I’m pleased to share with Rorate readers the themes and schedule for my lecture tour in Spain later this month. Between July 18 and 25, I’ll be speaking on the traditional Roman liturgy in Seville, Cordoba, Toledo, Madrid, Segovia, and Oviedo, then participating in the 3-day pilgrimage to Covadonga. Lectures will be given in English with a Spanish translation provided.
Showing posts with label Kwasniewski. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kwasniewski. Show all posts
Announcing “Something for Nothing? An Explanation and Defence of the Scholastic Position on Usury”
Finding a thorough, coherent, and believable explanation for so monumental a difference in outlook has been nearly impossible—until David Hunt’s new work, Something for Nothing? An Explanation and Defence of the Scholastic Position on Usury (number 14 in the Os Justi Studies in Catholic Tradition series). Hunt explains and defends the traditional view that usury is a charge for something that does not exist and is therefore a form of theft. Indeed, usury begets a form of chattel slavery, since charging interest on a mutuum is an attempt to profit by treating the borrower as the lender’s property.
Pope’s Anti-TLM Theologian Shows His Pro-Contraception Cards
“Why Latin Is the Right Language for Roman Catholic Worship” — Full Text of Dr. Kwasniewski’s Cleveland Lecture
The following talk was given on June 4, 2022, in Independence, OH (a suburb of Cleveland) at the invitation of Una Voce Greater Cleveland. As the talk fell on the Vigil of Pentecost, it includes frequent reference to the great mystery celebrated by this feast. The video of the lecture, with Q&A, is included at the end of the post.
Why Latin Is the Right Language for Roman Catholic Worship
Peter A. Kwasniewski
Cleveland, Ohio
June 4, 2022
The Outrageous Propaganda of Archbishop Roche
| “Where do you get your stuff?” “Oh, in the wild blue yonder.” |
As I was reading the other day the page proofs of Fr. Bryan Houghton’s autobiography Unwanted Priest—long believed lost but recently rediscovered and just now published by Angelico Press—I was struck by the following passage (among many others). He is talking about anti-religious posters he came by on a trip to Russia:
Are Canonizations Infallible? — An important new book from Arouca Press
I am pleased to announce the publication of a new book: Are Canonizations Infallible? Revisiting a Disputed Question, from Arouca Press.
It is a 276-page collection of fifteen essays written by twelve authors: Phillip Campbell, Fr Thomas Crean, Roberto de Mattei, William Matthew Diem, Christopher Ferrara, Msgr. Brunero Gherardini, Fr John Hunwicke, Peter Kwasniewski, John Lamont, Joseph Shaw, Fr. Jean-François Thomas, and José Antonio Ureta. I served as the volume’s editor. The book includes not only sources in English but also translations from French, Italian, and Portuguese. Several of the chapters are published in it for the first time.
All the arguments you’ve ever seen in favor of the infallibility of canonizations or against it—and some you probably haven’t seen—are found in the pages of this book. Authors line up behind both sides. It is a fair and full presentation, which does not shy away from toppling “certainties” that are sometimes mindlessly repeated. The book also serves as an introduction to the history of canonization (including changes made to the process over time) and to the nature and objects of papal infallibility, with Msgr. Gherardini’s mini-treatise especially impressive in that regard. The authors go into what the papal act of canonization means or entails, the conditions it may have for moral certainty on the part of the faithful, and what it concretely demands of members of the Church.
“Beyond Summorum Pontificum: The Work of Retrieving the Tridentine Heritage”: Full Text of Dr. Kwasniewski’s Roman Forum Lecture
The following is the transcript of the lecture I gave at the Roman Forum on July 3. A video of the lecture has been posted at Remnant-TV (link). A synopsis (less than one-third the length) was published at Crisis Magazine on July 7, under the title “Summorum Pontificum at Fourteen: Its Tragic Flaws.” As we near the imminent restriction or suppression of this motu proprio, it is important to step back and look at the bigger picture: What is—or is not—the role of the papacy vis-à-vis the liturgy handed down in tradition? What should our attitude be to abuses of papal authority, particularly in regard to its attempts to “allow” or “forbid” immemorial rites of divine worship? I would draw the reader’s attention to the notes, which contain important supporting material.—PAK
Beyond Summorum Pontificum: The Work of Retrieving the Tridentine Heritage
Peter A. Kwasniewski
As we find out more and more about the sheer corruption of the papal court today, which rivals the record of the Renaissance, it seems (if anything) still more remarkable, bordering on the miraculous, that Summorum Pontificum was ever issued at all. It was a watershed moment, a gesture of fortitude and favor, and a clear factor in multiplying old Masses around the world and weakening the modernist hegemony. We were grateful to have a pope who, instead of throwing a bone to the nostalgics—the so-called “indults” of Paul VI and John Paul II—had the courage to say the truth: that the great liturgy of our tradition had never been abrogated and could never be abrogated. In just a few sentences, central claims of Archbishop Lefebvre, Michael Davies, Count Neri Capponi, and others were vindicated.
I think it is fair to say right from the start that Summorum Pontificum was useful to our movement in the way that an enormous booster rocket is useful for launching a spaceship into orbit: it has a lot of raw power, but it can only do so much, and when it’s empty, it falls away. Summorum Pontificum is destined to be one of the great papal interventions in all of history, but it is no more than damage control; it is not a pillar, much less a foundation, of a permanent structure. And those who lean on it too much will find themselves crushed by its incoherences. My goal in this presentation will be to walk through Summorum Pontificum and identify its principal flaws, the elements in it that act as weights pulling us down, so that we can resolutely go beyond it to retrieve the fullness of the Tridentine heritage that constitutes the authentic Roman rite.
I can imagine what some of you may be thinking: “Rumors are swirling everywhere that Summorum Pontificum is about to be severely curtailed or shelved—and you are complaining about its imperfections? Right now, we’d all be grateful and relieved if we could just hold on to this motu proprio, warts and all.” My response is that unless we understand precisely the weak points of Summorum Pontificum, we will not be able to understand why we are still so vulnerable to the machinations of Francis and his circle, and, more to the point, we will not be able to summon the necessary strength to ignore or to oppose what the Vatican might do to reduce or prevent the celebration of the classical Roman rite. For the motu proprio establishes or reaffirms false principles that are coming back to haunt us, or perhaps have never stopped haunting us. As much as the traditional movement has benefited pragmatically from Summorum (and of that, there is no doubt), we must learn to put our weight fully on our own two feet, so that when the legal crutch or brace is suddenly removed, we do not topple over helplessly.
Why the Latin Mass Matters in the Real World: A Review of Dr. Kwasniewski’s Powerful New Book
(A guest review by Fr. William Slattery)
Dr. Peter Kwasniewski’s Reclaiming Our Roman Catholic Birthright: The Genius and Timeliness of the Traditional Latin Mass (Angelico, 2020) is not about “liturgy” in some kind of remote or abstract sense. Rather, it’s about why the concrete reality of the Traditional Mass matters to living and lifestyle, for you and for your children. Why the Latin Mass is a matter of Catholic identity.
In writing this review, I am seeking to pay off a debt I owe to Dr. Kwasniewski. It was largely due to his first Angelico book, Resurgent in the Midst of Crisis (2014), that I converted to the Traditional Latin Mass.
Os Justi Press Theological, Catechetical, Devotional, and Literary Reprints
Over the past few years, I’ve occasionally posted announcements of old classics that I’ve reprinted under the umbrella of Os Justi Press. These reprints are done through CreateSpace, which yields good quality and allows for low prices. Until recently, Os Justi Press did not have its own website. In fact, it still doesn’t; but at least now it has a dedicated page at my new personal website, where all titles are listed by category and hyperlinked to Amazon. Many titles also say more about the content of the book or point to where such information may be found. For convenience, below all of the currently available reprints are listed by category. Note to retailers or booksellers: Please email me to discuss discounts for bookstores, parishes, reading groups, etc.
The Mass: A Liturgical Commentary (2 vols.). Canon A. Croegaert. Trans. J. Holland Smith. Vol. 1: The Mass of the Catechumens (x + 251 pp. $17.95); Vol. 2: The Mass of the Faithful (x + 311 pp. $18.95).
The Breviary Explained. Rev. Pius Parsch. Trans. William Nayden and Carl Hoegerl. First published in 1952 by Herder in St. Louis. Paperback, viii + 459 pp. $19.95.
A Manual of Catholic Theology, Based on Scheeben’s “Dogmatik.” Joseph Wilhelm, D.D., Ph.D., and Thomas B. Scannell, B.D., with a Preface by Henry Edward Cardinal Manning. Vol. I: The Sources of Theological Knowledge; God; Creation and the Supernatural Order (508 pp. $24.95); Vol. 2: The Fall; Redemption; Grace; The Church and the Sacraments; The Last Things (566 pp. $29.95).
Upcoming Lectures by Dr. Kwasniewski in Canada — Award Ceremony for Bishop Schneider in Winnipeg
The end of May will see a number of lectures and Latin liturgies of interest to tradition-loving Catholics in the cities of Ottawa and Winnipeg.
Guest article — The Council’s Constitution on the Liturgy: Reform or revolution?
Rorate is happy to make available an English translation of a lecture given in Vienna by Wolfram Schrems on April 2, 2017, at the launch of the German edition of Peter Kwasniewski's Resurgent in the Midst of Crisis. Schrems is a theologian, philosopher, catechist and pro-life activist and a signatory of the Filial Correction. The text below is a thoroughly revised version of the original presentation (a video of which may be found here). The author would like to thank Mr. Stuart Chessman of the Society of St. Hugh of Cluny for the translation into English.
The Council’s Constitution on the Liturgy: Reform or Revolution?
Wolfram Schrems
Vienna, April 2, 2017
Reverend Fathers, Ladies and Gentlemen, and Dearest Friends,
New Video on the Traditional Office of Tenebrae
Readers may be interested in this short video that explains the traditional Office of Tenebrae and why it is so powerful a way of entering into the Passion of the Lord.
Upcoming Lecture with Dr. Peter Kwasniewski at Steubenville, OH
For our readers in the vicinity of Steubenville, Ohio: I will be giving a lecture on Tuesday, October 3, at 7:00 pm, at St. Peter's Catholic Church. After the Q&A, there will be time for informal conversation and the signing of copies of Noble Beauty, Transcendent Holiness.
More information may be found at the website of Una Voce Steubenville, which is hosting the event.
Thoughts for the Synod of Bishops:
The Unchangeable Moral Law and the Value of Suffering
| Eugène Delacroix Orphan Girl at the Cemetery (1824) Musée du Louvre |
Dr. Peter Kwasniewski
In light of the publication of the somewhat vague and suggestive Instrumentum Laboris for the October Extraordinary Synod on the Family, I found the following crystal-clear passages from Frank Sheed's marvelous book A Map of Life to be extremely pertinent. Here, in a book first published in 1933, is how the Catholic Faith used to explain itself -- with clarity, charity, and a deep realism that trusted the Law of God and humbly submitted to it, rather than looking for loopholes, accommodations, and relaxations. Sheed's more famous book Theology and Sanity in a way captures the confident profile of preconciliar Catholicism: true theology is both the cause and the sign of human sanity. If we look elsewhere, or even worse, if we contradict divine revelation and the Church's tradition, we will end up with sheer insanity.
As citizens of the United States continue to worry about federal incursions on the freedom of Catholics to practice their faith and even to follow the dictates of the natural law unmolested, American Catholics should be concerned about an even more frightening shift in the ecclesiastical polity, namely, the growing acceptance within the Church, among the faithful and in the hierarchy, of sexual aberrations, libertinism, and antinomianism in all of their forms, open or subtle, whether institutionalized or still private and arbitrary. The Church is the last and only bulwark of sanity against the rising flood of irrationality and perversion. Wherever the Church militant fails on earth (and remember, we have no guarantee of the perpetuity of any local or regional church), all is lost, and no political activism will be able to stand in the breach.
Let us pray, then, for wisdom and fortitude -- the wisdom to adhere to the truth given to us by our Lord, and the courage to follow it to the very end, for love of God and neighbor. And let us pray especially for the bishops and the Holy Father, that the Spirit of truth will be with them in October to ground their deliberations and decisions in natural and supernatural sanity.
_______________________
Frank Sheed, A Map of Life (1933)
This fact that the essence of sin is offence against the law of God sometimes—in fact most often—misleads the sinner as to the true nature of sin. He imagines himself in a small field, bounded by a fence put there to prevent him from breaking out of the field to sample the rich possibilities of life outside. Here, he says, am I: a being full of the possibilities of development, yet my development is checked at every turn by some absurd law. This view arises from a failure to understand the nature of God’s laws. His laws are no mere whims, like the laws of some stupid despot. They are, on the contrary, the expression by God of His own knowledge of man’s nature and destiny. He knows the kind of being man is, for He made him. And for the same reason He knows what man is made for. God’s laws, then, are a precise statement of how this particular kind of being may avoid destruction and reach his particular goal. The man who makes an engine is not limiting your freedom when he tells you not to run it beyond a certain speed. He knows that if you do you will smash the engine. And if you should plead that your nature demands more speed, that you feel stifled by such slow running—he may very well grow impatient. He knows what speed is right for the engine, for he made it.
[…]
THE resistance to sin nearly always involves some degree of suffering: in some cases it involves terrible suffering. And there are those who would relax the moral law when the suffering caused by obedience to it appears to be extreme.
Now, no one can alter God’s law. Even the Church cannot do that: within the framework of His law she may make what we call by-laws, binding upon her members, but these must be in accord with God’s law, which she cannot change.
This point is not always grasped. The Church has received from God the power to make laws binding upon her members. But this power, as I have said, is subordinate to the laws stated by God Himself as binding upon men. The distinction may be illustrated in the case of marriage. The Church cannot grant any of her children a divorce because when they make the contract of marriage (that is to say, agree to take each other as husband and wife for life) God brings into being a new relationship. Now, by God’s act consequent upon their contract, they are man and wife. This new relationship, though it follows upon their contract, is not created by their contract, but by God. The Church can no more make them cease to be husband and wife than it could make a father and son cease to be father and son. But within the law laid down by God, the Church can legislate. It can, for instance, decree that for the marriage of a Catholic, the presence of a priest as witness is necessary. These laws being its own the Church can alter. But she cannot alter the laws given to her by God to be taught to men. Nor does she want to.
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