Saints Peter and Paul and Obeying God
A blessed and joyous solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul to all our readers! As they were in life, comites, literally ‘fellow travellers’, so they were in death, leaving everything behind for the sake of Christ and His kingdom. The Saviour took two imperfect, and very different, men and fashioned them into His primary Apostles, pillars of the Church, whose glorious martyrdom crowned their saintly lives.
Pursuant to the thoughts on Justice Anthony Kennedy yesterday, I highly recommend this analysis by Hadley Arkes in First Things which shows the limitations in the reasonings of the Supreme Court Justices, even the most conservative. I find it difficult to believe that Anton Scalia once admitted that if legislatures were to make abortion thoroughly legal, he would be obliged as a judge to enforce that law.
Requiescat in pace, Mr. Scalia, but that is not quite true. You may be ‘obliged’ in some way by the secular authority weighing upon you, but any such duty would be superseded by what we owe to God and our fellow men, and you would be obliged before God to defy such a saw law with all the powers at your disposal, even giving your very life, like Peter and Paul, who obeyed God rather than men. Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God…
I think Mr. Harkes is correct, that our current conservatives do not reason fully, nor soundly, enough, and trace not principles to their logical conclusions.
At the heart of law is metaphysics, that whole philosophical view of life, its purpose, our final and proximate ends, the universe and creation. A materialistic Darwinist will make very different laws than a Christian steeped in the perennial teaching of the Church, which is why the Church has always taught that society must be ‘Catholic’. In the current legal context, that means laws based on the Judeo-Christian revelation, from the Ten Commandments onwards.
A secular state will hold together for a time, perhaps, by agreeing upon some polite ‘values’, held mainly by emotion. Inevitably, however, it will fall apart, built as it is on shifting sand, expediency, a balancing of competing faux-rights, and the inherent disorder within Man called ‘original sin’, compounded by all of our personal sins, our self-seeking and compromises, will eventually lead to a moral torpor and breakdown, as we are witnessing.
So take what victories we might, and rejoice therein, but until we stand once again upon solid rock, the pillar and bulwark of the truth, the teaching of Rome under the successor of Peter, the Vicar of Christ, such victories will remain rather transient and rather effervescent.
Saints Peter and Paul, orate pro nobis!
Carney’s Amoral Majority
After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
A Closed, Unsustainable, Descending Loop
As a follow-up to my thoughts on Payette’s payout, here be a stark image of where are here in Canada. As the graph shows in, well, graphic terms, since 2025, the public sector has contributed to 95.5% of economic growth. The private sector – which funds the public sector, or is supposed to – has[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Presidential Pardon of Weronika Krawczyk
As a good news, follow-up to our story from Poland, of the persecution of Weronika Krawczyk for her pro-life views, we heard that she has been granted a presidential pardon. One might still wonder why one needs a presidential pardon for simply holding the long-held belief that the child within the womb is a child,[…]Continue reading→
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→
The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Pope Leo and a Rosary for Peace
Pope Leo XIV has asked Catholics across the world to join him in a Rosary for peace today, at 18:00 Rome time (6 pm), which would be noon from where I write (EST). If you are able, whether at that time or another, and in whatever way you pray, to join in intercession with the[…]Continue reading→
Payette’s Payout
I was glancing through some headlines, and noticed a mention of Julie Payette – engineer and astronaut and sometime the Queen’s representative in Canada – which brought back vague memories. She was appointed Governor-General by Justin Trudeau in 2017. Ms. Payette resigned in 2021, amidst claims that she created a ‘toxic work environment’, with allegations[…]Continue reading→