Reflection on Francis' Magisterium

The only hermeneutic of continuity to be discerned in Francis' magisterium is the frequent recurrence to quoting his own works.

Some Thoughts on ''Developments'' and the Death Penalty

Since the Council we have continually been presented with a series of novelties that are described confidently as ''developments''. When we ask to know how a position can move from point A to point B, our opponents assume the worst caricatures of a crude Ultramontanism and dismiss our concerns as disobedience to the authority of the Supreme Pontiff.  Catholicism has an objective content that has been defined and systematically presented. The mysteries of faith certainly transcend the capacity of our minds - and that of the angels - but we do not hold to a gnostic cult of unintelligibility. I still await an adequate Catholic defence of Dignitatis Humanae. The most recent example is of Francis' amendment to Pope John Paul II's catechism on the matter of the death penalty which should cause grave concern to a faithful Catholic. Leaving aside the question (answered negatively) whether a catechism is infallible in itself, we are clearly facing a pope who sees no limits to his authority even when he stares down the weight of clear and consistent Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. What else is to be newly reconsidered in the light of changing historical circumstances? The Roman Catechism did not uphold capital punishment only to be necessary due to the dilapidated state of Neapolitan prisons.

 It is not permitted for a Catholic to retain the Faith and simultaneously claim that the death penalty is intrinsically evil - or a violation of human dignity which equates to the same thing. The opposition to the death penalty by Francis and our bishops is not based upon Catholic sources but rests upon vague secular notions of dignity that are incompatible with Divine Revelation and Christian morality. We are supposed to hold that there has been a growing appreciation of human dignity in our society, one in which abortion, sodomy, divorce and remarriage and euthanasia are lauded.  These aberrations of human activity are in no way demonstrative of an increasing devotion to human dignity as God conceived it. What is Holy Mother Church to learn from these people?

 John Paul II was on shaky -and uncatholic - ground when he held that capital punishment could only be inflicted for the safeguarding of public authority which he denied required it any longer due to societal developments. The traditional teaching of the Church is that the death penalty is a proportionate response of justice to an evil that is deserving of punishment. There must be some degree of correspondence between the act and its guilt and the castigation to be  incurred. This is clearly based on an objective understanding of the natural law and is divinely revealed in both Old and New Testaments.  Vindictive justice is - however unpleasant to the sentimental - a fundamental aspect of upholding human rights and an objective standard of goodness within society. The preservation of society from the wickedness of some is only an ancillary end. It can be likened to marriage as a remedy for carnal concupiscence. The true end of marriage is  of course procreation and the education of this offspring. A Catholic may in certain known circumstances oppose a declaration of death and favour mercy to the guilty, but he may not hold that it is always and everywhere inadmissible. One cannot hold that what was once a matter of divine sanction is now to be considered contrary to our Lord's teaching, without admitting a new revelation. Since public Divine Revelation has been completed with the death of St John, we can only see a corruption in doctrine which is in no way a development. It would be a torturous path for Cardinal Ladaria to show how the traditional teaching was somehow contrary to human dignity and yet in the same line of progression. It is his duty to explain - if he dares - how a development of doctrine is contained in this amendment. Our Lord endowed man with reason as well as constituted a sacred hierarchy in His Church.

 The Holy Father undermines his own authority by laying aside the teachings of his venerable predecessors, the Fathers and the Doctors and discarding the perennial doctrine of the Catholic Church on the intrinsic right of the public authority to impose the death penalty on those who are deserving of it. It is outrageous to charge these men with possessing a spirit of unjust vengeance unworthy of a Christian. Are we to alter our understanding of God's revelation when a Pope Pius XIII is elected? Are we to subscribe to a cult of the papacy that the early Protestants accused us of?

 May Catholic Tradition be restored and may a future General Council issue an anathema against this man.

It is not without justice that St Robert Bellarmine S.J. declares this opposition to be heretical. 

Reflection on Papal Postivism

Catholicism has never concerned herself with the cult of a particular pope; but rather with the cultus of the Unchanging Word.

Reflection on Dejection and Despair

Facing the inexorable onslaught of evil, our attitude may be that of the Apostles on Holy Saturday, but never that of Judas on Good Friday.

Reflection on the Tragedy of Ireland

The Irish nation enjoyed more autonomy as a political outpost of England than as her cultural colony. 

God Save Ireland

Reflection on the Triumph of Good.

Evil may often celebrate, but never will it win.

Reflection on the Indwelling of the Holy Trinity

For the soul in grace, God makes Himself her revered master and treasured guest. Serving and being served. Loving and being loved. Knowing and being known.

Some Video from Seville in Holy Week

More Photos from Seville 2

Photos from Seville during Holy Week 1

Reflection on Multiculturalism

The multiculturalist displays a hatred of his own culture and an ignorance of any other. 

Reflection on Gratitude

The most liberal of God's blessing pass through the pierced hands of Christ. 

Reflection on Worship

Worship is willed by God, but needed for man. 

Reflection on Papal Faith and Morals

The pope who dies in the arms of his mistress does less harm than the one who attempts to defile the faith of Holy Mother Church.

Reflection on Tolerance

The pathetic mask of indifference and ignorance is tolerance. 

Reflection on Social Activism

Institutions may be reformed, but only men may be sanctified.

Reflection on Progress

"Progress" may an alteration in some direction, but not necessarily forwards.

Reflection on The Cross

The wood of the Cross is a plank for the condemned man to which to cling. 

Reflection on Catholic Heritage

The most fitting renunciation of self consists in the laying claim to Tradition for oneself. 

Reflection on the Liberality of God

The generosity of God pours as a torrent forth from the pierced side of Christ.

Reflection on the Value of the Soul

When man appears to disolve indistinctly into a deluge of passing humanity, the Christian soul remembers she is still worth a drop of His Blood.

Reflection on Dublin and Pride 2017

Too many rainbows and not enough leprechauns. 

Reflection on the Church and the Cross

The scarlet merits of Christ are the only adornment of His Spouse.

Reflection on Feigned Charity

The broad mind of the liberal is narrower than the mantle of the care of the Church. 

Reflection on Liberal Catholicism

Light and darkness were once reconciled in the Cross of Christ. It may not hence be reconciled in the principles of the Church and of the Revolution. 

Reflection on Pragmatic Politics

Principles are fine, but bread is better. 

Reflection on Vocations

To discern a vocation is to listen intently to the beatings of the Sacred Heart.

Reflection on the Male

An inclination towards conflict is the better part of masculinity. 

Reflection on Progressivism

The march of progress is a steep fall. 

Reflection on Liberals

One may not doubt their sincerity, but one may doubt their sense.

Reflection on Liberalism

Modern liberalism may be defined as the attempted "reasoning out" of our baser instincts.

Reflection on Bigotry

The "bigot" is the one who has the audacity to think what he believes to be true. 

Reflection on the Wayfaring State

In this world, we may be said to rest and never to reside. 

Reflection on Traditionalism

The mind of Tradition is the retention of apostolic teaching.

Reflection on Holy Week

Holy Week is the summit and summary of the whole Christian revelation. 

Reflection on the Wood of the Cross

The dead wood of the Tree blossomed with the Blood of the Saviour. 

Reflection on the Properties of God

God in His goodness, creates. In His justice, conserves. In His mercy, restores. 

Reflection on the Ascension of the Lord

As Christ ascended with a pierced side, the soul who wishes to follow Him, must be accompanied by a heart pierced with compunction. 

Reflection on Prayer and Recollection

If you are unable continually to speak before God, let your soul always repose in His Presence.

Reflection on the Wounds of the Crucified

Tears of repentence are the only salve for the Wounds of the Crucified. 

Reflection on Priestly Celibacy

The divine purity of the Victim upon the Altar is the root and principle of priestly celibacy. 

Reflection on The Little Way

To produce a great work with little love is more to create a deformity than a magnanimity.  

Reflection on the Stripping of Christ

The stripping of Christ as He approaches the Cross undoes the clothing of Adam when he fled the tree.

Reflection on Shaming

Shame is society's last defence against the wanton.

Reflection on Sorrow for Sin

Repentance annihilates the sinner and creates the man.

Reflection on Rigidity

In divine matters and for the security of the soul, a certain rigidity is to be preferred over a tepidity disguised by sophistication.

Reflection on Pope Francis

To claim as a defence of Pope Francis that he is unconscious of the danger he is propagating against the Church, is merely to shift him from the category of heretic to fool.

Reflection on Suicide

The option of suicide is to seek to depose Christ from the Cross instead of longing to ascend It with Him.

Reflection on Tradition and Treason

The divesting of Catholic Tradition has only led the Church to be hand herself over to be despoiled of her identity by the world. 

Reflection on Tolerance

Tolerance is the prized prejudice of the enlightened fellow who believes the majority of mankind is wrong and that is makes not the slightest bit of difference. Such a viewpoint can hardly be said to spring from a culture of love. 

Reflection on Conservatism

In contrast to the liberal who chases after each novelty before its time, the conservative hobbles towards the new after its expiry. 

Reflection on Moral Relativism

God is malformed in the image and likeness of man.

Reflection on NeoCatholics and Papolatry

Papolatry. A corruption of human respect, tinged with superstition. An amnesia of Catholic Traditon and an abdication of the intellect. 

Reflection on Leftist Slogans

What is most abstract, is most fit to be malleable. The abstract containing unconditional reality in thought, in their hands contains nothing at all. 

Reflection on the Motive for the Incarnation

The limp, plump hand of the Christ Child was born to be straightened and drained on the Cross. 

Reflection on False Modesty

Denying the gifts of God will not merit you an increase of them. 

Reflection on the Reform of the Reform

Any extraordinary attempt to infuse the Novus Ordo with solmenity and dignity is only a pale imitation of what is standard in the Old Rite. 

Reflection on Forgiveness

The pierced hand of Christ always lays outstretched to the sinner's constricted heart.

Reflection on State Provision

Where family and charity fail, Welfare prevails.

Relection on Politics

Legislation is generally the acceptable face of tyranny.

Reflection on the Pope and Tradition

For the Sovereign Pontiff, Sacred Tradition is both a support and a boundary.

Reflection on All Saints' Day

The saints are the masterpiece of Christ, painted with His Blood. 

Reflection on Politics

The much-vaunted centre ground of politics is often more a trough than a peak.

Reflection on the Creation and the Annunciation

As the "let there be" produces the natural order, so does the "let it be done to me" in the supernatural order. 

Reflection on the Holy Eucharist

The other Sacraments confer the grace they signify, but the Eucharist contains Him Who is the very source and consummation of those same graces.

Reflection on Hell

Hell is nothing other than the soul to find herself alone with God at last and for Him not to know her. 

Reflection on Catholic Tradition

Tradition is no more than the echo of our Lady's words of "Do whatever He tells you" throughout the ages. 

Reflection on Tranquility of Spirit

In this life, the slumber of the sinner is not to compared with the repose of the righteous. 

Reflection on the Unity of the Trinity

From the Principle, sets forth the Word who does not depart, from both pours forth the Spirit who doesn't scatter.

Reflection on the Wounds of Christ

For thoughtless sins of mortal man do pierce the hands of the Immortal One, while balm to the same doth compress, where hidden graces impress for sincere repentance. 

Reflection on Religious Liberty and The Social Reign of Christ

In public discourse the Church must not merely ask for a place at the table to be heard out but for a throne to be placed for Christ. 

More Photographs from Vienna