I’m now getting involved with Substack, which I don’t understand very well. I’ll cross post for awhile. First post HERE
Back in the day….
At an antique store over the weekend, I was startled to pick up a 1927 edition of the Hardy Boys to find it was written in higher English than one normally encounters for adults now. This was for 8-12 year olds! A century ago. https://t.co/NYYSqVx1LM pic.twitter.com/CPtuepjA13
— Jeffrey A Tucker (@jeffreytucker) August 25, 2026
Knowledge of Latin…
I am reminded of the priest, the pastor of Saints Cyril and Methodius Church in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, who opined HERE that people who desire the TLM (which according to him in his deep wisdom “does not have the same status or dignity as the Mass of Paul VI” – one of the stupidest things ever to have been penned) “have not matured sufficiently in the faith to accept the Mass approved after the Second Vatican Council.” He continues that use of the 1962 Missal was that “the grace of God may help these participants overcome their dependence on the old Latin Mass and enter into communion with the rest of the Church by celebrating Mass in the vernacular.”
Sometimes, I’ll use the label “Oaf For A Day!” This one is now “Oaf For Year!”
However, the ICK celebrates the TLM at this oaf’s parish.
I wonder his people imagine that Fr. Oaf thinks of them. He communicated that they are “immature” (read: stupid) and that the are not in communion with the Church.
Behold, the Good Shepherd.
Remember: It’s not just the traditional rites that they fear and dislike, they fear and dislike the people who want them. It’s about the people.
I wonder how strong Fr. Oaf’s Latin is. As strong as one of the Hardy Boys? I doubt it. He went to CTU in Chicago.
Black to move and mate in 4.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
Happy Wednesday ? pic.twitter.com/9Tgq5FkF4g
— MedievalistMatt (@medievalistmatt) August 26, 2026
What a horrible thing for a pastor of souls to write. I suppose the faith of men like St. Josemaria Escriva and St. Padre Pio were also “immature” since they continued to celebrate the Usus Antiquior of the Latin Rite? One can almost see the contempt dripping from each of the highlighted words towards those souls who only want to worship the way St. Padre Pio, St. Theresa the Little Flower and countless other saints worshipped.
I have been to this parish before, while vacationing in Sheboygan. Last summer as a matter of fact. While my family were still asleep, I went to the Saturday morning Mass at St. Cyril and Methodious. Seeing that they had Mass in the Usus Antiquior on Sundays through the ICKSP, I thought the Mass here would be reverent and sound.
As the bell rang, I see a 60-ish year old woman trot out in an alb, the lone “altar server”. The priest must’ve been an associate pastor, from the African continent. He gave a horrible homily that lasted too long for a Saturday morning, and spoke very positively of Muslims during said homily, causing my eyebrow to raise may times due to his questionable (at best) theology on true worship. Of course, I was basically the only person there under 40. Maybe 20 people there total for this Saturday morning Mass. Now seeing what this pastor wrote, it makes even more sense why I experienced what I did there.
Thankfully, not all parishes are like this Sheboygan. I went to another one that same week, and the priest had a wonderful ars celebrandi, only used male altar servers, chanted, and had a kneeler up front where most people knelt for Holy Communion. Sadly, none of that is happening at St. Cyril and Methodious parish. But that pastor at the other parish was much younger, so I do have some hope for the future.
He’s just echoing the words of a sainted pope who called people spiritually indolent for not liking the mess Bugnini made of the Mass.
Fliss made a number of absurd statements in his message; InfoVaticana reminded me but I’m almost glad they’re not repeated here.
As for his CTU roots (just one among so many Catholic clergy in high places…), color me shocked, and nauseated. How long, O Lord?
And in other Oaf related news, notorious heretic Thomas Reese, S.J., is sharpening what he thinks are his creative writing skills, and among other things, gripes (once again) about mean old Ratzinger denying him the ever so wonderful 1998 ICEL translation and (this is a new one for me) that there isn’t a unique preface for every. single. Sunday. in the three-year lectionary cycle, among other things.
https://religionnews.com/2026/08/25/why-i-hate-the-old-latin-mass/
(the title says it all, doesn’t it?)
Wasn’t that therapist being rather callus to the little soldier in the shoe?
1. When someone makes an ad hominem argument (in the sense of attacking the person he disagrees with) it means someone has no argument at all.
2. Regarding the Hardy Boys post, when I was in the 6th grade (1962) I was looking around in our sizable attic and stumbled on my mother’s (circa 1936) 4th grade spelling book. It was way more difficult than my 6th grade spelling. I felt both cheated and relieved.
However, if you look at the last book in the McGuffey eclectic readers (grade 6) it includes an essay from Blackstone’s Commentary on the Laws of England. The essay is about the origin of Law, which I think he traces to the 10 commandments.
There is a story (I read in a book on monetary theory written by a Pentecostal Christian) that a man who taught first year law students at Duke would assign this essay only to tell the confused students during the next class meeting it was from a 6th grade reader. The purpose was to teach them some humility. I had already been humbled by my mother’s spelling book.
There is a lesson for the Church in this: rather than meeting people where they are, perhaps it would be better to challenge them.
I really like Substack, although it doesn’t have the same total freedom as a blog. It does have a really good search function which helps people find substacks that interest them. I have an account and I’m considering posting some scholarship to it because it is very expensive to submit to an academic journal (at least many of the big name ones) these days. It is a known problem in academia.
Am I misreading this (Twenty-second session of the Council of Trent):
CANON IX.–If any one saith, that the rite of the Roman Church, according to which a part of the canon and the words of consecration are pronounced in a low tone, is to be condemned; or, that the mass ought to be celebrated in the vulgar [vernacular, my edit] tongue only; or, that water ought not to be mixed with the wine that is to be offered in the chalice, for that it is contrary to the institution of Christ; let him be anathema.
The Chicken
Do you have an Oaf Lifetime Achievement Award?
1. . . . . . . . Q-d1+
2. K-h2 . . . Q-g1+
3. K-h3 . . . Q-h1+
4. K-g4 . . . Q-h5#
Looks too easy, but I think it works.
Not unalarmed, I wonder in how far Agrestissimus Anni may be in line with the Holy Father’s Catechesis on “Sacrosanctum Concilium”, not having followed – or caught up with – the first seven installments, but having just been reading in the Vatican English version of the eighth and final one and finding that it does seem rather ‘liturgically supersessionist’ (if that is a possible way of putting it).
And, while I suppose saying “A correct understanding of it also enables us to reject the abuses that occurred in certain sectors of the Church during the post-Conciliar period, and which, unfortunately, still occur from time to time today, where some of the principles underlying the reform itself have been taken to extremes or misunderstood” is better than nothing, its “occurred in certain sectors” and “still occur from time to time” seem woefully ill-informed in their understatement.
It seems I must have the substack app on my phone in order to subscribe & comment?
In addition to Chicken’s excellent comment, I note that Canon Law says
249 The program of priestly formation is to provide that students not only are carefully taught their native language but also understand Latin well and have a suitable understanding of those foreign languages which seem necessary or useful for their formation or for the exercise of pastoral ministry.
I have yet to run into a priest who publicly denigrates the TLM so stupidly who knows more than the barest patter of Latin.
Then there’s Vatican II, Optatam Totius:
13. Before beginning specifically ecclesiastical subjects, seminarians should be equipped with that humanistic and scientific training which young men in their own countries are wont to have as a foundation for higher studies. Moreover they are to acquire a knowledge of Latin which will enable them to understand and make use of the sources of so many sciences and of the documents of the Church. The study of the liturgical language proper to each rite should be considered necessary; a suitable knowledge of the languages of the Bible and of Tradition should be greatly encouraged.
I would submit that in the LATIN Rite, the “language proper to the rite” can only mean LATIN. Sure, the Missal says you can use the local vernacular, but the infinite numbers of local vernaculars necessarily mean that NONE of them is “the language proper to the Latin Rite”, Latin alone is the proprietary language that specifies the Rite.
This priest IS AGAINST VATICAN II!
To the pastor of Saints Cyril and Methodius Church in Sheboygan: “OK, Boomer.
We hear you. We’ll take it from here.”
Chicken,
My understanding of that language has always been that the Latin Church must always celebrate the liturgy with at least some Latin, allowing (at most) a liturgy using both Latin and the vernacular/vulgar, but not solely the latter. I could be wrong, though.
Loaftime Achievement Award
Apologies, I will see myself out.
Dear NickD,
I, regularly, attend Masses that have nary a word of Latin. How many people erroneously think that the vernacular Mass is superior to the Latin Mass because they can understand it? This is, partially, laziness on some people’s parts. Missals with both Latin and vernacular have been around for at least a century. There was a movement in the 1940’s and 1950’s to instruct people how to use missals. I think having the readings repeated in the vernacular is fine, but the Ordinary should become second nature to everyone in Latin. That was, I think, what Vatican II had in mind. To be clear, the use of the vernacular was a Protestant innovation and that is exactly the sort of crypto-Protestantism that slipped into the implementation of Vatican II, and I suspect some of the Fathers knew this would happen and wanted it. If the Church hadn’t been distracted by WW I and WW II, she might have noticed the biasing occurring in the Germanic (or more generally, the Flemish) counties towards Protestant contamination of Catholicism starting in the 1880’s and acted swiftly. The Oath against Modernism was a good start, but it did not directly address the site of the infection, and so, Germany has, for the most part, gone off the rails in ecclesiastical pronouncements, of late. Vatican II should have waited until at least 50 years after WW II, not merely 20. The liberal element was strongest immediately after both wars.
The Chicken
Oaf For A Year? With all due respect Father, I think you are too kind for this guy. Oaf For A Decade seems more appropriate to me. I don’t think that’s unduly harsh in this case.
Is the priest at St. Cyril and Methodius Church so caught up in cognitive dissonance as to imagine that a different Rite puts people outside communion with the Church? The parish patrons developed a fork of the Byzantine Rite (celebrated to this day) now called the Slavonic Rite (also celebrated to this day). Their histories point directly to TWO other Rites within the Church.
He also seems to have a sufficiently immature understanding of the Sacraments to conflate invalid with illicit. Given the prevalence of liturgical abuses, were these the same, most Novus Ordo Masses would be invalid, so hopefully he corrects his error quickly.
He seems to argue that a Mass focused on “ministering and serving others as baptized Catholics” is more mature than a Mass where the “faithful center on their individual relationship with God”. That’s certainly a difference in emphasis between the two. But I hope I never mature beyond the words of Christ, saying that “Mary has chosen the better part.” Participatio actuosa, not participatio activa.
But you know, maybe he was in too much of a rush to trouble himself to get such things right, though you’d think that the spiritually immature would be in sufficient need of correct guidance to merit more carefulness.