What’s wrong with our schools?

A guest article by Joseph Bevan, author of Two Families and Traddy Daddy.

School children in 1947 (source)

How it started

My own father, who had taught in schools for over 50 years, liked to explain: “there are three essential items needed for the education of children: Kennedy’s Latin Primer, a bible and a cane.” This notion, also favoured in the 19^th century by the likes of Doctor Arnold, headmaster of Rugby School and featured in Tom Brown’s School Days, was the main principle behind the foundation of the Protestant English public schools and lasted until the 1960s.

Book Announcement: “Good Music, Sacred Music, and Silence: Three Gifts of God for Liturgy and for Life”

I am happy to share with readers of Rorate the announcement of my latest book, released today: Good Music, Sacred Music, and Silence: Three Gifts of God for Liturgy and for Life (TAN, 2023). This book—the fruit of decades of working as a church singer, choir director, composer, and teacher of music at the college level—is a heartfelt appeal to take the art of music as seriously as it deserves to be taken.

The first part deals with the corrosive cultural and psychological effects of a lot of modern popular music, contrasted with the numerous benefits of a lifelong apprenticeship to the great music of the Western tradition (including the many excellent composers working today). Here I draw upon such thinkers as Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Pieper, and Ratzinger as well as years of interesting interactions with young people, whom I often guided through what might be called their “musical conversion.”

Beautiful New Book Teaches Kids Gregorian Chant with Active Keyboard and Color-coded Music

Do you want your child to sing but don’t know where to start? Does your child enjoy music and need some inspiration to sing? Whether your child has been singing for years, or not at all, Children’s First Chants will help them grow in their love for sacred music!

“Given a Choice, Why Should I Consistently Attend the Traditional Latin Mass?” — Full Text of Dr. Kwasniewski’s Charlotte Lecture

The following lecture, sponsored by the Charlotte Latin Mass Community, responds to a question many Catholics have today: “Why should I go to the extra trouble of attending the Latin Mass consistently or exclusively, when it’s so much more convenient to go to a closer church that has a decently reverent Novus Ordo? And after July 16th’s motu proprio, Church leaders are making it more difficult than ever to make the Latin Mass our liturgical home. What reasons should motivate us to stay faithful to it, despite those challenges?” Along the way, I furnish arguments in favor of the content and form of the TLM and respond to some of the usual objections made by Bergoglianity against tradition. A video of the lecture has also been posted at YouTube.

Given a Choice, Why Should I Consistently Attend the Traditional Latin Mass?

Lecture by Dr. Peter Kwasniewski

St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, Charlotte, North Carolina

Saturday, November 6, 2021

“The Illustrated Liturgical Year Calendar” — Beautiful New Posters for the TLM

Set 1, Poster 1: Advent

Little Latin Readers 'third level' now available for homeschoolers

A couple of years ago we brought our readers a wonderful new tool for children, especially homeschoolers, to learn Latin (see original post with more details below this update). 

The third level of the newly revised Little Latin Readers series, Liber Tertius: Civitates Europae, has just arrived, and it continues and expands the unique Catholic cultural experience of the preceding levels. The stories in this reader focus on the beginnings of Catholic Europe, with selections on the geography, fauna and flora, and history of four key Catholic nations: Ireland, France, Spain and Poland. 

Romanitas Press Releases The Mass: Up-Close in Pictures

The tireless promoter of liturgical knowledge, Louis Tofari, has released a handsome book, The Mass: Up Close in Pictures. Originally published in 1944 by the Alumni Sodality of Our Lady at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA (just ponder that for a moment), this book consists of carefully planned black and white photos of the most significant gestures in the unfolding of the Low Mass. It is a "sanctuary bird's-eye view" that almost no one could have unless he were seated in one of those old Baroque balconies seen in some European churches or chapels. 

Traditionalist Publishing Renaissance (1): St. Augustine Academy Press

Many times, I have heard Catholics lament the "good old days" when there were so many Catholic writers, journalists, publications, and bookstores. It's true that we lost many of those things in the nuclear winter that followed the Second Vatican Council. However, as one who has spent a lot of time looking at older books and magazines (as in: from the 1890s to the 1960s), I'm not convinced that the level of material was consistently high. There were masterpieces, to be sure; but much that is now forgotten deserves to be forgotten.

Fast forward to 2020, fifty years after the mandatory imposition of the New Order on the Church. What do we see? Contrary to all the expectations of the party of rupture, we are witnessing a veritable renaissance in traditional Catholic publishing, of a consistently high quality, both in content and in production values. Such names as Angelico Press, Arouca Press, Angelus Press, Cluny Media, Loreto Publications, Preserving Christian Publications, Cana Press, Romanitas Press, Roman Catholic Books, Sophia Institute Press, and Te Deum Press come to mind. There are more, and there will be more. It is perennial tradition, not the banality of the sixties and seventies, that excites enthusiasm and enkindles a lifelong desire to learn.

Back in Print after Nearly a Century: Cardinal Schuster’s The Sacramentary

Traditional Catholic publisher Arouca Press, based in Ontario, has just released an affordable reprint of Cardinal Ildefons Schuster's classic commentary on the Roman rite, The Sacramentary, in both paperback and hardcover, with discount rates for buying the entire 5-volume set directly from Arouca (US $100 for the complete paperback set, and $140 for the hardcover set).

Event: Saturday, April 4 — Free Online Conference about the Social Kingship of Christ — Stellar lineup of faculty

First Saturday, April 4, in a web browser near you: https://Crusade.Live

Review: Little Latin Readers -- a wonderful tool for Catholic students (and 15% off!)

As a father of many homeschooled children, due to a demanding job, I only have a 30,000-foot understanding of how they actually learn, as my wife carries that burden. However, I do know that, while Mrs. Adfero has always tried to keep up with the kids' Latin courses, it was never a core subject that must be completed every day. 

Then, we were sent the Little Latin Readers. 

At first, Mrs. Adfero was hesitant to even look at a new product, with the start of a new school year just a few weeks away. But she did, as the creators sent us a package, and she felt obligated. But that hesitancy quickly turned to excitement. So much so that she changed course at the last minute and now a number of our children will be using these Readers exclusively for their Latin studies this year. 

While I am not qualified to go deeply into this tool, here are some key features to know:

(Keep reading to get 15% off in an exclusive Rorate reader discount!)

Albert the Great Summer School in Wisconsin, August 12-16, 2019: Study St. Thomas on Galatians, with Daily Latin Mass

"No Longer I Who Live, But Christ In Me"

St. Thomas's Commentary on the Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians

Albert the Great Summer Program 2019 – USA

August 12 – 16, in Wausau, Wisconsin

The Angelic Doctor

The Albert the Great Center, which has held summer programs in Norcia, Italy, for several years, is expanding its offerings by holding a summer theology program in the USA for the first time, in collaboration with The Aquinas Institute for the Study of Sacred Doctrine. The primary focus of this week-long intensive course will be St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, supported by St. Thomas Aquinas's superb commentary on the same.

According to St. Thomas, Galatians is about the grace of Christ as it exists in his Mystical Body, which is the Church, and in particular, as it exists in the sacraments of Church, for "in the letter ... superfluous sacraments are rejected against certain men who wanted to join the old sacraments to the new ones." Galatians and the commentary on it bring forward important considerations on the unchangeableness of sacred doctrine ("even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be anathema"), on the mystical identification of the Christian with Christ, on the setting-aside of the Old Covenant in consequence of its messianic fulfillment, and on the confrontation of Church hierarchs by their subjects -- all subjects under considerable discussion in our day.

Benedicite, glacies et nives, Domino . . .

Father Brian Hess offers Holy Mass ad orientem amidst the beauty of God's Creation upon an altar made of snow in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, during this week's winter expedition for the freshman class of Wyoming Catholic College.

Post title from the Benedicite, the Canticle of the Three Hebrew Children (Daniel chapter 3) -- "Bless ye the Lord, ice and snow . . . ."

Photo reposted from Diocese of Cheyenne's Facebook page to which it was supplied by Father Hess.

Scholasticum Institute: advancing Scholastic Theology in the modern world

From the Scholasticum Institute:

In 2009 Pope Benedict XVI, a great student and admirer of St. Bonaventure, made a pastoral visit to Bagnoregio, the saint’s hometown. On that historic visit, the Pope gave a speech about St. Bonaventure in which he invited priests “to learn from this great Doctor of the Church, to deepen their knowledge of his teaching on wisdom rooted in Christ.” Since that time, there has been renewed interest in Bagnoregio as a tourist destination.

In the summer of 2016 the Scholasticum Institute, a graduate institution dedicated to the Scholastic Theology of St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio and St. Thomas Aquinas, opened its doors in the very town where Bonaventure was raised and where Benedict XVI urged further study of the Seraphic Doctor of the Church.

Pope Sixtus V explained the importance of Scholastic Theology: “[T]here has been discovered by Our ancestors, most wise men, Scholastic Theology, which two Doctors glorious above all, the angelic Saint Thomas, and the seraphic Saint Bonaventure, most brilliant professors in this capacity…with excellent genius, assiduous study, great labors and vigils have refined and decorated, and have passed on to those who would come after…” He went on to say that “a salutary understanding and practice of this science [Scholastic Theology]… could certainly always bring the greatest assistance to the Church.” (Triumphantis Hierusalem, § 10)

New traditional Catholic college in three years

We we alerted to a new traditional Catholic college starting in 2019 (there is already an online high school education being offered). The following was written for us by Rev. Mr. Edward Schaefer:

www.collegiumsanctorumangelorum.org

By Deacon Edward Schaefer:

Newman wrote about "the idea of a university" at a time when the universities of Europe had been largely secularized.  This is certainly the case in America today.  American Catholic colleges and universities today are largely built on unsustainable economic models; they are too costly for most to attend without either exorbitant loans or significant strains on family resources; and, sadly, too many of them have sacrificed their Catholic missions and identities in efforts to sustain enrollments.

 

Collegium sanctorum angelorum has been born to change all of this.  The Collegium is a residential, four-year college providing a liberal arts education (A.A. and B.A.) that is faithful to the intellectual, moral, spiritual, and liturgical traditions of the Roman Catholic Church, and a formation in Catholic living – ore et labore, both at affordable rates (under $13,500) for tuition, room and board.  It is a traditional college serving traditional Catholics.  (It is the only such college offering a four-year degree since the demise of Fisher More College.)

EVENT: January 23 Conference on Catholic Higher Education in Arlington, VA

Conference on Catholic Higher Education to be held in Arlington, VA

On the 50th anniversary of Vatican II's Gravissimum Educationis

Of the sixteen documents of the Second Vatican Council, the relatively short Declaration on Christian Education Gravissimum Educationis, promulgated fifty years ago on this day, October 28, 1965, is not one of the more memorable and certainly not one of the more controversial. It was quickly overshadowed by the larger Constitutions and the more innovative Declarations such as Nostra Aetate and Dignitatis Humanae. Nevertheless, if only to observe a half-century anniversary that might otherwise slip by unnoticed, it seems fitting to excerpt a few paragraphs that may be surprising when quoted in 2015.

One thing is very clearly established in the document: education, for Catholics, is necessarily bound up with Jesus Christ and with the proclamation of His Gospel. It cannot be “religiously neutral.” There is no sharp separation between the sphere of faith and the sphere of life in the world; everything in human life must be permeated with faith and aim at the ultimate end of heaven. The council fathers even obliquely refer to St. Pius X’s famous motto, Instaurare Omnia in Christo:

To fulfill the mandate she has received from her divine founder of proclaiming the mystery of salvation to all men and of restoring all things in Christ, Holy Mother the Church must be concerned with the whole of man's life, even the secular part of it insofar as it has a bearing on his heavenly calling. ... A true education aims at the formation of the human person in the pursuit of his ultimate end and of the good of the societies of which, as man, he is a member, and in whose obligations, as an adult, he will share.

The document also recognizes that the central subject in Catholic education must be theology, with a strong awareness of its liturgical expression and consummation, as well as its inherently apologetic and missionary character: