Desiderio desideravi: “with desire have I desired,” Our Lord said to His Disciples before the Last Supper, “to eat this Pasch with you.” The quaint Latin phrase is a literal translation of the Greek of the Gospels (Luke 22:15; Matthew 13:14), but it is no less quaint in Greek. It is in fact an expression…
Above: Upside down Pyramid, Bratislava. Like a piece of upside-down modernist architecture, the new papal apostolic letter Desiderio Desideravi: On the Liturgical Formation of the People of God is daringly balanced on one point: that the new liturgy of Paul VI is the fulfillment of the Second Vatican Council’s demand for liturgical reform in Sacrosanctum Concilium. On the truth…
Since my conversion to Catholicism years ago, I had been told the New Mass was created by the Second Vatican Council. Many times, a friend had to remind me that “the Novus Ordo was not created by the Council.” At the time, I thought that whatever infallibility means when you parse it out, it surely…
Happy Ascension Day! When we look at our liturgical texts (from last Sunday to the Vigil to today), we see that this is the glorious ascending of His throne. This is the moment when the Father seats His Son, the Anointed King over souls and society, at His Right Hand in glory. Thus it is a great…
Baylor University sociologist Rodney Stark has written numerous books on religion and particularly on the rise of Christianity. One of his interesting discoveries had to do with conversions; he found that a person’s attachment to the cultural aspects of their religion, specifically its unique rites and doctrines, corresponds to the likelihood that they will remain…
A member of a traditionalist religious congregation that has enjoyed good canonical standing with Rome for a long time sent me an adaptation of the great hymn “Jerusalem” (words by William Blake, set to music by C. Hubert H. Parry), with a commentary, and the prefatory remark: “This Anthem of Holy Defiance is my response…
There has long been a strange asymmetry between conservatives and progressives in the Catholic Church. Theological conservatives—priests and bishops as well as lay people—have prided themselves on their obedience, and progressives have flaunted their disobedience. To give the most extreme examples, progressive bishops would make their chums laugh by talking about how they had tossed…
Every spring, the Church rejoices not only in the victory of Easter and the glories of Mary in her month of May, but also in the ordination of new priests around the world. This year, however, there is a black lining on the silver cloud. We are entering the first ordination season after Francis’s motu…
In the news cycle recently there has been much coverage of Pope Francis’s statement to a group of French bishops that all priests in a diocese, regardless of affiliation, should be present to concelebrate the Chrism Mass with their bishop each year (see this article). As a result, the ever-simmering question of concelebration has once…
When Pope Francis issued a motu proprio called Traditionis Custodes on 16 July 2021, an edict severely restricting the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass, it marked the culmination of the growing official hostility towards the Apostolic Roman Rite (hitherto referred to as the ‘extraordinary form’ of the liturgy). This term, which had been invented by Francis’ predecessor, Benedict…
After the enemies of Trent and the Tridentine Mass – Andrea Grillo and other unknown forces – caused the Holy Father to abrogate himself on the Latin Mass with Traditionis Custodes, the Cardinal Vicar of Rome confirmed in October of 2021 that the Triduum would not be allowed in the city of Rome according to…
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