Dr. K’s Weekly Roundup, February 28th Edition

Unboxing, Good News, More on Scrupulosity, Liturgical Lessons, Papal Prognoses & the Current State of Affairs, Other Favorite Articles This Week

Feb 28, 2025

Close the Workshop

Just a couple of days ago I received in the mail the first copies of my new book from Angelico Press, Close the Workshop: Why the Old Mass Isn’t Broken and the New Mass Can’t Be Fixed.

I was so excited to see the final result, after the long labor that went into writing the manuscript, revising it multiple times, and reviewing page proofs, that I made an unboxing video!

I talk for a few minutes about the themes of the book, and why I think its message is important at a time when a lot of clergy, feeling discouraged by restrictions, are tempted to take the line that “As long as we do the new rite well, that will suffice.” The dangers of this approach are enormous, though seldom highlighted.

I could add that it’s very possible we’ll see an attempt made by the Vatican in the coming years to impose “reforms” on the old rite: if you can’t beat ‘em, beat ‘em up in some other way. The enemies of tradition see that the TLM is not going to disappear entirely, so they will launch a campaign of “death by a thousand cuts”: “You can keep the TLM as long as you adopt the new lectionary, the new calendar, the new prefaces,” etc. etc.—basically, an attempt to force Sacrosanctum Concilium on recalcitrant trads 60+ years later. (And we mustn’t be naive: a “conservative” pope might throw his weight behind this campaign just as much as a progressive one would do, under the mistaken impression that it would offer “the best of both worlds.”)

My book explains why all of this is a non-starter, a dead end, a ruse, and a means of destroying the perfections of the old rite, which I describe and defend in detail. What we love, we fight for; and to love it better, we must understand it deeply. That is the purpose of this book: to equip the reader with the deepest understand of why the old Mass isn’t broken and doesn’t need fixing, and why the new Mass is a mess that cannot be fixed but must be set aside for good.

I see this work as the conclusion to an informal “trilogy” that begins with The Once and Future Roman Rite and continues in Bound by Truth. Reading those two is certainly not presupposed to reading Close the Workshop, but I do think they form a unity.

(The links I just gave are all to my Os Justi Press website, where I also have copies of nearly all my books available. You can “look inside” at the first few dozen pages of each one. Those who get the books from Os Justi Press will always receive signed copies. Otherwise, you can get them from Amazon or the respective publishers.)

Along those lines, I should also note that my personal website has just seen a major upgrade: finally, there’s a single page that lists all 18 of the books I’ve written and the 13 books I’ve edited, together with links to the publishers and links to where you can get a signed copy if you wish. It’s my hope that this will make it easier for those who enjoy my work to see, at a glance, what I’ve written and what their next read might be.

The same website also offers a page with all the foreign-language editions of my books, now in 9 languages.

Good News

Erick Ybarra & Joshua Charles

I’d like to state for the record that apologist and theologian Erick Ybarra is good news for the Church. He’s exceptionally sharp at resolving difficulties that arise in ecumenical and intra-ecclesial disputes, and, as a side-effect, shows how unequipped most online commentators (rad trads, Orthobros, hyperpapalists…) are for grappling with theological questions of any sophistication whatsoever. You can see these qualities in his Substack post “Oh Erick! ROFL. Cantate Domino says even Martyrs Can’t be Saved if Not United to the Pope!” I appreciate his humility in recognizing that there are some subtle, intricate topics that we may not be able to wrap our finite minds around entirely — and that’s okay, it’s good for us to be reminded of our status before the divine mysteries.

Joshua Charles is also exceptionally good, for he does apologetics in the most charitable and intelligent way possible: calmly citing Church Fathers and drawing out the inescapable logic of their teaching, but simultaneously recognizing the dire condition of the Catholic Church at this time in history (so, no sugar-coating). You can find his work on Facebook and at X.

The possibilities of a gym

As we know, quite a few TLM communities have been shoved, by the nasty policies of Traditionis Custodes, into gymnasiums, basements, attics, and other more or less inadequate or remote places, so that their cooties will not infect the respectable Catholics who worship in the parish churches. (I know that most Catholics don’t feel this way, including those who worship in the parish churches; if only the brotherly benevolence extended up the chain of command, the Church, if not the world, would be a better place). But instead of grousing, we can ask: What, after all, might be the possibilities of a gym as a “worship space”? Could it be transformed? Have a look at this article at LAJ, “The Transformation of a Gymnasium into a Chapel in Maryland.” It has to be seen to be believed.

Lost and found

Researchers have unearthed some 4,000 hitherto “lost” plainchants (i.e., chants not in use any more and/or not printed in modern editions) as part of a giant project to digitize all the manuscript holdings in Europe. Read more here, and listen to a choir singing some samples.

Two soldiers on the path to sainthood

Very edifying to read about the heroic charity of Fr Emil Kapaun (1916-51) and the Italian carabiniere Salvo D’Acquisto (1920-43), who, like St Maximilian Kolbe, gave his life in exchange for the lives of 24 civilians. Both were recently granted the title “Venerable.”

Arvo Pärt approaches 90th birthday, and Für Alina its 50th

Readers of my book Good Music, Sacred Music, and Silence will know of my deep admiration for the work of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, whom I mention and quote more often than any other living composer. A notice just came to me from the Centre dedicated to his legacy:

In 2026, Arvo Pärt’s piano piece Für Alina will mark its 50th anniversary. To celebrate this milestone, the Arvo Pärt Centre is curating an exhibition and invites people to share their personal stories and experiences connected to this composition. Every memory is a valuable addition to our archive…. If you have a personal story connected to this piece, you can submit it by email at alina@arvopart.ee. We look forward to receiving your stories until September 11, the day Arvo Pärt celebrates his 90th birthday.

You can watch the composer playing Für Alina and talking about it here. Ad multos annos, Maestro!

More on Scrupulosity

To everyone who left a comment or contacted me personally to thank me for my article here yesterday, “Thoughts on Battling OCD and Scrupulosity,” I want to express my thanks in return!

It so happens that the very same morning, another fine article on the subject was posted at Crisis Magazine: Amberleee Duteau’s “The Struggles of a Scrupulous Trad.” Plus, I’d forgotten to mention that Fr. William Doyle, SJ, an heroic World War I chaplain who died ministering on the battlefield, also wrote a helpful little work on the subject of scrupulosity (actually, it’s more of his own adaptation from a French work, but that’s by the bye), which can be found online here (albeit with some typos), and in a nice printed edition here.

Thanks for reading Tradition & Sanity! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Baroque pulpits

Over at Liturgical Arts Journal we are treated to a marvelous photographic review of the prominence and lavish artistry of Baroque pulpits. Opportune, at a time when certain would-be commentators on liturgy claim that preaching played a minor role at Mass in the Counter-Reformation period because it’s “not mentioned in the missal,” when, in fact, it was quite prominent but never mentioned in any missal.

*This*, however overdone it may be, was not put in a prominent place in the church just for fun.

The mighty reredos

The loss of the reredos in churches (either by removal or by omission in new construction) is one of the most terrible calamities of postconciliar iconoclasm and its Cranmerian mentality. All you have to do is look through this gallery to be cut to the quick. Thank God so many of these historic altars still remain intact, even if they are not currently being put to proper use (as you can see in this Austrian altar that has been turned into a flower display).

Byzantine witness on the papacy

Ever since I first encountered the Byzantine liturgical texts for the feasts of the popes, I have thought: What in the world are they doing separated from the Chair of Peter? Now, admittedly, the Chair’s recent incumbents haven’t exactly been spectacular exemplars of Petrine virtue, but surely, the solution is to band together and work as fellow disciples in the midst of an imperfect Church — not to accuse the rock of having split off and fallen into the deep?

A beautiful meditation on Low Mass

“A Shining From Shook Foil,” by Denise Trull:

The vestments glowed, the candles flitted in the air from the window. But the tangible beauty sort of melted into the scene, somehow. It didn't overpower. It was an afterthought. What one saw was just those two small humans up there in the massive sanctuary at the altar and it was quite a striking sight. It put human beauty in its proper place up against the mystery. It was pitifully small and humble - lovely as it was - and I sensed the careful effort of priest and server was infinitely welcomed as an indulgent and loving Father might look at a child’s drawing and pronounce it good. We were allowed to enter the larger mysteries.

Liturgy as “sacred magic”?

Joseph Shaw joins Sebastian Morello and Brian Scarffe on the Gnostalgia Podcast to discuss this topic. The conversation might especially interest those who struggle with any positive use of the term “magic” (as in Morello’s book that I published, Mysticism, Magic, and Monasteries). A word like “magic” can be used analogously, as can “enchantment,” “exorcism,” “baptism,” “sacrifice,” and many, many others — indeed, most of the words we use in philosophy and theology.

It’s not about you

Scott Hahn, “Letter to a Young Bishop”:

In the Greek of the New Testament, the sacraments are “mysteries,” and you bishops are designated as their stewards (see 1 Cor. 4:1). A good steward, my dear friend, will not keep the mysteries in mothballs. I know you, and I know your native shyness. I also know your humility. You may be tempted to put “pageantry” aside because you feel it draws attention to you rather than to Jesus. That’s a silly thought, and I urge you to reject it forcefully. This is not about you. In fact, the vestments and smoke will obscure you and allow Jesus to shine. You can hide beneath the beauty that tradition has raised as his throne. It’s not a bad thing that people will learn from this to look toward you to find Jesus…. Get over yourself and accept what God has given you.

The truth about clericalism

Progressives like to prattle on about how the old rite of Mass is “clericalist” because “the priest does everything and the laity nothing.” In reality, it is not at all clericalist for the priest to do what is proper to him and for the laity to participate spiritually, which is anything but passive, as Pius XII had already fully laid out in Mediator Dei.

In truth, clericalism means clergy taking over what is proper to the laity or forcing on the laity something harmful to them. Thus, as John Sonnen discusses in “Sede Vacante: The Custodian of the Conclave,” there used to be a special lay noble in the papal court who acted as “Guardian of the Conclave” by turning the key to the Sistine Chapel and shutting the electors in. This office was abolished by (guess who) Paul VI in 1968: another subtle but telling example of the clericalism that ran rampant during and after Vatican II, when lay offices were stripped away and everything put into the hands of clerics. The process culminated in the creation and imposition on the faithful of new liturgical rites for everything, the most colossal and flagrant act of clericalism in the history of the Church.

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“Catholic folk piety…

…is often considered solely in terms of what it lacks — a deficient, adolescent form of Catholicism not yet grown into its fullness. In this video, I [Phillip Campbell] posit that folk piety should be considered in terms of what it provides, as it plays an important role in keeping the Faith alive in many parts of the world.”

Papal Prognoses & the Current State of Affairs

It’s not surprising that we’re beginning to see a new subgenre of internet articles, namely, “What sort of pope would I like to see?” The desire to indulge in such speculation is entirely understandable, if only as a combined implicit prayer and release of internal pressure.

Austin Ruse, “The Coming Trumpian Pope.” It’s rare for me to cheer when reading a post, but this one deserved it! While we have plenty of reasons to be pessimistic, how we would love to see this vision come true (or even part of it).

Along similar lines, Charles Coulombe in “The Pope I Pray For” offers a pellucid portrait of the qualities of a good and holy pope. May the Lord someday grant us one! The excerpt that most caught my eye:

Humility [on the part of the pope] must extend also to the liturgy. A given era or one’s personal taste should not affect a pontiff’s treatment of the liturgy but, instead, whatever conduces to the salvation of souls. Whether it be Pius XII unleashing Annibale Bugnini’s liturgical antiquarianism, St. John XXIII’s scrapping of “redundant” feasts, or Francis’ apparent desire to force the world back to the liturgical situation of 1970, the faithful have suffered a great deal in this area. At the same time, most Catholics today are familiar only with the Novus Ordo as it has developed in their area.
It seems that the best and most charitable approach was that of Benedict XVI, who wished to allow for a liberation of the Traditional Mass alongside a gradual correction of the problems endemic to the New Rite. The “Restore the ’54” movement, the impetus for which came not from the top but from the sensus fidelium of actually practicing lay Catholics — rather than academic liturgists — should be allowed to grow.
For that matter, the Anglican Ordinariates ought to be allowed the Sarum Rite as their own “Extraordinary Form.” So, too, with the traditional rites of various dioceses and religious orders. One would like to see the Carmelite Rite extended to the Maltese, Holy Sepulchre, and Teutonic Knights, as the original liturgy of those orders. Traditionis Custodes and attached legislation need to be scrapped, posthaste.

As one sometimes hears in charismaticky services, “Do I hear an AMEN??!!”

Mark Wauck, “About the Upcoming Conclave”:

Christians need to decide whether they will flush themselves down the drain of history with the decadant remains of the West or will stand for something and work for a restoration of true tradition.

I’ve had similar thoughts regarding the choice of the next pope. If only out of self-interest, the cardinals would have good reason to pick someone very different from Bergoglio.

In “COLLAPSE: 12 Years of the Bergoglio Age in Numbers,” Paix Liturgique of France offers a powerful indictment not only of this pontificate but of the entire “new springtime” project of which Francis is the mouthpiece.

We must never forget what Robert Lazu Kmita reminds us of: “True Catholic Doctrine: ‘Obedience Must Have Its Limits, Beyond Which Guilt Begins.’” (The internal quotation in the title is a fine line from the great Polish novelist Henryk Sienkiewicz.) In “Saints and Movies: A Man for all Seasons,” Robert points up the lesson we learn from St. Thomas More:

Throughout our entire lives, trust in God is tested countless times. Even when we make the sign of the Holy Cross before starting the car, or conversely, when we omit this, we face such an implicit test of trust. Some of these “tests” are small and have no serious consequences. Others can be almost as significant as the trial of Adam and Eve in Paradise. Small or large, however, they always relate to God, the unique source of any authority, any power—in Heaven and on Earth.

Along those lines, John Rist, “Prominent English Scholar Says His Country’s Decline Began With the Reformation,” says “the secularization and moral fragmentation in England stems from the cataclysmic 16th-century event and the ensuing rise of nontheistic rights theories.” Indeed.

Concerning church governnance, Michael Mazza raises an uncomfortable question: “Who’s Really Calling the Shots at U.S. Diocesan Chanceries?” As Fr. Z sums it up:

The article by Michael Mazza – a reliable, knowledgeable, experienced canonist whom I’ve known for a couple of decades at least – exposes something that most priests came to realize years ago, namely, that diocesan chanceries are in a fundamental way being steered by lawyers and insurance companies and that the rights of priests to due process (or human decency for that matter) are often ignored.

Hierarchy is rooted in nature. To abolish hierarchy, one must therefore abolish nature (if such were possible). So argues James Baresel in “Feminism and the Destruction of Hierarchy.” Feminism is the most socially destructive movement the West has ever seen, for reasons I would like someday to lay out.

We can look to the Church in Germany and Austria to see what happens when “synodality” and “feminism” fuse and bear… offspring? As reported in The Pillar, Bishop Josef Marketz of Gurk-Klagenfurt has appointed Barbara Velik-Frank as the “episcopal vicaress” of his diocese. No one is quite sure what this means or how it squares with canon law or tradition or anything. But it’s a bold step into the future! Personally, I am waiting for the first “AI vicar” to be appointed…