In this talk, I’d like to share a response to the Protestant teaching of sola scriptura, or the Protestant idea that everything necessary for the Christian life must be present in Sacred Scripture, or must be proven from Sacred Scripture and from scripture alone. Any time that Protestants and Catholics attempt to speak to each other, this issue of authority is obviously central to the discussion. The Protestant position that Christian doctrine comes only from Sacred Scripture, I will argue in this talk, is not only impossible to prove, but it’s contrary to what the Scriptures actually say. I’m going … Continue

Catholic families who hope to live faithfully and raise their children well in the modern world must begin with realistic goals. The conditions under which Catholic parents now live are not those of medieval Christendom, nor even those of nineteenth-century America. They live under the influence of compulsory education laws. They live in an economy that requires academic credentials. They live in a culture that often measures success by college admissions statistics and income levels. If Catholic parents attempt to compete with secular society on its own terms, while also trying to preserve the Faith in their homes, they will … Continue

Schism in Christianity is usually explained in terms of personalities, politics, scandals, or discipline. But those explanations never seem to reach the root of the problem. In this talk, I argue that the deepest cause of schism in the Church is not moral or historical, but philosophical. Beneath many modern disagreements—between Protestants and Catholics, and even among Catholics themselves—lies a hidden metaphysical assumption about where the Christian faith exists. Is the faith an abstract ideal that can exist apart from the visible Church? Or does it exist only as embodied, historical, and concrete? Drawing on the classical distinction between Platonism … Continue

I. Joyful Mysteries II. Luminous Mysteries III. Sorrowful Mysteries IV. Glorious Mysteries