UK Bishop O’Toole Wants “Systematised Provision” of the TLM
Mass of Ages, the quarterly magazine of the Latin Mass Society of England & Wales, has an interview in their Summer 2015 edition with Bishop Mark O’Toole of Plymouth, in which he discusses his desire to “establish a regularity of provision and systematized provision” of the Traditional Latin Mass. [T]he former rector of Allen Hall, the…
A Church that Repels Instead of Attracts: The Latest Pew Research Findings
The Pew Research Center just released its latest study on “America’s Changing Religious Landscape.” The subtitle tells the story: “Christians Decline Sharply as Share of Population; Unaffiliated and Other Faiths Continue to Grow.” For our purposes, I want to focus on the Catholic numbers. Anyone who has been paying attention, either to these studies or…
Pope St. John XXIII Bookmarks Quote Veterum Sapientia
A reader sent four versions of the above bookmark to me and asked if I’d be willing to share them. It’s always interesting to point out to people that one of the greatest advocates of retaining Latin in the Sacred Liturgy and in the study of theology was Pope St. John XXIII. His apostolic constitution Veterum Sapientia is…
On the Catholic Art of the Printed Book – Part III: Parisian Books of Hours
This is the third installment of a multi-part series. You may find each part here: Part I – Part II – Part III A Book of Hours was the essential guide to devotion for a literate Catholic layman of the late Middle Ages, from the late 14th century to the early 16th. Its content was essentially liturgical, but selected with…
The Greatest Commandment: Did a Council and Two Popes Teach Error?
The arguments over Vatican II have gone on for half a century. The one thing most theologians agree on is that the documents of Vatican II — while at times purposefully vague or difficult to reconcile with tradition — can, provided the correct interpretive context, be understood in an orthodox fashion. It is from this…
On the SSPX, Follow Pope Benedict
From time to time on the Catholic Internet, some new controversy arises pertaining to the Society of Saint Pius X. I’ve written before about the beauty of their liturgies and the strangeness of their canonical status. For most Catholics, the SSPX are not even on the radar. For those who find themselves newly drawn to…
The Friday Roundup
CHECK IT OUT: You can listen to this post as a mini podcast – available exclusively on this page: Well, here we are again at the end of another week that has moved with break-neck speed. Lots of stories. Too many to cover. Some links and highlights: Nearly 1,000 US priests have now signed a letter asking…
A Pearl in the Desert: San Xavier del Bac
I arrive at the Mission, having driven past the casino and its glittering billboard, stucco and neon mixing garishly among the saguaro. I’ve come to take pictures of this beautiful but challenging monument, indulging my photographic interest in a place rich in Catholic tradition that I have somehow never heard of before coming to this…
Is Nigeria Experiencing a Marian Miracle?
I told you last month about Bishop Oliver Doeme’s vision of Christ in the adoration chapel, telling him that Boko Haram could be defeated with the Rosary: Bishop Oliver Dashe Doeme, head of the Diocese of Maiduguri in Nigeria’s Borno State, was in a chapel praying before the Blessed Sacrament last December when, he says, something…
10 Ways to Win the Battle for Purity
Flashy billboards, provocative dress and apparel, Hollywood fashions spread far and wide, suggestive innuendos, off-color jokes, indecent movies, and the ever-present danger of the Internet, seducing souls into visit the numerous and poisonous websites—all of these and a plethora of other alluring and seductive temptations can trap even the best of us into falling into the…