So it’s that time of year again. Fundraising time. Everyone out there with a Catholic website is asking for your help. It’s a little too cold for co-opting the ice bucket challenges, but the help is still needed. We need you. We can’t make it without you. That’s not just hyperbole. There’s not enough left…
Many Catholics have heard stories about a group called the “SSPX” (The Priestly Society of St. Pius X) without ever really knowing much about their story, the context of their situation, or the complexities and nuances involved. They have become almost a Catholic version of the bogeyman, their name used as a short-hand description of any schismatic…
As the Catholic Church nears the much anticipated Synod on the Family (October 5-19) an increasing number of bishops are playing a dangerous game of expectations setting. In a largely unprecedented manner, prelates are utilizing the media to promote their views, seeking to drive a progressive agenda through interviews and pastoral statements. Those bishops who…
The Friday Podcast is available now. You can catch it here. From the show notes: Today Steve talks Summorum Pontificum’s 7 year anniversary. PLUS, The Roman Rumor mill: Cardinal Burke’s alleged “demotion,”; the pope’s alleged irritation over a new book from Ignatius Press on the traditional Catholic understanding of marriage ad family in advance of the…
[powerpress] Today Steve talks Summorum Pontificum’s 7 year anniversary. PLUS, The Roman Rumor mill: Cardinal Burke’s alleged “demotion,”; the pope’s alleged irritation over a new book from Ignatius Press on the traditional Catholic understanding of marriage ad family in advance of the October Synod; Cardinal Kasper’s personal PR tour, in which he uses Pope Francis…
I don’t pay attention to beauty pageants. I suspect that the last time I watched even five seconds of a Miss America contest was when I was about 16, and gazing on beautiful women marching around a glitzy stage in high heels and bikinis seemed like a pretty good idea. So as is my annual tradition, this year I effortlessly…
Last December, news broke that Cardinal Burke had been removed from the Congregation for Bishops. Before the end of the year, I heard from a reliable source that Burke was also expected to be removed from his position with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. Though the latter change had not yet…
One of the chief arguments for the traditional Christian practice of celebrating the Eucharist ad orientem — the priest and people together facing the same direction, toward the liturgical “east” of the apse — is that the Mass is a sacrifice offered up to God. The German liturgical scholar Msgr. Klaus Gamber († 1989) observes: You stand before…
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: On July 7, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI issued an apostolic letter motu proprio (given on his own initiative to the Church) that addressed a serious concern long-neglected: the status of the ancient form of the Roman liturgy. After nearly four decades of difficulties between Rome and those Catholics who favored the preservation of the vetus ordo, the first…
It’s 3PM on Friday here on the East Coast, which means that if you’re like most of the working world, your brain has already involuntarily checked out. It may already have wandered to a nice glass of whatever you’re having. I won’t bore you with a long post. But I did want to draw your…
Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series on the topic of cultivating a more authentic taste in music. The first part is available here. In the last article, we discussed some of the criteria by which we may evaluate the quality of a piece of music. We will now move to a music’s craft, which…
