Single-Celibacy and Consecrated-Virginity Part 2
Above left is St. Mary of Egypt and above right is St. Benedict Labre. Both were single celibates wandering around without community who later became canonized. It is not the ideal to go through life without a family or convent, but it is possible to become a saint in such unusual circumstances. This article is a follow up to Single-Celibacy and Consecrated-Virginity Part 1 from earlier this week. Let's now look at what the Holy Spirit said through the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:25-35. As always, words of Scripture will be in italics. My less-important commentary will be in orange bold. Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command [...]
Single-Celibacy and Consecrated-Virginity Part 1
Most Catholics are called to be married folks or priests or nuns/sisters. But there are some other unusual vocations in the Church that good Catholics are talking about more and more. An infrequent but valid vocation is a single-celibate or consecrated-virgin living in the world. It is most certainly a real vocation if one takes private promises (or vows) through a permanent (or temporary) spiritual director (or mentor.) Sometimes these lay brothers or consecrated virgins living in the world refrain from wearing religious habits, but live in community. Sometimes, they refrain from both religious habits and communities. These people choose to live alone, or perhaps have no option based on [...]
The Innovation of the “Vocation Director.”
I went to a mainstream seminary that touted itself as conservative but not traditional. There, we had a Monsignor from South America who taught us canon law, and he was admittedly quite traditional. He told us one day in class that back in Peru, there were no vocation directors. Msgr. explained that good priests spiritually inspired young men to become priests. If a lazy parish priest did not get vocations from their parish, he got sent to the hinterlands. I liked this plan, but even in seminary I recognized that this sounded like the opposite of North America, namely, where good priests get sent to the hinterlands. In any case, [...]
The Fashion Warned Against at Fatima
Similar to the recent talk I gave at a women's conference called Restore Tradition, my article today is about the history of women's fashion, long before it is a statement on morality. Even non-traditional Catholic believe the miracle of Fatima was real. Thus, they should equally believe one of the seers, Bl. Jacinta of Fatima, who said before dying, “The sins which cause most souls to go to hell are the sins of the flesh.” Many modern Catholics have heard that scary claim, but most Western Catholics think she was talking about sins worse than theirs. Rather, the key to understanding this is that the Mother of God said [...]
Should a Wife Obey a Secular (or Lazy) Husband?
A reader gave me permission to publish her letter to me (anonymously). I include my reply below, too: Dear Father Nix, I just listened to your homily on Sensus Fidelium about Woman's Submission where you encourage and admonish the husbands to live like Christ in their marriages. I thought it was a wonderful homily and so true as to how easy it is for us wives to submit to and love well such a husband. However, it, and other homilies and conferences on the subject, leave me with a gaping question: How am I, a revert to Catholicism with a secular/agnostic husband (who was also born and baptized Catholic like [...]
Two Reasons the Coup is Not Complete
Not long ago, I wrote an article about why leftists promote the "errors of Russia." The "errors of Russia" is obviously leftism, which Mary warned against at Fatima. In that article, I cite Jack Posobiec and Tucker Carlson, for they show that Marxism has killed 100 million people in the name of compassion. This has happened everywhere from Cambodia to Czechoslovakia. We also in the United States have been on the precipice of a communist coup for several decades, but we haven't gone over the precipice. Why? Many people will say "God." Of course, I agree with this, as everything falls under Divine Providence. However, I believe that (besides China) [...]
Courage in the Immaculate Heart of Mary
There's a lot of people on the good side of the Church crisis who strangely still choose silence under pretext of prudence. Decent priests may say things like, "I won't preach against the heresy coming from the Vatican because I don't want to be removed from my congregation," or "I'll offer the Traditional Latin Mass secretly, but I can't be public about it because then it will harm my parish in the long run," or "I'll be suspended if I really say what I think about the papacy." Lay people may say things like, "I know I should correct my boss for taking Our Lord's name in vain, but [...]
Advice to Parents by St. Alphonsus
The following is "Advice to Parents," by St. Alphonsus Liguori, Saint and Doctor of the Church: The gospel tells us, that a good plant cannot produce bad fruit, and that a bad one cannot produce good fruit. We learn from this, that a good father brings up good children. But, if the parents are wicked, how can the children be virtuous? Our Lord says, in the same gospel, Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? (Matt. 7:16). So, it is impossible, or rather very difficult, to find children virtuous, who are brought up by immoral parents. Fathers and mothers, be attentive to this sermon, which is of [...]
A Marian View To the Church Crisis
Towards the end of an article at Tradition in Action, Dr. Marian T. Horvat, Ph. D wrote the following about Mary's own Triumph at the Cross. I will put Dr. Horvat's words in below italics and my own commentary in this bold-orange font. But at the same time that her own heart was pierced with sorrow, she told Ven. Mary of Agreda, she was given a deep understanding of the mystery of that final affront, that is, that from this last pouring forth of the Precious Blood and water, a new Church issued forth that would spread out through the whole world. And she composed a canticle of praise of [...]
The “Pontifical Academy for Life” Now Allows Euthanasia?
Photo Credit at top: "Pontifical Academy for Life." A new article at Crux is titled Vatican loosens stance on food, water for patients in vegetative state. It reports on the "Pontifical Academy for Life" which just released an 80 page pamphlet in Italian nearly eliminating past parameters on end-of-life issues. Shockingly, even the USCCB admits that pamphlet contains "an evolution of church teaching" on end-of-life issues. If by "evolution" we mean a moral descent beneath how pagans know how to treat their elders, then that is accurate. Now, according to Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the "Pontifical Academy for Life," (all three words being false by this point) their [...]