Author: Peter Kwasniewski, PhD

Pope’s Anti-TLM Theologian Shows His Pro-Contraception Cards
Pope Francis is fond of saying “everything is connected.” Traditionalists have been saying the same thing for the past six decades. We have long emphasized that those who transformed the Catholic liturgy on paper and in practice were also entertaining …

The Welcome Demise of Enforced Optimism
The meltdown of the Church in the West since the Second Vatican Council doubtless has many and complex causes, but I am convinced that the foremost cause of it is the fact that churchmen[1] have betrayed much of Catholic Tradition …

Karl Rahner and the Unspoken Framework of (Much of) Modern Theology
Charles Coulombe’s interesting remark in a recent article that Pius XII, for all his intransigence against dogmatic modernism, allowed Father Karl Rahner, S.J., to be the editor of the prestigious Denzinger prompted me to take up the question of Rahner’s …

Fr Bryan Houghton’s Crisis of Faith and the Joy of “Humanae Vitae”
In early August of 1968, a stylish and brilliant convert from Anglicanism, and at this time a pastor of a flourishing parish in Suffolk, was driving his “fast and comfortable Jaguar” from Bury St Edmunds to London. He took a …

Not Abandoning the Flock—Not Abandoning the Truth
The following is a real exchange of letters, with identifying details edited out. The correspondence took place about three years ago. LETTER 1 Dear Dr. Kwasniewski, A mutual friend forwarded to me the letters between you and your priest friend …

The “Spirit of Vatican I” as a Post-Revolutionary Political Problem
Above: Bishop Karl Josef von Hefele and Bl. Pius IX. In his fascinating book Vatican I: The Council and the Making of the Ultramontane Church,[1] John W. O’Malley details the movements, ideas, personalities, and events that coalesced in the First …

Revisiting the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Above: The Visitation by Flemish painter Willem Vrelant (d. 1481). This Saturday, July 2, is the usus antiquior feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This feast was instituted in 1389 by, in a way, two popes—Pope Urban …

Daringly Balanced on One Point: The New Papal Letter on Liturgy
Above: Upside down Pyramid, Bratislava. Like a piece of upside-down modernist architecture, the new papal apostolic letter Desiderio Desideravi: On the Liturgical Formation of the People of God is daringly balanced on one point: that the new liturgy of Paul VI is …

A Neglected Gem in the Traditional Roman Missal: The Eucharistic Heart of Jesus
If you have ever shown up early to church and found yourself quietly paging through your hand missal—let’s say, a Saint Andrew Daily Missal reprint from 1945—you might have stumbled across a section of Mass formularies that may be unfamiliar …
Bishop Schneider’s New Book “Springtime” a Worthy Successor of “Christus Vincit”
Readers past a certain age may remember the momentous role played in our lives as Catholics by the book-length interviews released by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger and, later, Benedict XVI. The first of these and in some ways the most impressive …
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