Defending The Faith Against Present Heresies

From the day Jorge Bergoglio stepped out on the loggia of St. Peter's down to the present, Catholics have been confused and dismayed by many of the words and actions of Pope Francis. Not content to allow errors to be spread (whatever their source or putative justification), international groups of pastors and scholars composed documents of inquiry, appeal, critique, and, finally, accusation: the Dubia of the Four Cardinals, the Theological Censures of Amoris Laetitia, the Filial Correction Concerning the Propagation of Heresies, the Open Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church, the Appeal to the Cardinals, and the Protest against Pope Francis's Sacrilegious Acts. These historic interventions, which made news around the world at the time of their first appearance and garnered the support of hundreds of thousands of concerned Catholics, are gathered here in a definitive edition for the benefit of all who seek to adhere to "the faith delivered once for all to the saints" (Jude 3). The six documents are accompanied by a selection of important articles and interviews prompted by them, which criticize, defend, or develop their evaluation of Pope Francis.

From the day Jorge Bergoglio stepped out on the loggia of St. Peter's down to the present, Catholics have been confused and dismayed by many of the words and actions of Pope Francis. Not content to allow errors to be spread (whatever their source or putative justification), international groups of pastors and scholars composed documents of inquiry, appeal, critique, and, finally, accusation: the Dubia of the Four Cardinals, the Theological Censures of Amoris Laetitia, the Filial Correction Concerning the Propagation of Heresies, the Open Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church, the Appeal to the Cardinals, and the Protest against Pope Francis's Sacrilegious Acts. These historic interventions, which made news around the world at the time of their first appearance and garnered the support of hundreds of thousands of concerned Catholics, are gathered here in a definitive edition for the benefit of all who seek to adhere to "the faith delivered once for all to the saints" (Jude 3). The six documents are accompanied by a selection of important articles and interviews prompted by them, which criticize, defend, or develop their evaluation of Pope Francis.

“To restore the beauty of holiness to the face of the Bride of Christ, which is terribly disfigured by so many abominable crimes, and if we truly want to free the Church from the fetid swamp into which she has fallen, we must have the courage to tear down the culture of secrecy and publicly confess the truths we have kept hidden.” These bold words from the pen of an archbishop in exile—part of a bombshell exposé published in August 2018 concerning Theodore McCarrick and his circle—catapulted the ecclesiastical diplomat Carlo Maria Viganò to international prominence. In a steady stream of interventions from that time onward, Archbishop Viganò has not only supplied further incriminating details on the current Vatican regime but has extended his critique to the neo-modernism and worldly accommodation that officially entered the Church through the Second Vatican Council. He argues, moreover, that just as there is a “deep state” of wealthy and powerful international elites who exercise enormous sway over political affairs and cultural vectors, so too there is a “deep church” that retains for its advantage the external trappings of religion while pursuing an agenda of error and moral corruption. These pseudo-sovereignties closely collaborate as they work for the same goals, which are, at this point, an open secret. A Voice in the Wilderness collects for the first time all the major writings of Archbishop Viganò from August 2018 to January 2021, with explanatory introductions and notes by Brian M. McCall. Finally available in one place to allow for easy access, assimilation, and debate, it is the definitive edition of an extraordinary body of pronouncements that have stirred up vehement controversy on all sides. Regardless where one stands in its regard, Viganò’s arresting message cannot be ignored. Ultimately, it is one of conversion to Christ the King, the Truth in person, who sets us free from the accumulating slaveries of our time.

An anthology of 70 essays and articles by prelates and pastors, theologians and canonists, philosophers and cultural figures-including: Cardinal Walter Brandmüller • Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke • Cardinal Gerhard Müller • Cardinal Robert Sarah • Cardinal Joseph Zen • Archbishop Thomas Gullickson • Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò • Bishop Rob Mutsaerts • Bishop Athanasius Schneider • Msgr. Charles Pope • Dom Alcuin Reid • Abbé Claude Barthe • Fr. John Hunwicke • Michael Brendan Dougherty • Ross Douthat • Edward Feser • Michael Fiedrowicz • Peter A. Kwasniewski • Phil Lawler • Martin Mosebach • George Neumayr • Joseph Shaw • and many others Already on July 16, 2021, the reactions to Pope Francis's severe restrictions on the traditional Latin Mass in Traditionis Custodes were like a river in full flood: articles, essays, interviews, podcasts-everywhere and from every point of view. An emotional, spiritual, intellectual dam had broken and the waters of discourse poured forth across the world. The sheer volume of writing occasioned by Traditionis Custodes is unlike anything seen in the history of papal documents-testimony to a neuralgic subject on which arguments proliferate and passions run high. The two-month period following the release of the motu proprio gave proof that the traditionalist movement was no fringe phenomenon, but something that had gained significant strength and sympathy during the relatively peaceful years from 2007 to 2021 (the "Pax Benedictina" to which the book's title refers). The purpose of this volume is to gather in one convenient place some of the finest and most appreciated essays and articles published in the period from mid-July through September of this fateful year, 2021-not only from America and England (although these predominate), but also from other nations: France, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Argentina, Poland, Kazakhstan, and China. This book is not, and makes no pretense of being, a presentation of "both sides of the argument." It offers a variety of critiques of this profoundly unwise and unpastoral decree, which suffers from incoherent doctrinal foundations, grave moral and juridical defects, and impossible ecclesiological implications.

At the sixtieth anniversary of Sacrosanctum Concilium, the situation on the ground for Catholics is more chaotic than ever. A liturgical reform, meant to usher in a new age of full churches and ecumenical rapprochement, delivered neither; instead, churches are emptying and closing at an unprecedented rate. Meanwhile, an ancient old rite, grown to maturity in the Middle Ages, encrusted with Baroque pearls, and officially pronounced dead in the 1960s, has made an astonishing return around the world. Tolerated by Paul VI, permitted worldwide by John Paul II, declared free for everyone by Benedict XVI, and most recently put under ban once more by Francis, the Tridentine Mass remains a powerful and polarizing reality in the Church of Rome—an ark of holiness and beauty to the priests and faithful who love it, a belligerent “backwardism” to those who seek its abolition. In this state of spiritual civil war, questions of authority and obedience are never far from anyone’s mind. Bound by Truth grapples with the momentous issues of authority, obedience, tradition, and the common good. Part I, “Papacy, Patrimony, and Piety,” addresses the teaching of Vatican I on the pope’s universal jurisdiction; the limits of his authority in light of other authoritative principles such as liturgical tradition and local custom; the properly Catholic way to interpret and follow the Magisterium; and the virtue of intelligent, God-fearing, and communally perfective obedience versus its vicious distortions—willful rebelliousness on the one hand, and a blind, thoughtless, self-destructive submissiveness on the other. Part II, “Faithful Resistance,” looks at historical examples of prelates who legitimately pushed back against papal overreach; discusses how clergy should navigate unjust episcopal decrees on private Masses, concelebration, the use of the Rituale Romanum, etc.; shares advice and strategies for laity who seek to promote and defend tradition in their dioceses; and draws inspiration from persecuted religious sisters, whether their tormentors were Soviet Communists or apparatchiks of the postconciliar ecclesiastical bureaucracy. “Peter Kwasniewski is a sane and learned voice crying out from within a Catholic Church which—in its earthly, visible aspect—seems to have lost its mind.”—SEBASTIAN MORELLO “Examines the difficult topics of authority and obedience with forthrightness and a willingness to engage even the most controversial debates… a timely guide to how Catholics might respond when truth and tradition are under attack by those who should be their foremost defenders.”—ERIC SAMMONS “As with his earlier books, so here, Kwasniewski emerges as an apostle of tradition and a paladin of the ancient Roman rite. A book to be treasured.”—MICHAEL SIRILLA “Both summarizes the author’s recent thought and serves as a guide and resource for beleaguered faithful… theoretically challenging and eminently useful.”—STUART CHESSMAN “Critiques the latest (and historically worst) abandonment of our grip on the cord that ties us, through tradition, to the Word Incarnate—and indicates the paths along which health and sanity will be recovered.”—JOHN C. RAO “Offered with his usual mixture of scholarship and wit, Kwasniewski’s analysis is primarily and accurately applied to the situation in the Church, but the principles he explores in this book also admit of far wider application.”—CHARLES A. COULOMBE “This thoroughly researched and cogently argued book could not have been published at a better time.”—BRIAN M. MCCALL

With Between Rome and Rebellion, Yves Chiron, acclaimed author of dozens of biographies and historical studies, once again proves himself a master historian. Drawing upon a vast fund of information gathered over the course of three decades, including numerous interviews, correspondence, diaries, and archives, Chiron tells the thrilling, at times gut-wrenching, story of the “loyal resistance” of Catholics—especially in France, but soon all over the world—who held fast to the old forms of worship, catechesis, doctrine, and family life, in the midst of a Church roiling with reforms that they viewed as betrayals. Starting with the Modernist crisis and Pius X’s response to it, we follow in these pages the immense drama of a century filled with battles on every front—political, military, and ecclesiastical. We learn of the vitality, but also the fissiparousness, of traditionalist groups at a time when nearly everything else in the Church seemed to be falling apart, especially after the tumultuous years of the Second Vatican Council. We see the rage directed at traditionalists by an establishment that tolerates any experiment except “the experiment of Tradition” and writes off all adherence to the past as “integrism.” As everyone tries to navigate the turbulent waters of a conciliar “renewal” that quickly turned into a debacle, we become acquainted with modern-day confessors and white martyrs, wild-eyed prophets and sober critics, two-faced churchmen and secret allies. Chiron’s deft pen brings many controversial figures into sharp relief—above all, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, founder of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X, with whose formidable witness everyone, friend or foe, had to reckon. Breathlessly moving from one disaster and rescue operation to the next, Between Rome and Rebellion sheds new light on the modern transformation of the Catholic Church, and why numerous priests, religious, and laity felt compelled to stand against it.

This book critically examines the claims of Oneness theology in light of biblical exegesis. Specifically, it affirms the biblical presentation of God existing as three distinct coequal, coeternal, and coexistent Persons or Selves.

In Heresy, leading religion expert and church historian Alister McGrath reveals the surprising history of heresy and rival forms of Christianity, arguing that the church must continue to defend what is true about Jesus. He explains that remaining faithful to Jesus’s mission and message is still the mandate of the church despite increasingly popular cries that traditional dogma is outdated and restricts individual freedom.