Ralph Waldo Emerson had moments more perceptive than his vague religiosity: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines."

Reasoning has acquired a sketchy, even negative, reputation in recent years. 

Recently, a priest who was prominent in the pastoral care of those with sex addictions received his fifteen minutes of fame when he revealed to his congregation at a Sunday Mass and to the "National Catholic Reporter" that he was
gay." 

As a chaplain in a state mental hospital, I quickly learned two things.

Annals new and old are filled with quotations that most people can recognize. 

"Use your brain" is a maxim often heard, but often resented.

A deeper examination of Pope St. John Paul II's "Veritatis Splendor" will illustrate how some interpretations of "Amoris Laetitia" are incompatible with the Catholic Church's moral tradition.

Suddenly, in the course of a minor Internet thread, I was face to face with my own intrinsic disorder. 

In the contemporary discussion on what constitutes the essence of morality and how it can be recognized, the question of conscience has become paramount especially in the field of Catholic moral theology.

When William F. Buckley, Jr., was asked why he slouched so much, he said it was because he was bent under the weight of all the wisdom he carried.