A recent piece at the SSPX site deals with the “vertiginous” drop in priestly vocations in France, in particular, Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe. The figures they used are from the French bishops conference and other non-SSPX sources. The … Read More →
This time of year many new priests are being ordained and, consequently, many priests observe their own anniversaries. In the traditional, Vetus Ordo of the Roman Rite a priest can add orations for himself, Pro seipso sacerdote, on the anniversary … Read More →
From this new study about vocations to the priesthood and ordinations in these USA: HERE I was told by a bishop that bishops say they do not hear that men have been inspired toward priesthood by Francis. Of course the … Read More →
UPDATE: 27 Aug 2022 12:14: From my friend… GOOD GRIEF! Your readers really responded – as in, immediately! The book is now SOLD OUT, thanks to you. So I’m busy boxing up more copies to send to the Amazon warehouses. … Read More →
But remember… the problem is the Traditional Latin Mass! If only we could shut it down, the seminaries would fill up again. Right? The average age of a priest in the United States is 67. The large ordination classes of … Read More →
From VaticanNews.va in Italian: Italy, CEI: fewer seminarians, families may be a nursery for vocations [What’s….. family?] The data of a report by the Italian Bishops’ Conference reveal that in just ten years the decline in vocations has reached 28%: … Read More →
UPDATE: From a reader: Hi Father, long time follower, I would like to respond to your remark on Ireland. Perhaps I don’t need to register to tell you about the good news in Ireland. Before Traditionis Custodes, the ICKSP is … Read More →
From an alumnus of the North American College (US seminary in Rome) … edited so that the style of writing can’t be traced to any one priest by those who might recognize it. As a NAC grad, I read your … Read More →
The craven faculty of the North American College (US seminary in Rome), perhaps under the pressure of their board, has snuffed out the Traditional Latin Mass, which was a regularly scheduled Mass on Saturdays. There was also training for the … Read More →
From a reader… QUAERITUR: I heard a priest refer to his role as, “not the bouncer to the Eucharistic banquet but the server [as in waiter].”Most analogies fall flat, but this one hit a dissonant chord that I can’t quite … Read More →
From a reader…. QUAERITUR: I recently discovered the SCDF declaration Instauratio liturgica (Jan. 25, 1974), which says that the meaning of a translated sacramental formula is that of the original Latin, understood according to the mind of the Church. Especially … Read More →
From a transitional deacon… QUAERITUR: I am a transitional deacon soon to be ordained a priest. As that day draws near, I realize that my seminary has taught me absolutely nothing about how to bless people and things. As I … Read More →
At Catholic World Report, Fr. Peter Stravinskas offers a reflection on the way Francis seems constantly to denigrate and insult priests affects both morale and vocations. His observations coincide with my own. One of things he said struck a strong … Read More →
From a reader… QUAERITUR: Is there really an indulgence for kissing the hands of a newly ordained priest? I’ve heard different accounts. And how long is “newly”? I have written about this before. For example, HERE. There is no indulgence, … Read More →
There is some GOOD NEWS. It’s down below. Meantime… I’ve been ranting for years about the need for clerics to know the language of their Latin Church, Roman Rite. In most cases that means that priests and seminarians have to … Read More →
It is deeply troubling that the tactics of the 80’s and 90’s are being redeployed now. From a reader… In connection with your psyops article from just over two years ago, there is a seminarian in need of serious prayer. … Read More →
I have written quite a few times here that – in this time of erosion and reversal in the Church – young priests and seminarians will increasingly be exposed to the sort of thing we older guys had to endure … Read More →
From a reader comes this apposite passage. Long-time reader here. Your recent posts (“rants”) about priests learning Latin and their Rite recalled to mind a passage I believe you will heartily enjoy from an excellent older biography of St. Robert … Read More →
Someone once said something along the lines of, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” The Bitter Pill (aka The Tablet aka RU-486) has a story that 130 year old Wonersh Seminary in … Read More →
In another post, I commented on some good points made by Joseph Shaw in a piece at HPR. I want to return to Shaw’s piece for some final points. Picking up toward the end… […] It certainly would not have … Read More →
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“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
grateful on 1st Passion Sunday – some notes: “After mass, a friend was saying they didn’t like the statues being covered. I sent this to her. Also thank…”
Everyone, work to get this into your parish bulletins and diocesan papers.
The most evident mark of God’s anger and the most terrible castigation He can inflict upon the world are manifested when He permits His people to fall into the hands of clerics who are priests more in name than in deed, priests who practice the cruelty of ravening wolves rather than the charity and affection of devoted shepherds.
St. John Eudes
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“Until the Lord be pleased to settle, through the instrumentality of the princes of the Church and the lawful ministers of His justice, the trouble aroused by the pride of a few and the ignorance of some others, let us with the help of God endeavor with calm and humble patience to render love for hatred, to avoid disputes with the silly, to keep to the truth and not fight with the weapons of falsehood, and to beg of God at all times that in all our thoughts and desires, in all our words and actions, He may hold the first place who calls Himself the origin of all things.”
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“He [Satan] will set up a counter-Church which will be the ape of the Church because, he the devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the anti-Christ that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ. In desperate need for God, whom he nevertheless refuses to adore, modern man in his loneliness and frustration will hunger more and more for membership in a community that will give him enlargement of purpose, but at the cost of losing himself in some vague collectivity.”
“Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops.”
“The modern habit of doing ceremonial things unceremoniously is no proof of humility; rather it proves the offender's inability to forget himself in the rite, and his readiness to spoil for every one else the proper pleasure of ritual.”
- C.S. Lewis
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As for Latin…
"But if, in any layman who is indeed imbued with literature, ignorance of the Latin language, which we can truly call the 'catholic' language, indicates a certain sluggishness in his love toward the Church, how much more fitting it is that each and every cleric should be adequately practiced and skilled in that language!" - Pius XI
"Let us realize that this remark of Cicero (Brutus 37, 140) can be in a certain way referred to [young lay people]: 'It is not so much a matter of distinction to know Latin as it is disgraceful not to know it.'" - St. John Paul II
Grant unto thy Church, we beseech Thee, O merciful God, that She, being gathered together by the Holy Ghost, may be in no wise troubled by attack from her foes. O God, who by sin art offended and by penance pacified, mercifully regard the prayers of Thy people making supplication unto Thee,and turn away the scourges of Thine anger which we deserve for our sins. Almighty and Everlasting God, in whose Hand are the power and the government of every realm: look down upon and help the Christian people that the heathen nations who trust in the fierceness of their own might may be crushed by the power of thine Arm. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen.
This is really useful when travelling… and also when you aren’t and you need backup internet NOW! I use this for my DMR “Zednet” hotspot when I’m mobile. It’s a ham radio thing.
If you travel internationally, this is a super useful gizmo for your mobile internet data. I use one. If you get one through my link, I get data rewards.
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