Therese - Tough and Tender Catholics are often blamed for being obsessed with sex, and the ones who lay this charge are usually sex obsessed secularists. We are interested in sexuality however, because we believe that what we do with our bodies is connected with the destiny of our souls. This is because we [...]
Fr James Martin SJ is an engaging priest. With helpful books on God's sense of humor and practical spirituality he has helped make Catholicism approachable for many people. However, he does seem to have some remarkable blind spots. In an article published over at CNN he asks, Why are Catholics so Afraid of Change? Fr Martin is [...]
Guest blogger, The Rev’d Humphrey Blytherington is former Vicar of St Hilda’s, Little Snoring with All Saints, Great Snoring. He is a graduate of Plymouth University. He completed his studies for the ministry at Latimer Hall, Durham. He is married to Daphne and enjoys home brewing, model railroading and was, until retirement, an avid member of the Great [...]
Cardinal Vincent Nichols I have not read the final document from the synod on the family in full yet, but there are some conservative grumblings about the ambiguity of a couple of paragraphs. The document seems to encourage the resolution of second marriage issues with the use of the "internal forum". This is a [...]
My article for Aleteia this week is a profile of Marcus Grodi and the Coming Home Network Marcus Grodi’s pun for life could be “Done Roman” because when he was received into the Roman Catholic Church the former Protestant pastor had found his spiritual home and was finally “done roamin’.” Grodi was brought up in a [...]
OK. I know it sounds dumb, but I've always wanted to be a nun. You know what I mean? So when that Jenner guy decided to be a girl I says to myself, "What the heck! Go for it man!" Then when they made him "Woman of the Year" I just about choked on my stogie. [...]
My article for Imaginative Conservative this week is an essay on the tale of two orphans: Huck Finn an Pip from Dickens' Great Expectations Both Pip and Huck are faced with similar difficulties. Pip is apprenticed to a blacksmith and dominated by his harpy of a sister, while Huck is trapped in the stifling atmosphere of Widow [...]
After the synod, this from Belgian bishop Lucas Van Loony. “If this synod were the Church, I would say that it’s the end of judging people, the end of a Church that passes judgment on all the situations,” said Belgian Bishop Lucas Van Looy. “It’s a Church that welcomes, a Church that accompanies, a Church that [...]
Thomas D Williams gives an update here on the synod as the final report is about to be released. He doesn't have much time for Jesuit priest Thomas Reese Though the synod was convened to discuss the many issues facing Christian families in the world today, Reese and his cohort had a considerably more narrow focus: [...]
Far be it from me to pontificate about the vexed questions the synod fathers are debating, but I have been pondering a few of the questions and have to admit to being stumped. The question is this: "Should divorced and remarried Catholics and publicly active homosexuals be admitted to communion?" The discipline of the church says, [...]