A few things I found today that I think are interesting
In this week's Tablet, Fr Neil Xavier O'Donoghue, secretary of the Irish Bishops' Council for Liturgy, suggests trust has broken down b/w trads and bishops, but that this could be fixed through purity tests which violate canon law & treat trads as fundamentally untrustworthy. ? pic.twitter.com/G0p1wNcbwu
— Matthew Hazell (@M_P_Hazell) June 11, 2026
And
Altar cards for the Tridentine Mass, designed by Antoni Gaudi, for use at Sagrada Família pic.twitter.com/5dlKvILQ2y
— Catholic Sat (@CatholicSat) June 10, 2026
And
Altar cards for the Tridentine Mass, designed by Antoni Gaudi, for use at Sagrada Família pic.twitter.com/5dlKvILQ2y
— Catholic Sat (@CatholicSat) June 10, 2026
And
They had to omit it. God in the Old Testament violated the Baal worshipers infinite human dignity. https://t.co/69W162aED9
— Anthony Stine (@pontificatormax) June 10, 2026
And
CONOSCI ROMA
Sotto il suolo di piazza Navona;
Stadio di Domiziano (86 d.C.) pic.twitter.com/y80ULGgBtT— Massimo Antonio (@massimoantonio1) June 10, 2026
Words have meaning. I can say without hesitation that “I fully accept the authority of the teaching of the Second vatican Council.” As should any Catholic.
That authority is limited by the avowed intention of Pope John that it be a pastoral Council, and the affirmation that it made no dogmatic pronouncements.
So with those condition, the Church’s condition, not mine, I am happy to give my full assent.
If however, you move the goalposts ‘post hoc’, and impute some mysterious indefectibility, then I may well not assent to your new conditions, but they are not those of the Council, to which I may still freely assent.
Altar cards (in general) always have me a bit puzzled, in the sense that after offering daily Mass in the Vetus Ordo for a while, say a year, surely any priest can recite these texts in their sleep. Probably most even before ordination. It seems that Gaudi had the same opinion, as these cards clearly aren’t made to be read from…
Might the Archlaic be permitted a wee, brief rant?
1.) “In some dioceses trust has broken down between traditionalist communities and their bishop”… “Well”, as Michael Davies (Santo subito!) used to say, “it’s a point of view!” Episcope nostro, quid tibi fecimus?
2.) Frankly, I prefer my altar cards a bit, umm… “gaudier”! Perhaps those are examples of “modern art”* but they look to me like relics from the twisted and melted framework of the Hindenburg!
Thanks for letting me vent, I feel much better now!
*pronounced archly and with dripping scorn!
Those altar cards look just like the ghastly basilica — that is, someone started to design something nice, but then lit a butane lighter under it to melt it down.
Those altar cards match the modernist style and design of the Sagrada Familia, and that’s all I’ll say about that.
“Trust has broken down.”
Noooooo. Really?
What isn’t captured in this statement though is that the break in trust is almost entirely on the side of the bishops. It’s the bishops who threw their own sheep out of parish church buildings, forbid them many of the sacraments, and refused to meet with them or even acknowledge their plight. Meanwhile, those same Catholics had been simply going to Mass, praying for the bishop, and donating to their parish. Good, solid, devoted diocesan priests were simply doing their best to serve their bishop while also offering the TLM at their parish. They were not fomenting a rebellion. They weren’t undermining the bishop’s authority. They were, in the vast majority of cases, the kind of priests for which any good bishop would give thanksgiving to God.
Justice would require that the one-sided nature of the war of Pope Francis and his bishops against Traditional Catholics was instigated by one side, fought by one side, and, to this day, maintained by one side. If one wants to know why there’s a lack of trust from the laity and traditionalist priests – that’s a good place to start.
As things stand – I have no intention to ever give another iota of my money to any diocesan effort so long as it falls under the control of the bishop. I will make a donation, instead, to the SSPX seminary.
Agree with Archaic and Kenneth re: the (modern art)istry of the basilica/altar cards.
I used to be rather horrified by Sagrada Familia. And then, when I was in Barcelona, I went in.
That changed my mind.
He suggests doctrinal clarity. Surely any priest persecuted for holding fast to the perennial teaching and practice of the Church should welcome such a possibility. Bishops who want cooperation by requiring full acceptance of Vatican II should, by his standard, have to put in proposition form what is required.
Fr. Z,
Granted, I’ve never been there in the flesh. If I ever get to Barcelona, maybe my mind will be changed, too.