic Communion divorced persons who have remarried,” unless they “take upon themselves the duty to live in complete continence.” Pope St. John Paul II actually emphasises the permanence of the discipline by insisting that it is “based on Sacred Scripture” (84). In 1994, after a number of bishops and theologians had put forward certain p...

The notion that Christ was a "rule breaker" is a very naive reading of the Christian calling as CC Father reminds us here . Reflecting on this theme, he concludes: I believe that it is only in obedience that we are able properly to cooperate with Christ's saving work, and submit to whatever He asks of us. But every force in our fallen nature and in our society and its dominant thinking, culture and values, rebels at that notion. For me, this blog immediately brought to mind Pope Benedict XVI's words in his excellent exposition of the person of Christ Jesus of Nazareth, Volume I where he discusses the exposition of Jesus in the Jewish scholar Jacob Neusner's book A Rabbi Talks with Jesus . "The conventional interpretation is that Jesus broke open a narrow-minded, legalistic practice and replaced it with a more generous, more liberal view, and thereby opened the door for acting rationally in accord with the given situation. Jesus' statement that ...

I thought the readings last Sunday were particularly pertinent and spoke clearly to me regarding several issues. The Readings were: • Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8 • Psalm: 14:2-5; Response: v. 1 • Second Reading: James 1:17-18, 21-22, 27 • Gospel: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 It has taken me a few evenings to write this up, largely because I was working out what I wanted to understand about the Scripture in my own head. This was a reaction to the teaching of the Scriptures regarding Law, revelation and fidelity. These issues are worth discussing here because a proper understanding of the Scriptures, especially in a proper Old Testament context, can only deepen one's understanding of the important societal battle being waged in which we are the troops, whether we like it or not. As I opined earlier this week , we need to stand up and fight! I think this Sunday's readings really show off an apparent contradiction between the Old Testament and the New Testament: at least...

Matthias Grunewald , Isenheim Altarpiece, 1512-1516 I have been questioned (a lot) on Twitter by a tweep called @theTRUTHSPIRIT about Easter. The suggestion is that it is a Pagan festival and that Jesus didn't rise on Sunday. This is a question about Mass really. Catholics go to Mass on Sunday, but the Sabbath (or Shabbat) is celebrated Friday to Saturday. To be precise, according to halakha , Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night.  Shabbat is ushered in by lighting candles and reciting a blessing. Traditionally, three festive meals are eaten; on Friday night, Saturday morning, and late Saturday afternoon. Friday night dinner begins with kiddush and a blessing recited over two loaves of challah . Shabbat is a festive day when Jews are freed from the regular labours of everyday life. It offers an opportunity to contemplate the spiritual aspects of life and spend time with famil...

Last weekend I ended up having a protracted argument with Mohammed Ansar about, of all things, pork! The discussion was instigated by Mo, a Muslim, when he Tweeted: “Never could understand how Christians eat swine when Jesus did not; he forbade it and hated pigs, even killing 2,000 of them.‪#SwineMeat” This is an allusion to Christ’s exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac, which, to the best of my understanding, demonstrates nothing about Jesus’ feelings towards the humble Sus domesticus. Also, nowhere does Jesus forbid the eating of pork, although as a devout Jew, it seems highly unlikely He would have ever eaten it Himself. Mo went on to assert that eating pork is “the same as eating the flesh of one’s dead brother”, that pork “tastes like human flesh" (to which one has to wonder; how does he know what pork-or human flesh for that matter-tastes like?) and that he is “...astounded that Christ, so pivotal in Islam and Christianity; is disregarded by so many Christians so ...