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Sacrificing Catholics for EcumenismIt’s no secret that the Catholic Church is bleeding members. According to Pew Research, those who have left Catholicism outnumber those who have joined the Catholic Church by nearly a four-to-one margin. As such statistics continue to worsen, the emphasis on evangelization grows. Yet, few can state what that ought to look like. So much of the focus has been upon reaching “across the aisle” and attempting to assimilate with Protestants. A recent case of a Catholic young adult group chat that was admonished by clergy for sharing memes with a jocular approach to Protestant themes serves...

<p>One of the most devastating casualties in the period after Vatican II has been the practical elimination of the distinction between objective redemption and subjective redemption. This has contributed to various evils, ranging from mass apostasy to the Vatican’s persecution of those Catholics who believe what the Church has always taught. Indeed, in one way or another, almost every aspect of the ongoing crisis in the Church relates to the effective elimination of the concept of subjective redemption.</p>

Trad Godfathers at Vatican II: Lefebvre on the Eve of the CouncilTowards a Better Understanding of the Second Vatican Council: The Importance of studying the Cœtus Internationalis Patrum. Read part I The Coetus: Trad Godfathers at Vatican IIPart II: What Did the Leading Members of Coetus Want Vatican II to Address?The Case of Archbishop Marcel LefebvreWhen the progressives won their first procedural victory at Vatican II on November 21, 1962 (John XXIII withdrew the schema on Revelation that had been prepared before the council), a conservative resistance formed around Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre throughout the rest of that first conciliar session....

“Once a Catholic Always a Catholic”? Not Necessarily.Many Catholics casually say the following line to ex-Catholics in order to get them back into a Church building: “Once a Catholic, always a Catholic.” It sounds welcoming, but it’s theologically wrong.This is because the Magisterium of the Catholic Church and the Church Fathers, St. Thomas Aquinas and the Popes all taught: A bad Catholic never ceases to be a Catholic, provided his failure be not faith-based but morality-based (and also provided those moral failures be not excommunicable.) On the other hand, a baptized person who has purposely rejected even one tenet of...

The Charismatic Cardinal Suenens | Part 1Editors Note: We are happy to republish this previously ‘lost’ (unpublished since 1997) article in conjunction with a history of the CCR with Kennedy Hall on our YouTube Channel. The late John Vennari was a crusader for Catholic orthodoxy and our former Editor-in-Chief.Part 2 will be published soon.The August 1997 issue of Catholic Family News featured the article “A ‘Catholic’ Charismatic Extravaganza” which contained a report on the Charismatic’s 30th Anniversary conference in Pittsburgh. The article also catalogued a brief summary of the most serious problems with “Catholic” pentecostalism as being radically opposed to...

[Catholic Caucus] Archdiocese of New York dismisses increased requests for altar rails, claims ‘no need’ for themThe Archdiocese of New York says requests for altar rails, which easily allow for the proper posture of kneeling while receiving Holy Communion, are ‘picking up steam.’“Some pastors have been inquiring about reinstalling an altar rail. According to the current directives, there is no need for it. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) specifies that the normal posture for the reception of Communion is standing,” states the memo, found in the December 2024 combined mailing from the Vicar General.“To install a rail...

[Catholic Caucus] What would the pre-Vatican II popes tell us if they were alive today?If we were able to go back in time and ask the pre-Vatican II popes what would happen if subsequent generations ignored their warnings by embracing the errors they had condemned, they would surely tell us that such folly would bring about widespread calamity and apostasy.Pope Leo XII began his 1826 encyclical on secret societies, Quo Graviora, with an image of how vigilant the Successors of Peter must be in protecting the Church against “the sects threatening the complete ruin of the Church”: Blessed Peter, Prince...

[Catholic Caucus] Chapter 6: ModernismEditor’s note: we continue our weekly serialisation of Dr. Edward Schaefer’s new book A Simple Man’s Case for Tradition. This book is an excellent introduction to Traditionalism and provides an easy way for Trads to introduce the movement to fellow Catholics who are seeking deeper answers to today’s questions. Proceeds from the book sale also help promote the Collegium Sanctorum Angelorum, one of only two traditional Catholic colleges in the United States. Read the IntroductionRead chapter 1: Equally Valid and HolyRead chapter 2: the New MassRead chapter 3: LatinRead chapter 4: Practice & BeliefRead chapter 5:...

Francis Tells Methodists That He Professes Their FaithDuring his December 16, 2024 audience with a delegation from the World Methodist Council, Francis falsely suggested that Catholics profess the same faith as Methodists:“Next year, Christians around the world will celebrate the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council: Nicaea. This occasion reminds us that we profess the same faith, and thus have the same responsibility of offering signs of hope that bear witness to God’s presence in the world.”While it is true that Methodists and other Protestants accept the Nicene Creed, it is obviously incorrect to suggest that Catholics and Methodists...

Chapter 5: One, Holy, Catholic, ApostolicRead the IntroductionRead chapter 1: Equally Valid and HolyRead chapter 2: the New MassRead chapter 3: LatinRead chapter 4: Practice & BeliefEvery Sunday at Mass, we recite in the Nicene Creed, “Credo … unam, sanctam, cathólicam et apostólicam Ecclésiam” (I believe in one, holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church). We call these the Four Marks of the Church, that is, given and known signs by which the Church can be distinguished from all other religions or denominations.[1] Each mark is like a trademark “that is used to distinguish the article bearing it,” in this case the...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Cupich discourages kneeling for Holy Communion, says standing is the ‘norm’Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Blase Cupich, has written a letter discouraging the laity from kneeling to receive the Eucharist, instead favoring standing, which he described as the ‘norm established by Holy See for the universal church.’Cardinal Blaise Cupich, the Archbishop of Chicago, has all but forbidden Catholics from kneeling to receive the Blessed Sacrament. “[N]o one should engage in a gesture that calls attention to oneself or disrupts the flow of the procession [to and from Holy Communion],” he wrote. Cupich expressed this interdict – and other...

[Catholic Caucus] Vestments for restored Notre-DameThe restoration and reopening of Notre-Dame in Paris was perhaps unthinkable to those who watched the great cathedral burn on April 15, 2019. What has been as beautiful as seeing the cleaned and restored cathedral is the fact that the general public clearly preferred making Notre-Dame look exactly as she was.However, as we have seen before, bishops from the left just can't let beauty stand on its own without doing something to destroy it. While the secular government of France heard the will of the people and heeded their desire for a traditional restoration of...

The terrible cost of betraying Catholic doctrine under the guise of unityAlmost one hundred years ago, Pope Pius XI saw so clearly that the false ecumenism that has thrived for the past sixty years would lead to the grave evil of religious indifferentism.Pope Francis with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar in 2019In his 1928 encyclical on religious unity, Mortalium Animos, Pope Pius XI warned the Catholic Church about the evils of seeking Christian unity through a process other than encouraging non-Catholics to become Catholic. As we can see from his clear teaching below, he foresaw that the errors of false...

[Catholic Caucus] The “Suicide of Altering the Faith” Took Place Before We Heard of FrancisThe Church had already reached the point of crisis before Jorge Bergoglio was even ordained to the priesthood (on December 13, 1969).Most of us understand that the Catholic Church is currently undergoing a profound crisis and that Francis seems to be doing everything in his power to make it worse. While Catholics justifiably consider how to best counteract the frequent outrages from Rome, it is worth considering the broader context of the crisis. To that end, the following milestones paint a picture that we may sometimes...

[Catholic Caucus] A Funeral Fit for Vatican II: Francis’s Funeral ReformsEven in death, Francis seems intent on mocking the papacy.In what is erroneously described as yet another act of humility, the Vatican announced this week that the rubrics for pontifical funerals are being “simplified.”The reforms are intended to “emphasize even more that the Roman Pontiff’s funeral is that of a shepherd and disciple of Christ and not of a powerful man of this world,” Archbishop Diego Ravelli, the Vatican’s Master of Ceremonies, has said. They are meant to “better express the faith of the Church in the Risen Christ.”The previous...

[Catholic Caucus] Chapter 4: Practice and BeliefEditor’s note: we continue our weekly serialisation of Dr. Edward Schaefer’s new book A Simple Man’s Case for Tradition. This book is an excellent introduction to Traditionalism and provides an easy way for Trads to introduce the movement to fellow Catholics who are seeking deeper answers to today’s questions. Proceeds from the book sale also help promote the Collegium Sanctorum Angelorum, one of only two traditional Catholic colleges in the United States. Read the IntroductionRead chapter 1: Equally Valid and HolyRead chapter 2: the New MassRead chapter 3: LatinThe year is 1966. It is...

[Catholic Caucus] The "Mayan Rite" and Papal Progressivism - by Abp. Héctor AgüerAbp. Héctor AgüerEmeritus of La PlataBuenos Aires, November 27, 2024 The Liturgy represents the intimate life of the Church, its essence: the worship of the Triune God, in which the First Commandment is fulfilled; the reproduction of the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ; the communication of the Grace of the Holy Spirit in the celebration of the Sacraments. The Liturgy is carried out according to various Eastern and Western rites. The Roman Rite includes the Ordo of the Latin Mass, which originated around the 6th century and has...

The Key to Understanding the Synod: “It Is a Continuation of Vatican II”Above: Cardinal Wilton Gregory and Fr. Vimal Tirimanna of Sri Lanka. (CNS/Vatican Media) Fifty years ago, in November of 1974, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre penned a brief but powerful Declaration — a manifesto against “the Rome of neo-Modernist and neo-Protestant tendencies which were clearly evident in the Second Vatican Council and, after the Council, in all the reforms which issued from it.”“This Reformation,” he wrote (alluding to the Protestant revolt), “born of Liberalism and Modernism, is poisoned through and through; it derives from heresy and ends in heresy, even...

[Catholic Caucus] Do Catholics Need to Flee from Vatican II and Its “Reforms”?Vatican II and its aftermath has demonstrated to us that we must always fight for the immutable Catholic Faith, especially when false shepherds are attacking it.In his March 26, 1961 pastoral letter from Dakar, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre began by echoing a message from John XXIII:“His Holiness Pope John XXIII’s Christmas Letter to the world this year was on the subject of ‘Truth.’ I should like to re-echo for this diocese the Holy Father’s most timely message, and to draw your attention, my dear people, to the necessity to...

Pope Francis: Mission AccomplishedAbove: when Time Magazine named Pope Francis person of the year in November 2013. On May 9, 2019, I argued that the way to wreck the institutional Catholic Church would be to use the Church’s own weapons against herself, especially the power and primacy of the pope.The Catholic Church, of course, is indefectible; but I argue now that Francis has accomplished the mission of ruining the temporal manifestation of the Church. As Archbishop Fulton Sheen had foreseen, we now have the “ape of the Church… emptied of its divine content.”“That’s a bit dramatic,” you’re thinking. “Did Francis...