A review of Louis Massett’s Traddyland: Memoir of a Radical Traditional Catholic. Compared with other high-demand and fundamentalist religious movements, radical Catholic traditionalism has produced remarkably few memoirs by those who have experienced it from within. The most notable include Patricia Walsh Chadwick’s 2019 Little Sister, recounting her childhood in the 1950s and...
Through the Scriptures, Tradition, liturgies, and devotions, people can encounter the living Christ and experience his love, healing, and freedom. But what happens when the women and men in the Church who are tasked with teaching doctrine, preaching God’s word, or presiding over the sacraments, do so with carelessness or coercion? What harm...
Concerning the July 1 Society of St Pius X (SSPX) episcopal consecrations and the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s (DDF) decree declaring excommunication, many have reached out to me as a retired canonist and Catholic apologist — one who once specialized in the SSPX’s 1988 consecrations and excommunication. Sifting through contradictory...
A review of Louis Massett’s Traddyland: Memoir of a Radical Traditional Catholic. Compared with other high-demand and fundamentalist religious movements, radical Catholic traditionalism has produced remarkably few memoirs by those who have experienced it from within. The most notable include Patricia Walsh Chadwick’s 2019 Little Sister, recounting her childhood in the 1950s and...
Through the Scriptures, Tradition, liturgies, and devotions, people can encounter the living Christ and experience his love, healing, and freedom. But what happens when the women and men in the Church who are tasked with teaching doctrine, preaching God’s word, or presiding over the sacraments, do so with carelessness or coercion? What harm...
Concerning the July 1 Society of St Pius X (SSPX) episcopal consecrations and the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s (DDF) decree declaring excommunication, many have reached out to me as a retired canonist and Catholic apologist — one who once specialized in the SSPX’s 1988 consecrations and excommunication. Sifting through contradictory...
Between 2018 and 2024 I worked intermittently on writing an ambitious series of essays in moral theology, which was eventually serialized on Where Peter Is. I think I made an important argument, but I am not sure in retrospect that I made it well; I wish I were not vain enough for that...
In a recent podcast, Cardinal Kurt Koch, the Vatican’s Prefect for Promoting Christian Unity, said of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), “I’m not entirely sure one can already speak of schism.” The interview was conducted on July 2, 2026, and published that day on the website of the German edition of...
The core traditionalist indictment of the Second Vatican Council is easier to state than the people making it usually realize. The argument, in its everyday form, is this: the crisis in the Catholic Church happened after Vatican II, therefore it happened because of Vatican II. Empty pews after 1965. Collapsing Mass attendance in...
[Editor’s note: Republished with permission from the author’s Substack.] I made the call to redact a recent article written about the SSPX and the decrees from the DDF. WPI graciously offered to republish it, for which I am very grateful. Though I stand by my conclusions, I realized I had written it in...
Pope Leo XIV, the first pope born and raised in the United States, sent a letter to mark the 250th Anniversary of the United States’ founding. In it, he noted that the birth of the United States “gave enduring voice to the ideals of liberty, equality, the pursuit of happiness, justice and democratic...
In some sense this is an “after the fact” rewrite of my recent return to canon law and Catholic commentary. I am attempting to reflect and write as I grapple with an event overshadowing my celebration of Canada Day with friends and family. Early this morning I woke up to the following news:...
The official decree from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith declaring the excommunication of the clergy of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) was published in the early morning hours today. Below is an unofficial working translation of the decree and the explanatory note into English: DECREE (Original Italian) Dicastery...
During the month of July, Pope Leo XIV is asking us to join him in praying that human life will be respected. The Catholic Church has long taught that respect for the sanctity of human life is a fundamental response to our faith in Christ. The roots of this belief are deeply theological...
On a sunny Santa Clara mountainside, I stood in shocked silence. It was lunchtime at the retreat center, and the buffet was ready. Prayers were said, and everyone stood. An unassuming woman in a loose-fitting dress leaned over to me and to the other women, and said, “Stand by your chairs until the...
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