Traditional Latin Mass in Maryland

Carl Olson pens a factual analysis of the upcoming movie, " Angels & Demons ," the follow-up (actually the prequel) to the book-made-movie by Dan Brown, " The Da Vinci Code ." In short, it is anti-Catholic; William Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has pointed that out already . Olson, however, reveals the errors aplenty. Will it change any minds about seeing this movie? I don't know. As the saying goes, " De gustibus non est disputandum ."

Carl Olson points to a fascinating interview with Piers Paul Read. Here is the link to Ignatius Insight but be sure to read the entire interview . The new book, "The Death of a Pope," sounds fascinating.

Carl Olson has posted two stories on the Insight Blog that are fascinating. The f irst is entitled, "Douglas Kmiec comes out against Proposition 8 ...". The second is entitled, "Kathleen Sebelius = "Pro-Choice Pro-Lifer "? Both posts are interesting reads.

Carl Olson has more to say on the state of catechesis within the Church . He quotes Mark Brumley, Phil Lawler and Pope John Paul II to hammer the message home. I guess this kind of analysis is going to go on for quite some time. Wow...

Carl Olson links to a story in the July 13th edition of Our Sunday Visitor on the Ignatius Insight Scoop blog on procedures carried out on patients in Catholic Hospitals in Texas . The OSV story is by Ann Carey who has done an incredibly detailed investigation.

Carl Olson follows up his article which I posted last night ( see this blog ) with some observations by Roger Kimball of Pajamas Media . Quick: what is the fastest growing religious movement in the United States? No, not Islam, but the Church of Environmentalism . It is a low church, adamantly non-ecumenical, but aggressively proselytizing. More than a decade ago, the philosopher Harvey Mansfield observed that “Environmentalism is school prayers for liberals.” How right he was. But I wonder whether even so astute an observer as Professor Mansfield foresaw just how widespread, and how passionate (as in Yeats’s “the best lack all conviction, the worse are full of passionate intensity”), the Church of Environmentalism would be in the early 21st Century. Green be to you ! You've got to read the rest...

Carl Olson has posted the responses of the Bishops of California on the ruling on "same-sex marriage" on the Ignatius Press Blog today. The responses can be found here .

Carl Olson posts a link to a fascinating article on "The Renewal of Vatican II: Distractions and Distortions" by Douglas Bushman . It is a long article, but well worth reading carefully. Here is a short snip from the opening paragraphs: Seemingly widely diverse, these examples have something in common; they are visible and institutional changes. Observable changes such as these naturally draw our attention; they are the first things we notice. The Council, however, did not see changes as ends in themselves, but as means to something higher. The challenge is to look beyond them, or through them, to discover that more profound reality. Such a "looking beyond" is natural for Catholic faith, which perceives the Son of God in Jesus of Nazareth, and the bestowal of grace in the visible signs we call sacraments. What is that more profound reality? It is holiness, as unchanging in its nature as doctrine, the essence of the sacraments, and the hierarchical constitution

Carl Olson has a fascinating interview on Ignatius Insight with Joseph Pearce, the author of " The Quest for Shakespeare . " The interview then continues on to discuss the new Ignatius Critical Editions (ICEs) which will be published as new editions of classics devoid of modernist "PC" additions and/or "critical commentary" so prevalent today in book sets. Here is a snippet of the interview: Ignatius Insight: There has been a tremendous amount of debate in recent years about Shakespeare's identity and the nature of his religious beliefs. Can you provide a basic overview to those debates? Pearce: I give an overview of the various aspects of this debate in the opening chapter of my book. I show that the claims of those who say that someone other than Shakespeare wrote the plays are fundamentally flawed and are rooted in an ignorance of the real William Shakespeare. I then show that the claims of those who believe that Shakespeare was a Protestant or t

Charlotte Was Both : Thanks, Carl (in reference to Carl Olson) The New Liturgical Movement : Update on Papal Reservations regarding Large Concelebrations Traditional Latin Propers In English : Saint Julia Billiart

Update : An update to this story was posted by Carl Olson on his blog on April 1st. The posted email and ensuing discussion can be found here . The April 2008 edition of Catholic World News carries an important story by Professor Germain Grisez on CRS . Here is just a small snippet from the Carl Olson blog : The Church never acts on her own in carrying on Jesus’ mission. Jesus is always with her when she preaches and teaches, administers the sacraments, and does charitable works. Thus, she fulfills his command to spread the Gospel and makes him really present, manifesting his love to each of his brothers and sisters in every nation until the end of time. When Catholic charitable agencies properly feed the hungry or provide health care, those who receive help meet Jesus, learn how much he offers, and are given a new opportunity—perhaps a unique one—to respond to his love and share in his kingdom.In 1943, the bishops of the United States established Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to

Carl Olson in Insight Scoop is reporting that Archbishop Raymond Burke has declared the excommunications of would-be priestesses Rose Hudson and Elsie McGrath, and also of pretend-bishop Patricia Fresen. This decree...declares as follows : 1) that McGrath, Hudson and Fresen have incurred the censure of excommunication latae sententiae for the crime of schism (cann. 1331, 1364 s. 1); 2) that upon McGrath, Hudson and Fresen is imposed the ferendae sententiae censure of interdict for the crime of pertinacious rejection of a truth of the faith after admonition by the Ordinary (can. 1371, para. 1); and, 3) that upon Fresen is imposed the ferendae sententiae censure of excommunication for the crime of simulation of the sacrament of Holy Orders (can. 1379). Read the entire story here .

I confess ... I am a huge fan of the "Apostle of Common Sense," Gilbert K. Chesterton . So, when I saw this wonderful article on Ignatius Insight by Carl Olson, I couldn't pass it by . I hope you will not pass it by either. After all, as Olson notes: This year marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of G. K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy , widely regarded as one of the most important and unique works of Christian apologetics written in modern times . I would gladly second that. By the way, if you want to "sample Chesterton" before delving in, there is no better way than Gilbert Magazine . The publisher is Dale Ahlquist . Yes, that's right. He's the fine chap who explains Gilbert to us weekly on EWTN at 9:00 EST. That show is another delight!

Ignatius Insight Scoop has a post by Carl Olson that summarizes a fascinating and yet sobering article by Jeff Ziegler on religious vocations in the United States . The post is a summary of an article from Catholic World Report which is very in-depth. In culling through the article, one paragraph jumps out and it was mentioned by several commentators on the Insight Scoop blog: Echoing the comments of other bishops and vocation directors, Paterson's Bishop Serratelli tells CWR , "God has been good to us. In the last three years, we have earnestly begged him for an increase of vocations. We instituted a pastoral initiative in all the parishes on all vocations, with a special emphasis on priesthood and the consecrated life… We have encouraged prayer by everyone, especially prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. Where Jesus is loved and adored in the Eucharist, vocations follow ." That sort of makes sense, doesn't it? If we all kneel before Jesus in the Holy Eucharist a