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Ancient Truths in New Light

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Ancient Truths in New Light

Picture of Father Matthew Solomon

Father Matthew Solomon

Fr Matthew Solomon is a priest incardinated in the diocese of Rome and currently resides in Sydney Australia, where he is collaborating with the Oriens Institute. APer completing his studies on Rome, Fr Solomon was ordained in 2001 by Pope St. Paul II at St. Peter’s Basilica.

He has worked on Rome as a curate in several parishes and was university chaplain to the Sacred Heart University in Rome for a number of years. He is the author of the Solomon Doctrine, which is his exposition of the ills of Western Civilisation and how the Catholic Church can begin to remedy these issues by plumbing the depths of Her Tradition.

Gaza, Israel and the Catholic Church: No Easy Answers

Lesson IX: From Rome to Hastings and Back Again

Oftentimes, when we look for evidence for the transformative power of Christianity, we look to material things. In terms of how Christianity was the foundation for the Common Law, we look for those laws that seem most inspired by Christian revelation or we look for those jurists who were most known for their Christin faith. The difficulty is, that so much of Christian transformation is internal to the reality being transformed. The effects of our faith are not always as close to the surface as we would like them. This is why the world can sometimes convince us that Christianity was only a marginal actor in shaping Western civilisation. The problem is, Christianity is not an actor in Western Civilisation- it is the whole play and the playhouse in which it is set.

Liberalism, Traditionalism and the Birth of Hopelesscism

Lesson VIII: On Rome and Runnymede

In this our eighth lesson, we begin to unpack how Christian Tradition shapes culture. Christianity is not a theory about the world. Christianity is revealed truth; and thus, necessitates that those who follow it, live according to it. Christianity does not have grand visions for creating a better world. Rather, it has an understanding about to form a better man, who then goes on to shape the world. The English Common Law, although quintessentially a Christian creation, is not a Christian project. No one sat down in order to come up with a system of laws. Rather it was the culture that Christianity created which shaped those laws.

Where have all the good men gone?

Lesson VII Rome and Augustine

Augustine is the greatest of the Latin Church Fathers. His life is not just a contribution to Western Civilisation- it is part of its foundation. The West would not be what it is without Augustine; and in particular, without his contribution to the doctrine of the human person. In this Lesson we learn how the West was won.

What We See in the Daylight:

There is palpable excitement in the Church ever since Pope Leo emerged from the loggia. The crowds have cheered, the cardinals have voted and the rest of us now wait to see what will come next. There is a rush to define the Pope, to parse his every word and to predict his every next decision. That’s quite a bold move- to anticipate every effect of God’s grace. The reality is- we simply do not know enough. However, we do know that there is much work for him to do. This article is a reflection on what lies at the heart of the work to be done in the light of the legacy that Pope Francis has left us.
Rome And Her Fathers

Lesson VI: Rome and Her Fathers

One of the first signs of a resurgent Gnosticism in the Church is an absence of interest in virtue: moments of infidelity are always preceded by an upsurge in idleness. Whenever virtue is not the universal driving force of Catholic life, it is because we have abandoned grace in favour of ‘illumination’. We become obsessed with some ‘new idea’ or ‘new program’ that is really only a thinly veiled attempt at denying the Church’s teaching on a topic that is proving difficult for the present generation to accept. Ironically, in moments of gnostic revival, we go to great lengths to disguise our lack of will by displaying an excess of ‘intellectual’ effort. We have never the courage to admit that we do not want to be chaste, faithful or disciplined- we need some pesudo-intellectual excuse to camouflage our cowardice. And the first real sign of this impending trouble in the life of the Church is laziness. This is the enduring of 1st century Gnosticism, a kind of latent varicella virus lying dormant in the Body of Christ.

De mortuis nisi bonum

There is always, and understandably, an outpouring of commentary at moments like this. This article in that respect is no different. To not comment on the Pope’s death for any outlet dedicated to Catholic Tradition would be worse than remiss. And so, there is a rush to say something that sounds either vaguely spiritual or moderately insightful to keep yourself relevant.

Lesson V: Rome and the Heretics

The Christian life is a life of grace. But that life of grace in the 1st century AD was still yet to be manifest to the first followers of Christ. They knew they had to be like Him- but what would that look like when they had no examples to follow? The Church had to navigate between two extremes- of re-creating an alternative system of laws to the Jewish system that it had abandoned; and the other extreme of just leaving it up to personal whim and inspiration. The Apostolic Church had to resist both the Judaisers and the Gnostics, for both wanted to pull Christianity in two different directions, either of which would have destroyed the early Church.
A Conclave in the Offing

A Conclave in the Offing

Now that Pope Francis’s health seems to be improving, I am more confident in publishing this particular article. It can feel unbecoming to write about what happens after someone dies, before that someone is dead. It feels a bit like trying to get a quick peak at the will before the person has breathed his last. Yet the wheels of the Church, though they grind slowly, they do grind. The ancient and solemn custom of electing a new pope will begin the moment the Pope has breathed his last. This article however is not about that.

Lesson IV: Scripture and Tradition

In this month’s article, we answer the last of our three original questions: how did the Church come to distinguish Her scriptures form other non-canonical Christian writings? Thus far, we have seen that the absence of express instructions from the Lord regarding Sacred Scripture, although seemingly a limit, is actually part of the Church’s intellectual and moral formation. The Church must receive what She is to hand on. And like all good mothers- she must exercise the virtues that she requires Her children to practice. Tradition demands that both the intellect be enlightened and the will quickened.
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