July 10, 2019

St. Paul VI On His New Mass

A new rite of the Mass: a change in a venerable tradition that has gone on for centuries.… This novelty is no small thing. Pope St. Paul VI, Address to a General Audience, November 26, 1969 We have reason indeed for regret, reason almost for bewilderment.… We are giving up something of priceless worth. But why? What is more precious than these loftiest of our Church’s values?

June 25, 2019

The Fruits of Vatican II

Sources: St. John XXIII’s Opening Address to the Second Vatican Council St. John XXIII’s Address to the Blessed Sacrament Fathers [PDF] St. Paul VI, Address to a General Audience, November 26, 1969 Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, Frequently Requested Church Statistics US Religion Census, 1952-2010

May 17, 2019

Pope Francis vs. Vatican I

SHOT: that meaning of the sacred dogmas is ever to be maintained which has once been declared by Holy mother Church, and there must never be any abandonment of this sense under the pretext or in the name of a more profound understanding. —Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith, Vatican Council I If anyone says that it is possible that at some time, given the advancement of knowledge, a sense may be assigned to the dogmas propounded by the Church which is different from that which the Church has understood and understands: let him be anathema.

February 24, 2019

Why People Get Stuck On The Liturgy

Catholics on Facebook often hang out in topical Facebook groups. Liturgy, evangelization, theology: all are fair game for such groups. One thing I noticed early on is no matter what the group topic is, conversation regularly returns to matters of liturgy. Some groups embrace liturgy discussions. Some set up separate groups and ask members to talk about the liturgy over there, in the liturgy group. Others just outright ban liturgy talk altogether.

February 9, 2019

Cathedrals: From Era to Era

A few months back a friend of mine started a fascinating Facebook page. Cathedrals: From Era to Era chronicles the architectural and design changes to particular American churches in the past century or more. Seeing what happened to a beautiful parish like this is a fascinating window into Church in the 20th century. In order to give these churches a more permanent home on the web, I’ve invited my friend to start posting write ups right here on The Old Evangelization.

February 4, 2019

Pope Francis vs. Pope Leo XIII

Shot: The pluralism and the diversity of religions, colour, sex, race and language are willed by God in His wisdom, through which He created human beings. Pope Francis_,_ A Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together Chaser: …we are bound absolutely to worship God in that way which He has shown to be His will. Pope Leo XIII, Immortale Dei

October 16, 2018

The Extraordinary Form of the Mass Does Not Exist

There is no such thing as the extraordinary form of the Mass. Now Pope Benedict XVI, in his motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, writes: In this regard, it must first be said that the Missal published by Paul VI and then republished in two subsequent editions by John Paul II, obviously is and continues to be the normal Form – the Forma ordinaria – of the Eucharistic Liturgy. The last version of the Missale Romanum prior to the Council, which was published with the authority of Pope John XXIII in 1962 and used during the Council, will now be able to be used as a Forma extraordinaria of the liturgical celebration.

October 15, 2017

Pope Francis vs. the Catechism

Shot: It is, in itself, contrary to the Gospel, because a decision is voluntarily made to suppress a human life, which is always sacred in the eyes of the Creator and of whom, in the last analysis, only God can be the true judge and guarantor Pope Francis, 11 October 2017 Chaser: Another kind of lawful slaying belongs to the civil authorities, to whom is entrusted power of life and death, by the legal and judicious exercise of which they punish the guilty and protect the innocent.

October 13, 2017

Pope Francis vs. Pope St. Agatho

Shot: …doctrine cannot be preserved without allowing it to develop, nor can it be tied to an interpretation that is rigid and immutable without demeaning the working of the Holy Spirit. Pope Francis, 11 October 2017 Chaser: nothing of the things appointed ought to be diminished; nothing changed; nothing added; but they must be preserved both as regards expression and meaning. Pope Saint Agatho, as quoted by Pope Gregory XVI in Mirari Vos

August 9, 2017

Annibale Bugnini Attacks The Mass

Catholics often seem to labor under the assumption that during the Second Vatican Council, some honest prelates made some serious but well-meaning errors when making the changes to the Mass that the council called for. They believe that the changes just need a little tweaking. In reality, the demolition of the Roman Liturgy was deliberate and systematic. The fastest way to understand that the Mass changes were entirely intentional is to learn of the life work of one Annibale Bugnini, a priest and later Archbishop who was involved in just about all the major changes to the Latin liturgy in the 20th century.

April 15, 2017

What Happens When Jesus Evangelizes For You

There is no low to which our Lord will not stoop in order to win our souls to Him. From The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass by Fr. Michael Müller, 1874: The Holy Mass may also be called a commemoration of the Passion and Death of our Lord, because He constantly receives, in this august sacrament, insults similar to those which He had to undergo in the course of His Passion, and which He bears in the same manner in which He bore those that He suffered from Maundy Thursday until He expired on the Cross.

March 25, 2017

On The Servant of the Servants of God

“When the Pope uses the title of servus servorum Dei, originally assumed by Pope St. Gregory the Great as a description of the power of the Supreme Keys, one must remember that the formula servus servorum is not a genitive of object, as if the pope were the one who serves the servants of God, but an hebraic genitive signifying a superlative sense as in saecula saeculorum, virgo virginum, caeli caelorum, and so on.

March 13, 2017

Archbishop Arthur Roche vs. Pope Pius XI

Shot: Evensong, the iconic expression of Anglican worship, was celebrated in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome by an Anglican Archbishop on the anniversary of the election of the Pope. Archbishop David Moxon, the Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome, led the service using Cranmer’s ancient words. Archbishop Arthur Roche, Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, one of the most senior Englishmen in the Vatican, preached.

March 11, 2017

Pope Francis vs. Trent

Shot: A subject may know full well the rule, yet have great difficulty in understanding “its inherent values”, or be in a concrete situation which does not allow him or her to act differently and decide otherwise without further sin. Amoris Laetitiae, §301 Chaser: If anyone says that the commandments of God are impossible to observe even for a man who is justified and established in grace, let him be anathema.

May 13, 2016

Announcing: The Old Evangelization Weekly

You may have noticed that not enough blogging happens around these parts. It’s not that I don’t read a lot of Catholic material, or lack interest in blogging. It’s that I tend to write pieces that require a decent amount of research. I just don’t seem capable of dashing off short blog posts at the drop of a hat. But I think I could round up some links and provide some brief commentary on them on a weekly basis.

March 6, 2016

Reason Can Prove God's Existence

The existence of God can be proven/demonstrated from reason alone. But don’t take my word for it: Oath Against Modernism (Denz. 2145) And first, I profess that God, the beginning and end of all things, can be certainly known and thus can also be demonstrated by the natural light of reason “by the things that are made” [cf. Romans 1:20], that is, by the visible works of creation, as the cause by the effects.

February 28, 2016

To Dissemble When God Is Wronged Is Impiety

We join our Lord Jesus Christ in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. He is finishing up being tempted by Satan in the desert: 8 Again, the Devil took Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 And said to Him, All these things will I give You, if You will fall down and worship me.

February 23, 2016

When Logical Fallacies Attack! Denying the Antecedent (and the Pope)

Whenever there is confusion about a papal plane interview, one logical fallacy is sure to crop up in the ensuing commentary: Denying the Antecedent. Denying the antecedent is a perversion of modus tollens, a common way of logically structuring an argument. A sound modus tollens argument looks like this: If the sprinkler goes off, then the grass stays wet for 30 minutes. The grass is not wet. Therefore, the sprinkler did not go off in the last 30 minutes.