Dr. Robert Sungenis

Ambiguities in USCCB Committee’s Critique of “Reflections” Document  By Robert Sungenis, Ph.D.  Committees of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), in a document jointly issued on June 18 by the Committee on Doctrine and Pastoral Practice and the Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, has stepped in and attempted to correct some of the theological errors that have been created in the wake of the Catholic-Jewish dialogue. Although it took the USCCB seven years to officially recognize the problems in Reflections, as the saying goes, it is better late than never. In 2002, except for a brief criticism by Rosalind Moss published by Catholic Answers, our apostolate was one of the few that had written a detailed and comprehensive critique of Reflections, titled Conversion of the Jews Not Necessary?1 In it we not only critiqued Reflections for its theological errors, we also showed some of the controversial history of the Catholic-Jewish dialogue, beg...

On June 9, 2020, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganó wrote a public letter giving what he believes is the correct course of action for faithful Catholics in light of the crisis in the Catholic Church. As I read the letter, I agreed with about 90% of it, since I, like many other Catholics, have seen with our own eyes over the last few decades the astounding degradation of our Catholic doctrines and practices.  Still, there was about 10 % of the letter—the part that contained what the Archbishop believes to be the correct course of action to reverse and remedy our desperate situation— that seemed to me to be very desperate itself. In brief, the remedy is that we should blame Vatican Council II for the evils that beset us and treat it accordingly, essentially rejecting it since it is the root of the problem. As such, the Archbishop wishes to reject the “hermeneutic of continuity” since in his estimation it has proven to be an utter failure and consequently it should be abandoned as a r...

The Death Penalty: Admissible or Inadmissible? A Response to Tim Staples and Catholic Answers Some of my patrons have asked me to give my analysis to a paper Tim Staples wrote last year regarding Pope Francis’ change to the Catholic Catechism on the death penalty. Mr. Staples’paper can be found at https://timstaples.com/2019/pope‐francis‐and‐the‐death‐penalty As most know, Tim Staples works for Catholic Answers. Although Catholic Answers has done much good in teaching people about Catholicism, like all of us, it is certainly not infallible and is not an official organ of the church. In some cases, the answers Catholic Answers gives are not the best Catholic answers. Catholic Answers has developed a reputation for siding with the teachings and practices of the modern Catholic hierarchy over against the teachings and practices of the traditional Catholic church to the extent that almost anything the modern popes say or do is defended as true, good and wholesome. In fact, things t...

There was quite a hullabaloo in the press and an equal amount of murmurings from traditionalist camps in the second week of December over Pope Francis’ statement during his Wednesday audience in St. Peter’s square. The pope, without any equivocation, told us that a key part of the Lord’s Prayer, “lead us not into temptation,” has been mistranslated or misinterpreted for two millennia. If the pope’s novel correction to the Lord’s Prayer wasn’t beleaguered by a number of many other doctrinally avant-garde teachings he has given us since he took office in 2013, such as the suggestion that hell does not exist or that we can’t judge homosexuals, we might not be as curious. But whether it’s pope or pauper who suggests that a 2000-year old prayer from the lips of none other than the Second Person of the Trinity has a major defect, we are obligated to take a very close look at the nature of the accusation. To be fair to Francis, asking God “not to lead us into temptation” is somewhat puzzli...

In Catholic biblical hermeneutics, a turning point occurred during the reign of Pius XII. In his encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu, Pius believed it to be beneficial that Catholic biblical scholars be able to use the interpretive tools of what is known as “historical criticism.” In a word, it could be said that historical criticism seeks to apply scientific analysis to a written document. Is the document authentic? What is its date? Who wrote it? Did the author borrow from other sources? What type of literature is it? How much is the author influenced by his culture? Did the author fabricate, exaggerate, or embellish his story? These and many other questions the historical critic brings to his document. The document studied can be any piece of literature of historical worth – a sonnet by Shakespeare, a Greek tragedy by Homer, or even the United States Constitution. In a word, the historical critic tries to get to the real essence of the document so that he can find out the real trut...

A review of Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives Author: Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict Published by Random House, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-385-34640-5 Reviewed by Robert Sungenis Headlines were made round the world a few months ago in the secular newspapers reporting that Pope Benedict apparently squashed a 2000-year old Catholic tradition as he rejected the belief that Jesus was born on December 25, 1 BC or 1 AD. The newspapers further remarked that the pope believes Jesus was not born in a manger and there were no animals at his birth. They had their fun with it. Now let’s get serious. In reading the reports one gets the impression that the pope wrote a lengthy treatise on Jesus’ birth date and concluded from his vast research that Catholic tradition was not to be trusted. The secular press would be quite happy with such a conclusion since it would bring yet another blow to the traditional faith and mores of the Catholic Church and add to the cultural distance the mo...

Review of Jesus of Nazareth, Part Two, by Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI 362 pages, published by Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA, 2011, ISBN: 978-1-58617-500-9. Reviewed by Robert A. Sungenis, Ph.D. Quo Vadis, Petrus? In the history of the Church it’s not often that a private book is published by a reigning pope, but Vatican II popes apparently started a trend. John XXIII published a couple of books; Paul VI doubled that; John Paul II doubled Paul VI, and now Benedict XVI has almost doubled John Paul II, and in half the time. Prior to Vatican II hardly any pope wrote a private book on theology. I’m not sure of the reason for this trend. I am more concerned with the fact that it tends to foster what E. Michael Jones calls the “I/We dichotomy” which “demeans the papacy by allowing the pope to become a celebrity” for the purpose of “establishing the bounds of permissible discourse according to a political agenda…”1 In other words, what cannot be said officially beca...

Review of On the Third Secret of Fatima, authored by Kevin J. Symonds,  ISBN: 978-0-9988940-5-8, published by En Route Books and Media, 2017 Although Jeff Langan recently wrote a review of Symonds’ book for Culture Wars’ July-August issue, I asked Mike Jones if I could do a counter-article on Symonds’ book. Whereas Mr. Langan’s review was more or less positive, mine is rather critical, but as you will see, for good reason. Perhaps some in the Culture Wars audience may not like or agree with my approach, but I think we should all at least be aware of what is commonly called, ‘the other side of the story.’ DOWNLOAD PDF

The Old Covenant is Revoked USCCB Removes Heretical Sentence From Its Catechism By and large, Culture Wars is a voice crying in the wilderness in this day and age of decadence and faithlessness. Most of CW’s articles point out the deficiencies in the church and society that few others are willing to mention, much less investigate. Because CW’s message is so critical, you might wonder just what kind of impact it is having. Are people listening? Are lives changing? Is society becoming more aware of the evils surrounding it? I’m sure it is to some extent, but sometimes we receive direct evidence that our voice is being heard and things are changing. As most of you know, about a decade ago Culture Wars decided to confront the anti-Christian Jewish influence in our society head on. Amongst the many issues it has covered, CW published an article in January 2008 titled: “The Old Covenant: Revoked or Not Revoked?” In it we took to task the Catholic prelature for caving into Jewi...

Jesus Teaches Us How to Interpret the Bible – Catholic Style By Robert Sungenis, Ph.D. Driving in my car the other day, I turned on the radio and came across one of the local Protestant stations. A preacher was expounding on John 3:5 where Jesus says, “Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” In his exegesis, he was absolutely sure that John did not mean physical water. Instead, he proposed that John’s water referred to the “word of God.” He cited Ephesians 5:26 and claimed that because Paul referred to “washing her with water by the word,” water was a symbol for Scripture. He transferred this meaning back to John 3:5 and concluded: unless one is born of the word of God (hearing and believing the Bible) and the Spirit (being “born again” by accepting Jesus in your heart) he cannot enter the kingdom of God. So, forget baptism with water as a necessity for salvation. But how can this radio Bible preacher be so sure that his exe...

I believe all that the Church teaches about the Desire for Baptism or the desire for Confession, which is found in Council of Trent, Session 6: Regarding Baptism it says in Chapter 4: “By which words, a description of the Justification of the impious is indicated,-as being a translation, from that state wherein man is born a child of the first Adam, to the state of grace, and of the adoption of the sons of God, through the second Adam, Jesus Christ, our Saviour. And this translation, since the promulgation of the Gospel, cannot be effected, without the laver of regeneration, OR THE DESIRE THEREOF, as it is written; unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.” Regarding Confession in Chapter 16 and Canon 4 it says: “As regards those who, by sin, have fallen from the received grace of Justification, they may be again justified, when, God exciting them, through the sacrament of Penance they shall have attained to the rec...

Critical Analysis of: “The Gifts and the Calling of God are Irrevocable (Rom 11:29): A Reflection on Theological Questions Pertaining to Catholic‐Jewish Relations”1 published by the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews on December 10, 2015 by Robert Sungenis, Ph.D. Overview The Commission’s document is the latest post‐Vatican II attempt to forge an ecumenical and political relationship with the Jews, Judaism and Israel. The Commission states up front, however, that “the text is not a magisterial document or doctrinal teaching of the Catholic Church, but is a reflection…on current theological questions that have developed since the Second Vatican Council.” Although the Commission admits that Jesus Christ remains a divisive issue between the Jews and the Catholic Church, nevertheless it pushes forward by trying to minimize the doctrinal issues and maximize the humanitarian issues. In the process, unfortunately, the ...