worth noting . . .

“CULTURE WAR” STRUGGLES . . . The culture war we are now engaged in is a struggle between good and evil, between truth and error, between atheism and creationism. In this issue Dr. David R. Carlin argues that the stakes are much higher in this “culture war” than abortion, homosexual marriages, euthanasia, and so forth. Dr. Carlin thinks that underlying these overt fights there is a struggle going on for the very survival of the Christian religion. The enemy is moral liberalism and the author thinks that Evangelical Christians have a much better grasp of this “war” than Catholics do.

ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION IN THE LITURGY . . . Even though Vatican II said clearly that no priest, on his own, can add to or subtract from the liturgy, some changes have been made that are disruptive. In this issue Fr. Michael P. Orsi singles out three additions which have become common in this country and which should not be allowed by priests. The three innovations are: 1) the Unity Candle at weddings, 2) the blessing of children by the priest at communion time, and 3) eulogies of the deceased at funeral Masses. Fr. Orsi targets these three abuses for censure and explains why they should not be allowed in the Catholic liturgy.

ROME — THE ETERNAL CITY . . . Those who have lived in Rome for some time or who have visited the City several times know that there is such a thing as Romanità (Romanness). There are many who love it and embrace it, and there are others who utterly reject it. Romanità is not easy to define; it also seems to have several different meanings. In this issue, Fr. Russell E. Smith, who studied for a time in Rome, in a rather light vein attempts to work out for us some of the characteristics of true Romanità. The main virtues it embraces are pietas, gravitas and severitas. Readers who have studied in Rome or visited the City, will find the article charming.

THE CHURCH NEEDS MORE PRIESTLY VOCATIONS . . . In the past thirty years there has been a dramatic decline in the number of seminarians in the USA. What can be done to reverse this trend? In this issue Fr. Anthony Zimmerman, no stranger to our readers, offers a few suggestions. He takes Jesus’ training of his twelve Apostles as the model. They left family and friends to follow him in a chaste way of life. There was the constant prayer of the Church for vocations and for priests. In our day, the author thinks that the key to solid vocations of men faithful to the teaching of the Church is the reform of our seminaries.