Fundamentalists thrive in times of rapid social change.  Fundamentalists generally champion emotionally charged issues that can be reduced to unambiguous black and white terms.  Fundamentalists succeed in making a show of strength by humiliating and marginalizing “deviants” who are unable to protect themselves.  Thus the Taliban sends out men and women each morning who are …

Open letter to Pope Francis Dear highly esteemed Pope Francis, Your pastoral initiatives and their theological justification are currently under vehement attack by a group in the church. With this open letter, we wish to express our gratitude for your courageous and theologically sound papal leadership. In a short time, you have succeeded in reshaping …

Here is a good article written by Lizzy Davies Elio Cirimbelli, a 66-year-old family counselor from Bolzano in north-eastern Italy, goes to church most Sundays. He is a devout Roman Catholic but when he attends mass he cannot receive holy communion and must stay in the pew while the rest of the congregation goes up …

Q10 Is the approach of Francis new or old? Pope Francis makes clear that imposing moral absolutism does not represent the approach of Jesus found in the Gospels: We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. This is not possible. I have not spoken much about …

Q7 Do some marriages die?  The practice of the Orthodox Churches. The Orthodox Churches have always recognized that Marriage was a solemn Sacrament; yet, at the same time, their pastors recognized that the spiritual bond of love that sustains every marriage can “die” due to abuse and neglect on the part of one or both …

Cardinal Raymond Burke is one of the four cardinals who have challenged Pope Francis by publishing the Dubia. He has revealed that he requested an audience with Pope Francis and has yet to receive a response. The American cardinal known for his Catholic orthodoxy addressed several other topics during the wide-ranging interview with InfoVaticana’s Gabriel …

Q9 What mistake do the four cardinals make? A9 The mistake that the four cardinals make is that they insulate themselves from the spiritual suffering imposed by the laws of the Church. Some even imagine that the suffering of an abandoned wife is the natural result of her unwillingness to be an obedient and submissive …

Q7 African missionaries dissolving marriages #3 During the last three centuries, Catholic missionaries in Africa have adamantly maintained (a) that the exposed breasts of African woman was provocative and immoral and (b) that African men had to give up their second and third wives when they converted to Christianity.  In the first instance, missionaries collected …

Q6 Are the hands of the cardinals tied by canon law? Q6 But are not the hands of the cardinals tied by canon law in these circumstances? A6 Not in the way that the four cardinals imagine.  They need to return to their seminaries and to discover how church history demonstrates that entirely different solutions …

Q5 Jesus diffusing a stoning A5 Consider the case of Jesus being asked to approve the stoning of a woman caught in adultery. Jesus does not advise knocking her out first so that the stoning could (mercifully) take place without her pain and screaming. Nor does Jesus propose that the woman is somehow innocent or …