I’ve come to realize that for all its distractions, Social Media serves as a reminder of the fragility of life, the closeness of death, and the ever-present tragedies that intermingle with our joys in this Vail of Tears. Over the years, I’ve heard more heartbreaking stories than I care to think about, all of them…
While the Synod of Bishops on the Family was being conducted in Rome last October, the revelation of a letter expressing the concerns of 13 cardinals over the proceedings marked a turning point in the event. As I reported at the time, it was on 8 October, 2015, that a close friend of the pope himself –…
The East Coast of the United States is bracing for a possibly “historic snowstorm.” Earlier this month, we observed the 20th anniversary of another historic snowfall — the Blizzard of 1996. The fact that two decades has passed since that unique and memorable event makes me feel incredibly old, but it also brings me back. I remember distinctly…
Over at long-time 1P5 contributor Brian William’s blog, Liturgy Guy, there is an important guest post by Chris Lauer, a founder of the Charlotte Latin Mass Community, entitled Why Families Need Traditional Parishes. Lauer adds a layer of consideration to the much-discussed article, “What I’m Never Going to Tell You About Homeschooling“, by Elizabeth Foss. The latter — which essentially…
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 How Does Multi-sensory Learning Theory Help Us Understand the Difference Between a “Complete” Mass and a “Minimal” Mass? Reasoning by analogy can open up new and helpful ways of thinking. The Holy Mass may be viewed as a school for souls, an instructional method, similar to the methods skillful…
Many are familiar with the various statistics that suggest we are exposed to more information in a week, month, and year than our ancestors encountered in a lifetime. Whatever the exact amount is doesn’t matter—we are utterly swamped with data. Even those of us who guard our eyes from the sordidness of the secular media fight an…
Reflections on a Recent Essay by Msgr. Charles Pope on the Future of the Traditional Latin Mass The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Matthew 13:45-46 The Parable of the Pearl…
There’s an old article of mine making the rounds. The title sort of gives it away: They Will Know We Are Traddies By Our Love. Someone resurrected it from the archives in a coy attempt to paint me as a hypocrite, the same day I published this. I had intended to just let it pass, since this,…
Born in 1977 to young parents, I grew up with a lot of that era’s music in my home. My father’s record collection had quite a range, from the Beatles to the Doobie Brothers, Chicago to Dire Straits, The Eagles to Steely Dan. If he had a David Bowie album, I don’t remember listening to…
Pope Francis was recently featured in a short online video to promote his monthly prayer intention. Unfortunately, the video has given the impression that the pope is promoting religious indifferentism, and as such, it has scandalized not a few Catholics. My purpose here is not to analyze this particular video or intention, but to examine a larger question…
There’s an old Internet Meme that goes a little something like this: Pretty much everyone has seen this same coat hanger at some point or another. It’s a pretty ubiquitous piece of hardware. Most of us never think anything of it. But from the moment you’ve seen this captioned image, you can never look at…
