In one of my weaker moments, I did something rather foolish, born from curiosity. That is, I read Pope Francis’ new motu proprio: Spiritus Domini. It was not so much what the document promulgated that interested me – that women …
Category: Sacraments
Incarnate Realism and the Catholic Priesthood
Editor’s Note: In light of the news that Pope Francis has changed canon law to accommodate official women “lectors” and “acolytes,” we are re-publishing this article, which originally appeared here on July 17, 2015. In many contemporary debates concerning the …
Clothed in the Vesture of Royalty: Sharing the Beauty of Our Mass
Back around the turn of the millennium, I was invited one day to sing for the first time the Mass of the Dedication of a Church (Introit: Terribilis est locus iste), at a solemn Mass on the anniversary of a …
Light Shines in the Darkness, And the Darkness Has Not Overcome It
When my alarm went off at 3:15 on a Saturday morning, I briefly questioned my own sanity. I had promised my seven youngest children, ages 14 years to 7 months, that I would bring them to a pre-dawn Rorate Caeli …
A New Guide for Hymns at Mass, and Other Empty Words
Much has been said of a United States Catholic Bishop committee releasing a guide titled Catholic Hymnody at the Service of the Church. The guide has received cautious praise from Catholics, for it tackles many of the problems with post-Vatican …
Latin Mass Societies at Large Universities? If We Did it at Penn State, You Can Too.
by Victor Fuentes “And he said to them: Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15, DRV For any student, the college years are a time of growth. For most, this is the …
Healthy and Copious Food for Grown-Ups
When the feast of St. Martin of Tours comes around each year—that’s November 11th, a day he shares on the Roman calendar with St. Mennas, a great soldier, desert solitary, and martyr in Egypt—I always think about food. The reason …
Floating in the Sea, Not Drinking from the Firehose
We’ve probably all had this conversation. Your friend, who has become more conservative over the years, but still hasn’t crossed the Adige (that’s the river that runs through Trent), says in the midst of an amicable dispute: “I know there …
Attending the Traditional Mass: Well Worth the Effort
Editor’s note: this was first published on March 20, 2015, under the pen name Benedict Constable, and is republished today under its author’s name. Doing violence to one’s family heritage is always bad, it can never be good. No less …
Christ’s Universal Dominion and the Modern Tower of Babel
Truth is the first casualty of war—so goes an old saying. We see it verified again in the so-called “liturgy wars,” where, at least on the progressive side, no lie is too big or too bald, if only it can …
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