Definition of Terms

While in college I was very blessed to have been taught by a very wise and holy priest...the legendary Father Fabian.

Those from the university I attended will recognize these words..."Plane's taking off...better be on it!"

He taught classes in theology, of course, and the one in question was about morality and Natural Law. I forget the title of the course.

Although I have regrettably forgotten most of what he taught, I have never forgotten this very important nugget of wisdom: In order to have an intelligent conversation, it is extremely important to define the terms. So here I set out to do just that.

I will be using many terms over the course of my blog and so I thought it might be wise to define those that may come up most often.


Liberal- a political term, usually referring to the right-wing adjenda which supports "gay rights", "gay 'marriage'", Senator Kerry and the democratic party of our time.

Conservative- another political term referring to people who are adverse to the above.

faithful- obedient to a particular order of beliefs or values, to the detail. A "Faithful Catholic" is obedient and accepts the magesterium of the Catholic Church as the lawful authority as set down by Jesus Christ.

dissenting: the opposite of faithful. If a Catholic in question "dissents", then they are not accepting of the Magesterium, and by definition, are not really "Catholic" but still define themseves as such. They are on a journey of faith and need much instruction and many many prayers.

orthodox (small "o") - another word for "faithful"- follows the teaching of the Catholic Church. Genuflects towards the tabernacle upon entering a pew or crossing in front of it during Mass or any other time. Goes to confession regularly and if in the state of mortal sin, refrains from recieving the body, blood, soul, and divinity of our dearly beloved Jesus Christ. Etc.

heterodox- Those who dissent against the teachings of the Church yet still refer to themselves as Catholic. There are varying degrees of heterodoxy...anything from holding hands during the "Our Father" during Mass, or at the other extreme...St. Joan of Arc parish in the Minneapolis-St. Paul diocese. 'Nuff said. I'm not sure if SSPX is considered to be heterodox or fits some other definition.

Orthodox (note capital "O")- those members of the Eastern Orthodox religion, not in communion with Rome and not to be confused with Eastern Catholics also known as the Byzantine Rite.

SSPX- Society of St. Pious X- this is a traditional-type movement begun by Archbishop (?) LeFebre in which they celebrated the pre-Vatican II liturgy specifically, as I understand it. Pope John Paul II was actually going to authorize the ordinations of several priests within that "order" (not sure if this is the correct term), but for some reason was not able to do so at a particular time so asked LeFebre to hold off. LeFebre disobeyed and ordained the priests without authorization, therefore making the ordinations invalid. They are not in communion with Rome, or in other words, are disobedient to the Magesterium of the Church.

sedevacantists: people who believe the "Chair of Peter" is empty. I don't know the details here but they are clearly not in line behind the Pope.


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If I have inadvertantly incorrectly defined any of the above or presented any incorrect information in relation to the definitions please comment so that I may correct my error.