In classic Roman Catholic sacramental theology sacramentals are distinguished from sacraments on the basis of efficacy: sacraments confer grace ex opere operato while sacramentals confer grace in other ways.
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Evelyn Waugh, Cardinal Heenan and Bitter Trials
Ignatius Press has just published a third (!) edition of A Bitter Trial, correspondence between Evelyn Waugh and Cardinal Heenan in the years from 1962 till Waugh’s death in 1966.
Read moreAt the limits of the absurd
This video, advertising a new hygienic way of distributing communion, raises for me the question of whether the principle of ex opere operato extends to sacraments celebrated in so absurd a way as to be laughable.
Read moreDo homilies work ‘ex opere operato’?
Could it be that it doesn’t matter how well or poorly prepared or preached a homily is, since the homilist is acting not as himself but in persona Christi? I don’t buy it.
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