The Early Papacy to the Synod of Chalcedon in 451 by Adrian Fortescue is now in it’s fourth edition. The fourth edition came out from Ignatius Press in 2008 and is edited by Alcuin Reid. I picked up the slender volume at the bookstore the other day and was hooked after a few pages. Prior to reading this book, my feeling was that Ronald Knox in his The Belief of Catholics did the best job (as far as my knowledge of apologetic literature goes) of presenting the Catholic case vis-a-vis a moderate protestant position. Now, if I have to recommend a book to an inquiring and serious protestant, it will probably be this volume by Fortescue.

The work originated as a series of articles which appeared in The Tablet in 1919. Fortescue revised them and published them as a book in 1920. The purpose of the articles was to answer the protestants who say that the “Church” to which they owe allegiance (to which we all owe allegiance) is that Church which existed up until some time shortly after 451. Anything that was said or done by the “Catholic” guys at that date and earlier is a-okay. As a corollary, these protestants deny that the modern papacy is anything like (in the relevant Vatican I terms) the papacy at and before 451. Back then, so they claim, the pope was only one of many bishops, even though somewhat more preeminent.

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There is an old and learned priest, presently my confessor, of whom I heard an illustrative story. He heads a college seminary, and once when he was in the confessional a seminarian, writing a thesis on moral theology, came to him to confess. When the boy had finished, Father began his remarks by explaining the difference between a mortal and a venial sin. When the seminarian interposed that he didn’t need the explanation, noting that his thesis was on a related topic, Father shot back, “that’s not relevant here!”

The point, if I may expand, is that in this present darkness we humans can easily reach firm convictions and comprehension in our intellectual considerations that utterly fail to penetrate our lives generally. While this is an old theme, I return to it now because of late there has been some back-channel discussion among this site’s contributors about what does and doesn’t constitute prudent matter for discussion in this forum. I don’t want to address that question directly, though readers may leave their thoughts if they wish. Rather, I think a more interesting question is how a Christian views himself, his intellect, and his work in light of the demands of virtue, living under the shadow of the cross.
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Recently, Pope Benedict XVI met with Kiko Argüello, the 1964 founder of the Neocatechumenal Way. Kiko is apparently a big fan of Pope Benedict XVI.

There are some traditional Catholics who make claims that Opus Dei and the Legionnairies of Christ are dangerous cults. In my humble estimation, the former merely have an interesting, though somewhat eccentric spirituality, and the latter dabble in somatolatry.

But not the Neocatechumenal Way. (All of the following is gleaned from official, pro-NC websites and publications, or unrelated sources. For a damning overview that uses references to Kiko’s ‘Orientations’, the authenticity of which I am not certain, see here)
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