Conquering Death Upon the Burial Site of Adam.
I didn't publicize this much on social media, but I took July 2025 as a retreat in the Holy City of Jerusalem. I knew that (due to the war) there wouldn't be many tourists there. And I was right. I lived in the Old City with some Eastern Catholics, only about 250 meters from the Church of the Resurrection (aka the Church of the Anastasis, aka the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.) The above picture is the stunning view from my balcony at night. From that balcony I could see everything from the Anastasis to the Mount of Olives. The grey dome in the middle of the picture is the [...]
Cardinal Newman and “the Development of Doctrine.”
John Henry Cardinal Newman was a 19th century British convert from Anglicanism to Catholicism. In full transparency, I should be clear that today I am not going to assess his controversial views of the inerrancy of Scripture or evolution. Also, the topic of whether Newman be a good candidate for a future valid canonization is better tackled by the WM Review here. Today, I am only going to assess his teaching on the "Development of Doctrine" and what that means for Catholics in the 21st century. As a Jesuit-educated 20 year old in the late 1990s, I had been told by many in my life at that point that all [...]
What If an Apostle Had Denied the Crucifixion?
Many traditional priests tell lay people to mind their own sins, not the Church crisis. Similarly, many anonymous traditional accounts online who stood against the last Vatican regime now promote the current one. The overlap between the two groups of trads is this: Don't pay attention to the new Church crisis. Yet both groups still (thankfully!) espouse the analogy that as Christ the Bridegroom had to go to Calvary, so also must the Catholic Church (as Christ's bride) go through her final Passion. However, that puts us in a very awkward situation, because the same people who tell us the crisis ended following the 2025 Conclave can point to no [...]
AI and the Final-Deceit.
The only R-rated movie my Dad ever took me to in the theatre as a kid was Terminator 2. To this day it remains one of my favorite movies, except for the misuse of Our Lord's name, which is thankfully infrequent in the movie. It is still one of my favorite movies because there is something Biblical about its apocalyptic import. We watch the unbelieved prophet (and his mother) warning humanity about the self-destruction towards which they are cruising. The kid John Connor asks, "We're not gonna make it, are we? People, I mean." The Terminator replies, "It's in your nature to destroy yourselves." Of course, theologically, it's not [...]
Annulment Blues
A guest poem, half-serious, half-joking from a friend we'll call "POB." I thought that I was married to you, But I got a case of the annulment blues. And even Francis decided to disparage The vast majority of Catholic marriage. I thought that you were the cutest dame, Then they told me I had toxic shame. They said it was clearly evident That I never formed true consent. I said "I do," and I started kissing. Then they said that my discretion was missing. And I asked the tribunal for its intercession, But they said, "Boy, you lack due discretion." My daddy drank and my mom would chew, And so [...]
Who Became the Head of the “Church of England”?
Question: Who became the head of the Church of England after the death of King Henry VIII? Answer on AI: "After Henry VIII (top-left) died in 1547, his son Edward VI (top-right) succeeded him as the head of the Church of England. During Edward VI's reign, England became more Protestant, and policies were enacted to enforce Protestant doctrine." Answer in reality: Both after and before the death of King Henry VIII, the head of the “Church of England” remained the Roman Catholic Primate of England, provided he never defected to heretical Anglicanism. You see, when a heretic like Henry VIII hijacks the Catholic Church in his region, it does not [...]
Two Big Lies from Leila Lawler
On 26 July 2025, I reposted the Facebook (FB) post of a married woman named Christine Ruby. Her original post from 14 July 2025 was 1,512 words long. The first words to her post read: "Sinful Foreplay, Oral Sex, Sodomy, Use of Contraception, Enhancement Drugs, and Sex Toys Are Morally, Mortal and Grave Sins." In regards to acts disallowed by the Catholic Church in the marriage bed, Mrs. Ruby quoted definitive sources like Pope Pius XI's Casti Connubii. She also quoted at length St. Alphonsus Liguori and even the new Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC.) As I mentioned above, I only reposted her long and catechetical post on my [...]
St. Thomas Aquinas’ Mass Prayers
Before Mass: Almighty, everlasting God, look down in mercy upon me, Thy servant, who now again draws near to the most holy sacrament of Thy only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. I approach as one who is sick, to the physician of life; as one unclean, to the fountain of mercy; as one blind, to the light of eternal brightness; as one poor and needy, to the Lord of heaven and earth. I implore Thee, therefore, out of the abundance of thy boundless mercy, that Thou wouldst vouchsafe to heal my sickness, to wash away my defilement, to give sight to my eyes, to enrich my poverty, and to clothe [...]
An Open-Letter to Cardinal Burke.
Your Eminence Leo Cardinal Burke, Ave Maria. On this Vigil of the Feast of St. James, I write to you today with the utmost respect for your office since I recognize you as a Prince of the Holy Roman Catholic Church. Your Eminence, I remember learning about you five years after my ordination as a Catholic priest when you tenaciously exposed the errors of Amoris Laetitia. You made a private correction, but then you went public. Nine years ago, in 2016, you boldly wrote a public paternal correction in the form of several “dubia” (doubts) in regards to the moral theology heresies of Amoris Laetitia. If it went unanswered, you [...]
Euthanasia in Canada: A True Story.
Recently, the Pillar reported: "Nine years ago, the Canadian government legalized a Medical Assistance in Dying program, making physician assisted suicide widely accessible across Canada for those who qualified for the program. To date, roughly 75,000 people have died from MAiD, including many Catholics." Now, I don't really like the current medical definitions for active euthanasia vs. passive euthanasia, but here's the basics of the vocabulary that weak bioethicists throw around today: Active euthanasia involves deliberately causing a patient's death, while passive euthanasia involves withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment, allowing the patient to die naturally. The problem with their definition is that both are murder, which is why I don't [...]