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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
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
Recent Comments
Ben on 19th Anniversary of Summorum Pontificum – Thoughts on how this might end.: “Tomasthetorque – the four horsemen of the apocalypse are saddling up, just very lazily and with less thunder and lightning.”
The Masked Chicken on 2nd Joyful Mystery: The Visitation (Traditional observance 2 July): “A very late reply: Dear Lurker 59, You wrote: “Rather, it is a true participation in the divine in the…”
Tito Edwards on Day 1 & 2 Conference for Priests: St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology: “Fr. Zed, I see you have excellent taste in pens! The Pilot G-2 is my personal favorite to write with.…”
mrs wu on My View For Awhile: Westward: “I grew up at Deep Creek Lake! For years, there was a wonderful holy priest in nearby Thomas WV. He’s…”
Dantesque on 19th Anniversary of Summorum Pontificum – Thoughts on how this might end.: “Pope Leo has given it more than 15 minutes of consideration already, as at the very least he has met…”
WVC on 19th Anniversary of Summorum Pontificum – Thoughts on how this might end.: “@nex001 At this point, “true liturgical reform” is the last initiative I want to see happen. It would, invariably, result…”
Rob83 on Day 1 & 2 Conference for Priests: St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology: “Hopefully they’ve got some of the smaller personal size of the study Bible Scott Hahn edited on the RSV-CE II…”
JesusFreak84 on SSPX “Out The Door”… literally on Sunday, at their chapels: “I went to an ICKSP Mass for the holiday weekend and they had printouts of the Vatican statements about the…”
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Recent Posts
- Day 1 & 2 Conference for Priests: St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology
- 19th Anniversary of Summorum Pontificum – Thoughts on how this might end.
- Daily Rome Shot 1655: inconsistencies
- My View For Awhile: Westward
- SSPX “Out The Door”… literally on Sunday, at their chapels
- Your Sunday Sermon Notes – 6th Sunday after Pentecost (N.O.: 14th Ordinary) 2026
- Daily Rome Shot 1654: another jackass
- IMPORTANT expert canonical exam of the DDF SSPX Decree: It does NOT excommunicate SSPX priests or faithful who attend Masses, or change the practical canonical position of faithful seeking SSPX sacraments.
- WDTPRS – 14th Ordinary Sunday (Novus Ordo): from dust to freedom
- Card. Koch, Prefect for Christian Unity, makes observations about the SSPX
- WDTPRS – 6th Sunday after Pentecost: Collect – FIND THE CHIASM!
- My View For Awhile: Philly on the 4th
- ASK FATHER: Lay people, SSPX and excommunication
- Daily Rome Shot 1654: facade
- The Bishop of Salt Lake City reduces priests celebrating the TLM, despite conversions of Mormons
- The DDF’s procedures for “reconciling” both clerics and lay people from the SSPX
- Daily Rome Shot 1653: Pius X’s caption call
- What constitutes “formal adherence” to schism? It is NOT merely attending Masses. There’s more to it.
- 2nd Joyful Mystery: The Visitation (Traditional observance 2 July)
- The 6 SSPX Bishops excommunicated. Priests are in schism. Marriages invalid. Absolutions invalid. Lay faithful warned against schism and excommunication.
- SSPX Superior Fr. Pagliarani’s homily for the 1 July 2026 consecration of bishops
- A study in contrasts
- ASK FATHER: Female heads of dicasteries
- Leo wrote to the SSPX. The SSPX wrote back. Fr. Pagliarani’s response.
- Daily Rome Shot 1653: Procession with the chains of St. Paul
- Prayer for the SSPX and Leo
- ASK FATHER: Frequency of confession and confession of venial sins
- Leo XIV has written to the SSPX: “I plead with you and ask you with all my heart: please turn back!”
- Daily Rome Shot 1652: tiara
- ASK FATHER: If God love us infinitely why does He not speak to us directly?
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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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- 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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“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
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.
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Tag Archives: sacrament of penance
Wherein Fr. Z gives a gift to his brother priests, confessors
Today I watched the video of the Pope who made his own confession before hearing the confessions of others. HERE That juxtaposition brought forcefully into my mind both the prayers I usually say before and after making my own confession, … Read More
Confessions to be heard for 24 hours in….
Fr. Z kudos to the Archbp. of San Antonio. From the Express-News: Confessions to be heard for 24 hours at downtown church SAN ANTONIO — The sacrament of confession will be offered for 24 hours straight by a team of … Read More
Help from Chinese readers? Act of Contrition.
From a Chinese reader who asks for help: I am a Chinese Catholic and many of our prayers are translations from some original Latin edition. One of the most beautiful is the traditional Act of Contrition which is still commonly … Read More
29-30 March: Francis announces days of penance and prayer for Rome
Pope Francis talks about going to confession. He talks about confession a lot. As a matter of fact, he talks about more than his predecessors did. Now comes this. From CNA: Vatican City, Mar 23, 2014 / 06:38 am (CNA).- … Read More
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Pope Francis: GO TO CONFESSION!
What is it I have been shouting? From CNA: Pope: Be courageous, go to confession Vatican City, Feb 19, 2014 / 04:57 am (CNA).- During his Wednesday audience, Pope Francis encouraged the pilgrims filling St. Peter’s Square to receive the … Read More
ASK FATHER: Valid absolution from Orthodox priest, but not from SSPX priest?
From a reader… Quaeritur: Why is absolution from an Orthodox priest valid but absolution from an SSPX priest invalid? I was told by someone that this is one argument from the SSPX as to why their Confessions are valid. This … Read More
ASK FATHER: “Did you desire to completely destroy your relationship with God?” A serious error some priests are into.
From a reader… Quaeritur: Recently went to confession at a parish near my new job. I hadn’t been there ever before. I mentioned the phrase “mortal sin”. The priest said, “I don’t think there was any mortal sin. Mortal sin … Read More
ASK FATHER: When confessing, do I have to hear, understand the absolution for it to be valid?
From a reader: A confessor I go to has recently made it his practice to whisper the words of absolution while I am saying the Act of Contrition. The first time he did this I did not catch it and … Read More
ASK FATHER: Do the faithful have the right to make a confession anonymously?
From a priest: Do the faithful have the right to anonymous confession? If anonymous confession is not available, are they excused from confession until they can get to an anonymous confession? Do priests have a right to anonymous confession? Can … Read More
QUAERITUR: Father had an iPad in the confessional!
From a reader: My daughter came home from confession last night and said Fr. M was using his Ipad during her confession. She was behind the wall/grate but you can easily see through it. She also heard him whispering while … Read More





















