European Secularism vs. The Catholic Church – “European secularism is not at all devoid of religion. It is a soft — or at times violent — form of de-Christianisation.” Interview: Cardinal Müller on Europe, Islam, the SSPX and the German Synodal Path (The Catholic Herald)
Lenin and Intimidation – “Demanding freedom of speech for his ‘negative patriotism’ (he wants Russia to lose), Lenin hates the very idea of anyone opposing him … ” Why Lenin Won (Law & Liberty)
Religious Worker Visa – “The recent story of Father John K. Ojuok, a Kenyan priest serving in the Diocese of Ogdensburg in upstate New York, is a small local news item that reveals a much larger crisis.” Stranded African Shepherds: How U.S. Visa Policies Are Hurting African Priests and Their Communities
About Coming Home – “A recent essay in the New York Times’ Modern Love column has sparked a flurry of think pieces, tweets, and reactions.” I’ll Be Home for Christmas? (First Things)
Critical Theory and Christianity – “The introduction of Christianity’s social vision into history is indispensable for understanding the rise of CT and its persistent popularity.” Critical Theory and the Politics of Divine Love, Part 2 (What We Need Now – Substack)
Our Jewish Friends – “Sunday’s attack is a somber reminder that the Jewish people will mark Hanukkah once again this year amid a disturbing global rise in hateful rhetoric against the Jewish community, including here in the United States.” Antisemitism is Anti-Christian, Anti-American, and Anti-Human (Providence)
U.S. Catholic Divorce – “Catholic spouses striving to honor their vows find little support from a church that seems to have adopted a U.S. divorce culture mentality.” What’s Driving The U.S. Marriage Annulment Crisis In The Catholic Church (The Federalist)
Standing in the Middle – “We fight back by reading across the spectrum—not just the one outlet that tells us we’re right and everyone else is evil. We look for the people who are wrestling with ideas in the messy middle, not shouting from the extremes.” Silos (The Prairie Homestead)
The Few and Fervent – “Gen Z is the least religious generation in U.S. history. And Gen Z is going to church more than any other generation.” Gen Z’s future with the Catholic Church (America)
A Catholic Revival – “For those who have monitored this trend over the past five years, the deeper question is no longer whether a renewal is underway, but whether the trend has the foundations to sustain it for the long term.” Christian Renewal in the West Is Here, but Will Leaders Be Able to Sustain It? (National Catholic Register)
(*The posting of any particular news item or essay is not an endorsement of the content and perspective of said news item or essay.)
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#7 – U.S. Catholic Divorce – What’s Driving The U.S. Marriage Annulment Crisis In The Catholic Church?
What indeed? And why am I reading this in the secular press?
“Anyone who appeals to a “spirit of the Second Vatican Council” in opposition to its binding doctrine may well be invoking a “spirit of the world”…
I like and respect Cardinal Muller very much, but to what is he referring with regard to the Council’s “binding doctrine”?
Muller did not say “new” binding doctrine, so surely he refers to doctrines that are simply carried forward in the Council Documents, as in all the constitution Dei Verbum. Or, maybe too, the constitution Gaudium et Spes which repeats the “permanent binding [!] force” of the Natural Law (n. 79).
Otherwise, for something new, some will point to the clarified and collegial relationship between the papacy and the bishops (Lumen Gentium Ch. 3 including the Prefatory/Explanatory Note) which serves to complete the work of the First Vatican Council (1870)—which was only “suspended” under duress of military invasion, and not adjourned.
The Abott edition of the Vatican II Documents (1966) includes an enriching footnote (#43) to the much-abused Constitution on the Liturgy: “Another important encyclical of Pius XII, ‘Mystici Corporus’ (1943), stressed the fact that the Church is Christ’s Mystical Body. This has been incorporated (and in some ways greatly surpassed) by the present Constitution and the Constitution on the Church [Lumen Gentium].”
Thank you Mr. Beaulieu. We always hear that it was a Pastoral Council, not a Doctrinal Council. You can’t have it both ways. I understand that there were maybe repetitions of previous examples of binding doctrine. But I thought the context (maybe mistakenly) referred to new binding doctrine.
@ US Catholic Divorce
A catastrophic admission by tribunal priests that marriage tribunals have become divorce facilitators. Anything and everything that’s considered a difficulty are readily accepted as grounds for declaration of nullity.
The Federalist’s Beverly Millett offers an excellent, discouraging expose on the frivolity are work among parish priests who encourage the avalanche of fake marriage trials. Defective consent is heard here, there and everywhere, an impediment to validity that has been strained through the scrambled minds of today’s ‘pop’ psychologists to mean whatever they wish.
That many believe that marriage isn’t forever, indissoluble if freely consented to is part of the vicious circle of clergy posing doubts about their faith and laity who unwittingly buy into their lack of faith – as our faith.
Heresy abounds tribunals included. Clergy and laity seem to believe that if a tribunal makes a judgment [however vacant of truth and justice], that it is a guarantee of God’s favorable sanction.
Thank you so much for the “Silos” article. That looks like an interesting blog or website to check out. The comments for the article were worth reading too.
I think we can all relate to this.
I lost a decades old friend like one of the commenters did. Politics taking priority over friendship. It’s so sad.
Fr. Morello above (3:03) – Yes, Beverly Millett is doing good work at The Federalist.
To repeat – Why am I reading her excellent articles in the secular press?
A subject Cleo that’s given to controversy and terribly true. Perhaps the powers to be do not wish to address it?