A few Sundays ago, quite against my will, I woke up around 4:30 AM. I found that I could not go back to sleep, and I realized that if I got myself together, I could make the two-hour drive up to Atlanta and actually attend Mass. During the pandemic, a parish up in Roswell was…
Blind optimism and bleak pessimism both inflict havoc. An optimist opens the windows of the Church to the world to allow in the “fresh” air. As the stench and filth of the world choke out the life of the Church, the pessimist then declares that everyone and everything will perish. “Things cannot get any worse,”…
Editor’s note: originally published at LiturgyGuy.com, we are reprinting the following TLM survey results here at the author’s request, as we believe they are of interest to our audience. Traditional Latin Mass National Adult 18-39 Survey by Fr. Donald Kloster Diocese of Bridgeport, CT revfrkloster@yahoo.com Contributors: Sha Balizet Fisher, Ph.D., Steve Tschopp (Statistics), Brian Williams-liturgyguy.com,…
“Remember, man, that thou art dust, and unto dust, thou shalt return.” I’m old enough to remember the priest murmuring that as he smeared ashes on my forehead, conveniently bared of my perpetual bangs by my Catholic school beanie. The words seared. I remembered them all year and waited for them the following year. Then…
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…
Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. But let a man prove himself: and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and…
I have been fortunate, during this COVID-19 lockdown, in that my pastor has continued to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass per our regular schedule. Ten people have been allowed in the church. The rest of us who attend sit in our cars and watch the Mass on our cell phones. The pastor or…
With the gradual thawing of restrictions on public gatherings, some dioceses have begun to issue new sets of regulations for Masses. These regulations often include a stated preference for Communion in the hand or even a forbiddance of Communion on the tongue. In this article, I will demonstrate two things: first, in regard to the…
“You could take the blue pill. You’ll wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. Or you could take the red pill. You’ll stay in Wonderland, and I’ll show you how deep the rabbit hole really goes.” The above quote has been immortalized in the famous award-winning movie The Matrix. The…
Due to the explosion of the Tambora volcano in 1815, we had a year without summer, for the atmosphere was filled with sunlight-inhibiting dust. This year we had a year without Easter, another gift from the Far East, but it is impossible to miss that although it began much earlier in China, in the West,…
Let us consider an intriguing dilemma that has occupied the minds of all involved in the Liturgical Movement since its beginning: the novel principle of active participation (participatio actuosa), which Vatican II’s Constitution on the Liturgy promoted as “the aim to be achieved before all else.” It all started with Dom Lambert Beauduin’s accusation that the…
