Blessed Anthony Page, priest and martyr (c. 1563-1593)

In 1584 Anthony Page, of Harrow-on-the-Hill, England, began his studies for the priesthood in Reims, France. A fellow seminarian describes him as a pious and learned man of extraordinary meekness, modesty, purity, and candor. Following his ordination in Reims in 1591, Father Page set out for England to begin his priestly labors. Immediately upon arriving, he was apprehended by the Elizabethan authorities. He was summarily condemned to death by drawing and quartering for being a priest.

As always, I cannot recommend subscribing to Magnificat highly enough.

Blessed Richard Sergeant († 1586)

Following studies at Oxford, Richard Sergeant, of Gloucestshire, England, enrolled as a seminarian at the English College of Reims, France. In 1583, he was ordained to the priesthood in Laon and returned to England to serve the country’s persecuted Catholics. Within three years of arriving, he would be arrested, sentenced to death, and hung, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn, London, dying together with another priest, Blessed William Thomson.

In The Grip Of Some Serious Curiousity….

My blog statistics give me a very general picture of how many people come to my blog, from where, and sometimes how they found me. It’s cool. I have my little map from ClustrMaps going. I can see when someone likes (or hates) something I’ve said and links it on Technorati. It really is a small world out there. But darn it, all of this has only made me more curious. I would love to know something about the people who visit this little corner of the internet. So I’ve put in a guestbook. I swear I am not a spammer, a stalker, or an axe-murderer. Would you consider taking a few moments and sign my guestbook? I don’t want you to part with any information that makes you feel uncomfortable but I’m curious….and I’m begging. [grin]

Pius XII Saved Thousands of Jews

Like so many “truths” which have been repeated against the Catholic Church, apparently the “truth” that Pius XII was “Hitler’s Pope” doesn’t hold water in light of the actual evidence. Much of the evidence exonerating the Catholic Church from centuries of false witness by her enemies is coming not from the Catholic Church but from secular academic sources.

Here is a news article in which an academic posits a source for the slander against Pius XII. Too bad the secular media isn’t interested in setting the record straight.

Pius XII Saved Thousands of Jews, “Black Legend” Spread by the Soviets
Rome, Apr 16, 2007 (CNA) – Italian historian and professor Gian Maria Van of the Sapienza University of Rome said the “black legend,” which claims that Pope Pius XII did not help the Jews during World War II, was originally spread by the Soviets during the years of the conflict.

Van’s comments came in response to the recent refusal of the Apostolic Nuncio to Israel, Archbishop Antonio Franco, to participate in the annual ceremony of the commemoration of the Shoah at the Museum of the Holocaust in Jerusalem. Museum officials had denied a request to remove or change of photo of Pius XII with a caption that indicated his “ambiguous” position regarding the Jews, when history shows that in reality he saved thousands. “This is an undeniable fact,” explained Professor Van.

Commenting about the way in which Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI combated the black legend about Pius XII, Van said there are “three points of continuity between these three Pontiffs: one, the historical defense of the memory of Pius XII, of his actions during the World War II and in response to the scandalous tragedy of the Holocaust;” second, “the honor to the memory of the six million victims of the Shoah,” and third, “the unquestionable will, on both parts, to proceed down the road of peace and reconciliation, as Benedict XVI has said in Auswitz, as John Paul II constantly and tenaciously preached and as Paul VI did during the time of the Council and during his pontificate.”

Israel’s Ambassador to the Holy See, Obed Ben-Hur, said this week, “We say one simple thing: as soon as it is possible to investigate, see and read the documents at the Vatican that pertain to the years of the war, an historical judgment will be able to be made.”

“After the letter by then-Nuncio Pietro Sambi (who also requested the caption be changed or the photo be removed), there was a response, there was consideration, a promise to re-examine, to the see the possibility of healing this situation, looking at it together. Meanwhile, apart from this, the memory of the Holocaust is what is being respected,” Ben-Hur said.

There are books being written as well for those who are interested in going a little deeper than “well everyone knows that the Catholic Church…..”: The Myth of Hitler’s Pope; How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization (this one is worth the read if for no other reason than it tells the part of the Galileo story that got left out of every telling I had ever heard); The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision (Yale University Press); Triumph: The Power and Glory of the Catholic Church. Sinful Catholics have made plenty of mistakes through the 2,000 years of church history, it isn’t necessary use trumped up charges to make that point. Archbishop Fulton Sheen said:

There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church—which is, of course, quite a different thing. These millions can hardly be blamed for hating Catholics because Catholics “adore statues”; because they “put the Blessed Mother on the same level with God”; because they say “indulgence is a permission to commit sin”; because the Pope “is a Fascist”; because the “Church is the defender of Capitalism.” If the Church taught or believed any one of these things it should be hated, but the fact is that the Church does not believe nor teach any one of them. It follows then that the hatred of the millions is directed against error and not against truth. As a matter of fact, if we Catholics believed all of the untruths and lies which were said against the Church, we probably would hate the Church a thousand times more than they do….

If you wish to reject the Catholic Church because of the sinful actions of some of her members throughout the centuries, make sure that you are basing that opinion on the actual historical record and not slanders perpetuated as truth. Just as if you wish to reject what the Catholic Church teaches, make sure you are rejecting what she actually teaches and not what the anti-Catholics report as the truth. Read up!

Have You Told Your Children How Important the Sacraments Are To You?

I read a remark in a book the other day that has me pondering. The author suggested that perhaps one of the reasons for a shortage of vocations to the Priesthood and religious life is that increased participation by the laity in all aspects of the church has lead young people to ask themselves “If I can do all of this, why should I make the extra sacrifice to consecrate my life to the Lord in the Priesthood or religious life?”

So have you told your children not just how much you value the priests and sisters that serve our church, but how grateful you are for the Sacraments that were given to us by Jesus to be bought to us  only in the hands of His priests? Do your children see how much you value the Sacrament of Confession? Mass and the Eucharist? Have you talked to them about your Confirmation and what it meant to you? Our children aren’t going to want to be priests if we don’t make it very clear to them that the ministry of the Priesthood is invaluable to us and that nothing can replace it.

And while I am on my soapbox, let me just make out a list of books for you to read-aloud (yes read-aloud to them….how else are you going to discuss these things with them?) to your children that will encourage a love of the Priesthood and the Sacraments:

Blessings From the Battlefield by Thomas R. O’Brien: collection of stories from Catholic military chaplains.

Why I Become a Priest

The Shadow of His Wings: The True Story of Fr. Gereon Goldmann by Fr. Goldmann: The story of a young German seminarian who was drafted into the SS and ends up being secretly ordained during WWII. (May be too intense for younger children.)

Christ in Dachau by John Lenz: The experiences of the many priests who were interned in Dachau in WWII. The sacrifices and risks they took to continue their recitation of the Divine Office and to say Mass are inspiring. (May be too intense for younger children.)

Pretty much anything by Mary Fabyan Windeatt. Even if a priest isn’t the main character, chances are there is an inspiring one in there somewhere. Her books help to cultivate a love for the church and for the Sacraments in general.

For younger children: The Weight of a Mass by Josephine Nobisso. Highly recommended gift for First Communicants.

Some movie suggestions:

Molokai: The Story of Father Damien

I Confess

The Scarlet and the Black

St. Patrick: The Irish Legend

John Paul II

The Ninth Day 

And look these over too. (Pretty please.)

Suggestions for Promoting Vocations.

Catholic Carnival #115: Divine Mercy in Our Lives

To Jesus Through Mary is hosting Catholic Carnival #115 this week. Lots of good reading. Enjoy!

Arthur: Update

I’ve gotten an update on Arthur. Please continue to pray for him. He continues to have health difficulties and is struggling to balance family relationships with his desire for independence. Please pray that he will find someplace to live that will allow that balance. He is attending church but not regularly….yet. Please pray about that as well. Thanks!

Tagged: Current Reading

I’ve been tagged. Shellie wants to know what I’m reading and is confident that I’m good for a “list a mile long.” If she only knew. 

Let’s start with the books I am reading aloud to my children:

Patron Saint of First Communicants: The Story of Blessed Imelda Lambertini by Mary Fabyan Windeatt: I highly recommend this book for anyone who is preparing for reception of the Eucharist or would like a greater appreciation of it.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling. My children highly recommend this book because of the turning the school into a swamp prank.

A book I just finished and can’t recommend highly enough:

Left to Tell by Imaculeé Ilibagiza. This one rates five stars, two thumbs up, and must read status. Let’s see if I can describe it. Wow! Prayer. Wow! Forgiveness. Wow! Prayer. Wow! Divine Mercy. Wow! Did I say wow?

Then the book I “gotta” read for the current course dh and I are taking for Catechist Certification:

People of God: The History of Catholic Christianity by Anthony E. Gilles. I don’t recommend this one for anyone undertaking a serious study of church history except for anything other than discovering what you really want to study. It’s more of a secondary ed. resource. It isn’t completely worthless and that’s as charitable as I can get about it.

I am on a Church History jag these days with a particular interest in the Anglican split. I am reading or reading parts of:

Characters of the Reformation by Hilaire Belloc

The Facts About Martin Luther by Patrick F. OHare

The Rise and Growth of the Anglican Schism by Dr. Nicholas Sander

A History of the Protestant Reformation in England and Ireland by William Cobbett

A History of Christianity: Volume I Beginnings to 1500 and Volume II: Reformation to the Present by Kenneth Scott Latourette

**Triumph: The Power and Glory of the Catholic Church by H.W. Crocker

The Gospel, The Church, and The World by Kenneth Scott Latourette

Christianity Through the Ages by Kenneth Scott Latourette

**How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization by Thomas E. Woods Jr.

** I’ve read these previously and highly recommend them.

Current spiritual reading and/or apologetics:

Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross

Heretics by G. K. Chesterton

Exposition of the Seven Penitential Psalms by St. John Fisher 

Controversies: High-Level Catholic Apologetics by Karl Keating

And if I could find it (don’t you hate that!?) Stories of Karol: The Unknown Life of John Paul II by Gian Franco Svidercoschi

And two I’ve been disappointed in recently and will likely leave unfinished:

If Your Mind Wanders At Mass by Thomas Howard I normally really like Thomas Howard’s works but this one left me a little flat, but it is a potentially good read-aloud for the kids.

J.R.R. Tolkien: Myth, Morality, and Religion by Richard L. Purtill This one isn’t bad so much as I hoping for more Joseph Pearce’s Tolkien: Man and Myth and so was a little disappointed.

I tag Take the Long Way Home, Kid Sister of Blessed Imelda, and In Search of Something More. 

Gasp! Thank you!

This is too cool! Someone nominated me for “Best Religious Blog” on Blogger’s Choice Awards, and someone voted for me too! I voted for me too (because I seriously lack humility) so subtract one from the total. Thank you very kindly!

Heroic Virtue

Might it be that one of the defining marks of Heroic Virtue is that many people are ready to find fault with it? Here’s something that I saw someone inquire about recently:

I just found out about what a re-married catholic couple agreed to do so that they are allowed to be part of the church and receive holy communion. They agreed to maintain sexual abstinence during their marriage. That way they are not committing sin and can continue to participate in the holy communion.

The response? Well I’ll give you a hint. They were not praised for their commitment to both marriage, purity, and the Eucharist. No they were “sick”, “unhealthy”, ”deluded” and “misguided.” The Catholic Church was all kinds of legalistic. The Church’s ideas were antique. (Like the 10 Commandments? Those are pretty old too.) And didn’t that poor couple know that God Just wanted them to have good sex?

For the record the Catholic Church is all in favor of good sex provided the marriage is sacramental and it is open to life. However, the Catholic church believes that a sacramental bond once formed can be broken only by death. Therefore, the good sex must remain in that relationship. If you must separate for any reason other than death, you must give up the good sex if you wish to receive Holy Communion. A few people brought up St. Paul’s words that couples were not to abstain from sexual relations. Here’s that reference:

1 Corinthians 1:5-6 Do not deprive each other, except perhaps by mutual consent for a time, to be free for prayer, but then return to one another, so that Satan may not tempt you through your lack of self-control. This I say by way of concession, however, not as a command.

Now let’s examine that scripture. The very first point it that St. Paul explicitly states that it is not a command. This couple have mutually agreed to give up marital relations in order to be able to partake in Holy Communion….that’s a form of prayer in the Catholic mind. They have not given up marital relations forever. They have given them up until their previous Sacramental marriages are dissolved by death. As far as I can see they plan to return to each other, the timing for that is in the Lord’s hands. Even if it WAS a command by St. Paul (and it wasn’t) this couple has mutually  consented to give up marital relations for a time for the purposes of prayer. The only scriptural quibble that I can possibly see is that they don’t know exactly how long it will be…something wrong with leaving that in the Lord’s hands?

You know, you’d expect that heroic virtue would make those who hate the church mad but why is it so often that the flack these people get (I do NOT possess heroic virtue and so I have learned this from observation not from experience) from their “brothers and sisters” in Christ!? St. Catherine of Siena, St. Bernadette, the Children of Fatima, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Joan of Arc were all in the cross hairs of fellow Christians of their day. I guess I shouldn’t find it amazing that to the world one of the greatest examples of selfless Christian giving is excoriated by many of her “brothers and sisters” and Christ. Not that she needs it but I found myself defending her yet again this last week from charges stem from her well-known (on anti-Mother Teresa sites anyway) quote:

What we are all trying to do by our work, by serving the people, is to come closer to God. If in coming face to face with God we accept Him in our lives, then we are converting. We become a better Hindu, a better Muslim, a better Catholic, a better whatever we are, and then by being better we come closer and closer to Him. If we accept Him fully in our lives, then that is conversion. What approach would I use? For me, naturally, it would be a Catholic one, for you it may be Hindu, for someone else, Buddhist, according to one’s conscience. What God is in your mind you must accept.

Here’s what I said in response…..”Mother Teresa’s love and compassion had them BEATING DOWN THE DOORS to become Christian and even to become Catholic and she NEVER refused a convert. In a country (and eventually countries) where too often Christian Charity came with so many strings that the general attitude of the poor was “You aren’t here to help us. All you want to do is baptize us.” her attitude stood in stark contrast. She contended that you should meet the needs of every human regardless of the religious choices that they have made. She could say those quotes you find so offensive because Christ living IN HER was such a powerful example that people ASKED her about her faith. And I must say that if we are not living a lifestyle so exemplary of Christ that we don’t have people beating down our doors to become Christian; then, it is WE who are wrong and not her. Mother Teresa had a unique apostolate (see Corinthians about the body being made up of many parts) her specific calling was to being a servant of the poor and by her example teach us to do the same. She wasn’t called to be a preacher or a teacher. And while there are quotes such as you have referenced in the context of what she wrote and more importantly in the context of HOW SHE LIVED, they tell us that to meet each person where they are and treat them with dignity and respect and to honor the choices they made (even if she disagreed with those choices) is one of the most Christ-like things we can do. If she meant by those quotes that people shouldn’t convert to Christianity; then why on EARTH are there so many former atheists, and former Muslims, and former Hindus, etc. in the convents and monasteries she founded? Add in all of the people who were inspired to become Christian all over the world by her example and I think that what we have here is a case of a LIFE and ACTION trumping a few quotes.

In my own life, I understand exactly what she means. I have seen too many times when a non-Christian is reluctant to become friends with me because they are afraid my friendship will be contingent on their conversion. It is only AFTER I have proved myself in the relationship (sometimes after many years) that they will allow my example to speak for itself and begin to ask the questions that lead them home.”

I think it is probably more important to see what a self-described non-religious person said in response to the exchange.

I  hadn’t looked at these forums in a long while until the last two days when I’ve read through many posts. Now I have an explanation for the malaise and almost-anxiety I feel. Seriously. Given what some will post here, I’m left to wonder what some people say when they’re among “like-minded” people, cozily cloaked in their moral and religious superiority. And most importantly, if their children are listening.

I am irritated, saddened and disgusted that religion, even the same religion, engenders such divisiveness among people. For those posters who think they have a charge to bring others to Christ, take it from a “non-believer”, this ain’t the way…

Who would have thunk you could bash Mother Teresa under the guise of belief in Jesus Christ?

There’s nothing to learn here.

Here are the words of Our Lord:

And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me. Matthew 25:40

Her words:

Jesus is the one we take care of, visit, clothe, feed, and comfort every time we do this to the poorest of the poor, to the sick, to the dying, to the lepers, and to the ones who suffer from AIDS.

She also said:

It is very compelling that before Jesus explained God’s words, before he explained the beatitudes to the crowd, He felt compassion for them and fed them. (Matthew 5) Only after they were fed did he start to teach them.

So what is it that crawls under our skin and makes us criticize those who serve Our Lord in a heroic way? Is it some form of covetousness taken to a new level? Do we somehow think that we’ll be more holy if we can just knock that holier someone else off their pedestal? We’ll yes on the surface she tried to live out the gospel message in a heroic way, but did you see what she said?

Perhaps we have something to learn from the official sent to close Mother Teresa’s Home for the Dying in Calcutta? After touring the facilities, he went out into the crowd rioting outside and said that he would close down her work when they sent their own mothers and sisters to do what Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity were doing.