The Narthex

Anthony Esolen has penned a great essay about pride, especially in connection with the just-concluded Synod on Synodality. He rightly notes (at The Catholic Thing, linked below) that it is pride to believe that modernity has “discovered” a “new way of being Church” and that all we need to do…

“Keep on doing what you have learned and received” (Phil 4:9). St. Paul's sage advice, in last Sunday’s Second Reading, seems particularly apt for those gathered in Rome for the Synod on Synodality. In recent weeks, we’ve heard some interesting, some bizarre interpretations of how the Church’s Tradition relates to…

The recent Gospel about what two sons did with their father’s call to work in his vineyard seems fitting for the week we begin a “synod about synodality.” The Gospel is ultimately about sin and repentance. Both sons sin. One sins by refusing to work in the vineyard, although he…

I’ve been writing a lot about the upcoming Synod on Synodality and the obsession of some prelates with the Church’s “welcoming” attitude. The gist of my argument is that these folks are pushing a notion of “welcome” that is alien to Scripture and the Church’s Tradition, though it may resonate…

In announcing that non-bishops would be able to vote in this fall’s Synod on Synodality, Rome tried simultaneously to hype and downplay the news. Channeling its inner Leslie Neilsen, the synodal website blandly headlined the change as “Some News for the October 2023 Assembly.” General Relator Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich gave…

The Octave Day of Easter—the Sunday following Easter—has gone by several names, including Divine Mercy Sunday and the Second Sunday of Easter. One of its oldest names is Dominica in albis, “Sunday in white,” because this was the day that those newly baptized at the Easter Vigil historically took off…