Weekly Roundup, August 15, 2025

Europe in Distress; Liturgical Lessons; Newman: No Liberal or Modernist; Favorite Articles

I wish all of my readers a most blessed Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady into heaven.

Europe in Distress

I follow European news and trends closely for many reasons.

My family and I lived in Austria for seven and a half years (1998-2006) and we still keep in touch with many friends from all over the continent. We love every city, country, and church we ever visited and we are deeply pained at what is happening there, with the pincer movement of woke elites on the one side and Muslim immigration on the other.

Even if the Faith was first born and planted in the Levant, Europe is the cradle of Christendom. Europe contains the best and the worst in history — the best in King St. Louis IX and St. Thomas Aquinas, Notre Dame and Sainte-Chapelle, Josquin des Pres and Palestrina, the evangelization of the New World and of Africa (the list could go on nearly without end), yet also the worst in the Protestant Revolt, colonial exploitation, antireligious and anticlerical revolutions, nefarious philosophies that have poisoned the minds of humanity, the liturgical “reform” that evacuated churches of the Faith and the faithful alike.

Corruptio optimi pessima: the corruption of the best is the worst. That is the sovereign law that explains everything one sees in Europe. This homeland of Catholicism can never be merely natural or mediocre; it must either be heavenly or diabolic, either supernal or infernal.

I’ve recommended to readers on other occasions one of my favorite print journals, The European Conservative, a handsome and richly informative publication. The online platform is excellent too, with news and editorials from a solidly conservative stance, friendly also to Catholic traditionalism.

Here are some of the items that caught my attention in the past week.

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“Is a Christian King Prepared To Rule a Post-Christian Britain?” What would it take for a Christian monarchy to survive in post-Christian circumstances? I think an analogous question can be asked of Catholic hierarchs: will they go the way of supine cultural accommodation, or begin to resist it?

Meanwhile, thanks to the Church’s surrender to the liberal agenda, the rightist party in Spain has to distance itself from the Church (or rather, from churchmen, to be more accurate):

Earlier this week, the leader of the Right-wing Vox party, Santiago Abascal, launched an attack on Spain’s Catholic Church. During a podcast appearance, he said that he was “perplexed and saddened” by the Church’s liberal positions on immigration and Islam. He further argued that this “weakness” stemmed from the government funding received by the Church’s charity, Caritas, for its support of refugees....

Vox’s attitude towards the opposition of the Spanish Church hierarchy is best exemplified by the response of European parliamentarian Jorge Buxadé to a sermon by the Archbishop of Santiago last month. Responding to a video of the Archbishop urging the politicians in front of him to “raise their voices” in defence of migrants, Buxadé quoted from the Gospel of Matthew: “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.”

Natural law will have its day; God is its guarantor. A future Catholic hierarchy, chastened, will join forces with the remaining Christians of the continent to promote tradition and cultural identity once more. That is my hope and, in some ways, my expectation, based on how the “pendulum swing” tends to go.

Over in France, the current ruling elite must be overturned — with pitchforks if need be:

The return to the political season could turn into a veritable powder keg in France. Since mid-July, the slogan “Bloquons tout!” (“Let’s block everything!”) has spread like wildfire on social media, calling for a total shutdown of the country on September 10. The spark: the drastic cuts announced by Prime Minister François Bayrou, which include a €43.8 billion adjustment, the freezing of social spending, the elimination of two public holidays, and other austerity measures that have lit the fuse of public discontent, primed for years.

This is not just about numbers in a budget. Many French citizens see these cuts as confirmation that they are being asked to make more sacrifices. At the same time, the state has spent enormous sums on mass immigration policies and subsidies that rarely benefit the native population. For large sectors of society, especially in areas hardest hit by crime and unrest, the Islamisation of the country has not come cheap: it has been financed by their taxes, leading to the deterioration of entire neighbourhoods and increasing the feeling of abandonment.

The situation is reminiscent of 2018, when the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) paralysed the country in protest against rising fuel prices. Now, the cocktail is similar, but even more explosive: economic crisis, loss of purchasing power, rising crime, uncontrolled immigration, and a political class perceived as distant and arrogant. The September 10 protest aims to go beyond a general strike: consumer boycotts, withdrawal of funds from “complicit” banks, and the occupation of public buildings.

No wonder an article can be entitled “From Fringe to Front-Runner: Why the New Right Is Surging in Europe”:

Over the past two decades, Europe’s political landscape has been transformed. What seemed unthinkable just fifteen years ago—that formations of the so-called “New Right” would become the leading political force in voting intentions across several countries—is now a reality.

According to recent polls, parties such as VOX in Spain, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in Germany, Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ) in Austria, Rassemblement National (RN) in France, and Reform UK in Britain are topping voter preferences, both overall and, most significantly, among younger voters.

The war between light and dark has been raging in Europe for centuries now, and the entire world has become its battlefield. An African writer on Substack informs us:

In the craftiest of political moves, the Freemasons planted one of their lodges in the heartland of Africa and called it “Light of Africa.” In truth, they indicated by this very action that Uganda which became the foothold of Catholicism in Africa following the reversals of the risorgimento— this land should be overturned in its Christianity if Freemasonry is to succeed. The small East African nation was home to one of the few seminaries then located in Sub-Saharan Africa, St. Thomas Aquinas Katigondo. Alright. That was way back in the early 1900s. Benedict XV had explicitly indicated that the crown of missionary endeavors is when native clergy have been initiated into ministry….

Why was Freemasonry hungry like a ravenous wolf for African territory? It is stated by one prominent researcher into this phenomenon that the battle was not just ‘the scramble and partition’ of Africa by colonial powers, but also a fight of allegiance between the two Freemasonries of England and France, the Grand Orient and the Anglo-Saxon masonry.

An observation: I find it rather insane that “conservative Catholics” laugh at or don’t take seriously the involvement of Freemasonry in the upheavals of modern times. I just finished reading a book about the Cristero War in which it is shown that literally every anti-Catholic politician in Mexico was a high-ranking mason. The revolutions of the 19th century against the Church were all driven by masons. This is so well-documented that you have to wonder if the conservatives are afraid to admit it because it would cause their darling project of reconciling the Church with modernity to collapse in shambles…

In short: “Liberalism’s intolerance is not a deviation but the logical consequence of its development”:

Patrick J. Deneen, professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame and author of the influential Why Liberalism Failed, has established himself as one of the most critical voices against the political paradigm that emerged after World War II. His central thesis is that liberalism, far from guaranteeing genuine diversity, has imposed an ideological mold that subordinates identities and traditions to consumption and economic efficiency. In a moment of international reconfiguration—marked by the rise of emerging powers, internal cultural tensions, and growing skepticism toward the globalist model—Deneen argues that local loyalties, religious roots, and national traditions are essential for the political health of nations. He considers that what is called ‘liberal intolerance’ is not an anomaly but the logical consequence of a system that, when it fails to domesticate deep convictions, resorts to direct coercion.

What would Europe be like today if the disciples of Christ had failed to evangelize it? A frightening thought experiment, attempted by Itxu Díaz in “When Did We Lose Europe?”

Newman: No Liberal, No Modernist

Carl Trueman, writing at First Things:

Newman declared in his Apologia Pro Vita Sua: “From the age of fifteen, dogma has been the fundamental principle of my religion: I know no other religion; I cannot enter into the idea of any other sort of religion; religion, as a mere sentiment, is to me a dream and a mockery.”

Any reader of Newman’s sermons on the Incarnation can see this conviction in action. And we should take note: Who wants to waste Christian language on comparative trivia when the glories of the infinite God revealed through finite flesh are the real business at hand? The political therapeutic deism that now characterizes elements of the professing Christian world is, to repeat Newman’s phrase, a dream and a mockery.

The message of Newman, and more recently of Coakley, is one that churches need to take to heart. An instrumentalized gospel, a Christianity reduced to the political exigencies of our cultural moment, is doomed to failure.

With “Newman: Christianity as an Idea,” Unam Sanctam Catholicam has kicked off a series explaining Newman’s view of Christianity as an objective “idea” impressed by God on man’s mind, which can then further unfold its logical implications. The author does a fantastic job defending Newman from the charge (made by both rad trads and progs) that he’s a proto-Modernist or a subjectivist. He fleshes out Dulles’s accurate assessment:

Alfred Loisy, George Tyrrell, Henri Bremond, and Ernest Dimnet, among others, attempted to justify their own subjectivism by appealing to Newman's observations on the personal dispositions required for faith. But in their zeal to find an ally in Newman, they overlooked his concern for the supremacy of the revealed object, the intellectual character of faith, and the inviolability of dogma... Revelation always has a definite content that can be, to some extent, expressed in dogmatic statements.

Favorite Articles

Bishop Strickland for the win

The former bishop of Tyler’s interview at The Catholic Herald on Pope Leo XIV, the Latin Mass and Archbishop Lefebvre is well worth a read. Say what you will, here is a man who speaks as a bishop should, with evident love for Christ and the Church, with care for the faithful and for orthodoxy. I haven’t seen something this refreshing from a prelate in a long time. And the fact that the prelate in question is canceled speaks volumes.

Ten pieces of advice for avoiding burnout

An excellent and very timely article from Kennedy Hall: “Beware of Traditional Catholic Burnout.”

We are in a unique time in history for Catholics, where we find ourselves having to fight not only the culture but also much of the hierarchy—tragically—to live Catholic lives like the saints we read about. Traditional Catholics are in a constant state of fighting an uphill battle; and unfortunately, many of us are in a position where a type of “do-it-yourself” approach is the only option. All of this makes things arduous and tiring, and the risk of burnout is real.

His ten pieces of advice are golden. And he gives dancing a favorable mention.

What is your music doing for you?

“The #1 Sound Your Brain Desperately Wants to Hear”:

It turns out the “Mozart effect” truly exists, and you don’t have to be a musician to reap the benefits.... After exploring classical music, it’s hard to go back to modern tracks. The variety in classical compositions is like a workout for the brain, constantly keeping it engaged. Pop songs, on the other hand, get repetitive fast—and you can often predict how they unfold on your first listen. Try this experiment: listen to Antonio Vivaldi’s Concerto No. 4 in F minor. It’s a journey from start to finish, a true work of art. Then play Katy Perry’s California Gurls and tell me it doesn’t feel like brain rot by comparison.

Humanity has made astonishing progress in science, technology, and medicine in recent decades. But more than 300 years after Bach first graced the world with his music, where we are now feels like a huge step backward. The difference is so stark that it makes you wonder if today’s music is designed to be lacking substance on purpose.

Speaking of which… True, it’s sad that Gen Z has a hard time going out, but I greet the following news with uninhibited rejoicing, since this kind of “clubbing” is anything but good for the soul. May every such club perish and never reopen, and may the kids find more healthy forms of recreation:

Generation Z is often maligned as a ‘homebody generation.’ Battered by the rising cost of living and stunted by the COVID-19 pandemic, today’s youth would seemingly rather sit at home, scrolling and focussing on ‘self-care’ than socialising with friends. They prefer matcha lattes and Pilates to wild nights out. The impact of this is being felt across Western Europe. In France, 70% of nightclubs have shut down since the 1980s. In Amsterdam and Barcelona, venues are calling last orders much earlier than they used to. And in formerly lively Berlin, you’re now just as likely to get chucked out at 10 p.m. as 4 a.m. The UK, too, has lost around 400 clubs—more than a third—in the last five years alone. In London specifically, a city once world-renowned for its vibrant nightlife and music scene, just 6% of venues open past 2 a.m.

But, if you’re fortunate enough to life in California, you can attend the concerts of Musica Transalpina. Their concert programs are out of this world. Coming up on August 23 and 24, they will do “Marian Music of Tudor England.” The lush and surprising harmonies of this intricate soundscape will delight your ears. If you’re anywhere near Sierra Madre or Newport Beach, do yourself a favor and go!

Liturgical Lessons

I had missed this interview Raymond did with Card. Burke when it came out; it’s really excellent in many ways. Regular readers here won’t find anything new, but it’s a winsome conversation, good for sharing “outside the coterie,” so to speak:

If you’d prefer a textual summary, LifeSite has provided one here.

Foley’s latest

Michael Foley continues his mighty series with commentaries on the first Memento of the Canon, and on the Communicantes with its wonderful list of saints. Linguistic, theological, and devotional treasures, as usual!

The truth about deaconesses

Every once in a while, a person writes the single article needed on a given topic, and that becomes the “go-to.” Monica Miller has done that for us in “Women Deacons? Here’s Why Not.” She summarizes the history of deaconesses and the entire case for why they were not seen in antiquity as the equivalent of clerical male deacons and why this could never, in any case, be possible. All of it, set within a properly anthropology and ecclesiology.

St. Clare’s alb

Liturgical Arts Journal relates:

This alb was sewn by St. Clare of Assisi (1194-1253). It is an exquisite example of the fruit of the "grace of working," as described in the memories of St. Clare, an eloquent example of her devotion to the Holy Sacrament of the Altar. One wonders if she learned this trade from the Benedictines.

Made of pure linen, this wonderful antique has been preserved for centuries by the Franciscans in Assisi. Today it is on display in the crypt of the Basilica of St. Clare in Assisi. The shoulders and central inserts are of a special type of embroidery called "draw-thread" work.... The liturgical garment known as an alb was much more flowing in thirteenth century, as seen here, with pleated sides. These larger albs were held up at the waste with a regular cincture, allowing material to overhang at the waist. Similarly, sleeves were made with generous material, pushed up to be adjusted to arm length. In this way, the alb was sort of one size fits all.

Isn't it odd how the greatest proponents of radical poverty made, and valued, such beautiful and costly things for the liturgy? Hmmm.... maybe they understood something we’ve lost sight of.

Is there a Doctor in the house?

If you’ve ever wondered about the history of “Doctors of the Church” — how this concept came about, who was named a doctor and when and by whom, surprising choices, and more — look no further than Gregory DiPippo’s magnificent overview at NLM.

Fr. de Smet in Wyoming

At NLM, I share information on a new painting commissioned by a museum in Wyoming to commemorate the first Mass in Wyoming:

Prayers

Please pray for the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer (aka Transalpine Redemptorists), who are being crushed between a rock and a hard place as the bishop in Christchurch NZ continues to insist that they leave, for no good reason. Very disappointing to read they have lost their appeal to the Vatican.

I do not for a moment believe that Leo XIV is personally involved in this; it’s a matter that goes back to Francis’s reign, and the Vatican is full of lots of agents who will do as they please unless and until Leo makes more systemic changes. My impression so far is that the Bergoglianists in the Vatican are trying to control and steer Leo in various ways and prevent him from taking decisive independent action, and that Leo’s personality is not that of a pugilist who will take down all comers (as was Pius IX’s). We must continue to pray for him. I cannot even imagine what it would take to clean out the Vatican stables.

Miscellany

Bonaventure contra rationalism

Robert Lazu Kmita:

As a direct result of the epistemological attitude of those who believe they can acquire knowledge of God and His divine works through discursive reasoning, reason serves a deceptive function, similar to that of Pharaoh’s magicians, who tried to compete with Moses by performing false miracles…. All major events at the beginning of modern era, starting with the “Galilei affair” and Descartes’ skeptical and anti-traditional doctrine, followed by the plethora of schools and currents of thought that led to fragmentation and, ultimately, the complete relativization of any form of “rational” knowledge, were the preliminary stages leading to the fulfillment of St. Bonaventure’s prophecy.

Kmita then quotes Borella arguing that neo-Thomism failed to respond to Modernism because it competed on the same field. We have much to learn from both Bonaventure and the real Thomas about how to escape the gravitational field of rationalism.

See also Kmita’s related “The Mystic Principle and the Current Crisis of Church and World” and “The Crisis of the Church and the Mystagogical Option.”

Pilgrimage season!

Three annual Latin Mass Pilgrimages are coming up in North America:

• August in Quebec

• September in New York State

• October in Oklahoma

Check them out and take part in one, if you can.

Read an old book

Fr. Michael Rennier: “Reading old books is exactly what every modern person needs. There’s a generational conversation taking place and it’s high time we joined it.” In this vein he recommends some of Os Justi’s books — Newman, Vincent, Guardini.

Nicholas Rao on politics and localism

At this past summer’s Gardone conference, Nicholas Rao gave a fine lecture on the intersection between politics, culture, location, and aesthetics, a sort of philosophical prolegomena to any future urbanism:

If I had to summarize it... here goes:

What does it mean to say that man is a political animal? In the Classical and Christian traditions, following Plato and Aristotle, man's political nature arises from the need for communities that cultivate a psychic order (an orderly soul) in the individual. The exercise of intelligence, and the satisfaction of our natural and supernatural ends, requires a community capable of pursuing the full hierarchy of human goods in their created order.

This requires something above and beyond a community of rational discourse. It requires a town, a place where the sacraments and the physical church are the focal point of a set of customs, movements, professions and aesthetic projects that allow us to inhabit and to practice a Catholic life.

Because this practice requires a certain finitude, a place and a cultural character, Rao call for a renewed emphasis on place and locale in the Catholic understanding of politics. He argues that liberal political theory has progressively disintegrated social spaces, culminating in the placelessness of virtual reality. A Catholic restoration demands a performative, “platial” conception of political life that he describes as “theatrical,” comparing the polis to a dramatic stage.

A Closing Thought

Philip Primeau, in “What Good Things, O Christ?,” relates seven of the greatest blessings Christ gives to us.

We should frequently review the benefits of Christ, so that, by an increase in knowledge, we might experience a corresponding growth in charity, which weds us to God. True, we should love the Savior for His own sake. Yet it surely pleases the Giver that His gifts should be admired. Therefore, let us summarize the divine blessings enjoyed by those who are planted and rooted in Christ.

Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, for what you have given us, which we could in no way have possessed without you, or even dreamt of.