Robert Robbins
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How to Be Catholic Today (When the Church Is in Crisis)
How do I become Catholic today?This is now the most searched question about the Catholic Church—and also the most misunderstood. For centuries, the answer was simple: believe the faith, receive baptism, submit to lawful Church authority, and live sacramentally within the… Continue reading
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What Defection of the Church Would Mean
“Defection of the Church” is often invoked as a rhetorical weapon, but rarely defined with doctrinal precision. In Catholic theology, defection does not mean disorder, collapse, corruption, or even universal failure of lawful governance. It means the loss of what constitutes… Continue reading
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Indefectibility Does Not Mean Normalcy
A False Assumption at the Root of Modern Confusion One of the most corrosive confusions afflicting Catholics today is the quiet assumption that indefectibility guarantees normalcy. It is taken for granted—rarely argued, never examined—that if the Church cannot fail, then… Continue reading
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A Tale of Two Eternal Cities
Rome never slept, though she forgot more each year what it meant to remember, and in that forgetting she learned to breathe easily while pressing her weight, untroubled and immense, upon the smaller lives hidden beneath her stones. Above ground,… Continue reading
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Correspondence
On End Times, Order, and Living Without a System Editorial Introduction From time to time, CatholicAxis reproduces private correspondence that articulates, with clarity and good faith, the actual questions Catholics are asking in the present crisis. Personal details are redacted… Continue reading
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“The Church Has Changed” Is Not a Catholic Claim
Correction / Polemic I hear the phrase constantly now, from conservatives, from the SSPX, from those who insist they are defending Tradition against Rome: the Church has changed. I reject that claim outright. It is not Catholic. It has never been… Continue reading
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Orders Are Not Enough
The Problem Reappearing The belief that Holy Orders suffice for legitimate ecclesial authority is not new. It emerges most forcefully during periods of crisis, when ordinary governance breaks down and men with sacramental power continue to act as though power… Continue reading
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What Makes the Church the Church
What makes the Church the Church is not a question of sentiment, memory, or convenience. It is not answered by pointing to a building, a congregation, a cultural inheritance, or even a shared vocabulary of religious terms. It is answered… Continue reading
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The Dark Night and the Poverty of Sensation
When Saint John of the Cross writes of the dark night of the soul, he is not describing an episode of spiritual melancholy, nor a temporary dryness remedied by better music, warmer fellowship, or heightened affect. He is naming a work of God… Continue reading
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The End of Life: What Do the Saints Say About Heaven?
I. Why the Question Cannot Be Avoided There are questions one may postpone without damage. This is not one of them.Whether Heaven exists—whether it is lawful even to think about Heaven—touches the nerve center of the Christian faith. If Heaven is unreal,… Continue reading
