Where Peter Is
The Living Bridge to LGBT Catholics
Earlier this month I attended a talk by Dr. Mary Healy, professor of Sacred Scripture at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, during the 2020 Encounter Conference on the topic of Christian unity. Dr. Healy proposed a wonderful image for ecumenism that I?ve been…
A Vulnerable God
?Lord Jesus Christ, through your Incarnation you accepted a human nature and lived a real, human life. Setting aside the glory of your divinity, you met us face to face in the vulnerability of our humanity.? This is the beginning…
The insidiousness of the opposition
?Opposition to the pope is not new, but what is new is the level and intensity that is there?It?s the insidiousness of the opposition movement that I think is scandalous for us.? Archbishop Wilton Gregory, the new archbishop of Washington,…
A Response to Ross Douthat
Where Peter Is was recently mentioned in the New York Times, in a column by Ross Douthat entitled, ?What Will Happen to Conservative Catholicism?? In the piece, he surveys the ways that conservative Catholics in America have responded to Pope Francis. He…
The lie behind rigidity
Picking up on what the pope said last month about rigid Catholics as well as the parable of the the Prodigal Son, I want to highlight a homily that the pope gave back in 2016. In that homily the pope draws our…
The Death Penalty, Doctrine or Personal Opinion?
I?ve seen a lot of confusion in the past year about the Church?s new teaching on the death penalty that was issued last summer when Pope Francis changed paragraph 2267 of the Catechism. One of the key misconceptions I?ve heard…
What did Pope Francis say about rigid priests?
In an address to bishops in Madagascar, Pope Francis warns his audience not to let the fear of not enough priests justify them being undiscerning in priestly formation and accept men into the priesthood who aren?t striving for holiness. He says,…
What should the Church do?
In a recent blog post titled ?The Numbers? Don?t Look Good?What Should the Church Do?, Msgr. Charles Pope reflected on the drop in Mass attendance and reception of the Sacraments over the past several decades. And the numbers don?t look good.…
When I know better than the pope
During the papacy of Saint Paul VI, both traditionalists and progressives made the same mistake: they thought they understood things better than the Church. The former said that Pope Paul VI shouldn?t have changed the liturgy because they couldn?t square…
Holiness isn?t about trying harder
I?ve noticed that ?growing in holiness? is usually presented by popular Catholic media as something like ?We just gotta pray more and try harder, then the Lord will make us holier.? As if becoming holy will take a lot of…
