Today, on the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 1274), I want to share with you a prayer of his that has been on my mind recently.

🧵It’s called the “Prayer for Ordering One’s Life Wisely” (ad vitam sapienter instituendam): “O merciful God, grant that I may
desire ardently,
search prudently,
recognize truly,
and bring to perfect completion
whatever is pleasing to You
for the praise and glory of Your name.”

“For Columbus is ours”: a defense of Christopher Columbus against mainstream attempts to demonize him and downplay his wonderful accomplishments 🧵 Growing up in the 90’s, even in progressive New England, elementary schools would celebrate Columbus Day. “In Fourteen-Hundred and Ninety-Two, Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue”

Anti-Columbus rhetoric was reserved for liberal academics, who barely had any reach or relevance.

It seems that conservative Catholic concern about capital punishment has less to do with the desirability or expedience of capital punishment, and more to do with the Church’s self-understanding of truth.

How can what was once considered legitimate in principle no longer be so?

https://twitter.com/feseredward/status/1973503298700460222

The death penalty debate is less about whether we want to see it administered, and more about the nature of truth.

Are things true/good in themselves, or can the reality of things change based on time, era, and historical conditions?

The DP debate is one about moral objectivity

How fitting that during this so-called "Pride Month", the Church honors a Catholic martyr who spoke out against homosexual predation of youth.

🧵Today, let us talk about St. Charles Lwanga, a Catholic witness of chastity and courage: On June 3, the Church remembers St. Charles Lwanga and his companions — young Ugandan men martyred for their Catholic faith in 1886. Do not neglect their names! Charles is the one circled. See them pictured below:

1. Mukasa Kiriwawanvu
2. Andrea Kaggwa (Kahwa)
3. Yozefu Mukasa Balikuddembe
4. Anatori Kiriggwajjo
5. Mbaaga Tuzinde
6. Ponsiano Nngondwe
7. Yakobo Buuzabalyawo
8. Dionizio Ssebuggwawo
9. Atanansi Bazzekuketta
10. Adolfu Mukasa Ludigo
11. Gonzaga Gonza
12. Ambrozio Kibuuka
13. Kaeoli Lwanga
14. Akileo Kiwanuka
15. Bruno Sserunkuma
16. Matia Kalemba Mulumba
17. Luka Baanabakintu
18. Kizito
19. Muggaga
20. Gyaviira

In the Eastern Churches, married men may be ordained to the priesthood, but bishops are taken from the monasteries. But oftentimes, the men who become bishops are not living austere, monastic lives. They live a bachelor life with everything paid for, and just climb the ladder.

https://twitter.com/tawadros15/status/1816534806278414583

In the Roman Catholic Church, there is a sort of parallel with religious orders. Done properly, religious orders can be wonderful witnesses to the Gospel. Done poorly, however, they are a cause of scandal. Men who take vows of “poverty” with a wink, knowing everything is covered.

Now that Viganò has been excommunicated and in a state of schism, I look forward to the Catholic Church’s warm, friendly, and irenic ecumenical outreach to him. The Vatican should treat him like they treat Orthodox & Protestants: warm embrace, allowing the use of our churches… For half a century, the Church has explained away historic schisms as a misunderstanding of language, a conflict of political interests, etc. We call non-Catholic Christians “separated brethren”, have ecumenical gatherings, etc. So what is Viganò *actually* lacking by schism?

Most likely outcomes for the Synod on Synodality:

1. Same-sex unions will be “blessed”, but through sophistry:

“We’re not blessing same-sex unions; we’re blessing *people* who happen to be in same-sex unions. Regardless, this cannot be considered comparable to matrimony.” 2. Women will be permitted to become deacons, to be decided at a local level:

“For too long, women have been unjustly forbidden from exercising ecclesial ministry in an official capacity. Because they are full & true members of the Body of Christ, they deserve access to orders.”

Perhaps the real problem in the Church is not "rigid" Catholics, but Catholics who aren't rigid enough. Much of the sex abuse crisis can be linked to laxity—a collapse in discipline among clergy, a loss of asceticism, & abuse of power by those thinking they're above the rules. We're constantly being told that "rigidity" is the problem. I used to think that, too. But a number of abusers in the clerical ranks were those who shrugged off traditional fasts, mortifications, and self-denial. Think of Paul Shanley, known for being a "street priest".