A Niece’s Letter From Jerusalem.
This is a fictional letter I imagined from niece to uncle somewhere around the Mediterranean in the first century. My dearest beloved Uncle John, I write you in the love of God who is One, and our family who misses you greatly. At least, most of the family misses you. As you know, it has been four years since I have seen you. My mother (your beloved sister) tells me you are living across the Great Sea with the mother of the rabbi. But there are also horrible rumors you have been taken prisoner to a strange island of the Hellenists. If this rumor is true, who is taking care of Mariam? I miss you immensely, but your last letter comforted me greatly. First, I cannot tell you the fame (and infamy) it is to be known here in Jerusalem [...]
Sermon for the 16th Sunday After Pentecost.
On this weekend of the Holy Name of Mary, we ask: If I want to reach up towards Mary’s unsurpassed charity, how do I reach down towards her unparalleled humility? We will see some practical answers, even though we’ll never be exactly like her. Special thanks to Enrique Aguilar for these music bumpers.
Five Things Catholics Missed in the Clancy Trial.
p/c Greg Derr, AP and Patriot Ledger. Politics and law are downstream of theology and philosophy. For better or for worse. It is currently September 2026 and the Lindsay Clancy trial was just declared a “mistrial.” As you probably know, in 2023, Clancy killed her three children, aged 5 years old, three years old and eight months old. That mother strangled her three children in Massachusetts, and she did it on purpose while her husband was running errands for her. She and her husband were apparently baptized Catholics. The trial has obviously entered the national spotlight due to the gruesomeness of the crime, the hung jury (one lone male standing against a mostly-female jury trying to exonerate her) and a fierce international debate surrounding claims of insanity by the defense. Here’s Five things most (not all) Catholics missed in their [...]
Letter from a Catholic Mother About the TLM.
p/c Álex Zea, Europa Press, Andalusia, Spain. Below is a letter I received from a mother of a large family. She and her husband gave me permission to publish it. I am keeping them anonymous, as well as their bishop and diocese. The TLM community in my diocese is suffering greatly. We are still mourning the loss of our Latin Mass; that school of holiness, valor, beauty, and love. It was our identity; the light of our families and the means of constant conversion in which we were all deeply happy and experienced such sweet holiness. Totally erased in the blink of an eye. It has been viciously torn away from us with absolutely no concern about what that would do to the faith and hearts of the people of this diocese. Tossed into the diocesan garbage bin are entire [...]
RCT 83: Holy Orders 3: Major Orders.
-The Roman Catechism of Trent p. 350-360. -The Sacraments, ep. 35. -My site: https://www.padreperegrino.org/donate/
The City on a Hill Is Countercultural.
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.—Our Lord Jesus Christ in Saint Matthew 5:14-16. Young Christians today claim they want an “aura” that “goes hard.” That’s good, but then why do boomer Catholic influencers still insist on being relevant? Older Catholic influencers may claim their “humanity is a bridge to Christ” yet their goofy “New Evangelization” is frequently just a lame attempt at being funny and relatable. They justify expensive colognes, off-color jokes and a constant attitude of [...]
Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost.
From Gal 5 and Mt. 6.
Race Relations Part 2: The Church.
p/c NYT. Middle-Eastern military-aged men entering Spain. In part 1, Race Relations Part 1: The State, we discussed "dialectical racism" at the level of the State, namely, the deceit of modern Marxists to overturn Western civilization under the pretext of being "non-racists." Today, we will see how something similar happens within (or rather, against) the true Catholic Church. Neo-modernists often cloak their heresy of religious indifferentism (the error that all religions lead to heaven) under a fake missionary spirit so as to remain immune from criticism from the right. Section A will be The Problem and Section B will be The Solution. At the risk of being self-centered, I am going to write about my own personal experiences. One reason I am going to do this is because the left often accuses us on the right of being dogmatic without [...]
Race Relations Part 1: The State.
It's not 'reverse racism.' It's just racism. If it didn’t take the Holy Name of Jesus in vain, I would say that Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino would be one of my top ten favorite movies. The main character, Walt Kowalski is played by Eastwood in that 2008 flick (see picture above.) Walt is a grumpy old white man disgusted by the shallowness and selfishness of his children and grandchildren. Meanwhile, he has good friends of many different races to whom he shows affection by endless racial slurs against them. They happily return the favor with insults to him. Real men often show affection by ripping on each other. Spoiler alert: Walt then befriends his neighbors, a Hmong family in the ghetto of Detroit. Walt (who would appear to be “a racist” if you only judged him on his vocabulary) ends [...]
RCT 82: Holy Orders 2.
-Minor Orders -The Roman Catechism of Trent (RCT) p. 345-350 -The Sacraments, ep. 34. -My Site: https://www.padreperegrino.org