Church Nomenclature

As your kind and long-suffering blogger, when you leave comments here, I ask that you consider the following:
(1) In referring to that group of Christians in communion with the Bishop of Rome (regardless of rite or local tradition), let us use the generic term “Catholic” (capitalized), according to the common English usage (even if, theologically [...]

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Of possible interest

The Institute of Ecumenical Studies is part of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, Western Ukraine. It offers “the first distance learning Master’s program in Ecumenical Studies.” It appears to have a strong emphasis on Orthodox-Catholic ecumenism. The faculty include Eastern Orthodox, Greek Catholics, Roman Catholics and Protestants. I can’t tell whether or not it’s accredited at this [...]

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“Humble and faithful witness to the undivided Church”

I do not deny that there are differences between the Churches, but I say that we must change our way of approaching them.  And the question of method is in the first place a psychological, or rather a spiritual problem.  For centuries there have been conversations between theologians, and they have done nothing except to harden their [...]

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What is “created grace”?

From our old friend Mike Liccione comes an important clarification on the Latin Catholic notion of “created grace” –
There certainly were Catholic theologians in the later Middle Ages who were “nominalists,” and it is certainly true that many of those nominalists treated the question of grace in more or less the way janotec criticizes. But not all [...]

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Memory eternal!

Father Peter Knowles, OP, a Dominican and prominent Russian Catholic priest, passed away on March 11, 2008. The Australian newspaper has an interesting article on his life and work.

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On calculating Easter

Or, the real reason why this year the vast majority of Eastern Orthodox Christians are celebrating the Feast of Feasts five weeks after the rest of Christendom. From the always informative blog De unione ecclesiarum:
Although for most Christians Easter is just around the corner, for the Orthodox Church Lent began this week; there is a five-week [...]

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The Words that Benedict XVI Adds Spontaneously, When He Preaches to the Faithful

Textual analyses of five of his most recent Wednesday catechesis, on Saint Augustine. The words that the pope added spontaneously, beyond the written text, are underlined. They’re on the themes closest to his heart 

by Sandro Magister 
 
ROMA, March 11, 2008 – Last Wednesday, Benedict XVI dedicated his weekly audience with the faithful and the pilgrims to [...]

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Of Franks, Judeo-Masons, Nazi flying saucers, and the Giza Death Star

I don’t quite know what to say about this.  Just file it in the “Things that make you go hmmm” file, I suppose … but be sure to read the ensuing combox discussion.

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“He who is not against us is for us”

Here follows an extract from the Answers of Demetrius Chromatenus, Archbishop of Bulgaria (A.D. 1203,) to Constantine Cabasilas, Archbishop of Dyrrachium.

Question.  Is it any harm for a Bishop to enter the churches of the Latins, and to worship in them, on any occasion when he may be invited by them? And should he give them [...]

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“Orthodoxy and Papism”

Once again, apologies for the lack of activity here. Lately I am finding it very hard to focus on blogging.
There’s a very interesting combox discussion going on over at The Continuum, an Anglo-Catholic blog. It’s in response to this essay, “Basic Points of Difference between the Orthodox Church and Papism”, by Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos), Metropolitan [...]

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