Arguably the most important official document to proceed from the Second Vatican Council was the “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,” written “to unfold more fully” the “inner nature and universal mission” of the Church. (LG 1.) The document is better known by its Latin title, “Lumen Gentium,” taken from its …

The Gospel of St. Matthew ends with the charge of Jesus to “make disciples of all nations, . . . teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt. 28:19-20). And in the very last words of Christ before His ascension, He tells His disciples, “you will be …

by Dr. Kenneth Craycraft While the Archdiocese of Cincinnati celebrates its bicentennial in 2021, Mount St. Mary’s Seminary & School of Theology, founded in 1829, will have to wait a few more years. Nonetheless, the milestone anniversary of the archdiocese is an appropriate time to consider the past legacy, present …

In his collection of connected short stories, The Things They Carried, author Tim O’Brien drives the narrative arcs of his characters – American soldiers in the Vietnam War – by listing inventories of the things they carried in their backpacks, pockets, helmets and utility belts. The soldiers don’t talk about …

On Apr. 9, 1945, German Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed by hanging at the Flossenbürg, Germany concentration camp two weeks before American troops liberated the prison. A mere 39-years-old, Bonhoeffer was arrested because he associated with parties who conspired to assassinate Hitler in July 1944. While he was active …

On Dec. 8, 2020, Pope Francis promulgated his Apostolic Letter, Patris Corde (“With a Father’s Heart”), to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the declaration of St. Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church and to proclaim a Year of St. Joseph. Patris Corde is a meditation on the life of …

When I taught theology to undergraduates, I would ask for a show of hands of those students who agreed with the statement, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” In most cases, every hand went up, even from the most devout students. And my reply would be, “I didn’t …

    “History” is not the accumulation of facts in the past, but rather what we say about, and the use we put to, those facts. This is not to say the facts are unimportant, nor should they be manipulated by the historian. A conscientious historian wants to be as …

This October the Church celebrates Respect Life Month on the brink of a presidential election that presents a difficult choice for conscientious Catholics. The Church does not endorse political candidates, nor does she suggest which candidate better exemplifies a commitment to life issues. But the Church does provide clear teaching, …

Twentieth Century theologian John Courtney Murray, S.J., remains the most important interpreter of the American Catholic experience of citizenship and religious liberty. Featured on the cover of Time magazine in 1960, Father Murray was a chief architect of Vatican II’s Declaration on Religious Liberty. In his seminal book, We Hold …