Padre Peregrino – Page 37 – Theology from a wandering priest

12 12, 2021

Exceptions to Being Pro-Life?
Exceptions to Being Pro-Life?

Exceptions to Being Pro-Life?

By Father David Nix|2021-12-12T15:54:09+00:00December 12th, 2021|Theology|

Even in high school, long before my conversion to traditional Catholicism, I was pro-life. I remember one guy from my high-school with whom I would work in the soup-kitchen in downtown Denver. He was part of the young Republican club and he told me that he was "pro-life except in cases of rape and incest." Even back then, before I had studied the defense of the pro-life position, I knew that a child should not have to pay for her life for the crime of her father. I knew he was wrong. If the unborn baby were human, then murder could never be justified based on any crime that led [...]

7 12, 2021

The First Week of July 1963
The First Week of July 1963

The First Week of July 1963

By Father David Nix|2022-04-28T17:57:54+00:00December 7th, 2021|Theology|

My mother's four grandparents moved from Ireland to Chicago in the first half of the 20th century, so I grew up hearing from extended family and peers what great men Cardinal Bernadin and President Kennedy were. I also graduated Boston College in 2000. So, even though I was raised in Denver, the fact is that Chicago Catholicism and Boston Catholicism are in my bloodstream. I trusted this version of Catholicism. But to rebuild traditional Catholicism and understand who to trust, perhaps we have to expose some of this evil, for St. Paul writes, "Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them."—Eph 5:11. The following [...]

30 11, 2021

Advent Message to Benefactors and Listeners

By Father David Nix|2021-12-07T21:36:41+00:00November 30th, 2021|Theology|

Dear friends, family, readers, listeners and benefactors—both spiritual and material, Ave Maria! I wanted to thank you all for all of your support this past year. First, some great news: My VLX (Patristic Bible Study) and CPX (Catechism of Pope St. Pius X) and TCE (Theology and Current Events) reached it's first year of production about midway through 2021. Across all forums like YouTube and Apple podcasts, it is now getting about a million listens a year! It has been my dream for a long time to teach Scripture and catechesis as a traveling missionary, so this was an answer to a prayer in a roundabout way. I thank God (and [...]

25 11, 2021

The Door to Fatima’s Modesty is Unlocked by Pope Pius XI

By Father David Nix|2021-11-22T02:50:37+00:00November 25th, 2021|Theology|

In 1917 in Fatima, Portugal, Mary, the Mother of God, appeared to three shepherd children named Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco. One of the things they saw in this apparition was demons and humans in hell. At an apparition later that year, 70,000 people (including atheists and communists) saw the miracle of the sun. A few years later, on the topic of modesty, Our Lady of Fatima said to the young visionary Jacinta Marto before her death in 1920: “Certain fashions will be introduced that will offend Our Lord very much,” and “Woe to women lacking in modesty,” and “More souls go to Hell because of sins of the flesh than for [...]

23 11, 2021

Fr. Altman Was Correct: You Can’t Be a Catholic and a Democrat
Fr. Altman Was Correct: You Can’t Be a Catholic and a Democrat

Fr. Altman Was Correct: You Can’t Be a Catholic and a Democrat

By Father David Nix|2021-11-22T02:47:23+00:00November 23rd, 2021|Theology|

During the stolen US election last year, a bishop put on Twitter: "The right wing tells us bishops that we’re in the back pocket of the Democratic Party; the left wing tells us that we’re in the back pocket of the Republican Party. I’m just trying to stay centered on Jesus Christ and His Church." This is a very misleading tweet, first of all because the democratic party has been giving hundreds of millions of dollars to the US bishops many years back including $91,000,000 from democrats to the USCCB in 2016. It's also misleading because of a reason found in a reply on Twitter: "Your Eminence, you have [...]

18 11, 2021

The “Greater Good” is Not a Catholic Moral System
The “Greater Good” is Not a Catholic Moral System

The “Greater Good” is Not a Catholic Moral System

By Father David Nix|2021-11-18T14:29:11+00:00November 18th, 2021|Theology|

Eugenics, the notion that the strong can kill the weak, is built on the philosophy that population reduction may have to be done for the greater good of society. It's built on the part of Darwinian evolution called natural selection and survival of the fittest. Under this philosophy, the Nazi Holocaust was simply a moral attempt to cleanse their own society of weaker Jews "for the greater good" of society, as they Nazis might say. Why then do so many on the left today say that we have to make decisions on COVID "for the greater good"? Now, in their defense, libs do not want another holocaust. And proportionate decisions [...]

16 11, 2021

Men’s Groups: A Suggestion

By Father David Nix|2021-11-12T03:56:31+00:00November 16th, 2021|Theology|

Who is more chatty, men or women? You probably can guess my answer at face-value. But when you throw a single variable in there, and change it just a little bit, for example: “Who is more open about problems with new friends?” I believe the answer is: men. You see, if you started a women’s Bible Study, you would be lucky if you could get fellow women to open up about, say, internet temptations within three months of that Bible study getting together. But if you started a men’s Bible Study, the men would be open about internet problems that very first night. I mean it: That very first night [...]

16 11, 2021

The Marriage of Faith and Reason
The Marriage of Faith and Reason

The Marriage of Faith and Reason

By Father David Nix|2021-11-16T01:44:17+00:00November 16th, 2021|Theology|

The collect in the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) for St. Albert the Great today reads: O God, Who made blessed Albert, Your Bishop and Doctor, eminent in the submission of human wisdom to divine faith, grant us, we beseech You, so to follow the path of his teaching that we may enjoy perfect light in heaven. This is such a beautiful prayer because it captures what a genius St. Albert was in matters of both human wisdom (called humána sapiéntia in the TLM collect today, now called "science") as well as matters of divine faith (called divínæ fídei in the TLM today, also called Divine Revelation.) As you know in 2021, [...]

14 11, 2021

How Hard Is It To Avoid Heresy?

By Father David Nix|2021-11-15T12:49:52+00:00November 14th, 2021|Theology|

Consider a putatively-conservative Roman Catholic archbishop who invites his priests to pray with Lutherans in a Lutheran community building. This really happened. But because this bishop is "pro-life," he is considered "conservative" by most of his laity. Thus, most mainstream Catholics will pretty quickly forgive a bishop inviting their own Catholic priests to a Lutheran prayer service. That is, if they even think there's anything to forgive in that. I think the attitude among most of the laity today is basically: Well, I make mistakes in my vocation, so I can't judge my superiors who make mistakes in their vocations. Fair enough. There's some humility in that attitude. But there's [...]

11 11, 2021

St. Vincent of Lerins on how to Navigate a Church Crisis
St. Vincent of Lerins on how to Navigate a Church Crisis

St. Vincent of Lerins on how to Navigate a Church Crisis

By Father David Nix|2021-11-09T22:41:47+00:00November 11th, 2021|Theology|

Many Catholics think that "Catholic" means "universal," and they are correct, but they make the mistake of thinking this is universal not through history but just today in this current Church crisis. We look to the great saint and doctor of the Church of the 5th century, St. Vincent of Lerins, for how to navigate a Church crisis when many bishops believe and teach different things. St. Vincent of Lerins was one of the very, very few bishops who fought against the global 5th century heresy of Arianism believed by 99% of the bishops of his day. We will see below in his writings why "Catholic" does not mean [...]