A forum of Catholic Thought

Why the Ascension of the Lord mattersBishop Robert Barron

The feast of the Ascension of the Lord, which the Church celebrates toward the end of the Easter season, is, I admit, hard to explain to a lot of contemporary people. Jesus passed, in bodily form, from ...

Our Lady of Fatima and a theological reading of historyBishop Robert Barron

We are celebrating the 106th anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady to a group of shepherd children near the Portuguese town of Fatima. The series of Fatima appearances -- lasting from May until ...

Bringing about a culture of prevention and care to prevent sexual abuseCardinal Seán P. O’Malley

Below are Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley's opening remarks at the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, given May 4 in Rome. The address was first published ...

Half reincarnated or half notMichael Pakaluk

If you take an 8 fl. Oz glass measuring cup, and place water in it such that the bottom of the meniscus is at the 4 fl. Oz. line, then someone looking at the water in that cup might say, quite accurately, ...

Proportionalism: An old but stubborn foeBishop Robert Barron

Speaking last week at a conference in Italy, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life and grand chancellor of the John Paul II Pontifical Theological Institute for Marriage ...

St. Anselm and polishing the diamondsBishop Robert Barron

There is a regrettable interpretation of the cross that has, unfortunately, infected the minds of many Christians. This is the view that the bloody sacrifice of the Son on the cross was "satisfying" to ...

When the saints came marching inMichael Pakaluk

According to St. Matthew, at the moment Jesus died, the curtain of the temple was rent from top to bottom (and therefore not by human hand). Also, the earth quaked, and "the rocks were split" (27:51). ...

Many things are not permitted; everything can be forgivenBishop Robert Barron

What a privilege it is every spring to immerse oneself in the liturgies of Holy Week. The washing of the feet on Holy Thursday, the veneration of the cross on Good Friday, the journey through the pivotal ...

The adventures of classical moralityBishop Robert Barron

One of the most significant fault lines in Western culture opened up in the 16th and 17th centuries, when what we now know as the "modern" world separated itself from the classical and medieval worlds. ...

The gift of friendship with our LordMichael Pakaluk

I wonder that Our Lord says on Holy Thursday, "No longer do I call you servants, ... I have called you friends" (Jn 15:15). He had spent three years with them. They went through many things together. ...