Reflections on life, meaning and purpose

The Horns of the Death Penalty Dilemma

Above: St Dunstan crowns King Edgar. Photo by Fr. Lawrence, OP. In his annual meeting with the diplomatic corps of ambassadors accredited to the Holy See on January 9, 2023, Pope Francis has doubled down on his novel teaching on the death penalty: “The death penalty cannot be employed for a purported State justice, since […]

Post-War Catholicism in the United States

Above: the first evening Mass in the diocese of Milwaukee consecrates the diocese to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1954. Photo credit.  A very interesting and provocative reprint, the first volume of Integrity will be welcomed by all those desiring to delve deeply into such topics as: the history of the consciousness of the […]

2nd Sunday after Epiphany: R-E-S-P-E-C-T

We move liturgically now into the epilogue of the Christmas Cycle, which began with Advent.  These Sundays after Epiphany are counted as part of the tempus per annum… time through the year.  As such they don’t have a specific character, but function as a transitional stage between the cycles of Christmas and Lent/Easter.   There is […]

Offer Prayers and Respect the Dead

The sudden death of Cardinal Pell comes in the immediate wake of Papa Emeritus Benedict, and has already seen its share of revelations and controversies, as with the former Roman Pontiff. Famously, His late Eminence was a member of the Holy Father’s inner circle of cardinals and was appointed to clean up the notoriously corrupt […]

Forgotten Customs of the Octave of Christian Unity

Above: the young Rev. Lewis Thomas Wattson.  That all may be one: as thou, Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us. (John 17:21) Known as the “Octave of Christian Unity” as well as the “Chair of the Octave of Christian Unity” this period of time which […]

Martin Luther King and Planned Parenthood

Above: Martin Luther King at a press conference in 1964.  By the time Martin Luther King Jr. had taken his seat in 1960 on Planned Parenthood’s committee on the study of contraception, his views on how artificial birth control could be used to reduce Black family size were well-known throughout the United States. King had […]

Two “Disobediences” Compared

Take the well-informed young priests of today. They know, thanks to studying Benedict XVI and other authors, that the Novus Ordo has serious flaws and lacunae, to which the TLM can supply remedies. There was, after all, this “mutual enrichment” idea, although it tends to flow in one direction. So, they set about fixing what […]

The One Thread By Which the Council Hangs: a Response to Cavadini, Healy, and Weinandy

Above: photos of (left) Requiem Mass for Pope Benedict XVI at the Monastère Saint-Benoît, provided by the monastery, and (right) Mass in Mexico, by marianaarias of CathoPic.   “Don’t touch that! If you do, everything will collapse!” The warning is clear enough. Any sensible person would rapidly desist, lest their one seemingly minor act bring […]

300 Years of Masonic Infiltration

There was such a dramatic change in the social and theological dispositions towards Freemasonry amongst many European, Argentinian, and North American Catholics immediately following the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council in 1965, that, at minimum, should have provoked a reasonable and rational concern amongst the faithful. Some have argued that this divergence from the […]

On Heaven

Advent Reflections from the Master of Thomism Part I: On Death Part II: On Judgment   Heaven. Oh, what a place that will be! It is a place that millions of dreamed about. A place of peace, joy, and charity. A place where our tears will be wiped away. A place where we shall be […]