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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
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- 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
Recent Comments
- prayfatima on YOUR URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS: “Prayers for all these intentions. May God have mercy and hear your prayers! Fr. Z, I’m sorry to hear that…”
- Suburbanbanshee on Daily Rome Shot 1565: “I’m very sorry that all these things have been happening to you all at once. Your mom must be a…”
- Fr. John Zuhlsdorf on LENTCAzT 2026 – 22: Wednesday of the 3rd Week in Lent – Don’t let it fester: “I tried to play it and it worked well for me. Anyone else? Also, try HERE”
- Merelin on YOUR URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS: “Please pray that my husband will get a full-time job by St. Joseph’s feast day, March 19th. May God bring…”
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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.”
- Prosper of Aquitaine (+c.455), De gratia Dei et libero arbitrio contra Collatorem 22.61
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Polls
Will you be a "Custos Traditionis" and commit to a DAILY 'Memorare' and WEEKLY penance?
- YES! (66%, 1,905 Votes)
- YES! And I will recruit others! (34%, 974 Votes)
Total Voters: 2,879
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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.”- Fulton Sheen
Therefore, ACTIVATE YOUR CONFIRMATION and get to work!
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Fr John Zuhlsdorf
Tridentine Mass Society of Madison
733 Struck St.
PO BOX 44603
Madison, WI 53744-4603
For email HERE
- “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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frz AT wdtprs DOT comAs 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
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Recent Posts
- “Days in Rome” Project – Easter 2026 and beyond
- HEAR YE! HEAR YE! New from TAN – “The Matins Lectionary: The Complete Readings from the Traditional Roman Breviary”
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 23: Thursday of the 3rd Week in Lent – Feet on the earth, minds in Heaven
- UPDATE on Fr. Z
- Daily Rome Shot 1565
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 22: Wednesday of the 3rd Week in Lent – Don’t let it fester
- YOUR URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 21: Tuesday 3rd Week in Lent – We are not in this alone
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 20: Monday 3rd Week in Lent – The healing bath
- Your Sunday Sermon Notes – 3rd Sunday in/of Lent 2026
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 19: 3rd Sunday of Lent – Fight the demon of impurity
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 18: Saturday in the 2nd Week in Lent – The Angelic Doctor
- STATIONS OF THE CROSS – Audio from Fr. Z
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 17: Friday in the 2nd Week in Lent – The slow martyrdom of virtue – CORRECTED
- Blog issues after the migration
- Daily Rome Shot 1564 – Madness
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 16: Thursday in the 2nd Week in Lent – Dives et Lazarus
- A Roman Station, Saintly Parallels, a Prayer over the People, and a Painting by Raphael
- Daily Rome Shot 1563 – 2nd class relic SHOE
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 15: Wednesday in the 2nd Week in Lent – We will account for our time
- Daily Rome Shot 1562
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 14: Tuesday in the 2nd Week in Lent – The gateway to salvation
- Your Sunday Sermon Notes – 1st Sunday in/of Lent 2026
- Daily Rome Shot 1561
- “And that, to be restored, our sickness must grow worse…”
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 13: Monday in the 2nd Week in Lent – “Everything became clear to me.”
- A ‘Cri de Coeur’ from the heartland
- 2 March – Blog Maintenance & Migration Day – DONE! “Cleanup in aisle 2,5,6…7…9…”
- Daily Rome Shot 1560
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 12: 2nd Sunday in Lent – Benedict XVI from Lent of sad 2013
Let us pray…
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.
PLEASE RESPOND. Pretty pleeeease?
The "sign of peace" during Mass in the Ordinary Form...
- I dread it as it approaches and think of ways to avoid it. (36%, 9,555 Votes)
- I tolerate it. (35%, 9,195 Votes)
- I hate it so much I won't go to Mass where it is done. (12%, 3,205 Votes)
- I like it and am happy to do it. (11%, 2,955 Votes)
- I don't care one way or another. (6%, 1,696 Votes)
Total Voters: 26,606
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Should the Bishops of the USA have us return to obligatory meatless Fridays during the whole year and not just during Lent?
- Yes, and I think this is very important. (81%, 15,546 Votes)
- Yes, I guess so. (9%, 1,716 Votes)
- No, I hesitate about such a move. (5%, 900 Votes)
- No, this would be a really bad idea. (3%, 511 Votes)
- I don't care. (2%, 431 Votes)
- What's penance? (1%, 152 Votes)
Total Voters: 19,255
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Tag Archives: ad orientem
An “ad orientem” learning experience
From a reader: My grandmother lives in a small town here in NJ that still has a Memorial Day ceremony and parade every year. Yesterday, I noticed that when the young woman came up to sing the National Anthem, she … Read More →
QUAERITUR: two-sided Crucifix for Mass “facing the people”
From a reader: Our parish priest, who says the NO in the parish church and the EF in another church in the parish , came up with this idea. For the Mass in English he places a crucifix on the … Read More →
Msgr. Guido Marini on liturgical issues: the “Benedictine arrangement”
Again, I am pleased to link you to the site of NLM which posted the full text of a presentation by the papal MC Msgr. Guido Marini delivered to the wonderful clergy conference for the Year of the Priest which … Read More →
15 Comments
Ad orientem… so needed, so right
The Holy Father once again celebrates ad orientem for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. What I think is important here is not only the image, nice as it is, but also the fact that there was no … Read More →
40 Comments
Turn by turn: Benedict XVI ad orientem versus
The Holy Father celebrated Holy Mass with members of the Pontifical Theological Commission. Mass was in the Pauline Chapel in the Apostolic Palace. Mass was ad orientem, at an altar which can be used from either side. Since this was … Read More →
22 Comments
Catholic Herald front and center on “Reform of the Reform”
The Catholic Herald, the best Catholic weekly in the UK, has a front page piece on the Reform of the Reform of the Church’s liturgy. It is penned by the wonderfully persistent Anna Arco. My emphases and comments. Vatican seeks … Read More →
17 Comments
Westminster Cathedral’s main altar
From the blog Holy Smoke by Damian Thompson: The big free-standing altar [read: "picnic table"] that cluttered up the sanctuary of Westminster Cathedral has gone for good, it seems – with the full approval of Archbishop Vincent Nichols, who is … Read More →
QUAERITUR: when to turn to the people when saying Mass “ad orientem”
From a priest reader: I have been working towards implementing some liturgical changes here, to include ad orientem since my sanctuary allows for adjusting the altar’s location to accommodate it. What I am looking for is some rubrical aid. At … Read More →
28 Comments
A CALL TO PRIESTS who implemented ad orientem worship
Here is a call to priests who have implemented ad orientem worship in their parishes. The renowned liturgical scholar Fr. Klaus Gamber – who influenced also the liturgical theology of Joseph Ratzinger – thought that perhaps more than any other … Read More →
What does GIRM 299 really say?
For those with too little time to read at length, let me give you a blunt summary: For decades the liturgical establishment has operated as if the Council required the abolition of Latin and the ripping out of versus Deum … Read More →
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