Last week another successful Chant Camp took place at St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk, CT, led by Charles Weaver, Elizabeth Weaver and Nicholas Botkins. The children sang a Missa Cantata every day at 12:10. The picture here is courtesy of Mark Bertotti.

Sources in New York City have received word that the Archdiocese of New York, faced with financing an $800M settlement for clerical sexual abuse,  is proceeding to the sale of several properties: 

Rallying to Save Our Lady of Guadalupe, Now Even More Imminently Threatened, villagepreservation.org (8/13/2026) (with links to presentations and a petition to landmark the building)

Kelly, Keith J., “Archdiocese Plans to Sell Church, 2 West Side Catholic Schools”chelseanewsny.com (8/14/2026) (also reporting on other recent sales by the Archdiocese)

These are churches and schools which had been previously closed. The Archdiocese reportedly responded by  issuing a statement – which I cannot locate  – stating that it is “merely” taking out a loan collateralized by six unnamed church properties.  (Kelly, Archdiocese Plans to Sell Church, supra). Yet in a decree of 1/1/2023 Cardinal Dolan had in effect already put Our Lady of Guadalupe up for sale.

Now the former church of Our Lady of Guadalupe is of great historic value, for this modest structure was the first church for the Spanish-speaking peoples in New York City. Later of course these nationalities became totally dominant in most Manhattan  Catholic parishes. In 2003 the Archdiocese moved the parish of Lady of Guadalupe into the nearby, much grander but semi-defunct, originally Irish church of Saint Bernard’s. The old Our Lady of Guadalupe was supposed to serve as a parish, and later an adult education, center. That now appears to be coming to an end – unless the opposition that is stirring can prevail.

 I am always, however,  surprised at the selective nature of politicians’ indignation.  The sale of St. Benedict the Moor – the first black church in New York, and later an early center of the  Archdiocesan “Hispanic” apostolate,  did not arouse such a reaction. Nor did the closing of  other major churches  – such as Most Holy Redeemer –  which in recent decades had served primarily Hispanic congregations. But I am glad for the (rather late) reaction.

(Above) A 2009 photo of Our Lady of Guadalupe.(Below) in 2012. The church was built into a foermerly elegant 19th century townhouse – a facade was added later. Based on photos I have seen, the facade seems to have been recently garishly painted – we will have to investigate ourselves.

Aside from the former Our Lady of Guadalupe, two impressive school buildings of the once grand educational system of the archdiocese are said to be up for sale. These schools have all been closed relatively recently.

(Above) An angel looks down from the facade of  the former Guardian Angel school in Chelsea(closed 2023). Photo from 2016.

(Above) an event easy to predict: reports indicate the first of the buildings of the massive St. Michael’s parish complex near the Hudson Yards  – a school closed in 2010 – is now up for sale.

(all accesssed 8/18/2026)

The Traditional Latin Mass in Danbury CT, we are informed,  will end on September 27th. The Mass has been most recently celebrated, after 2023 and Traditionis Custodes, in the chapel of Immaculate High School. It is the heir to two traditional Masses that had formerly been celebrated at parishes in the vicinity. One was at the parish of St. James, which commenced in 2013 and was “suspended” in 2021. The other was at St. Margaret Bourgeoys in Brookfield.  Regarding the circumstances of the removal of that Mass to the high school chapel, see our report in February 2023.

According to a witness, last week at Mass Fr. Peter Lenox gave these reasons for the cancellation. Attendance was down. It was difficult to find priests to cover the Mass.  This had became especially pressing after a new traditionalist Carmel was established in Danbury. This monastery has a Mass  (not open to the public) at the same time as the Immaculate high school Mass. I would also point out that Fr. Lenox,  the priest who often celebrated the Danbury Mass, had become the pastor of a parish located far to the south of Danbury (by Connecticut standards) and has diocesan duties as well.

This decision is exceedingly unfortunate for the congregation and beyond. Bishop Frank Caggiano (of the Bridgeport diocese) in a letter of July 3 made an appeal to the adherents of the FSSPX:

And so, I invite home those who previously worshipped with the Society. The reverent worship that has drawn those faithful remains very much alive in our own parishes

But he has now summarily cancelled the Traditional Mass in closest proximity to the center of the FSSPX in the diocese (Ridgefield). Careful readers had noted that the Danbury Mass was not among the Traditional Latin Masses of the Bridgeport diocese enumerated by the bishop in his letter. 

We have reached out to Fr. Lenox for comment.

Communion: Finding my Way back to Faith

by JD Vance

(Harper, New York, 2026)

288 pp.

In Communion Vice President JD Vance gives us an account of his spiritual journey from evangelical Protestantism to atheism to Catholicism. He tells us that this book was largely written by 2019. As we shall see, there is evidence for that. However, it has been updated for intervening events and, more importantly, the position of the author has radically changed. In 2019 he was a successful writer just embarking on a political career in his native state of Ohio. Today he is the vice president of the United States, with a real possibility of securing the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2028. I would thus expect that before publication every line of Communion would have been examined from that perspective.  The very fact of writing an autobiographical book in such a political context precludes an incisive, critical narrative of the author’s spiritual development.   

For Vance at the very least must avoid antagonizing any one of the groups that would be essential to his candidacy later. Thus, although Vance has obviously transferred his allegiance to Catholicism, he is careful to honor the evangelical community and culture from which he springs. He offers effusive praise to Pope Francis, knowing that, for the bishops as well as for many of those among the Catholic laity that still practice their faith,  devotion to the Pope is still a supreme virtue. And he favorably mentions the supposed highly religious nature of Israel. Vance must also avoid stepping on a land mine by violating one of the taboos of American pollical culture today.  For example, while praising Confederate generals, he is also compelled to mention the evil of the cause for which they fought. The result is that Communion is necessarily somewhat mild and muffled.

Having said that, I was nevertheless impressed by Communion. It seems to be an honest, modest account of Vance’s own experiences – of gradual transitions from his youthful faith to unbelief, from the ruthless economic culture of American competition back to faith and then to the Catholic Church. Some of his observations are unexpectedly profound.  And as we shall see, Vance does not shrink from making sharp criticisms of the contemporary order of society and of the world.

Vance eventually accepted the Catholic faith not as a set of certitudes and formulas but a way of living.  Nor did he come out of the conversion process with a fixed plan for solving the problems of the world in economics, society and politics. This is a refreshing break from much of what one reads on Catholic media, whether establishment, progressive or conservative. 

The author states that his initial attraction to Catholicism was prompted by intellectual reasons, specifically,  by his reading about the social teachings of the Church. (Vance seems to approach major turning points in his life, like becoming a father or adopting a new faith,  by omnivorous reading on the subject.). What attracted him about Catholic social theory was its balanced view of human nature – making room for communities and the family and rejecting both libertarian and liberal alternatives.

He later read much more and had conversations with Dominican priests.  One of these Dominican fathers pointed out to him that:

 “You don’t feel God’s presence and then change in an instant. Real grace comes through practice. That is why we demand that you live a sacramental life: going to church, taking communion, doing confession. This is a process. You don’t just accept Jesus into your heart – or get baptized –   and fix everything.”  ( p. 163)

And Vance realized:

(T)hat I had misunderstood the promise of the Christian faith. God could save your soul in an instant, but for most people, the transformation of that soul took time. And work. (p.163)

Hadn’t Gerald Manley Hopkins made the same point in 1876?

Not out of his bliss 

Springs the stress felt 

Not first from heaven (and few know this) 

Swings the stroke dealt –

 Stroke and a stress that stars and storms deliver

That guilt is hushed by,  hearts are flushed by and melt – 

But it rides time like riding a river

 (And here the faithful waver, the faithless fable and miss). 1)

But Vance eventually does seem to have had an epiphany. After the birth of his son, he and his wife traveled to France. Vance, holding his infant son, entered an ancient cathedral, seemingly alone. There he was struck by the beauty of the architecture and the evening light shining through the stained-glass windows  – in a cathedral empty of faithful. But as he sat there, he grew ever more reconciled with the Church.  The cathedral, a work of great beauty, completed in a Christian age, was still standing after so many ages. God was there regardless of whether man was. Finally, although he had thought himself alone with his son, a woman appeared – an African immigrant, apparently – who had been worshipping in a side chapel. One other soul had been there with him all along! It was this experience that nudged him over the threshold to baptism. (pp.170-72) 

Later in Communion, Vance expresses similar views  in other contexts. While attending as a senator a security conference in Munich, he admired this European, originally Christian city with its beautiful monuments and human dimensions – contrasting it with the ugliness of modern cities and strip malls,  But Vance also observed at this conference the conflict of such traditional Western values with his European dialogue partners:  the class of  decadent “boomers” defending the globalist order. Of course, Vance is obliged to add a more “nuanced,” understanding depiction of the latter….

A distinctive aspect of Communion is Vance’s consistent and forceful criticism of the culture of the United States as epitomized by his experiences at Yale Law School and at a law firm. He describes well how they foster an exclusive commitment to individual economic advancement,  regardless of the alleged “humanist” values propagated by the same law school and regardless of the personal cost to those initiated into this system.  “Liberal” academia and the capitalist economy are completely integrated. Vance himself was caught up in this trap before the recognized its perils.   He repeatedly criticizes this ethos and argues instead for a culture open to the family. These thoughts distinguish Vance very much from the libertarian wing of the Republican Party – and from the actual practices of those who dominate the Democratic Party as well.

Vance regrettably has also absorbed some less attractive traits of his new co-religionists. He gushes over Pope Francis and relates an anecdote which he had already described in a 2020 article. 2) According to Vance, a conservative Catholic was engaged in criticizing Pope Francis when a wine glass sprang off a table and crashed on the floor.  Both Vance and his dialogue partner took this as a sign from above. Thus, a flight to the irrational substitutes for an attempt to rationally understand the current situation of the Vatican.  Next, Vance gives us a lengthy excursus on the crisis of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. (pp.165-170)  He quotes certain Catholic authorities to the effect that the doings of clerical child molesters are more understandable if viewed in the context of the misdeeds of the ancestors of the Lord  – or of the chosen people in general – as set out in the Old Testament. And a Dominican priest opines that the clergy  “need to do penance and build more virtuous structures of safeguarding and accountability.” I would contend that identifiable historical and theological reasons exist for the recent overwhelming scale of sexual abuse scandals in the Church. I don’t think relativizing these crimes or merely advocating bureaucratic solutions addresses the issue at all. 

Vance’s attitude towards the higher authorities of the Church is not uncritical or merely defensive. He tells of his visit to Rome in which, among other encounters, he had an interview with Cardinal Parolin. The subject of immigration was raised.  Vance was struck by the attitude of Parolin, who seemed to reduce the entire question to one simple moral assertion. This, for a phenomenon that involves all kinds of issues – of the economy, society and national security. Of course, we have seen the same phenomenon again in the recent statements of Pope Leo on war and peace – admittedly made after extreme provocation from President Trump. These statements tended in the direction of outright pacifism. Vance, however, is simply discovering the gulf between 21^st century clerics, who are comfortable uttering platitudes for which they never will be held accountable, and those in positions of authority in government who have responsibility for the good of the commonwealth and of the whole people. The latter must take all aspects of an issue into account.

In summary, I thought Communion illustrated well issues of being both a Catholic – and a Catholic politician – today. And I appreciated that Vance, a Catholic secular politician,  was able to confront honestly major questions raised by the American economy and society. I also liked the author’s modesty in not pretending to have a set of formulas or solutions ready at hand.  In this regard, he is a welcome change from the prior  “devout” Catholic president and similar representatives of the Democratic party, who proclaim themselves Catholics while following slavishly the dictates of the secular culture. 

What the future will bring for JD Vance is of course uncertain. The actions of President Trump may be rapidly decreasing Republican electoral chances not just in 2026 but 2028 as well. Vance has become a bogeyman for the globalist European leadership. Israel too has developed a special dislike for him. Catholic clerical leadership in the Vatican and the United States(in contrast to the American Catholic population) seems much more comfortable with politicians like Joe Biden and Barack Obama (their positions on “life issues” are irrelevant to them). Moreover, even though Vance is reputed to be the front runner to be the 2028 Republican presidential candidate, he has made powerful enemies within the Republican Party as well.  The neocon faction has become his bitter enemy – both for his foreign policy positions and also the economic ideas such as those found in this book. Whether anyone can obtain the nomination of a major political party  – and be elected – in the face of such opposition I do not know. Yet I wish Vance all the best in his future endeavors  – and I hope Catholics would give his book a look!

1. Hopkins, Gerald Manley, The Wreck of the Deutschland St.6
2. I criticized Vance’s views at that time.  “A New Catholic Magazine,”  The Society of St. Hugh of Cluny (7/21/2020) (discussing Issue 01 of The Lamp (Easter 2020).

We have recently received the sorrowful news that Father Kenneth Baker, SJ has died (8/6/2026). He was 96 and resided in the Los Gatos, California Jesuit retirement community. 

Many of our readers may have had the chance to encounter Fr. Baker.  The vicissitudes of his long career are eloquent testimony to the nature of American Catholic life after the Vatican II. In 1970 he became the president of Seattle University. The turmoil of those times led him to resign that position in that same year. But that opened up new fields of work for him.  In 1970 he took over the leadership of the Homiletic and Pastoral Review  which he led  for  40 years.  Under his direction it became a critical resource for those who wanted to learn about Catholic faith and orthodoxy in troubled times. 

Fr. Baker ran his publication out of the premises of the Sino- American Amity Fund on Riverside Drive in New York City.  I met him there many times.  For here in the 1980s  young and “younger” Catholics could attend Catholic lectures and social events. He was a great supporter of these efforts.  Perhaps I could compare those times with what is going on today at Saint Patrick’s Old Cathedral, St. Vincent Ferrrer or Saint Joseph’s in the Village. Fr. Baker also had a circle of friends and benefactors  – stars and singers of an earlier era,  like Hildegarde and Celeste Holm. 

 Fr. Baker was a never-ending source of wisdom, advice and, occasionally, admonitions. He was very much aware of the problems in the Church and in his own order, in which he was something like an exile. Yet he soldiered on. 

 I had moved out of the immediate New York area in the early 90s and thereafter saw Fr. Baker only infrequently.  But after the issuance of two indults in 1984 and 1988 expanding permission for the Traditional Latin Mass,  he was active in celebrating the TLM. Just checking our own website,  I find reports on the Fr, Baker’s retreats and celebrations of the TLM. Once I had the pleasure of assisting him in determining whether a certain German wine was authorized for use in the celebration of the Mass; I had to contact the Archdiocese of Munich for that!

Of course, advancing age gradually restricted his activity. The last I heard he was engaged in translating into English some Jesuit constitutional documents and treatises. I can only say that he was an example of perseverance and fortitude through the most difficult times.  At the present time, where those difficulties seem to be recurring, we can learn from his example. May he rest in peace.

His funeral Mass will be celebrated at the Los Gatos Jesuit Center Chapel on Thursday August 13 at 11:15 AM Pacific Time. The service will be live streamed here on youtube,

A beautiful sung Mass is offered every Saturday morning in Greenwich, CT. This Mass takes place in the lower chapel. You need to enter from the parish center door to the left of the church. Plenty of parking in front of the church.

The following churches will offer Traditional Masses on Saturday, August 15 for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Connecticut

St. Mary Church, Norwalk, 10 am Missa Cantata

St. Mary Church, Greenwich, CT, 8 am Missa Cantata. n.b. in lower level chapel: enter through parish center door to left of the church.

Sts. Cyril and Methodius Oratory, Bridgeport, 8:30 am Low Mass; 10:15 Solemn Mass

St. Patrick Oratory, Waterbury, CT, 8 am Low Mass; 10:30 am High Mass

New York

Holy Innocents Church, Manhattan, 10:30 am High Mass; 1pm Low Mass

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Manhattan (Harlem) 9 am, followed by adoration of the Most Blessed Sacarment.

St. Josaphat Oratory, Queens, 9:30 am High Mass

St. Rocco Church, Glen Cove, Long Island, 10 am Missa Cantata

St. Paul the Apostle, Yonkers, 12 noon

Annunciation Church, Crestwood, 12 pm, Missa Cantata in lower church

Immaculate Conception Church, Sleepy Hollow, NY, 12 noon.

Holy Trinity, Poughkeepsie, NY, Missa Cantata, 7 pm

New Jersey

Our Lady of Sorrows, Jersey City, 11 am Missa Cantata

Holy Trinity Church, Hackensack, 8 am Missa Cantata

Our Lady of Fatima Chapel, Pequannock, 7 am, 9 am, 11 am

St. Anthony of Padua, West Orange, 9 am Low Mass; 11 am High Mass

Some photos of the Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in East Harlem on July18, courtesy of Mr. Brendan Young. He reports that “the bishop was overjoyed and there were about 200-250 faithful.”

From Beltran, Edgar, “Is Pope Leo Maintaining a TLM ‘gray area'”? The Pillar ( August 3, 2026)

This article comments on the obvious fact that Pope Leo has taken no official steps reducing restrictions on the traditional Latin Mass ( the “TLM”). Indeed, in one significant church a TLM he himself had authorized last year may not be repeated:

Meanwhile, organizers of the traditionalist Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage told The Pillar that they have asked permission to celebrate a TLM in Saint Peter’s Basilica this year, but haven’t received a response.

One of Leo’s concrete gestures towards traditionalist communities last year was allowing the celebration of a TLM during the pilgrimage in Saint Peter’s Basilica after not being allowed to do so in 2023 and 2024.

One source said organizers of the pilgrimage intend to ask again after the summer.

“The problem is that in the pope’s close circle, they saw that the Mass helped a lot of people but was also used as propaganda and they didn’t like that,” the source said.

If Pope Leo declines to allow the pilgrimage to celebrate the TLM in St. Peter’s, that could be seen by many observers as a sign that he has grown cold to the idea of abrogating, reforming or even loosening the application Traditiones custodes.

However, it is also possible that the lack of a response is a matter of personnel connected with the basilica.

There is growing speculation that Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, Archpriest of Saint Peter’s Basilica, is due to be replaced soon. Rumors in Rome indicate that Gambetti’s replacement might be Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, or Bishop Guido Marini, who are all thought to be friendlier to the TLM than Gambetti.

It is possible that a forthcoming transition in archpriest could be delaying a response about the celebration of a TLM in the basilica.

Therefore, silence should not be understood as rejection — at least not yet.

Several Vatican sources told The Pillar the decision to allow the Mass last year happened after Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke asked the pope in an Aug. 22 audience to allow the Mass to be celebrated there.

I was aware of this for a number of months now – a while back the organizers of the pilgrimage on its official website had recharacterized the service taking place in St. Peter’s as a “pontifical ceremony.” Now they have evidently decided to go public with the issue. I don’t know about the speculation regarding the changing of the guard at St. Peter’s (which, like many other alleged personnel moves of Pope Leo, has not yet happened). But that there is opposition to a TLM in St. Peter’s from what is called here “the pope’s close circle” indeed is exceedingly plausible.