Dear Friends,

I am contacting you with the delayed Thirty-Second Annual New York City Lecture Program as well as that of the Thirty-First Annual Summer Symposium in Gardone Riviera, Italy (July 9-20, 2024). Both programs are to be found at the end of this email. Do remember that this year’s Symposium and the last eight years of the New York lectures can be found on the Roman Forum list at SoundCloud. The task of fundraising is a highly unpleasant one, and I have already had to make one plea this year as it is. Unfortunately, I must once again make a brief statement about our financial needs.

I believe that the Roman Forum is the only traditional Catholic organization in the United States that is mainly dedicated to developing an intellectual defense of the Faith and a related historical and philosophical critique of the errors that now assail us from every side.  Let me say a few words about both programs.

Alongside the liturgical, practical educational, legal, and pro-life activities of other apostolates, the work of the Summer Symposium provides indispensable rational armaments for Catholic intellectual survival in the midst of civilizational apostasy. Consider, for example, the popular published work that emerged from the Summer Symposium of 2016: Luther and His Progeny: 500 Years of Protestantism and its Consequences for Church, State and Society, which “dare[s] to stake out positions thoroughly unfashionable in an age of feel-good ecumenism tempted to paper over the radical nature of Luther’s thoughts and intentions. We are led to see, from a variety of viewpoints, how Luther’s un-catholic errors have been absorbed into the thinking of modern Westerners.” (Dr. Peter Kwasniewski). 

In parallel with the Summer Symposium, the New York City Lecture Program explores the long-developing historical context of the situation in which we find ourselves today, which cannot be comprehended and resisted adequately without a knowledge of its historical emergence—much as a physician cannot diagnose a disease without knowing its etiology as opposed to its symptoms alone. As Prosper of Aquitaine famously admonished the Catholic community in what has become our motto: “Even if the wounds of this shattered world enmesh you, and the sea in turmoil bears you along in but one surviving ship, it would still befit you to maintain your enthusiasm for studies unimpaired. Why should lasting values tremble if transient things fall?” The defense of lasting values in the midst of a heaving sea of nihilism is the very mission of the Roman Forum.  That is why we believe our work is worthy of maintenance.

However, the costs for mounting our twin programs continue to rise. Our New York City program will require another $8,000 until next September (expenses include a storage depository for our large library and records, room rental for the lectures, internet maintenance, tax filing expenses, etc.). Paying for our rapidly increasing list of international Summer Symposium lecturers (room, board, and a few flights; no stipends), scholarships for those who need them– especially the highly talented youth who are the future of Catholic traditionalism— our musical program, the room rental and the parish church donation in Gardone now amount to about $75,000. To be quite frank, at this point I consider it a miracle that we manage to keep this absolutely incomparable intercontinental spiritual, intellectual, cultural, and social experience going from year to year.

As we have said many times before, our gratitude to all of you who in these increasingly difficult times may still be capable of offering us tax-deductible donations can only be matched by our sense of responsibility to use those funds properly and efficaciously, always for the greater glory of God.  If you are able to help, you can do so either through PayPal on our website or by checks made out to the Roman Forum and mailed to the address indicated above. All donors are remembered in the monthly Traditional Mass said on their behalf, offered by our chaplain, Rev. Dr. Richard A. Munkelt. And all of you are unfailingly in our daily prayers.