The Most Important Decision in Life

Adapted from the address by Bishop Robert Barron at Hillsdale College's 171st commencement on May 13, 2023.

"So there’s the question, young graduates. What kind of soul will you have? What kind of person will you be? Will you do whatever it takes to get what you want? Or will you accept even great suffering in order to do what is right? Everything else in your life will flow from your answer to that question."

Who Killed the Catholic University

James F. Keating at First Things.

"More than thirty years ago, John Paul II issued Ex Corde Ecclesiae, his apostolic constitution on Catholic universities. Although in some respects an updating of Vatican II’s Declaration on Christian Education, the all-but-forgotten Gravissimum Educationis, John Paul’s document was meant to inspire a renewal of authentic Catholic education in troubled times. He adopted what the late John O’Malley called Vatican II’s “invitational” style. Rather than denouncing abuses, the pope sought to invite, perhaps re-invite, Catholic professors and administrators to the adventure of Catholic higher education."

Census Fidei? Methodological Missteps Are Undermining the Catholic Church’s Synod on Synodality

Mark Regnerus with a methodological critique, including of the Document for the Continental Stage, at Public Discourse.
"What the Frascati group heard, or wrote down, is a great deal of woundedness and suffering. Are these the norm within the Church? Emotive terms saturate the document. For example, the word 'feel' appears twenty-five times, including '[I]f the Church is not synodal, no one can really feel fully at home.' (What does this mean?) The term 'dialogue' shows up thirty-one times, 'discernment' twenty-eight times, 'listening' thirty-eight times, 'experience' forty-three times, 'journey' thirty-three times, and versions of 'welcoming' eighteen times. Exactly whose voices are these?"

'Religion and Resistance:'

'The Ukrainian Orthodox and Greek Catholic Churches in Resistance Efforts in the War Against Russia'

The 26th Annual Templeton Lecture on Religion & World Affairs, given by Dr. Heather S. Gregg on November 1, 2022, Foreign Policy Research Institute, video and transcript.

Priests and Cars in Milwaukee:

"The popularity of the car reshaped Catholicism in the city, forcing churches to adapt their worship practices to attract newly mobile parishioners."
Livia Gershon at JSTOR Daily on "Riding with St. Paul in the Passenger Side": The Archdiocese of Milwaukee Enters the Automobile Age, 1920-1965" by Peter S. Cajka, American Catholic Studies, Vol. 121, No. 2 (Summer 2010), pp. 65-93.

The Moral Limits of Medical Research and Treatment

Address by Pope Pius XII to the First International Congress on the Histopathology of the Nervous System, September 14, 1952, published in The Linacre Quarterly.

"...the Holy Father also described certain abuses in psychoanalysis and warned against the so-called 'pansexual' approach in this field."

Rembert G. Weakland Services at Saint Vincent Archabbey

Last Thursday at the Archabbey,

"... The body of Archbishop Weakland will be received at 3 p.m. Thursday, September 1 in the north transept of the Saint Vincent Archabbey Basilica. Visitation will occur between 3 and 5 p.m. in the north transept. The monastic community will pray evening prayer at 5 p.m. A concelebrated Mass of Christian Burial will take place at 7 p.m. in the Basilica with Archabbot Martin Bartel as principal celebrant and homilist. A private committal service will be held Friday at Saint Vincent Cemetery."

Former Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland will be honored with a funeral Mass at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist

Sophie Carson reported at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"The current archbishop, Jerome Listecki, will celebrate a funeral Mass at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 30 at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, 812 N. Jackson Street, Milwaukee.

"Visitation will be held at the cathedral from 12 to 4 p.m. that day."
Presumably followed by interment in the Cathedral crypt.

Update: Sophie Carsons's report, above, has been updated .

"Weakland will be buried in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, at St. Vincent Archabbey, where he attended high school, college and seminary and eventually became archabbot."
Bishop Haines's surmise that Archbishop Weaklands remains would likely end up in the Cathedral crypt turned out to be wrong.

Meanwhile, Bruce Murphy, at Urban Milwaukee, reminds us,

"In 2014, he [Weakland] sought to move to the St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where he began his seminary studies as a boy in 1940 and later ran it as the archabbot, but the plan was opposed by the current archabbot, who feared this would cause negative publicity."

Old Religion in the New World

'Many Catholics are in a state of uncertainty about their relationship with the American regime.'

Gerard V. Bradley reviews Our Dear-Bought Liberty: Catholics and Religious Toleration in Early America, by Michael Breidenbach, at the Claremont Review of Books.

Modern Apologists Strengthen Our Understanding

Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki starts with some history in the Herald of Hope column of a recent issue of the Archdiocese's of Milwaukee's Catholic Herald.

"From the earliest beginnings of the Church, individuals came forward in the defense of the Church’s teachings. They were referred to as 'apologists.' They present the reasonableness of the Church’s position. We sometimes forget that we have a duty to defend the Church’s teaching. Many of the early Church Fathers presented the teachings of the Church, which were not only convincing but compelling. It encouraged the Christian faithful to live the teachings in the face of society’s opposition."
He eventually names names.
"Matthew Kelly, whose multiple books are free and widely distributed, much like the pamphlets of the evangelicals, is one. But Kelly, an Australian, is unabashedly Roman Catholic, and his works not only give insight to the reasonableness of the professed Catholic faith but a basis for the promotion of the faith in the communities in which we live. He is proud to be a Catholic and resonates with Catholics who love their Church. Kelly has a popular following and has been a tireless promoter of the faith."
By "free" I assume he means available for purchase in bulk for free distribution. A generous member of my parish has done this a number of times.
"Patrick Madrid’s daily national program is heard on Relevant Radio. He has authored a multitude of books, one which is actually entitled, How to do Apologetics. I particularly enjoyed Pope Fiction, a 1999 work that deals directly with answers to myths and misconceptions about the papacy. He tackles Church teachings on Purgatory, the importance of tradition and the saints, to mention a few. He is well worth reading and arms the faithful in thoughtful responses to today’s criticisms."
Not all apologists are lay.
"Bishop Robert Barron of 'Word on Fire' is a committed intellectual and advocate of the importance of the Church Teachings. Bishop Barron, who is a longtime friend, has been a consistent champion of interpreting the positions of the Church in a manner acceptable and understandable to our younger generations. He has been a great voice at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for the importance of communications to the next generation of Catholic leaders. His philosophical training grounds his approach. I would encourage you to view his website, Word on Fire' and listen to his Sunday homilies. He is a teacher who excites his listeners. He has a group of devoted followers who understand the importance of sharing the faith."
And finally,
"But before Kelly, Madrid and Barron, was Peter Kreeft. During the period of the 70s and 80s, there was a lack of attention to Catholic Teachings. Catholics, who at one time knew their catechism by rote, now were hard-pressed to answer simple questions about the faith. It was into this vast wasteland that Peter Kreeft was an almost lone voice directing individuals in their understanding of the importance and reasonableness of the Church’s teachings."
Dr. Kreeft's website includes links to Featured Writings and Featured Audios and to his books available for purchase.