Maximalism and Minimalism
Recently, I read about a certain African female saint in the ancient Roman Martyrology: "At Cyrene, in Lybia, St. Cyrilla, a martyr, in the persecution of Diocletian. For a long while she held on her hand burning coals with incense, lest by shaking off the coals she should seem to offer incense to the idols. She was afterwards cruelly scourged, and went to her spouse adorned with her own blood." Notice that St. Cyrilla not only refrained from putting incense on idols (which certainly would have been enough to win her martyrdom under Diocletian) but many Catholics today might even add that she didn't "know her theology enough" to know that she wouldn't be culpable before God for an involuntary-reaction of dropping a hot-coal out of her burning-hand before an idol, leading up to her horrible scourging and execution. Obviously, [...]
The Roman Canon Is the Oldest Eucharistic Prayer
Really, the better title of this blog should be "The Roman Canon is the Oldest Eucharistic Prayer and those of the Eastern Liturgies." What is excluded from this? Obviously, the Novus Ordo's Eucharistic Prayer II, III and IV are all very new man-made prayers. They are not of Apostolic Origin. But for some reason, that isn't so "obvious" to most Catholic educators today. One of the strangest modern-myths pushed in my mainstream-seminary years ago (and probably still today) was that "Eucharistic Prayer II is older than Eucharistic Prayer I." (That sounds as silly as saying, "The New Mass is older than the Old Mass.") As most of you know, what modernists call "Eucharistic Prayer I" is actually the Roman Canon. The Roman Canon is used exclusively even to this day in the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) as the only backbone [...]
TCE 50: Interview with a Green-Beret
In "Theology and Current Events" (TCE) #50, I interview Fmr.-Captain John Frankman, a Special-Forces Green Beret. He joins us to discuss his service in the Army as a practicing Catholic. We then discuss his decision to separate from the US Military due to their requirements of the C19-j@b.
Modernism Always Includes Narcissism
When I first started finding all the corruption in the Catholic Church hierarchy, I actually bent-over backwards to blame everything except Vatican II. (Yes, you read that correctly.) I really didn't want to admit the entire Catholic Church on seven continents got overturned in the 1960s, so I started telling myself that the US bishops were bad... ah, but the rest of the world had implemented Vatican II in a much more conservative way! Of course, I soon found out in my travels that I was wrong. The heresy of modernism came part-in-parcel with all the new sacraments and the new doctrine of ecumenism (read: religious indifferentism) in every country I visited. One of these countries was Brazil. What I found in Brazil was worse modernism and worse liturgical abuses than anything I had seen in the United States. No, [...]
RCT 24: The Effects of Christ’s Passion.
The Roman Catechism of Trent {RCT} p. 61-63 The Creed, Article IV, Part D. *** The Most Destructive Line in the New Catechism: https://www.padreperegrino.org/2023/07/destructive/
On Divine Omnipotence
"God is so mighty that after creating man free, He rules and directs him according to His good pleasure, without prejudicing man's liberty in any way."—Divine Intimacy, Day #240 on "Divine Omnipotence." I recently came across the above quote again in Divine Intimacy (DI) but I had never noticed that it may be one of the best short explanations of man's freedom and the world's suffering in light of God's sovereignty. All of world history and modern man's doubts about God seem to be answered in that stunning quote. Here's why I think that quote from Fr. Gabriel of DI is so profound: The issue of theodicy is the question of Divine Providence in light of all the evil of the world. CS Lewis called this topic "The Problem of Pain." It basically goes like this: "If there are innocent [...]
The Cardinal Virtues Can’t Contradict Each Other
Many seminarians and potential-seminarians to the Catholic Church are thrilled about salvation history. And this is a good thing. Indeed, new seminarians love to study how Joshua and Caleb took the Holy Land from the pagans. We all love how the underdogs could beat the Canaanites and all surrounding tribes. We all know the spoils of the Land of Milk and Honey did not go to merely the legalistic, but to the courageous. In fact, Joshua and Caleb were the only two of the original twelve spies to even enter what we now call "Israel." They obeyed the call to execute great fortitude against all odds: Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.—Joshua 1:9. Modern-day seminarians seem [...]
The Life of St. Alphonsus
This short description of the life of the doctor of the Church, St. Alphonsus Mary Liguori, an Italian saint from the 18th century, as taken from the Old Divine Office and the post-humous description of a forward added to a book he compiled called “Victories of the Martyrs.”
NFP Before Vatican II
Natural Family Planning (NFP) is a way that many Catholics today space-out births of children based on their economic, social or medical reasons. Unfortunately, many Catholics also use NFP to decide when they are "done" having children, often based on lifestyle-preferences more than "grave reasons," as required by the Catholic Church. On the other hand, some traditional Catholics today erroneously believe NFP didn't exist before Vatican II. Pope Pius XII spoke about this aspect of the matrimonial-contract in an Address to Midwives on 29 October 1951. A small segment of his talk is copied below. His words are in italics and my commentary is found in orange-bold. The Bonum Prolis The matrimonial contract, which confers on the married couple the right to satisfy the inclination of nature, constitutes them in a state of life, namely, the matrimonial state. Now, on [...]
VLX 135: Mt 22:23-33. “The God of the Living”
- Why Is Celibacy Higher Than Marriage: https://www.padreperegrino.org/2023/06/celibmarr/