Ask the Fathers

For answers to many questions, consult the CURRENT MONTHLY REVISED EDITION of the Official Traditional Catholic Directory, Listing All Traditional Latin Masses and Traditional Resources for North America. For further information, click on the Official Traditional Catholic Directory department, provided to the TRADITIO Network by the National Registry of Traditional Latin Masses.

DESCRIPTION: The Fathers, several traditional Roman Catholic priests, who remain scrupulously independent of any organization, provide answers by E-mail to inquiries on topics pertaining to traditional Roman Catholicism, including theology, the Bible, Church history, the Latin language, liturgy (especially the Traditional Latin Mass), music (especially Gregorian chant), and current events in the Church.

COMMENTARIES: The Fathers extract for their Daily Commentaries department general issues from some of messages sent to the Ask the Fathers department, rewrite them, sometimes substantially, and anonymize them to form the basis of providing unique, intentionally provocative, often bitingly satirical commentary (after the Roman satirist Juvenal, St. Thomas More, and other Saints of the Church), from half a century's personal observation of the Church both pre- and post-Vatican II, on current events in the Catholic Church from an independent traditional perspective. Submission of a question implies acceptance of these conditions and a release to TRADITIO of the right to use it.

ANSWERS: Many questions are answered in the various departments available from the home page of the TRADITIO Network, particularly in the Library of Files (FAQs and Traditional Apologetics). Use the search engine there to research your topic before sending a question.

PROTOCOLS: Send your question in an E-mail to TRADITIO and enter "ASK THE FATHERS" in the Subject line. Otherwise, your message may be lost. Please observe the following protocols for your questions.

1. Send messages in plain text only (not HTML or video/Youtube), use an appropriately descriptive subject line, and do not send attachments, but include text within the message itself and send pictures as a link to the original site.
2. Note that some overly aggressive "spam-blocker" programs will screen out our return E-mail if you do not add TRADITIO to your list of approved recipients before you send your question (don't ask us to go through extra steps to get our answer through to you; if it bounces back to us, you've lost the answer).
3. This is a question-and-answer, educational site -- one question, one answer; we do not enter into "follow-ups" and debates with individuals.
4. Limit your questions to no more than one or two a week, to allow other readers an opportunity, and focus your message succinctly on a single question, providing briefly whatever background information is necessary.
5. Rude and argumentative questions will be ignored and future messages from the sender automatically redirected to the trash bin unread (if you didn't get an answer to your question, this may be the reason why).
6. We are the sole judge of what is published on the site; we do not acknowledge "demands" for publication of material.
7. Do not ask for research projects or judgments on personal and individual cases, such as marriage cases and family problems; because of the volume of questions, answers are of necessity brief and general.
8. Don't ask us to "respond" to articles from others. We generate our own original material.
9. We do not respond to leading, academic, or hypothetical questions, or to questions into which the questioner has put no thought. We are getting an increasing number of such "one liners" from mobile devices.
10. We do not respond to requests for information on any individual priest or organization. For further information, click on the TRADITIO Network's Official Traditional Catholic Directory department, provided to the TRADITIO Network by the National Registry of Traditional Latin Masses.

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