De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Father Michael Halsall’s recent homily featured in my last post . His doctoral research was on Tolkein’s net-Platonic thought and he has published an excellent book. He recently gave a talk at the Christian Heritage Centre in Stoneyhurst which you can watch in the video below. Please do consider donating to the work of the centre. JRR Tolkien’s mythical world captured the hearts and minds of millions. His world is one that speaks to us because it is anchored in a profound truth: that of a cosmos brought into being and continually guided, whilst simultaneously respecting the free choices of its creatures. Rev. Dr Halsall will explore the beauty of Tolkien’s vision as a reflection of the Catholic understanding of the cosmos, as defined in its relationship to the Creator.

The Rev. Dr. Michael Halsall is the Director of Curriculum Development at Allen Hall Seminary, Westminster and a Priest in the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. This means he knows a bit about what it means to be a priest and what it takes to form young men for the priesthood. It also means he knows the ground: he knows what is going on currently in the Church with regard to vocations and priestly formation. He gave a most excellent homily for Good Shepherd Sunday (last Sunday) which I thought I would share with you here: The earliest known image that we have of Jesus, is of a man carrying a sheep over his shoulders, with another sheep standing/following close by. He is dressed very roughly, with a leather jerkin and sandals; no robe, no hat or ring of office. The image was found in the Catacombs which lie just outside the city of Rome, where Christians chose to be buried when it was unsafe to bury bodies in the city during the plague seasons. In our technical, digitally mesmerisi...

Another excellent video presentation from Brian. Here he addresses the most frustrating and universal issue in the Catholic Church - and probably Christianity today. Everywhere I look, I see a truth reflected in existential reality: the progressive agenda has failed. Despite this undeniable truth, it seems the purveyors of progressive ideology see only one reason for this: we are not progressive enough! They reach this conclusion despite the clear evidence that the only growth is in places where we hold fast to the truth and the Traditions of our faith. Brian starts this video by stating a self-evident truth: one thing we should be able to easily recognize is that something needs to change in the Church – and fast. Every survey out there reminds us that there is a crisis of faith as numbers are dramatically declining, successive generations are walking away, vocations are plummeting, and scandals seem to preoccupy all our attention. He goes on to give evidence that the only except...