Is Traditionalism a Fad?

A lot of controversy was generated by remarks believed to be uttered by the Holy Father, who is alleged to have viewed devotion to the Latin Mass, especially among the young, as a "fad" which will pass with time.  Whether or not the Holy Father made those remarks, they are common enough that many believe this.

Why is traditionalism such a hit with the young?  Why is the demographic for the Latin Mass skewing so far to young families, when it was believed (even during the promulgation of Summorum Pontificum!) that it would be a rarity mainly to be focused on older people?

That's what I look at today at Catholic Lane, providing a (very brief!) history of the traditionalist movement through official Church documents (The 1984 indult, Ecclesia Dei, then Summorum Pontificum) mixed with my own personal experiences, and no doubt the experiences of several other young traditionalists.

The short version:  It is up to each and every individual traditionalist to see to it that this devotion isn't a fad.

New Project at Catholic Lane on the Wednesday General Audiences of Pope Francis

Catholic Lane willl be starting something new. Every week (with a slight delay so we can do the material) we will be covering the Wednesday General Audience of Pope Francis. I'd like to tenatively get some interest here, so here are some rough guidelines:

1.) 500-750 word limit.

2.) Focus on only 2-3 points made from the general audience. These are short, so if all we do is repeat the points the pope made, everyone can go to the Vatican Website for that.

3.) The more Scripture and Church Fathers you can incorporate while making it still sound like original material, the better.

4.) The ideal goal is for 3-4 writers to do this, so it would only be a once a month thing. Yet if more people sign up, we can have a different work schedule!

Over the next few days we will be publishing the first installment, so this should give you a better idea of what things should look like. If you are interested, feel free to respond here, or via email at kmtierney at gmailDOTcom or via Twitter @CatholicSmark

How Not to Refute Sola Scriptura

The latest installment of the Bad Evangelist Club is up and running over at Catholic Lane.  In it we look at a popular argument Catholic Apologists use to refute Sola Scriptura, and why it might not be the great argument some say it is.

Before anyone says anything, yes, I'm aware a man about to be canonized a saint made this argument.  No, that doesn't change anything.  We have a Magesterium for a reason, and that's because sometimes even holy saints say things which aren't strong arguments or sometimes just wrong.  Everyone should know this by now, so moving on!