Staring Too Long Into the Abyss
by Guest Writer “Man is a rope,” Zarathustra cries out to the crowd, “fastened between animal and Superman – a rope over an abyss.” -- Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra “If you stare too long into the abyss, then it stares back at you.” -- Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil I read a lot of Nietzsche in college. While it has been years since I last picked up one of his works, I’ve been reflecting on his image of the abyss lately, following several “red pill” moments in the world and the Church that left me questioning whether there is any institution left worth trusting, if there is any [...]
Production Schedule
Reminder that these are my weekly production goals: Monday: VLX (Video Lectio Divina) found on both YouTube and all podcast apps. Search Padre Peregrino. Tuesday: Blog here Wednesday: CPX (Catechism of Pius X) found on both YouTube and all podcast apps. Search Padre Peregrino. Thursday: Blog here Friday: Occasionally, TCE (Theology and Current Events) found on YouTube and all podcast apps. Saturday: Occasionally, See Life Update blog on pull-down section called Life.)
Four Aspects of Modernism
With the tension between Apostolic Catholics and modernist heretics reaching fever pitch this month, we have to return to the warning issued over 100 years ago by Pope St. Pius X on modernism, which he called "the synthesis of all heresies." Yes, I know we all get tired of hearing the term "modernism is the synthesis of all heresies." But we still have to stop and remind ourselves constantly that opposing modernism is not tantamount to opposing digital expressions of the Gospel or even opposing new "packaging" of the old-school Gospel in a digestible fashion to modern ears. Rather, we must remember that modernism is opposing that which attempts to [...]
Rule for Thinking With the Church #13
If we wish to proceed securely in all things, we must hold fast to the following principle: What seems to me white, I will believe black if the hierarchical Church so defines. For I must be convinced that in Christ Our Lord, the bridegroom, and in His spouse the Church, only one Spirit holds sway, which governs and rules for the salvation of souls. For it is by the same Spirit and Lord who gave the Ten Commandments that our holy Mother Church is ruled and governed.—St. Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises, Rules for Thinking with the Church #13 St. Ignatius of Loyola is one of my favorite saints. In [...]
Stop Groveling Under the Table
The new document was correct about one thing: There's only ever been one Roman Rite. https://twitter.com/FrDaveNix/status/1417114763734122500?s=20
“As if the Bride of the Lamb Could Have Two Voices”
Dr. Taylor Marshall spoke today about how Pope Benedict XVI attempted to bifurcate both the Roman Rite and the Papacy. In other words, it seems that the Roman Rite was bifurcated into the “ordinary form” and “extraordinary form” in the 2007 document, Summorum Pontificum and it seems that the Papacy was split into two as a “contemplative Pope” and an “active Pope" as even the Vatican's Archbishop Georg Gänswein has explained it. Such errors of creating new (and impossible) theological realities may be blamed upon what is called a “Hegelian dialectic.” Archbishop Viganò has this criticism of Pope Benedict XVI's philosophy of attempting to create new realities from his own brain: His Hegelian [...]
Extreme Evil Requires an Extreme Remedy
"They wound; they kill; they go down to hell."—St. Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises #108. Leaving a sick call about 10 years into my priesthood, I ran into a gothic-looking fellow. He was about 30 years old and decided to strike up a conversation with me. I didn't have much time to talk, but I realized this would be one of his only interactions with a priest his whole life, so I couldn't brush him off. As usual, I had to listen to someone preach to me. (This is ironically more common than me preaching to someone.) In any case, this guy was a little different. He just wanted to [...]
How To Use a Layman’s Missal at the TLM
If you are new to the TLM, you will hopefully find this blog post very helpful. In late 2017, I taught a class at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Jacksonville, FL on how to use the layman's missal while attending the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM.) People new to the TLM needed some help thumbing through their ribbons in their layman's missal. Now, because of how many people came to the TLM last year, my friend recently suggested this that I do a re-post of my five classes: TLM Class 1 TLM Class 2 TLM Class 3 TLM Class 4 TLM Class 5 Also, St. Francis De Sales wrote [...]
Teamwork in Saving One Soul
There's a couple who listens to my podcast from California, but the wife had to rapidly return to her home state of Louisiana for an emergency: Her uncle (who she described as basically her brother growing up, as they were close in age) was hit by a drunk driver. The drunk driver then ran over his head. Somehow, he surived and was life-flighted to a trauma center in another part of Louisiana. He lived for about 10 days after numerous surgeries. I received a modification to my blog after publication from his niece about what really happened on scene: "You wrote that his head was ran over, which is technically [...]
How Can I Close the House of God?—Fr. Ganni
About four years ago, I said on the phone to my Navy SEAL friend (with whom I did this podcast and this podcast this year) that I feared the rise of militant Islam would persecute Christians in the West again. What he said surprised me, namely that he feared more the rise of secularism in the West as a bigger threat to Catholics. We'll come back to this suggestion halfway through this blog. On the 3rd of June 2007, Trinity Sunday after Pentecost, a 35 year-old Chaldean Catholic priest named Fr. Ragheed Ganni was shot and killed in his home country of Iraq by Muslims for not converting to Islam [...]