Features
Now it is not the time to “turn down the temperature”
Sometimes even allies offer advice that is ill-conceived, and I think that applies to some of what Fr. Raymond de Souza wrote recently for the […]
Articles by Edward N. Peters
The Dispatch
A theory for the canonical prosecution of an ‘Uncle Ted’ type of prelate
Respectful of the nature of the Church as willed by Christ, no mechanism of canon law provides for the removal of a pope from office. […]
The Dispatch
About withholding donations from the Church
Four observations on withholding donations in response to the McCarrick scandal, the Pennsylvania grand jury report, and so on. […]
General
The death penalty debate and the Church’s magisterium
I regard the liceity of the death penalty as having been established with infallible certitude by the Church’s ordinary magisterium. […]
The Dispatch
Canon law, “consensual adult relationships”, and chastity
Clerical homosexual activity is not a violation of “celibacy” but a violation of the chastity to which all the faithful are called and of the continence to which all […]
The Dispatch
Revoking honorary degrees: a semi-canonical thought on a non-canonical issue
Many, perhaps most, honorary degrees—especially degrees to celebrity prelates such as McCarrick, degrees that reflect not a whiff of intellectual, albeit not academic, achievement—are transparent public relations […]
The Dispatch
McCarrick, the bishops, and the deepening confusion about sex
There is a serious failure among current ecclesiastical leadership to respect the special signification of human sexual acts in themselves. […]
The Dispatch
Ecclesiae Sponsae Imago punts on one problem, fixes a second, but greatly worsens a third
Now, according to the plain terms of ESI, the Blessed Virgin Mary would not be eligible for admission to the order of virgins, but Mary Magdalene would be eligible. […]
General
Why Dr. Rebecca Luckett’s abortion essay is not the “same old same-old”
Most ‘Yes-I’m-Catholic-but’ attempts at public conscience massaging warrant little consideration and usually no follow-up. But Dr. Luckett’s recent USA Today essay could be an exception. […]
The Dispatch
My one concern about the “Sharing in the Joy of Love” pastoral plan
Canon 915, and the tradition upon which it stands, operate in the face of observable behavior and not personal conscience. […]