Sep

2

The Holy Name of Jesus and Free Will

September 2, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Originally published on <Jan. 4, 2009>

“But as many as received him, he gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name.” (John 1:12)

On this Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, it was my privilege to hear the best sermon on the Holy Name that I’ve ever heard. Read more

Aug

26

Our Lady of the “O”

August 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Tomorrow, December 18, is a feast of long standing in the Latin Church. Though its Mass and office will not be offered liturgically in most places (owing to its not being a universal feast), the “Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary” has origins going back at least to seventh-century Spain. Read more

Jul

31

Three Great Catholic and/or Cultural Events Upcoming

July 31, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Richmond Blueberry Fiddle Festival: August 14

The Pilgrimage for Restoration: September 22-25

Saint Benedict Center Conference: October 8-9

Jul

29

The Woman at the Well

July 29, 2010 | Leave a Comment

(”This is indeed the Saviour of the world.” John 4:42)

Fools miss the sublime truths of Holy Scripture. While the story of Jesus’ meeting with the Samaritan woman is one of the most well known episodes in Holy Scripture, few are they that understand its teachings. Outside the Catholic Church, there are none who understand it properly. Inside the Church, there are precious few that see in it a deep and strong assertion of the truths of the Faith they profess. Still fewer are those who live the lessons disclosed in it. This article, which relies heavily on the commentaries of insightful Catholics – members of the Church Militant or Triumphant — is an attempt to bring those outside the Church in, and those inside to a fuller appreciation of how and to what depth this account is an affirmation of their Faith. Read more

Jul

21

About Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, S.J.

July 21, 2010 | 1 Comment

This weekend, I’m giving a talk on Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, S.J. Father De Smet was part of a notable chain of three great American missionaries: Father Charles Nerinckx, the Belgian secular priest and pioneer missionary of Kentucky, recruited De Smet into the Jesuit American mission; and De Smet, in turn, recruited Chicago’s Jesuit Apostle, the Dutch-born Father Arnold Damen. (In February of last year, Brother Maximilian and I had the privilege of reverencing the graves of Fathers Damen and De Smet.)

Readers who would like to know more are encouraged to read The Apostle of the Rocky Mountains: Father Pierre-Jean De Smet and Fr. De Smet, a short excerpt from the book, The Life of Father De Smet, by Fr. E. Laveille, S.J.

Jul

15

Give the Gift that Keeps Killing

July 15, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Originally published on <Dec. 9, 2008 >

The marketing department at Planned Parenthood has become positively tasteless. Abortion, the killing of an unborn human, has been made the subject of a gift certificate at Christmas time. “What do you get for the girl who has everything — including something she doesn’t want? Why, an abortion, of course!” Read more

Jul

1

Our Lady of America and the Obama Nation

July 1, 2010 | 2 Comments

Originally published on <November 25, 2008>

Brian Kelly has written on this site about Our Lady of America and her apparitions to the holy religious in Ohio, Sister Mary Ephrem (Mildred Neuzil). These apparitions are approved by the Church, as the recent canonical study of the case by Archbishop Burke testifies. While there are many supposed apparitions which claim our attention, we put no credence in those lacking the Church’s approbation. Since this apparition is approved, and since it has a message for the Church in America, we consider it worthy of attention, especially now. Read more

Jun

26

Auriesville Pilgrimage is about the Conversion of America, says Director

June 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Gregory Lloyd, director of the Pilgrimage for Restoration, has announced the theme for the fifteenth annual pilgrimage, which takes place September 22 to 25, 2010. This year’s theme is “Restoration of True Devotion to Mary, Queen of Missionaries and the Reconquest of America.”

The Pilgrimage for Restoration begins at the Lake of the Blessed Sacrament (a.k.a., “Lake George”), New York, and ends at the Shrine of Our Lady of the North American Martyrs, in Auriesville, New York. Pilgrims walk, sing, and pray along the paths traversed by the North American Martyrs — venerating as they go the places these heroes of God sanctified by their blood witness to Christ and His Church. High Mass in the traditional Roman Rite (forma extraordinaria) is offered daily, and priests are available for confession and spiritual guidance throughout the pilgrimage. The journey terminates in a beautiful Solemn Mass offered at the Shrine of the North American Martyrs on Saturday, September 25. Read more

Jun

17

Confess Your Sins!

June 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment

St. Francis de Sales, the Bishop of Geneva, was responsible for the conversion of Lady Stafford, a Protestant noble woman, who had formerly been intransigent in her opposition to the Catholic Faith. After going to one of his Masses, she was moved to consider the Faith in more friendly terms, but she still harbored great feelings of hostility, especially regarding the doctrine of Purgatory. Read more

May

26

The Pilgrimage for Restoration: September 22-25, 2010, Aureisville, New York

May 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of the North American Martyrs (St. Isaac Jogues & Companions) Auriesville, New York.

The dates for this year’s Pilgrimage for Restoration are September 22-25, 2010. I cannot recommend this wonderful event more strongly. Our religious go to it every year, bringing two brigades of pilgrims from Saint Benedict Center. But it is not our event. It is sponsored by the National Coalition of Clergy and Laity, and traditional Catholics from parishes and chapels all across the country come to it.

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To make the pilgrimage with either of the SBC-sponsored brigades — Saint Joseph’s for men and boys, and IHM for single ladies and girls — please contact us.

Why should you go? You may be wondering why you should spend time, effort, and, yes, a little money going to such a thing. After all, the economy is bad and things are very tight. To my thinking, this is all the more reason to go. Our country is suffering economically and morally. When the going gets tough, the spiritually tough get going — traditionally, they go on pilgrimages. Think of it as an Old-World solution to our New-World problems. If we want to establish Christendom in America (again), we should act like Christendom-dwellers acted. Pilgrimages were part of the package.

Find Out More

May

25

Biblical Inerrancy Revisited (but not Revised)

May 25, 2010 | Leave a Comment

With the Synod on Holy Scripture currently meeting in Rome, the Church’s teaching on Biblical inerrancy has become a timely topic of discussion. A little further down is a clip from John Allen’s interview with Cardinal Francis George on the subject. Read more

Apr

22

Book Review: Come and Follow Me

April 22, 2010 | Leave a Comment

(Come and Follow Me, by Father Stephano Maria Manelli, F.I.,)

In the days since Vatican II, the Church has seen an alarming decline in the numbers of young people willing to consecrate themselves to God in the life of religion or the secular priesthood. Why should we be surprised, when the very foundations of the religious life (dogma, purity, self-denial, opposition to the world, etc.) have all been undermined by liberalism and modernism? Read more

Apr

8

Editorial: Our Work is Cut Out For Us

April 8, 2010 | 1 Comment

Catholic World News (CWN) reports: “US Catholics tilt left, Pew survey finds.” The recent Pew Forum study under discussion “shows that many self-described American Catholics ignore Church teachings on both theological and social issues.” Read more

Apr

5

They Fought the Good Fight, by Brother Thomas Mary Sennott

April 5, 2010 | Leave a Comment

An excellent book is now back in print. Brother Thomas Mary Sennott, who was one of Father Feeney’s original followers, wrote a defense of Father’s doctrinal position in his book, They Fought the Good Fight, which was originally published in 1987. Besides Brother Thomas Mary’s narrative and annotations, the book has long excerpts from Father Feeney’s and Orestes Brownson’s most pointed writings on “no salvation outside the Church.” Significantly, the book bears the Imprimi potest of Bishop Timothy J. Harrington, the Bishop of Worcester. (His Excellency granted this on January 15, 1987, thus indicating that the volume is free of doctrinal or moral error.)

Brother Thomas Mary, who is now deceased, had a web site that a friend of his now keeps on line. Read more

Apr

1

Till Death Do Us Part

April 1, 2010 | Leave a Comment

(This was written in preparation for a series of conferences on vocations and states in life that I gave at Saint Benedict Center in the Spring of 2005. Please see the end of this piece for a small table of contents with links to the other conferences.)

We have spoken of choosing a partner and of the preparation for matrimony that we call courtship. Now I would like to speak of married life itself. Read more

Mar

17

The Wisdom of Dom Mary Eugene Boylan and Brother Francis Maluf

March 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Two fantastic sources of Catholic erudition and devotion merit the attention of readers.

The first comes from the master of the spiritual life, Dom Mary Eugene Boylan, who wrote a chapter in his book This Tremendous Lover on study and reading. It falls very much in line with Brother Francis’ vision for forming the lay apostles who will sanctify themselves in truth and work for the conversion of America. That chapter is online here. It’s a rather large PDF file (6062 k).

The second comes from my own teacher, Brother Francis. His recorded lectures are a treasury of holy wisdom. They will inspire, inform, and motivate the apostolic Catholics we need to convert America. Now, in one 424 k PDF file, there is a list of all of Brother Francis’ available lectures. Do yourself and give some of these a listen. You may end up getting hooked!

Mar

4

The First Yankee Priest, Father John Thayer

March 4, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Question: What do a French beggar-saint, a burned-down Boston convent, and County Limerick, Ireland, all have in common?

Answer: The subject of this article, the first “Yankee Priest,” Father John Thayer. Read more

Feb

25

The BIG BAD Catholic Church, or Dealing with the “Argument from Corruption”

February 25, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Whenever Catholics and non-Catholics find themselves discussing religion — an all too rare occurrence — one of the commonest objections voiced by the non-Catholic has something to do with the “horribly corrupt” history of the Catholic Church. What this article sets out to do is to show — if the objector claims to believe in the Bible, and even if his version of history is true (which it often is not) — that he still has a useless objection to Catholicism, useless, that is, in assessing the truth of our Faith. Read more

Feb

22

“Live Free or Die!” — A New Hampshire Meditation

February 22, 2010 | Leave a Comment

A displaced Dixie-dweller living in the frozen wilds of New England, I was, until recently, quite unaware of the history of my adopted state’s motto. New Hampshire’s license plate sports the catchy slogan, “Live Free or Die.” The phrase was the personal proverb of New Hampshire’s hero of the War for Independence, General John Stark.

Could there be a Catholic angle to this motto? Perhaps, but let’s first explore it at face value.

There are Granite Staters today, Catholics and non, who say that “Live Free or Die” is more than a motto, and they cite the fact that the stark sentiment behind Stark’s words are still enshrined in Article 10 of New Hampshire’s State Constitution: Read more

Feb

19

Frère André Will Be Canonized October 17

February 19, 2010 | 4 Comments

Blessed Brother André — not to be confused with the not-so-blessed Brother André (yours truly) — is to be canonized in Rome on October 17. See the Press Release from St. Joseph’s Oratory. I, for one, will call him, “Saint André of Mount Royal.” Perhaps readers will help to make this a trend.

Deo Gratias et Mariae atque Joseph!

Feb

18

Apologizing for the Rosary

February 18, 2010 | 1 Comment

Defenses against two common objections to the Holy Rosary, written, we hope, with a little humor.

“Vain Repetition” — The Big Canard

This is probably the objection Protestants have to the Rosary, that “vain repetition” is condemned by God. Read more

Feb

12

The Bible Only?

February 12, 2010 | Leave a Comment

This is an apologetics article intended to refute the Protestant doctrine of sola scriptura . I will use the Bible as my principal source to refute sola scriptura. Read more

Feb

8

The Church of Salvation, by Brother Leonard Mary

February 8, 2010 | 1 Comment

Among all the issues facing the Church in these times of epic confusion, the issue of salvation — where it is to be found, and how achieved — is the most pressing. If you have not yet read Brian Kelly’s review of Brother Leonard Mary’s book, The Church of Salvation, I strongly recommend you do so.

Feb

4

The Rosary and the Republic

February 4, 2010 | Leave a Comment

We would do well to look beyond electioneering to the true hope of the Republic. This is not to dismiss politics — the way society is governed — as something of no account or something too worldly for the faithful to concern ourselves with, for neither is the case. Read more

Jan

28

For Christ the King

January 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Sunday, October 28 is the Feast of Christ the King. That is, it is the feast in the 1962 Calendar followed by those who adhere to the “extraordinary form” of the Roman Liturgy. The feast is celebrated on November 25 this year in the Novus Ordo calendar. Why the difference? Read more

Jan

22

Saint Vincent Pallotti

January 22, 2010 | 1 Comment

Today, January 22, is the feast of Saint Vincent Pallotti. It is also the day in the Chair of Unity Octave during which we pray for the conversion of America. Lastly, it is the anniversary of the infamous Supreme Court decision of 1973 decriminalizing abortion.

Noteworthy coincidences: Saint Vincent had a great devotion to the Holy Infant. The lovely Bambino Gesù with which he blessed the crowds during the Octave of the Epiphany is still in the Church of San Salvatore in Onda, its silver foot protruding out of the grate behind which His Majesty is locked. The faithful may still reverently kiss this foot as they did in the days of Saint Vincent. Devotion to the Holy Infant Jesus is a powerful way to repair for the crime of abortion, and to petition for the reversal of Roe v. Wade and all the wicked statutory laws which perpetrate this outrage against God and man.

Father Paul of Graymoor, about a generation before Roe, set aside this day of the Chair of Unity Octave to pray for the conversion of America. Our national infanticide is a terrible sign that the U.S.A. badly needs conversion. Only Christ the King can save us!