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Traditionalism is an Affirmation

One of the most important things for a person to have is an identity. This is why names are so important to us. Adam was given power to name things in the Garden of Eden, showing that he had dominion over the rest of creation, including Eve, whom he named. When a child finds out that a large, strange-looking animal has a name, he finds comfort in the fact, knowing that, if it has a name, and if Daddy can identify it, the thing must not be all that terrifying. It is known.

Traditional Catholics, or traditionalists, name themselves thus because of their embrace of the traditions of the Church.

by Brother André Marie January 17th, 2012

Brother André Marie to Speak in Louisiana


The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

On Wednesday, February 8, 2012, Brother André Marie will be speaking at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Lacombe, Louisiana. The title of his talk is “Penance and the Conversion of America.” It will begin at 6:30 PM.

The talk is sponsored by the Mysterium Fidei Latin …


Obama Says Social Policies Motivated by Bible and Teaching of Jesus


Brian Kelly

When most of our foreign aid goes to the militarization of bogus allies and population reduction of African nations through so-called health care, one is again stunned to hear the president ignore these facts and pretend that the purpose of foreign aid is to help feed the poor and the refugees and provide medicines for the sick.


Temporary Fruits of Ecumenical Reflection


Brother André Marie

From the Holy Father’s Address to the Participants of the Plenary Session of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:
Also the study documents produced by the various ecumenical dialogues have great relevance. Such texts cannot be ignored, because they are an important, though temporary, fruit of the common reflection matured throughout the years. Nevertheless, they are to be recognized


Obama and Administration Wage War Against Pro-Lifers Freedom of Conscience


Brian Kelly

By imperial edict, and as a dark insult to pro-lifers who were preparing their annual march to the Capitol to protest Roe v Wade and the ensuing murders of the pre-born, President Obama and self-deluded “Catholic” Kathleen Sabelius of the Department of Health and Human Services  have given new meaning to the word dictatorial. Genuinely Catholic and pro-life employers have been issued an ultimatum. They have one year to decide if they will serve God or the leviathan state. What boldness! What injustice!


Is There Fight Left in Hungary?


The Philosopher

We hope so. Daniel McAdams exposes the reheated communist apparatchiks and their fellow revolutionary travelers who run the European Union, and who are trying to bring the nation of Saint Stephen to its knees. Now the Hungarians are taking to the streets to insist that their government not be cowed by the threats of a despotic EU leadership.
Are the Hungarians at it again? Fifty-six years ago Hungarians landed what was ultimately the fatal blow to Soviet domination of Eastern Europe.


Multiracial Protest against SPLC ‘Bigots’


The Philosopher

Said one black pastor to homosexual activists: “how dare you compare your wicked, deviant, immoral, self-destructive, anti-human sexual behavior to our beautiful skin color.” What merited such a lambasting? The SPLC’s smearing pro-family organizations as “hate groups” for opposing the homosexual agenda.

Wouldn’t it be good to hear Catholic priests speaking with such conviction?


Agribusiness vs. Agriculture


Brother André Marie

Do you know the difference? If not, I suggest a glance at a blog I’ve just come across: Catholic Land Movement. In reply to our question, there is a posting on that site called “An Authentic Agriculture.” Here is the first paragraph:
Today we refer to what the giant monoculture farmers do as agriculture. This is actually a misnomer. What the vast majority of farmers do today is in actuality agribusiness. This is an important and essential distinction.


Hungary Capitulating?


The Philosopher

This, from RT: “Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has promised to revise the constitution that Europeans say has breached EU rules. The European Commission earlier this week mentioned curbs on the independence of the Hungarian central bank, the early retirement of judges and supervision of the country’s data …


Prayer for Church Unity Is a Prayer For Our Own Conversion and For Non-Catholics To Enter the True Church


Brian Kelly

It’s that simple, as Father Paul Wattson intended it in petitioning Rome to approve the liturgical octave. Pope Saint Pius X approved of the octave in 1908 and Pope Benedict XV promoted its observance throughout the whole Catholic Church. The eight days of prayer begin on January 18, the feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, and end on January 25, the feast of the conversion of Saint Paul. The Holy Father in his general audience yesterday called for “interior conversion” saying that the Unity Octave must not be limited to nothing more than “cordiality and cooperation.”


A Note on NH Pro-Life Victory


Brother André Marie

A little note about the pro-life victory in Saint Benedict Center’s home state. Read the following, from Lifenews.com:
Michael Tierney, an Alliance Defense Fund-allied attorney in Manchester, New Hampshire who helped promote the language, added, “It is time to get New Hampshire taxpayers out of the abortion business. Planned Parenthood’s business model is centered on abortion, and New Hampshire taxpayers want no part in it.”


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Polemics

Archbishop Fulton Sheen once wrote an excellent article called “The Decline of Controversy.” He gave the Center permission to publish it in From the Housetops magazine. His major point was that false ecumenism and religious indifference were undermining the art of religious disputation. The good old days of vibrant argumentation were being replaced by soulless dialogue. The more controversy declines the more truth becomes relative.

Polemics can be called the art of disputation. It is more than debate; it is animated debate. By its very nature polemics is meant to be a stimulating exercise, which fortifies the mind by establishing the reasons that support the truths we believe in. And one way to do that is by exposing the fallacies of the arguments used to support false doctrine.  With liberals and Protestants, polemics employs arguments based on the authority of scripture and tradition. But the polemicist may also utilize contrast in exposing doctrinal or moral fallacies. Whatever tools are used, charity is the balm that softens the opponents hearts so that they may listen to or read arguments rather than ad hominems.

Abraham Foxman, the pro-abortion, head of the ADL, recently proclaimed Our Lord Jesus Christ the King to be unAmerican. Religion, specifically Rick Santorum’s Catholic religion, has no place in American politics, according to Mr. Foxman. In a confused statement, the ADL proclaimed that “Senator Santorum’s remark comparing himself to a ‘Jesus candidate’ was inappropriate and exclusionary.” Read More »

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Saturday, December 24. I went to Keene, N.H. to run errands. On the way, I said a chaplet of the Rosary. While carrying out my errands and on the trip back, I clicked on the local NPR affiliate to see if there was any news worth hearing. It would have been better had I prayed more chaplets of the Rosary. Read More »

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The words are not mine, but the Pope’s. In his bull condemning the errors of Martin Luther, Exurge Domine, Pope Leo X described his subject as “one whose faith is notoriously suspect and in fact a true heretic.” Yet Catholics are not ashamed to speak well of this heresiarch who wrought such havoc in Christendom. Those interested in Catholic-Lutheran exchanges can read a little back-and-forth between a Protestant pastor and me that appears at the bottom of my article, The Epistle of Straw. The pastor sought to defend Luther from the things I had said against him.  Read More »

Nov 8
Brother André Marie

Monologue with a Madman

by November 08th, 2011

Some months back, I received a telephone call from a sedevacantist madman who challenged me to a debate on whether Pope Benedict XVI is the pope. This individual should know that debates are not the way we do our apostolate. I have nothing against debating, but we engage in other apostolates that take up our time, I believe, more profitably: publishing, street evangelism, our school, night classes here at the Center, putting on conferences, various youth apostolates, public outreach to spread the traditional Mass, and giving talks on a Catholic America. Read More »

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[This is an actual sermon, by an actual priest. He graciously allowed us to publish it on our web site. Please keep in mind that it was written to be communicated orally, not in print. The standards of citation reflect that. The priest who gave the sermon is especially indebted to Fr. Philip Wolfe, FSSP1]

By the authority invested in my own mind, I am declaring this Sunday to be “back to school Sunday.” And so, let’s all go back to school. Read More »

  1. In fact, this homily is mostly an edited version of http://www.audiosancto.org/categories/culture-of-death.php : Evolution: A False Religious World View Masqueraded as Science given by Fr. Philip Wolfe, FSSP.

On the web site Taki’s Magazine, Charles Coulombe has a brief, thoughtful essay on the immigration question. In it, he summarizes the thinking of Archbishop José Gomez — his own Ordinary, since Coulombe resides in the L.A. Archdiocese. After touching on various points of view in the immigration debate, Charles favorably cites the Archbishop’s, then goes on to consider certain demographic facts that have been discussed on Catholicism.org. He does so with his usual wit: Read More »

What follows is excerpted from Sandro Magister’s The Inconvenient Memoirs of Cardinal Biffi, which, in turn, excerpted from the recently updated version of the Cardinal’s book. If I might add a word to those of His Eminence, I will limit myself to this one: Amen.

Regarding the problem of homosexuality that is emerging today, the Christian conception tells us that one must always distinguish the respect due to persons, which involves rejecting any marginalization of them in society and politics (except for the unalterable nature of marriage and the family), from the rejection of any exalted “ideology of homosexuality,” which is obligatory. Read More »

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In Salvation for Non-Catholics and Limbo, Dr. Jeffrey Mirus makes two arguments I would like to address. The first deals with limbo and claims that the lack of certitude that we have about the fate of unbaptized infants provides a way for us to think about the fate of non-Catholic adults. The second cites the encyclical Mystici Corporis as proof of the assertion that “the Church does officially teach a way of salvation for adults outside the visible structure of the Church.” Read More »

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In New Ideas on the Church and Salvation, I addressed the positions taken by Dr. Jeffrey Mirus in his piece, Salvation for Non-Catholics: Not a New Idea. Here, I will make some observations concerning the first of his two follow-ups: Sound Off! Comments on Salvation for Non-Catholics.

Dr. Mirus proffers the opinion that, to be damned for their unbelief, not only do people need to have heard the teachings of Jesus and the Church, they must have been convinced of them. Read More »

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Dr. Jeffrey A. Mirus, of Catholicculture.org, has authored three commentaries on that site concerning the doctrine no salvation outside the Church: 1) Salvation for Non-Catholics: Not a New Idea, 2) Sound Off! Comments on Salvation for Non-Catholics, and 3) Salvation for Non-Catholics and Limbo. If all one had ever read on this issue were Dr. Mirus’ work, he would not know that there exist three infallible pronouncements on the issue (one of Lateran Council IV, one of Boniface VIII, and one of the Council of Florence). Read More »

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