Catholic Perspective | TFP

Homosexual Scandals and the “Smoke of Satan”: Understanding the Depth of the Present Crisis

by Luiz Sérgio Solimeo November 20, 2018September 21, 2018

When man is facing a crisis, his common tendency is to seek an easy, effective and complete solution. Easy solutions often come to mind without trying to understand in depth the real characteristics of the crisis and its possible causes. Thus, instead of solving crises, such solutions only aggravate them by adding … Read more

Science Gets God Wrong

by John Horvat II November 25, 2020September 20, 2018

To the scientific community, religion is a mystery that should not exist. The greatest mystery is the God problem. There must be some kind of scientific explanation to account for why people believe in God. Since the Enlightenment, secular scientists have held that God is an imaginary being, created by weak people … Read more

The Church Cannot Change Her Hierarchical Structure Instituted by Christ

by Luiz Sérgio Solimeo January 17, 2020September 18, 2018

The defense of egalitarianism in the socio-political order is a philosophical error. When attempts are made to apply this egalitarianism to the Church, it becomes a theological error. It is a theological error because Scripture clearly shows that Our Lord instituted a hierarchy to govern His Church. It is additionally erroneous because … Read more

The Sexual Abuse Scandals: Symptom of a Profound Crisis of Faith

by Luiz Sérgio Solimeo September 18, 2018September 12, 2018

The outrage over both the sexual scandals and the complicity of members of the hierarchy is definitely morally justified. This makes a discussion of the causes all the more necessary. A Sin That Cries to Heaven for Vengeance The sin of homosexuality is extremely grave. Consequently, catechisms and other texts used to … Read more

A Rare View of Frontier Catholicism in America

by Edwin Benson September 10, 2018

Frontier Catholics? What frontier Catholics? The idea that there were Catholics on the American frontier is unfamiliar to many. The early history of the United States is often thought of as a product of Protestantism. Our earliest settlers, so the accepted story goes, were English—some Puritans and others Anglican—but all Protestants. Maryland … Read more

Papal Condemnations Show That Democratization Is Not the Solution to the Abuse Scandals

by Luiz Sérgio Solimeo September 27, 2018September 7, 2018

Since the hierarchical structure of the Church is a truth of the Faith, it is not surprising that the Popes uphold this teaching. A sampling of Papal declarations on this point illustrates the importance of this truth. Old Condemned Heresies In the fourteenth century, Marsilius of Padua, in his book Defensor Pacis … Read more

The Church Is Holy Despite Having Sinners Within Her Fold

by Luiz Sérgio Solimeo January 17, 2020September 3, 2018

In the Nicene Creed, the faithful profess: “Credo in unam, sanctam, catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam”—“I believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.” When reciting the Creed, Catholics profess, therefore, to believe in the sanctity of the Church. This sanctity, nonetheless, is often not visible, especially when the weaknesses of Her members … Read more

Finding the Beauty of the Church and the Route Back Home

by John Horvat II November 24, 2020August 29, 2018

The late-nineteenth-century conversion story, En Route, by J. K. Huysmans is a book that penetrates deeply into the mind of the reader. It is an autobiographical yet fictional account of the return journey to the Church of a famous French art critic and novelist in decadent Paris. The book has weathered well … Read more

Must Europe’s Students Submit to the Demands of Islam?

by Edwin Benson September 13, 2018August 24, 2018

The town of Houghton-le-Spring in England is hardly the sort of place that you would expect to find an uproar over schools and religion. Mark McLachlan’s twelve-year-old step-daughter goes to the Kepier School in Houghton-le-Spring. Mr. McLachlan was looking through his stepdaughter’s school planner when he noticed an assignment that angered him. He … Read more

The Death Penalty Is Needed To Understand Divine Justice and the Dogma of Hell

by Luiz Sérgio Solimeo August 20, 2018August 18, 2018

Many articles have been published throughout the Catholic world about Pope Francis’s change to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, stating that “the death penalty is inadmissible.” Such articles show how this statement contradicts Scripture and Tradition and represents a clear break with the constant teaching of the Church. In these brief … Read more