DIANE MONTAGNA (DM): Dignitas infinita opens by asserting that: “Every human person possesses an infinite dignity, inalienably grounded in his or her very being, which prevails in and beyond every circumstance, state, or situation the person may ever encounter.” Yet St. Thomas Aquinas writes: “God alone is of infinite dignity, and so he alone, in the flesh assumed by him, could adequately satisfy for man.” (Solus autem Deus est infinitae dignitatis, qui carne assumpta pro homine sufficienter satisfacere poterat.) At the Vatican press conference to present the new Declaration, Cardinal Victor M ..read more

Bishop Mark Seitz (and the media) are sharply critical of the Texas government’s immigration policies, and a common theme is – in Bishop Seitz’s words – a “broader, brutal, historical project in Texas to criminalize and police people who migrate.” But 40.2 percent of Texas’s population is Hispanic, while only 39.4 percent are non-Hispanic whites. The only state that comes close to that is California, whose population is 40 percent Hispanic.     The post Bishops, borders, and the (bully) pulpit appeared first on The Catholic Thing ..read more

A new poll finds that most registered voters who are white Christians would vote for Republican Donald Trump over Democrat Joe Biden if the 2024 presidential election were held today. Most registered voters who are black Protestants or religious “nones” – those who self-identify as atheists, agnostics, or “nothing in particular” – would vote for Biden     The post Voters’ views of Trump and Biden differ sharply by religion appeared first on The Catholic Thing ..read more

The recent pro-Palestinian student protests on elite university campuses across the country offer fascinating, if somewhat depressing, insights into the state of modern American culture. It is not so much that the lunatics have taken over the asylum as the kindergartners have taken over the nursery. But the protests are more sinister than childish because they are motivated by hatred of Jews, and by the Mephistophelean spirit of negation or, in religious terms, the spirit of desecration.     The post What the pro-Palestinian campus protests are really about appeared first on The Cath ..read more

A criminal investigation into the Archdiocese of New Orleans is based on a suspicion that it may be linked to child sex trafficking, according to allegations presented in a search warrant granted to Louisiana State Police. That warrant alleges that multiple sex abuse victims provided statements that claim they were transported to other parishes and outside of Louisiana, where they were sexually abused. It further alleges a scheme within the archdiocese in which abused children were instructed to provide “gifts” to certain priests, which were me ..read more

The duty of parents to children is to rule while avoiding exasperating severity on the one hand and excessive indulgence on the other. God gives parents a child as so much plastic material that can be molded for good or evil. What if God placed a precious diamond in the hands of parents and told them to inscribe on it a sentence which would be read on the Last Day and shown an index of their thoughts and ideals? What caution they would exercise in their selection! And yet the example parents give their children will be that by which they will be judged on the Last Day. This tremendous responsi ..read more

For many years, according at least to the U.S. State Department and other Western diplomatic agencies, the “Palestinians” were wishing for a separate state. This is the “two-state” solution to the “Israeli” problem, said to be otherwise intractable. (I will be placing my scare quotes carefully.) Most Americans, and probably most Catholics, have been willing to concede this as a diplomatic fix; it gives us something glib to say. Most Israelis are, also, willing to be glib. They offer, or used to offer, “land for peace.” This never worked for them. I do not have the space or patience to rehearse ..read more

Across America, the Catholic Church is undergoing an immense shift. A generation who embraced the modernizing tide of Vatican II is increasingly giving way to religious conservatives who believe the church has been twisted by change, with the promise of eternal salvation replaced by guitar Masses, parish food pantries, and casual indifference to church doctrine. The shift, molded by plummeting church attendance, increasingly traditional priests, and growing numbers of young Catholics searching for more orthodoxy, has reshaped parishes across the country.     The post ‘A step back in ..read more

The Voyager 1 space probe, still going almost 47 years after launch, is now some 15 billion miles away, and is humanity’s “most distant emissary.” Eventually, we’ll lose contact with it, but it will continue to carry humanity out into the universe. Its design includes an audio-visual disk containing Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, the sounds of babies crying, messages recorded in 55 languages, and much else, and Voyager testifies to the spiritual nature of human beings.   The post Against cosmic melancholia appeared first on The Catholic Thing ..read more

The doctrine of post-baptismal sin, especially when realized in the doctrine of Purgatory, leads the inquirer to fresh developments beyond itself. Its effect is to convert a Scripture statement, which might seem only of temporary application, into a universal and perpetual truth. When St. Paul and St. Barnabas would “confirm the souls of the disciples,” they taught them “that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” It is obvious what very practical results would follow on such an announcement, in the instance of those who simply accepted the Apostolic decision; and in ..read more