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Evelyn Waugh and "The Bitter Trial" of the Council: What is Old Is NewIn reading A Bitter Trial, the collection of letters by Evelyn Waugh and John Cardinal Heenan on the Second Vatican Council, what is striking is how similar our present day is to the tumultuous mid-1960s. In 2011, when the expanded edition was put together, it may have seemed as though the Church had recovered from the shocks of the Vatican II and the difficult decades that followed. But events of the last few years-- Traditionis Custodes, attempting to suppress the Traditional Latin Mass, and the Synod on...

[Catholic Caucus] New Coke: If Today’s Catholics Were In ChargeIn April 1985 the Coca-Cola Company introduced a new formula for their flagship product, Coke. Called “New Coke,” it was a public relations disaster and within months the company reverted back to their beloved formula. But what if history were different? What if Coca-Cola handled the release of New Coke like many of today’s Catholic leaders handle the current crisis in the Church?July 1985Meeting of top Coke executivesCEO: So, it’s been three months since New Coke was introduced – how’s it going?Mr. Eldridge, VP of Operations: Not so good. We’re getting...

[Catholic Caucus] Burke Warns of "Persistence Of An Ideology"Recent statements by Cardinal Roche confirm "the persistence of an ideology" which, through the [failed] Novus Ordo, sought to "manipulate and betray" the Church's infallible teaching on the Eucharist and Holy Orders, writes Cardinal Burke.In the preface to a French republication of Cardinal Ottaviani's prophetic Critical Examination of on the Novus Ordo (1969) he explains that it is clear that many find in the Roman Rite a living source through which they can unite with Christ," and that there is "no reason to discourage them."Burke analyses that in the Novus Ordo there...

[Catholic Caucus] New Preface by Cardinal Burke to French Reissue of the "Ottaviani Intervention" The Short Critical Study [or Brief Critical Examination] of the New Order of Mass—better known as the "Ottaviani Intervention"—is well known to traditionalists around the world (if you'd like to read more about it, see here and here). Every few years, a new edition appears in some major language. It strikes me as particularly significant that a new French edition has appeared with a Foreword by none other than His Eminence Cardinal Burke. The full French text may be found here; what follows is an automated...

To a Seminarian Midway: Is It Worthwhile to Start Over?A young man sent me a letter in which he expressed his perplexity about whether he should join a community that celebrates both “forms” of the Mass, or one that is exclusively traditional.Dear Friend,Thank you for writing to me about your challenging situation. You have completed much of your time at seminary, but are experiencing doubts about the path ahead. Believe me, you are not alone in this; many men who believe they are called to the priesthood are really struggling with this question of whether they can or should celebrate...

[Catholic Caucus] New Zealand: The Content of the Novus Ordo? Snickers...The Presiding Bishop of New Zealand, Steve Lowe of Auckland, wore a pallium-like lei made of Snickers bars (sic) during a May 19 Novus Ordo Eucharist in his cathedral. Leis are traditional garlands made from flowers or shells. The occasion was a Eucharist for Liston College, a Catholic school for boys aged 12 to 18. Some of them were baptised and confirmed during the Snickers show. If nothing else, Lowe was very effective in conveying to the boys that the Novus Ordo is a bad joke.

VINDICATED: Pioneer Traditional Catholics Were Right! Editor's Note: This article is reproduced from The Remnant Newspaper, March 15, 1973. The following is a summary of an address given on August 7, 1972, by Archbishop Lefebvre to a conference of French priests, his discourse being recorded on tape and then translated and transcribed. Of the following article from The Remnant archive, I’m tempted to say: Drop whatever you’re doing and read this article!Here are the words of a wise man, an outstanding Catholic and something of a prophet. And, let’s not forget: Archbishop Lefebvre was a Council Father at Vatican II....

Diocesan ‘Earth Day Mass’ gives ‘thanks to the trees’ in pagan-inspired ceremony'We send our voices to give thanks to the trees,' said a laywoman in an apparent homage to pagan animism during a ceremony before the 'Earth Day Mass.'"Earth Day Mass" at St. Kateri Tekakwitha, Diocese of San Bernardino, CABEAUMONT, California (LifeSiteNews) — A Catholic church in California recently held an “Earth Day Mass” in which homage was given to inanimate objects and a prayer of pagan Native American origins was recited.California’s Diocese of San Bernardino shared in its diocesan news outlet Inland Catholic Byte that its “first-ever diocesan Earth...

AggiornamentoI read an article days ago complaining that 50% of those baptised as Catholics stop attending as young adults. I am surprised it’s not more. Looking at my experience in the UK, I can give to my readers some clues as to why. Firstly, it is a very childish experience. The lack of solemnity and the dumbing down of the liturgy has made of the Mass an exercise for children. When the children grow up, they don’t want to be identified with that stuff anymore. Second, it is a very child-oriented experience. You see here the anxious desire to keep...

[Catholic Caucus] Scandalous Pride Mass at St. John the Evangelist Parish in San Diego Saint John the Evangelist, a parish in San Diego’s homosexual Hillcrest neighborhood notorious for its promotion of pro-sodomy initiatives, advertises a 5:00 PM Sunday Mass hosted by the church’s LGBTQ Ministry. The parish also offers an LGBTQ monthly social/potluck, LGBTQ prayer and support group, and other activities, and has marched in San Diego’s “gay pride” parade.Since learning about the Sunday “LGBTQ liturgy celebration,” the faithful have been showing up every Sunday at 4:30 PM to pray the Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy in reparation for...

WATCH: Retired Swiss bishop living with the SSPX says Novus Ordo Mass is ‘departure from tradition’'The crisis of the Church is a consequence of a partial apostasy from the transmitted faith, tradition, and practice of the faith,' says Bishop Vitus Huonder.Bishop Vitus Huonder, a retired bishop of the Swiss diocese of Chur, has issued a critique of the Novus Ordo Mass as it was promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969. In his eyes, a “partial apostasy” in the Church has taken place in recent decades, and the “departure from tradition is felt most painfully in the changed rite of...

Can a Case Still Be Made for Reforming the Reform?The following is based on a real exchange of letters. Dear Dr. Kwasniewsi,I read your article “Why the ‘Reform of the Reform’ Is Doomed” and would, in a spirit of truth-seeking, like to present some objections that might be made to it.To start with, I do agree that the Novus Ordo is “ungraftable” onto the living tradition of the Roman liturgy, considered liturgically (as opposed to juridically, etc.). One of the great benefits of the admittedly awkward situation of “two forms”—a situation that continues to exist after Traditionis Custodes and shows...

[Catholic Caucus] Priest throws Host down on the floor rather than give Communion on the tongueDid a priest from the Diocese of Tarbes drop a consecrated host on Sunday?Our readers report a serious incident during Communion this Sunday morning in Bazet - where the Mass of Bordères-sur-l'Echez, of the diocese of Tarbes-Lourdes, has been transferred since the closure of this church to the public for damages last March. The celebrant, Father Dorothée, is said to have deliberately dropped the consecrated Host in front of a member of the faithful at the end of communion. This did not fail to shock...

[Catholic Caucus] No Father, We Should NOT Stand to Receive Holy CommunionA recent article in Northeast Ohio Catholic magazine by Fr. Gerald Bednar, “Why Should We Stand to Receive Communion?” states that kneeling for communion is permitted but “not as the norm.” The article continues, “This quirky regulation calls for some explanation.” Indeed it does.From the outset, I want to state that I do not write this out of any personal animus against the Fr. Bednar. As the saying goes, I don’t know him from Adam. Nor do I think the arguments presented in his article are particularly unusual or...

[Catholic Caucus] No Eucharistic Revival without RestorationThe how-to manual has been written for a long, long time. But the ones in charge don't want to read it.Dear Subscribers to “Tradition & Sanity”: I am overwhelmed by the support you’ve given me as I start this Substack. It knocked me off my feet. We went from scratch to 1,800 subscribers and counting. Many of you made pledges for the future (thank you!). I will pray for you; specifically, you will be my intention at the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass every Thursday.Speaking of which… after last week’s inaugural...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Roche and the Trad View of the New MassAbove: the Catholic Church known as Die Wotrubakirche in Vienna. Photo by Stefano Perego.Cardinals Arthur Roche and Raniero Cantalamessa indirectly acknowledged (perhaps unintentionally) what critics of Paul VI’s Novus Ordo Missae have said for over fifty years: The new rite corresponds to a new theology that “represents, both as a whole and in its details, a striking departure from the Catholic theology of the Mass as it was formulated in Session XXII of the Council of Trent.”[1]On March 19, 2023, when British compatriots on BBC radio questioned the restrictions...

[Catholic Caucus] Vindicating the Allegorical Interpretation of the Mass: Abbé Claude Barthe’s “Forest of Symbols” Finally in EnglishThe name of Fr. Claude Barthe is well known to lovers of the Latin liturgical heritage. Ordained in 1979 by Marcel Lefebvre and incardinated in 2005 into the diocese of Fréjus-Toulon in France, he has taught for the seminary of the Institute of the Good Shepherd and the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, and has published numerous liturgical studies and essays on current affairs (you can read some of his work at Res Novae). He also serves as chaplain of the...

[Catholic Caucus] How Important Is Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre Today?“Archbishop Lefebvre stands for a rigid conservatism which seems to have no place for the necessary development which the Council had to undertake to meet the problems of the world in ferment.” (George Patrick Dwyer, Archbishop of Birmingham, 1976)Archbishop Dwyer wrote these words in his preface to Yves Congar’s 1976 book criticizing Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, Challenge to the Church: The Case of Archbishop Lefebvre. Congar was, of course, one of the most highly respected champions of Vatican II: John Paul II made him a cardinal in 1994; Benedict XVI praised him as...

A Real Threat: Rocky Horror Cupich ShowThe Maundy Thursday Eucharist at notorious St Sabina Parish in Chicago Archdiocese was a kind of Protestant service with some "words of consecration".Being Novus Ordo, the performance had no altar but a banquet table around which sat twelve men and women dressed as vice presidents of the banquet - as if a banquet needed a president.It included choreographed dances, purple lighting effects, disco ball strobe lights, brutal noise with crashing cymbals and yelling and tinkly piano music.During the show, Father Michael Pfleger celebrated his own person.Chicago's Cardinal Cupich who supposedly cares about Catholic doctrine...

[Catholic Caucus] “What if all these brilliant innovators were nothing more than a bunch of atrocious imbeciles?”: Msgr. Celada on the 1960sLast October 24, I published here a translation of a remarkable open letter written by Msgr. Domenico Celada in 1969. What follows is an article he published late in February 1969 in the periodical Il Tempo. Enjoy the clarity of this distinguished musicologist and — we must surely say looking back — prophet of the Lord. —PAKA “beat” Mass in Italy, from a book by Msgr. CeladaI remember having written, in the April-June 1966 issue of a music magazine,...