Robert Royal
SSPX Appeal, Women Co-Presiding at Mass & the Synodality “Dance”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHyRuSliWak The Prayerful Posse tackles another week of major developments in the Catholic Church and around the world. This week, Raymond Arroyo, Father Gerald Murray, and Robert Royal examine the SSPX’s…
The TLM and the Four Last Things
I recently attended the funeral of a young man who died tragically. It happened to be a solemn high Traditional Latin Mass, entirely licit and even affirmed by the presence of our local bishop, his retired predecessor, and a couple dozen…
Five for the Fourth – The Catholic Thing
Outright Love for This Land Robert Royal In Magnifica humanitas, Pope Leo invokes the Biblical story of Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem as a poignant alternative to the Tower of Babel’s effort to reach Heaven without God. It’s a good…
Human Dignity and America’s 250th
Like many Americans, I’ve been refreshing my knowledge of the American Revolution in anticipation of July 4 this year. And, at the same time, I’m finding myself comparing the Founders’ notions of human dignity with the way the term is frequently…
Can the Catholic Church Save Education?
There’s a strange ferment underway in American education. This week, two promising Catholic initiatives emerged: a gathering at Christendom College on K-12 education that resulted in the Front Royal Principles, and a high-level consultation in…
‘Ars Poetica’ – The Catholic Thing
The proverbial Martian visiting America in this 250th year (a whole quarter millennium) of our existence would be struck by many things. But probably by nothing more obvious than the large gap between what, on the one hand, we daily say and do –…
A Still Higher Magnificence – The Catholic Thing
It’s been a week since the publication of Magnifica humanitas, and I’ve been re-reading certain sections, trying to probe into it more deeply (after my own quick reactions on a recent Prayerful Posse, the very day Pope Leo’s first encyclical…
Ever Ancient, Ever New – The Catholic Thing
St. Augustine famously wrote of having come late to the Beauty that is God: tam antiqua, tam nova (“So ancient, so new”). It’s a brilliant and profound way of expressing the truth that the deepest Good is not in the past or in the future, but by…
Pope Leo Honors Iran & SSPX Excommunication Threat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PNbvsIYXf0 On this week’s Prayerful Posse, Raymond Arroyo, Father Gerald Murray, and Robert Royal unpack the Vatican backlash over Pope Leo honoring Iran’s ambassador during an active war — and the growing…
The Devil and ‘Emerging Issues’
It’s often been said, though perhaps not often enough lately, that the Devil can cite Scripture for his purposes. Whether the Evil One is operative in many of the current approaches to Scripture – in university departments and some Church…