Flashes of Insight

Vatican II

  • Eucharist is a verb before it’s a noun

    Celebration, not just consecration, sits at the center of this theologian’s rethinking of what happens at Mass. A priest’s authority to act “in the person of Christ” is inseparable from acting in the person of the whole Church.

    Eucharist is a verb before it’s a noun

  • The real presence that walks out the church doors

    Encountering Christ at the altar is meant to send believers toward the poor and marginalised in daily life.

    The real presence that walks out the church doors

  • The overlooked contradiction in Vatican II’s baptism rules

    Church teaching lets women baptize in emergencies, raising an uncomfortable question about why that logic stops short of the priesthood.

    The overlooked contradiction in Vatican II’s baptism rules

  • The Smartphone has remade the papacy

    Technology is transforming the papacy from a distant office into the Vatican in my top pocket.

    The Smartphone has remade the papacy

  • Fear, fallout and hope

    Vatican II’s promise sparked hope, fear and then disillusionment. Unresolved debates endure to this day, leaving behind lasting tension.

    Fear, fallout and hope

  • The Tabernacle is the message

    Faithful should receive hosts from the same Mass — yet it rarely happens anymore.

    The Tabernacle is the message

  • The point of Rome

    King Charles walked into Congress amid dread and left having threaded a needle. Pope Leo’s doing something similar from Rome.

    The point of Rome

  • Let this silencing law finally die

    Some laws aren’t broken so much as expired — kept alive past the purpose they were built to serve, and past their welcome.

    Let this silencing law finally die

  • SSPX ordinations: 40 years on a second schism

    The SSPX’s latest ordinations mark a deeper, more entrenched rejection of Vatican II than its original 1988 schism.

    SSPX ordinations: 40 years on a second schism

  • Standing to pray: sign of a priestly people

    Vatican II’s actuosa participatio means the entire gathering celebrates, a priestly people with a presbyter presiding rather than a priest set apart from a people.

    Standing to pray: sign of a priestly people

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