LETTERS FROM THE SYNOD - 2023: #4

Edited by Xavier Rynne II

Synod-2023 has reignited the intra-Catholic war over the legacy of the Second Vatican Council.  Continue Reading »

9 Oct 2023

LETTERS FROM THE SYNOD - 2023: #3

Edited by Xavier Rynne II

The most difficult problems facing the Church today are the questions of who and what a human being really is. Continue Reading »

6 Oct 2023

LETTERS FROM THE SYNOD - 2023: SPECIAL EDITION

Edited by Xavier Rynne II

I address this letter to you, members of the . . . Synod on Synodality, supposing that you are as worried as I am about the outcome of this Synod. Continue Reading »

5 Oct 2023

Laudate Deum Barely Mentions Christ

by Francis X. Maier

Pope Francis seeks to speak a common ethical language to a very diverse global audience, but he ends up blessing the direction of mainstream opinion already stated well elsewhere. Continue Reading »

4 Oct 2023

LETTERS FROM THE SYNOD - 2023: #2

Edited by Xavier Rynne II

We dare not replace the deposit of faith—Christ the treasure, the eternal Word of the Father, traditioned to the Church—with some kind of process.  Continue Reading »

4 Oct 2023

When Newman Left Oxford

by Grazie Pozo Christie

Newman's conversion to Catholicism was nothing short of a personal cataclysm, a white martyrdom. Continue Reading »

3 Oct 2023

LETTERS FROM THE SYNOD - 2023: #1

Edited by Xavier Rynne II

One of the most important tasks of Synod-2023 will be the clarification of its own specific character and authority—and just what is meant by “synodality.” Continue Reading »

2 Oct 2023

The Church’s Revolutions

by Richard Rex

In 1489 the Roman Catholic Church felt, and was, hemmed into a corner of the world. The view from Rome was of Africa and Asia long lost to heretical churches or to Islam, and Europe divided between Catholicism and Orthodoxy (itself seen as heretical), while Ottoman power advanced relentlessly up the . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Oct 2023

Sinéad O’Connor’s Cross

by John Byron Kuhner

Sinéad O’Connor, the troubled Irish singer-­songwriter, died in July at age fifty-six. No cause of death has been announced, but it is fair to note that at times she both predicted and welcomed her own demise. Her son Shane committed suicide in 2022. Not long after, she vowed, “I’ve decided . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Oct 2023

Briefly Noted

by Various

At ninety-four years old, Eva Brann is both the oldest and longest-serving tutor at St. John’s College in Annapolis, America’s premier Great Books liberal arts institution. She is also the most widely published member of the faculty, notable at a school aimed at cultivating the life of the mind . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Oct 2023