Prof. Thomas Stark interviews His Eminence Raymond Card. Burke on ‘Amoris laetitia’
Posted on Fr. Z’s website today . . .
Posted on Fr. Z’s website today . . .
By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK These can be difficult times for Catholics serious about their faith. We find beliefs that we once thought unassailable being questioned by theologians and members of the clergy, everything from our understanding of Christian marriage, to sexual identity, to the morality of abortion, to our understanding of Jesus’ role in salvation history. Stephen J. Pope and Richard R. Gaillardetz, professors of theology at Boston College, wrote an article for Commonweal in late February meant to soothe the nerves of Catholics disquieted in the above manner. Its relevance has been increased by the debates following upon Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia. The authors seek to throw light upon the assertion “doctrine can’t change.” They don’t challenge…Continue Reading
By REY FLORES With the American Family Association’s petition against Target’s transgender-friendly bathroom policy, and with North Carolina’s court fight to defend its pro-family restroom legislation, I am reminded of a few places in our communities that are still somewhat sacred to our traditional values. I just took my four young sons to get their bimonthly haircuts at our favorite barber shop in historic downtown Fredericksburg, Va. Pelletier’s Barber Shop has been in business for a few decades now and main barber Joe Maisonneuve is our family barber. Joe is a terrific personality who still sports an Elvis-like pompadour and who knows my boys’ heads like the back of his hand. Since we started going to Joe for our haircuts,…Continue Reading
By DEXTER DUGGAN A rhetorical question by a Facebook user pretty much exposed some current left-wing sloganeering for the husk it is. Asked Matt Archbold on May 9: “So people aren’t born a specific gender, but homosexuals are born that way? Does that make sense?” For some years, what started off as the LGB movement, before it started adding more initials, said it’s unfair to discriminate against people with a different sexual inclination because they were stuck with it. That’s just the way they were born. But that was simply the slogan of the moment, until it was thrown out in favor of its opposite. Who knows how long the latest one will last, or what the next hollow formulation…Continue Reading
His Eminence Cardinal Burke speaking to pro-life and pro-family leaders gathered at the Roman Life Forum conference in Rome on May 7.
By TERENCE P. JEFFREY What if a state department of motor vehicles or a public school insisted that only biological females could use the restroom set aside for females and that biological males had to use the restroom set aside for males? Would that be a rational policy? Would it be just? The U.S. Justice Department is now arguing in federal court that such a policy wrongfully discriminates against people whose “gender identity” does not “align” with their biological sex. The department filed suit on Monday, May 9 against the state of North Carolina. At issue is the law North Carolina enacted this year that states: “Public agencies shall require every multiple occupancy bathroom or changing facility to be designated…Continue Reading
By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN Forty-eight hours after Donald Trump wrapped up the Republican nomination with a smashing victory in the Indiana primary, House Speaker Paul Ryan announced that he could not yet support Trump. In millennial teen-talk, Ryan told CNN’s Jake Tapper, “I’m just not ready to do that at this point. I’m not there right now.” “[T]he bulk of the burden of unifying the party” falls on Trump, added Ryan. Trump must unify “all wings of the Republican Party, and the conservative movement.” Trump must run a campaign that we can “be proud to support and proud to be a part of.” Then, maybe, our Hamlet of the House can be persuaded to support the elected nominee of his…Continue Reading
By DONALD DeMARCO The issue of whether America is still a great society has come up again and again during the presidential campaigns. Does the word “great” accurately characterize the present culture that is the United States? In order to deal with this question, the first thing one must do is to establish the criteria for greatness. There are two that are most worthy of discussion: 1) how society treats its weakest members; 2) the civility of discourse among its strongest members. “A nation’s greatness,” stated Mahatma Gandhi, “is measured by how it treats its weakest members.” Author Pearl S. Buck echoed this sentiment when she declared that “the test of a civilization is the way that it cares for…Continue Reading
By LAWRENCE P. GRAYSON “I am Catholic.” How easy it is to make that claim. Today, one in four people in the United States does so. Among these are individuals who have achieved prominence in all areas of national life, including business, the professions, the media, education, and governance. The nation’s vice president, 164 of the 535 members of Congress, including the speaker and the minority leader of the House of Representatives, five of the eight current justices of the Supreme Court, and 11 of the 34 individuals President Obama has appointed to serve in his cabinet claim Catholicism as their religion. With the degree of influence that follows from this preeminence, Catholic teachings should be having a significant effect…Continue Reading
By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK I have been hoping that conservatives on the talk shows would bring up Willmoore Kendall and G.K. Chesterton during discussions of two major topics of the last few weeks: Donald Trump’s complaints about the Colorado Republican Party primaries and what the press is calling the “Panamanian Papers.” Kendall and Chesterton were among the most admired writers in conservative circles in the mid-20th century and have a lot to offer regarding these issues. Trump’s complaint, you will recall, was that the Colorado Republican delegates cast their votes for Ted Cruz without a primary vote by the people of Colorado beforehand; he said it was a “rigged system,” one that was “undemocratic” and permitted the “Republican establishment” to…Continue Reading