Testimonials
We share these testimonials to encourage our readers, and to show our supporters that The WM Review is bearing fruit.
We share these testimonials to encourage our readers, and to show our supporters that The WM Review is bearing fruit.
Why share testimonials?
We cannot help but feel uncomfortable, sharing the testimonials and praise which The WM Review has received since we began in 2021.
Nonetheless, given that it is common for physical books to include such comments, it is important for us to do so too—particularly those that have come from the clergy.
But first, we want to thank God and give him the glory for any success or good that this project may have achieved.
In this time of confusion and fragmentation, these testimonials bear witness that sound theology can still reach minds and hearts. We share them to encourage WM+ subscribers: your support is making a concrete difference for others.
We also want to reassure new readers that The WM Review is expressing and exploring serious ideas about the crisis in the Church, and that our treatment of these ideas can be trusted.
The following “testimonials” are made up of:
Direct testimonials
Public comments made about The WM Review
Private communications which we have been given permission to share.
It should be clear which is which—and that they do not constitute full endorsement of everything that we do by the persons named.
Words from the clergy
Over the years, priests of different traditionalist “stripes” have encouraged us in our work.
Encouragement from bishops
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has praised and shared the work of our editors published elsewhere; for instance, describing one piece as an “important and well-documented study.”1
The late Bishop Richard Williamson had also expressed support for some our initiatives.
The late Bishop Daniel Dolan greatly encouraged us in the first year of our operation—the last of his life.
Words from priests
Fr William Jenkins of the Society of St Pius V (and the popular YouTube channel What Catholics Believe) has said of our work on a particular topic:
“I would direct whoever is asking such questions to a site called The WM Review. […]
“For those who are concerned enough, interested enough, to do some research, going to The WM Review would be a good place to start, and read what they have to say there. I must say, I find it thoughtful and compelling.”—Fr William Jenkins, SSPV.2
Fr Isaac Mary Relyea said the following:
“[O]ne of my favorite websites—I'll say it right now—is WM Review. I love it. I mean, these men, like Max just said, are some of the best researchers.
“Their resources—which they have a list of books that all Catholics should read—and it’s phenomenal. Gold. When I say gold, I mean gold.
“And they’re very charitable. They don’t… they're not condescending. They don't attack any person. They just say: this is what happened, and this is what the Church has always taught. And they put doctrine out there for you. So, sites like that, I would always recommend. That’s it.
“And there’s not too many sites that I recommend, as far as sedevacantists.”—Fr Isaac Mary Relyea3
Here is what some other priests (each of a different perspective on the crisis in the Church) have said of The WM Review. Their words are shared with their consent, and anonymised for the sake of privacy:
“You have the most reliably dispassionate and objective analysis of the most crucial issues facing the Church in this unprecedented crisis. Your essay on the authentic Catholic response to legitimate private revelations was, simply put, marvelous—more than worth the price of admission.”—Father A.
“Yours is the best site in existence. No doubt.”—Father B.
“I appreciate the WM Review very much; your material is well-supported by magisterial citations and clear reasoning—not to mention a good bit of humour to help the medicine go down. Too great a throng of blog-o-tube-o-spherians opine, nowadays, on issues they have no competency to understand or to critique, so it's a pleasure to read somebody who has something worth saying.
“Not that I mean to overinflate your ego—it just means hell will be hotter for us if we don't keep humble and do our duty without self-congratulation.”—Father C.
While we have accepted the idea of sharing these words as comparable to what one might find on the back of a book, Father C’s advice above is very important.
Seminarians on The WM Review’s impact
“Sober, prudent, thoughtful commentary, which avoids the sensational and is quite lacking today, and it is always refreshing to find it.”—Rev. Mr. A., Seminarian
“Reflecting on the numerous articles published in 2024, various praises come to mind. Fidelity to the Roman method in the study of Catholic Doctrine. Knowledge of Scholasticism; balance between the use of Revelation, sacred Magisterium, theologians and of relevant historical data; true clarity; prudence.” —Mr B., seminarian.
As a reminder, we offer complimentary subscriptions to WM+ to all clergy, religious and seminarians on request—and we are always happy to have further comments like these which we can share here with readers.
But such testimonials have not come from just the clergy.
Catholic voices online
The ever-vigilant Novus Ordo Watch gave us an early “leg-up” at the end of 2021, when he tweeted:
(As we replied at the time: “If that’s true, it is because we are standing on the shoulders of giants.”)
Since then, we have found that The WM Review is appreciated by Catholics of a wide range of views.
Mother Miriam referred to our work on the Social Kingship of Christ as “an outstanding contribution to the Church.”4
Kennedy Hall, a popular advocate for the Society of St Pius X, said the following:
“There are sedevacantists who I greatly respect as intellectuals. One of these gentlemen is the fellow who runs The WM Review, his pen name is S.D. Wright. And he is, in my opinion, an excellent scholar. And his website The WM review isn't really about sedevacantism per se—if you can read between the lines, you can tell, but it's really actually just a collection of really excellent Catholic theology.
“I recommend it for everybody: please go visit his website, it's The WM Review (if you just Google, that you'll find it). Lots of great stuff on Cardinal Newman there, lots of great stuff on everything really. It's a really special website, and I really appreciate it. So there are some sedevacantists who are real strong intellectuals.”—Kennedy Hall.5
Peter Kwasniewski also paid us the following compliment—showing that even those who disagree with our conclusions recognise the value of the resources we offer:
“Caveat lector: The WM Review is a sedevacantist publication, but it provides access to good resources, especially translations of hitherto unavailable theological documents.”—Peter Kwasniewski.6
Prof. Kwasniewski also said of one of our articles: “This is the kind of Thomistic realism that is needed and helpful. More, please.”7
Louie Verrecchio referred to us in the following way:
“… the outstanding and scholarly web journal, WM Review, with which, I trust, nearly all regular readers of this space are familiar. (If not, you should be.)” —Louie Verrecchio8
Ryan Grant and his co-hosts on The Rundown said:
Ryan: There’s The WM Review, which I have major respect for—Catholic, loves people, wonderful to deal with in every possible way… You know, they’re super, wonderful to deal with, honestly. WM Review, it’s like, the best sedes on twitter.
James: I would acutally recommend people out there go follow them on Twitter.
Ryan: I do, and they produce great content that’s not even related to sedevacantism.
Mike: Yeah, I try to read everything they put out. I think they’re great, I love interacting with them, I have the same experience with you.9
Political commentator Frank Wright (no relation) included the following in a recommendation for The WM Review:
“The omnicidal crisis we inhabit is at root a spiritual crisis, having sociopolitical effects by extension. This review is a treasure house of wisdom for the foundational restoration of the West.
“In a sea of endless trash, the jewel of the uncorrupted Catholic tradition is presented here. We are fortunate to have the WM Review. Support them if you can.”—Frank Wright.10
Theo Howard, of the Two Cities Podcast, said:
“I would certainly recommend their well-researched and scholarly articles to our listeners.”—Theo Howard.11
Kevin Davis, of the Catholic Family Podcast said:
“Check out the material over at [wmreview.org]. I can’t recommend it enough to everybody—really good stuff, that covers a myriad of different topics; very, very consistent.
“I really appreciate [that] with you guys, that you are very consistent with producing material—which I fully understand is not easy when you also have your own lives too.”—Kevin Davis.12
of Kokx News said the following to the same Kevin Davis:
“If you’re not investing in video commentary, podcasting, it does seem to me that your message is going to be quite handicapped. It doesn't mean it won't get out. I do point to WM Review as an example of that. I go there to read stuff because it’s quality writing, and I know what I’m going to get is just top-notch. And you just can't impart that same nuance and specificity in a podcast. You just can't do it.”—Stephen Kokx13
Mr Matthew Miller, of The Catholic Men’s Podcast, made a video about one of our articles, and said of the site and our general disclaimer:
“I was very impressed with this website.”14
Here is the satirist Sede Picante, responding to a comment he received:
“‘… WM Review, which puts a ton of hours in for a single article.’
“I'm also a [paying] subscriber to WM Review. WM Review just puts out very nice content. It's probably the best, most non-offensive sede content, because it has the least drama in it.”—Sede Picante.15
Will Knowland, writing about The WM Review's project The Father Coleridge Reader, said:
“I am grateful to S. D. Wright for taking the time to distribute Father Coleridge's work here on Substack. That's where I first discovered it, and I recommend that you subscribe to the project.”—Will Knowland16
Readers’ views
Readers have also made their thoughts clear on several occasions, including comments such as the following:
Our own WM+ supporters
Last—but definitely not least—our cherished WM+ subscribers have given the following testimonials, when asked why they subscribed:
“I just ran across your website by accident and after navigating it for a couple of hours the tabs bar at the top of my browser is unreadable due to all the articles I queued up. After reading just a couple of them it was clear to me that your work must continue. I signed up as a Founding Member will encourage others to support your work as well. May God richly reward you and your work.”
“Authentic Catholic Faith and Reason is being repeated and studied at WM Review.”
“I love your website and articles. I could sit here all day and read them if I had the time! Keep up the good work.”
“Your patient and gentle writing style helped me to reach the sede vacante theological conclusion last year. I cannot find it now, but you wrote a piece about how immediately after SV, one feels relief from anxiety because one can feel that the Catholic Church is still indefectible and still un-defected. If you know the piece, please let me know, so I can share it with others. Thank you!”
“Thank you for all the work you do with the WM Review. It’s enlightening and edifying, and I think it has brought a great deal of good to the traditional Catholic world.”
“The WM Review helps to provide both clarity and hope during the crisis in the Church. Seeing so many facing confusion and hoping they'll discover this great resource.”
“Excellent thought-provoking material”
“They know what they are talking about and do not compromise.”
“The clarity and charitable tone of the writing.”
“I support your work because it sets out the right questions to the crisis of our day, very charitably and eloquently answers some of the tough questions traditionalists (especially former recognize and resist Catholics such as myself) have in speaking on these important matters of the faith. The traditional Catholic theology and ecclesiology is beautiful, thank you for presenting it!”
“Even though I do not fully support the Sedevacantist movement, I cannot recommend enough The WM Review and its extensive body of work. If you wish to deepen your understanding of the Catholic faith, particularly in its purest form - free from corruption or heresy - the WM Review is an invaluable and excellent source. I find myself sending a lot of its scholarly articles to my Kindle device; I simply can't stop reading them.
“Such a great gift for the Church in our unprecedented crisis. May God bless SD Wright and his initiatives.”
“It is morally necessary for the Catholic individual to attempt to make sense of the situation in the Church; your help is appreciated; so far I find an absence of hubris, which is helpful.”
Subscribe to WM+
We share these words not to bask in their praise, but to help others find what they need. We press on with gratitude—strengthened by your support, and committed to the truth.
The WM Review is free for readers. This is because we believe these ideas must reach as many people as possible.
However, we also provide WM+ articles—additional material for those who choose to support this work financially. This helps us continue producing serious Catholic research, while ensuring that the main body of material remains accessible for all.
We are producing more work than ever before, and we are happy to dedicate some of that to those who give us the support we need to continue.
As mentioned, we offer all our work freely to clergy, religious, and seminarians upon request.
Subscribe today and join those who are helping to keep The WM Review alive and available for all:
HELP KEEP THE WM REVIEW ONLINE WITH WM+!
As we expand The WM Review we would like to keep providing free articles for everyone.
Our work takes a lot of time and effort to produce. If you have benefitted from it please do consider supporting us financially.
A subscription gets you access to our exclusive WM+ material, and helps ensure that we can keep writing and sharing free material for all.
(We make our WM+ material freely available to clergy, priests and seminarians upon request. Please subscribe and reply to the email if this applies to you.)
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From What Catholics Believe—1 March 2025, timestamp 10.30, 17.05.
From Kennedy Hall’s Mere Tradition—26 May 2023, timestamp 5.47.
From Peter Kwasniewski’s Tradition & Sanity—23 August 2024.
From Theo Howard’s Two Cities Podcast—24 February 2025.
From Kevin Davis’ Catholic Family Podcast—6 May 2023.
From Sede Picante—4 Dec 2024.
From Will Knowland—24 Dec 2024.
"If I wasn't afraid of prison time, I'd steal all your content an re-sell it for a 20% mark up." - Hans Gruber Central Banker
Even though I do not fully support the Sedevacantist movement, I cannot recommend enough The WM Review and its extensive body of work. If you wish to deepen your understanding of the Catholic faith, particularly in its purest form - free from corruption or heresy - the WM Review is an invaluable and excellent source. I find myself sending a lot of its scholarly articles to my Kindle device; I simply can't stop reading them.
Such a great gift for the Church in our unprecedented crisis. May God bless SD Wright and his initiatives.