So Harry Potter, again.

Priests will soon be ‘inundated’ with exorcism requests, asserts author “Soft forms of occultism are like Wicca and New Age,” he explained, adding that “Harry Potter contributes to that with over 400 million books being sold.” The popular book series, he claimed, has helped educate “younger generations in the language and the symbolism of the… Continue reading So Harry Potter, again.

Thomas Kinkade and the Sentimental

The First Things article everybody’s linking to today: There is nothing wrong, or course, with fantasy or with what C.S. Lewis called Sehnsucht, the inconsolable longing in the human heart for “we know not what.” What makes Kinkade’s cottage painting so dispiriting is that rather than being created to challenge or even inspire, to evoke… Continue reading Thomas Kinkade and the Sentimental

A consecrated soul can only be desecrated

“Priests have a power not of their own, and priests who abandon the priesthood carry with them a volatile power they cannot shed.  A consecrated soul cannot be unconsecrated but only desecrated by pride and the guilt of pride. And when a desecrated priest ceases to offer worthy sacrifice, he may start to require sacrifice;… Continue reading A consecrated soul can only be desecrated

John Cardinal O’Connor on Scrupulosity

On Catholic Exchange: “If you think in terms of… an obsessive-compulsive disorder but add to it a spiritual and, most particularly, a moral component then you have what we call “scrupulosity.” Scrupulosity is so-called because the Latin word scrupulus means a sharp little stone. Everyone knows what it is like to have a little sharp… Continue reading John Cardinal O’Connor on Scrupulosity