When Pius XI promulgated his encyclical Divini Illius Magistri on December 31, 1929, it became the most important papal document to date on the Christian education of youth—a distinction it has retained to this day. With good reason did contemporaries dub the encyclical the “Magna Carta” of its subject, admiring its thoroughness, penetration, and lucidity.…
Looking to my own experience and that of so many married friends and acquaintances, it is hard to escape the conclusion that marriage is the most difficult vocation in the world. This is not to say that it does not have its beautiful and wonderful side. It was fitting that St. Paul should compare the…
My earlier essay at OnePeterFive, “What Is the Catholic Intellectual Tradition?,” attempted to answer this ambitious question by pointing to stable, recognizable characteristics. In presenting an answer, I also grappled with skepticism toward the value of any tradition and the postmodern attack on truth claims. Here, I would like to offer two more objections with…
On March 8, 2012, the Jesuit magazine America published an article by Fr. Peter Schineller entitled “The Tridentine Mass: Why I Couldn’t Go Back.” For years, I’ve noticed that America actually pays to promote this article in online searches so that it will influence public opinion (they are evidently worried about the direction the youth…
Recently, I bumped into a friend who expressed her surprise that 2019 was the first time I had ever attended the pre-1955 (i.e., ancient or unreformed) Holy Week liturgies. She was under the impression that someone who travels, reads, thinks, and writes a good deal about the sacred liturgy would surely have done this long…
As the Vatican continues its bizarre feud with the venerable Roman Rite, going so far as to prohibit the offering of the Ancient Mass in St. Peter’s upper basilica (the very Mass for which that basilica was built), it is delightful to be able to share some very good news. Benedictus, the “Traditional Catholic Companion,”…
Editor’s Note: Dr. Kwasniewski is taking a short break from writing new material for OnePeterFive while he finishes a number of books he has agreed to deliver to publishers. We wish him well in these endeavors and may reprint from time to time some of his earlier and now mostly forgotten articles until his return.…
Catholic schools exist to teach the truth that sets us free, to spread this truth far and wide, to deepen our grasp and expression of it, and to link it with other areas of human research and endeavor. The Catholic school is defined by its unconditional and publicly manifest adherence, at every level—vision, policy, management,…
A reader sent me this letter; my reply is given after it. Greetings in Christ! I thought I would share my reflections on your article “Do New Saints Vindicate the New Mass?” First, I agree with the majority of your points, including: Bl. Carlo does seem to have been sanctified; it is God alone who…
The German novelist Martin Mosebach, who has also become well known for his eloquent and outspoken defense of the traditional Latin Mass, articulated a particular problem that many in the Church today face — namely, the problem of a certain self-consciousness and critical spirit invading our prayer life as Catholics. Here is how he puts…
In my article “Have There Been Worse Crises Than This One?,” I explained why I believe the Church is in a crisis second to none in her history—a crisis of unique gravity. The question on the minds of many is this: What might happen next—in the near future, in ten years, in twenty years, in…
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