Dr. Joseph Torres, OP

There are certain points of view I'm not going to express in the twitter-sphere if for no other reason than that I will be immediately misunderstood and stereotyped for those views. Nuanced views are hard to communicate this platform.

@HazThomist @Luke_Amos2007 Yes, but I think you have to be careful about using that phrasing, because people don't hear the nuanced thing that you're saying. And "hate the sin, love the sinner" is not false as far as it goes, so we probably shouldn't be critiquing it.

@thomistMathGuy @Luke_Amos2007 But applied to God, it's not merely that He hates the sin, but He hates the sinner insofar as he violates the moral law; as Thomas says, "insofar as they are sinners ... they are hated by Him." Yet, He loves the sinner "insofar as they are existing natures" (=creatures).

St. Gregory the Theologian “God is love, and the lover of mankind; and He hates nothing that He has made.”

@Andrewnsnyder Also: bright blue his jacket is and his boots are yellow!

People often wonder why Tolkien had the hobbits encounter Tom Bombadil in the Old Forest. Several explanations could be given, such as that Tom is the spirit of the vanishing Oxford countryside, etc., but the best explanation is the simplest: The Old Forest is where Tom lives.

@HazThomist @Luke_Amos2007 Right, but that itself seems consonant with the "hate the sin, love the sinner" language.

St Thomas explains in the prima pars the sense in which God hates sinners, ST I, q. 20, a. 2: "Nothing prevents one and the same thing being loved under one aspect, while it is hated under another. God loves sinners in so far as they are existing natures; for they have existence and have it from Him. In so far as they are sinners, they have not existence at all, but fall short of it; and this in them is not from God. Hence under this aspect, they are hated by Him."

@HazThomist @Luke_Amos2007 "it should be said that God loves nature, but that he hates fault..." - St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on St. Matthew's Gospel 5:43, n. 539. I would take this as consonant with the "hate the sin, love the sinner" refrain, would you not?

@Luke_Amos2007 Ps. 5:7: "Thou hate all the workers of iniquity." Wis. 11:25: "Thou love all things that are, and hate none of the things which thou has made." The way to reconcile these verses imo is the view of those theologians who hold that God hates the sinner qua sinner not qua creature.

@FakeDionysius @lukei4655 She did that ~7 years before her conditional baptism. We have had murderers (St. Paul) and fornicators (St. Mary of Egypt) become great saints in the church.

@lukei4655 Dorothy Day is cringe, aborted her own child, how about St. Clare instead.

Look up Dorothy Day and St. Francis of Assisi on this matter. You will find no greater advocates for the gospel value of poverty and yet equally no greater advocates for the use of only the finest man can offer to God for public worship. The reason is quite thought provoking.

@HazThomist And note carefully: JUSTICE demands it. Some people say that they're all for charity helping the poor, but the government is about preserving justice, not charity which goes beyond. But JUSTICE demands this.

Some object that because almsgiving is a duty of charity and not justice the state should not provide poor relief and leave it to private effort alone. Leo XIII rejects this (Rerum Novarum): "Justice demands that the interests of the poorer classes be carefully watched over by the administration, so that being housed, clothed, and enabled to sustain life they may have find their existence less hard and more endurable." St Thomas, De Regno: "The ruler should secure by his efforts that an abundance of the necessities for becoming humanity should be within the reach of all; for the enjoyment of a sufficient supply of material goods is necessary for the practice of virtue." Charity without justice is incomplete, as Pius XI teaches in Graves de communi: "Justice and charity mutually conjoined, according to the equal and gentle law of Christ, maintain in a wonderful way the bonds of human society and providently lead every member to cater for his and the common good."

@zenahitz And there are plenty of signs that pure math and the theoretical sciences are not far behind. WVU significantly cut back on their math program recently, for instance.

Worth pointing out that many state flagships are gutting their arts and humanities departments. This kind of experience is becoming more rare, and will become rarer still.

Seriously: I don't agree with everything Maritain says in "The Degrees of Knowledge", but his chapter on the poverty of metaphysics is one of the most beautiful homages to metaphysics that exists and is worth the price of the book.

@literally_chad You are allowed to have a tiny tiny wedding, though, if you want. You just have to go through your months of wedding prep -- once that's done, your wedding only requires 4 or 5 people present (I can't remember if you need 2 witnesses or 1).

My least favorite part of being Catholic is that this isn't allowed

@DeoVindiceXIV I agree. Sung Mass (at least) or Solemn High Mass are the most appropriate especially for Sundays especially Easter Sundays. Low Mass can be nice (especially on a weekday) -- though even that was an allowance that was made for when Sung Mass couldn't be done.

Sucks going to a ‘62 Mass and it’s a LOW MASS so my brother and I are sitting there through a mostly silently service and it’s just like…bro I should’ve gone to the Novus Ordo at the cathedral…

@TheCatholicEngr I try to show up an hour early. It's the same as getting there on time, but instead of stressing for my full hour, I know I'll get to go to confession and can spend an hour with Jesus (which frankly, I need to be doing anyway). No fun if that's not a possibility for you, though.

I made the rookie mistake of showing up for confession at the start of the confession time

@gonefishin1948 Because I believe the Catholic faith is true. [Summary borrowed from G. K. Chesterton.]

If you are Catholic, why are you Catholic? (This question is from a Catholic Priest)

Only 3.5 pages left to go on this paper, and I've just begun my concluding section. I think I can do this, but if I don't have enough, I have one more thing I could talk about but have left off for now. I sang Evensong in the chapel, so I'm hoping to press through now.

@BishopBoyea God bless you on the anniversary of your birth and thank you for your episcopate! I hope you get to spend time in contemplation now that you have reached this point and that the Holy Father appoints a holy successor for you!

A Letter to the Faithful of the Diocese of Lansing: Lansing, Michigan Friday, April 10, 2026 Easter Friday Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, Well, here it is, April 10 in the year 2026, and that means that 75 years ago my parents had their first-born and named him Earl. Nine more were to follow over the years. What is unique about this year is that it calls from me, according to Canon Law, a letter to the Holy Father tendering my resignation from my ministry as the Bishop of the Diocese of Lansing. Perhaps you will be interested in what then happens. As soon as the letter is received by the papal nuncio (the Holy Father’s representative in the United States), he begins the process of inquiring among various bishops and others about who might be a good successor to this diocese. Usually, each bishop is asked to give three possible candidates and provide appropriate background information about them. After a good number of letters are received and appropriate vetting has been done of various candidates, the nuncio will then submit three names to the Dicastery for Bishops in Rome, where another screening will take place. All of this is accomplished with a high degree of confidentiality. Then on a given day, usually a Saturday, the cardinal in charge of the dicastery will go to the Holy Father with three names (called a terna) and recommendations. Normally, the Holy Father would accept the first candidate and name him the new Bishop of Lansing. Once that is done, the news is passed to the nuncio, who then contacts the candidate to obtain his acceptance of this new ministry. Once that is done, I will be informed, and, usually about a week or so later, there will be a public announcement. Within about two months after that, the new bishop is ordained bishop (if he is not one already) and installed. In preparation for this transition, we in the diocese are conducting some studies. You are being asked to fill out the Disciple Maker Index survey to assess the faith status of our Church. In addition, there will be interviews of priests, deacons, and laity, as well as other surveys to provide a picture of the strengths and concerns facing the Diocese of Lansing. This will give the new bishop a good description of our diocese as he moves to become our new leader in faith. In the meantime, please pray for me but also for the man who will eventually come to be our new shepherd. And many thanks for being the best diocese in the country! Sincerely yours in Christ, + Earl Boyea Bishop of Lansing

@MrsCathComedy I know lots of people who throw big parties for baptisms, confirmations, and first holy communions...

Question: Why is marriage or sometimes holy orders the only sacrament that we celebrate with a giant party and invite everyone we know to? Why don't we do this with baptism and confirmation? They are both once in a lifetime sacraments too.

I finished the Descartes section of my paper last night. That section began with defining "doubt" and "certitude". The St. Thomas section of my paper begins with defining "habit" and "wonder". I wonder which section I'll like more.

Writing a paper on the difference between St. Thomas's division of the sciences and Descartes's. In actuality, though, it might be easier to talk about how they're the same than how they're different because on most accounts, they are very different.

@frmarcellinus Joseph - "He shall add" (appropriate for a mathematician)

What is the meaning of your baptismal name?

@Jeremyakee In the acknowledgements of my dissertation, the last paragraph is basically a litany of saints. I have a personal one that I use, but it's too large to put into a tweet. I include all of my name saints, confirmation saint, most OP saints, my OP patrons, and a handful of others.

Does anyone else keep a personal litany of saints? I assume so, but I thought I would ask.

Modern education experts are correct: teaching isn't pouring information into another mind. Critics of modern education are correct: teaching isn't letting other minds discover truth. Teaching is the forming of minds in the intellectual virtues.