Blog

Every so often, we have a piece of prose that is too big for a short update on our Mastodon or X account, but too small for a book. This little blog will provide space for such writings.

Divine Mercy is Good—But What is This?

Donald P. Goodman III

25 Apr 1209

Until this year, I had never really looked into the “Divine Mercy“ devotion promoted by Faustina Kowalska of Poland. To me, it seemed perfectly harmless, at the very worst; it was duplicative, to be sure, primarily of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, but surely contained nothing contrary to the Faith. This year, I looked into a bit. And I am deeply troubled. The concerns of the Holy Office when the devotion was condemned appear to be well-founded, despite the clear good characteristics which it also possesses.

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Death and Development

Donald P. Goodman III

16 Mar 1209

Pope Francis's change to the catechism of John Paul II sparked a lot of gleeful jubilation from some quarters and stern disapproval from others. But what is its actual substance? We do a review of what “logical contradictories” are, and show that Pope Francis's catechism change is logically contradictory to the Church's previous teaching on the subject, and show that it should not, and indeed cannot, be considered a development of any preexisting doctrine. Rather, it is a change, and thus the attempt to instantiate it as “Catholic teaching” is deeply problematic. Read more

“Misinformation” is Misinformation

Donald P. Goodman III

01 Mar 1209

We constantly hear lamentations about the plague of “misinformation” (and sometimes “disinformation”) as if this is some strange new virus that has only recently started circling the world. But what are we really talking about when we use these terms? Is it new? And if not, why do we need to rename it? Read more

Follow the Feeds: Why You Should Use RSS

Donald P. Goodman III

15 Feb 1209

We all want to follow people, to see what the people and organizations we love are producing. As producers, we all want people to follow us, and to see what we send out to them. Both sides want this to happen; but the information silos, or “platforms”, all too often stand in the way. The solution is an old and well-established one, easily accessible to everyone: don't follow on a platform, follow on a feed. Specifically, follow Goretti Publications on a feed, but also everyone else. Feeds are anonymous; feeds are decentralized; and feeds are an act of respect passing from creators to consumers and back again. They are better in every way than the information silos like Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram, and so on. See why and how you can use them, today. Read more

Why Not the Luminous Mysteries?

Donald P. Goodman III

20 Jan 1209

We are sometimes asked why our devotional materials regarding the Holy Rosary—namely, our brief guide to the Holy Rosary and our Rosary devotional—do not include the “luminous mysteries” proposed by Pope John Paul II in 2002. This little post attempts to explain why. It goes into the origins of the Holy Rosary—including its likely origin with St. Dominic himself, along with what we can know about its origins historically apart from that—and its structure. Focusing on the nature of the Rosary as “Our Lady's Psalter”, we conclude that the luminous mysteries were not a good addition to the Holy Rosary, and should for that reason be rejected. (As a part of the Rosary; as a separate devotion, they are perfectly salutary.) At the close of the post, we go over the common supports for the luminous mysteries as proposed to those faithful to the traditional Rosary, and why those supports do not work. Read more