Greetings Brethren,
My name is Ashley, and I am a TRADITIONAL Catholic wife and homeschooling mother to four children ages 1 to 9 years. I am also a convert to the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church of Jesus Christ.
What do I mean when I say, I am a Traditional Catholic? It is a question requiring explanation these days because "Traditional" is taking on different meanings within both secular and Catholic crowds. Trad Moms abound on the internet, and oftentimes, this identity has much more to do with a family culture of homesteading, chicken-raising and baking sourdough bread from scratch while donning a dress a la 1950's housewife.
I like to bake, but sourdough starters stress me out. As does the thought of raising chickens (come on, eggs aren't THAT expensive). I do wear lovely, and comfy, dresses most days of the week and I delight in painting my nails. But this isn't what I am talking about when I speak of Catholic Traditionalism.
Shortly after I converted to Catholicism (I had been a Protestant for several years), my husband and I were introduced to what some would call, a "Reverent Novus Ordo" celebrated Ad Orientum, by a priest with a special gift for beautiful liturgy. Liturgy was what I realized I was sorely lacking in Protestant churches, along with the Holy Eucharist of course, so it is understandable why I was so drawn to this style in my little diocesan parish on the Colorado Plains with Pikes Peak towering on the horizon.
That reverent NO Mass evolved into a daily Mass on Saturday, celebrated in the Low form of the Tridentine Rite (Traditional Latin Mass, or TLM). Then another Low Mass was added on Thursdays. Finally, another mother and I found ourselves canvassing our fellow parishioners after Sunday Mass one weekend, in an effort to determine if there was sufficient interest in establishing a weekly, Sunday, Solemn High Mass in the Tridentine Rite.
There was, and so the Traditional Latin Mass community in our Diocese grew. There is more to this story, and not all of it is mine to share. But nonetheless, through ups and downs within our small but growing Latin Mass community, there remains a persistent desire to cling to Sacred Tradition, and the Mass of the Ages, that gave us countless Saints.
I want to be a Saint. I want my kids and my husband to be Saints too. We have a long mountain to climb. The sight of Pikes Peak every day is a reminder of that journey.
When I say I am a Traditional Catholic what I mean is that my family has made the arduous decision to exclusively follow the Traditional Liturgical Calendar and to only attend Mass celebrated in the Tridentine Rite. As we have lost access to the TLM community where we originally discovered it, sometimes this means driving as much as an hour and forty-five minutes on Sundays to access a Latin Mass, though usually we can access one within 30-minutes of our home, praise God.
As the Tridentine Rite persists in its resurgence after being suppressed for decades, a new suppression is being attempted. But the time we live in is not on the side of those who wish to pretend that the Mass of the Ages is something that can be thrown away. You cannot suppress much of anything when most have access to the internet.
Others have a far greater grasp on the ins and outs of this struggle within the Church than I do, and I will not try to speak authoritatively on matters that are not mine to speak on. I am not an expert, a theologian, or a consecrated religious. I am a wife and mother with a computer and a heart for writing about the things I love and feel passionate about. Nothing more.
At the beginning of 2024 I set a goal for myself to put actual pen to paper as frequently as possible, and so I did. I steadily kept a journal for the first time, which I found to be an excellent way to process my thoughts and stresses. I wrote my prayers and my confessions. I thus have a record of our Blessed Lord's provision and the graces dispensed on my family by His Blessed Mother. I want to continue. I also wrote letters and cards. I continued to write articles in our local Catholic newspaper. I wrote on and managed a website for the Catholic miscarriage support ministry I developed following my own child loss in 2021.
As Traditional Catholics face a sort of persecution, especially in the United States, I feel convicted to do my part to keep burning the light that no one can truly suppress. There are many Traditional Catholic content creators, most of whom are deeply qualified to speak about our faith with an eloquence I woefully lack. But if you're like me, you may find yourself lost in the weeds at times with these influencers. Our faith is a rich and beautiful one, but it can also be overwhelming to live it liturgically when our culture is so saturated in the things that run contrary to that mission.
Which is why I want to offer a place to process my own growth in living Traditional Catholicism within my home and my community, and share that information with others in a simple, attainable, common sense way. I hope to cover topics such as Catholic homeschooling, liturgical living and feast days, "tough stuff" like openness to life and natural family planning, and the sacramental life... all through a Traditional Catholic lens.
I hope you'll journey with me.
To find a Latin Mass near you visit www.latinmass.com
Pax Christi,
Ashley
