One Sunday morning, during the summer of 2018, when much of America had come to regard the Catholic Church in America as a decaying organization beset by hidden evil, Baltimore auxiliary bishop Mark Brennan paid a visit to my former …
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Mass with the Phantom Stranger
A few Sundays ago, quite against my will, I woke up around 4:30 AM. I found that I could not go back to sleep, and I realized that if I got myself together, I could make the two-hour drive up …
The Dates and Years of the Birth and Death of Christ
It is common to hear some people propose that Our Lord was crucified as early as 30 A.D. and born as early as 4 B.C. They also claim He was not born in December and have proposed all sorts of …
The Holy Spirit of Pentecost and Christ the King
At the Pentecost Octave, the Church celebrates an end and a beginning. It is the close of the Paschal cycle, which celebrates the close of the Old Covenant. This is the beginning of the Time after Pentecost, celebrating the birth …
Did the Church ‘Forget’ the Holy Spirit until the ’60s?
When I was growing up, I distinctly recall hearing, more than once, presumably well-meaning teachers and preachers say something like the following: “The Church kind of forgot about the Holy Spirit for a long time, and with Vatican II, we …
Don’t Give Up the Ship! Spiritual Warfare with Navy Discipline
On a frigid December evening in 2012, thirty-five of us lowly officer candidates at Navy Officer Candidate School (OCS) line up outside the base’s dining hall in Newport, Rhode Island. After another grueling day of military drill practice, academic classes, …
To See Truly Integrated Catholic Life, Look to Gubbio’s Festa of St. Ubaldo
Integralism is a word that gets argued over a great deal among the American Catholic Twitterati. A lot of them are still having their old dispute over the limits of the Church with regard to the State, that never-ending problem …
Even the Realist Needs Hope
Blind optimism and bleak pessimism both inflict havoc. An optimist opens the windows of the Church to the world to allow in the “fresh” air. As the stench and filth of the world choke out the life of the Church, …
2019-20 TLM Survey: What We Learned About Latin Mass Attending Young Adults
Editor’s note: originally published at LiturgyGuy.com, we are reprinting the following TLM survey results here at the author’s request, as we believe they are of interest to our audience. Traditional Latin Mass National Adult 18-39 Survey by Fr. Donald Kloster …
Remembering ‘Remember, Man’
“Remember, man, that thou art dust, and unto dust, thou shalt return.” I’m old enough to remember the priest murmuring that as he smeared ashes on my forehead, conveniently bared of my perpetual bangs by my Catholic school beanie. The …