Catholic Church

November 30, 2017

Can Subsidiarity Restore American Self-Government?

By Bruce Frohnen, The Imaginative Conservative - A centerpiece of Catholic Social Thought (CST), subsidiarity embodies the recognition of the link between human dignity and self-government. As Pope Pius XI observed, it is gravely wrong to deny to persons active, participatory roles in directing their own lives, either individually or in the local associations they naturally form

November 30, 2017

Vatican II’s Unpublished Condemnations of Communism

By Paul Kengor, Crisis Magazine - …from the very outset, no institution foresaw the scourge of atheistic communism like the Roman Catholic Church… In 1846, Pope Pius IX released Qui pluribus, affirming that communism is “absolutely contrary to the natural law itself” and if adopted would “utterly destroy the rights, property, and possessions of all men, and even society itself.”

November 30, 2017

VIDEO: Fr. Mike Schmitz: Finding God in Darkness

Fr. Mike Schmitz, Ascension Press - The phrase “dark night of the soul” is thrown around quite a bit in Catholic circles, but what does it mean exactly? In this video, Fr. Mike Schmitz explains precisely what is happening in our souls when we feel this kind of spiritual darkness, and he encourages us to hang in there when it happens; because it means God is preparing our souls for much greater things.

November 30, 2017

George Weigel: ‘For John Paul II, Everything Began With Discipleship’ (Book review)

By Francis Phillips, Catholic Herald - To those volumes, Witness to Hope and The End and the Beginning, he has added a third volume this year, Lessons in Hope, which he describes as “a kind of third panel in my John Paul II triptych.” Having recently read this book, many questions have come into my mind. Professor Weigel is happy to answer them.