Thomas Crean

Holy Scripture is a fount of living water that never dries up. Yet, the Word of God must be preached anew year by year and generation by generation. It is our beacon in days of confusion and upheaval, pointing to what cannot and does not change. For centuries, preachers have faithfully taken up our Lord's commission to His apostles: "Go ye into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creature." And thus, it is with great delight that we present this volume of sermons for the liturgical year by Fr Thomas Crean OP, who says of this commission: "Our Lord allows the world to continue because the gospel is still being preached to mankind. When He sees that it has been preached sufficiently, there will no longer be any purpose in the continued existence of the world. And then, on that day, He will return." One of the best ways to prepare for His return in glory is to hear and contemplate His word. Reading Fr Crean's sermons is a satisfying and illuminating experience. He has an inquisitiveness about the Word of God, deepened by refined theological insight and a priestly understanding of the Person of Jesus Christ, both in His human and divine nature. Fr Crean thinks aloud, as it were, posing the questions that occur to him as he reflects on the Scriptural passages chosen by the Church for the liturgies of Sundays and various feast days. He then answers these questions, carefully uncovering the truths which Christ reveals to us through His Church - with clarity and common sense, with a wealth of convincing evidence and a scholar's eye for significant detail, but above all, igniting love towards the mysteries of faith, which are beyond human understanding. The sermons in this volume, following the entire liturgical year in the traditional form, were preached between 2020 and 2023. They have been kept as close as possible to their original form, with references to coinciding feasts, which vary from year to year, and to current affairs (such as church closures in 2020 and 2021). Most of the Scripture quotes are from the Douay-Rheims Bible, but the Catholic Revised Standard Version (second edition) has occasionally also been used. Let us pray that, by reading these sermons with the eyes of faith and meditating upon them, hearts "shall flow rivers of living water" (Jn 4:10). Let us pray that, by reading these sermons with the eyes of faith and meditating upon them, hearts "shall flow rivers of living water" (Jn 4:10).

As St Augustine told his flock in Hippo Regis, the books of Scripture are letters that have come to us from the City toward which we are on pilgrimage. Yet for many decades, the teaching and study of Scripture in academic settings within the Catholic Church has served more to undermine faith than to nourish it. This disastrous situation has arisen through a forgetfulness or rejection of the principles that should guide exegesis. In particular, many renowned scholars whose works have dominated the Catholic landscape sought to erect exegesis into an autonomous discipline, separated from both the teachings of the Church and from speculative theology. To shield themselves from such a secularized exegesis, and in response to the wider assault on orthodoxy within the Church, some Catholics have taken refuge with the magisterium, yet in a way that can obscure the fact that popes and bishops themselves must remain subject to the word of God. In this brief but profound primer, Fr Thomas Crean OP sets forth principles fundamental to all exegesis-in particular, the plenary inspiration and inerrancy of the sacred books-and responds to modern attempts to limit these two properties of Holy Writ. He discusses disputed questions about the nature of inspiration, literary genres, the plurality of senses, and the sufficiency of Scripture, and explains the enduring importance of the Septuagint and the Vulgate. Letters from that City will be of use especially to seminarians and other students of theology.

The Catholic doctrine of the Filioque - that the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son - has historically been a source of contention between the Western Church and the Eastern Church. While recent efforts to reach ecumenical agreement have claimed to overcome this divide, their proposed solutions not only overlook but overturn the consensus reached by West and East alike at the fifteenth-century Council of Florence, which defined the doctrine and clarified its rootedness in the teaching of the Fathers of the Church.In Vindicating the Filioque, Thomas Crean, O.P., mounts a robust ecumenical defense of the truth of this doctrine and the authority of its Florentine definition, building his case on principles common to both Catholics and Orthodox. The first part of the study gives a careful presentation of patristic testimony concerning the procession of the Spirit - material central to the conciliar debates at Florence and of abiding theological consequence. In the second part, Crean explores the nature of ecumenical councils, drawing on the first seven councils to establish criteria for conciliar ecumenicity and authority that can be used to evaluate the status of the Council of Florence. The third part describes the Council of Florence itself, showing how it fulfils the criteria for an ecumenical council and replying to objections against its authority.Combining thorough study of patristic texts, sensitivity to theological common ground, and historical attentiveness to the acta of the council, Vindicating the Filioque demonstrates the soundness of the Florentine definition of the Holy Spirit's procession and its importance as a basis for lasting unity of East and West.

Many so-called scholarly commentaries on the gospels fail to satisfy, or even disquiet, their readers because they are not written in the light of faith. Such commentaries achieve only a pseudo-objectivity, since the principal figure in the gospels is Jesus Christ, whose identity cannot be known by 'flesh and blood' but only by a supernatural insight, given from above. The present work is inspired by the approach of the Fathers of the Church, and attempts to speak of St. Mark's gospel in the light of both reason and of faith. It seeks above all to contemplate the mysteries of this gospel, while incorporating genuine insights from modern scholarship.

St Luke's gospel: a commentary for believers is a careful study of the third, and longest, of the gospels, which aims to make the divine message it contains more accessible to those who already believe it, or who are at least willing to give it a hearing. The author offers answers to the questions that are likely to arise from a reading of this gospel, and draws attention to meanings that lie hidden beneath the surface of the words.

St Luke's gospel: a commentary for believers is a careful study of the third, and longest, of the gospels, which aims to make the divine message it contains more accessible to those who already believe it, or who are at least willing to give it a hearing. The author offers answers to the questions that are likely to arise from a reading of this gospel, and draws attention to meanings that lie hidden beneath the surface of the words.

Thirty-three Victories and Counting (The Life and time of Oblt Kurt (Robert Wilhelm) Wolff) Part One by Thomas CreanHere is the life of Kurt Wolff, a World War One German fighter pilot, with 33 enemy aircraft victories to his credit, wearier of Germany's highest award for bravery - the Order 'Pour le M rite' along with the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class. The book beings from his birth on 06 Feb 1895, his earlier upbringing, the loss of his Father and mother while at a young age and having to live (along with his two sisters) with this Aunt in Memel, Germany until his enlistment in the German Army Active service in Berlin to become an officer candidate attached to the Eisenbahn-Regiment IV on 07 Mar 1914 at the age of 19.The First World War (Great War) began as of 28 June 1914 and young Kurt Wolff marched off to the Western Front with his railway construction company as a Gefreiter (Corporal) into the war and was later promoted to Officer Cadet on 04 Aug 1914.After requesting and being selected, he began his flight training in Germany and was assigned to F.E.A. 1 located at Nieder-Neuendorf Military Aviation School until he completed/passed his flying tests and then was transferred on 1 Oct 1915 to an Army Flug (Aviation) Park (AFP) to await reassignment to a flying unit.All pilots in the German Air Force, before they got to wear the 'official' flying badge, were required to be a pilot in a bomber squadron to accumulate 40 operational combat missions. He and his observer believed that they had scored two victories over the enemy but as they could not be confirmed they were dis-allowed. He completed this on 5 Mar 1916 and then moved on to more advanced pilot training to become a fighter pilot.On 12 Oct 1916 Ltn. Wolff was assigned to Jagdstaffel (JASTA) 11 ('No. 11 Fighter Squadron') as a fighter pilot which was formed earlier that month at the La Brayelle/Douai airfield and flew a Halberst dter D.II single-seater with a big "W" on the side panels indicating who the pilot was.This book contains lots and lots of photo's, maps from the time as well as a documented gemological information about Kurt Wolff, his family and the pilots he met and flew with all the way up to 1 May 1917, where Book 2 will continue until he his shot down on 15 Sept 1917 and beyond.

Integralism is the application to the temporal, political order of the full implications of the revelation of man’s supernatural end in Christ and of the divinely established means by which it is to be attained. These implications are identified by means of the philosophia perennis exemplified in the fundamental principles of St Thomas Aquinas. Since the first principle in moral philosophy is the last end, and man’s last end cannot be known except by revelation, it is only by accepting the role of handmaid of theology that political philosophy can be adequately constituted. Integralism: A Manual of Political Philosophy is a handbook for those who seek to understand the consequences of this integration of faith and reason for political, economic and individual civic life. It will also serve as a scholastic introduction to political philosophy for those new to the subject. Each chapter finishes with a list of the principal theses proposed.

Integralism is the application to the temporal, political order of the full implications of the revelation of man’s supernatural end in Christ and of the divinely established means by which it is to be attained. These implications are identified by means of the philosophia perennis exemplified in the fundamental principles of St Thomas Aquinas. Since the first principle in moral philosophy is the last end, and man’s last end cannot be known except by revelation, it is only by accepting the role of handmaid of theology that political philosophy can be adequately constituted. Integralism: A Manual of Political Philosophy is a handbook for those who seek to understand the consequences of this integration of faith and reason for political, economic and individual civic life. It will also serve as a scholastic introduction to political philosophy for those new to the subject. Each chapter finishes with a list of the principal theses proposed.