The Dispatch
Ecclesia and Excommunication
On the Readings for Sunday, September 10, 2017 […]
authority
Analysis
Pope Francis, contraception, and the problem of ecclesial authority
It’s been reported (see here and here) that the recent text from the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAL), Etica Teologica della Vita (Theological Ethics of Life, Vatican Publishing, 2022), advocates among other things the disregarding […]
Chapp's Schtick
Synodality, bureaucratic malaise, and the problem of power
In my previous essay I criticized the new emphasis on synodality as an essentially modern enterprise of bureaucratic legerdemain. I noted that while I support the concept of a more synodal Church, I am suspicious […]
Chapp's Schtick
Is Vatican II “spent”? A reply to Michael Pakaluk: Part II
Michael Pakaluk, in his February 2022 essay “Is Vatican II ‘Spent’?”, says that what we now need, precisely in order to advance the aims of Vatican II, is a Vatican III: We need a new […]
Books
New book argues Scott Hahn is a “Catholic fundamentalist”—and fails badly
Sean Swain Martin argues in his book, American Pope: Scott Hahn and the Rise of Catholic Fundamentalism (Pickwick Publications, 2021), that Scott Hahn, noted Catholic author and longtime professor of biblical theology at Franciscan University […]
Essay
God’s Law of Love: A Spirituality of the Ten Commandments (Part 3)
Having considered man’s obligations to God on the first table of the Decalogue, we now move to the second for our responsibilities toward our neighbor. We begin with the duty to honor one’s parents, which […]
The Dispatch
Who is your Jesus?
When it comes down to it, many of us rather have a Jesus we’re comfortable with than conforming our lives to that one unique and […]