Dear guys, I have had an interview with Aaron Seng, founder of Tradivox Inc., the US company behind the Tradivox project. You can read about it in my article. The interview has taken place via email, during the month of march, a time surrounded by the shadow of covid19. Im grateful to have had this opportunity. Thank you, mr Seng, for this interview! May God bless you.
A Q&A with Aaron Seng
Interview by Fabio Arancio
March 2020
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Hello mr. Aaron Seng, I’m exited to interview you and very glad that you accepted my quest. Tell us about Tradivox: when it all started? I’m happy to answer your questions about Tradivox, and to share a bit more about our catechism project. This particular project dates back to the pontificate of Benedict XVI, when the desire to catalogue and compile the old catechisms became more focused – largely due to the Pope’s continued references to the collapse of Catholic catechesis, the merit of traditional catechetical models, and the enduring value of texts like the Catechism of Pope Saint Pius X. My own private collection of English-language catechisms began to grow, with the general thought of republishing them at some time in the future. As the years passed, I began enlisting help from other scholars and researchers around the world, and the work grew from there. It was not until about three years ago that our team moved into a more focused effort of restoring these works for a multi-volume book series and digital platform.
Did you pray the Holy Spirit to know whether it was the right thing to do? Did Mary, Our Lady and Mother of God, suggest you to proceed? Though I wouldn’t claim any unique grace or private revelation connected to this project, I do recall one particular moment, after our research team had been several years underway, when the greater potential of this project seemed to unfold itself in my mind’s eye, almost as a surprise. Praying at the time, I thought that this must have been a gift from Our Lady; thus I will never “take credit” for it – it has been a gift, through and through. We have certainly proceeded in prayer along the way, and several “divine appointments” and generous contributors continue to appear, seeming to confirm the Lord’s good pleasure in our work so far.
Tradivox seems like a huge digital library where you can get the ancient wisdom of the Catholic Church. How was researching and collecting the old catechism? Has the technical process been any difficult? The research process has been fascinating, particularly since we are pioneering some uncharted territory in the discipline. There has never been anything like an attempt to track – much less to entirely remaster and republish – the hundreds of catechisms that have been officially issued over the last several centuries. There are scores of catechisms in every major language; and, as far as I know, Tradivox is the first organization in history to even attempt listing them. The research aspect has thus been rather demanding, involving many volunteers and manuscript collections.
What was the most difficult challenge to accomplish with Tradivox? So far, the greatest challenge has been the tedium of remastering individual texts for print. Anyone who has been part of a manuscript recovery project knows the difficulties well: indecipherable typesets, obscure lexicon, anachronistic spelling and grammar, inconsistent textual structures, damaged originals, etc. – and all this before the challenges posed by translation. Furthermore, we are introducing our own formatting superstructure to allow for cross-reference throughout the series. All this makes the scope of the minutiae rather significant for this project, and our team logs a lot of hours in preparing these volumes for print.
Where did you find the old catechism? From where the whole research started? Did you use any physical library out there? We have utilized several theological collections at university libraries, acquisitions from antiquarian book sales, international historical collections, a number of online database scans, and a few private collections.
What about translating the content in any other languages apart the english one? Will we ever get an italian or a spanish version? We are already working on this. There are hundreds more catechisms in other languages that we would like to restore, in addition to translating the English works (our current focus) into other languages. We have had several requests for other language editions – French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Polish – and are presently fielding copyright interest from a few different publishers. This kind of multi-language project would never have been possible before our own technological age, so we are striving to utilize every tool we have available to us for the glory of God and salvation of souls!
Was forming the Tradivox Inc. company that easy? How many years it required? How many people are currently working on it? We have dozens of volunteers and a few private contractors working in several regions of the USA, as well as the UK, Germany, and Canada. It was not until last year that we decided to incorporate in the United States in order to grow our mission: “Giving Voice to Tradition!”
What is the biggest goal of Tradivox? How could your project help souls? Here I can’t do much better than to quote the Episcopal Advisor of the Tradivox project, His Excellency Bishop Athanasius Schneider. In his printed Foreword to our catechism series, he says: “The project of a Catechism restoration on behalf of ‘Tradivox’ will surely be of great benefit not only to many confused and disoriented Catholic faithful, but also to all people who are sincerely seeking the ultimate and authentic truth about God and man, which one can find only in the Catholic and Apostolic Faith, and which is the only religion and Faith willed by God and to which God calls all men.”
Tell us about the future goals of Tradivox! We are currently working hard to secure sustainable funding through 2022 for the remainder of our catechism project and digital tool. Everyone can give some, and some can give much – we are especially looking for additional organizational sponsors, who can partner with us through our Donate page (www.Tradivox.com/Donate). The opportunities from this point forward are tremendous, even within the catechisms themselves. We are already exploring distance learning programs, audiobooks, topical small group studies… If it please Our Lord, we will continue working to ensure that the traditional catechisms remain as effective tools for the propagation of the Faith in our own time, and into the future. And while I can’t say much about them yet, there are several other projects beyond the catechisms that we are already looking into as well. Thank you.
Many thanks to Aarong Seng!
Many thanks to the admin of the official site tradivox.com!
You can buy the book by clicking on the official site and then on “Store”!
You can contact the team here!
Watch more down below!
Ad Jesum per Mariam 