Papal messianism, bolstered by lack of competence in economics, is the road to a familiar hell, however finely paved with lovely intention.

Maureen Mullarkey has a wonderful piece in this week’s First Things. Entitled “Tammany on the Tiber” it is an exceptional piece. She  wonders rightly, I think, about the trend now developing of popes canonizing their predecessors. She asks, Is election a promissory note drafted in white smoke, and redeemable at death for public elevation to the rank of …

John Bugay on Catholicism: Some Older Blog Posts

My name, John Bugay, has some notoriety in the world of Catholic apologetics, and as a result, the word “anti-Catholic” has appeared in connection with my name in some search engines. This blog post is in response to several items that appear in conjunction with searches for my name. I am “anti-Catholic” in the sense …

Anglicanorum Coetibus “not necessary” according to new Pope Francis

One item that’s been in the news off-and-on recently is the papal “Apostolic Constitution” called “Anglicanorum Coetibus”, “Providing For Personal Ordinariates For Anglicans Entering Into Full Communion With The Catholic Church”. What this means is that Rome is willing to allow Anglican Bishops have the ability to become Roman Catholic, kind of along the lines …

The Real Body of Christ

In my ongoing look at Ratzinger’s “Called to Communion,” I’m going to get a bit ahead of myself, thanks to some comments at James Swan’s blog. There, one commenter, Ben, has tried to suggest that “the Church IS Christ” (and given Rome’s self-infatuation, when you see the word “Church” with a capital “C”, you should …

Called to confusion

In his work, “Called to Communion,” Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger enthusiastically quoted Joachim Jeremias, the German Lutheran theologian and professor of New Testament studies, from his work “New Testament Theology”: “We must reduce the whole question quite sharply to a single point: the sole meaning of the entire activity of Jesus is the gathering of the …

Not Called to Communion: Outline of Chapter 1

I’ve been looking at Joseph Ratzinger’s 1990 work “Called to Communion,” a work whose title, at least, has become a kind of rallying cry for a self-annointed group of supposedly (and formerly) “Reformed” believers who became Catholic. In this work, Ratzinger, a Cardinal and head of the “Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith” at …

Not Called to Communion: Preliminary Thoughts

A writer who identifies himself as Protestant, who has come under the influence of those folks at the Called to Communion website said this to me: Why should I listen to you? [Whatever you say on a given theological subject], that is your opinion. If you say I should listen to scripture, that is saying “listen …

Looking at Ratzinger’s “Called to Communion”

I’ve accused Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) of being dishonest in his use of language and sources, and this is another example. I plan to do a more complete examination of Ratzinger’s defense of the papacy in his 1996 work “Called to Communion,” but I wanted to point out a particularly egregious example of …