The past week has been buzzing with rumors to the effect that Leo XIV has instructed the Dicastery for Divine Worship to issue “extensions” on the TLM whenever bishops ask for them.
Some readers around the internet have raised the objection that I have not proved my claims about homosexuality, and that, since the claims are enormous in scope and seriousness, I have a responsibility to do so.
My first comment is that this is an essay, not a research paper; but it is indeed based on a lot of things I've read and heard over the years, as well as the evidence of my senses when I look at and listen to the prelates who call the shots.
Now, some say we should not openly proclaim the problems because we are only giving our enemies ammunition to use against us ("look how divisive the traditionalists are!").
However, no matter what we do, opponents of the TLM will say we're divisive; that's their go-to trick.
What would you expect? We are precisely "divisive" in that we want only truth, only tradition, and only sanctity, not lies, errors, novelties, and vices, and this cannot but be like a sword of division. Yet that is because, more fundamentally, we seek to adhere to Our Lord, His entire revelation, and His entire law. As St. Thomas says, love of something implies hatred of its contrary. Our opponents love what they are doing, and so they hate what we are doing.
It has never helped the Catholic Church to ignore evils or to sweep them under the carpet. The time has come for openly and boldly proclaiming the truth.
Make no mistake about it. The world is your enemy if you are a Christian. None of the apostles had a cozy life or death. If you are a comfortable Christian, you had better think again. This is warfare and the enemy is the world.
Dr. K, Ugh, this must have been hard to write. I find nothing in your post to disagree with. Telling the truth about the Church is like lancing a boil. Someone's got to do it. May many others emulate your brave perspective. Thank you.
Or, to paraphrase what Malachi Martin often (and boldly) said: the organization is finished. No, no - not the body of the Faithful. That other thing that we used to take for granted as the body of the Faithful. Looking less audacious and more accurate by the day, isn't it?
For the holy intentions and conversion of our bishops, esp. Leo XIV, +++.
You’ve described the situation very well. I am still in morning from the Knoxville shutdown. I can only ask the Lord to intervene. The suffering is great.
Orthodox Christian here. I’m praying for all who are suffering in their churches, no matter what tradition. You are in my heart, my sister. Fear not. 🩷
THIS!!! Thank you so much for expressing what so many of us perceive and struggle against. It’s comforting to get confirmation of so many points in this article. Too many to address here. I’ll just comment on a couple. The speculation (and possibly true observations) on how many diocesan priest manage in the current church environment was enlightening and helpful. So many of them are in an impossible position. But, your expression of the underlying strength and protections of the faithful that rounded out the article is a very welcome message. Thank you for reaffirming truth. (I’m a Pelican + subscriber by the way and couldn’t be happier with all that it offers).
"Sodomodernist", a perfect term to bring a degree of understanding to my rattling thoughts & angst. And the final sentence the perfect solution. Many thanks.
Peter, a great and timely post. I believe that for wayward bishops and priests the fundamental problem is that they no longer, or have never believed, in the Real Presence. It was this lack of faith that caused the rebellion of such people as Martin Luther and Thomas Cranmer despite what other excuses they may have used. The Catholic faith doesn't mean much if you negate that belief. The Novus Ordo with its lame Offertory and Second Eucharist Prayer (which is most often used, not the Roman Canon) allows you to skate around and slide past any belief in the the Real Presence. With the TLM it smacks you in the face. There is no escaping it. So once the modern bishops and priests no longer have their faith, they look for some other faith to believe in to justify their positions to themselves and that faith is self worship. Everything else flows from their - sodomy, modernism etc.
"The answer is simple: such Catholics [who reject various dogmatic teachings] and their Masses do not pose any threat at all to the homosexuals and modernists..."
It's not that they don't pose any threat, it's that they are precisely the desired fruit of the new normal ortho-heterodoxy that the homo-modernists have brought to dominance in the official, institutional Church. More importantly, even the by-intent-orthodox Catholics who accept the authentic ordinary and universal magisterium of the Church are entirely complaisant, from a muddle-headed sense of piety, to the ascendant homo-modernist hierarchy. It is they -- the TOB people, the JPII Catholics, the hermeneutic of continuity people, the daily massers, the Rosary prayers -- who conceivably could and yet do not pose any threat to the corrupt. They may be 'orthodox' but are they virtuous? I sympathize with Kierkegaard in thinking this state of affairs is a more or less inevitable epiphenomenon of the crowd (against which TLM people too must be ever on guard). My suggestion, perhaps we need to be more synodal at a grassroots level, as in, have the fortitude to openly dissent from the lies and corruption, e.g., like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOgkj_eNZzM&list=PL9NOpoX7urstQeL7vggxy-itcXZNVn-pB
I know the promise the Gates of hell will not prevail against the church, but I wonder at the phrase will Jesus find any faith on earth when he returns
Me too. A phrase/question well worth wondering about. Whenever people try to minimize the corruption in the Church and say "but let's emphasize all the good stuff" I wonder: what? -- like Jesus did (not)?
Germany, hemorrhaging donations, relies on the forced (or denounce religion altogether) tax of the state through redistribution. That’s a distinction without a difference from the NGO system which exploded under the Biden administration (2.3 Billion and counting.) That’s been completely eliminated and now what? The bishops, in an urgent state of panic, don’t engage in synodal dialogue with ACTUAL pew sitters, no. They decide to admonish and shame to the glee of the secular punditry and marginal Catholic clergy and “cafeteria”
BTW, being one of those bewildered Catholics, I really appreciate your clear understanding. It is BECAUSE the old rite attracts and fosters orthodoxy that they do this. It’s so clear in the actions of these clearly vindictive Bishops outright banning not only it, but also rubrics clearly allowed in the Novus Ordo- ad orientem, communion rails, kneeling et al.
Yes - my account explains why they ALSO go after the "reverent Novus Ordo" - but the more clever among them will use the "reverent Novus Ordo" as a temporary way to lure people from the tradition in order to get them just where they want them, and then BANG, they will dismantle the new rite too. This process has happened over and over in the last 50 years, it's just that people don't pay enough attention to history to draw the lessons.
“And of all the sicknesses in the Church, denial of reality is one of the most widespread and most unacknowledged.” Indeed! Perhaps often unacknowledged because it is unknown. I am afraid the loss of contact with reality is a widespread negative effect of modernity itself. An excellent essay.
This article is simple and brilliant. I attend the TLM and we are always careful to invite our Bishop and thank him. There are some parishioners who sadly make it ‘us versus them’ and seem to make, I would submit, our tradition as a weapon.
I pray the pre 1955 breviary but during the week I support my local ( next door) Novus Ordo parish. The priest is Polish ( hence a very faith filled man) and uses me to teach by example and sometimes by talks to the congregation. To whit, I wear my veil, kneel and receive communion on the tongue. He let me run a consecration course to Mary. Father’s secret is an increased emphasis on adoration and confession. I am also responsible for our library and was very careful to place emphasis on the saints and our rich traditions. Many books I threw in the garbage!
The daily masses are very respectful and I sing a Marion antiphon to end Mass. Where people used to talk, I sing louder. As a former opera singer, not a problem. People got the hint, they stopped talking and they stay to thank our Lady.
While they will likely never join my parish, those of us who are traditional can make a difference in the quality of the worship.
( I sing in Latin)
I love your work! You inspired me to create a substack under the name Benedict Benson, so I can be free in my liturgical and theological comments without fear of censure from my college of therapists!
There is a reason Benedict chose the name “Ecclesia Dei”…
I’ve heard people respond to me pointing out that that’s just the incipit of what he wrote so it gets called that as a result. To them I would respond, “What, you think Benedict didnt choose those words for that purpose? That he didnt know how that naming convention works?”
Some readers around the internet have raised the objection that I have not proved my claims about homosexuality, and that, since the claims are enormous in scope and seriousness, I have a responsibility to do so.
My first comment is that this is an essay, not a research paper; but it is indeed based on a lot of things I've read and heard over the years, as well as the evidence of my senses when I look at and listen to the prelates who call the shots.
Here's a snapshot of the evidence:
https://x.com/i/grok/share/HfXb8FflqhvpULmR5viXYC4b4
Interestingly, the number of gays seems to be much higher in religious orders than in diocesan presbyterates:
https://x.com/i/grok/share/FkE5htBkGxZzzKMLjBI0xsmQD
Some have questioned or tried to play down the results:
https://x.com/i/grok/share/TdkH0XiLpoAF4TjZaSqHeUi7f
There is definitely a lavender mafia operating at the higher echelons, as can be seen, e.g., from this map of all the McCarrick connections:
https://www.complicitclergy.com/2018/10/15/connections/
Now for a list of more particular discussions of the problem:
http://www.gomulka.net/State.pdf
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/gay-priests-catholic-elephant-is-still-in-the-sacristy/
https://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2011/11_12/2011_09_06_Sipe_CatholicSeminaries.htm
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/we-must-eradicate-churchs-gay-networks-to-fight-sex-abuse-moral-theologian/
https://www.complicitclergy.com/2019/03/31/archbishop-chaput-predatory-homosexuality-cause-of-abuse-crisis/
https://www.complicitclergy.com/2018/12/03/8683/
https://www.complicitclergy.com/2018/08/16/cleansing-the-church-of-clerical-sacrilege/
https://punchng.com/homosexuality-scandal-rocks-nigerian-catholic-church/
https://www.complicitclergy.com/2025/08/08/gridrgate/
One can call these pieces of data "converging evidence."
As for the claim about modernists, this is like shooting fish in a barrel, e.g.: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/moroccan-cardinal-says-church-must-abandon-idea-of-true-religion-false-religion/
Now, some say we should not openly proclaim the problems because we are only giving our enemies ammunition to use against us ("look how divisive the traditionalists are!").
However, no matter what we do, opponents of the TLM will say we're divisive; that's their go-to trick.
What would you expect? We are precisely "divisive" in that we want only truth, only tradition, and only sanctity, not lies, errors, novelties, and vices, and this cannot but be like a sword of division. Yet that is because, more fundamentally, we seek to adhere to Our Lord, His entire revelation, and His entire law. As St. Thomas says, love of something implies hatred of its contrary. Our opponents love what they are doing, and so they hate what we are doing.
It has never helped the Catholic Church to ignore evils or to sweep them under the carpet. The time has come for openly and boldly proclaiming the truth.
Extraordinary beautiful exemplarilry expressed.
Thank you Dr. Kwasniewski.
Make no mistake about it. The world is your enemy if you are a Christian. None of the apostles had a cozy life or death. If you are a comfortable Christian, you had better think again. This is warfare and the enemy is the world.
Dr. K, Ugh, this must have been hard to write. I find nothing in your post to disagree with. Telling the truth about the Church is like lancing a boil. Someone's got to do it. May many others emulate your brave perspective. Thank you.
Or, to paraphrase what Malachi Martin often (and boldly) said: the organization is finished. No, no - not the body of the Faithful. That other thing that we used to take for granted as the body of the Faithful. Looking less audacious and more accurate by the day, isn't it?
For the holy intentions and conversion of our bishops, esp. Leo XIV, +++.
You’ve described the situation very well. I am still in morning from the Knoxville shutdown. I can only ask the Lord to intervene. The suffering is great.
Orthodox Christian here. I’m praying for all who are suffering in their churches, no matter what tradition. You are in my heart, my sister. Fear not. 🩷
Thank you, sister. I so appreciate your comment. God bless you!
THIS!!! Thank you so much for expressing what so many of us perceive and struggle against. It’s comforting to get confirmation of so many points in this article. Too many to address here. I’ll just comment on a couple. The speculation (and possibly true observations) on how many diocesan priest manage in the current church environment was enlightening and helpful. So many of them are in an impossible position. But, your expression of the underlying strength and protections of the faithful that rounded out the article is a very welcome message. Thank you for reaffirming truth. (I’m a Pelican + subscriber by the way and couldn’t be happier with all that it offers).
"Sodomodernist", a perfect term to bring a degree of understanding to my rattling thoughts & angst. And the final sentence the perfect solution. Many thanks.
Peter, a great and timely post. I believe that for wayward bishops and priests the fundamental problem is that they no longer, or have never believed, in the Real Presence. It was this lack of faith that caused the rebellion of such people as Martin Luther and Thomas Cranmer despite what other excuses they may have used. The Catholic faith doesn't mean much if you negate that belief. The Novus Ordo with its lame Offertory and Second Eucharist Prayer (which is most often used, not the Roman Canon) allows you to skate around and slide past any belief in the the Real Presence. With the TLM it smacks you in the face. There is no escaping it. So once the modern bishops and priests no longer have their faith, they look for some other faith to believe in to justify their positions to themselves and that faith is self worship. Everything else flows from their - sodomy, modernism etc.
"The answer is simple: such Catholics [who reject various dogmatic teachings] and their Masses do not pose any threat at all to the homosexuals and modernists..."
It's not that they don't pose any threat, it's that they are precisely the desired fruit of the new normal ortho-heterodoxy that the homo-modernists have brought to dominance in the official, institutional Church. More importantly, even the by-intent-orthodox Catholics who accept the authentic ordinary and universal magisterium of the Church are entirely complaisant, from a muddle-headed sense of piety, to the ascendant homo-modernist hierarchy. It is they -- the TOB people, the JPII Catholics, the hermeneutic of continuity people, the daily massers, the Rosary prayers -- who conceivably could and yet do not pose any threat to the corrupt. They may be 'orthodox' but are they virtuous? I sympathize with Kierkegaard in thinking this state of affairs is a more or less inevitable epiphenomenon of the crowd (against which TLM people too must be ever on guard). My suggestion, perhaps we need to be more synodal at a grassroots level, as in, have the fortitude to openly dissent from the lies and corruption, e.g., like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOgkj_eNZzM&list=PL9NOpoX7urstQeL7vggxy-itcXZNVn-pB
I know the promise the Gates of hell will not prevail against the church, but I wonder at the phrase will Jesus find any faith on earth when he returns
Me too. A phrase/question well worth wondering about. Whenever people try to minimize the corruption in the Church and say "but let's emphasize all the good stuff" I wonder: what? -- like Jesus did (not)?
Germany, hemorrhaging donations, relies on the forced (or denounce religion altogether) tax of the state through redistribution. That’s a distinction without a difference from the NGO system which exploded under the Biden administration (2.3 Billion and counting.) That’s been completely eliminated and now what? The bishops, in an urgent state of panic, don’t engage in synodal dialogue with ACTUAL pew sitters, no. They decide to admonish and shame to the glee of the secular punditry and marginal Catholic clergy and “cafeteria”
community.
Money is a big factor, Peter, don’t you think?
Yes, of course; but that only suggests we are not dealing with actual believers, but with proud, ambitious, selfish men.
BTW, being one of those bewildered Catholics, I really appreciate your clear understanding. It is BECAUSE the old rite attracts and fosters orthodoxy that they do this. It’s so clear in the actions of these clearly vindictive Bishops outright banning not only it, but also rubrics clearly allowed in the Novus Ordo- ad orientem, communion rails, kneeling et al.
I can’t believe I didn’t see this before!
Yes - my account explains why they ALSO go after the "reverent Novus Ordo" - but the more clever among them will use the "reverent Novus Ordo" as a temporary way to lure people from the tradition in order to get them just where they want them, and then BANG, they will dismantle the new rite too. This process has happened over and over in the last 50 years, it's just that people don't pay enough attention to history to draw the lessons.
True
“And of all the sicknesses in the Church, denial of reality is one of the most widespread and most unacknowledged.” Indeed! Perhaps often unacknowledged because it is unknown. I am afraid the loss of contact with reality is a widespread negative effect of modernity itself. An excellent essay.
This article is simple and brilliant. I attend the TLM and we are always careful to invite our Bishop and thank him. There are some parishioners who sadly make it ‘us versus them’ and seem to make, I would submit, our tradition as a weapon.
I pray the pre 1955 breviary but during the week I support my local ( next door) Novus Ordo parish. The priest is Polish ( hence a very faith filled man) and uses me to teach by example and sometimes by talks to the congregation. To whit, I wear my veil, kneel and receive communion on the tongue. He let me run a consecration course to Mary. Father’s secret is an increased emphasis on adoration and confession. I am also responsible for our library and was very careful to place emphasis on the saints and our rich traditions. Many books I threw in the garbage!
The daily masses are very respectful and I sing a Marion antiphon to end Mass. Where people used to talk, I sing louder. As a former opera singer, not a problem. People got the hint, they stopped talking and they stay to thank our Lady.
While they will likely never join my parish, those of us who are traditional can make a difference in the quality of the worship.
( I sing in Latin)
I love your work! You inspired me to create a substack under the name Benedict Benson, so I can be free in my liturgical and theological comments without fear of censure from my college of therapists!
Thank you for your kind words! To God be the glory.
I don’t think you will be getting any invitations for lunch at the Vatican considering what you wrote here. Me either.
Now I’m off to read your post on surviving in unholy and unchristian times. Thanks.
Indeed!
Thank you for being a reader here.
God gives us grace to distinguish between the influences of earth and heaven. It is our duty to distinguish and balance between the two.
There is a reason Benedict chose the name “Ecclesia Dei”…
I’ve heard people respond to me pointing out that that’s just the incipit of what he wrote so it gets called that as a result. To them I would respond, “What, you think Benedict didnt choose those words for that purpose? That he didnt know how that naming convention works?”