Editorials and Answers to Questions

       Occasionally friends or parishioners ask me questions, and I try to formulate answers based on the Church's teachings. These answers might be of use to someone out there on the world wide web. Enjoy. 

        Commentaries are most welcome. If you wish to debate me on a point, I'd be delighted to hear from you, too. I also welcome objections and corrections, as my only interest is adhering to the truth and not simply imposing my own opinion.

       Systematic development of some theological topics can be found in the Deposit of Faith Series page.

Contents:

The Holy Trinity

Can one say "Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier" instead of "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" in the Liturgy?

Perichoresis: Circumincession and the song "Lord of the Dance"

Catholic Church and Ecclesiology
This Web Site is an Elephant Free Zone
Thoughts on Two Popes, John Paul II and Benedict XVI
What does the Devil think about Benedict XVI?
On World Youth Day 2005, and Adoration
Do We Owe Obedience to the Pope?

Newman Clubs Failing, Causes: The Google Generation Doesn't Embrace Faith
Why do Catholics Pray to the Saints?
Right and Left in Church Life, and the Principle of No Contradiction
Empty Pews: How Trying to Be "Popular" is Ruining the Faith of the Faithful

Obey the Church, and be at peace

Who Watches the Watchers?
Bishops and Abortion

Welcome to Pope Benedict XVI

How Liberals Demand Disobedience in the Name of Obedience

The Bad Old Times

The Price of Fidelity
Why Liberal Priests are Tyrants

McChurch

The Difference between Unity and Abuse: a Meditation on True Unity in the Church

Holy Year Reflections
Meditations - Year of the Eucharist
Seven Points of First Week of Synod - Year of the Eucharist

Meditation on Emmaus - Year of the Eucharist

Starting out in the Year of St. Paul - Year of St. Paul

Fanaticism and Right Reason - Year of St. Paul

Year of the Priest:

     Priests in the Heart of Christ

     Summary of a Wednesday Audience of Pope Benedict XVI on July 1, 2009.

     1 - Who is a priest? He is his mission...

     2 - From Christ Flows the Rest
     3 - Bland Egalitarianism

     4 - Fruitfulness of the Priestly Life
     5 - Fidelity? To What?
     6 - What a Priest Should Be Like
     7 - Priesthood Because of Prayer, Prayer Because of the Priesthood

Moral Theology

Should various couples of men and women be together in NFP classes?
Does an embryo have a human soul?
Please offer advice on how to correct my pastor fraternally
The Scandal of Priests Defending Homosexual Behavior and Lifestyle
Why do some people flip out when they hear the doctrine on sin preached?
Topics Concerning the Abomination of Homosexuality
Forgive your (Muslim) enemy, like Sr. Leonella
How to Overcome Temptation
There's no such thing as a bad person... Wanna make a bet?

The Conscience and Obedience to the Church

The Unforgivable Sin

Friendship and Communication: It's Not Just Psychobabble
Not All Laugher Is Good: The Difference of Seeking True Joy or Just Giggles
Homosexual Terrorists

The Forgiveness of Abuse
The World According to Pelosi: The Spreadsheet of Sterility

The Moral Evaluation of Torture

Lying for Good Reasons

The Immorality of Suspicion
Fundamental Option

    On Virtues

Virtue is in the middle... of what?

Feelings, Morality and the "Crybaby Culture"

Chastity: On the Viewing of the Human Body in Movies
 

    - On Abortion
    Where can I find pro-life doctors and gynecologists?
    Can a Catholic vote for a "pro-choice" (translate: "pro-abortion") candidate for political office?
    Regarding an anti-life, or at best anti-pro-life, priest
    True Repentance from the Sin of Abortion
    Herod and Abortion (Homily)

    Amnesty International Militant Abortion Policy

    Baptist Minister and Noble Murderer

    CNS Article: Ratzinger, Abortion and the Vote (by John Thavis of CNS)

    Abortion and Legislation (by Dr. Robert Fastiggi)
    Catholics May Not Vote Pro-Abortion under Pain of Mortal Sin
    Open Letter to Christians Voting for Obama (guest column, Fr. John Bustamante)
    Paved with Good Intentions (on the Elections 2008)
    Pro-Abortion Catholic? Please Go Away Until You Repent

    Murder and Justice: On Abortion and Capital Punishment
    12 Year Old Girl teaches the world about abortion

Catechesis
Tips for teaching seventh and eighth grade catechesis

Why are people atheists?
The Importance of Study: If Ignorance is Vice, it's Holy to be Wise

Spiritual Theology

Are the majority of souls saved and in heaven, or condemned to hell for all eternity?
On Lectio Divina
How Bishops Discourage Vocations (and the Key to Attracting Them)
Do we need to abstain from meat on every Friday of the year?
On the three Purifications
Secret Pride and the True Pain of Humility
How to Design an Effective Program of Spiritual Life
Examination of Lent
New Age: Dominican Ashram in the Archdiocese of Detroit
Tips for Lent
Tribute to Babel: on Tongues
Priest Bear Fruit Only with Action and Prayer Together
On avoiding the "mainstream"
Luminous Mysteries
Of Retarded Pessimists and Tiny Saints
Finding Hope in the Face of Suffering
Contemplative Prayer (specifically, prayer of silence)
Conquest of Mercy

      - Vocation

How do I know what my vocation in life is, marriage, preisthood, religious or single life?
Is the contemplative or active life better?
Virginity for the Sake of the Kingdom of Heaven
RCIA and the Role of Priests

Liturgy

Even priests these days seem to have stopped genuflecting, even during the Holy Mass. Someone told me that the new liturgical law doesn't allow priests to genuflect during the mass. What's going on, what does the liturgical norm say, and how can it all be explained?

Can I kneel to receive Holy Communion?

Some priests tell me that I am only allowed to stand until the last communicant has received. Can I kneel after I receive Holy Communion?

Children's Liturgy of the Word, the use of Bells, the use of patens: document sources to prove the point

Should we hold hands at the Our Father?

Why read all the names of the saints in the Roman Canon?:
     Part 1: Why read all the saints names in EP I?
     Part 2: St....

Priest Changes Words at Mass: Big No-No

Liturgical Music, USCCB Meeting of Nov. 2006 a Catastrophe

Jesus is the Agent of the Liturgy (article, "Panis et Circensis," and "fun" liturgy)

Reflections on Summorum Pontificum, the Papal Document freeing the Tridentine Mass

Examination of Lent

Why are there four Sundays in advent, instead of three or five?

Music of the Senses in the Temple of God

How Gather Divides

Shiva for the Introit: Why Lord of the Dance is Pagan, not Catholic

Communion in the Hand: Why Not

Panacea Trent

Culinary Eucharist and Those Who See God as Fodder

Praying at Mass: Go Right Ahead

Why Do Young Priests Love the Old Mass?
Why Amazing Grace is Unsuitable for the Catholic Liturgy

Christology

Did Jesus fully consent of His own free will to suffer and die for us?

The Sacred Heart: Analysis and Summary of Parts of Haurietis Aquas (On Devotion to the Sacred Heart), in outline form

Jesus Came to Save, not to Cure

Eschatology

Why preach about hell?
Do babies who die without baptism go to "limbo"?

Maryology

Did Mary have foreknowledge of her life, her sufferings, her vocation and God's plan?
Mary as Mediatrix *

Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church (see also "abortion" section, above)

Can a Catholic vote for a "pro-choice" (translate: "pro-abortion") candidate for political office?
Should one refuse communion to a pro-abortion politician?
Divorce and the teachings of the Church; the problem with chancellery-imposed divorces
What is at stake when civil society rejects the public manifestation of the ten commandments?
Should a government censor the internet?
Jesus Came to Save, not to Cure

Abortion and Legislation (by Dr. Robert Fastiggi)

Rights of Men, Rights of Animals

Murder and Justice: On Abortion and Capital Punishment

Sacraments

   1. Holy Orders
            Is the Jewish priesthood continued in the Catholic priesthood?
            May homosexual men be admitted to the seminary or to Holy Orders?
            Is the number of priests in the world declining, as the libs claim, who promote anticlericalism?
            Priestly Physiognomy

            Gravitas: The Problem of Silly Priests
            Corporate Chaplains
            The Pope Sets the Pastoral Agenda for Parish Priests
            These Forty Years of Loyalty and Dissent (on brotherhood among priests, and Humanae Vitae)
            Priestly Celibacy, Episcopalians, and Catholic Deacons
            Priests in the Heart of Christ
            See also: section above, "Holy Year reflections" (click here)
            Why Liberal Priests are Tyrants
   2. Eucharist
            Reflection on the Year of the Eucharist 2004-2005
            Our previous Pope, John Paul II, Mane Nobiscum, Domine, ("Remain with us, Lord")
            On the Real Presence, and the matter of Bread and Wine
            On World Youth Day 2005, and Adoration
            Communion in the Hand: Why Not
            Youth and Eucharist: World Youth Day 2008
            Praying at Mass: Go Right Ahead
            The Eucharist is God
    3. Marriage
            Family (a Spouse and Children) is, in Fact, a Good Thing
            Family Under Fire: The Great Battle of our Time (Homily)
            Divorce and the teachings of the Church; the problem with chancellery-imposed divorces
            Should various couples of men and women be together in NFP classes?
            On Fatherhood
     4. Sacramentals
            Notes on the Brown Scapular: notes for talk to parents and kids
     5. Baptism
           Baptism in the Holy Spirit: There Is One Baptism
           Confession before Admission to Full Communion for a Baptized Non-Catholic
     6. Confession
           Confessors Who Need Confession
           Valid Form for the Words of Absolution
           Frequent Confession and Indulgences

Scripture

Historicity of the Bible

Tribute to Babel: On Tongues

Starting Out On the Year of St. Paul
To the Hills, "Cover Us!"

On apparent contraditions in the Bible between the Old Testament God and the New Testament God
Spiritual Combat in St. Paul (pdf)

Catholic Culture and Traditions

The Origin of Some Christmas Traditions
On Fatherhood

Dogmatic Theology

Is man saved by grace alone? Or by works and grace?

Are the majority of souls saved and in heaven, or condemned to hell for all eternity?

Does an embryo have a human soul?

1/3: Pope Benedict XVI's Encyclical Spe Salvi: Hope is Not a Concept; Translation Notes

2/3: Pope Benedict XVI's Encyclical Spe Salvi: Letters from Readers

3/3: Pope Benedict XVI's Encyclical Spe Salvi: Summary in Outline Form

They Will Not Endure Sound Teaching (cf. 2 Tim 4:1-5): Private Revelations and Public

Islam

Don't call us violent, or we'll kill you
Leading Little Ones Astray
She Forgave her Muslim Murderer
The Bosom of Western Culture (the Rejection Islam feels of Christianity)

Prayer

Some prayers

Luminous Mysteries

Apostolate

Dealing with Hardened Sinners as a Lay Apostle

The Failure of Some Newman Clubs
What's a Teen? Random Reflections about Teen Ministry

Philosophy:

    Relativism

The Christian Who Doesn't Know: Intellectual Despair

"Progressives" and Intellectual Bullying: The Intellectual Christian Elite and the Enemies of the Truth

Why Relativists are Violent People

The Pithy Catholic

Tyranny, the Bastard Child of Irresponsibility and Disordered Self Love

    Philosophical Anthropology

Barbaro the God: That Animals Are Not Men

On the Virtue of Fortitude and the Crybaby Culture

Being and Time: Tell me how you use your time, and I'll tell you who you are

Does an embryo have a human soul?

The Conscience and the Church: Obey the Church and Be at Peace

    The Western World

The Bosom of Western Culture (the Rejection Islam feels of Christianity)

    Political Philosophy

On Metapolitics

Rights of Men, Rights of Animals
     Philosophy of Education
Orthodoxy is What Keeps Catholic Schools Open

     Logic and Philosophy of Thought

We Believe What We Know, Not What We Don’t: Peirce, “Belief,” and anti-Catholic Terrorism

Omnia scripta mea sub iudicio Sanctae Sedis in caritate et obedientia subiuguntur.

Fr. Paul Ward
Diocesan Priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit
Associate Pastor, St. Joseph, St. Josaphat, Sweetest Heart of Mary, city of Detroit, MI.

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