Sharon Kabel
I am a librarian and researcher interested in finding high quality information, arranging it usefully, and aggressively citing my sources. I study and write about research methods, metadata, Catholic fact checks, and weddings.
Still, there’s a certain scope in that long love
Which constant spirits are the keepers of,
And which, though taken to be tame and staid,
Is a wild sostenuto of the heart,
A passion joined to courtesy and art
Which has the quality of something made,
Like a good fiddle, like the rose’s scent,
Like a rose window or the firmament.
Richard Wilbur, "For C."
Latest posts
Clippings on the 1906 Beatification of the Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne
“Le 25 mai, à onze heures et demie, le Pape a reçu les pèlerins français dans la salle du Cons…
“When’s the big day?”: The days and times of Catholic wedding masses, 1871-1960
Introduction I have been reading old newspaper articles about Catholic weddings for about seven year…
Doctors of the Church and their titles
The Catholic Church confers the rank of ‘doctor’ on saints whose writings have played an…
Websites
Projects
Catholic Fact Checks
Catholic fact check: Did the Vatican condemn dancing?
In 2017, a Catholic parish’s website published a document, “The Church’s Official Position on Dances,” which stated (among other things): “What is the Church’s official position on dances? Believe it or not, the Church does have an official position on it. […] ]T]he unmarried morally cannot have a part in dances that have bodily contact.”…
Catholic fact check: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and the fabricated liturgy
The following quotation is attributed to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI: The liturgical reform, in its concrete realization, has distanced itself even more from its origin. The result has not been a reanimation, but devastation. In place of the liturgy, fruit of a continual development, they have placed a fabricated liturgy. They…
Catholic fact check: Pope Pius XII, the universal tongue, and catacombs
The following quotation is attributed to Pope Pius XII: The day the Church abandons her universal tongue [Latin] is the day before she returns to the catacombs. Says who? A few notable uses of the quotation online are: Mediator Dei and Pius on Latin Pius’ encyclical Mediator Dei is the source that is most commonly…
Catholic fact check: Father Edward Schillebeeckx and Implicit Conclusions
The following quotation (or variations thereof) is attributed to the controversial theologian Father Edward Schillebeeckx, O.P.: “We express it diplomatically [now], but after the Council we will draw the implicit conclusions.” The citation given for the quote is almost always the same: De Bazuin, No. 16, 1965 Says who? The quote has circulated for years…
Catholic fact check: Cardinal Karol Wojtyla and the final confrontation
The following quotation is attributed to Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope St. John Paul II: We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through. I do not think that wide circles of the American society or wide circles of the Christian community realize this fully. We are…
Catholic fact check: Pope Pius IX on Liberal Catholics
The following quotation is attributed to Pope Blessed Pius IX: Liberal Catholics are the worst enemies of the Church. (While I’m not sure that the rule is ironclad, I was taught that people with more than one title have the titles listed in order of rarity. ‘Pope’ is less common than ‘saint’ or ‘blessed,’ so…
Catholic fact check: Jean Guitton, Pope Paul VI, and the liturgical reforms
The following quotation is found all over the internet. It’s attributed to the philosopher Jean Guitton: The intention of Pope Paul VI with regard to what is commonly called the Mass was to reform the Catholic liturgy in such a way that it should almost coincide with the Protestant liturgy…There was with Pope Paul VI…
Catholic fact check: St. John Chrysostom on wifely obedience
The following quotation, attributed to St. John Chrysostom, is extremely popular in Catholic and Orthodox circles: When we speak of the wife obeying the husband we normally think of obedience in military or political terms, the husband giving orders and the wife obeying them. But while this type of obedience may be appropriate in the…
Services
“A prodigious researcher” – Catholic Answers
“archival researcher extraordinaire […] indefatigable…superb research work” – New Liturgical Movement
“I really liked what you did – the way how you orchestrated the crazy quantity of news that no one is able to digest. You brought it into the right context and made us curious.” – a colleague
01
Reference and Research
for project support and fact checks
03
thesis and dissertation editing
for all major style guides