I recently received a book by Fr. William J. Slattery which has been truly intrigued. Heroism and Genius: How Catholic Priests Helped Build—and Can Help Rebuild—Western Civilization US HERE – UK HERE What’s this about? Our author says: With stubborn … Read More →
I had mentioned that I was re-reading Robert Hugh Benson’s prophetic Lord of the World. I finished it yesterday. US HERE – UK HERE Just as I finished it, I found these things. First, I want to preface with this: When you are on a journey … Read More →
I have come to dread interviews with Popes. I have from the beginning of the interviews decades ago. I generally read them anyway because, well, I have to, don’t I. The recent book interview / conversation with Dominique Wolton released … Read More →
I sincerely believe that the Prayer for Vocations which I posted here, and which seems to be spreading across the lands, will bear great fruit. Today I received a note from a priest in Sacramento with a link to a … Read More →
This has gone immediately on my wishlists. It seems to be slated for publication on 1 August. Some of his books include an appendices of sermons. It will be great to have them in one volume. Get copies as gifts … Read More →
Do you have some good news to report? We could use some. Here is some good news… well… it’s also bad news. I guess it depends on your perspective. One Quarter of Ordinations in France Belong to the Tridentine Rite … Read More →
From a reader… QUAERITUR: Our parish has received a terrific seminarian this summer. He comes from a great background and his older brother is a priest so he seems to have a strong support at home. My question is how … Read More →
UPDATE 19 June: Today I have received notes from readers saying that they have spotted this Prayer For Vocations in a couple other places as well. A comment in the combox, below, speaks of one of them. To wit: [T]he … Read More →
From a reader… QUAERITUR: I attended the sacerdotal ordination of 5 priests for my diocese last Saturday. After the bishop imposed hands, other priests participating in the Mass also imposed hands on the candidates. Since priests lack the fullness of … Read More →
The other day I read about another dreadfully misguided and spiritually dangerous fraud perpetrated in North Carolina, another fake “ordination” of a woman. Women, of course, cannot every be ordained to any of the Holy Orders (that includes diaconate). … Read More →
I’ve been writing with friends about vocation numbers. From one of my interlocutors today: Catastrophic (HERE): “The past few weeks have again seen a number of ordinations of new deacons and priests in the dioceses of northwestern Europe. 24 of … Read More →
Over at Catholic World Report there is a piece by Fr. Peter Stravinskas, who reflects on 40 years of priesthood… his own. His 40th anniversary of ordination comes up on 27 May. This bit got my attention and sympathy. The college … Read More →
A while back I wrote that people get the priests that they deserve. Collectively, at least. Priests don’t just spring full grown from the heads of… cabbage. Recently, a writer at hyper-liberal Commonweal suggested that vocations are down because his grand vision of … Read More →
One of the worst of the hyper-liberal catholic publications, Commonweal, publishes a regular column by long-time Rome correspondent Robert Mickens. Many readers here will recall that Mickens loathes Benedict XVI. He lost his job with The Tablet, the UK’s worst catholic … Read More →
From a reader… QUAERITUR: I have been reading it for 4 years and it has greatly helped me as a Catholic and in discerning my vocation. I am 18 and strongly feel called to the priesthood. My question is, are … Read More →
I am in Denver, preaching for a Forty Hours Devotion following, of course, the Clementine Instruction in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. On Thursday we had a Sung Mass, after which I exposed the Blessed Sacrament, we had … Read More →
From a reader… QUAERITUR: In reference to one of your latest posts, do you have any solid book recommendations for young men discerning priesthood. A lot of the stuff usually recommended is emotionally based and does little in the way … Read More →
As I often write, we are our rites. In the new interview book with Peter Seewald, Benedict XVI was asked how the son of a Bavarian policeman became a priest. I have a measure of sympathy with Benedict’s answer. I, too, … Read More →
From a reader… QUAERITUR: I’ve been attending daily mass when I can at a particular parish. When at Mass I often hear some people in the pews who whisper to themselves every single word the priest says at mass. I would like … Read More →
From a reader… QUAERITUR: Maximized priest returning to priestly duties Our new parochial vicar (NO parish) is a priest who was married, divorced, and is now “returning to priestly duty.” What exactly does this mean? Can he licitly confect the Eucharist? Can … 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
An Old Historian on WDTPRS – Spy Wednesday: The final prayers: “Father: Every Paragraph, Sentence, and Word is Majestic, Meaningful, Uplifting, Promising, Humbling, and it all provides a full measure of…”
Sportsfan on ROME 24/3– Day 7: Oooops!: “From the video it looked like Rapport smelled blood in the water but deliberately slowed down to either twist the…”
Sid Cundiff in NC on ROME 24/3– Day 7: Oooops!: ““Last night ossobuco at humble but reliably good place which hasn’t ever disappointed” Where? Name?”
grateful on ROME 24/3– Day 6: Quiet Day: “It looks like that is loaded with healthy food… hope there are no potholes in Rome.”
teomatteo on ROME 24/3– Day 7: Oooops!: ““…Full moon over Campo De’Fiori” and in a half of moon cycle it will be the New moon over Richmond,…”
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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Books which you must have.
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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.
“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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