Joseph and the Virginal Conception Question: What was Joseph’s state of mind when he knew for certain that Mary was with child? I cannot believe he doubted her purity, despite the reality before him. Answer: This is a very important q … [Read more...]
Book Reviews – November 2020
October 30, 2020 by Book Reviews
Ceremonies Explained for Servers: A Manual for Altar Servers, Acolytes, Sacristans, and Masters of Ceremonies. By Peter J. Elliott. Reviewed by Christopher Siuzdak. (skip to review) The Disabled Church: Human Difference and the Art of … [Read more...]
A Primer on Liturgical Music
October 16, 2020 by Fr. Mitchell Athanasius Brown
While it still varies from place to place and parish to parish, it seems overall that COVID restrictions are slowly waning. This will, as it has until now, affect liturgical celebrations. One of the main ways this will happen is that soon, … [Read more...]
Say What You Mean; Mean What You Pray
September 22, 2020 by Rev. James Bradley, J.C.D.
In one of his characteristically rich catechetical addresses at a general audience in September 2012, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the rule of Saint Benedict in respect of the psalms.[1. Benedict XVI, general audience, September 26 2012 … [Read more...]
Liturgical Lessons from the Pandemic
June 5, 2020 by Fr. David M. Friel
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in many parts of the world has demanded swift and comprehensive adjustments to the daily life of the Church. Disruptions in the way we celebrate the sacraments, offer catechesis, and perform the works of … [Read more...]
Mass in Time of Pandemic
What Is the Celebrant Supposed to Do?
April 27, 2020 by Fr. Marc B. Caron
The suspension of the public celebration of Mass in large parts of the country due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus has left many priests with a dilemma. How does one celebrate Mass according to the Novus ordo with no one present? For … [Read more...]
Mass ad Digitalem
Among the livelier discussions in which our seminary community engaged this year was one initiated by the seminarians themselves and focused on the practice and pastoral concerns associated with celebrating Mass ad orientem. Literally … [Read more...]
Mass, Interrupted
Longing for the Eucharist in a Time of Exile
April 27, 2020 by Dr. Dennis W. Feltwell
When the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was pronounced a pandemic in March 2020, bishops around the world began to suspend the public celebration of Mass. Soon after, secular media mistakenly reported that “Mass is suspended” and even that “Ea … [Read more...]
Epidemic and the Liturgical Reform
April 27, 2020 by Dr. Joseph Shaw
The Church reformed the liturgy at a moment of great optimism. The developed world was enjoying the long post-war boom. Seminaries were full. And new-fangled antibiotics and vaccination programs were sweeping away one major disease after … [Read more...]
The Form of the Liturgy
April 4, 2020 by Fr. James Dominic Rooney, OP
It is to be regretted that the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, the form of the Latin Mass promulgated after the Second Vatican Council in 1970, has become a symbol of near-complete rejection of the Latin Catholic liturgical tradition. This … [Read more...]
The Novus Ordo at 50: Loss or Gain?
A Reply to Prof. Mary Healy
February 10, 2020 by Dr. Joseph Shaw
The recent half-century of Pope Paul VI’s reformed (“Ordinary Form,” or OF) Mass, which came shortly after the twelfth anniversary of the liberalization of the previous (“Extraordinary Form,” or EF) form of Mass, should stimulate us to engag … [Read more...]
The Gift of the Liturgical Reform
January 18, 2020 by Mary Healy
Fifty years ago this Advent, on November 30, 1969, the reform of the Eucharistic liturgy called for by Vatican Council II and promulgated by Pope Paul VI went into effect, and Catholics around the world celebrated Mass for the first time in … [Read more...]
Questions Answered – July 2019
July 26, 2019 by Fr. Brian Mullady, OP
Good Friday, the Cross, and Foot Washing Question: Does Good Friday veneration of the Cross involve only a crucifix, or can a simple wooden cross be used? Is it appropriate, when reading the Gospel on Holy Thursday, for the laity, … [Read more...]
Eight Ways to Love the Sacred Liturgy
May 19, 2019 by Fr. William Dillard
I think it is true that there is no single experience in the life of the human person that has a more profound impact upon one’s faith than the Eucharistic liturgy. The realization of what is being accomplished there cannot be u … [Read more...]
Complain, Complain!
There Are Reasons for Poor Music at Mass
November 14, 2018 by Bill Kassel
Professor Anthony Esolen, writer in residence at Thomas More College of the Liberal Arts, recently wrote an essay for the Catholic magazine Crisis in which he complained about the quality of music at Mass. He’s certainly not alone in his … [Read more...]
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