How We Write
Where our facts come from, who checks them, and what we do when we get something wrong.
Primary Sources First
When a piece says what the Church teaches or what canon law requires, it links to the Church’s own text: the Code of Canon Law and the Catechism on the Holy See’s website, the instructions of the Roman Missal, and the documents of the Holy See and the bishops. Catholic writers, parish handbooks and diocesan pages are cited for how things are done in practice, and we say that’s what they are. We never cite Wikipedia.
Latin, and Our Translation
Canon law is written in Latin, and the Latin is the law. Where the exact words matter, we quote the Latin as the Holy See publishes it and give our own English beside it, marked “Our translation.” We link the Holy See’s English as well, so you can compare the two. The site keeps one English version of each canon, the one on our Canon page, so no two pieces ever translate the same law differently.
Some documents have no official English at all. The 2025 decree on Mass intentions was published in Italian, which is its only official text, and we say so wherever we quote it.
Nothing From Memory
Every quotation is copied from its source as published, and every source carries the date we last checked it. Figures, like the offering a diocese sets for a Mass, are dated too, because they change. If we couldn’t open a source, we don’t quote it.
Law and Practice
What the Church requires and what many parishes happen to do are different things, and we keep them apart. “The parish keeps a book of the Masses it has promised” is law, and it comes with its canon. “Many parishes print the names in the bulletin” is practice, and it’s written as practice. Where Catholic sources disagree, we show you each view and where it comes from.
Who Checks
Before a piece goes up, a second reader checks every quotation against its source and every claim against the documents it cites. Then Elias reads it aloud, start to finish, and nothing is published until he has.
Every statement of the Church’s teaching and law is then checked once more against her own documents, one numbered claim at a time. A piece that rests on canon law reads “Verified: Pending” at the top until that check is finished, and after it, the date it was finished.
Corrections
If something here is wrong, please write to elias@memento.church. We’ll fix it, and the foot of the piece will say what was wrong and when it was corrected. We would rather tell you what we got wrong than change it quietly.
Who We Are
Memento makes the software parishes use to keep their Mass intentions, and we’d rather say so than have you wonder. Pieces written for parish offices may mention it once, near the end. Pieces written for parishioners never do. Nothing in the Library is sponsored, and nobody pays to be included.
The Library and the blog are written by Elias Nolin, Memento’s founder, and the blog keeps every rule on this page.