I remember my utter shock and disbelief when our diocese closed all the churches. It seemed like an impossibility (and still does) that there would be no sacraments available to the laity. How does this make sense? In the time of global pandemic and such fear and uncertainty, the sacraments are what we seem to…
Growing up in Bugnini’s liturgical reign of terror, for me, the only semblance of non–spiritually benumbed sanity at Mass came from watching EWTN’s daily Mass. I rejoiced at hearing hymns older than 1966, as well as encountering homilies void of social justice empowerment and the canonization of parish members. Most salient, though EWTN did not…
Editor’s note: The following article comes to 1P5 from a Carmelite nun who fears for her order. For centuries, contemplative religious have been recognized as the “heartbeat of the Church.” Indeed, even the 2018 Vatican document “Cor Orans” calls contemplative nuns the “praying heart” of the Catholic Church — an acknowledged truth from which the…
You see a lot of strange words now in Catholic circles. Words that you would never before have associated with the word “Catholic,” like “shaman” and “cosmos” and “integral ecology.” All having to do with the recent Amazon Synod. You have to wonder: what would such an “inculturated” church even look like? And what about…
At some time, we have all encountered a sedevacantist — if not in person, at least online. I won’t bore you with the theology of the sedevacantism except to say they hold that a heretic cannot be pope, with the most common strain affirming that Pius XII was the last legitimate pope (although I did…
I recall arguing once with a Catholic friend of mine during our teenage years. He was from a big city far away and attended a publicly funded Catholic high school. I was a homeschooled boy from the country. The debate was on whether there were souls in Hell. I held the ideologically rigid belief that…
Editor’s note: This article comes to 1P5 from an anonymous Catholic. People generally don’t enjoy being insulted. Being rejected by another person is painful, especially when it is your spiritual father. It is a natural reaction to want to reject the notion that you are the object of a sweeping, generalized insult such as being…
Introduction: A Time of Confusion Although it is now frequently claimed that the traditional Latin Mass (TLM) was never abrogated (totally abolished) following the Second Vatican Council, this position is squarely at odds not only with the lived experience of several generations of Catholics, but with the rapid and near total disappearance of the TLM…
Late in June, we received a warning from a village on the edge of Tuscany that yet another religious house with the wrong sort of mindset was facing the now dreaded prospect of a Vatican “visitator.” The contemplative Dominican monastery of Marradi, the spiritual heart of the little mountain town for over four centuries, is…
Dear Dr. Kwasniewski, I recently listened to your 1 Peter 5 podcast, which was really helpful to me. The part where you take us through the history of the philosophical ideas that were motivating the liturgical reformers at and after Vatican II was interesting and informative. Thanks to the podcast, I understand better the sort…
The American Catholic is comfortable. This is a person who has remained in the Church despite all of the reasons others have found for leaving; a person who feels good inside after Mass; a person who is glad that the Church has caught up with the times. Staying enrolled in the parish, raising your hands…
