Controversies in Church History

In this brief episode, I take a look at a very suspect historical claim that Cardinal McElroy makes in his recent response to critics in America Magazine. If you like what hear, please follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel, and if you are so inclined, became a patron of Controversies in Church History by visiting our Patreon page. Pax Christi!

In the first episode of our new series on Latinization, I define what Latinization is, and why it is important for understanding the Catholic Church today.   If you like this topic, please follow us on Spotify for Podcasters, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also listen on the Controversies in Church History YouTube channel (please subscribe there if you follow somewhere else--I am trying to build up the channel). Finally, if you would like to support the podcast, please check out our Patreon page, where for a small monthly donation you will get early access to ad free episodes, as well as exclusive content for subscribers only. Pax Christi!

In this re-recording of a lecture given in early 2020, I take a look at the Gregorian Reform movement, a medieval movement that sought to reform the Christian world with the papacy as its champion. Beginning with monastic reforms in the tenth century, a series of reforming monks and clergy sought to free the Church from lay control while reforming the behavior of the clergy. When one of their number became Pope Gregory VII in 1073, the stage was set for a clash with the Holy Roman Emperor, as the reformers exalted papal authority in a bid to reform not only the Church itself but the entire Christian world.  If you like the podcast, please follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen, and leave comments if you have anything to say. We love the feedback! You can also subscribe to us on YouTube as well. Finally, if you want to support the podcast, please visit our Patreon page and became a patron. Pax Christi!

Hello friends! I am busy at work on the next few episodes of the podcast, and will be dropping some shorter episodes available to all listeners and not just subscribers. This begins now, with a short episode in which I give some updates but also read a post from my blog that I wrote several years ago, defending the Ordinariate liturgy (if you don't know what an Ordinariate is, I explain it in the episode). Be on the look our for a few more shorter episodes coming this week, free for all.  Cheers!

An update on the podcast, personal news, and an appeal to help grow the podcast from yours truly.

A review of some of the more interesting/enlightening books I've read  this past year, though not all of them have to do with Catholicism. Enjoy!

Our series of mini-biographies we call "Catholic Lives" takes a look at  the life and career of Orestes A. Brownson (1803-1876), a convert from  New England whose spiritual journey took him from Evangelical revivalism  to Unitarianism and the Transcendentalist Movement, before entering the  Catholic Church in 1844. A thinker with a wrestling, combative style,  Brownson became one of the premier Catholic thinkers in 19th century  America, and someone whose political thought was grounded in the need  for transcendent truths, above all the truth of the Catholic faith.

Controversies in Church History will return to regular (or semi-regular) podcasting in the spring. Until then, take a listen to a short audio presentation of post on the blog post concerning recent news items involving the Church in the past week. Cheers!

There is a specter haunting the Catholic world, whose name is "integralism." The term "integralism" has been used in recent years by Catholic thinkers who want to reassert the Church's teaching on the superiority of the spiritual power to that of the temporal power, and the rights of the Church over society. Some Catholic thinkers have even brought this term into American political debate on the Right. Some have decried this trend as a resurgence of theocracy or even of fascism. In this episode, I will discuss the historical origins of "integralism" in 19th century Spain and early 20th century France, before discussing its relevance for the Church today.

In 1871, the German Empire began passing laws meant to control the Catholic Church in Germany, which it regarded as a potential fifth column. This legislation inspired attempts by other German speaking countries, and within five years governments arrested and exiled bishops, removed priests from their parishes, seized church property and expelled religious orders from their countries. This episode has become known as the "Kulturkampf," the civilizational struggle between a modernizing German nation and the retrograde Catholic Church. Join me for this episode as I dive into the causes, effects and legacy of this traumatic event in the history of Europe and the Catholic Church. CORRECTION: in the podcast I incorrectly refer to Silesia as a province of Germany populated by a French minority. Silesia was a Polish minority province. I meant to refer to Alsace-Lorraine, a former French territory conquered by Prussia during the Franco-Prussian War.