Category Archives: Ecclesiology

An interesting article written by  Fr. Thomas Reese SJ about his ideas for Vatican reform can be found at: www.commonwealmagazine.org/article.php3?id_article=2200 I won’t try to summarize it here but leave it for you to read.  As Fr. Reese himself says at the end, … Continue reading →

You may have been following the news of Pope Benedict lifting the excommunications of the four bishops illicitly ordained by Archbishop Marcel Lefebrve back in the late 1980s.  Lefebrve, now deceased, was the founder of the schismatic Society of St. … Continue reading →

I have been thinking about the two theological concepts of theosis and kenosis.  In the Latin Church, we have become rather familiar with kenosis, which is, simplistically stated, the self-emptying of God in the Incarnation. Jesus so loved us that … Continue reading →

I’d like to alert you to a New York Times article about priests from other countries, especially Asia and Africa, filling shortages found in American dioceses. To read it, log on to: www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/us/28priest.html?_r=2&hp In my home diocese, we have several … Continue reading →

Started to read a book recently about the power struggles in the Church during the late 19th and 20th centuries.  Was referring to papal authority especially and the pontificates of Pius IX and Pius XII. I often wonder how reunification … Continue reading →

I was reading last night a short history of the Hispanic experience in the American Catholic Church.  One thing struck me.  The Hispanic way of being Catholic is very different that the Euro-American way of being Catholic.  Hispanic Catholicism took … Continue reading →

I’d like to share another quote today, from Cardinal George at the Bishop’s fall assembly in Baltimore, currently convened. “We are, perhaps, at a moment when, with the grace of God, all races are safely within the American consensus.  We are not … Continue reading →