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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
- mburduck on Of computing time, a comma, and the invalidity of Benedict XVI’s abdication: “Fascinating post, Father. The question of time definitely makes one think….”
- ex seaxe on Of computing time, a comma, and the invalidity of Benedict XVI’s abdication: “English lawyers eschew commas.”
- Season After Pentecost on ROME 26/3– Day 23: Pure hate: “Why the hatred for rain in Rome? It does look awfully puddley, haha.”
- Phil_NL2 on Of computing time, a comma, and the invalidity of Benedict XVI’s abdication: “For the consequences of commas, I refer to the trail of Roger Casement, where the problem lay in the absence…”
- Gianni on Of computing time, a comma, and the invalidity of Benedict XVI’s abdication: “Proud member of Team Oxford Comma”
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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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“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
- ROME 26/3– Day 23: Pure hate
- Of computing time, a comma, and the invalidity of Benedict XVI’s abdication
- ROME 26/3– Day 22: thanks
- Nope. People know how doctors dress.
- ROME 26/3– Day 21: More on the Six Hour Clock app
- ROME 26/3– Day 20: WOW! JUST TOO COOL!
- Your Sunday Sermon Notes – Quasimodo Sunday (and “Low” and “Thomas” and “Divine Mercy”)
- ASK FATHER: We can eat meat on Easter Friday, but do we have to do some other penance?
- ROME 26/3– Day 19: Claming up
- Nuns of Gower Abbey have a NEW music disc/download!
- St. Augustine on military service and prayer in time of war
- ROME 26/3– Day 18: Flowers!
- ASK FATHER: Can we eat meat on Friday in the Octave of Easter? (Hint: YES!)
- ROME 26/3– Day 17: Itadakimasu
- ROME 26/3– Day 16: chores
- From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 26-04-03 – Aftermath of foot washing
- ROME 26/3– Day 15: foods and views and shoes
- ASK FATHER: Can the “Dies Irae” be used in the Novus Ordo Requiem Mass? Wherein Fr. Z rants.
- ASK FATHER: Grounding for the “harrowing of Hell”
- From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 26-03-28 – A bold statement for foot washing
- ROME 26/3– Day 12-13-14: whew (lots of photos)
- Your Sunday Sermon Notes – Easter Sunday
- PASCHALCAzT 2026 – 47: Easter Sunday – Joy
- “He descended into Hell” – Notes on “The Harrowing of Hell”
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 46: Holy Saturday – The last indignity – UPDATED
- ROME 26/3– Day 11: Good Friday
- From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 26-04-01 – A scare
- 3 April: Feast of St. Richard of Chichester. A comment about science.
- LENTCAzT 2026 – 45: Good Friday – Christ and our moral suffering
- ROME 26/3– Day 10: Thursday in Holy Week
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: validity
ASK FATHER: Can I attend an invalid SSPX wedding?
From a reader… ok — so I get that according to cannon law, since sspx marriages are not “canonically approved’, they are not valid. My God- daughter, and my CLOSEST friend’s daughter is getting married in the fall by an sspx priest. She … Read More
ASK FATHER: Valid marriage in hospital room?
From a reader… QUAERITUR: My wife and I were married in my father-in-law’s hospital room. He was dying of stomach cancer and we wanted him to witness our marriage. We had planned on holding the ceremony in the chapel of … Read More
ASK FATHER: Confession and absolution via text message? Phone? VOIP?
A question pops up once in a while and I have dealt with it before. Can you be absolved over the phone or by internet? NO. That would be INVALID. I was alerted to this post at the site of … Read More
A piece of good news
A very smart priest friend sent me a note this morning with two pieces of good news regarding Pope Francis. I’ll simply share what he sent…. no, wait… I’ll share the first piece of good news. I may post the second … Read More
ASK FATHER: Received into Church after strange Presbyterian baptism
From a reader… QUAERITUR: I was Baptized in the Presbyterian Church and converted to the Catholic faith 9 years ago at the age of 9. Becoming very interested in my own baptism I watched a video of a Presbyterian ministerconferring baptism. He … Read More
ASK FATHER: Mistake about minister of Sacrament of Matrimony and validity
From a reader… QUAERITUR: When making vows at a Catholic Wedding in a Catholic Church if a Groom genuinly beleives that the officiating priest at a wedding is the minister of the Sacrement of Matromony, and not the bride and … Read More
“Annulments” and a distinction: juridical and/or sacramental
Ed Peters, distinguished canonist, has come out of hibernation to post this helpful distinction. See his outstanding blog In The Light Of The Law, where there is no open combox. Check with him often. My emphases. Confusing validity and sacramentality … Read More
ALERT! A “wine” that perhaps isn’t really wine!
As you know, for the consecration of the Eucharist to be VALID, we must use wine from grapes. It can be fortified wine, but it must be wine (HERE). Today I received a link from a reader which I am … Read More
3 Comments
QUAERITUR: Confession at regular parish but Sunday Mass at SSPX?
From a reader: Howdy Fr. Z [Fine, thanks!] I had a question about fulfilling my Sunday Obligation at an SSPX chapel. First let me say, I am 100% with the bishops and the pope. I prefer the Latin Mass. I am about … Read More
QUAERITUR: Of the color of wine, the amount, and the addition of water
From a reader: First off is the wine to be consecrated have to be red and how much wine poured into the chalice is enough to make it a valid mass? One of my priests told us if they don’t … Read More





















