Eating Together Becoming One: Taking Up Pope Francis’ Call to Theologians. By Thomas O’Loughlin. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press Academic, 2019. p. xiv, 174. On November 15, 2015 Anke de Bernadinis, a Lutheran woman married to a Catholic husband, asked Pope Francis if her husband could receive the Eucharist when they attend the Catholic Mass together. […]
Topic: ecumenism
John Henry Newman and His Age
Owen F. Cummings. John Henry Newman and His Age. Eugene, OR: 2019, p. xvi, 180. Archbishop John C. Wester of Santa Fe, NM, describes Cardinal Newman in the Forward of Cummings’ book as “a man for all seasons”. Cummings speaks of Newman as a complex person who not only influenced the last quarter of the […]
The Universal Christ
The Universal Christ: How A Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe. By Richard Rohr. New York: Convergent Books, 2019. 272 p. (kindle). Richard Rohr, a globally recognized ecumenical teacher, bears witness to the universal awakening in Christian mysticism. A Franciscan priest of the New Mexico Province, he is the founder […]
Living in Christ
Praying in Christ St. Paul says simply that through faith we live in Jesus Christ. “For me to live is Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Gal 2:20) We are the body of Christ. He is the head and we are the members. We are familiar with […]
Is There a Way?
German Bishops’ Conference Continues the Search Mark Twain is reported to have said, about an obituary that appeared in the newspapers: “News of my death was premature.” Whether the quote is correct or not, the headline that said the Proposed Guidelines to Allow Protestants Who Are Married to Catholics to Receive Communion were rejected in […]
Vatican I: The Council and the Making of the Ultramontane Church
Vatican I: The Council and the Making of the Ultramontane Church. By John W. O’Malley. Cambridge, MA /London, England 2018. 307 Pp. How did we get where we are? This is a question John W. O’Malley, SJ asks himself continually as he plies his work of church history. He had written two best sellers about […]
How do we know the Father?
Bread Broken and Shared How Do We Know the Father? Introduction The Priestly Prayer of Jesus (Jn 17:1-26) is directed to God the Father. In the first section of this prayer Jesus prays that he may have the glory which he shared with the Father before the world began. He prays that the disciples may […]
Communion with God in Christ
Introduction My first article for 2019 is already in the Bread Broken and Shared editor’s hands and discusses the theme for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. In the remainder of the year I would like to focus on the Eucharist and Christian unity which may be more helpful to the readers of the […]
Systematic Theology: A Roman Catholic Approach
Systematic Theology: A Roman Catholic Approach. By Thomas P. Rausch, SJ. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2016 (A Michael Glazier book) 303 pp. Kindle ed. Thomas P. Rausch, SJ. has given us a study in systematic theology that is a gift to his students and lay teachers and others who seek a systematic and theological meaning […]
Joy of the Gospel and Christian Unity
The second encyclical of Pope Francis was the Joy of the Gospel (Evangelii Gaudium). It is the blueprint of his papacy. This focus on the new evangelization began in the Second Vatican Council and was expanded by Paul VI in Evangelii Nuntiandi. Pope John Paul II also emphasized the need for evangelization (proclaiming the Gospel) […]