In his latest column, “Bishop Barron Takes on the Rad Trads,” Fr. Dwight Longenecker manages to insult nearly all traditionalists (“they’re not all nut jobs”: gee, thanks!), while at the same time, to his credit, says something important that probably 95% of the bishops and 80% of the rest of the clergy wouldn’t dream of…
In the traditional Latin Mass, the Gospel for today’s feast of St. Martha is always Luke 10:38–42: Now it came to pass as they went, that he entered into a certain town: and a certain woman named Martha, received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sitting also at the…
The traditional Roman liturgical calendar at this time in July presents us with a “triduum” of saints of mercy: St. Camillus de Lellis (July 18), St. Vincent de Paul (July 19), and St. Jerome Emiliani (July 20). Always ahead of any age and its needs, the Church gives us exemplars from the past who are…
Most Catholics who have a decent acquaintance with theology will be familiar with the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) — at least, with questions from his Summa theologiae. Apart from Franciscans who are devoted to their own tradition, however, it is rarer to find an appreciation of or familiarity with St. Thomas’s exact contemporary…
Editor’s note: This article was first published on June 29, 2015 under a pen name. We’re running it again, now under the name of its author, because its content remains evergreen, and our readers (and editors) are well served by contemplating it anew. The text has been slightly edited. Further reflections on the same theme…
Is the recent “attack” on Vatican II a “crisis moment” for traditionalists? Are we turning on a legitimate and laudable Council instead of rightly directing our ire at the inept leadership that has followed it and betrayed it? That has been the line of conservatives for a long time: a “hermeneutic of continuity” combined with…
The traditional liturgy of the Church is filled with allusions to figures and types in the Old Testament that are taken in an allegorical sense. For example, in the traditional Roman Rite, the story of Daniel in the lion’s den is read on Tuesday of Passion week [i] because, among other possible interpretations, Daniel foreshadows…
In their laudable desire to resist and overcome the goofiness of recent decades, sometimes traditionalists will adopt opinions that go too far in the opposite direction, thus missing the Catholic truth. I don’t mean this in the sense of an abstract via media, because there are times when the extreme is the truth. I mean…
In my earlier article “Holy Mass: You Cannot Do Anything to Glorify God More,” I explained that the Mass is not the offering of Christ as if in isolation from us; it is also the offering of the members of Christ united to Him in faith and love. In other words, it is, as St.…
When I was growing up, I distinctly recall hearing, more than once, presumably well-meaning teachers and preachers say something like the following: “The Church kind of forgot about the Holy Spirit for a long time, and with Vatican II, we remembered Him. This is now the Age of the Spirit.” Intriguingly, the age of the…
It could perhaps have been predicted that the mandatory global shutdown of the Church’s liturgical life and the slow reawakening of it here and there as policies loosen up would bring with it a bumper crop of new problems mingled with old ones. While it is true that the opportunity for private Masses has led…
