Catholic Church

By Regis Martin, Crisis Magazine - The Synod was a series of fixations on matters of utter inconsequence, rather like the deck hands busily arranging chairs on the Titanic before its final plunge into the sea... There was a time, not so very long ago, when the raging controversy among Catholics was about how best to receive Holy Communion... How quaint it all now seems up against a backdrop of widening apostasy, in which an alarming number of Catholics no longer even believe in the Eucharist. ..

Msgr. Charles Pope - Many Catholics have struggled to find a voice that has been nearly washed out of us by our training. We remember a time when it was unthinkable to criticize a priest; those who did were quickly rebuked, with little opportunity for explanation. Bishops and especially the Pope were not to be questioned let alone criticized. We have now seen the sometimes-horrifying toll of unhealthy deference, of setting a class of men apart from critique or accountability.

By Msgr. Charles Pope - There was an expression common among the rabbis of Jesus’ time, wherein one rabbi would ask another a question, and request that the answer be given while “standing on one foot.” This is a way of saying, be brief in your answer... That idea may be behind the question that is raised in today’s Gospel by the scholar of law, who asks, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”... The text says that he asks this question of Jesus in order to “test” Him. In effect, he says to Jesus, “All right, let’s get right to the point. You’re talking about a lot of new things, but what is the greatest commandment?”

By Deacon Frank, Catholic Exchange - Last month, our Jewish Brethren solemnly celebrated Yom Kippur, a Day of Atonement, to atone for their sins as prescribed by God in the Book of Leviticus. As is the case with many events, people, and things contained in the Old Testament, Yom Kippur prefigures a more meaningful form of atonement which Jesus would institute on Easter Sunday evening. Jesus would elevate this form of atonement to a sacrament. Namely, the great Sacrament of Reconciliation.