I had a conversation with a young woman recently that I can’t shake. Hers is a rather common tale: she grew up in a strong Catholic family, went to Catholic schools, got to college and drifted away. There’s much more to it, of course, but how many young people are in her shoes, and how many parents know the anguish that hers know?

We have acquired something of a habit of excising those parts of Scripture we find uncomfortable, confusing, and problematic. Hans Urs von Balthasar was fond of saying we need to do theology on our knees, and not at a desk. In other words, we need to let God’s Word pick us apart, not us pick it apart.

This was originally an entirely different article. And then Monday happened. For those unaware, The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published the Declaration Fiducia Supplicans on Monday. This Declaration has caused, well, wholesale confusion. Seemingly everywhere.

We in ACTS XXIX think of this mission of ours as priests as being “hopeful lamenters.” Hopeful because Jesus is Lord, and He has defeated Sin, Death and Satan, and He will make all things new. But lamenting because the world is right now groaning in pain