Posted on 09/16/2026 2:42:36 PM PDT by ebb tide
A young seminarian writes to us and tells us about things happening in the synodal Church. It is so sad that someone who dedicates his life to God at such a young age feels this unease. In our brief chat, we encourage him to maintain his faith and love for the Church. We remind him that Our Lady has promised that in the end Her Immaculate Heart will triumph, and that he shouldn't let his guard down because we need holy priests. He agrees, although he says that many things in the Church pain him. Finally, he sends us these reflections, which we publish below, and asks us to maintain his anonymity to avoid reprisals.
Zavalita, upon leaving the offices of the newspaper La Crónica, gazes thoughtfully at Tacna Avenue under Lima's gray sky and wonders: When did Peru go wrong? Many decades later, I leave the Nazarenas bookstore on this same street in the capital and, with a somber air, I too ask myself: When did the Church go wrong?
Seminaries and convents dramatically empty, supposedly creative but desacralized liturgies, superficial and lukewarm homilies—in short, Christian identity diluted in an ocean of relativism. Peru is screwed, the Church is screwed, and I'm screwed too. Life in the 21st century is a real mess, damn it!
I continue walking along this avenue lined with shops selling religious images, some faithful to Christianity, others syncretic and esoteric. I catch a whiff of an indistinct scent, something like a mixture of Florida Water and rue, and the vendors urgently offer me their traditional Doña Pepa nougat. It's true, we're nearing the purple month.
National youth days with secular music, masses for children with puppets and dolls in the temple, the priest reduced to the simple role of community animator, integral ecology, synodality - Nonsense! - I think.
The Mass is no longer the center and summit of the Church's life, as Sacrosanctum Concilium states, but is now merely a means, an instrument for celebrating the Church's own community and culture. At best, its Eucharistic purpose, that is, as an act of thanksgiving, is acknowledged, but its other three purposes—adoration, propitiation, and reparation—have been relegated to the back of our minds.
That's right, Zavalita, that's right, dear reader, worship is no longer practiced in churches. The kneelers have been removed from the temples, and Holy Communion is received in the hand. What would the Eucharistic Pope Saint Pius X or the illustrious Doctor Angelicus say upon seeing these atrocities?
Pure human madness. I continue my thoughtful stroll along this street, filled with the scent of palo santo. Those picarones look so delicious and sweet. I arrive at the beautiful convent of Santa Rosa de Lima. Was she a revolutionary woman, disillusioned with the colonial system of old Lima? Well, at least that's what a high-ranking member of the Peruvian church claims, or was she truly distinguished by her contemplative, mystical, and charitable virtues? God only knows!
Today, nothing is certain; everything evolves, everything is reinterpreted, nothing is secure. Dogmas are for outdated and fanatical people, say the progressives.
I continue my stroll along Tacna Avenue, carefully observing the profusion of vestments for the Lord of Miracles; indeed, we are on the cusp of October. A sudden inspiration illuminates my sorrowful heart; after all, hope is the last thing to die, and miracles always happen in October, always. Only a miracle will deliver us from this situation.
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