Papal Scandals and Infallibility

GWB LB DIGITAL 12:35 Statements with Pope John Paul II.

“How can Catholic belief in infallibility survive Pope John Paul II’s terrible misjudgments about McCarrick, Pope Benedict’s decisions about sanctions against him, and Pope Francis’ comments not only about civil unions, but his decision to canonize John Paul II?” That’s the question that I explored in a recent piece for Our Sunday Visitor. After pointing… Continue reading Papal Scandals and Infallibility

How Would the Culture of Death and the Culture of Life Respond to Coronavirus?

Exactly 25 years ago today, on the Feast of the Annunciation, Pope John Paul II released Evangelium Vitae, his encyclical on the Gospel of life. Why does he decide to talk about the Gospel of Life on the Annunciation? As he explains, “The one who accepted ‘Life’ in the name of all and for the… Continue reading How Would the Culture of Death and the Culture of Life Respond to Coronavirus?

Joe Biden, Fr. James Martin, and Denying Communion to Pro-Choice Politicians

On Sunday, Fr. Robert Morey, a priest in South Carolina, denied Communion to presidential candidate Joe Biden. It didn’t take long for Biden’s own bishop (Bishop Malooly) to criticize the priest for “politicizing the Eucharist,” and Fr. James Martin quickly attacked the priest’s actions: Besides, a priest has no idea what the state of a… Continue reading Joe Biden, Fr. James Martin, and Denying Communion to Pro-Choice Politicians

What it Means to be Pro-Family

Carl d´Unker, Gipsy Family in Prison (1864)

What does it mean to be “pro-family,” or to say that a child has a right to her mother and father? And what are the implications for the ongoing debates about immigration… as well as gay marriage, no-fault divorce, IVF, and the war on drugs?

Just What Are Men and Women, Anyway?

John William Godward, The Old, Old Story (1903)

Sometimes, the most important questions are the basic ones. Back in 2011, I argued that the most important question in the gay-marriage debate was “What is marriage?” The next year, Robert George, Ryan Anderson, and Sherif Girgis published a book exploring just that question: What Is Marriage?: Man and Woman: A Defense. But in the face of contemporary questions of transgenderism and gender identity, it turns out that we need to ask a yet more-basic question: what are men and women, and what makes them different?