Catholic Church

Oscar’s ConfirmationBy Cardinal Brandmuller Abbé Raphael’s ConfirmationBy Cardinal Brandmuller Two of my sons, Oscar and Raphael, were confirmed in Gricigliano in Florence, Italy, at the seminary of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign priest in March of 2012.  There were eight of us there, my wife, six of our eight children, and I.  Abbé Raphael Lacken is now completing his third year of formation for the Catholic Priesthood with the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest. Please pray … Read More

Eternity is a difficult concept for the human mind because we think in terms of time and we cannot really imagine life without time. The expression “from all eternity” is often used. However, this expression is faulty because eternity has neither beginning nor end. Eternity is a Godly concept. When Moses asked God what he should say if the people asked him the name of the God who sent him, he received the reply. “God said to Moses: I AM … Read More

The Emperor’s New Clothes, by Hans Christian Anderson, tells the story of a couple of conmen who convince an Emperor that they can make him some elegant clothes from magnificent thread that is invisible to those who lack intelligence or are stupid. Eventually the Emperor is paraded around in his nude until a little boy shouts out the obvious and the people realise that they have been fooled. Today’s reading in the Latin Mass for the Saturday after the Third … Read More

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced on Friday 10th, March, plans to remove the constitutional protections for stay at home mothers. Like many who base their lives on ideology, the Taoiseach is not restricted to being truthful. He does not tell the whole truth and sometimes what he says is not true. The ideology is elevated to the status of infallible truth regardless of whether or not it conforms to known and scientifically observable facts. In his press launch for a referendum … Read More

Editors Note: an earlier version of this article was inadvertently missing two consecutive paragraphs. They began with “When members of the Church…” and “No genuine Catholic…” Their omission may have altered the coherence of the article. They are now included. St. Thomas More said that he was “the King’s good servant, but God’s first.” Today there are few Kings, or Queens, and they are merely symbolic of supreme national authority. Supremacy is held (theoretically) by the (voting) public, whose wishes … Read More

I hope to launch my first book, The Traditional Catholic Family, throughout Ireland beginning in Limerick on Tuesday 11th, April, 2023. The purpose of the book is to promote and defend Catholic Church teaching on marriage and family life with a view to helping Catholics understand both the importance and greatness of Catholic Marriage. Pope Pius XI in his encyclical Casti Connubii stated: “In order, however, that amongst men of every nation and every age the desired fruits may be … Read More

The Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill 2022 is currently making its way through the houses of the Oireachtas in Ireland. This bill intends to deal with the sensitive subject of organ donation. One of the dangers that arises in matters where ethics is of concern, is where legislation is being driven on a ‘needs first’ basis rather than on an ‘ethics first’ basis. The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, when introducing the bill at second … Read More

In his third article on “Charity and Vaccines,” Father Ambrose debunked the claim that getting vaccinated was “the loving thing to do”. In this fourth instalment he shows how the concept of the Common Good, which is part of Catholic social doctrine, has been unduly exploited to justify mass vaccination and other extreme measures taken during the so-called pandemic.1 You can download a pdf of this article HERE These Articles are also available in German HERE The last three years … Read More

(You can download this article as a pdf HERE) It is now time to offer the Great Sacrifice, and to call down our Emmanuel from heaven: he alone can fully pay the debt of gratitude which mankind owes to the Eternal Father. He will intercede for us on the Altar, as he did in his Crib. We will approach him with love, and he will give himself to us. But such is the greatness of today’s Mystery, that the Church … Read More

(You can download this article as a pdf HERE) ‘At length,’ says St. Peter Damian, in his sermon for this holy eve, ‘at length we have come from the stormy sea into the tranquil port; hitherto it was the promise, now it is the prize; hitherto labour, now rest; hitherto despair, now hope; hitherto the way, now our home. The heralds of the divine promise came to us; but they gave us nothing but rich promises. Hence our psalmist himself … Read More

(You can download this article as a pdf HERE) The Lord is now nigh; come, let us adore. From the Prophet Isaiah – Chapter 66 Hear the word of the Lord, you that tremble at his word. Your brethren that hate you, and cast you out for my name’s sake, have said: Let the Lord be glorified, and we shall see in your joy: but they shall be confounded. A voice of the people from the city, a voice from … Read More

(You can download this article as a pdf HERE) The Lord is now nigh; come, let us adore. From the Prophet Isaiah – Chapter 64 Oh that thou would rend the heavens, and would come down; the mountains would melt away at thy presence; they would melt as at the burning of fire; the waters would burn with fire; that thy name might be made known to thy enemies: that the nations might tremble at thy presence. When thou shall … Read More

(You can download this article as a pdf HERE) The Lord is now nigh: come, let us adore. From the Prophet Isaiah Chapter 51 Give ear to me, you that follow that which is just, and you that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you are dug out. Look unto Abraham your father and to Sara that bore you; for I called him alone, and blessed … Read More

(You can download this article as a pdf HERE) The Lord is now nigh; come, let us Adore. From the Prophet Isaias. Chapter 42 Behold my servant, I will uphold him; my elect, my soul delights in him; I have given me spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgement to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor have respect to person, neither shall his voice be heard abroad. The bruised reed he shall not break, and the smoking flax … Read More

(You can download this article as a pdf HERE) The Lord is now nigh: come, let us adore. From the Prophet Isaiah. – Chapter 42 But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend; in whom I have taken thee from the ends of the earth, and from the remote parts thereof have called thee, and said to thee: Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee, and have not east thee … Read More

(You can download this article as a pdf HERE) We have now entered into the week which immediately precedes the birth of the Messiah. That long desired coming might be tomorrow; and at furthest, that is, when Advent is as long as it can be, the beautiful feast is only seven days from us. So that the Church now counts the hours; she watches day and night, and since December 17th her Offices have assumed an unusual solemnity. At Lauds, … Read More

(You can download this article as a pdf HERE) The Lord is now nigh: come, let us adore. The lessons from the prophet Isaiah are interrupted today also; and a homily on the Gospel of the Mass is read in their place. As this Gospel is repeated tomorrow, in the Mass of the fourth Sunday of Advent, we will, for the present, omit it, and be satisfied with mentioning the reason of the same Gospel being assigned to the two … Read More

(You can download this article as a pdf HERE) The Lord is now nigh; let us adore. The Church does not read anything from the prophet Isaiah today; she merely gives, in the Office of Matins, a sentence of that chapter of St. Luke’s Gospel, which relates the mystery of our Lady’s Visitation: and to this she subjoins a fragment of Saint Ambrose’s homily upon that passage. The considerations and affections with which this important event of our Lady’s life … Read More

(You can download this article as a pdf HERE) The Lord is now nigh; come, let us adore. From the Prophet Isaias – Chapter 33 Oh Lord, have mercy on us: for we have waited for thee: be thou our arm in the morning, and our salvation in the time of trouble. At the voice of the angel the people fled, and at the lifting up thyself the nations are scattered. And your spoils shall be gathered together as the … Read More

(You can download this article as a pdf HERE) The Lord is now nigh; . come, let us adore. To-day the Church begins the fast of ‘Quatuor Tempora’, or, as we call it, of Ember days: it includes also the Friday and Saturday of this same week. This observance is not peculiar to the Advent liturgy; it is one which has been fixed for each of the four seasons of the ecclesiastical year. We may consider it as one of … Read More