🧵The woman caught in adultery and the Protestant problem of authority.

Did you know that many Protestants don't consider the story of the woman caught in adultery (John 7:53-8:12) to be part of authoritative Scripture?

1/10 It's well-known that this passage is not found in the most ancient manuscripts, and no early Fathers commented on the passage. Many scholars today believe it was inserted much later.

Because of this, many Protestants therefore don't consider it as authoritative Scripture.

2/10

🧵In John 6:35, Jesus says, "“I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst." But the original Greek is much more meaningful than the English translation conveys.

1/8 First, the "I am" in Greek is "εγώ εἰμι." The εγώ ("I") is unnecessary, as εἰμι by itself means "I am." But by adding "εγώ," two things are emphasized:

2/8

🧵The USCCB released a report synthesizing the results of the synodal "listening sessions" and it's as bad as you'd expect.

1/7
usccb.org/resources/US%2… Of course the document is littered with problems, but I think we are so used to this drivel that we miss the fact that the underlying presuppositions behind it are fatally flawed.

2/7

🧵 Why is it heretical to say that a pluralism of religions is willed by God?

Today's interreligious declaration stated "pluralism and differences in religion, skin color, gender, race and language are expressions of the wisdom of God’s will in creation." This is false.
1/9 The most common defense of such language is to note that there are two categories of God's will: His active will and His permissive will.

2/9

🧵A few statistics comparing government scope and spending during the monarchical age (pre-20th century) and the Age of Democracy (post-World War I).

1/6 During the monarchical age, the tax burden rarely exceeded 5 percent of national product.
In the Age of Democracy, the tax burden has risen to around 50 percent of national product.

2/6

🧵 A thread on Catholics celebrating the English Monarchy.

There obviously exists a tension between Catholicism and the English Monarchy, but it's not as simple as "Catholics must denounce those hereditary heretics!"

1/5 First, the English Monarchy has a glorious history, including many great Catholic leaders, such as Alfred the Great and Edward the Confessor.

England itself is Mary's Dowry, and the Monarchy is an essential part of that heritage.

2/5

🧵Catholics today don't realize what a big deal St. Lawrence was to previous generations of Catholics. Here are a few indicators:

1/7 First, he is named in the Roman Canon, which always indicates a significant cultus had formed around him.

2/7

🧵 What should the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP) do if Cupich tells them to sign a document they can't sign or they lose their faculties?

1/13 It's easy to be a Twitter warrior and declare that the ICKSP should just ignore/defy Cupich. But reality is far more complex and the correct path isn't clear. This is a prudential decision and good Catholics can disagree about the correct approach.

2/13

🧵 Was Bishop Barron's transfer to Minnesota a promotion or a demotion?

Although he went from an auxiliary to a "full" bishop, +Barron's appointment to Winona-Rochester, MN was likely a demotion in the eyes of Rome.

1/14 Yes, technically he has been promoted, since he is now responsible for his own diocese. But not all dioceses are created equal. The diocese of Winona-Rochester, MN has only 134,000 Catholics. Compare that to the 4.3 million Catholics in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

2/14

THREAD: The banalization of the Collects.

Most Catholics don't realize how radically the prayers in the Mass were altered in the post-conciliar liturgical reform, particularly the Collects.

/1 It wasn't just a change from Latin to the vernacular (as many Catholics still think); instead the content of those prayers were fundamentally changed, and almost always by making the prayers more banal.

Here's a random example from Wednesday of the 2nd Week in Lent:

/2

THREAD: Safety of Covid vaccines.

(1) I'm unvaccinated, but my reasons are unrelated to whether they are safe to take. I'm not an expert, so I can't gauge whether the vaccines are safe or not. However, I can look at plain numbers which raise questions and which are often hidden. (2) For example, during the testing of the Pfizer vaccine, ~22,000 people were given the vaccine, and ~22,000 were given a placebo. 2 unvaccinated people died of Covid, and 1 vaccinated person died.

THREAD: A summary of my position on the debate surrounding a heretical pope.

(1) It's been held by many theologians over the years that a papal heretic automatically loses his office. I think this likely is true, to a point. (2) A bishop (including a pope) who is a heretic must be judged as such by a competent authority. The "automatically loses his office" means that once he has been judged a heretic, then he loses it - there is no need for a further action to remove him.

THREAD: A strange historical parallel to today's crisis.

(1) In the early 14th century, there was a major debate in the Church that led to one pope contradicting a previous pope, and many people saying that meant the pope was a heretic and therefore deprived of his office. (2) Briefly, many Franciscans were arguing that Christ and his apostles practiced perfect evangelical poverty (owning nothing) and that this was the ideal Christian life. Pope Nicholas III in 1279 affirmed this view.

THREAD: A "traditionally-celebrated Novus Ordo Mass" as a way forward.

I appreciate the good intentions behind the offer of a traditionally-celebrated Novus Ordo as a compromise for unity, but that's a failed idea.

1/5 First, if such a Mass hasn't been embraced after 50 years of the NO, what makes you think it will be now? There's a reason it's called a "unicorn" Mass. There's little to no support for it among priests and bishops.

2/5

THREAD: The problem with the "This isn't a hill to die on" argument.

(1) Since the beginning of Covidtide, I've heard a lot of Catholics justify going along with various mandates because it "isn't a hill to die on." But this is bad logic and can hide cowardice. (2) This argument was particularly used with the mask mandates. After all, what's the big deal about wearing a piece of cloth on your face? It's not like we were being asked to offer a pinch of incense to idols.

THREAD: How do we grow the Church?

(1) With my home diocese planning to eliminate 70% of parishes, and many other dioceses on similar trajectories, a lot of people are asking, "What can we do to reverse the trend?"

The short-term answer is: nothing. (2) The reality is that we're in a hole so deep that we can't easily climb out of it. And this hole was dug both by us and by outside forces. It's not just a matter of us pulling up our sleeves, expanding TLM's, and growth will come.

THREAD: The functional incompatibility between pre-Vatican II Catholicism and post-Vatican II Catholicism.

1) I got some push-back for saying that "Post-Vatican II Catholicism is in practice a different religion than pre-Vatican II Catholicism. They are not compatible." 2) I stand by the statement, but I'm happy to clarify what I meant.

What do I mean? Let's look at the reality of most Catholics today in the post-Vatican II Church - how they actually *practice* their faith (I'll restrict it to America).

THREAD: The moral and practical considerations for Catholics regarding the COVID-19 vaccines.

(1) Many Catholic leaders, including many bishops and the pope himself, have stated or suggested that it’s a moral obligation to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. (2) The CDF in December declared that it is morally permissible to receive an abortion-tainted COVID-19 vaccine, arguing that it is only remote cooperation with evil.

THREAD: On remote cooperation with evil

(1) There’s a lot of discussion in the Catholic world about “remote cooperation with evil” and how it relates to the new COVID-19 vaccines. I’d like to briefly give some guiding principles here. (2) First, it must be made clear that we must never formally cooperate with evil. Thus, a person can’t work as a nurse at Planned Parenthood, even if for some reason that was the only job available in the word. She would be directly involved in the killing of babies.

THREAD: Greed, envy, and Catholic commentators.

(1) Every few months a min-controversy flairs on social media because someone discovers that a Catholic commentator... (gasp!) makes money. Or, more precisely, makes more money than someone thinks the commentator should make. (2) I have a hard time taking these criticisms seriously, but I guess many people do take them seriously, so I’d like to address the issue and why it’s fundamentally wrong (and sinful) to accuse others of making “too much” money.

THREAD: On the opinions of popes.

(1) We’ve had crisis after crisis under Francis because he can’t stop publicly giving his opinions about every topic under the sun. And the media report his every opinion as an official “shift” for the Church. (2) Yet For 2,000 years popes have had opinions on every topic under the sun. Almost no Catholics ever knew any of those opinions until very recently, so it’s clear the opinions of popes have absolutely *nothing* to do with salvation. So why do we even care what the pope thinks?