Choosing Between New and Old
The Latin Mass is an adventure. That’s not what makes it sacred, but it does make it compelling. It’s a secret language waiting to be unlocked.
Priestly Ignorance of the New Mass
If priests are not aware of the origins of the new Mass, how can we expect fruitful dialog about the fact that some people prefer the preconciliar Mass to the modern one?
The Dynamics of Restricting Liturgical Rites
If a liturgical rite can be blamed for the bad theology of some of its attendees, then all rites should be examined to ensure we remove any and all offending liturgies.
A Case for Liturgical Crossover
This future in which traditional Catholics in their TLM-celebrating churches are separated from the rest of the faithful in diocesan parishes would be immensely harmful for all.
Mischaracterization of the TLM, Then and Now
Part Five of a response to Cavadini, Healy, and Weinandy’s critique of the traditional Latin Mass.
Unity, Charismatic Masses, and Africa
Part Four of a response to Cavadini, Healy, and Weinandy’s critique of the traditional Latin Mass.
The Genesis of the Novus Ordo and “Theological and Spiritual Flaws” of the TLM
Part Three of a response to Cavadini, Healy, and Weinandy’s critique of the traditional Latin Mass.
Misrepresentation of Mediator Dei, Sacrosanctum Concilium, and Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI
Part Two of a response to Cavadini, Healy, and Weinandy’s critique of the traditional Latin Mass.
Sacrificing Beauty and Other Errors
Part One of a response to Cavadini, Healy, and Weinandy’s critique of the traditional Latin Mass.
The Traditional Mass is Not a Spectator Sport
“The Traditional Mass is not a spectator sport.” The statement rings out like a shot in the quiet, muggy, non-descript church. Oscillating fans buzz from various strategic locations. Incense wafts up from the thurible tucked away to the right of the altar. The congregants sit quietly, attentive. The women’s heads are covered, and everyone is … Read more
Credo
The translation of the Nicene Creed used at Sunday Mass beginning in Advent will read, “I believe in God, the Father Almighty” — not, as currently, “We believe in God.” Often I say Mass using the Latin Novus Ordo. This is the text that was supposed to be translated into English. The Latin Creed begins … Read more
Sing a New Song with Your Lives: The New Edition of the Roman Missal
The spirit of our Catholic liturgy is the spirit of music and song. To give glory and praise to the living God, human speech alone can only take us so far. Words alone can never be enough. We need to pay him homage with songs of joy and with instruments made for praise. St. Augustine … Read more
Bad Traditudes: Making My Point For Me
As the discussion continues to move along in the comments over on my piece about the need for traditional Catholics to show a bit more friendly charity (the horror!) examples have begun to spring up around the Internet showing exactly what I’m talking about. Predictably, one of the very forums I mentioned as an example … Read more
Getting Active Participation Right
One of the obstacles to a wider acceptance of the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, as well as a more reverent celebration of the ordinary form, is an enduring misunderstanding of the concept of active participation. Earlier this summer, Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg, South Africa, criticized Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI … Read more
You May Kiss the Bridey
My former editor at the National Catholic Register, Tom Hoopes, has done me a courtesy rarely afforded tradition-minded Catholics: He has stooped to address my arguments, instead of airily dismissing them as the sad obsessions of half-wits, bag ladies, and yellow-eyed anti-Semites with dirty fingernails. Sure, he did so in a blog post which referred … Read more
‘The Mass is not a flag’
Our good friend Tom Hoopes of the National Catholic Register enjoyed John Zmirak’s column on the Traditional Latin Mass from a couple of weeks back, calling it “hilarious, copiously linked to supporting material, clever”…and also wrong. John argued that, while the form of the Mass itself may be composed of changeable externals, “Inessential things have … Read more
Bless Your Heart, Tramp!
There we were, the four of us: me; an academic colleague of mine; a 60-something, salt o’ the earth, sarcastic Yankee pastor; and a smart Midwestern seminarian on the brink of ordination. The beer was flowing freely — into my glass, anyway — and we were having the kind of conversation laymen have with priests … Read more
‘Some of us are owed an apology’: Traditionalists and the Latin Mass
Thomas Woods Jr. has been involved in the movement to liberate the Old Mass for well over a decade. Late last year, he released Sacred Then and Sacred Now: The Return of the Old Latin Mass, explaining the historic liturgy and the pope’s reasons for reinstating it. Brian Saint-Paul spoke with him recently about reactions … Read more
Chesterton’s Ghost Appears, Suggests Fans Find “Other Interests”
Chesterton’s Ghost Appears, Suggests Fans Find ‘Other Interests’ LONDON — A London book buyer got the shock of his life yesterday when the ghost of G. K. Chesterton appeared to him and joked that he wished his fans would “get lives.” “I was in The Bookstop, buying a copy of Orthodoxy when a man touched … Read more
On the Cusp of Something Great
Elizabeth Scalia, raised between Rites, welcomes back the Old Latin Mass, and wonders if its return might help improve the New. A magnificently voiced organ and the clear treble of the girl’s choir combined to sound like angels from on high. The billowing incense seemed to charge the church interior with holiness and mystery, and … Read more