Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, Thomistic theologian, liturgical scholar, and choral composer, is a graduate of Thomas Aquinas College and The Catholic University of America. He has taught at the International Theological Institute in Austria, the Franciscan University of Steubenville’s Austria Program, and Wyoming Catholic College, which he helped establish in 2006. He writes regularly for Catholic blogs and has authored six books, the most recent being Noble Beauty, Transcendent Holiness (Angelico, 2017).
Author: pkwasniewski
The Fifty-Year Descent to Footnote 351: Our Progressive Desensitization to the Most Holy Eucharist
We did not wake up one fine day in 2017 to find ourselves suddenly confronted with Eucharistic sacrilege being promoted from on high. There was a long, slow process that led to this moment. It consisted in the gradual dilution …
A Dialogue Between Two Monks Concerning the Papacy
Image: Max Barascudts (1869-1927) — In the Scriptorium Br. Barsanuphius: Good morning, Brother! To my surprise, the guest house is completely ready for today’s arrivals, and we have some time before the next office. Are you free for a conversation? We …
Why Catholics Are So Bad at Evangelizing—And What Has to Change
Image: The miracles of St. Francis Xavier (see full image here), by Peter Paul Rubens Two good friends, fellow parishioners, are having coffee and donuts after High Mass one Sunday. Maximilian: I really enjoyed Father’s homily today. His explanation of the parable …
Between Christ the King and “We Have No King But Caesar”
This month of November begins with the great Solemnity of All Saints. But in the traditional Roman calendar, All Saints is preceded shortly before by an even greater feast—that of Christ the King, the One who creates and sanctifies the …
“Pouring the Argument Into the Soul”: On Taking Care How We Worship
Image credit: Ben Yanke At one point in Plato’s Republic, Thrasymachus, the nihilistic proponent of might-makes-right, asks his interlocutor Socrates: “Am I to take my argument and pour it into your very own soul?” To which query Socrates replies: “God …
The Traditional Liturgy Demands More and Delivers More
Image courtesy of Marc Salvatore. We have probably all met people who are thinking of attending the traditional Latin Mass on a regular basis and who, when they actually start going, are struck by how much extra effort it costs. …
Ten Reasons To Attend The Traditional Latin Mass
Photo courtesy of Saint Ann’s Church and Shrine in Buffalo, New York. By Peter Kwasniewski & Michael Foley Given that it can often be less convenient for a person or a family to attend the traditional Latin Mass (and I …
Fidelity to Liturgical Law and the Rights of the Faithful
I was recently asked by a number of people: “When ought one to point out liturgical abuses and endeavor to correct them?” My interlocutors had been confused by a number of partial truths. Let us, then, exclude several erroneous answers. …
The Excision of Exorcisms as a Prelude to Devil-Denial
Some weeks ago, the Jesuit superior general Fr. Arturo Marcelino Sosa Abascal made international news with his remarks denying the real personal existence of the devil and reducing him to a man-made symbol of evil. Ho-hum, one might say: we expect this …
Sacred Music as Occasion of Grace for Modern Man
Some months ago, Maestro Aurelio Porfiri approached me with the idea of authoring a statement in support of genuine sacred music, for the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Musicam Sacram. The statement would express in a clear and simple …
