Author: Peter Kwasniewski, PhD

Newly Ordained Priests and Permission to Offer the Traditional Latin Mass
Every spring, the Church rejoices not only in the victory of Easter and the glories of Mary in her month of May, but also in the ordination of new priests around the world. This year, however, there is a black …

Why Ecclesia Dei Communities Should Avoid Concelebrating the Chrism Mass
In the news cycle recently there has been much coverage of Pope Francis’s statement to a group of French bishops that all priests in a diocese, regardless of affiliation, should be present to concelebrate the Chrism Mass with their bishop …

Good Shepherding from Augustine to Catherine of Siena
Above painting: St Catherine before the Pope at Avignon by Giovanni di Paolo (1403–1482), Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. In chapter thirteen of his Gospel, St. Matthew recounts a famous parable of the Lord: The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a …

New Life in Christ: a Paschal Meditation
Photo: the blessing of the water for Baptism at Easter Vigil. By Allison Girone. “This is my body, which is given for you . . . This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my …

The Removal of Tabernacles and the Desacrificialization of the Mass
Photo: Saint-François de Molitor, Paris, France. Why was the tabernacle removed from the high altar or kept away from the center of so many churches during the past fifty years? There are many reasons one could give for this decentering …

The Annunciation and the Subtle Use of Gospels in the Old Roman Rite
Painting: Maurice Denis, “Le mystère catholique,” (1889) After a number of years experiencing the annual cycle of readings in the traditional Latin Mass, I grew aware of the manner in which it approaches Gospels in general, which is freer and …

Christian Militancy in the Prayer of the Church
The following talk was given at a Call to Holiness event at Assumption Grotto in Detroit on Sunday, March 6, 2022. Please note that the sound quality in the video improves at the 2’15” mark, at which time the lapel …

The Sacrificial Nature of the Mass in the Usus Antiquior
The claim is often made that the traditional Roman Rite brings out more clearly than the Novus Ordo does that the Mass is a true and proper sacrifice—the unbloody re-presentation of the bloody sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. As …

Should We “Despise Earthly Goods and Love Heavenly Ones”? A Liturgical Lesson for Lent
With a majority of German bishops now on record as voting for official permission for contraception and the legitimization of sodomy, it seems time to reexamine the irreconcilable contrast between two views of reality. The Church in her traditional Roman …

Ordained, Assistants, and Faithful: On Hierarchical Participation in Three Spheres
Owing to its density and complexity, the traditional Roman liturgy—and the same, of course, would be true of any traditional liturgy—gives rise to multiple “hierarchies” of participation, which I will call here “ecclesiastical, sanctuarial, and congregational.” What I have noticed …