I was in the car with my friend on the way to Vespers at the Russian Orthodox church. I remember it vividly for some reason; driving down the streets of the old Slavic immigrant neighborhood on the westside of my city (which encompasses also the Ukrainian Catholic parish and the Polish Catholic parish). This would…
Photo: consecration of Russia by Pope Francis, March 25, 2022. By Diane Montagna. Perhaps this will be seen as one of those negative Traditional Catholic spiels. Perhaps I am a pessimist at heart. For everyone it seems is on board with the conversion prayer for Russia, including the SSPX. Perhaps however I am only a…
Photo: Gary Wills in 2015. Recently, I have been reading books and periodicals dealing with the post-Vatican II era in the Catholic Church. Of course, we in the year 2022 are also a part of this post-conciliar era, and there is no shortage of literature discussing the Second Vatican Council some fifty, sixty years later.…
Ever since we set out on our spiritual journey on pre-Lent Septuagesima Sunday, step by step we have approached Holy Week. While a measure of weariness might distress us as we slog along the paths of penance and discipline, of self-denial and self-examination, our hearts rise because we draw nearer to the goal of victory…
Read the last chapter before this one Table of Contents Start reading from chapter 1 Chapter 14 Malthus my boy, It is welcome news you tell me that the parental divide has ossified into a standoff with practically no verbal exchanges for long periods of time. As tempting as it is to facilitate magnificent…
It’s hard to believe it’s been over three months. Three months of praying. Three months of pondering. Three months of pleading with Cardinal Cupich to give us back full access to the Latin Mass. In February, when the Cardinal’s ban of the Traditional Latin Mass on first Sundays and some Holy Days went into effect,…
Photo: Saint-François de Molitor, Paris, France. Why was the tabernacle removed from the high altar or kept away from the center of so many churches during the past fifty years? There are many reasons one could give for this decentering of our Lord Jesus Christ in the miracle of His abiding Eucharistic Presence among us,…
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…
Photo: the sacralised baroque cityscape of Salzburg, Austria. I was recently ensconced in one of the last all-male environments permitted in contemporary society – a barbershop – and, as I had my haircut, the free-wheeling conversation inexorably turned to the current COVID episode and from there to the wider Western crisis. After my barber voiced…
A grand debate is raging inside the Catholic world over the role of the political order in a Christian society. Many have seen the secular world’s failure to address the needs of the soul and thus reject liberalism’s artificial separation of the political and spiritual spheres. One proposed philosophy is called Integralism. It comes from…
Fr. Charles Murr is one of the last living witnesses to Vatican corruption who is both orthodox and courageous. We have many clerics out there – dare I opine “many”! – who are orthodox, but do not have the courage – or perhaps the opportunity? – to speak the truth come what may. Today, we…
