Announcing “Tradition & Sanity”
Jesuit Father Thomas Reese: Lazy, or Liar?
Religion News Service, the center-left media agency that now dominates secular newspaper coverage of religion, carries a column by Jesuit Father Thomas Reese, called Signs of the Times. It is almost always predictable viewpoints from the Jesuit who is so liberal that he was forced to resign as editor-in-chief of America Magazine thanks to Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. One column by Reese called for a ban on young Catholics attending the traditional Latin Mass.
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| Thomas Reese, SJ, in the center of his DC Jesuit community |
In his latest column Reese decided to travel back to April 2007 and make up a story that traditional and conservative Catholics looked the other way when Pope Benedict XVI did something liberal, using Benedict's opinion that Limbo may not exist. According to Reese, had Francis done the same thing as Benedict (which was to agree with the Vatican's International Theological Commission's report dismissing Limbo) the right would have criticized him.
His first paragraph stated: "Many conservative Catholics are upset with Pope Francis, who they complain is changing church doctrine, but they hardly blinked when Pope Benedict got rid of Limbo, a Catholic doctrine that had been taught for centuries."
The problem with Reese's narrative is he is either very lazy, or he lied on this one.
In fact, one of the most widely published articles on the April 2007 issue concerning Benedict and Limbo, written by two Los Angeles Times reporters and syndicated in many other publications in print and online, quoted Reese himself, who praised Benedict as "not afraid to look at something that has been taught in the church for centuries and say it is not at the core of Catholic belief." Yet there was more to the same article.
Four paragraphs after Reese's quotes contained a section titled "Conservatives skeptical." It stated:
Warning to Traditional Orders, Parishes, and Traditional-minded dioceses: don’t answer this e-mail
There’s a bizarre e-mail being sent to Traditional communities and Tradition-friendly dioceses, coming from a supposed Italian doctoral student or professor in a semi-abandoned Pontifical Theological Institute in Italy, and asking all kinds of curious details about liturgical practices and a long list of similar questions, supposedly for “research” purposes. We have seen the e-mail messages.
Our sources believe this is a trap: some in Rome want to gather “evidence” of “disobedience” and manufacture disinformation to set the basis for even more illegitimate restrictions on the Traditional Liturgy.
So… this is a very important heads-up. Let anyone trustworthy in positions of authority in these institutions become aware of this and NOT answer this “research” trap. Thank you!
Traditional Silent Retreats for Men and Women at New Center in Indiana
Cardinals Roche and Cantalamessa: The Mass of Paul VI Corresponds to a New Theology
"It is not the traditionalists, but Roche who ignores the Council": Luisella Scrosati's latest column
RESURRECTION: I the Lord have spoken, and done it, saith the Lord God
From the Traditional Easter Vigil.
A Reading from Ezekiel Prophet (Chapter 37):
PLEASE DONATE - PLEASE HELP the oldest continuing Traditional Catholic Community in South America through Friends of Campos (Holy Week and Easter Appeal)
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| Traditional Sister guiding a class of young students in a chapel of the Campos Apostolic Administration |
[Our website donations page (at www.friendsofcampos.org/donations.html) accepts Stripe or Paypal; there's also information for sending bank transfers.]
Revised (post-Rescript) edition of Fr. Rivoire's canonical critique of 'Traditionis Custodes' now available
Papal Liturgies and the Missing Crucifix
Even more comments like this may be found on the Vatican website here.
Let's recall how things looked at an outdoor Mass under Benedict XVI:
"Missae pro Missa" Update: Help Reach 1 Million Masses for the TLM!
Dozens of billboards go up around Rome in defense of the TLM
2023 National Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage
Members of the group, which included three priests, on the steps of Saint Matthews Cathedral at the conclusion of the walk today. The event may become biannual with another pilgrimage potentially scheduled for September this year. (Photo credit Juventutem DC.)
Fontgombault Sermon for the Annunciation: Mary's "Yes" is the Greatest Moment in Human History
and Simple Profession of Br. Jean-François Charlebois and of Br. Hernane Pereira
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
My dearly beloved Sons,
and most especially you, who are now going to make your religious vows,
Monks like to pronounce theirs vows and promises underMary’s eyes. They do that in the hope that these eyes will never turn away from their everyday life, and they can do it with a firm trust. How could a mother, the Mother par excellence, turn away from those she has received as children, for we are truly her children?
What then is this unique motherhood?
St. Irenaeus wrote in his Treatise against Heresies:
Fr. Cyril Gordien: "The hardest thing is to suffer at the hands of the Church"
"Russophilia", the West and anti-Romanism - by Roberto de Mattei
In 2004, in a dialogue with Senate President Marcello Pera, then-Cardinal Ratzinger identified as a cultural evil of our time the self-hatred of the West (in Without Roots; Europe, Relativism, Christianity, Islam, Mondadori, Milan 2004).
One expression of this hatred of the West is "Russophilia," an intellectual tendency that became an international organization on March 14, 2023, with the presentation in Moscow of the "International Movement of Russophiles." Among the 120 representatives from 46 countries, chronicles report the presence of an Italian, Princess Vicky (Vittoria) Alliata di Villafranca, known for her keen interest in the Islamic world. Another well-known figure, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, addressed a warm message to the conference participants, stating, among other things, that "the Russian Federation undeniably stands as the last bastion of civilization against barbarism." The role of the Russian Federation "will be decisive" "in an 'Antiglobalist' Alliance that returns to citizens the power that has been taken from them, and to nations the sovereignty eroded and ceded to the Davos lobby."
Like any error, Russophilia starts from a truth: the decadence of the West, which has turned its back on its history and values. The Magisterium of the Catholic Church has pointed out as responsible for this decay an enemy that, "in recent centuries has attempted to work the intellectual, moral, social disintegration of the unity of the mysterious organism of Christ" (Pius XII, Address of Oct. 12, 1952 to the men of Catholic Action). ...
REBUILDING MONTECASSINO: How the Reform of the Eucharistic Fast Preceded the Church’s current Dramatic Period
Rebuilding Montecassino
From the search for God to the search for self in the observance of the Eucharistic fast
[Rorate’s special translation in honor of the Feast of Saint Benedict.]
The witnesses and documentary evidence that have come down to us state that Jesus, shortly before his death, planned an evening meal, in the course of which he took bread and wine, blessed them, and distributed them to those who were present.
This is the incontestable fact, as incontestable as it is that those who partook of the meal had not fasted beforehand, nor are there any indications that they should have fasted in any way because that supper was carefully planned in every detail (Mt. 26:17-19; Mk. 14 13-16; Lk. 22:8-13), and there is no sign that fasting was a component of it.
Very soon, however, Christians prepared for receiving the Eucharist by a fast, which in the Latin Church consisted of abstaining from food and water from midnight onward.
To understand the whys and the wherefores of the development of this particular observance is to tell a fascinating story.
In 1953, in an unprecedented decision, this practice was stifled and eradicated. It is a painful, but no less fascinating story.
I. Fasting: A mirror to the soul
Our society considers the overall wellbeing it has attained as a normal, certain and further improvable state of affairs. In the eyes of those who do not belong to this society, or are excluded from it, it emanates a glow so desirable that they risk their lives in order to obtain it.
Dr. Kwasniewski’s South Carolina 2023 Lecture Tour, April 20-22, 2023
Dear friends and readers, I will be in South Carolina next month giving three lectures: Charleston on April 20th, Columbia on April 21st, and Greer on April 22nd. All the details are in the poster. Hope to meet you if you're in the area!
"Ten years of Pope Francis: lights, shadows and glooms": Miguel Angel Quintana Paz
Ten Years of Francis: Destruction without Reconstruction in a Vatican that feels like North Korea -- by Aldo Maria Valli
On the Ten Years of Francis (2013 - 2023)
By Aldo Maria Valli
To comment on the ten years of Francis' pontificate, the words written by Demos (also known as the late Cardinal Pell) in the memorandum he wanted to distribute to all the cardinals a year ago would suffice: "A disaster in more ways than one, a catastrophe."
Bergoglio has succeeded in the fine feat, that is possible only for certain particularly gifted individuals, of destroying without rebuilding. He was elected to bring fresh air. After ten years, the air is unbreathable. And the papolatry raging these days, on the occasion of the anniversary, makes it even more noxious.
There is no Beauty without the Sacred
Op/Ed
by Gennaro Malgieri*
H/T: IL NUOVO ARENGARIO
March 12, 2023
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“Beauty is a sort
of visible harmony that gently pierces the human heart”, wrote Ugo Foscolo.
But how might we define Beauty today?
Second National Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage Coming Up on March 25!
On March 25, the Arlington Latin Mass Society will be holding the Second National Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage. We will process from St. Thomas More Cathedral in Arlington, VA to St. Matthew the Apostle Cathedral in Washington, D.C.-- about a two hour walk-- to show our support for the Traditional Latin Mass and bear witness to the devotion it inspires. We will carry beautiful Catholic banners, flags, and processional crosses, pray the Rosary, sing Marian hymns, and spread the truth of Christ through the streets of Arlington, VA and Washington, D.C.
Newly Typeset Large Latin Missal for Pre-55 Holy Week Now Available
MARCH 13, 2013 - MARCH 13, 2023: TEN YEARS OF "HORROR"
"So he came with the king's mandate, bringing nothing worthy of the high priesthood, but having the fury of a cruel tyrant, and the rage of a savage beast."
The Horror!
Of all the unthinkable candidates, Jorge Mario Bergoglio is perhaps the worst. Not because he openly professes doctrines against the faith and morals, but because, judging from his work as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, faith and morals seem to have been irrelevant to him.
German "Church" Officially Approves Same-Sex "Blessings" - a Moment of Schism and Collapse of the Universal Church
"Et in unam, sanctam, catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam..." -- we proclaim our belief in the marks of the Church every Sunday in the Creed.
Minutes ago, the parliamentary assembly of German bishops and radical lay activists gathered under the name of "Synodal Way" officially approved "same-sex blessings". As reported by Jonathan Liedl:
Vote to adopt text on “blessings for couples who love each other” passes pic.twitter.com/Phh71660T8
— Jonathan Liedl (@JLLiedl) March 10, 2023
Once again, German schismatics and apostates bring the Church to a moment of collapse and crisis. WE ARE NOT IN COMMUNION WITH THIS nonsense, whatever this is. May God send fire from heaven to burn to the ground the den of iniquity that is the German "Church". This mess and this destruction of the Church are exclusively the work of Francis and his minions.
Serious Catholics Refuse to Donate to Francis’ Vatikenstein — now it’s going broke.
"Is it really time for hiding?" Why priests should openly refuse to stop offering the Latin Mass
"L'Eglise, c'est moi!" - Reflection by Francis Patruno
"Mexican bishops will ask Pope to include Mayan rites in Catholic Masses": Zaire was just the start...
Report from a Rome in Deep Crisis: "Terror, Disgust, Espionage: Everybody Hates Francis."
Beautiful new edition of Dom Benedict Baur’s great TLM commentary “Light of the World”
"We are in front of a Kafkaesque paradox": Canonical remarks on the Rescriptum of February 21
If, formally, the Rescriptum ex Audientia Ss.mi of February 21, 2023 -- an administrative act by which a department head asks for and obtains (rescriptum: "written twice") something from the Supreme Pontiff (Sanctissimi) at the end of an audience (ex Audientia) -- aims to "implement" the motu proprio Traditionis custodes of July 16, 2021, from a practical point of view, it actually alters it in its substantial structure.
The Rescript, in fact, subverts the basis on which Traditionis custodes itself is founded, whose first words, an echo of Lumen gentium No. 23 (the Second Vatican Council's dogmatic constitution on the Church) are addressed to the bishops: "Custodians of tradition," begins the preamble of Pope Francis' motu proprio amending Benedict XVI's motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, "the bishops, in communion with the Bishop of Rome, constitute the visible principle and foundation of unity in their particular Churches." But if Traditionis custodes had pointed to the diocesan bishops for a regulation of the use of liturgical forms prior to the post-conciliar reforms, the Rescript of last Feb. 21 overturns that principle by reserving to the Holy See (and thus to the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments) the regulation of an entire matter which, however, would itself have been left to the discretion of individual local Ordinaries by the same measure to which the Rescript says it wants to give "implementation."
New Book by Dr Joseph Shaw: An Irrefutable Apologia for the Traditional Liturgy
"The clique of Saint Anselm conducts the war against ancient Mass": Luisella Scrosati
Fasting: Denial of the Flesh and Joy of the Spirit
The suffering of physical privation in our Lent fasting and other means of self-denial has the purpose of securing for ourselves the higher spiritual goods. The grace of inner gladness, that of the spirit which endures beyond the limits of the flesh, is one of these.
Pre-55 Holy Week Congregational Book — Revised and Expanded Edition Now Available
A Beautiful New Latin Edition of the “Imitation of Christ” by Thomas à Kempis
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| The new edition |
(by Fr. Paolo D’Angona, priest of the Diocese of Roermond; translated from German here)
Christophe Dickès: "Why take away from traditionalists what John Paul II and Benedict XVI had granted?"
But who are these traditionalist Catholics?





























