"He that could have transgressed, and hath not transgressed, and could do evil things, and hath not done them." Photo by Fernando Santander on Unsplash Editor's Notes In a previous essay about the kind of heresy that separates a man from the Church, I wrote: Discussions about heresy and membership become confused due to a …
"An educated man looks for precision in each thing just so far as the the subject admits." Photo by Simeon Jacobson on Unsplash This chapter, transcribed by The Bellarmine Forums and republished here with permission, considers the differing degrees of certitude. Certitude admits of degrees in terms of the motives upon which it rests: but …
Continue reading “But can I really be certain?” – Moral Certainty, by Msgr P.J. Glenn, 1933
"Try telling a paralysed man to get up and walk, but without having any of Christ’s power to make it happen." Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash Introduction In the last piece on this topic, I explained how St Thomas treats mirth, playfulness and affability as virtues – and that, despite some people acting …
Continue reading It’s not a sin to be depressed: Here’s what Aquinas and Neri have to say
In Sapientiae Christianae, Pope Leo XIII taught that it is a duty for laymen to study and spread the Catholic faith. He wrote: "In order to safeguard this virtue of faith in its integrity, we declare it to be very profitable and consistent with the requirements of the time, that each one, according to the measure …
Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 47: 11 Introduction In his 1947 essay Leisure the Basis of Culture the German philosopher Josef Pieper wrote: “[I]t might be asked whether we are not all of us proletarians and all of us, …
Continue reading The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: the only foundation of true freedom
In response to the Covid-19 outbreak, governments worldwide enforced draconian regulations, restricting some of the most fundamental liberties of free societies: the right of free association, the right to earn one’s daily bread by honest labour, and even the right to leave one’s own home. They also used the crisis to further violate fundamental rights …
Continue reading True Law – According to the Teaching of St Thomas Aquinas