True Obedience vs. Revolution in the Church
What is a faithful Catholic to do in the face of unjust commands from ecclesiastical authorities?
Men, Women, Laity, and Clergy: God’s Wise Plan of Differentiated Order
Allowing women to be liturgical ministers stokes the flames of a false egalitarianism that agitates for women deacons and priests.
Why Restricting the TLM Harms Every Parish Mass
Thanks to the inspiration of Joseph Ratzinger’s writings on liturgy, and especially the “rising tide” effect of Summorum Pontificum, a grass-roots movement to restore sacredness to the modern rite of Paul VI was in full swing. It was not Vatican decrees or diocesan reforms that yielded better Masses, but rather the influence of priests who … Read more
In the Midst of Crisis, Be Driven by Faith, Not by Fear
In our days, we are seeing an intensification of the spiritual battle as the situation within the Catholic Church continues to deteriorate. Battles have casualties, and some of those casualties are Catholics who have lost their faith or are tempted to leave the Church because of the outrageous corruption, infidelity, and cowardice of its leaders … Read more
Summorum Pontificum at Fourteen: Its Tragic Flaws
As we come to know more and more about the doctrinal and moral corruption of the Church’s hierarchy today, which rivals Renaissance records, it seems to border on the miraculous that Summorum Pontificum—the motu proprio issued by Pope Benedict XVI liberalizing the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass—was ever issued at all. It was a … Read more
Sacrosanctum Concilium: The Ultimate Trojan Horse
I used to think that the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, was “just fine” if you took it at face value, and that the problem was people ignoring it or implementing it in a one-sided or distorted manner. I used to think that a “reform of the reform” could take … Read more
Where Catholics Meet the Church
Let me begin with a plain fact: the sacred liturgy is where most Catholics most of the time encounter the Church and her teaching. “The Church” and “the Magisterium” might well seem like abstractions until they take on concrete form in the liturgical rites—the texts, music, ceremonies, and other elements of worship—by which the Faith … Read more
Far from the Spirit of the Lord: On the Pope’s New Motu Proprio
The obvious problems with the recent opening of the ministries of lector and acolyte to women by Pope Francis has already been the subject of a number of articles, including one that I wrote earlier this week. As I reflect further on the motu proprio Spiritus Domini, I see more and more disturbing implications of … Read more
The Blessings—and Dangers—of Holy Communion
I once overheard in a grocery store: “Darling, not everything you want is good for you.” There it was: in one simple phrase, the wisdom of a mother who knows that she should not buy whatever dessert or snack her child is asking for. Holy Mother Church has—or once had—the same wisdom for her spiritual … Read more
In Praise of Good Teachers
Both Aristotle and Saint Thomas Aquinas speak of the debts of gratitude we owe to others—to God, to our parents, to our city or nation—anyone from whom we receive benefits. We pay our debts by giving to each benefactor what is due to him, according to our abilities. Often, the best we can do is … Read more
Lessons from a Whisky Priest
In February, I read a novel for a men’s book club (back then, we still had the good fortune to be able to meet for normal social interactions; March’s meeting got canceled). The novel was Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory, which I had never read, and had always reproached myself for not having … Read more