The Georgetown Oratory in Redding, CT will offer traditional Masses at 8:30 am and 6 pm tomorrow, March 17 for the Feast of St. Patrick.

The Catholic Sacred Music Project is excited to have its 2nd Choral Institute this June.  The CSMP Choral Institute offers emerging and established choral singers a singular environment that balances instruction, study, prayer, and conviviality in an atmosphere of collegial support and encouragement.  This unique and exceptional training opportunity will be hosted on the campus of Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. 

For more information about the application process for this program and the other summer programs, go to the Catholic Sacred Music Project website.

The German Catholic Church published statistics for the year 2025.

https://www.dbk.de/presse/aktuelles/meldung/kirchenstatistik-2025

Key numbers:

19.2M Catholics on paper (and the tax rolls)

Average % of participants in “divine services”: 6.8% (a small increase from the prior year – 6.6%)

Ordinations for the country: 25

Baptisms: 109,000:  religious “burials” : 203,000. (Both numbers are decreases from the prior year)

Church marriages: 19,500 (a decrease from 22,500 in the prior year)

First communions (152,000)and confirmations (105,000) are stable.

Number leaving the Church(i.e., legally exiting the tax rolls): 307,000 (a decrease from 321,600 in 2024).

Adult baptisms and returns to the Church show moderate increases but numbers are too small to be meaningful in relation to the above figures. 

(There are no figures on the percentage of foreigners among those ordained, attending Mass, etc. I suspect if such statistics were available the situation would appear even worse.)

it doesn’t look good – in fact, it’s positively disastrous.  Yet the German Church exercises a disproportionate influence on the Church worldwide because of the decisive role of money, politics and ideology in the Church today. Compare how several ”nuns” have ascended to positions of power in the Vatican while their own congregations have suffered dramatic declines.

We read today that Pope Leo has met in a private audience with Stephen Bullivant and Stephen Cranney, the authors of an upcoming book on the Traditional Latin Mass in America. The first published results of their research would seem to support a generally favorable view of traditionalism. Stephen Bullivant Is the author of a remarkable 2019 book Mass Exodus: Catholic Disaffiliation in Britain and America since Vatican II (Oxford University Press, 2019) which analyzes critically the decline in in church participation since Vatican II. It is speculated that the main topic of the audience with Pope Leo was the Traditional Latin Mass movement. 1)

Now the audience with the two scholars indicates Pope Leo’s continuing openness to listening to views on the Traditional Latin Mass that diverge from those that prevail at the Vatican, the secular and Catholic media, the religious orders and Catholic institutions of higher education.  We no longer see here the Bergoglian recipe for dealing with Traditionalists: denunciation, isolation and confrontation.  Infovaticana has gone further and has compiled a list of all such audiences in recent months  – the Spanish site then speculates on whether this pattern may reveal Leo’s receptivity to ameliorating the status of the Traditional Latin Mass. 2)

I suspect this might be going too far at this point in time. For in recent months Pope Leo has studiously avoided giving any personal statement or making any gesture in favor of the Traditional Latin Mass. On the contrary, at the recent consistory, undoubtedly with the Pope ’s approval, Cardinal Roche circulated the text of a presentation (never actually delivered) that was rabidly anti-traditionalist. The persecution of traditionalists throughout the world continues, including the fact that in one Brazilian diocese now they are to be excommunicated if they attend the Traditional Latin Mass outside of the one authorized location. Finally, the conflict with the FSSPX has resurfaced, with the Fraternity announcing episcopal consecrations later this year. This action was provoked in part by Leo’s failure (or refusal) to “dialogue”  with the FSSPX on this issue last year.

 So,  I believe it is far too early to celebrate a potential change of course at the Vatican. After some ten months we still do not know (a) to what extent Leo has any understanding of the world and of the Church beyond that of Francis and that pope’s entourage, and (b) whether Leo has the management, leadership and governance skills necessary to lead the Church. The decisions that must be taken in the next six to twelve months will tell us much about the character of the Pope!

1. “Papst Leo XIV. trifft Religionssoziologen – “Alte Messe” Thema?” katholisch.de(3/6/2026)
2.  “Is Leo XIV looking for a solution for the Traditional Mass?” Infovaticana.com(3/6/2026)

The church in the corner of this notice is definitely not Old St Patrick’s Basilica.

Very Good! But will the subject be raised of a prior significant interaction of the Basilica with one of the Byzantine rite churches? The Russian Catholic chapel of St. Michael had been present in a building of this parish – formerly the chancery of the (arch)diocese of New York – since the 1930’s. St. Michael’s congregation was tiny but its liturgical heritage and renown great – at least one Patriarch of a Byzantine Cathollic church celebrated the Divine Liturgy there. In 2019, the Archdiocese and the Basilica summarily evicted the congregation of St. Michael’s and repurposed their chapel as a gift shop.

Last evening, a Solemn Requiem Mass was celebrated at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in New York City. The Mass was celebrated for the repose of the soul of Alexander Klucik, tragically killed in an accident in 2010 at the age of 19. The Mass featured Mozart’s Requiem and chant, performed by the Higher Word orchestra, choir and soloists. Some 600 people filled one of the most beautiful churches in Manhattan. I applaud the organizers for making possible such a beautiful and spiritual evening!