Month: September 2019
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A Challenge to Bishops
Your Excellencies, this is meant to be read as a friendly challenge, with nothing but love and respect as the tone and subtext. Please don’t interpret it any other way. Do you have a parish in your diocese that’s floundering? By that I mean, is it financially in trouble, and have you seriously considered the […]
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If the Catholic Church Ordains Women
What would happen if the Catholic Church ordains women? A growing number of Catholic laity seem to be fine with the idea. A fairly good size of Leftist clergy seems to be fine with it as well — even advocating it. So let’s play a little game of “what if?” Suppose in some alternate universe, […]
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My Thoughts on Pope Francis
In a recent jet-presser at 30,000 feet, Pope Francis commented that he felt “honored” that some traditional-Catholic Americans were attacking him. Why does this not surprise me? It seems obvious to me that he doesn’t care for those Catholic Americans who consider themselves “orthodox” or “traditional.” On the flip side, I think it’s fair and […]
Shane Schaetzel
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A Game of Chicken
It appears that what we have going on here is an ecclesiastical game of “chicken.” Bonn and Rome are on a head-on collision course, and both are waiting to see who turns first. The objective of the German Bishops Conference in Bonn is to set the agenda for radical changes in the German Church BEFORE […]
Shane Schaetzel
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Keeping Your Kids Catholic
As a trained catechist, and Catholic apologist, I’m frequently asked by Catholic parents how to keep their kids Catholic. Let me begin by saying you have to do it yourself! You can’t trust Catholic schools or parish catechism programs to do it for you. We have 50 years of failed history as an example. If […]
Shane Schaetzel
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The Catholic Left is Trying to Provoke Schism
In a recent plane interview here, Pope Francis may have inadvertently shown the cards of the Catholic Left. He spoke of a “schism” brewing among conservative Catholics in the United States, and then (almost in a provocative way) he said he’s not afraid of it. Now that’s not to say Pope Francis actually wants a […]
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Reclaiming the Second Vatican Council — Anglicanorum Coetibus Society Blog
If the Second Vatican Council had not happened, there would be no ordinariates for Catholics of Anglican tradition. Consequently, this post by Bishop Robert Barron on Reclaiming the Second Vatican Council at Word on Fire is of crucial importance. He explains two opposite reactions to the implementation of Vatican II, which Henri de Lubac called […] […]
Shane Schaetzel