TAN Conversations

TAN's Mary Harrell interviews Peter Kwasniewski, PhD, about his new book, Turned Around: Replying to Common Objections Against the Traditional Latin Mass.

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Turned Around: Replying to Common Objections Against the Traditional Latin Mass is a practical and clear book that examines the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) through a fresh lens. In each chapter, Dr. Peter Kwasniewski addresses common objections to the TLM, transforming these challenges into gateways for a deeper understanding and appreciation of its timeless beauty. From the reasons we worship facing East, to the profound significance of praying in Latin, and the ritual separation of priest and people, Turned Around sheds light on why these liturgical elements resonate so deeply with the faithful.

Various other topics will be explored within these pages, including:

• Why the Traditional Mass Is Kingly and Courtly
• Why We Follow Inherited Rituals and Strict Rubrics
• Why We Repeat Ourselves in Traditional Worship
• Why We Use a One-Year Lectionary of Readings
• Why it Is Better Not to Understand Everything Immediately

• Why We Kneel for Communion and Receive on the Tongue

Turned Around provides the answers and intrigue to explore the paradoxical and countercultural elements of the TLM that have drawn the young and older faithful closer to the divine for centuries. This book is not just a defense of tradition; it is a journey to the heart of Catholic worship, promising to deepen the reader's spiritual life and understanding of the Mass. Whether you're a skeptic or a devout follower, Turned Around offers a compelling case for the enduring relevance and beauty of the Traditional Latin Mass.

Other TAN Books by Peter Kwasniewski, PhD:

The Once and Future Roman Rite

Good Music, Sacred Music, and Silence

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TAN's Mary Harrell talks to Paul Kengor about his new book, The Stigmatists: Their Gifts, Their Revelations, Their Warnings, an investigation into one of the most complicated mystical phenomena in Catholicism.

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There have been very few books that offer a serious, reliable, thoughtful look at stigmatists, and specifically, visionary stigmatists. Interestingly, almost all Church-approved stigmatists have been just that: visionaries as well as stigmatists. This book focuses on Church-approved stigmatists and their visions, revelations, and prophecies and warnings. In some cases, the prophecies and warnings relate to the End Times and Second Coming of Christ. That includes the striking revelations of the likes of Saint Faustina (1905-38), the first canonized saint of the new millennium. One might rightly interpret the mark of the stigmata (sometimes invisible stigmata, as in the cases of Saints Faustina and Catherine of Siena) as a heavenly/Church affirmation of these saints’ authenticity, likewise adding a certain authenticity to their claimed visions.

It is interesting that many people, including Protestants and even non-Christians, are intrigued by stigmata. It seems that nearly everyone finds claims of stigmata fascinating; there doesn’t seem to be a lot of scoffers. Anytime the notion of stigmata is raised, including by Hollywood (albeit sensationally), eyes are wide open.

This book opens with a comprehensive overview of the phenomenon of stigmata, beginning with the words of St. Paul that some believe might be the first recorded case of stigmata. Aside from St. Paul, Saint Francis (1182-1226) is believed to be the first stigmatist. The opening chapter looks at the data and cases that we know of. Thereafter, the book provides individual chapters focused on figures from Catherine of Siena to Anne Catherine Emmerich, Gemma Galgani, Padre Pio, and more, finishing with Saint Faustina.

Notably, not all of these stigmatic saints had visions of the Final Days. They need not to have changed history. Some of the special visions were along the lines of St. Francis’s transformational conversations with Jesus at the San Damiano cross, which nonetheless had a significant larger purpose: “Francesco,” said Jesus, “ripara la mia Chiesa.” (“Francis, repair my Church.”)

Francis did just that. That was a historic moment for the Church and the faith. Unlike the likes of Martin Luther, Francis endeavored upon a genuine reformation.

These stigmatists and their revelations have spoken to us in profound ways from the time of Christ to the Middle Ages to literally the end times. Truly, there is no more crucial time than now to take a prayerful look at what they’ve told us.

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TAN's Mary Harrell talks to Mary Elizabeth Cuff, PhD, about her new book Mother to Mother: Spiritual and Practical Wisdom from the Cloister to the Home.

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The unique ability of women to be mothers is a most precious gift. Whether a woman’s vocation is to be a mother in the context of married life or the spiritual motherhood of religious life, both vocations have Our Lady as their source and inspiration. This similar calling to model the motherhood of the Blessed Mother suggests that lay mothers and religious nuns can benefit from each other’s wisdom and experiences. Mother to Mother introduces moms to contemplative nuns who have offered their insight on the common struggles of motherhood. Through a series of questions and answers, these nuns from various orders take wisdom from their cloisters and offer it to mothers in the domestic Church. This includes advice on finding and utilizing silence, how to increase charity towards other mothers, and how to keep our children (and ourselves) engaged in the Mass, and more. Mother to Mother serves as a meditation upon the vocation of motherhood as both lay and religious mothers strive to be models of the Mother of God.

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TAN's Mary Harrell interviews author A.J. Benjamin about his book, When the Son Frees You: A Catholic Man's Journey of Healing from Same-Sex Attraction.

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Is it really possible for a man to change his sexual orientation from "gay" to "straight"? Aren’t "gay" men “born this way”?

With the increasing normalization of homosexuality in our society and even in the Church, is there hope for men who struggle with unwanted homosexual feelings and desires?

When the Son Frees You offers a unique perspective on these questions through the eyes of a faithful Catholic who was almost exclusively sexually attracted to men since his teenage years.

The suffering, pain, and shame of his homosexuality all but consumed A. J. Benjamin . . . until he had a life-changing encounter with the Mother of Jesus.

Through her intercession and following the teachings and practice of the Catholic Church, the wisdom of the saints, and the Theology of the Body of Saint John Paul II, A. J. embarked on a soul-searching journey to freedom and wholeness. Through God’s grace in the sacraments, A. J. found the perfect Man in Jesus Christ and, through the power of His cross, experienced true healing of his disordered desires.

A. J. is now happily married with three children and seeks to spread the Gospel message of hope and freedom to all who struggle with their sexuality.

This is his journey.

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TAN's Mary Harrell interviews author Meredith Hinds about her new book, Eucharistic Saints: Twenty Stories of Devotion to Jesus, and how it will inspire your child to meet Christ in the Eucharist.

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With such a great cloud of witnesses, we have much to learn from the saints. Allow the saints to be your child’s example for meeting Christ in the Eucharist.

In Eucharistic Saints, your children will encounter stories of saints they may already know, like Pope Saint John Paul II and St. Thomas Aquinas, and they will become familiar with saints they may not know yet, like St. Peter Julian Eymard and St. Tarcisius. This book also introduces your children to holy souls who were their own age, like Blessed Carlo Acutis, St. Jacinta Marto, and Blessed Imelda, patron saint of First Communicants. Your children will see how God’s grace filled these saints’ hearts and enkindled in them an enduring Eucharistic love.

With beautiful illustrations by Adalee Hude and engaging stories, Eucharistic Saints will inspire your children to recognize, adore, and love Christ in the Eucharist.

And for more great ways to deepen your faith, check out all the spiritual resources available at https://TANBooks.com

TAN's Tim Hill interviews Jason Craig, co-author of the new book The Liturgy of the Land: Cultivating a Catholic Homestead.

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Many people today desire a simple life that is closely connected to land, whether it be gardening, farming, or ranching. There is a spiritual draw to a non-consumeristic lifestyle that places God, the family, and the home at the center of all activity. This “agrarian conversion” has led many families to seek out rural communities and leave behind the suburban life.

More than ten years ago two Catholic friends, Jason M. Craig and Thomas D. Van Horn, experienced a similar agrarian conversion inspired by past Catholic land-movements and a growing desire to work with their wives and children, going deeper than just “supporting” them financially. Both began a journey, perhaps with a tad too much romanticism, toward land-based life on farms. All these years later, the two have been tempered by the unyielding realities of land and limitations, and have gained significant insights into the reasons, challenges, and possibilities of homesteading and farming. Van Horn operates a commercial bee operation and Craig operates a microdairy while working remotely for a Catholic apostolate. Both, however, now have extensive experience in general homesteading, niche-marketing of farm products, and trying to order their households around an agricultural life.

In The Liturgy of the Land: Cultivating a Catholic Homestead, authors Jason Craig and Thomas Van Horn present the practicalities and theological aspects behind the desire for a productive, holy home. Our current culture understands economy in efficient consumeristic terms, but our Catholic Faith tells us different. The productive homestead is the center of economic life and the family is at the center of the homestead. This book aims at bringing the stories from their experience into a presentation and proposal of homesteading as a way of life, considering the principles (why?) and the practicalities (how?).

Check out Jason's podcast at TillAndKeepPodcast.com or on YouTube.

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TAN's Mary Harrell interviews social scientist Steven Mosher about his new book, The Devil and Communist China.

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As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said, “Within the philosophical system of Marx and Lenin, and at the heart of their psychology, hatred of God is the principal driving force, more fundamental than all their political and economic pretensions.” This is certainly true of the leaders of the Communist “dynasty” that currently rules China. Chairman Mao, the founder of the Red Dynasty, proudly referred to himself as wu fa wu tian—a Chinese phrase meaning that he was both Godless and lawless. His hatred of God was matched only his rejection of all authority other than his own.

The current occupant of the Dragon Throne, Xi Jinping has a thriving personality cult, including a Xi Jinping app that everyone must have on their phones which downloads daily readings from Xi’s speeches and writings. Churches are being turned into “Civilization Practice Stations for the New Era”, their Bibles confiscated and replaced with Xi’s collected works, sermons replaced with political indoctrination of the “Thou shalt have no other gods before you than the CCP” kind. Pictures of Jesus Christ are taken down and replaced with pictures of Chairman Mao and Secretary Xi.

In The Devil and Communist China, Steven Mosher lays out in great detail the diabolical self-aggrandizement with deep roots in Chinese ancient political theory, called Legalism, which established the prototype for the totalitarian rule that the Chinese people suffer under today. It is perhaps no accident that the red dragon has been, since the founding of China as a unified country in 220 BC, as the archetypal symbol of that country. The Devil’s false promise has always been “You shall be as Gods,” and China’s leaders down to the present day continue to make this Faustian bargain, to the detriment of the Chinese people and—ultimately—their own souls.

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TAN's Mary Harrell interviews author Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ, about his new book, Commentary on the Book of Isaiah, where the prolific Scripture scholar unpacks the mysteries contained in this prophetic book to guide Catholics on a path of sanctity.

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Isaiah is undoubtedly the greatest prophet in the Old Testament. The name Isaiah means ‘God is Salvation’ which points to the main theme throughout the book. God has come to save his people and this message is what makes Isaiah a book for every Catholic to read, understand, and meditate.

However, reading the Book of Isaiah is not always clear and straightforward. This commentary organizes the events and prophecies in chronological history to help the reader grasp all the grace and messages this beautiful book has to offer. This book can help us in our understanding of our faith as it traces the themes of the oneness of God, his perfections reflected in Creation, God’s punishment, the remnant, and the sending of a Messiah.

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