About this blog…
“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
Recent Comments
- The Bruised Optimist on ASK FATHER: If God love us infinitely why does He not speak to us directly?: “Perhaps what the verse from Exodus means is this. If we were to see God, and then have that consummation…”
- on WDTPRS – Collect of the 13th Ordinary Sunday (Novus Ordo): the sticky goo of error and the freeing splendor of the truth. Wherein Fr. Z rants.: “I did happen to go to Confession yesterday. I was the only one there. The only one. Either many Catholics…”
- on Your Sunday Sermon Notes – 4th Sunday after Pentecost (N.O.: 12th Ordinary) 2026: “The national Eucharistic pilgrimage and consecration of the Nation has been going through Massachusetts these past few days, with a…”
- on Your Sunday Sermon Notes – 4th Sunday after Pentecost (N.O.: 12th Ordinary) 2026: “The first reading was from 2 Kings 4:8ff. Father continued the story beyond what was in the lectionary. In the…”
- on Your Sunday Sermon Notes – 4th Sunday after Pentecost (N.O.: 12th Ordinary) 2026: “(Vetus ordo, diocesan) Preaching today was about prayers and understanding for the 1st July, for the situation of the SSPX,…”
- on Your Sunday Sermon Notes – 4th Sunday after Pentecost (N.O.: 12th Ordinary) 2026: “At FSSP Low Mass this morning. My layman’s take home message: we must speak as one voice. Don’t complain or…”
- on Your Sunday Sermon Notes – 4th Sunday after Pentecost (N.O.: 12th Ordinary) 2026: “N.O. Mass Priest did not shy away from loving Christ more than father and mother, son and daughter. Explicitly said…”
- on I have to post these. I know you can find them on your own. But I must post them.: “Needless to say, the SSPX doesn’t make videos about the priests like myself whom they’ve mistreated. It’s an organization that…”
CLICK and say your daily offerings!
A Daily Prayer for Priests
Fr. Z’s Podcasts RSS Feed
Federated Computer… your safe and private alternative to big biz corporations that hate us while taking our money and mining our data. Have an online presence large or small? Catholic DIOCESE? Cottage industry? See what Federated has to offer. Save money and gain peace of mind.
ABORTION PILL RESCUE NETWORK
Everyone, work to get this into your parish bulletins and diocesan papers.
Donate using VENMO
GREAT BEER from Traditional Benedictine Monks in Italy
Good coffee and tea. Help monks.
I use this when I travel both in these USA and abroad. Very useful. Fast enough for Zoom. I connect my DMR (ham radio) through it. If you use my link, they give me more data. A GREAT back up.
Help support Fr. Z’s Gospel of Life work at no cost to you. Do you need a Real Estate Agent? Calling these people is the FIRST thing you should do!
They find you a pro-life agent in your area who commits to giving a portion of the fee to a pro-life group!
This blog has to earn its keep!
PLEASE subscribe via PayPal if it is useful. Zelle and Wise are better, but PayPal is convenient.
A monthly subscription donation means I have steady income I can plan on. I put you my list of benefactors for whom I pray and for whom I often say Holy Mass.
In view of the rapidly changing challenges I now face, I would like to add more $10/month subscribers. Will you please help?
For a one time donation...
To donate monthly I prefer Zelle because it doesn't extract fees. Use
frz AT wdtprs DOT com
Category Archives: Hard-Identity Catholicism
ASK FATHER: Is it OK to clap at the end of the recessional hymn at Sunday Mass?
From a reader… QUAERITUR: At our Sunday Masses there is instantaneous applause at the end of the recessional hymn. Is this OK? I have sent many emails to the parish priest and he agreed that this is not correct but … Read More
Remember! Tomorrow is #AshWednesday – Fast and abstinence!
Remember that tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. Keep in mind the regulations for both abstinence and fasting. Tomorrow is not just a day of abstinence but also of fasting. According to the 1983 Code of Canon Law for the Latin Church, … Read More
Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Hard-Identity Catholicism
Tagged abstinence, fast, LENT
9 Comments
9 Comments
To a priest who learned the Traditional Mass and then quit because it was hard.
I have often written about how priests are never the same after having learned how to say the older, traditional form of Holy Mass in the Roman Rite. Many priests have related to me about how, once they learned, or … Read More
Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Mail from priests
Tagged dante, Priests, TLM
21 Comments
21 Comments
Make Church Great Again! “Free Our Churches From the Ugly and Stupid”
So I’m reading my email. A reader sent the text of a Wall Street Journal piece (they have an evil paywall) entitled “Free Our Churches From the Ugly and Stupid“. “This hath potential”, quoth I, and in did I delve. … Read More
Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, "How To..." - Practical Notes, Be The Maquis, Cri de Coeur, Decorum, Fr. Z KUDOS, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Just Too Cool, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, The future and our choices, Turn Towards The Lord
Tagged Anthony Esolen, restoration, wreckovation
9 Comments
9 Comments
“For, amen I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed…”
From the Gospel according to Matthew And when he was come to the multitude, there came to him a man falling down on his knees before him, saying: Lord, have pity on my son, for he is a lunatic, and … Read More
Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, Cri de Coeur, Hard-Identity Catholicism
Tagged Matthew 17, mustard seed
10 Comments
10 Comments
Card. Arinze Defends Catholic Doctrine… Again
With the help of LifeSite we hear from the great Francis Card. Arinze, Cardinal Bishop of the Suburbicarian Diocese of Velletri-Segni, former Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, Archbishop Emeritus of Onitsha, Nigeria. His Eminence … Read More
Posted in Hard-Identity Catholicism, One Man & One Woman
Tagged Card. Arinze, divorced and remarried
17 Comments
17 Comments
ASK FATHER: St. Patrick’s Day 2017 on Friday in Lent
From a reader… QUAERITUR: I am responsible for a brunch which is served after the Saint Patrick’s Day Mass at the Cathedral in my Archdiocese. This year, Saint Patrick falls on a Friday of Lent. I believe this means I … Read More
“…let him be anathema.”
This quote came up in the combox: A reading from the 13th session of the Council of Trent: “CANON XI.- If any one saith, that faith alone is a sufficient preparation for receiving the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist; let … Read More
Posted in Hard-Identity Catholicism, Lighter fare
Tagged anathema, Council of Trent, faith alone, sola fides
51 Comments
51 Comments
More on the “mutual enrichment” theme: West meets East Edition
More about “mutual enrichment” comes from Catholic World Report. First there was a piece Fr. Peter Stravinskas, who made suggestions about how the older, traditional form of Mass should be altered. HERE I think he was wrong in the very … Read More
A clear and present danger to Catholic doctrine, practice, identity
There is a clear and present danger to Catholic doctrine, practice, identity which has already risen over the horizon and which looms larger as the weeks pass. The exaltation of “conscience”, no matter what. We are not talking about properly … Read More
Posted in Hard-Identity Catholicism, Liberals, Pò sì jiù, You must be joking!
Tagged can. 843, indifferentism, inter-communion, Juggernaut, Walter Kasper
26 Comments
26 Comments
The Bruised Optimist on ASK FATHER: If God love us infinitely why does He not speak to us directly?: “Perhaps what the verse from Exodus means is this. If we were to see God, and then have that consummation…”
