What JD Vance Found in the Church (First Things): “Like the great African Church Father m[St. Augustine], JD Vance is a man from the backwoods, far from the centers of power.”
The SSPX Again Says No to the Catholic Church (National Catholic Register): “The Society’s answers will always be No, even when the Church first offers Yes.”
How About a Declaration of Charity? (National Review):“You have to love people. And, you know, Americans love people.”
Pope Leo, come to Silicon Valley (America Magazine): “I met people from Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta, PayPal and Microsoft, among other places. Well over 300 folks showed up for two public panels on a papal encyclical at 9 a.m. on a Saturday.”
Scouring Tom’s Whitewashed Conscience (The Heights Forum): “beneath his charm and hijinks, much of Tom [Sawyer]’s character development can go under-appreciated.”
Schism by Design (First Things): “This excommunication therefore has an air of finality to it that cannot be glossed over with a thousand paper cuts of various canonical distinctions.”
Heinlein: The SSPX debacle and a path forward (Our Sunday Visitor): “Pope Leo’s cries for a united Church have been consistent since his first moments in office.”
Bishop Robert Barron: The real reason communists fear religion and want believers silenced: “For religious people, the alarming success of radical socialists and communists in our electoral process is a real and present danger.”
The Traditional Latin Mass: What Might Leo Do? (The Pillar): “Seasoned Vatican-watchers will hence be on high-alert on July 16: the fifth anniversary of Traditionis custodes.”
Bishop of Oslo on SSPX Consecrations: I understand you the faithful want the Latin Mass, I will expand its availability (Rorate Caeli): “Masses according to the 1962 Missal are celebrated every Sunday at St. Joseph Church in Oslo. This will continue.”
(*The posting of any particular news item or essay is not an endorsement of the content and perspective of said news item or essay.)
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Re #1 What JD Vance Found in the Church (First Things)
It’s annoying not to be able to read this article in its entirety.
I was able to read the whole July 6 article on Vance’s Memoir in The Catholic Thing. This article makes me a little skeptical about what I see as a certain rah rah quality to a lot of the Catholic commentary on Vance.
I’d like to be able to assess where Bishop Barron falls in regard to Vance but one paragraph hardly seems sufficient basis to make a judgement.
Did your excerpt give this paragraph?
“Famously, JD Vance was one of the very last persons to meet with Pope Francis. The vice president had great respect for the frail pope and was extremely grateful that the pontiff had granted him an audience literally the day before his death. Vance’s meeting with Vatican diplomats was less satisfying. Cardinal Parolin, the secretary of state, raised serious concerns about the Trump administration’s policy regarding immigration. Though he acknowledged that the U.S. had a right to control its borders, he encouraged Vance to treat migrants humanely. But what did the Vatican object to exactly? Deportations in general? Deportations of criminals? The pace of deportations? Vance claims he got no answers and remained flabbergasted that “the Vatican seemed unwilling to move its moral guidance past the point of trite platitudes.” It’s a damning observation, but I confess to sympathizing with it, for I have found the same tendency too often when the Church addresses complex political matters.”
Many times those that complain the loudest are just regurgitating what others have said. They can t or won t state their solution to a problem. Many have never worked anywhere else so they have neither the soft or hard skills to address an issue.
@ I understand you the faithful want the Latin Mass
Masses according to the 1962 Missal are celebrated every Sunday at St. Joseph Church in Oslo. This will continue. If there is a need for it, and if it would be for the good of the Church and of souls, I will also expand this form of Mass celebration in our local Church (Bishop of Oslo Fredrik Hansen).
A wonderful expression of a Bishops’ Apostolic authority to defend the faith of the people. A people’s faith consistent with Apostolic tradition. What will the neighbors say? Rome is 1,552 miles away.
But still further away in regards to the liturgy, plus direction of the faith. Although more up to date as they and others scattered around the globe would say.
Hansen’s policy in comparison to Detroit Archbishop Weisenburger, or Washington Archbishop McElroy is a virtual opposite.
It’ll be interesting how the Vatican will react, on this the most coherent liturgical, doctrinal revival of pre VatII, much of which was retained in the original documents, although eviscerated by the ‘spirit’ of Vat II.
I disagree with nothing Bishop Barron said, but he could strengthen his case greatly by noting socialism developed in the early 19th century as “the democratic religion” to replace traditional Christianity. Modernism is socialism’s theology and esotericism (New Age) is its offshoot. The first two social encyclicals, Mirari Vos in 1832 and Singulari Nos in 1834 warned that these res novae — “New Things” — would, if unchecked, destroy the world.
@ I understand you the faithful want the Latin Mass
Although Norway’s Bishop Fredrik Hansen is responding to the spiritual needs and preferences of SSPX clergy, and especially Laity in a morally gallant manner, that he is expanding access to the Latin Mass in the 1962 Missal throughout his Oslo diocese also offers that liturgy to all.
That Bishop should be applauded in this regard for leading his sheep as a Shepherd, not as a cattle driver trying to get a herd to slaughter.
I will never understand the war, and it is a war on the “Old Mass” apart from a revolutionary desire. The problem remains, the Novus Ordo was imposed on people based upon the suppositions of ecclesial eggheads. It wasn’t the only disordering change of the 1960’s, but it hasn’t delivered on its promises.
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”
― George Orwell, 1984
Not comforting
In a fallen world, reality is rarely comforting.
We could use more bishops like Bishop Hansen.
Meiron above (8:18 a.m.)
No, it didn’t. That helps somewhat. But then there’s Michael Greaney’s comment.
Am I the only one who is a little uncomfortable with the Catholic commentariat’s seeming eagerness to trumpet Vance’s Catholicism?
Coincidentally, I noticed the same article linked at The Catholic Thing website. Maybe you can access it there:
https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2026/06/29/what-jd-vance-found-in-the-church/
Re the fatherly letter of the Bishop of Oslo.
Using the Internet and Chat GPT, I researched a bit about Oslo. There are 25 RC parishes and 455,000* parishioners.*This number MAY include parishioners belonging to the Church of Norway…(not RCC)
The Bishop says the TLM Mass will continue at St. Joseph Church in Oslo. The internet said:
“St. Joseph Church in Oslo offers regular masses in multiple languages, including Norwegian, Spanish, Croatian, English, French, and Italian.
Email: Oslo-St.Olav@katolsk.no
Parish: St. Olav Cathedral Parish, St. Joseph Church is part of this parish and hosts school and community masses
Regular Sunday Mass Schedule
08:00 – Spanish
09:30 – Norwegian
11:00 – Croatian
12:30 – Spanish
14:00 – English
16:00 – French
18:00 – Traditional Latin Mass (on some Sundays).
There it shall be and we shall have it.
My neighbor hails from Norway and knows Oslo. Daylight hours during Dec. and Jan. are 4-6 with another couple hours of twilight. Dec. and Jan. daytime temperatures are usually below freezing, averaging -6 to 0 C (32F) and nights often reach -10C. Snow typically falls from late October to mid-April.
Winter weather affects travel, particularly due to snow-covered or icy streets, wet snow, and limited daylight. Public transport generally operates reliably, but heavy snowfall or sudden cold snaps can cause delays. Travelers should plan for slower commutes, potential road closures in hilly areas, and extra time for walking or driving during winter months.
But the TLM sometimes on a Sunday at 6 PM will go on in Oslo. Thanks be to God if a person can get to it.
I imagine if there’s enough interest they may offer additional Masses at other times or locations.
We used to have the TLM each Sunday at our cathedral & it was the last Mass of the day, too. Not as late as 6pm though.
@ Schism by Design
Chapp writes: “Even Pope Benedict, in his commentaries on the Council, noted some of its deficiencies and elements within it that need, at the very least, updating or clarification.” A strong case can be made that the clarifications are largely already there in the Documents taken as a whole, e.g., Lumen Gentium, Ch. 3 with the Prefatory Note. For a presentation of Benedict’s reflections (See Cardinal Dulles, Feb. 1, 2006): https://firstthings.com/from-ratzinger-to-benedict/
Three points:
FIRST, back then, an excellent opportunity for a chit-chat, and fully three years before Benedict then lifted the excommunications on the four SSPX bishops. From the record, what was the constructive response to this constructive opening, if any? Today we now have six self-excommunicated SSPX bishops.
SECOND, of its 732 priests and 264 seminarians, and 600,000 laity (of which between a fourth and a third are reported to be active), “case-by-case” personal excommunications hang on where their individual heads are at. In the whole Council, do they want to see fatal discontinuity with Tradition, or not?
THIRD, surely, the 732 priests will help their flocks make up their individual minds, perhaps by convening hundreds of parish-level discussion groups around points identified by Pope Benedict in 2006. If the six bishops penalize such inquiries (maybe by excommunicating folks from the schismatic SSPX!), then the laity should have a pretty clear picture of how things really stand.
SUMMARY: Are the SSPX laity to be heard, rather than herded? But who am I to judge?
When Lefebvre consecrated four bishops in 1988, he did so with a co-consecrating bishop, Antonio de Castro Mayer, who was also excommunicated. I do not know whether Bishop Mayer’s excommunication was lifted; do you?
Lefebvre in 1988 consecrated, with a co-consecrating bishop, Antonio de Castro Mayer. Bishop Mayer was also excommunicated. Lefebvre died as an excommunicant, but I don’t know about Mayer; do you?
Catholics should be as obsessed about contraception and the encyclical Humanae vitae as they are about what the SSPX are up to.
See below the horrible figures. No wonder that the Pope talks the talk, but in his own state the Pope tolerates no illegal immigrants (See at the end of this post the harsh penalties the Vatican imposes on illegal aliens). The stance of the Pope and the Bishops on immigration is endangering us, our families and our children:
SEX CRIMES AND OTHER CRIME RISE IN HIGH- IMMIGRATION WESTERN EUROPE
Figures reveal a widening divide between high immigration and high-crime Western states and low or no immigration and far lower crime rates in Central and Eastern Europe.
New figures from Eurostat show that sexual violence offences across Europe continued to rise in 2024, with sharp differences between Western and Eastern countries likely to intensify debate over the link between crime and migration.
Police recorded 256,302 sexual violence offences in 2024, including 98,190 cases of rape. This represents a 5% increase in sexual violence overall and a 7% rise in rape compared with 2023.
Over the past decade, the trend has been sharply upward: sexual violence offences have nearly doubled since 2014, while rape cases have surged by 150%.
A breakdown by population highlights striking regional disparities.
Nordic and Western European countries dominate the top of the list, with Sweden reporting 200.98 cases of sexual violence per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Iceland, Finland, France, and Belgium.
By contrast, several Central and Eastern European countries report significantly lower rates, including Hungary (5.10), Lithuania (5.79), and North Macedonia (7.17).
Similar patterns appear in other categories of crime. Spain, Belgium, Portugal, France, and Germany rank among the highest for robbery, burglary, and theft, while Montenegro, Slovakia, and Hungary sit at the lower end.
Drug-related offences also show similar gaps, with Sweden, France, and Belgium reporting far higher rates than countries such as Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia.
RISING CRIME LEVELS IN WESTERN EUROPE HAVE BEEN INCREASINGLY LINKED TO INCREASED MIGRATION. REPORTS FROM COUNTRIES SUCH AS SPAIN, ITALY, FRANCE, AND GERMANY HAVE INDICATED THAT FOREIGN NATIONALS ARE OVERREPRESENTED AMONG SUSPECTS IN CERTAIN CATEGORIES OF VIOLENT CRIME.
IN FRANCE, NON-EUROPEAN FOREIGNERS MAKE UP 5.7% OF THE FRENCH POPULATION, BUT ACCOUNT FOR 14% OF HOMICIDES AND UP TO 30% OF VEHICLE THEFTS.
IN SEVERAL GERMAN STATES, INCLUDING BAVARIA, BERLIN, AND BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG, ROUGHLY HALF OF ALL SUSPECTS IN VIOLENT CRIMES ARE NON-GERMAN NATIONALS.
AS WE REPORTED EARLIER, REPORTS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE HAVE INCREASED ALONGSIDE RISING IMMIGRATION LEVELS IN COUNTRIES SUCH AS SPAIN, ITALY, FRANCE, BELGIUM, AND GERMANY.
https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/sex-crime-rises-across-europe-as-western-nations-top-the-list/
Vatican Promises Stiff Penalties for Illegal Aliens Crossing its Border
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2025/01/16/vatican-promises-stiff-penalties-for-illegal-aliens-crossing-its-border/
The Pope and the bishops stance on immigration is endangering us, our families and our children; see the example of what has happened to German:
According to official German crime statistics for 2025, foreigners are disproportionately represented as suspects in gang rapes and other serious sexual offenses.
The government may be underreporting this horror because many individuals with a migration background have acquired German citizenship and are thus categorized as “German” in crime reports, obscuring their origins.
Key Statistics from 2025
Data released by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and confirmed by government responses to parliamentary inquiries reveals the following:
• Gang Rape Suspects: In 2025, 53% of the 1,083 suspects identified in 751 recorded gang rape cases were non-German nationals. This is despite foreigners comprising approximately 15% of the total population.
• Specific Nationalities: Among the foreign suspects in gang rape cases, the largest groups included Syrians (110), Afghans (64), Iraqis (46), and Turks (44).
• Overall Sexual Violence: For serious sexual crimes (including rape and sexual assault), foreigners accounted for 39.1% of suspects.
• Relative Risk: Statistical analyses indicate that men from certain migrant groups are significantly more likely to be suspected of these crimes than German citizens. For instance, Afghan nationals were found to be 14 times more likely, and Syrian nationals 11 to 16 times more likely (depending on the specific crime category and region) to commit sexual offenses or violence compared to Germans.
The overrepresentation of foreign suspects has intensified political debate regarding migration policy and integration in Germany.
• Cultural Factors: Politicians like Turkish born feminist sociologist Necla Kelek and various state interior ministers (e.g., from Hesse and Bavaria) attribute these disparities to “culture-specific” views on masculinity and women’s rights among some migrant groups, particularly those from patriarchal societies in the Middle East and North Africa.
• Demographic Factors: Some experts argue that the overrepresentation is partly due to the demographic structure of the migrant population, which skews younger and male, though statistics show the disparity persists even when comparing age-matched groups.