Catholicism and Alcoholism

A guest article by Joseph Bevan.

What is an alcoholic?

Oscar Wilde once said: ‘everything in moderation, including moderation!’ Now, just because I haven’t touched alcohol for 25 years doesn't mean that I am a puritan or a killjoy. In my drinking days I suppose I classed myself as a greedy drinker as the lure of the bottle occupied much of my time, and I was either consuming or planning to consume. I am not against alcohol at all and hope the visitors to my house can rely on being suitably refreshed. I belong to a society called the ‘Pioneers’ and it seems, judging from their annual magazine, that many of their members are Irish Catholic priests! Members of this group make a permanent or temporary promise to the Sacred Heart of Jesus to refrain from all alcoholic beverages so as to atone for the sins of drinkers. The truth is that many sins are alcohol fuelled. The other point made by the Pioneers is that most people who drink alcohol, drink far too much. In order to persevere with permanent or partial abstinence one is encouraged to repeat a daily prayer.

Response to the Abbot of Solesmes concerning insertion of a changed traditional liturgy into the new Missal: we already have an “altered Mass”; it’s called the novus Ordo

The addiction to constant change is a feature and not a bug of the Vatican II mentality, legitimized however subversively by reference to a certain "spirit" operating as a hermeneutic with loose mooring to the documents of said council.

The Church is in need not of change, whether or not for its own sake. We have suffered spiritually under the tyranny of nothing but constant change for over sixty years with concomitant chaos and confusion. The Church has need of stability. Souls are at stake.

The Abbot of Solesmes Sends a Letter to the Pope on the Integration of the Old Rite -- Followed by Interview with the Abbot

 Dom Geoffroy Kemlin, Abbot of Saint Peter of Solesmes, the venerable abbey founded by Dom Prosper Guéranger, and the major site responsible for the renewal of the Traditional Liturgy and the revival of Gregorian Chant before Vatican II, sent a letter to the Pope with a proposal regarding the Traditional Latin Rite. The Abbey adopted the New Rite of Paul VI, but a branch of its daughter-houses, headed by Our Lady of Fontgombault, have kept the Traditional Rite. Dom Kemlin is also the head of the Congregation of Solesmes of the Benedictines, which includes Fontgombault and its daughter-houses.

The contents of the letter are translated by us below, followed by a translation of the full interview granted by Dom Kemlin to the local news radio. (At the end, you will find the original images of the letter in French.)

+ PAX. ABBAYE 

SAINT-PIERRE 

DE SOLESMES

A Letter to Young Priests - From a Fellow Priest

 Dear Father,

I write to you in Lent, a season not only of penitence but also a season of reflection, reflection certainly on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but also a time of personal reflection on one’s life. For me that reflection this Lent focuses on my priesthood of forty- two years.  The two adjectives that come to mind at this time to describe my priesthood are “difficult” and “glorious”.  To have been ordained a priest in the 1980s and to try to be a priest, as traditionally understood, was quite difficult.  It was a time when I was stripped of much that I love, but that stripping away was necessary to understand the glory of the priesthood that has made me the happy man that I am today.

Theological and Canonical Challenges Posed by Appointing Lay Persons to Positions of Governance in the Church — Guest Article

The following article was written for the fourth anniversary of Praedicate Evangelium by the Canon of Shaftesbury, a judicial vicar in a major archdiocese.

The appointment of lay persons, and particularly laywomen, to positions of governance within the Catholic Church traditionally associated with the Sacrament of Holy Orders presents one of the most significant and unresolved theological and canonical tensions of the post-conciliar period. This study examines the classical teaching that the power of governance (potestas regiminis) is intrinsically linked to sacred orders, the canonical framework encoded in the 1983 Code, and the structural rupture introduced by the 2022 Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium of Pope Francis.

Pope Convenes Episcopal Conferences in Rome in October 2026 to Address Urgent Needs of Families

A gathering of the Presidents of all Conferences of Bishops is convened for this next October in Rome, in order to address the urgent needs of families -- made today, on the Feast of Saint Joseph:

Message of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV on the occasion of the Tenth Anniversary of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia (19 March 2026)

Leo XIV, the Serene Pope, Brings the Hammer Down on the Chaldeans: A Blueprint for Future Action?

A Decisive intervention in the Chaldean Catholic Church?

by Serre Verweij

Pope Leo has accepted the resignation of both Cardinal Sako and Bishop Emanuel Shaleta on the same day. The former the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church and the latter a bishop of the same rite who is in charge of all Catholics in the Western part of the USA and who has been charged with financial crimes (though he has pled not guilty). He is also accused of having frequented a brothel connected to human trafficking.

Pope Receives Abbot of La Trappe -- Will the Venerable Abbey Close Down?

Days ago, the news came out of another resounding post-Vatican II success: the venerable Abbey of La Trappe (OCSO - Trappists), house of origin of the order to which it gave its name, is to close (probably) in 2028, due to lack of vocations.

 

Cardinal Eijk's Latin Mass

Modest Continuity: Pope Leo XIV Moves to the Apostolic Palace

The name Apostolic "Palace" leads to many mistaken assumptions: one is that the pope lives like a king, which is not the case at all. In the huge bureaucratic apparatus and artistic treasures that occupy the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, the small papal apartment is a modest home. 

New SSPX Bishops—Why Now?

SSPX Holy Thursday Mass- Credit Latin Mass Photographer

by James Baresel

Despite it being clear for some time that Society of Saint Pius X would consecrate new bishops sooner rather than later, its recent decision has perplexed many. Granting—even if only for the sake of the argument—that sufficiently grave reasons can justify episcopal consecrations in positive opposition to the supreme pontiff, why less than a year into a new pontificate, why under a pope seemingly open to wider use of the Tridentine Mass? Those wishing to do more than hurl deprecations must understanding the Society’s reasoning.
 

Who is Archbishop Caccia, the new Nuncio to the United States?

by Serre Verweij

Pope Leo has appointed Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia (68 years old) as the new apostolic nuncio for the USA. He will be replacing Cardinal Christophe Pierre who recently turned 80 and had served in the post since 2016. This change of guard comes at a time that the USA has become embroiled in controversial international conflicts, while the American episcopacy will see a significant turnover that will reshape the church for years, if not decades. After nearly ten years of Pierre, what change in era can we expect under Caccia?

St Thomas Aquinas on Salvation and the Epistle to the Hebrews

In honor of the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas (his dies natalis, March 7, as observed in the traditional calendar), Os Justi Press has released two major Thomistic publications.

Cardinal Zen on the SSPX Affair: Trust Leo

 Friday of the 2nd Week of Lent

Cardinal Joseph Zen

The SSPX Affair

Faced with the SSPX situation, it seems that even traditionalists are divided. This is very understandable — there are two things to consider. A) A schism must be avoided at all costs, because it will cause serious and lasting damage to the Church; but on the other hand, B) one must also respect a serious matter of conscience: "How can anyone be compelled to follow teachings that clearly deny the Holy Tradition of the Church?"

But all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.

 

After this the Lord brought to my mind the longing that I had to Him afore. And I saw that nothing letted me but sin. And so I looked, generally, upon us all, and methought: "If sin had not been, we should all have been clean and like to our Lord, as He made us."