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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
- Fr. John Zuhlsdorf on Daily Rome Shot 1567 – It was worse than we thought: “Black to move and mate in 4. [NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t…”
- Dicop on Your Sunday Sermon Notes – Laetare Sunday, 4th in/of Lent 2026: “Had a very shocking incident a couple of weeks ago. Circumstances dictated I attend a Novus Ordo Mass. I went…”
- abasham on Your Sunday Sermon Notes – Laetare Sunday, 4th in/of Lent 2026: “On this Laetare Sunday we were abundantly blessed on the outskirts of D.C. … We celebrated a Solemn High Mass…”
- BeatifyStickler on Your Sunday Sermon Notes – Laetare Sunday, 4th in/of Lent 2026: “We recently became a canonical house. Amazing news. Our Lady of the Snow. Lots of children. More young couples attending…”
- Chris Garton-Zavesky on Your Sunday Sermon Notes – Laetare Sunday, 4th in/of Lent 2026: “Picking up on the Introit (and the Offertory), our resident visiting priest preached on the importance of joy and how…”
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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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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
- 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
- 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
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: sacrament of penance
REVIEW: The new iPhone app for confession – useful but flawed
About a million people have written to me about the new “confession” app for the iPhone. Well… not a million, but a lot. I am all for anything that gets people to go to confession. But let’s be clear about … Read More
46 Comments
QUAERITUR: Should I teach my child to confess sins in kind and also number?
From a reader: I’m preparing my oldest child for his First Holy Communion. This great little Communion book from TAN publishers instructs the child to confess his sins and the number of times he committed them. Now for myself, in … Read More
QUAERITUR: How to confess well? I worry I am not doing a good enough job of it.
From a reader: Hi. I am convert. [… S]ince being brought up in a protestant tradition and only becoming catholic as an adult, I was never exposed to the traditions, the formality. In our confirmation classes we was taught the … Read More
QUAERITUR: I haven’t been to confession for 10 years! I don’t know what to do!
From a reader: I haven’t been to Confession in 10 years, and I’ve only gone three times back when I was still in grade school. It’s possible I wasn’t catechized in the sacrament properly because I don’t recall requiring the … Read More
Comments Off on QUAERITUR: I haven’t been to confession for 10 years! I don’t know what to do!
QUAERITUR: Nitwit priest changes the words of absolution. Wherein Fr. Z really rants.
From a reader: I am deeply distressed over this. I went to Confession today and for the absolution, the priest said “…and I forgive you of all your sins…” instead of “..I absolve you of your sins..” Is my Confession … Read More
QUAERITUR: To whom should I write?
From a reader: I’m just returning from a confession where the priest used the words “He absolves” instead of “I absolve.” The priest was a Benedictine who is the pastor of a Diocesan parish. So do I write to the … Read More
Comments Off on QUAERITUR: To whom should I write?
QUAERITUR: confession during Mass, not just before
In a comment under another entry, a reader asked: I have been told by some older folks that this was a very common practice at all Masses in years past. Is this no longer allowed in the NO Mass? Did … Read More
QUAERITUR: recording my own confession
From a reader: Under stress, my mind goes blank. I find Confession really stressful, so therefore can not mentally absorb the advice of the priest nor remember hardly anything he says afterwards. I feel I am missing a lot of … Read More
QUAERITUR: absolution without any confession
From a reader: There is a parish in our diocese that offers a rather unique penance service with no individual confession offered. A penance service is held and people simply file up in a line, say to the priest “I … Read More
QUAERITUR: strange things for a First Confession
From a reader: My son recently made his first Confession as part of a Reconciliation service for his entire grade. While they did have individual confessions, there were parts that seemed illicit and possibly invalid. 1. No one was given … Read More





















