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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
- Imrahil on LENTCAzT 2026 – 30: Wednesday 4th Week in Lent – St. Joseph: “Indeed! I had never thought of that. Thank you, as of course also for the your effort in general. Although…”
- grateful on Ite ad Ioseph… Go to Joseph!: “Father, Sometime when you have extra time, please share St Joseph’ amusing intervention, perhaps, Thank You.”
- Padre Pio Devotee on Ite ad Ioseph… Go to Joseph!: “I too have been greatly helped & protected by St. Joseph, many, many times. I write this comment in thanksgiving…”
- JesusFreak84 on SSPX in Italy sent a book all Italian Bishops about the upcoming consecrations: “I’ve heard rumors that the SSPX priests basically found out about this whole thing when the rest of us did,…”
- Chris Garton-Zavesky on Daily Rome Shot 1568: “I wrote Pope Leo’s first encyclical (as an imaginative and hopeful effort) months ago, and called it Pax Domini. Among…”
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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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Your support is important. Thanks in advance.
To donate monthly I prefer Zelle because it doesn't extract fees. Use
frz AT wdtprs DOT comDonate using VENMO
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Don’t rely on popes, bishops and priests.
“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!
Send Snail Mail to Fr. Z
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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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.
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To donate monthly I prefer Zelle because it doesn't extract fees. Use
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
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 32: Friday 4th Week in Lent – Christ: water, mother, light
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 31: Thursday 4th Week in Lent – The 3rd Station
- Ite ad Ioseph… Go to Joseph!
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 30: Wednesday 4th Week in Lent – St. Joseph
- Daily Rome Shot 1569
- In the ancient Roman Church today, Wednesday “in mediana” was a big day for catechumens.
- (no title)
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 29: Wednesday 4th Week in Lent – Purity and Mud
- SSPX in Italy sent a book all Italian Bishops about the upcoming consecrations
- Daily Rome Shot 1568
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 28: Tuesday 4th Week in Lent – Mass and Cross
- Daily Rome Shot 1567 – It was worse than we thought
- Such wealth and depth we have in the traditional Roman Rite
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 27: Monday 4th Week in Lent – The truth and you
- Your Sunday Sermon Notes – Laetare Sunday, 4th in/of Lent 2026
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 26: Laetare Sunday, 4th in Lent – The goal
- Daily Rome Shot 1566
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 25: Saturday 3rd Week in Lent – The spirit of prayer
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 24: Friday 3rd Week in Lent – Evangelize with our lives
- “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
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: altar girls
ASK FATHER: “Today I was an Alter Server at Mass…”
I confess that I initially sent back a terse note to this one: “You are wrong.” Having Reconsidered, more can be said… From a reader… QUAERITUR: Today I was an Alter [sigh] Server at Mass and upon returning home … Read More
ASK FATHER: How to talk to other mothers about male only altar service?
From a reader… Our parish priest does not care for girl servers but allows it. Today we went to daily Mass and a new girl was serving (which was arranged by one of the moms, I don’t believe Father knew about it), … Read More
The Last Altar Boy
The often amusing Eye of the Tiber has this: The last male altar server in the United States has officially called it quits, the boy’s family is reporting this morning. The 3-year altar server veteran, who remained at his post as cross bearer despite pressure … Read More
12 Comments
San Francisco parish takes step in right direction. Sky falls on pastor’s head.
UPDATE 29 Jan: I had this note from a reader: Check out how much the faithful have donated to support Fr. Illo in his decision for altar boys at Star of the Sea- $22K so far in 1 day! www.gofundme.com/kvc80g God bless you! … Read More
ASK FATHER: Cassock, surplice, girls
From a reader… QUAERITUR: Father, Am I correct in saying that Cassock & Surplice is male attire and that girls should NOT wear it? And if this is the case why do people let it happen? I am taking over … Read More
QUAERITUR: My daughter wants to be an altar boy… girl… server.
From a reader: On the way home from Mass this evening, my daughter, who is a leader in our parish’s CYM and very active in the Church, mentioned that she was going to an Altar server meeting this week. So, … Read More
Other-specied hate piece from Eye of the Tiber
From the amusing Eye of the Tiber comes this species-ist hit piece. Why pick on trolls? Tifton, GA–Catholic troll Phillip Karabin, writing under the handle P90XcelsisDeo, has been patiently scouring the internet looking to passionately defend everything he holds dear, his friends are … Read More
QUAERITUR: Should I encourage my daughter to be an altar girl?
From a reader: I belong to a parish with a good Shepard. I also have two wonderful daughters, one of which has been an alter server (she is 12 by the way). Our priest tried to walk back the use … Read More
IMPORTANT: PCED response to two “dubia” about “legitimacy” in Universae Ecclesiae
I am on the road, and it is hard for me to work with this, but here is a first go at something which I think is pretty important. The following article copy-pasted from the PDF of the 8/23/2012 edition … Read More
36 Comments
QUAERITUR: If we have to agree with Vatican II do we have to agree with Communion in the hand, altar girls, EMHCs, etc?
From a reader: I’m wondering what type of assent are we as Catholics supposed to give to the Vatican II council? Also do we have an obligation to agree with things like Communion in the hand, and other parts in … Read More
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