WHY INTERPRETING VATICAN II IN CONTINUITY WITH THE CHURCH PRIOR TO VATICAN II IS NEEDED NOW MORE THAN EVER

I will write more about this religious order below the video I post below. Please note how young and vibrant the Sisters are and compare that with modern photos of dying post-Vatican II religious orders. 

Let me be clear. I am not opposed to Vatican II and respect it as a part of the Magisterium of the Church. What I critique and criticize is how Vatican II was implemented, in discontinuity with what came before.

I lived through the transition from the pre-Vatican II Church to the post Vatican II Church as a young teenager. At the time, from about 12 years old in 1965 to about 17 years old in 1971, I matured in my excitement. 

What appeared good to begin with, in terms of my own experience of Vatican II’s implementation, seem to go off the rails by the time I was 17. I could tell that as a 17 year old! I wasn’t alone in that sentiment either. 

Thus, let us pray that Pope Leo XIV leads the Church in a honest critique of what has happened to the Church since Vatican II. Yes there is good, but yes there is some that is no good.

On Facebook, I have been getting videos of a Catholic school in Florida staffed by nuns in full habit and a very traditional Catholic education à la pre-Vatican II, something that all Catholics my age and older recall with affection and some fear and trepidation. I remember well my pre-Vatican II schools in Atlanta and Augusta with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Corondelet. We had many nuns and our Catholic eduction was like what this video shows but now in 2025. The only exception is that this “pre-Vatican II” school is very progressive in its educational hermeneutic and blends marvelously both in school and on-line Catholic education which I think is the wave of the future with all the home-schooling that there is, but homeschoolers want traditional Catholic education and they get it this way:

Now for the nuns in this Order; As I mentioned I had been getting videos feeds from their school and I was quite impressed with what I was seeing. But then I looked up the order and sadly discovered that it is completely schismatic as it is apparently a Sedevacanist group. I was greatly saddened by discovering this.

Their videos, though, on facebook did not seem ideological in terms of a fanatical sedevacantist position as they simply showed videos of educating children, choirs where Catholic children were singing the patrimony of the Church and marvelously so, not the kitsch they sing today in most Catholic schools and parishes. 

This is what their website says:

The Nature of the Congregation

 

The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Thomas Aquinas is a traditional Catholic institute of women religious who, by the observance of the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, apply themselves to acquire Christian perfection. 

 

The special object of the Congregation is to assist in the preservation and the propagation of the Faith in these troubled times. For this end, the Congregation is devoted to the Catholic education of the youth. The Sisters, therefore, have the teaching of truth at heart. 

​

Fundamental Principles

​

The Congregation is organized according to pre-Vatican II standards. The Congregation professes that Vatican II and the doctrinal, disciplinary, and liturgical reforms that have proceeded from it are substantial alterations of the Catholic Faith. It professes that these heretical, evil, and blasphemous reforms can in no way proceed from the Roman Catholic Church, since she is infallible in her doctrines, her disciplines and her liturgical worship. Thus, the Congregation rejects these reforms and adheres to traditional Catholic doctrine, discipline, and liturgy, pristine and untouched. The Congregation professes that the members of the Novus Ordo hierarchy, despite any and all appearances of authority, are not true Catholic popes nor true Catholic bishops, and do not possess the authority to rule, for they are the authors of the doctrinal, disciplinary and liturgical abominations which have invaded our holy places. 

Read the rest HERE. 

My final comments:

Although Sedevacantist, this order is attracting huge numbers of young vocations and their school is prospering. And the school, from its educational hermeneutic is progressive, oddly enough!

While they have separated from the pope and bishops in union with him, and thus this qualifies as a true schism, they have preserved the Catholic faith as it was experienced prior to 1965.  Their religious order, in terms of vocations, is experiencing in 2025 what most religious orders experienced prior to Vatican II. It is clear why that is!

In today’s world, if I were a parent living in this Florida town and I wanted my children to have a good, safe Catholic education, I would send them to this school and without hesitation. I would not, though, join this community as it is sedevacantist. 

It would be like me sending my children to a good Protestant school; I might like their education and discipline but I won’t join them as a Church. 

THIS IS A HOOT, TOO GOOD NOT TO PRINT:

This is from a comment on a post called Kevin’s Substack. You can read the full article about accepting Vatican II, HERE.

Here’s the comment by Steve Kraut. Too clever, no?

Rescue Vatican II

based on The Ballad of Jed Clampett (Paul Henning)

Lyrics by Mr. Steve (Some adapted from Paul)

verse 1:

Come and listen to my story bout, a man named John,

the poor lonely pope who thought, the Church’s spark was gone.

But then one day, he thought; “we shall not despair,”

let’s open up the windows and, let in some fresh air.

verse 2:

Well, the bishops missed the boat, cuz they wuz all asleep,

forgot to read the fine print, and watch it slowly creep.

Signed-off on all the documents, 2000 votes to four,

and Mr. Stinky’s smoke slips through, a crack in the floor.

chorus:

Well heck, now t’aint no joke.

the Council didn’t speak what it spoke.

We got to put the foot in the other shoe,

and rescue Va-ti-can 2.

verse 3:

Marcel and Ottaviani said “Watch out what you sow!“

Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi, this is what we know,

but Boo-nini holding all the cards, he was mighty sly,

he gave Saint Pope the bait-and-switch and hung him out to dry.

verse 4:

So now we swim-in-a-swamp of e-cu-meni-ical-ism,

We cannuh preach Nu-la-sal-us, Captain, just any old what-ever-ism.

Our poorly-formed consciences say don’t dare share the Good News,

Ohhh, God forbid that we’d upset the Muslims and the Jews!

chorus:

Well heck, now whadda we gonna do?

They’ve watered down what we knew was true.

We got-ta put-ta foot-ta in the other shoe,

and rescue Va-ti-can 2.

verse 5:

So now we’re in the Church of, Syn-no-dal-ity,

We’ve gotta stop the TLM, for the sake of unity!

Us lousy, backward, ridge-ed Trads, are giving him a fit,

so, in your pipe and smoke it, cuz ain’t not gonna quit!

chorus:

hey now, whaddaya say?

They wanna bless you, cuz you are gay,

It’s time we PUT OUR FOOT DOWN on the other shoooooooo …

and cancel Va-ti-can 2. (come on, what is it?)

and cancel Va-ti-can. (don’t you mean revisit?)

Nahhhh, CANCEL VA-TI-CAN 2!

https://mr-1962.com/playlist.html

OH THE NEGATIVE MEMORIES OF THE NATIONAL SHRINE OF SAINT ALPHONSES LIGUORI IN BALTIMORE!

 This was Christmas Day Mass at this shrine which is a block down from Baltimore’s original Cathedral, the Basilica of the Assumption, the oldest cathedral in the USA. It is also across the street from the birthplace of Edgar Allan Poe!

Below the photos, read by negative memories from about 1976…

As a 22 year old seminarian at the major seminary of St. Mary’s in Baltimore and in 1976, a group of us went to downtown Baltimore to visit the various sites there. I loved Baltimore of that that time.

We went into the Basilica of the Assumption (pre-restoration/renovation) and it was dark and dingy and smelled of being ancient too. We lammented that it was so pre-Vatican II and needed to be wreckovated, although that term wasn’t in vogue at the time. Wreckovation was so post-Vatican II and new and improved!

Then we walked a block down to St. Alphonsus Liguori and we were shocked that in 1976 it was so pre-Vatican II not just in looks but in worship too. Shocked I say, that it was so pre-Vatican II and Neanderthal! 

We seminarians at the time mocked the church building for not just being pre-Vatican II but that in the clergy and laity’s mind at that church, a renovation meant dusting off all the statues that are there.

We mused at how less distracting it would be to the new and improved Mass, to have everything in there ripped out, statues, altars and all and that the focus be just on an altar that looked like a table, an ambo that did not lord it over the people and a simple chair for the priest with all of that in the center of the nave so the laity could concelebrate the Mass with the President of the Assembly.

In 1976, my First Year of Theology Class had about 60 seminarians, many of them somewhat conservative. They were like square pegs being forced into the progressive round holes of Saint Mary’s and they didn’t make it because they were too traditional, rigid, and backwards, as Pope Francis called so many traditional Catholics today.

By 1979, my class was down to 21 seminarians, the conservative ones culled out. Of those who were ordained, several were removed from the priesthood in disgrace, others have died, one committed suicide, God rest his soul. I think there are only 7 or 8 of us still living and active in retirement or making plans for retirement.

And Saint Alphonsus Liguori? That shrine has been restored, not wreckovated and the FSSP staff it and the TLM and ancillary liturgies are alive and well there!

THE GLORIOUS LITURGY FOR THE CLOSING OF THE HOLY DOOR OF THE BASILICA OF SAINT MARY MAJOR IN ROME

If the modern liturgy were celebrated this way in all parishes of the world, more than likely, we would not have had the liturgy wars that we have had!

Please note the glorious vestments of the Cardinal.

Please note the traditional decoration of the altar.

Please note the reverence and mystery.

‘God’s heart remains open', says Cardinal at closing of Holy Door

The closing of the Holy Door at Saint Mary Major took place on Christmas Day, with the Cardinal Archpriest of the papal basilica inviting the faithful to remain open to hearing the Word, welcoming the other, and forgiveness. 

By Isabella Piro

The tolling of the ‘Sperduta,’ the ancient bell that evokes the spirit of pilgrimage, accompanied the closing of the Holy Door of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major.

At dusk on December 25, the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, in a Rome drenched by constant rain over the past few days, pilgrims attended the ancient rite, presided over by Cardinal Archpriest Rolandas Makrickas. “As we close this Holy Door, we believe that the heart of the Risen One, an inexhaustible source of new life, remains always open to those who hope in Him,” he said.

An ancient and solemn rite

Then, in silence, the Cardinal ascended the steps leading to the Holy Door. And still in silence, he knelt on the threshold, pausing in prayer. Finally, he rose and closed the doors.

Almost a year has passed since their opening on January 1, 2025. The decision to close them on December 25 is no coincidence: in Saint Mary Major, the relics of the Holy Crib where the newborn Baby Jesus was laid are preserved.

Becoming open doors for others

“What is being closed is not divine grace, but a special time for the Church; while what remains open forever is the heart of merciful God,” Cardinal Makrickas emphasized during the Mass following the rite, which was enlivened by the Liberian Choir, which in this Jubilee Year celebrates the 480th anniversary of its formal foundation.

“Today we saw the Holy Door close,” the Cardinal emphasized, “but the door that truly matters remains the door of our heart: it opens when we listen to the Word of God, it expands when we welcome our brothers and sisters, and it is strengthened when we forgive and ask for forgiveness.”

Hence the invitation to remember that “passing through the Holy Door was a gift, and becoming, starting today, open doors for others is our mission for the future.” A simple and solemn gesture thus becomes “grateful remembrance and a courageous mission.”

One Jubilee, two Popes

In his homily, the Cardinal Archpriest highlighted the unique nature of the Jubilee of Hope that is about to conclude: a Holy Year begun by Pope Francis and continued by Pope Leo. The only precedent occurred in the Holy Year of 1700, opened by Innocent XII and closed by Clement XI. But today, as then, it was “a passing of the baton and of leadership that gives us the image of the life of the Church that never ends,” because "the Lord never abandons His Church."

Peace is possible

The Jubilee of Hope, the Cardinal continued, was “a time in which the Church proclaimed, once again to the whole world, that God is not distant, that peace is possible, that mercy is stronger than sin.”

And following in the footsteps of Popes Francis and Leo, Cardinal Makrickas insisted that hope is neither illusion, nor escapism, nor naive optimism, but rather “a concrete force that opens new paths,” “a decision marked by love,” “participation in the life of the Word made flesh, a light that no night can extinguish.”

Hope is born from welcome

The Jubilee Year, therefore, is not "an event to be archived at its conclusion, but an invitation to remain attentive to the Son, because without listening to the Word, hope is extinguished.”

The example to follow, added the Cardinal Archpriest, is that of Mary, the one who “taught everyone that hope is born from welcome: welcoming God into life, welcoming others, welcoming the future without fear.” Only in this way, that is, by letting God enter our hearts, can we open the true Holy Door, “that of mercy, reconciliation, and fraternity.”

Translating the Holy Year into concrete action

Finally, from the Basilica that houses the Marian icon of Salus Populi Romani, as well as the earthly remains of Pope Francis and several other Pontiffs, Cardinal Makrickas invited the faithful to translate the powerful moments of the Jubilee into renewed prayer, concrete attention to the poor, reconciliation in families, creative commitment in work, and a merciful presence in the community. Only in this way can we have the courage to be “a Church with the Gospel in our hands and our brothers and sisters in our hearts.”

Prayer for the poor

During the Prayers of the Faithful, special intentions were raised for the Church, so that she may always be faithful to her mission of proclaiming the Good News; for the pilgrims who have passed through the Holy Door, so that, renewed in hope, they may bear witness to the Lord's love; for those who seek the truth, so that they may find in God the light, Word, and strength that conquer darkness, doubt, and fatigue.

Prayers were then offered for the assembly and for its desire for “renewed attention to the needs of the poor.”

The Mass concluded with the traditional Christmas carol Astro del ciel (Silent Night) and a solemn blessing imparted by the Cardinal Archpriest.

The Virgin Mary, Salus Populi Romani

Created by the sculptor Luigi Enzo Mattei and inaugurated by Saint John Paul II on December 8, 2001, the Holy Door of Saint Mary Major was opened for the first time by Pope Francis on January 1, 2016, on the occasion of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.

Inspired by the image on the Shroud of Turin, it depicts Christ appearing to the Virgin Mary, Salus Populi Romani. At the top left appears the scene of the Annunciation to Mary, and on the right, Pentecost.

At the bottom left is an image of the Council of Ephesus, which recognized Mary as the Mother of God (“Theotokos”), and on the right, the Second Vatican Council, which proclaimed her Mother of the Church.

Closing of the other Holy Doors

The Holy Door of the Liberian Basilica was the first of the Holy Doors of the papal basilicas to be closed. On the morning of Saturday, December 27th, it will be the turn of Saint John Lateran, while the following day, Sunday, December 28th, the Feast of the Holy Family, it will be the turn of Saint Paul Outside the Walls. The rites will be presided over by the respective archpriests, Cardinal Baldassare Reina and Cardinal James Michael Harvey.

Pope Leo XIV will close the Holy Door of Saint Peter's Basilica on January 6, the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord.

WITH POPE LEO AT THE HELM, HOW MIGHT HIS HOLINESS STABILIZE THE LISTING BARQUE OF PETER IN THE NEW YEAR OF OUR LORD, 2026?

In the six months that Pope Leo has been the Vicar of Christ, His Holiness has recovered so much that was tossed off the Barque of Peter by His Holiness’ immediate predecessor. Pope Francis thought it was more humble to toss out monarchical trappings of the papacy and its formality for a more earthy, rustic approach to the papacy. It is a “kind of” Arianism, stripping the Church of her Divinity to overemphasize her humanity. But humanity without Divinity is like a barque without wood. It won’t stay afloat! 

But apart from the external trappings of the papacy that Pope Leo is gloriously recovering, His Holiness is also calling us to the Divinity of Christ, Who has two natures human and divine. 

Jesus is the foundation of the Church. We worship Jesus. Everything else should support our faith in Jesus Christ, True God and True Man. 

We don’t worship ecumenical councils.

The Second Vatican Council cannot stand without all the other ecumenical councils.

We don’t worship conciliarism or synodlaity—if we have to have it it should be a way for us to embrace the Splendor of Divine Truth and not manipulate it for worldly means or a watered down Catholicism, Catholic lite!

We don’t worship the faith and morals of the Church or her sacraments or a particular form of the Mass. 

All of these, though, should enable us to properly worship God, and by God’s grace, to make Jesus he center of our lives as we make our pilgrimage to heaven.We must do it Jesus’ way, not our way!

And finally, we all pray that Pope Leo  is going to be a role model of not afflicting the clergy and laity in order to push a particular religious meme but rather liberate the clergy and laity to love God and His Church and her leaders because they, meaning the bishops, are evangelical Catholics, placing Christ at the center of the Church and their leadership, not themselves or a particular ideology that motivates them.

Let us pray that the type of affliction that Bishop Martin is inflicting on the Diocese of Charlotte comes to an end and that those in the Church who sincerely seek to make Christ the center of their lives are free to do so by participating in the Church with what is allowed, both the ancient and the novel. 

Stop lording it over the clergy and laity and build up what is good and work with them to purify that which is evil.

Call everyone in the Church to repentance and don’t destroy goodwill and faith by imposing ideologies on the Church, be it universal, diocesan or on the parish level. 

Pope Leo is focusing on soteriology—our salvation. It only happens through Christ and by God’s grace our repentance of sin and our personal conversion to Christ. 

Pope Leo is focusing on the good of all of His Holiness’ predecessors, Pope Francis and every other pope. Let us pray that he lifts up Pope Benedict XVI’s desire for inner healing in the Church, lost under Pope Francis, and that common sense returns to the Church where we recognize that what the Church has embraced as good and holy cannot then be seen as bad or evil. Pope Leo must recover Summorum Pontificum! 

Call them to repentance, don’t destroy their goodwill and faith!

RECOVERY OF PAPAL PROTOCOLS AND TRADITIONS JUST KEEP COMING! MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM POPE LEO XIV!

 First it was the mozzetta and papal stole; then it was nice vestments; then it was more formal attire for papal audiences with more pageantry for various audiences at the papal palace; then there was the move from the Vatican Motel 6, where they keep the lights on, to the Apostolic Palace; then were were the lined cassock and white socks (sox); then there was the return to the papal coat of arms on the papal sash and then there is the return to the papal bejewed miter with the papal coat of arms on the two tales on back; then, and this is a bombshell, the return of the papal throne with the papal footstool that was also in place for the Christmas Urbi et Orbi blessing.

What will be next, the white ermine trimmed mozzetta? It was damp and cold enough at Vatican City this Christmas morning for it!

Oh, I almost forgot, to show continuity between Pope Leo and St. Pope John Paul II, at the Urbi et Orbi, Pope Leo greeted piligrms in many, many different languages! The Christmas presents just keep on coming!

SPLENDOR RETURNS TO THE PAPAL CHRISTMAS MASS AT MIDNIGHT! A WONDERFUL REVERSAL FROM THE LAST 13 YEARS AND THIS BOMBSHELL, THE PAPAL COAT OF ARMS RETURNS TO THE PAPAL SASH AND ANOTHER BOMBSHELL REVERSAL, CHRISTMAS TAPESTRIES HANG IN THE BASILICA AND A PAPAL GIFT, BOTH IN LITURGY AND THE SASH TO THE CHURCH! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Papal decoration for the cassock! The Papal Coat of Arms returns to the papal cassock sash! Please note too the beautiful tapestries on either side of the papal altar. Pope Leo has brought back liturgical splendor! Beautiful vestments, wonderful Gregorian Chant, Mass in Latin, Roman Canon and the Gospel chanted in Latin too! It doesn’t get any better than this. What a wonderful Christmas gift to the Church!

HOLY MASS
ON THE SOLEMNITY OF THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD

PAPAL MASS

HOMILY OF POPE LEO XIV

St Peter's Basilica
Wednesday, 24 December 2025

[Multimedia]

_________________________________________

Dear brothers and sisters,

For millennia, across the earth, peoples have gazed up at the sky, giving names to the silent stars, and seeing images therein. In their imaginative yearning, they tried to read the future in the heavens, seeking on high for a truth that was absent below amidst their homes. Yet, as if grasping in the dark, they remained lost, confounded by their own oracles. On this night, however, “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined” (Is 9:2).

Behold the star that astonishes the world, a spark newly lit and blazing with life: “To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord” (Lk 2:11). Into time and space – in our midst – comes the One without whom we would not exist. He who gives his life for us lives among us, illuminating the night with his light of salvation. There is no darkness that this star does not illumine, for by its light all humanity beholds the dawn of a new and eternal life.

It is the birth of Jesus, Emmanuel. In the Son made man, God gives us nothing less than his very self, in order to “redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own” (Titus 2:14). Born in the night is the One who redeems us from the night. The hint of the dawning day is no longer to be sought in the distant reaches of the cosmos, but by bending low, in the stable nearby.

The clear sign given to a darkened world is indeed “a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger” (Lk 2:12). To find the Savior, one must not gaze upward, but look below: the omnipotence of God shines forth in the powerlessness of a newborn; the eloquence of the eternal Word resounds in an infant’s first cry; the holiness of the Spirit gleams in that small body, freshly washed and wrapped in swaddling clothes. The need for care and warmth becomes divine since the Son of the Father shares in history with all his brothers and sisters. The divine light radiating from this Child helps us to recognize humanity in every new life.

To heal our blindness, the Lord chooses to reveal himself in each human being, who reflect his true image, according to a plan of love begun at the creation of the world. As long as the night of error obscures this providential truth, then “there is no room for others either, for children, for the poor, for the stranger” (Benedict XVI, Homily, Christmas Mass during the Night, 24 December 2012). These words of Pope Benedict XVI remain a timely reminder that on earth, there is no room for God if there is no room for the human person. To refuse one is to refuse the other. Yet, where there is room for the human person, there is room for God; even a stable can become more sacred than a temple, and the womb of the Virgin Mary become the Ark of the New Covenant.

Let us marvel, dear brothers and sisters, at the wisdom of Christmas. In the Child Jesus, God gives the world a new life: his own, offered for all. He does not give us a clever solution to every problem, but a love story that draws us in. In response to the expectations of peoples, he sends a child to be a word of hope. In the face of the suffering of the poor, he sends one who is defenseless to be the strength to rise again. Before violence and oppression, he kindles a gentle light that illumines with salvation all the children of this world. As Saint Augustine observed, “human pride weighed you down so heavily that only divine humility could raise you up again” (Saint Augustine, Sermon 188, III, 3). While a distorted economy leads us to treat human beings as mere merchandise, God becomes like us, revealing the infinite dignity of every person. While humanity seeks to become “god” in order to dominate others, God chooses to become man in order to free us from every form of slavery. Will this love be enough to change our history?

The answer will come as soon as we wake up from a deadly night into the light of new life, and, like the shepherds, contemplate the Child Jesus. Above the stable of Bethlehem, where Mary and Joseph watch over the newborn Child with hearts full of wonder, the starry sky is transformed into “a multitude of the heavenly host” (Lk 2:13). These are unarmed and disarming hosts, for they sing of the glory of God, of which peace on earth is the true manifestation (cf. v. 14). Indeed, in the heart of Christ beats the bond of love that unites heaven and earth, Creator and creatures.

For this reason, exactly one year ago, Pope Francis affirmed that the Nativity of Jesus rekindles in us the “gift and task of bringing hope wherever hope has been lost,” because “with him, joy flourishes; with him, life changes; with him, hope does not disappoint” (Homily, Christmas Mass during the Night, 24 December 2024). With these words, the Holy Year began. Now, as the Jubilee draws to a close, Christmas becomes for us a time of gratitude and mission; gratitude for the gift received, and mission to bear witness to it before the world. As the Psalmist sings: “Tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all the peoples” (Ps 96:2–3).

Brothers and sisters, contemplation of the Word made flesh awakens in the whole Church a new and true proclamation. Let us therefore announce the joy of Christmas, which is a feast of faith, charity and hope. It is a feast of faith, because God becomes man, born of the Virgin. It is a feast of charity, because the gift of the redeeming Son is realized in fraternal self-giving. It is a feast of hope, because the Child Jesus kindles it within us, making us messengers of peace. With these virtues in our hearts, unafraid of the night, we can go forth to meet the dawn of a new day.

Even French cuffs and cuff links and lacy albs praise the Lord!