The Moynihan Letters

    Above, the cover of my late father's journal from 1943, when he entered the Franciscan seminary at Callicoon, New York, at the age of 17. My sister found the journal and gave it to me this past weekend     Above left, the contents page of my father's 1943 journal.  Above right, the [...]

    Above, Bishop Athanasius Schneider, 60, Auxiliary Bishop of Astana in Khazakhstan in central Asia, formerly one of the republics making up the Soviet Union. (link to his own website).     Schneider is one of the more tradition-minded members of the Church's episcopate, known for championing the pre-Vatican II liturgical traditions and practices of the Church. (link [...]

    "Preaching Christ and the Gospel, bearing witness to the lofty spiritual and moral ideals of Christianity — this is what I have dedicated my life to." —Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, who has just been awarded the State Prize in Russia for 2020 in the area of literature and the arts, one of the highest [...]

    This is a letter about an unconfirmed rumor and a confirmed fact:     1) the rumor that Pope Francis has set his sights on restricting the celebration of the old Latin Mass, and has asked for a document to be prepared to impose such restrictions — a rumor that has gone viral;     2) the confirmed fact [...]

Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, Germany (CNS photo/Cristian Gennari, KNA)     "Without doubt, these are times of crisis for the Church in Germany. This crisis has also been caused by our own failure, by our own guilt." —Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising in Bavaria, southern Germany, in a surprising May [...]

    Sr. Margherita Marchione, an American nun known for her defense of Pope Pius XII (Pope from 1939 to 1958) against attacks against his character, courage and actions during the Second World War (1939-1945), died on May 19, 2021, at the age of 99. (link)     After her death, the New York Times published an [...]

    "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!     "It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;     "As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the [...]