Volume 20 Number 1

Issue Date:

January, 2009

Features

By: David P. Lang

The only valid substance for a consecrated host is unleavened bread made from gluten—unfortunately for some, a highly allergenic substance. So why can’t the Church use rice bread for the Eucharist? Scripture offers several answers, but the argument boils down to this: The matter we use for sacraments is, quite literally, significant.

Both Pharisee and Publican Call the Church Home

By: Jeffrey A. Mirus

We live in an age of diversity, say the arbiters of the cultural zeitgeist. Many Catholics are only too familiar with the concept, so much so that we sometimes wish our fellow Catholics—the ones with the wrong approach to liturgy or moral teaching or social justice—would just go away. But catholic means "here comes everybody." The Church is a refuge for all sinners, beginning with ourselves.

Hitler's Mufti

By: Matthew E. Bunson

Controversy continues to swirl around the pending beatification of the much-maligned Pope Pius XII. In debating whether Pius did or did not do enough to protect the Jews from Hitler, it is instructive to remember that one influential religious leader actively promoted their slaughter. He was a Muslim cleric: the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.

Is Ecumenism a Heresy?

By: Fr. Brian Harrison O.S.

Did the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Ecumenism change the centuries-old Tradition that the only path to salvation is through the Church? No: A close comparison of Vatican II’s decree with Pius XI’s On Religious Unity reveals a shift in discipline, not doctrine. What Pius and the Council both condemned is a false concept of ecumenism.

Departments

Reasons for Hope

The Road Ahead

By: Cherie Peacock

Letters

EF vs. OF: Love Them Both

By the Book

No Rocks Required

By: Tim Staples

Damascus Road

The Endless Gift

By: Mary L

Eyes to See

We Have Seen the Light

By: Michael Schrauzer

Truth be Told

The Syllabus, the Controversy, and the Context

By: Robert P. Lockwood

Last Writes

The Name Game

By: Karl Keating

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~ Fr. James, Director of Priestly Formation, Pittsburgh

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"There is one jewel for my poor soul, in a life which desires not sin; it is the beads... Suitable are these for a gift; bits of the tree of Him Who redeemed us."

~ Gitto'r Glyn, Welsh poet; opening lines from his "popish" Cywydd y paderau prennau (Ode to the Wooden Beads); secretly circulated among private Catholic homes in Wales during the English persecutions, when possession meant a death sentence.