Catholic Church

By Father Jerry J. Pokorsky, Catholic World Report - The Four Tiers remain in place during opulence, faithlessness, and decay. During the time of Henry VIII, most English bishops rallied around the King as his Tier Two cheerleaders. Only Bishop John Fisher objected. He dropped to Tier Three and then to Tier Four before he lost his head... The Four Tiers of the contemporary Church help us understand our times. The Tier One of the Vatican has become increasingly homosexual-friendly but jealously guards the perquisites of power. Most of the bishops (and priests) are Tier Two. They do their best to “play well in the sandbox” and dutifully respond to Vatican disciplinary and synodal directives.

By Kevin Wells, Crisis Magazine - Have most of us suffered to help save the Church in the manner Bishop Strickland does? Don’t we all—or at least most of us—share a portion of the guilt in the dark state of our Church? I know that I do. Why? I do not believe I am holy, even though our Lord demands it of me. Just as an example, when you awakened to the news Saturday morning, how many of you thought to begin a Rosary for Bishop Strickland’s state of mind before racing to share the first clever Tweet or to watch that first podcast that condemned the pope? Did you stake your claim against that ridiculous thread of the left-of-center theological dilettante? Did you interiorly cuss that ideological demagogue and Strickland-hater?

By Peter J. Leithart, First Things - Hospitality isn’t just what we receive or what we do. Hospitality is what we are. The church exists to invite those who are still exiled in Adam to share the table of the Father through Jesus his Son. Our life together is a life of welcome to neighbors, friends, and brothers and sisters in Christ—but also to strangers, to outcasts, to the forgotten. We keep the feast for the sake of the world, so the Father’s hospitality will not vanish from the earth.