Recent content by HomeschoolDad

You are correct, it is not a doctrinal statement (though that doesn't keep some people from treating it as such), nor is it infallible. It is an assessment of how a moral principle is to be applied in a concrete situation, in other words, casuistry. If there is, as you say, no other way to...

Then I don't know what to tell you. The Church does indeed think she is "inside her wheelhouse" to teach that capital punishment is inadmissible anywhere in the world, given present conditions of penology and jurisprudence. The doctrinal principle is simply that the state has the right to...

Yes, but we don't cheer at them (unless our hearts are really depraved). The people in this crowd make me think of the deeply disturbing images of lynchings, where the white folks treated it as though they were at a party, while the corpse of the poor black man hangs from a tree. For those who...

The Church would tell you that in modern society, the answer is always "yes". In all honesty, for a time, I wondered if the Church had succumbed to political correctness (she is guaranteed infallibility in her teaching of doctrine, not in casuistry as applied to concrete situations in the here...

The DP is brutal, and even the Baltimore Catechism emphasizes that it is only to be used when there are no other alternatives, really quite progressive for such a traditional catechism. Oddly enough, it took not the Church, but the birth of my son, to help me to see the brutality of the DP ---...

I have to wonder if a compassionate monastery, recognizing the OP's predicament, would allow him simply to stay with them for a while, not taking vows, free to leave at any time, so that he could take advantage of a holy environment and get the spiritual direction he needs. And in the midst of...

As long as catechists and other teachers can explain that the DP is not intrinsically evil, just that the societies of the world have advanced to such a state that there are better alternatives to the DP, I have no issue with its being condemned. What I do find disturbing, is that many modern...

I have read this through three times, and I am not seeing the connection between the two things. I can only say this: The only way any doubts about the Faith should be resolved, is to become convinced of the truth. Error has no rights, and no claim upon our intellect. There couldn't be any...

There would have to be other ways, to escape this "proximate danger of sin" (bad companions?), than to enter a monastery. However, this said, my best advice would be for the troubled person to go to that monastery, explain his situation, and ask whether they would be willing to take him in at...

It's worth noting that this is a joint statement, and will thus reflect the sensibilities of all parties involved. It is not a teaching document of the magisterium of the Catholic Church.

Here is what Karl Keating of Catholic Answers has to say about the use of the term "Church" versus "ecclesial communities" and so on: https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/offshoots-of-offshoots Also, the Vatican II document on Christian unity refers over and over again to the...

As I said on another forum, it's ironic that Leo will be visiting Argentina as Pope, while Francis never did.

I am not clear whether you are a Catholic who seeks to find as much truth among the various Protestant confessions ("sect" is a neutral term that can be used pejoratively or not, though I didn't intend it that way, but since you dislike it, I'll avoid it here for the sake of peace) as can be...

How do you define "Protestant denomination"? Baptists (who follow Calvin, more or less, but not Luther, otherwise they'd embrace, inter alia, the Real Presence and the seven sacraments)? Pentecostalists (including Oneness Penecostalists, who deny the Trinity)? Adventists? The various...

Even if Calvin and Luther were coherent in their theology, many Protestants differ from that theology. I hate to be so blunt, but the Catholic Church does not recognize these as "Churches". In colloquial parlance, the word "church" might be used, but not in formal discourse. Only the...