"Strengthen What Remains"
“It is absurd, and a detestable shame, that we should suffer those traditions to be changed which we have received from the fathers of old.” The Decretals, cited by St Thomas AquinasSumma Theologica, Ia-IIae, Q. 97 A. 2Photo by Thays Orrico on Unsplash In this piece…– What is tradition?– Can abandoned or forbidden practices be …
Continue reading “What does Michael Lofton mean by “tradition”?”
“The true Church of God must be united, fastened and joined together in one same doctrine and belief”
Over the last months, we have made the visible unity of the Church’s faith a central theme of a number of essays.
In short, the Church is essentially united in her external profession of faith. This is an essential aspect of the property of unity itself. As one of the four notes of the Church recited in the Creed, this unity of faith is a “negative” property in the sense that the true Church of Christ can never lack it. Any society claiming to be the Church of Christ shows itself to be a false claimant if it lacks this unity of faith.
“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 …
“The Church is visible by reason of the visibility of her members and her organisation. But the edges are very blurred.” Objection: Some Catholics profess heretical doctrines in good faith, and they are sometimes called “material heretics.” Therefore, the description of the Church’s “visible unity” is overly idealised, and arguments about heresy and membership based …
Continue reading “Should mistaken Catholics be called “material heretics”?”
“A visible unity in ‘claims to be Catholic’ is no more remarkable than a unity of ‘claims to be Anglican.'” Photo by Sander Sammy on Unsplash Objection: “As long as someone claims to be a Catholic and professes submission to the Church’s magisterium, he cannot be considered to be more than an occult heretic – …
Continue reading “Are we obliged to believe every person who calls himself a Catholic?”
“Such legalistic and positivist ideas are an implicit denial of the visible unity of the Church.” Image: Excommunication of Robert the Pious, Wiki Commons CC In previous parts, building on my review of the Tradivox Catechism series, we saw the following points across three theses: The nature and centrality of the Church’s visible unity of …
Continue reading “What is the difference between an excommunicate and an open heretic?”
Schism! Dissent! Donatism! Image: St Augustine in his study. Wiki Commons CC A priest suggested to us that we break our extended essays into shorter, more manageable pieces. We are quite committed to long-form essays, but are willing to try this – with a few extra points added or developed to make it worthwhile! This …
Continue reading “Short essay: Is there a schism between traditionalists?”
“There was war between the woman and the Serpent. This is most emphatically fulfilled if she had nothing to do with sin”
In honour of Our Lady on the great Feast of the Immaculate Conception, we present the “Memorandum on the Immaculate Conception” written by Cardinal Newman for his friend Robert Wilberforce, who was looking for something to help him deal with objections made against the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception by some Protestant friends.
“The custom of the Church stands for these things: and the Church cannot err.” Image: Pope St Leo II, Wiki Commons CC Don’t worry! This article appears twice as long on a browser than it actually is, due to the footnotes. This is the concluding part of my reply to Professor Edward Feser, who recently …
Continue reading “Questions about Pope Honorius – a reply to Prof. Edward Feser, Part II of II”
“An error which is not resisted is approved; a truth which is not defended is suppressed.” Image: The Sixth Ecumenical Council, Wiki Commons CC Professor Edward Feser recently responded to my article Pope Honorius and Roberto de Mattei – Part I: The History. To begin, I must recall that my essay was a critique of …
Continue reading “Questions about Pope Honorius – a reply to Prof. Edward Feser, Part I of II”