Celibacy is always, shall we say, an affront to what man normally thinks. It is something that can be done, and is only credible, if there is a God and if celibacy is my doorway into the kingdom of God.
For many people today, practical atheism is the normal rule of life...If this attitude becomes a general existential position, then freedom no longer has any standards, then everyting is possible and permissible.
Certainly, it is difficult to make the demands of the Gospel understandable to secularized people. But this pastoral difficulty must not lead to compromises with the truth.
Evil too, will always be part of the mystery of the Church. And when we see what men, what the clergy have done in the Church, then that is nothing short of proof that he [Christ] founded and upholds the Church. If she were dependent on men, she would long since have perished.
To live without faith, without a patrimony to defend, without a steady struggle for truth – that is not living, but existing.
The jewel of Steve Skojec's piece on Bergoglio's stubborn and foolhardly twisting of Islam to defend it - and equally stubborn assault on the faith he claims to hold - is surely this:
Distinctions Matter
Distinctions Matter Forward
Missale Romanum
Pre-1951 Calendar