In my home library of several thousand volumes, only a few authors enjoy the privileged status of occupying several shelves exclusively their own. No one will be surprised to hear that Aristotle and Aquinas are among them; in the music section, Arvo Pärt and G.F. Handel; and for pleasure, P.G. Wodehouse. Joseph Ratzinger belongs to this limited circle of authors whom I regard so highly that I have acquired nearly everything they wrote.
It would be difficult for me to reconstruct at this point the sequence in which I read his works, but for sure it started with The Ratzinger Report. I remember eagerly awaiting each subsequent sparkling interview — Salt of the Earth, God and the World, Light of the World — much as fiction fans might look forward to the latest release by a favorite novelist. As a professor, I sometimes assigned Called to Communion as a text in ecclesiology, Behold the Pierced One as a text in Christology, and Truth and Tolerance as a text in missiology.
At the International Theological Institute in Austria where I taught from 1998 to 2006, I enjoyed the privilege of teaching alongside Fr (then Dr) John Saward at the time he was putting finishing touches on his translation of The Spirit of the Liturgy. Although I had already fallen in love with the classical Roman rite by experiencing it in its recited and sung forms, it was Ratzinger who first opened my eyes to why I loved it — the theological and spiritual rationale. He made my own mind and heart intelligible to me, gave me the language with which to express what had been, prior to that, little more than an intuition and an attraction.
In discussing The Spirit of the Liturgy with fellow appreciators over the past two decades, especially members of the clergy, I learned that it had had the same powerful effect on many of its readers. At last, we had found a highly literate, sophisticated, rather audacious modern theologian who nonetheless knew and loved the Catholic tradition, explained its meaning, rebuked its assailants, and advanced its recovery. That he was the right-hand man of John Paul II and followed him to the Chair of Peter only added to the momentary elation of recovering territory after a series of brutal annexations.
Rejoicing there was, and plenty of it, in the small town of Gaming on that day in April of 2005, when the faculty and students of the ITI learned that Ratzinger had been elected pope. We heard the bells of the town church start ringing like nobody’s business and we knew something was up. (When bells ring like that in Europe, it means one of three things: someone has died; a war has begun; or a pope has been elected!) My wife and I took a short walk downtown to the apartment of some friends who had a TV, and they shouted to us from their upper-storey window: “It’s Ratzinger! Raaaatziiiingerrrrrr!” The rest of the day and week was passed in a sort of stupor, as the magnitude of the event sank in….
To read more, click on Peter Kwasnievski’s Substack, Tradition & Sanity
I loved Pope Benedict XVI. He wrote my most favourite encyclical Deus Caritas Est, God Is Love. The most important commandments love God and love your neighbour.. it’s all about love. God has great love and mercy for each of us . Thank you Pope Benedict XVI for reminding us in your amazing Papal Encyclical.
Dr. Peter Kwasniewski is a very devout, highly intelligent Traditional Catholic professor, speaker, writer, composer, and more– one of the few and finest Catholic intellectual leaders of today. I always appreciate and enjoy hearing what he has to say.
Here is a link to a beautiful “Kyrie” from Dr. Kwasniewski’s “Missa Spe Salve.” Most parish choirs could easily learn to sing this beautiful Mass. Perfect for both the holy Tridentine Latin Mass or a very reverent, holy Novus Ordo Missae:
https://youtu.be/nlpnimFPsDM?is=5z3iz5FEKbfAXrb9
Kwasniewski has written that the Novus Ordo Mass should be abrogated and the Church return to universally celebrating the Tridentine Mass as it was before 1955. In fact, that is his current position. He has charged that the Novus Ordo Mass is spiritually dangerous to attend and so utterly flawed that it cannot be fixed. He has set himself up as his own magisterium in opposition to the Church. I’d say he’s borderline schismatic, if not indeed schismatic. He should not be listened to because his ideas are wacko. He is the darling of the Catholic trads, which probably proves my point.
Dr. Kwasniewski is a highly respectable, devout Catholic theologian and scholar, regardless. One of the finest. You cannot just swallow every little thing that a big scholar says in class. You must decide for yourself. There are a great many immoral Catholic theologians today who are rabid feminists, LGBT promoters, pro choice abortion promoters, woman priest promoters, etc. Dr. Kwasniewski is extremely gifted. Of course, the Catholic Church of today cannot absorb his views. But at least he is standing up for authentic Catholic teaching. We may have hardly anything left of our Church after the Synod on Synodality is fully implemented in all dioceses worldwide– and Canon Law is changed, to put women and laymen in clerical roles.
Loved Pope Benedict, but did not agree with him on every little thing either. He was a great theologian. Wish that he and Pope St. John Paul II had not closed their doors on the day that the poor, sexually abused Calif. kids and their parents flew all the way to the Vatican to see them and tell of their tragedies due to their Satanic parish priest. Makes me cry for them. Loved Pope Benedict’s “Summorum Pontificum”– hope it will be the norm for the Church once again.
Alien, well said.
Alien, see for yourself, the Vatican honestly had some serious, sudden, problematic issues with the text of the New Mass quickly written up at the Vatican. They did not do– as previous scholars all through the centuries— the usual, little improvements here and there on the true, traditional, ancient Catholic Mass standardized by Pope St. Gregory the Great in the 6th century A.D. Under the leadership of Abp. Bugnini at the Vatican, the Consilium did not even follow the concepts drawn up by the Fathers of Vatican II on their liturgical document, “Sacrosanctum Consilium.” Instead, they deviated completely– and wrote up a text for a totally different kind of Mass, similar to modern Protestant Eucharistic liturgies and stripped this text of as many Catholic features as possible in the name of ecumenism. The Catholic Church really changed to a 1960s-style secularized and ecumenical direction at Vatican II. The text of the New Mass was quite shocking. The Canon of the Mass (they later ended up with four Eucharistic Prayers) was acceptable and valid. Dr. Kwasniewski was not even born yet, until the 1970s. He and other younger Catholic scholars must have been shocked at their scholarly discoveries later. For today I think a return to “Summorum Pontificum” is best.The Vatican has been way off since the 1960s.
Not too long ago an elderly priest and I were discussing the pre-1955 Holy Week liturgies and how excellent they were. Modern man has certainly lost depth and understanding of God and religion in our Catholic Faith. Why not get some good resources and materials and explore the pre-1955 Holy Week and see for yourself? You might be quite impressed, Alien. I once knew Anglican clerics long ago (now deceased) who said how jealous they were of the pre-1955 Holy Week liturgies and wished that the Church of England had something similar. There is only one bad thing that I have always objected to — the harsh words directed at the Jews, particularly in the Good Friday prayers. But Pope Benedict corrected that finally in 2008 in the 1962 Roman Missal Good Friday liturgy.
Here is a good article written by Dr. Kwasniewski, explaining about his recent discovery of the beautiful and holy pre-1955 Holy Week liturgies. But today’s Vatican is headed in a completely different direction. Best we can hope for is the restoration of “Summorum Pontificum.” Or maybe join an ancient Orthodox branch of the Church that still has and loves ancient, holy liturgies.
https://share.google/9HWvIZZwV16vgNR4y
Your Latin Mass-going grandparents would disagree with you.
“He has charged that the Novus Ordo Mass is spiritually dangerous to attend and so utterly flawed that it cannot be fixed. ” There is an anomaly between this assertion of yours and that of Beautiful “Kyrie” October 2, 2026 at 9:46 pm: “[Dr. Kwasniewski’s Mass is] … perfect for both the holy Tridentine Latin Mass or a very reverent, holy Novus Ordo Missae.” Why would Dr. K write a kyrie suitable for the Novus Ordo if he regards it as spiritually dangerous? Does he regard it as dangerous due to the violations of Sacrosanctum Consilium in present iterations and nothing more than this? If so then your comment “,,,that it cannot be fixed…” would be inaccurate. Whatever the case, to describe the ideas of a scholar of Dr. K;’s stature as “wacko” seems juvenile to this reader.
I am nearly at life’s end and was born in a different era. My grandparents were born in the late 19th century. None of them were Americans nor spoke any English until they came to America. Some of my family were musically gifted and beautifully educated like Dr. Kwasniewski. My Italian grandfather served this Mass as an altar boy starting at age 5. He was beautifully educated by the Jesuits. He was very artistic, spoke several languages, and knew ancient Greek and Latin well. He used to tell me how the Jesuits would daily converse in Latin to keep up their fluency with the language of the Church. People long before the modern era got started, though they grew up with the “horse and buggy,” often were well-educated, knowledgeable in many subjects, including religion, were fluent in several languages, and would disagree with your strange, disrespectful attitude towards the Church. Want to join the atheist Communists? In Italy, they were a big threat, during the early 20th century.
All big, famous scholars in any subject have their particular points of view. What I was taught to do is to listen to them all in class or read their books and then be sure to decide for myself what I think. Never become a puppet of anyone else’s ideas. Love Pope Benedict but did not agree with him on some of his famous fellow scholarly friends in Europe that were very progressive and helped shape Vatican II. So what? Pope Benedict was one of the most outstanding 20th century Catholic theologians. And he was 100% faithful to Catholic teaching. Love his “Summorum Pontificum.”
A long time ago, before television, Americans used to have a much higher level of education. Standards in schools were much higher. And the Jesuits were famous for being excellent Catholic educators. Many people were self-educated all through life, whether they had much schooling or not You could converse with them on many subjects. When young I remember people of all walks of life who could read and understand every little detail of a Catholic Missal. Policemen, soldiers, housewives, nurses, engineers, artists, farmers, miners, businessnen, sports coaches, musicians, lawyers, doctors, plumbers, teachers, college professors, even bar owners – everyone. They all were very proud of the Latin Mass. At any Mass, a layman from the congregation might offer to serve for a priest if there were no altar boys. Their level of formal schooling and knowledge of Latin made no difference. And all were well-versed in the Catechism. Today, many people with fancy degrees in different subjects including Catholic theology are not as well-educated. Many today sadly do not understand or believe in the Real Presence. To dumb-down the Mass at Vatican II did not help at all
Before the era of smartphones two things that have strongly deterred development of the minds as well as social and emotional growth, good mental health, and maturation of kids are TV and the car. In the era of my grandparents and Bl. Fulton J. Sheen (born in the same era people were not socially isolated in cars. They walked a lot, rode in horse-drawn carriages, took trains and other public transit, and were always talking with everyone in town. They learned lots about life from an early age. People did not have ridiculous, academic-oriented psychologist experts to separate them into age-groups or tell them the developmental stages of life or how to teach their child to read. Young people were not stuck in a teenage group, and the elderly were not shut off socially.
Very sad– but when many people of my age (early Baby Boomers) reached adulthood, well-prepared– look what happenned. Western culture, Christendom (and the Catholic Church) collapsed. I sadly said– “OMG. I am not prepared for this surprise ending. No horrible wars, no bloodshed, no bombs, no conquest by another nation or civilization. Liberal, anti-American, activist misfits and anti-society, sex-drenched, San Francisco beatniks got their way. But I will survive, just ignore it, walk around the filth in the streets of the sick, social activists and the leftist filth in the Church, destroying it. Wear earplugs if they play the sudden, too-loud, electrictrified, ugly rock music.
My comment of Oct. 6 at 8:49pm was altered and cut short by the editors. For one thing, my second sentence should read, “In the era of my grandparents and Bl. Fulton J. Sheen (born in the same era) people were not socially isolated in cars.” At the end I noted that many people at that time, regardless of social class or income, with lots of schooling or much less, could do much in life, develop their talents and interests, and succeed. Sheen’s father owned two farms and was quite successful in farming, though he only completed the third grade. He was also an inventor and invented a farming tool used to harvest grain.
Bl. Fulton J. Sheen’s grandparents, whom he was very close to, were all from Ireland. His maternal grandparents, the Fultons (who ended up re-naming Fulton after his grandfather) lived with Sheen’s family when they were older and retired (no Social Security at that time). Bl. Sheen’s parents were born in Illinois, after their parents came over from Ireland. The U.S. Census Bureau calls the first children of immigrants, “Second Generation Americans.” But in popular speech, they are known as “First Generation Americans,” as they were the first to be born in America. Bl. Sheen also had Irish relatives who came to America, for short visits with his family at times. Bl. Sheen had a fondness for Ireland, lifelong.
Many very beautiful Catholic churches in America were built long ago on the meager contributions— as well as sometimes hard labor– of poor immigrants with menial jobs. For example, I know of a beautiful, 12th-century, Romanesque Norman-style church in Boston built in the 19th century entirely by meager contributions of Irish immigrant girls who were maids and coachmen who served in wealthy homes in the nearby Yankee aristocratic section of town. They wanted a church of their own, and the Archbishop authorized it. But their meager contributions paid for it entirely. The church’s interior is very beautiful. You can find hundreds of churches all across America built by small contributions of poor immigrants with menial jobs. Sometimes they also helped build their churches and went to the worksite after their regular jobs.
The whole point that I am making is to give people of all walks of life the truth as Christ did in religion and morality. Never “dumb down” anything. And always give people the best as a teacher in any field. A good teacher or cleric who respects and cares about their students and their parishioners can help them attain excellent goals. If there is something you cannot do, you will have the knowledge of whom to hire who is very good. Older cultures that preserve our religion and preserve good learning, wisdom, morality, good standards of art, music, literature, and beauty, good standards of speech, dress and behavior– are excellent.
“Many very beautiful Catholic churches in America were built long ago on the meager contributions…”
My memory may be wrong so I welcome correction but St. Joseph’s Church on 12th and Los Angeles Streets was just such a parish. Inside were incredibly beautiful wood carvings made, as I was told years ago, by German immigrants at the turn of the century. It was breathtaking to see the love and devotion that had gone into this work. Sadly, the church was destroyed by fire and in time a new church arose but lacking the beauty of the original, though I see on its website that efforts have been made to restore some semblance of beauty. If anyone took pictures of the interior of the old church, it would be wonderful to see them shared.