As a neophyte to Catholic tradition in the early 1990’s, I was struck by the beauty of that part of the Traditional Latin Mass called the “Preface.” The chant that accompanies it, sung by the celebrant alone, is not only … Continue reading
Category: «Ad Rem» A Fortnightly Email Message from the Prior
«Ad Rem» is our Prior’s fortnightly email message offering news and commentary regarding the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Crusade of St. Benedict Center, and issues affecting the universal Church. Each number offers brief, ad rem (“to the point”) commentary on timely or otherwise important matters. Click here to subscribe to our email list and receive the «Ad Rem» each time it’s published.
Improving Our Sad Sacramental Status Quo: Gestis Verbisque
On February second and third of this year, two seemingly unrelated events happened, one in a hospital in southwestern Louisiana, the other, at the Vatican. In chronological order, these were the publication, on the Feast of the Purification, of the … Continue reading
The Church, Salvation, and Our Charism as Slaves
This past January 17 was the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. For that occasion, the members of our houses here in Richmond, New Hampshire, were in Still River, Massachusetts for a … Continue reading
What To Do When Scandals Abound All Around
“Woe to the world because of scandals,” said Our Lord. “For it must needs be that scandals come: but nevertheless woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh” (Matt. 18:7). Later, the Apostle takes up a related theme: “For … Continue reading
Theme for 2024: ‘The Charity of Christ Presseth Us’
Until the beautiful feast of February 2, the Purification, we remain in Christmastide. The stunning good news the angels announced to the shepherds should be still ringing in our ears all this time: “Glory to God in the highest; and … Continue reading
Order, Disorder, and the Wisdom of God
Ordo ab chao — “order out of chaos” — is a motto used in various permutations of Freemasonry. It refers to the “new world order” that the revolutionary Masons will bring out of the chaos they create in their revolutions … Continue reading
Sanctifying Time as the World Ends
The Church’s traditional liturgy sanctifies our time — the day, the week, the month, the season, the year. What is quite literally mundane and temporal is thus transformed into something heavenly and spiritual, an anticipation of our partaking in God’s … Continue reading
The ‘Our Father’ as a Trinitarian Prayer
There is a principle of Trinitarian theology that tells us all the acts of the Holy Trinity ad extra are acts of all Three Persons. (Ad extra means toward the outside, as distinguished from ad intra, meaning toward the inside. … Continue reading
The War Crimes in Gaza from a Catholic Worldview
Before you read this Ad Rem, please stop and pray this Prayer to Our Lady of Palestine. The Gospel for the Feast of Christ the King, celebrated this past Sunday, closes with this verse: Pilate therefore said to him: Art … Continue reading
Real Love is Ordered
For this Ad Rem, I am sharing some snippets from the talk I gave at this past weekend’s Saint Benedict Center Conference, whose theme was “Cultivating and Passing on a Catholic Worldview.” The title of my talk was “‘Virtue is … Continue reading
A Mighty Help to Our Mothers’ Heroes
We here at Saint Benedict Center are in between two big fall events — the Pilgrimage for Restoration, which has us limping and aching, and our annual Conference, which has us feverishly preparing. Because of that, my time to write … Continue reading
An Anti-Modernist Meditation on the Woman of Canaan
One of the methods to my madness in selecting subjects for my show, Reconquest, is to take scandalous current events in the Church as occasions of edifying my listeners by giving the proper Catholic outlook on a question — citing … Continue reading
Is Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus a ‘Principle’?
Reviewing some correspondences with members of the sacred hierarchy recently, I came across multiple references to the dogma, extra ecclesiam nulla salus, which referred to it, not as a dogma or a doctrine, but as a “principle.” Does that word … Continue reading
Synodality: The Latest Ecclesiastical MacGuffin
Catholic film director Alfred Hitchcock popularized the notion of the “MacGuffin” in motion pictures. This, according to Wikipedia, is “an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or … Continue reading
Indifferentism as a Sin against the Love of God
Supposing that a cardinal of the Holy Roman Church had said, while discussing a major youth event he is tasked with organizing, “We don’t want to convert the young people to Christ or to the Catholic Church or anything like … Continue reading
