Source: Bishop Robert Barron via YouTube Friends, in biblical imagery, the vineyard symbolizes the people of God. The Lord nourishes us as our caretaker, but he desires (even demands) that we bear good fruit. The Mass, the Eucharist, the teaching office of the Church, priests and bishops—through these means and […]
Source: Bishop Robert Barron via YouTube What is postmodernism? What gave rise to it, what are its main characteristics, and how should Catholics assess it? In this episode, Bishop Barron and Brandon discuss the postmodern turn and its results. A listener asks, is it impossible for some people to believe […]
Source: Bishop Barron via YouTube Friends, I recently addressed the Knights of Malta about this convulsive time in our national history, demonstrated by the global pandemic, unstable politics, and outbursts of violence. But not many people understand the ideologies that stand behind the rioting and deep unrest that we see […]
Friends, if your soul is rightly ordered, it can handle anything. However, if you gain the world but sacrifice your soul for fame or fortune, you’ve lost everything. Getting this right is the fulcrum upon which the spiritual life turns.
Friends, are you spending your time building a pedestal for yourself, or are you breathing life into others? Think about the fact that whatever legitimate authority you have, it ultimately comes from God. And then think about how you’re cooperating with and best using that grace.
Friends, no indication whatsoever is given in Scripture that the moral prescriptions are somehow more important than the liturgical prescriptions. Being a good person is not enough—it’s crucially important to be aligned to God in his divine splendor through ritual and ceremony. My concern is, as our churches begin to open, that some may forget the vital importance and essentiality of the Mass.
Friends, I encourage you to watch this clip from our “CATHOLICISM” series on St. Katharine Drexel. As a wealthy young laywoman, disturbed by the treatment of Native Americans, she traveled to Rome and had an audience with Pope Leo XIII. She begged the Holy Father to create an order of priests or nuns to teach and love the Native Americans.
Our culture holds many different concepts of morality. In this episode, Bishop Barron and Brandon Vogt discuss three major theories–consequentialism, deontology/legalism, and virtue ethics–and how compatible each is with Catholicism.
Friends, in a universe governed by God’s providence, there is no such thing as “dumb luck” or coincidence. Therefore, his election and his choosing is not arbitrary or exclusive. Rather, when God invites his people to mission, he is not calling them for their own sakes, but for the sake of the whole world.
Friends, some Catholics in America today are increasingly vocal in their attacks on the Second Vatican Council—an ecumenical council of the Church summoned and presided over by the successor of Peter. How should we understand this disturbing trend? In this keynote talk from the 2020 Napa Institute, I trace the missionary purpose of Vatican II from the conciliar texts themselves, through the New Evangelization…
Friends, from Genesis to Revelation, Scripture begins and ends on the principle of the primacy of grace. In the Christian religion, there is no such thing as “conditional love.” Rather, God gives freely, and it is our task to accept it. “All who are thirsty, come to the water!” And what is the water, but that which symbolizes divine life and ultimate joy?
Friends, the entire effort to erase the memory of St. Junípero Serra is from a historical standpoint ridiculous and from a moral standpoint more than a little frightening. When we see mobs of people tearing down and desecrating statues of a great Catholic saint, how can we not see the ugly spectre of anti-Catholicism raising its head?