Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Catholic Corner

  • Vatican II ‘Reforms’ Disastrous . . .

    . . . even from a purely immanent, sociological point of view. Top o' the Stack.

  • On Her Deathbed

    Substack latest. "I fear that there is nothing on the other side."

  • Genuine Inquiry and Two Forms of Pseudo-Inquiry: Sham Reasoning and Fake Reasoning

    Steven Nemes sent me to his Substack site where he has an article entitled Theology and Philosophy in Roman Catholicism. His way of thinking reminds me of my younger self. What follows is a revised re-posting of an article of mine from September 2014 which explores similar themes. At the end of the re-posting I…

  • Is Political Catholicism the Only Genuinely Political American Intellectual Movement?

    In Liberalism's Good and Faithful Servants, Adrian Vermeule spends eight long paragraphs out of ten explaining why "What passes for the American intellectual right is a sorry thing." He's a clever writer and his catalog of the varieties of epicene political quietism is of some interest. Only in the last two paragraphs, however, does he…

  • If White Supremacy is Everywhere . . .

    . . . why is it so hard to find a Latin mass?

  • Who Could Deny that the Latin Mass is White-Supremacist?

    It is perfectly obvious, and here is the proof: 1) Blacks don't know Latin2) What blacks don't know is white-supremacist; therefore3) Latin is white-supremacist.4) The Latin mass is in Latin; therefore:5) The Latin mass is white-supremacist. Quod erat demonstrandum!  Vide hic et hic. (Am I writing in 'code'?)

  • Another Good Dementocratic Reason to Keep the Southern Border Wide Open

    Here: Between 2018 and 2022, seven Catholic priests were murdered in Mexico. There has been an increase in the kidnapping of religious, as well as 800 reports of “collection” of derecho de piso by organized crime: an extortion “fee” demanded to keep Catholic churches open.  

  • Pope Benedict XVI Dead at 95

    I was mightily impressed with the power of Joseph Ratzinger's intellect when I first read his Introduction to Christianity in 2016. I have been recently re-reading it. Ratzinger makes quite the contrast with the benighted Bergoglio. How do we best honor a thinker? By re-enacting his thoughts, sympathetically yet critically, appropriating and developing what stands…

  • Dreher on Douthat on the Curse of Vatican II

    Excellent. And here is the internal reference to Peter Hitchens. 

  • Can One Copulate One’s Way to Chastity?

    John B. writes, I'm a regular reader of your blog and I've written very occasionally, but not for a few years.  Here's another comment.    I enjoy your periodic return to the question of whether one can philosophize one's way to a release from philosophy.  But I think that, to split hairs, you're wrong to say…

  • Bergoglio and Biden

    They are alike in that neither understands the principles, values, and purposes of the organizations of which they are the heads. Given the termitic nature of the dope pope, the following did not surprise me in the least: Pope Francis is famous for his tendency to shoot from the hip, which is unfortunate for someone…

  • Integralism in Three Sentences

    Substack latest. Here are the three sentences: Catholic Integralism is a tradition of thought that rejects the liberal separation of politics from concern with the end of human life, holding that political rule must order man to his final goal. Since, however, man has both a temporal and an eternal end, integralism holds that there are two…

  • Dust and Ashes

    "Remember, man, thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return." Memento, homo, quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris. This warning, from the Catholic liturgy for Ash Wednesday, is based on Genesis 3, 19: In sudore vultus tui vesceris pane, donec revertaris in terram de qua sumptus es: quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris. Luther's German:  Im Schweiße…

  • What the Hell?

    Just as Biden and his supporters are disasters for the USA, Bergoglio and his supporters are disasters for the RCC. 'Twould appear that all of the institutions of the West are in dire need of fumigation. See here: But Pope Francis appears to have scotched that possibility. “No one can exclude themselves from the Church,”…

  • Religion Under Assault

    Religions are under assault from without, but they also undermine themselves from within. To put it sarcastically, the Roman Catholic Church has worked hard and successfully at destroying its own credibility by refusing (not just failing) to rein in priestly misconduct. Not all, but too many leaders of the RCC from the Pope on down…