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  1. Sacraments

Confession in America

Confession:  Catholics, Repentance, and Forgiveness in America by patrick w. carey oxford, 392 pages, $34.95 In the 2013 Joseph Gordon-­Levitt romantic comedy Don Jon, the porn-obsessed title character hits the confessional, reels off his ­usual list of sins against chastity, and then . . . . Continue Reading »

Briefly Noted

The Cleansing of the Heart:  The Sacraments as Instrumental Causes in the Thomistic Tradition  by reginald lynch, o.p.  catholic university of america, 260 pages, $65 The sacraments are fundamental to any ecclesiology in which they play a part, and their number, their definition, and . . . . Continue Reading »

Sacramental Realism

To outsiders, the proposal of communion for the divorced and remarried seems a modest adjustment. But it has provoked adamant resistance among the faithful because it throws in doubt the basic logic of the gospel. From her beginnings, the Church has known that the baptized, while born again in . . . . Continue Reading »

Discernment of Situation

Reckoning with a pope whose own remarks seem somewhat erratic is one thing. But how are we to reckon with a situation in which the administration of the sacraments, and the theology behind their administration, is succumbing, with his blessing, to . . . . Continue Reading »

Ritualed Knowing

Epistemology and ritual are rarely considered together. They are often opposed (“mindless ritual”), and ritual is more often associated with belief than with knowledge. At best, ritual is understood as an expression of knowledge that has been arrived at by other means. Dru Johnson doesn’t think these positions do justice to either ritual or epistemology. . . . Continue Reading »

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