“Get ready for a better world,” shouts a slogan from a children’s theme park which first came out some years ago. The park, as described in Dr. Anthony Esolen’s illuminating book, Life Under Compulsion, is a dream world where children can pretend to be adults. Not, mind you, in the normal manner one might see…
The Holy Bread of Eternal Life: Restoring Eucharistic Reverence in an Age of Impiety Peter Kwasniewski Sophia Institute Press 336 pages $17.95 Paperback; $9.99 eBook I feel compelled to provide some context before beginning. Last week my family and I attended an evening daily Mass at our local parish. We live in a small town,…
I begin with a sentimental longing. The longing is inspired by a scene from Willa Cather’s Shadows on the Rock. The passage takes place in 17th century Quebec, and concerns St. Francois de Laval, the first bishop of Quebec. Behold how the saintly Laval called his flock to Mass every morning: “The Bishop got up at…
What does it take to get a young family to a traditional Latin Mass (TLM) where I live? Since the only Mass is at 8am on Sunday morning, it often takes a 2.5 hour drive the day before, a hotel room, a meal out, and a planned activity to keep the kids occupied. And for…
I recall many months ago, in happier times, a television commercial of a bride getting married in the middle of a forest. Her mother, seemingly confined to a nursing home, was unable to attend. Now it is evidently not right that a girl should forgo a dream wedding in a forest just to have her…
What occasionally keeps me up at night, besides the yappy dog a few houses over, is wondering how to raise my children to become saints. There are so many questions my wife and I ponder. How do we get our children to a reverent Mass? Will homeschooling shelter them too much? Where will they find…
It’s a Friday. A boy and his father head out in their boat to fish. The plan is to catch supper. “Dad, we’ve been out for two hours and haven’t caught anything,” remarks the boy sullenly. “The water is too dirty right now,” notices his father. “Let’s try something different.” “I was thinking we could…
“Unite the clans!” frequently urges Michael Matt of the Remnant Newspaper. After months of shambolic infighting amongst faithful Catholics over the status of the SSPX, with one small tweet, Bishop Robert Barron, an auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles and former rector at Mundelein seminary, has gone where no traditional Catholic has been able to go…
An ailing Benedict XVI made a short trip home to Germany to visit his even more infirm brother. In more sane times, this would have caused normal human reactions from Catholics, such as wishing the brothers well and perhaps offering a prayer for their well-being. Given that sanity is not 2020’s speciality, many of the…
From a recent Mass titled 2020 Pentecost Mass for all Cultures — what could possibly go wrong with a Mass of that title? — a video was produced of a woman preparing the altar for the consecration, while Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego sat and watched approvingly. Anger from faithful Catholics ensued — and…
Blind optimism and bleak pessimism both inflict havoc. An optimist opens the windows of the Church to the world to allow in the “fresh” air. As the stench and filth of the world choke out the life of the Church, the pessimist then declares that everyone and everything will perish. “Things cannot get any worse,”…
