Regina Amazing Parishes 2016

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Amazing Parishes Easter Vigil at St. Mary’s, Warrington

Volume 12 | February 2015 www.reginamag.com

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Editorial Editor

Beverly De Soto

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Writers

Photography Beverly De Soto John Aron Zachary Levering John Cosmas Susan Howard/ Catholic News Herald Rick Keating John Cosmas

Donna Sue Berry Harry Stevens Beverly De Soto Ginger Quick Kelly Thomas Zachary Levering Isabelle Divo

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COVER PHOTO CREDIT: John Aron

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Contents 98 A Dominican Miracle

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Volume 18 | Amazing Parishes www.reginamag.com

Triduum at St. Mary’s, Warrington........................05 Jennifer’s Tale.........................................................40

Triduum at St. Mary’s

God Lives Here.......................................................58 American Demons..................................................82

58 God Lives Here

144 Hanceville Says Goodbye

Come Out Virginia..................................................92 A Dominican Miracle in Columbus, Ohio............98 Conversation with a French Paratrooper Priest.................................................120 Most Precious Blood Parish.................................132 Hanceville Says Goodbye...................................144 St Joseph’s in Salem, Oregon.............................170

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Photos By: John Aron 4

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Triduum at St. Mary’s, Warrington Article By: Beverly Stevens

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t was an august assembly for an historic event. In November 2015, Archbishop Malcolm McMahon O.P. of Liverpool – the Metropolitan Archbishop for the North of England – attended in choir the Mass of inauguration of St Mary’s, in Warrington, England. Also present was Abbot Cuthbert Madden O.S.B., of the famous Benedictine Abbey of Ampleforth in Yorkshire. The Mayor of Warrington and representatives of other religious denominations attended as well.

The inauguration marked the Fraternity of St. Peter being given a shrine in England – and in the six months since, a great deal has been happening in this church once threatened with closure. In this exclusive REGINA interview featuring the painterly photographs of John Aron taken during the Triduum celebrations there, the new Rector of St. Mary’s, Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP, explains.

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REGINA: Tell us about the Faith in Warrington.

Fr Armand de Malleray: Thanks to the dedication of Benedictine priests from Ampleforth Abbey, the Catholic faith was kept alive in Warrington even under Penal Times. Diocesan clergy assisted the Benedictines, as attests the example of Warrington-born Blessed Fr James Bell, who died a martyr in 1584 under Queen Elizabeth I. In the 19th century, Irish immigration strengthened Catholicism in the Liverpool hinterland.

REGINA: And today?

Fr Armand de Malleray: But parishes are now being merged here like all across the country, due to the lack of clergy and to aging and dwindling congregations.

The older generation have retained some Catholic practice, but one sees and senses that it is increasingly fragile and not successfully passed on to the younger ones. Despite 25% of the Warringtonians being Catholic, few of those under fifty are committed believers.

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Triduum at St. Mary’s, Warrington

“Despite 25% of the Warringtonians being Catholic, few of those under fifty are committed believers.”

REGINA: How was the parish before the FSSP was invited there?

Fr Armand de Malleray: Ampleforth Abbey had founded St Mary’s parish and the three other parishes in town in the 19th century. In January 2012, Abbot Madden announced the withdrawing of the last Benedictine priest in Warrington, then Parish Priest [Pastor] of St Mary’s. This was a last resort, due to the absence of vocations at Ampleforth Abbey, which forced the recall to the Abbey of the monks engaged in pastoral ministry.

REGINA: How terrible!

Fr Armand de Malleray: The Archdiocese of Liverpool tried to take over, assigning a parish priest [pastor] for St Mary’s, with responsibility over two other parishes. After three years, due to the lack of diocesan clergy, St Mary’s was to be shut down: a tragic ending, sadly occurring more and more across England.

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REGINA: What happened then?

Fr Armand de Malleray: To prevent this, the new Archbishop invited our Fraternity to take over, with the mission to make St Mary’s a centre for the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass and the sacraments.

REGINA: Were there any problems anticipated in this transition?

Fr Armand de Malleray: Apart from the last three years, St Mary’s had been a non-diocesan parish since its foundation by the Benedictines in 1877. This manifested itself through a more elaborate type of worship, with polyphonic music and a level of decorum superior to the average.

No doubt this specificity made the transition to our Fraternity easier.

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REGINA: Often, these church buildings are in poor repair, aren’t they?

Fr Armand de Malleray: Ampleforth took good care of this splendid Pugin church. We inherited a building structurally sound. It is a truly beautiful Neo-Gothic church; not overly ornate though, which makes the long term upkeep less costly than if there were many flying-buttresses and pinnacles, intricate sculptures, and huge stained-glass windows.

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Triduum at St. Mary’s, Warrington

REGINA: Well, that’s good news!

Fr Armand de Malleray: However, the Organ Loft is too small, and thus unfitting for our large choir (up to 40 singers), and the organ is in bad repair.

The heating system was poorly installed and needs upgrading. There is no parish hall, which is a hindrance in particular for people travelling from a distance for the sake of the traditional liturgy, as they like to meet up with like-minded Catholics after Mass. The magnificent white-stone reredos needs to be cleaned, professionally lit and some of its sculptures restored.

REGINA: How are your living conditions?

Fr Armand de Malleray: The 1983 adjacent priory is large enough and in good structural condition, but needs upgrading. Built for five priests, it includes even a lift. The latter is out of order, but since our clerics are young, we don’t need it and would like to turn into a cloakroom or a devotional Lady altar.

REGINA: Wonderful! So, how have you been received?

Fr Armand de Malleray: North West Catholics in England are straightforward people. They ask questions and expect simple answers. They waited to hear what we would say, and to see what we would do.

REGINA: Fair enough.

Fr Armand de Malleray: From the start, a few more committed parishioners offered assistance. It gradually broadened and we now have a full panel of coordinators for various tasks: church cleaning, collection counting, coffee organisers after Mass, flower arrangers.

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REGINA: Wait, did you say your brand-new choir has 40 members?

Fr Armand de Malleray: Yes. Music is a fundamental part of St Mary’s life, and though our Music Director and one singer are formally employed by the Shrine, they and the 35 voluntary singers work with generosity and joy. The same applies to our Shrine secretary, who has served under the two previous regimes (first Benedictine, then Archdiocesan) and whose knowledge of the local history and community is very useful.

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REGINA: It sounds like your local community is quite supportive.

Fr Armand de Malleray: By now, we have been fully “adopted” by the congregation. The local clergy has been welcoming, and the parish priest in particular is supportive. With him, we plan joint events with the wider parish, like a Corpus Christi procession and a pilgrimage to a diocesan shrine. He will also take his congregation to St Mary’s to visit the church, attend our Mass and ask any questions they wish about our liturgical charism.

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The Patrolman’s Fraternity of St. Michael Do good. Avoid evil. Join today.

The Patrolman’s Fraternity of St. Michael

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REGINA: How has lay involvement developed?

Fr Armand de Malleray: There can’t be many places in the world so far where a congregation has shifted overnight from daily Mass in the vernacular to daily Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

Obviously all those involved had prepared the transition through meetings, written presentation and discussions.

Also, St Mary’s type of worship was conservative Novus Ordo, with polyphonic Masses sung in Latin according to the classical repertoire on Sundays and main feasts. However, daily Masses were in the vernacular, with lay readers, altar servers of either gender and lay ministers of the Eucharist.

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REGINA: So, a big change.

Fr Armand de Malleray: Considering the differences with the EF liturgy, we were happily surprised when most of the congregation stayed on.

When we arrived, about 35 attended the 12:10pm daily Mass and 120 the 11am Sunday Mass. Those numbers are slowly but steadily increasing.

Already, with 350 walking through our church doors every week, St Mary’s is one of the largest EF congregations in Great Britain.

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REGINA: Great! Do you have any idea why this is?

Fr Armand de Malleray: Over the months, it became clear that people were not staying mainly for the convenience of a midday Mass in a town centre church they were used to attending. Rather, any initial reluctance or perplexity turned into genuine interest. Every week, more and more people discover the riches and depth of the EF liturgy. Some wonder why it has been kept hidden from them all along; others give thanks for this “new� option which, they say, deepens their relationship with Christ.

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REGINA: Are you attracting young people?

Fr Armand de Malleray: In general, the congregations served by the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter worldwide comprise many young adults as well as families with children. Such was not the case when we arrived at St Mary’s last November. Clearly, the young and the families are scarce. But things are improving. In April we had our first gathering for young adults, with 13 attending – a very encouraging figure for North West England.

We plan to meet every month.

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SACRED MUSIC, FROM OUR HOUSE TO YOURS.

TWO ALBUMS FROM THE SCHOLA CHOIR AT THE DOMINICAN HOUSE OF STUDIES IN WASHINGTON, D.C. FEATURING CHANT AND POLYPHONIC TREASURES FROM THE CHURCH'S MUSICAL TRADITION.

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REGINA: Any plans for events for young people?

Fr Armand de Malleray: As Chaplain to the Juventutem Federation (www.juventutem.org), I will go to World Youth Day in Krakow this summer, hoping to take some of our young adults with me. We will also go with them to the annual Pilgrimage of Christendom in Chartres, and to the LMS Pilgrimage to Walsingham, England’s national Marian shrine. We also have a monthly session with families, most of them homeschoolers.

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Triduum at St. Mary’s, Warrington

REGINA: I know this is a bit early to ask, but any signs of vocations?

Fr Armand de Malleray: In January, we held a Vocations Weekend, which was attended by 10 young men. The fact that our clergy is young, and that we attract young vocations, is a signal perceived favourably by the young.

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REGINA: Fantastic! How was the turnout for your Triduum liturgies?

Fr Armand de Malleray: The Easter ceremonies were very beautiful. More people attended than on Sundays, many of them for the first time. Members of our congregation told us that it had been a revelation, some adding it was “their best Holy Week ever”.

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REGINA: Why do you think this is?

Fr Armand de Malleray: They saw better how eloquent the EF liturgy is, because it speaks through symbols, colours, incense, classical music and Gregorian chant, and also through silence. On Good Friday in particular, the adoration of the Cross was a moment of intense collective recollection.

Details such as the Celebrant walking bare foot to the Cross, or the Deacons singing the Passion side by side facing North, spoke of austerity and of the power of prayer.

As we do on Sundays, we had booklets printed in English and Latin for every single liturgy, including daily Tenebrae. With the help of our splendid choir singing Franz Joseph Haydn’s Heiligmesse and other pieces by Byrd and Capillas, our Easter Sunday Mass was a true jubilation.

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REGINA: What is your top priority for your new parish?

Fr Armand de Malleray: Everything. The EF liturgy is a providential instrument to share the Good News of Salvation in neo-pagan England.

At St Mary’s, Divine Providence entrusted us with optimal architectural and musical complements to this splendid liturgy. For worship, building and music to match at that level of quality on an ordinary basis is rare (I am merely stating a fact, to give thanks). We see that it touches souls who had no previous exposure to it; any soul.

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REGINA: Agreed. So, what’s your plan?

Fr Armand de Malleray: To make it last, we need to secure financial stability. We need to inculcate a missionary spirit where needed, against the current spirit of being resigned to decline. This begins with attracting more penitents to the confessional where I sit every day, half an hour before every Mass, and twice a day on Sundays and feast days. Further, it implies more communicants at daily Mass, and more adorers every Saturday morning when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed for two hours (again with Confessions heard during that time).

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REGINA: And your goal?

Fr Armand de Malleray: I would like every parishioner to be convinced that the total conversion of England is willed by God, and lies with him or her, through God’s grace. Lastly, since we cannot seek and love God and His Church if we don’t know them, we also put great emphasis on teaching the faith without ambiguity and with charity. We would like every parishioner to fall in love with the Truth Incarnate, Jesus, and with His Church.

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Jennifer’s Tale “I was playing God, trying to fulfill my needs, by saving men who could never possibly fulfill my needs.”

Interview By: REGINA Magazine

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any ​post-abortive women suffer from psychic pain. Most have not understood the degree to which they were victimized – by a ‘dating’ ethos which insists that promiscuity is ‘empowering’, by the men who bully them into aborting, by a society which allows no room for single mothers.

Most cruelly, they are put in the position of having to accept responsibility for their abortion as if none of the above mattered.

This is the underside of ‘liberation’ for women, which the mainstream media studiously ignores. A blanket of societal silence drawn over the aftermath of abortion has spelled significant pain for millions.

Now, one of these women has spoken out. A Brooklynite, a cradle Catholic, a teacher who loves children, she aborted the only child she would be able to have. REGINA Magazine accompanies Jennifer (not her real name) on her journey in this two-part article as she explains how this came to be, and the road she has traveled to heal.

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REGINA: You had an abortion at age 39 because you were in the midst of a relationship which was ‘​unstable’.

JENNIFER: Brian was a divorced father of one daughter. His divorce was not a pretty one, and there was a lot of turmoil and ongoing strife with his ex wife. He was also unemployed and living in his mother’s basement.

REGINA: Wow. JENNIFER: I couldn’t tell you what I was thinking. We knew each other from our early college years through mutual friends and I hadn’t seen or heard about him in years. He randomly found my contact information and contacted me out of the blue. To be honest, things were tumultuous from the beginning, and it still did not deter me. Not only was he always at war with his ex-wife, he was still unresolved with his ex-girlfriend and was often fighting with her about the details of their break up.

REGINA: And what happened?

JENNIFER: I was just...dragged into this mess, which is not to say that I didn’t also jump into it, and I thought I could handle it! I thought I would be able to love him through circumstance. But I was mistaken, while love is the answer to many questions, I had no idea what I was up against. I was in way over my head. I was called more names in this short relationship than I had in the totality of the relationships I have had in the course of a lifetime of dating.

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Jennifer’s Tale

“Truth be told, I had a long history of bad relationships. One co-dependent mess after the next. Trying to save addicts or alcoholics...thinking, if only we get him well, then he can love me.”

REGINA: Not good at all.

JENNIFER: Truth be told, I had a long history of bad relationships. One co-dependent mess after the next. Trying to save addicts or alcoholics...thinking, if only we get him well, then he can love me. Most were wonderful men, suffering from the spiritual malady of addiction. It took many years in Al-Anon for me to understand these things. I was playing God, trying to fulfill my needs, by saving men who could never possibly fulfill my needs.

REGINA: But Brian sounds like bad news. How did you talk yourself into that?

JENNIFER: Brian is a highly creative, very handsome musician and artist. He could make a pencil seem like liquid when he moved it around a paper, and his singing voice was mesmerizing. He was extraordinarily talented and could be very kind and attentive at times. We shared a love of growing up in Brooklyn during the 70’s and 80’s. We shared a love of visual art and music. There were some very powerful attractions between the two of us.

With Brian, I thought I could love someone as they were. I thought I could accept negative circumstances. It was really me grossly misunderstanding acceptance.

While I could love him as he was, it did not mean I could be in an intimate relationship with him. I now understand that acceptance does not mean I have to stay.

Sometimes the most loving thing to do, is leave.

Early in our relationship, Brian spent eight days in the hospital for depression. Yet, I was still not deterred. I, instead, ran to his side, thinking loyalty and love and compassion and care would spare me from any negative things that could possibly happen, ignoring all of these red flags. I often tried to justify staying, by knowing that I too was not perfect, so I must also accept someone else’s imperfections. In the long run, the relationship was emotionally abusive, there were always other women, or the potential for other woman (meaning flirting or social media-ing.)

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Jennifer’s Tale

“In hindsight, right at the beginning of my post abortion healing, I did see just how victimized I was. Not just by Brian, but by many of the systems in place in our society.”

REGINA: Sounds awful.

JENNIFER: We had been dating, and of course I slept with him right away. I honestly thought I had a healthy approach to my sexuality. I was not afraid to explore it or to enjoy it. I did not see how I was really harming myself. Denial is terribly frightening. I had no idea what I was doing to myself. I actually believed the opposite, I believed this was empowering.

REGINA: Many women have bought that lie.

JENNIFER: In hindsight, right at the beginning of my post abortion healing, I did see just how victimized I was. Not just by Brian, but by many of the systems in place in our society. Immediately it dawned on me that all of this has been the greatest ruse. I had been born into the post free-love generation, being a female teen in the late 70s and early 80s meant that needing a man or husband was a weakness. Feminism dumped this new theology into our laps, and we had no idea what to do with it or how to use it or what it really implied for our lives.

Birth control was something I was born into. I remember being given my first pack of pills at a Planned Parenthood when I was 16. It was presented to me as freedom and strength and independence and self- empowerment.

The truth? It had a negative effect in my life. It benefitted men, far more then me, as I used sex and booze in high school, college and beyond to masquerade for real love. That is extraordinarily painful if you let it sink in.

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REGINA: What reason did you give yourself for having this abortion?

JENNIFER: In the first place, you should know, I had my first abortion when I was 16.

When my first love and I got pregnant, we were massively in love, but were young and afraid. We both agreed to get an abortion. It screwed me up royally, but I was young, and could sweep it under the denial carpet, when I wasn’t using it to destroy and hate myself.

Because of the abortion when I was 16 years old, I had sworn I would never have one again. And Brian knew that, as well. He knew my stance on abortion – I was against it. However, we still continued to have unprotected sex, during the moments that the tumultuous relationship was on-again.

There were a few things that I told myself to get me through the clinic’s door.

I did not want to do it alone, I didn’t think I could handle being connected to this relationship with Brian forever, it was too hostile, and I told myself my family could not help me (not true,) I told myself that I had no choice.

Isn’t that funny? In a world where this is supposed to be ‘choice.” I only did it because I felt I had no choice.

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Jennifer’s Tale

REGINA: Did you want children?

JENNIFER: Yes, I had always wanted to have children. I am a teacher. I have always loved children. But I also have never imagined it actually happening in my life, I’ve never had a healthy relationship-never had relationship standards.

REGINA: But at 39, did you feel that you had no other choice -- that you were incapable of raising a child on your own?

JENNIFER: Brian was immediately against having the baby and I was upset about having an abortion. I was crying, and he was telling me that God was okay with abortion, that this was unplanned, that he just started grad school. I argued against God approving, and said that this was all selfish. But mostly I just cried, and had a friend make the appointment. On a Monday, the appointment was made to get an abortion the following Saturday. I went to work as a teacher in my classroom, seeing hundreds of children a day. I could only think, even the worse behaved of these children deserves the right to live. I barely ate that week. I barely made it through the week.

REGINA: Sounds like you were over-stressed.

JENNIFER: I made many phone calls from the abortion clinic. I really did not want to do it. One friend, who knew about the relationship said, “You can’t handle this.” And that was the truth for me. While I thought I could handle being a single mother, I did not think that I could handle having Brian in my life forever. The relationship was that bad/scary. Mental illness, depression…the head games he played with me, I knew I couldn’t handle that. I was afraid enough of him, and that finally made me concede.

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“If the father was a loving man, if the relationship wasn’t so volatile, I would have kept our baby.”

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Jennifer’s Tale

REGINA: So, did you think this might be your last chance to have a child?

JENNIFER: It’s funny because, my parents were each other’s first loves, and they were married up until my dad passed away in 2014. I did think that this might be my last opportunity to have a child. This is the wound that hurts the most, and that I still tend. I didn’t think about it before the abortion….I was too caught up in adrenaline and fear and time and money. But I sure thought about it afterwards. And I think about it every day still. Thankfully, I tend this wound with a merciful and loving God by my side. It makes all of the difference.

REGINA: Did you ever consider trying to change your life in order to raise the child?

JENNIFER: I did consider speaking with my family, a quick daydream of everyone pulling together to help me raise my child. But that thought quickly dissolved in to reality. They have lives and responsibilities and problems of their own, I couldn’t really count on them or feel right burdening them.

I considered having it on my own, but it scared me. I was in the middle of buying a small vacation home, how could I afford a child? In the middle of this, the mortgage fell through. And it thought to myself, “Is this God giving me the means to support my child, should I keep it?” But I ignored these thoughts, and pressed forward with a different lender.

If the father was a loving man, if the relationship wasn’t so volatile, I would have kept our baby. He was clear he did not want our child. One evening, during the week I had to wait for the abortion appointment, I called him crying, “Where are you?” I said. “I’m dying here!” That infuriated him, and he told me that I “should have been aborted” and that I was “harassing” him. In any other relationship, where I wasn’t dealing with abuse and neglect and insanity, I think would have kept my baby. I was scared into getting an abortion. Bullied even.

I have heard Teresa Bonapartist of Lumina say in her witness of her abortion recovery, that she “was abandoned by the people that wanted her to get her abortion.”

The same was true for me. The main person who wanted me to get this abortion, up and left, completely abandoned me. It just elicits more fear. Gets you one step closer to the clinic.

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REGINA: Did you seek anyone’s advice?

JENNIFER: I avoided any friend, person or organization that might appeal to my heart, who might offer me what I truly wanted -- to keep my baby. I only spoke to people who would help me get it done, or would not judge that I was getting an abortion.

At one point, I had to attend an event with my older sister, who was a stay-at-home mother. She said to me, while I was pregnant in her car, “My babies are all grown up! I have empty nest syndrome!” I knew I could tell her that I was pregnant right then, and I would have had offers of daycare by her and help. It would have been an offer that I could not have resisted, because it would have been what I really wanted, to not get an abortion, so instead, I said nothing.

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Jennifer’s Tale

“I avoided any friend, person or organization that might appeal to my heart, who might offer me what I truly wanted -- to keep my baby.”

REGINA: Whether or not they will admit it, most post-abortive ​women feel guilt.

Those who realize that they were victimized can’t understand why they chose the men they did, and blame themselves for ‘poor choices’.​This can make for an endless vortex of self-recrimination, etc. ​Abortion advocates short-circuit all that by brushing it aside and saying ‘it doesn’t matter, it’s your right’...but that doesn’t address the anger, ​the hurt and the loss.

JENNIFER: I recently tried to explain my stance to a male pro-choice friend. Of course he could not believe that I did not “stand with planned parenthood.”

I said, “I’m sorry, it’s been my personal experience that abortion actually hurts women.”

He said, “But don’t you want to be able to choose to hurt yourself?”

REGINA: Unbelievable.

JENNIFER: That should be the pro-choice movement’s rally cry today, “We can hurt ourselves if we want to!” It is so painfully ironic to me, what they have convinced women to want for themselves.

REGINA: You take care of yourself, are physically fit, attractive and self-motivated.

Why do you think you stayed with a guy who would put you in that situation?

JENNIFER: Desperate for love. Denial. Denial. Denial. And a complete misunderstanding of morals, of standards. It will sound trite even as I write it….no self esteem, false perceptions of what is acceptable in a relationship and for myself.

Also, this crazy belief that things would change. Or that I could handle it.

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REGINA: What effect did the abortion have on you?

JENNIFER: Within 24 hours of the abortion procedure I was done for. I had tried to make things comfortable for myself before getting the procedure. I went grocery shopping, had knitting supplies nearby, tea, just self care comforts.

REGINA: It didn’t help?

JENNIFER: Within a day of coming home, the truth set in. I picked up a scarf I was knitting to pass some time o on the couch, and God showed me my son’s face.

Some women report this occurrence; others do not. For the first two months or so I was still in shock and despair, and so all the symptoms did not surface, or rather went unidentified.

REGINA: Sounds terrible.

JENNIFER: My 40th birthday was four days after my abortion. Brian offered to take me out for my birthday, to which I responded, “I’m not celebrating my birthday, are you crazy?!”

For many years I brought my mother flowers on my birthday, grateful that she gave me the gift of life. On this birthday, I struggled knowing that this woman had had the strength and courage to bring me into this world, but that I had failed at that.

It wasn’t an easy time.

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Jennifer’s Tale “After teaching by day, my nights and weekends were spent balled up crying on my couch with my dog. And with God. I asked Him to be with me and He did get me through.”

REGINA: What did you do?

JENNIFER: I am a teacher, so I told myself to hold on until the end of June.

I shelved my symptoms as best I could. After teaching by day, my nights and weekends were spent balled up crying on my couch with my dog. And with God. I asked Him to be with me and He did get me through.

After two months I was desperate to get help. And when I say desperate, I mean DESPERATE. Suicidal ideation, depression, fear, anxiety, crippling despair, crying spells, lack of interest, and more.

You see, I wasn’t in denial. I couldn’t be.

I was facing the truth. And it was a way more debilitating a truth than I was armed to handle. I knew I had to reach out to professionals of every and any sort. Some were more helpful than others.

REGINA: And Brian?

JENNIFER: The relationship went from bad to worse. I mostly tried to be forgiving of him and me, which seemed like a good idea theoretically and spiritually, but I was not capable of doing it amidst all of the other elements and responses that came with the abortion. My anger and despair.

Things got ugly. I saw a therapist, eventually had to go to the police and see an attorney. Fighting, calling the police. It was a lot of nonsense to try and overshadow the facts of what had happened. He called the police on me, when I once questioned one of his trysts. I was just short of trying to get an order of protection.

And even still we did not stop seeing each other. We tried counseling with a few different therapists. One would not even speak to us because of ethical concerns.

I was still so angry, and he was still sick in his ways.

For PART TWO click HERE

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God Lives Here The Springtime of St Ann’s Article By: Zachary Levering Photo Credits: Zachary Levering, John Cosmas, SueAnn Howell/Catholic News Herald

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T

he year is 1955. On August 15, the Feast of the Assumption, a parish is born in Charlotte, North Carolina. Situated on a quaint corner on South Charlotte’s Park Road and Hillside Avenue, it will be the fourth Catholic church built in the growing city. At first, Masses were held in the auditorium of Park Road School and then the school’s library as parishioners organized to raise money for a proper church.

Interestingly, St. Ann’s School was completed and dedicated first – an indication of the priorities of Catholic families. In 1960, a crypt church was built, but it remained unfinished. Though by the next year enough funds were amassed to finish construction, Msgr. Michael Begley -- later the first Bishop of Charlotte in 1971 -- decided the money should go instead towards serving the rapidly growing Catholic populace.

Hence, St. Vincent de Paul was founded the same year, just three miles down the road. In fact, St Ann’s church remained unfinished until the day in 2007 when Fr. Timothy S. Reid arrived as pastor and almost immediately set about his work. In September of 2008, work began to dramatically renovate the church into something nothing short of unique in the city of Charlotte, with Father Reid enlisting noted architect James McCrery to lead the renovation.

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THE WINDOWS OF THE MAIN CHURCH ARE BEAUTIFUL STAINED-GLASS PIECES depicting such scenes as this one of Our Lord Jesus appearing before St. Margaret Mary Alacoque prompting her promotion of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Other windows depict familiar scenes such as the Annunciation, the Assumption of Our Lady, and the apparition of Our Lady bestowing her Holy Rosary upon St. Dominic.

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SINCE THEN, THE BEAUTIFICATION OF ST ANN’S HAS CONTINUED under the close guidance of Fr. Reid, with spectacular new stained glass installed in the chapel.

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POSSIBLY MOST STUNNING OF ALL, twelve beautiful, life-sized saint statues, hand-carved by Studio DeMetz in Ortisei, Italy now watch over the church’s interior from their lovely elevated pedestals.

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“Studying online has been an excellent choice for me. It has enabled me to have flexible hours to complete the set readings and activities and the opportunity to regularly meet in a virtual learning audio sessions with other students.

The lecturers ensure that students are on track and are extremely supportive.”

—Linda Perrett, Assistant Principal (Secondary) St Joseph’s School, Stanthorpe, QLD “JPII Online Courses are wellorganised, well-scaffolded and well-supported, enabling all those undertaking the course to access the material at their level of understanding and build on it…

Not only do the courses help you in building up your own knowledge, but you come away from each session with practical ideas and numerous teaching resources ready to trial in the classroom with your students.”

—Luke Burton, Deputy Principal and Religious Education Leader, St Mary’s Primary School, Mansfield, VIC

The John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family, Melbourne, offers an online Religious Education Graduate Certificate.

This course employs a sacramental approach to learning with an emphasis on the practical. Students attend weekly online discussions and have access to a wide range of age-appropriate resources provided electronically for classroom and catechetical use.

International students welcome.

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THESE INCLUDE SUCH HOLY MEN AND WOMEN as St. Teresa of Avila, St. John Vianney, St. Thomas More, St. Rita, St. Rose of Lima, St. Augustine, and others. Accompanying these are two smaller, but no less beautiful statues of St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Jude by the main doors to the narthex as well as two life-sized statues of Our Blessed Lord and Our Lady flanking the Sanctuary.

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THE PULPIT IN THE MAIN CHURCH IS AN INTERESTING ADDITION AS WELL. Hand-carved from oak in 1643, it was originally in an Anglican church in England. As time passed and the numbers dwindled enough for the church to close down, St. Ann’s acquired the eight-foot tall pulpit and had it refinished and restored for continued and worthy use.

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God Lives Here

HAPPILY, THE PARISH ALSO HAS COME TO HOUSE A CONVENT OF POOR CLARES, in addition to the Sisters of St. Joseph who have been a part of St. Ann’s community since almost the very beginning at St. Joseph’s Monastery.

Sadly, the Sisters have now gone away back to the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament in Alabama to assist with vocations there, but in their place, St. Joseph’s Minor Seminary will be opening in the Poor Clares’ former convent.

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Going to Rome This, however, was not the end of it.

At the urging of both priest and bishop, these families directed their request straight to the Holy See; more specifically to the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei”. It was when their request was answered with the full backing of Ecclesia Dei behind Bishop Jugis to provide a Latin Mass that things began to change quickly.

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Why all the hassle you ask? It’s because, at this point, in order to provide a Latin Mass they would have to CHANGE THE MASS SCHEDULE (*gasp!*). A very touchy issue with many parishioners, indeed. Some protested, naturally, but Fr. Reid was able to say -- as Fr. Zuhlsdorf of internet fame puts it -- “Roma locuta est!”

God Lives Here

OBSERVERS HAVE NOTED THAT ST. ANN’S now reflects the once-common sacred beauty and grand aesthetic so notably a feature of the Catholic Church, precisely in a time when many parishes of the same vintage are steeped in modernity and minimalism.

But truth be told, with the physical renovation of the parish nearly finished, the spiritual renovation began.

What started as fifty families approaching a busy Fr. Reid and Bishop Jugis soon began to grow larger and larger.

Their initial proposals were refused, however, on grounds that many Catholics will find familiar: Fr. Reid was stretched thin with too many Masses and Bishop Jugis had a shortage of priests in the diocese to assist.

So, this is how the afternoon Spanish Mass became the new Traditional Latin High Mass. It certainly didn’t happen overnight, however. In 2007 upon Father Reid’s arrival, he began to have Gregorian chant and Latin introduced into the Novus Ordo liturgy. The Tridentine Low Mass was offered once a week starting in 2008 and the new altar rails were put back to use in 2010,

but it was not until March of 2013 that the Sunday High Mass was instituted weekly. It is worth noting the irony of a post-Vatican II church contending with the problem of not having one Mass everyone can attend and understand is suddenly resolved by a pre-Vatican II answer that many laity still refuse to accept.

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‘Springtime of the Church’ at St Ann’s Today, the parish is flourishing. As I am weekly attendee who drives 35 minutes in order to avoid attending the parish five minutes from my home, it’s well worth the time and effort. Fr. Reid is an excellent priest and preacher who regularly defends our Catholic faith and morals so very eloquently and with great enthusiasm. St Ann’s is now the home of the Charlotte Latin Mass Community run by a pair of excellent gentlemen, Mike

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Fitzgerald and Chris Lauer. Attendance for the Latin Mass is on the up -- with the most young people and young (and large) families I’ve ever seen in a church - over 33% of parishioners are under 20.

This compares with other parishes where the ratio of attendees leans heavily towards an older group and the presence of large families is noticeably lacking.

There’s a Rosary offered every week in the chapel for the intentions of the

God Lives Here ST ANN’S LATEST PROJECT HAS CREATED QUITE A STIR of approval throughout the diocese -- a beautiful mural based on the Ghent altarpiece and painted by Murals by Jericho in Peoria, IL, it portrays Our Lord as the Paschal Lamb on an altar, his heart pierced and bleeding freely His Most Precious Blood. He’s surrounded by Angels holding the tools of his Crucifixion as well as prominent saints including Sts. Ann and Joachim standing with Our Lady. Others featured are King St. Louis IX offering his sword, St. Padre Pio praising Our Lord with his own stigmatized hands, Sts. Edith Stein and Maximilian Kolbe who were martyred in the camps of Nazi Germany, St. Faustina Kowalska, St. Ambrose of Milan, St. John the Baptist who is the only one facing towards the congregation gesturing towards Our Lord, and even figures of the Old Testament such as King David, Abraham and Isaac, and Elijah on his chariot of fire.

sanctity of life and for peace in our world. A Holy Hour of adoration is offered before the Latin Low Mass on Wednesdays for the intentions of vocations. Father Reid tells me it has been effective as several men have entered seminary and a young woman enter a convent in the past seven years with several other young men in discernment now. As opposed to what I’ve seen in other parishes, the line for Confession is rather long and is offered more often than the parish I had left. It has a strong roster of altar servers embodied in the St. Maria Goretti Society that takes great care of the liturgical items used in the Mass.

A wonderful Schola Cantorum sings the liturgy beautifully every Sunday. A plethora of other committees and groups

help serve parish life and a solid educational program for faith formation provides catechism and study to young and new Catholics seeking the Church.

In short, St. Ann’s is a beautiful and very traditional community that embraces in full practicing devoutly their faith where even the Novus Ordo liturgy is traditional and free of guitars. And contrary to popular belief, this community was very accepting of the sudden appearance of a strange new face like myself. I truly was made to feel at home.

There’s simply nothing else like this spectacular altarpiece in Charlotte.

The other day a conversation with a fellow parishioner about the mural and the parish in general yielded a succinct view of St Ann’s shared by all of us grateful Catholics:”God lives here”.

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A testimony to the work of eleven pastors, St. Ann's has grown into a wonderful home to many Catholics of all stripes. The property had be re-arranged, expanded, and arranged again to transform it into what it has become now.

• In the 1970’s a neighboring property was purchased and used for meetings for the parish’s groups and religious education program • In 1981, another property was purchase; it serves as a residence for priests and religious.

• By 1993, an activity center was built with offices, a gym, school cafeteria, and meeting rooms, now the Msgr.

Allen Center.

• In the 1990’s, Holy Trinity Middle School was established; St. Ann's is now St. Ann's Elementary, teaching pre-K through 5th grade.

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543 Springfield Avenue Summit, New Jersey 07901 908.273.1228

95 years

www.summitdominicans.org

Help the ‘Soap Sisters’ Into their Second Century This 95 year old Order of cloistered Dominicans in New Jersey is growing with new, young vocations.

They need your help to repair their old buildings and build anew. With Christmas coming, consider purchasing their handmade soaps and creams, all made with love right on their premise. Click HERE -and God bless you!

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Visit the Dominicans of Summit, NJ

Click here

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American Demons “I was bullied daily. I tried everything to get people to like me but after awhile I kinda gave up. I was poor.

I often didn't have the best hygiene. I dressed in cheap clothes and I was socially awkward.�

Ever wonder what happens to neglected children in a secular culture driven by materialism and devoid of integrity? David is now 22 years old, born and raised a nominal Christian in the American South.

But as a teenager, he entered the shadowy world of the occult, through a portal in his computer. What David saw there eventually drove him into the arms of the Church, through a good priest and an amazing parish which we cannot name here in order to protect David’s true identity.

What good can a faithful priest and a supportive parish do against a vicious youth subculture? Read this story.

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“I had very little religion in my life.

My parents never committed to going to church.�

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American Demons

REGINA: How would you describe your home life growing up?

REGINA: Do you think they would have cared if they did?

A. My dad last I checked still works construction. My mother works in a factory.

They divorced when I was 15. My father was a bully. I lived in constant fear of him and there was constant fighting between my parents. It was horrible. I had very little religion in my life. My parents never committed to going to church. I did Bible school maybe in the summer but that was about it.

A. Maybe but they had stuff going on of their own. My dad was living with his girlfriend. My mom was trying to rebuild her own life living with my grandmother.

REGINA: And at school?

A. I was bullied daily. I tried everything to get people to like me but after awhile I kinda gave up. I was poor. I often didn’t have the best hygiene. I dressed in cheap clothes and I was socially awkward.

REGINA: What did you do for fun?

A. Video games weren’t a huge part for me; I couldn’t afford them. Other kids would talk about it often. The internet was my addiction. I sometimes went to class with only a half hours’ sleep.

REGINA: Did your parents have any idea of what you were into?

A. No they didn’t.

REGINA: What was your first contact with Satanism? Did you know what it was?

A. Satanism through Wicca was prominent part of the subculture. I didn’t really know what it was. We basically did it because the Christian God was mean and didn’t care about us, allegedly.

REGINA: When you got to know people, did you learn that they had been bullied?

A. Oh yes we were all outcasts. Bullied by classmates, teachers, parents etc. We felt unloved so we kinda banded together in ways. Molestation was also a prevalent issue for a lot of us. Not me per se, but it was common to hear about.

REGINA: How long did it take before you met these people -- not online, but in real life?

A. Until college. I never have been good at making friends.

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REGINA: Were drugs a part of this lifestyle?

REGINA: Did you ever see evidence of people being coerced into having sex?

A. Yes, people talked about smoking marijuana, doing pills, drinking. I never got into it but I heard about it a lot.

A. Yes, blackmail was common. Guys would treat girls like they legitimately cared, then screen shot the sexual activity.

REGINA: You mentioned that “they get exposed to cybersex, porn, gay rights, soon they just shut out everyone these people ‘get’ them” -- so it sounds like sex is a powerful motivator for teenagers getting involved in this.

REGINA: Did you witness any of them getting involved with sex for money?

With adults?

A. Yes they often are shy or feel like nobody gets them at their school or college so they hang out in chatrooms.

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A. Sometimes young ladies would get involved in it for phone cards or gift cards or in video sex sites. It became common around age 18 in girls.

Sometimes mid-teenage girls would get romantically involved with older men.

American Demons

REGINA: Do you think that organized prostitution sources sex workers in these websites?

A. I wouldn’t be too surprised.

REGINA: You mentioned that there are people on these websites who convince teens that “they care. They protect these young teens from experiencing Christ because Christianity is the enemy…” -- who is ‘they’? Older people?

A. Yes. Christianity is hated because it stood up to their views on sex, morals and life. Christianity says, “no you don’t get to make all the rules. You have a heavenly king who is in charge.”

Anything traditional is looked at as trash and somehow mean and out to ruin their lives. A lot of the times it is a twenty-something saying, “Oh no avoid that Jesus stuff. He wants to hold you down and keep you from being yourself.”

REGINA: It seems like this lifestyle somehow makes these people feel better about themselves, and that the dressing up and role-playing is a kind of defiance. What role does anger play in all of this?

A. Yes they feel it is their culture and home. They want to rebel against their bullies. They want to say, “We aren’t backing down from you. We are better than you.”

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REGINA: Cults typically lure people in and then make them do something repugnant in order to ‘prove’ their loyalty. Did you see this?

A. Yes, young people would gladly sacrifice any morals they had as long as they could be part of the “club”.

REGINA: Why is ‘Christianity’ the enemy? Why not other religions like Judaism, Islam, etc?

A. Well to put it as bluntly as I can, because Christianity -- better yet Catholicism -- stands for tradition, honor and truth. These online cults stand for deviant-ness, self-centeredness and lies.

REGINA: Did you see any evidence of political organizing -- ie with the ‘LGBT’ movement -- when you were involved in this life?

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A. Yes, gay marriage, legalize drugs, legalize abortion -- all that was super -supported.

REGINA: You have said, “There are websites right now full of people 20-something years old online role playing who started at 13 who had a moderate Christian upbringing.” It sounds like these young people got started on this while their parents were in fact paying for their computers and internet access.

How can parents know this is happening?

A. It’s possible to see, most of the time.

If your child is wearing darker clothing or clothing that seems odd such as all black or is gravitating towards things that seem dark as in evil or scary, that is a sign. Attitude changes, too. If they become apathetic towards things they once loved, towards family, they become less social, they start to lose interest in school and the future…things like that are red flags.

American Demons

REGINA: How should parents react?

A. Be gentle. Be loving. Talk to them because if you kick too hard at this, they will rebel.

REGINA: What should parents do?

A. Get them into a home monastery setting. Take their electronics away if you have to, but don’t give up on them. Love them to heaven.

A. By the point I came to the Faith, I had lost them all. I had become kinda crazy about Christ and wanting to know the truth so they left. My mom was ok with it. My dad I just don’t know how he feels; we don’t talk. I love him but I can’t force him into my life. Just love him that’s all I can do.

REGINA: When did you convert? What kind of religious instruction have you had?

REGINA: What made you leave this life? A. Mentally I made a decision about half a month before Benedict stepped down A. The Eucharist. For love of my Blessed but officially Easter 2014. I knew the RCIA Mother in my heart and for love of my material well enough. I had studied the Father in heaven.

Catechism, read good Catholic books and watched solid Catholics on youtube.

REGINA: How did you find the Catholic So RCIA was kinda skipped in a sense.

Church? What is it that drew you to the My baptism was exorcism enough for Faith? me. I mean I am not a saint yet but I am on the road. I hope and pray.

A. My grandpa was a fallen away Catholic and I never could quite believe the REGINA: You are discerning a religious stuff evangelicals would say like ‘just say vocation. What sorts of Orders have a little prayer an you’re saved’ or ‘just you looked into? believe.’ It just wasn’t biblical. My lord said ‘eat my body and drink my blood’ A. I love the Jesuits but some have me -- not eat pot roast and gossip. I watched worried about the way the order is headMother Angelica a lot as a preteen as ed. I really would like to just be a simple well and ‘The Life On The Rock’ so I was diocesan priest and spread restoration a little too spoiled to be evangelical. of traditional faith and morals. But I am open for anything my Lord wants me to REGINA: What were the reactions of do, even if I don’t like it. Even if it is unyour Satanic friends? Your parents? comfortable, you can’t get to heaven on a feather bed. •

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Come Out Virginia, Don’t Let ‘Em Wait (Catholic Girls Start Much Too Late) Article By: Kelly Thomas

Photo Credits: Beverly Stevens

W

hen men hear that I won’t have sex until marriage, they have one of two reactions: A) they run screaming in the opposite direction or B) they nod soberly, muttering assurances about respect, all the while nursing an unspoken “challenge accepted.”

The “A”s are by far the biggest category. In fact, when the word spread that I didn’t sleep around, most guys learned to not even approach me. I became a non-option, a dating pariah. When he found out we were dating, my high school boyfriend’s younger brother’s reaction voiced the fears of men the world over, “But wait. Kelly Thomas? You know you’re not going to get any, right?”

The “B”s are the more interesting group; they enjoy a challenge. Billy Joel’s song Only the Good Die Young expresses their sentiments precisely.

To this cadre of men, I was the girl from the song, tragically unaware of the price that I was paying. By choosing to hide behind my Catholic statues and permitting the Roman- collared patriarchy to keep me safely tucked away, I was being sexually repressed. Fortunately, they were there to show me the light, unfiltered by any stained glass.

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Come Out Virginia, Don’t Let ‘Em Wait

As you might guess, these gentlemen were the confident ones. Not accustomed to female rejection, they were very sure that just the right combination of words, the perfect dose of charm and a few well-placed mischievous boyish smiles would do the trick; I’d throw up my hands in a eureka! moment.

Unlocking the Rubik’s Cube of Chastity Truth be told, I also am over-confident, so I gravitated towards these guys, hoping each time that I could change them. Naturally, my efforts worked about as well as my mother had predicted, though for my trouble, I was on the receiving end of a vast array of attempts -generally from repeat offenders -- trying valiantly to unlock the Rubik’s Cube of chastity.

One guy went with shameless flattery, playing to my vanity and texting me about how he would be “honored” and if I would ever change my mind, he’d “be all over that.” Of course, that last bit lost me, being as it was a far cry from the Jane Austen approach I had been hoping for.

Some guys are honest. One said “You realize no guy is going to go for that,

right?” He got kudos for not even trying to disguise his endgame, but that was all he got.

Other guys have odd notions about what will impress a girl, like the guy who, on a date, assured me that he “never does anything a girl doesn’t want” -apparently with the idea that I would be seduced by his reluctance to commit sexual assault. Um, no.

My vote for the most creative proposition, however, came from the guy who coyly suggested that, “It would do you a world of good to have sex” -- hastily adding, “I’m not saying with me…but it would be a good thing for you.” When that line of reasoning didn’t work, Dr Jekyll turned into Mr Hyde, frostily informing me that I was “narrow-minded” and that he felt it “a shame” that I had “boxed myself in.”

“I Want You” So, these were the knights in shining armor striving to liberate me from my incense-laden prison. Needless to say, while none of their verbal ploys worked, the simple statement “I want you,” which, while brutally transparent, was surprisingly beguiling.

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Come Out Virginia, Don’t Let ‘Em Wait

Why? I think because those words speak to our intrinsic yearning to be recognized as a unique being, and then to be desired for that our uniqueness. I saw this same yearning in the eyes of many of my friends.

During our freshman year at Georgetown University a friend met, fell for, and slept with a guy, within the span of a few short weeks. Less than a month later he told her he was getting back together with his ex-girlfriend. My friend’s devastation was heartbreaking to witness, and even more so because she had given so much to this man who proved so woefully unworthy. But, he had told her how beautiful she was, how special she was, and that was what she wanted to hear.

A year later, she was in the same situation with a different man. Once again, I heard her crying through our shared wall because he had said he wanted her, and then cast her aside when he’d changed his mind.

Even worse, she couldn’t admit the level of pain she was in, because that would mean confessing that having sex with every man who came calling was not the ‘empowering’ Garden of Eden that the last generation’s feminists had promised.

And so, the cycle continued.

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Refusing ‘Nice’ Guys Why did I refuse these guys? First and foremost because of my Catholic faith, which states that sex should be within the Sacrament of Marriage. However, I also refused them because I was more than aware that I was better than being a notch on their belt. I saw the hook ups and broken relationships chip away at little pieces of my friends’ souls, and while my heart broke for them, I was not about to let the same thing happen to me.

Furthermore, I knew that these men, even with their morally depraved notions of a “good time,” were far better than they themselves realized.

Too many men, especially on college campuses, count their value as being directly proportional to how many women they can take to bed.

The men I knew who tried to sleep with me were not, generally speaking, bad guys. Some of them did have gaping holes in their integrity, but most of them were genuinely nice guys who simply didn’t realize they were worth so much more than what they were offering. They may not cry as much as the girls they leave in their wake, but their plight is just as tragic. They are the lost boys.

The attempts men have made to persuade me to dismiss my faith and sleep with them are indeed entertaining, and they’ve inspired laughs and eye rolls. Though, of course, I always felt a hint of regret that none of these guys wanted just me, without the sex. That, on my own, they didn’t think I was good enough.

Fortunately for me, I was backed up by an unwavering Faith and a two-thousand year tradition that informed me that not only was I “good enough” but that I deserved far better than what these poor, lost guys could give me.

This is why I felt more than a twinge of sadness from my wounded vanity when

my would-be Lotharios evaporated into thin air. I felt an overwhelming sorrow for them, and for their inability to know that they were created for so much more than the sexual conquests they pursued.

I rolled my eyes at them, but I prayed for them even more. For them, and for the girls who would not say no, and who with every heartbreak would be broken a little bit more from their own ‘choices’.

Kelly Thomas is a 2015 graduate of Georgetown University, currently pursuing graduate work in War Studies at King’s College London.

She is 23 years old.

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A Dominican Miracle in Columbus, Ohio Article By: REGINA Magazine

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A few quick facts about this amazing parish: • It is over 150 years old • It is surrounded by old warehouses and a secular community college • It is located in the downtown core of a major metropolitan city • It has no “neighborhood” - no houses, no • families, no community • It was established and built by poor Irish immigrants If your first reaction is: “It would take a miracle to fill that church” you would probably be right – anywhere, that is, but at Saint Patrick’s Church in Columbus, Ohio.

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ST PATRICK’S IS BRIMMING WITH YOUTHFUL, TRADITIONAL, and, some say, evangelical religious and parishioners, thanks to the steadfast efforts of the Dominicans, who for 130 years have been carrying on their tradition of strong Catholic preaching, instruction, worship and devotion.

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A Dominican Miracle in Columbus, Ohio

THE DRAMATIC EARLY YEARS: It was February of 1851, in the teeth of the Irish Famine which sent almost a million Irish Catholics fleeing their ancient land to America’s shores, when Archbishop Purcell of Cincinnati approved creation of the new parish to accommodate this influx of Irish, English-speaking Catholics. After much prayer, planning and fund raising, plans were adopted for a Norman Gothic design, with two glorious towers patterned after the ancient castles of Ireland. The cornerstone was laid with great fanfare and ceremony on September 5, 1852. Over the next year, construction was nearly halted on several occasions due to lack of funds, yet by September 1853 Holy Mass was celebrated within the walls of St. Patrick Church for the first time.

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THE DOMINICANS: Until 1824, the only priests in Ohio were Dominicans. In 1885, the Bishop of Columbus requested that they take charge of St. Patrick’s. Under Dominican leadership, St. Patrick’s gained fame as the first school and church in Columbus to have centralized steam heat.

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A child of the Sixties, she hiked the Way of St James alone.

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TODAY, COLUMBUS IS IN THE EASTERN (ST. JOSEPH’S) PROVINCE, which includes over 300 priests and friars working at home and in the missions, including Fr. Michael Dosch, O.P. In this exclusive REGINA interview, Fr Dosch takes us behind the scenes at his amazing parish:

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REGINA: When did you become involved with the parish?

FR DOSCH: I was appointed Pastor in the summer of 2010. The parish had just recently finished paying off the debt incurred for a new parish center and renovations in the church.

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A Dominican Miracle in Columbus, Ohio

REGINA: A lot of parishes have Facebook pages, but yours is especially lively and active. Do you have a number of young people involved?

FR DOSCH: Very much so! We have a very active youth ministry run by our youth minister, Patrick Reis. We have had a lot of vocations from our parish, for the Dominican Order as well as other religious orders and the diocesan priesthood.

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REGINA: I also see that your parish participates actively in the March for Life. FR DOSCH: We typically send two buses – one is an extended trip for high school youth and the other is an overnight bus for adults and families.

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REGINA: All of the most successful parishes that we have interviewed place a great emphasis on the sacraments, in particular on the sacrament of confession.

FR DOSCH: We hear a great number of confessions every day. His Holiness Pope Francis is appointing four of us (Fr. Thomas Blau, Fr. Boniface Endorf, Fr. Cassian Derbes and myself) as Missionaries of Mercy for the present Jubilee Year of Mercy. Approximately 800 priests from various parts of the

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A Dominican Miracle in Columbus, Ohio

“Beginning on Ash Wednesday, we received the mandate from the Holy Father to be preachers of mercy and confessors exemplifying God’s mercy.”

world are being appointed as Missionaries. Beginning on Ash Wednesday, we received the mandate from the Holy Father to be preachers of mercy and confessors exemplifying God’s mercy. The Holy Father grants Missionaries of Mercy the faculty to lift ecclesial penalties attached to sins that are reserved to the Holy See. The friars’ names are being submitted to all the bishops, so they may be called upon to preach retreats on God’s Mercy during this Jubilee Year.

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Blessed Margaret of Castello St Patrick’s venerates Blessed Margaret of Castello, who was born of a wealthy, noble Italian family near Florence in 1287.

Born a hunchback, dwarf, blind and lame, her family was ashamed of her and kept her hidden in virtual imprisonment for nine years in a tiny cell attached to a forest church. It was only through the family chaplain that Blessed Margaret came to know God. Seeking a miracle, her parents took her to a Franciscan Shrine. When she wasn’t cured, they abandoned her.

Blessed Margaret’s faith and courage inspired others in the community to take pity on her and to help her survive. Eventually she became a member of the Dominican Third Order of Castello, where she lived an exemplary life of prayer, penance, and charity. Her incorrupt body lies under the main altar in St. Dominic’s Church, Castello, Italy.

Margaret of Castello was declared Blessed by the Catholic Church on October 19, 1609. She is an inspiration to those who are discouraged and tempted to self-pity. The Shrine of Blessed Margaret at St. Patrick Church is one of three in the United States, the other two being in Dominican churches in Louisville and Philadelphia.

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PROTECTING YOUR GATE NIGHT This initiative of St Patrick’s Youth and Young Adult Ministry “was inspired by my pastor Father Michael Mary,” Patrick Reis, Coordinator, explains. “He wanted to see a youth night that addressed harmful influences to our teens in culture and, more importantly, addressing the need for wisdom and prudence in sharing content on social media forums as well as knowledge

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A Dominican Miracle in Columbus, Ohio

“That evening, we prayed for the gift of wisdom and increase of prudence in our lives during silent adoration while students had the opportunity to go to confession.”

of the real world consequences of sharing on social media.

We made use of the analogy of our souls as castles (St Ignatius/St Teresa of Avila).” The concept of a “gate”, says Patrick, “ is a pivotal point in that it controls what comes in and what comes out. That evening, we prayed for the gift of wisdom and increase of prudence in our lives during silent adoration while students had the opportunity to go to confession.”

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REGINA: What has been your experience to date at St Patrick’s?

FR ENDORF: St. Patrick is a great parish. The parishioners are very devoted and active in the parish, and there are always many things going on. Also, we have a great confessional ministry. We have daily confessions and people come from all over Columbus for daily mass and confession. My best experiences have been getting to know the parishioners, and being able to serve them, to help them know Jesus leading them to holiness.

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A Dominican Miracle in Columbus, Ohio

REGINA: Father Dosch said offering people hope in the confessional means helping them see the ways God is already working in their lives, lifting them up in little or big ways.

FR ENDORF: I hope to show God’s mercy to those who come to confession, and for those who have either wandered away from the Church or who have never known Jesus in their lives. Mercy is coming to know God’s love in one’s life, and so I hope to help people know that divine love. Without that there is no hope or salvation, but with it is true joy and peace. •

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Conversation with a French Paratrooper Priest Interview By: Isabelle Divo

H

e is 32 years old, often deployed, supporting French troops as a Catholic priest wherever the winds of war may take them. His experience is telling, not only because he is from a country whose media and intellectual elite are often vituperatively anti-clerical, but because he is serving on dangerous missions to protect that same country. In this exclusive interview with REGINA’s Paris-based correspondent, Isabelle Divo, Father Etienne d’Escrivan gives us privileged access into his world.

REGINA : Tell us about your growing up years.

Fr. d’Escrivan: I was born in a large family and I’m the second of four boys. My parents were also born in large families, so I had many cousins that I was lucky enough to see at my grand-parents’ house in Auvergne during the holidays. My mother stayed at home, so we could spend every holiday together as a family.

As a child, I lived between the Paris suburbs and Auvergne.

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“My mother stayed at home, so we could spend every holiday together as a family. As a child, I lived between the Paris suburbs and Auvergne.�

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Conversations With a French Priest

REGINA : Was there anything special about your childhood ?

Fr. d’Escrivan: I was raised like lots of kids. I attended public school and catechism classes, and I was an altar boy. I liked the parish priest a lot and I admired him.

REGINA : Why? Fr. Escrivan: He was a bit of a rugged man, but a holy man with infinite goodness.

He was completely dedicated to God and to others.Even though, on a daily basis, we weren't especially religious, religion was part of our education. I don't remember ever seeing a priest at home. Other than attending Sunday Mass, we didn't do anything special when it comes to religion.Though one of the values taught to us was effort and work as a way to be autonomous, which was very important. I'm grateful to my parents for teaching me the meaning of effort and a work ethic.

REGINA : And as a young man ?

Fr. Escrivan: After living between the Paris suburbs and Auvergne as a little boy, I moved to Tours for high school. I spent three years there, majoring in sciences.

Those were wonderful years, because I was part of a very tight group of friends. So those were really awesome years of which I have great memories. At the time, there was hardly any room for religion or spirituality in my life.

REGINA : How did you know you wanted to be a priest?

Fr. Escrivan: I felt I wanted to be a priest when I was a 6 or 7-year old boy, as the priest of my parish inspired me to want to do like him, with at the core of priestly life, the celebration of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. I don't have specific memories, but this desire was becoming clearer little by little in the heart of the child I was. I talked about it to the people I trusted, and I remember I went to the parish priest after a catechism class, mustering all the courage necessary to a child to tell a grown-up –and a priest ! -- about a very big thing.

I told him : 'Father, when I am older, I want to be like you : a priest'. Some time later, the man of faith talked about it with my mom, to ask her if she would let him talk with me about it. My mom's answer, which the priest abided by, was a ‘no’. I happened to learn about that discussion only years later. And even though I had the secret desire to attend the junior seminary, given my age, I wasn't in a hurry. That priest died holy two or three years later, and he took with him my desire for priestly life, to his grave, so to speak.

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REGINA : And then what happened?

Fr. Escrivan: Then, the rough and tumble of teengage years took over my Christian spiritual life. Not that the idea of priesthood had become ridiculous to me, but rather I no longer felt I was worth it, given what kind of a teenager I was being. That’s how spiritually empty my life was, when I started attending the military high-school.

And that would be the case for a few months still, until the day a friend tried to have me attend Sunday Mass with him. He finally convinced me : Mass was at the school, so exclusively for young people. And the chaplain was a 30-year-old priest. That was how I started a new intense spiritual life, so that the issue of being called to priesthood resurfaced quickly. The chaplain soon became my spiritual director, so I could discern this ‘old’ vocation. The burden of the past rapidly helped me answer the call of the Lord.

REGINA : And after graduation ?

Fr. Escrivan: After graduation, I had two goals : working on building a future for myself, and becoming independent. I went to boarding school : I decided to attend science preparatory classes at Saint Cyr l’Ecole military high-school, near Paris, to study for the entrance exams to the army officer school and engineering schools.

Finally, after two years of preparatory classes, I didn’t go to the officer school but to the seminary instead, under the armed forces’ diocese.

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REGINA : Why the military?

Fr. Escrivan: Until my spiritual father asked me a question that had me stumble : ‘where do you want to be a priest ?’. That’s the way it is with the Lord : when you think you have overcome something difficult, He promptly comes up with another one... I didn’t want to go back to the Paris region where I had grown up, nor to Tours where I had lived for 3 years, nor to Auvergne... Visiting various communities didn’t help me find an answer to the question either. I was told that there was no such thing as a freelance priest. Then, providentially, I was asked about being a military chaplain. And even more than the military I had been interested in anyway, it’s being a chaplain in the military that appealed to me : right in the middle of people –not only Christians. There was this perspective of a life of adventures with these young sporty people, in France and abroad, without the heavy organization of a parish.

This appeared to me like a sort of priesthood fitting my character. I agreed all the more willingly that, not being especially skilled for that kind of life, I took that proposition as from divine providence.

REGINA : What was your training as a priest like ?

Fr. Escrivan: At the time, incardination into the armed forces’ diocese was brand new and there was no set procedure –today, things are different as all the seminarians are trained together. The bishop sent me to the seminary of the diocese of Autun, in Paray-le-Monial, where I did preparatory studies for one year, and then philosophy. Then, this seminary closed down for lack of applicants, so the bishop sent me to the Great Seminary in Metz, where I graduated.

My first pastoral placement was at the First Heavy Cavalry Regiment in Verdun. I was already a military chaplain, since a military chaplain can be a priest, a deacon or a lay person. At the end of the pastoral placement, I was ordained a deacon on October 10, 2010 in the soldiers’ church, St Louis des Invalides, the armed forces’ diocese’s cathedral, in Paris. A few months later, I was ordained a priest, on May 15, 2011. And about 10 days later, I was deployed in Lebanon with the Regiment, for four months.

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“As a priest, my mission is about helping soldiers and soldiers’ families who have religious, spiritual and worship needs, but also about morally supporting our troops and advising them individually.”

REGINA : What has been your experience in the military?

Fr. Escrivan: In 2012, I was transferred to the parachute brigade where I was the chaplain of the garrison of Tarbes – composed of the 35th Parachute Artillery Regiment, 1st Paratroops Hussars Regiment, and a local gendarme unit. And almost immediately, I went for a new six-month deployment in Lebanon, with the 1st Paratroops Hussars Regiment. Eleven months after being back from Lebanon, I was deployed in Ivory Coast for four months. And ten months after being back from Ivory Coast, I was deployed for 6 months and a half in Central Africa. I spend a lot of time not only on oversees deployments, but also on deployments in France. And in the spring and summer, I try to make as much time as possible to celebrate soldiers’ marriages and the baptism of soldiers’ children.

REGINA : Is your pastoral ministry different from that of a non-military priest ?

Fr. Escrivan: I always say I do exactly the same thing as a usual parish priest. As people see me wearing combat fatigues, they sometimes have a hard time understanding that it’s only a uniform, that I’m a priest first. A military chaplain is a special soldier who’s not armed, not a combatant, nor does he have to report to any military hierarchy. His mission is to support the armed forces in their religious practice, to support soldiers individually and spiritually, and to advise the command. I had the same training as my priest colleagues, in the same schools, and I do the same thing: celebrate the sacraments and support God’s people.

REGINA : But, your ‘parish’ is among the troops, correct ?

Fr. Escrivan: Granted, though, the environment is totally different from a parish priest’s. I have no church, no secretary, nobody responsible for the church flowering, no catechist, no meeting to attend... There’s no set way for me to carry out my mission, but I have to adapt to each and every case.

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REGINA : Can you elaborate?

Fr. Escrivan: Due to their job, soldiers have very heavy constraints. They are often away. Attending three meetings planned on specific dates is something they can’t possibly do. So I work according to how available they are. All the meetings preparatory to a baptism or a marriage and all the catechesis meetings for catechumens are personal meetings whenever they are available to attend. In addition to this, I share their daily life, which gives me opportunities only a few other priests have. But it’s important, because that’s when trustful and respectful relationships are developed which will be the basis for pastoral work. Thus, every day is different. I participate to hikes, sports contests, mountain treks, parachute jumping sessions, military ceremonies.... These are occasions of bearing testimony, of exchanging personal stories, and talking about the Gospel, but with all due respect to individual convictions and to duty to my country.

REGINA : We were told that your participation in the regiment’s activities, just like any other soldier, was really appreciated by the soldiers. Do you think that’s essential to your mission?

Fr. Escrivan: The chaplain lives among the military and each and every soldier is free to believe in God or not, to have a religion or not. Some of them, while not belonging to a specific religious denomination, do have a more or less vague and more or less strong faith. As a priest, my mission is about helping soldiers and soldiers’ families who have religious, spiritual and worship needs, but also about morally supporting our troops and advising them individually. If soldiers only see the chaplain’s religious side they may not relate to, they may not even want to know him. And then, he wouldn’t be able to support them in any way. Soldiers should find it easy to go talk to the chaplain, when they need advice, or when they want to discuss something, That’s why sharing as many activities as possible with them is essential.

They realize that, although a priest, the chaplain is a man just like them, and that, whatever their opinions about religion, he shares values with them, like love of homeland and respect for the republic.

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REGINA : And then… ?

Fr. Escrivan: That’s just common sense : sharing the soldiers’ daily life simply allows you to get to know them and allows them to get to know you. Then, more profoundly, I think that it’s really important to always be everywhere with the soldiers, to embody prayer and contemplation, right there in their military life. The chaplain’s ways stem from Christ’s spirit of humble and selfless service as He washes the apostles’ feet. I like to say, a bit provocatively, that I’m useless. In a combat situation, I’m useless –I’m not a combatant--, and can even be sometimes a burden to soldiers, since the reason why I’m there with them is that I’m witness of the love of God for them. God’s grace takes care of the rest.

REGINA : Despite this, do you think your presence there, in the war zone, impacts soldiers?

Fr. Escrivan: The chaplain’s accompanying presence is also a sign of God’s concern for them in their professional and daily life. It’s a life which demands sacrifices and renouncements --especially when it comes to family life-- and other diffculties –especially when it comes to having good discernment, as each decision may be a question of life or death, for the soldier, his fellow soldiers, the enemy, a civilian..Even in case of self-defense, even when the act is militarily ‘legitimate’, it’s never simple for a soldier to bring death to others. Even more so when he’s witness to that death he has brought, with the violence going with it depending on the weapons used.

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Conversations With a French Priest

REGINA : Such a terrible burden to bear.

Fr. Escrivan: When our soldiers think about all that, they’re happy to find a priest they can talk with, to be able to take in what they’re going through. Then, the priest’s accompanying mission is about helping them find inner peace, and self-confidence again as well as trust in God. They don’t necessarily say it, but sometimes, they look at themselves with disgust because of what they have done and they think they can no longer be loved by God. REGINA : What do you tell a soldier who believes he can no longer be loved by God? Fr. Escrivan: More often than not, I suggest Confession : when a man takes another man’s life, he takes over God’s place. Going to confession allows him to put himself back in his place before God and among people. The chaplain’s not there to justify the action of combat, but to accompany the suffering it implies. He’s there to heal soldiers’ inner wounds.

REGINA : Could you tell us about the book you have written (Un Monastère cistercien en terre d’Islam [A Cistercian Monastery in the Land of Islam], éditions du Cerf) ?

Fr. Escrivan: The book is about a specific experience. Through Providence –here It is again-- for one month, I found myself sharing the cloistered life of Cistercian Trappist monks in their priory of Midelt, in Morrocco. I was eager to experience monastic life over a ‘long’ period of time. The Lord took care of the rest. That’s how I landed there, in that tiny precarious community, uncertain about its future and faithfully living the monastic life in a very special context.

REGINA : What were you thinking about?

Fr. Escrivan: I asked myself, like many people : what’s the point ? Can their way of life really be called monastic ? At dawn, in the scriptorium, I would read a book about Charles de Foucault. I realized that the life of those few Trappists was exactly what he had imagined in his days : a friendly and selfless presence stemming from contemplation. As I realized that, while asking myself all those questions –and starting to find answers to these-- I felt compelled to write. I wrote an outline, to be able to write the most comprehensive and scientific –while spiritual and religious-- study about the community. That’s how the book got started.

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Conversations With a French Priest

REGINA : Why is this book relevant ?

Fr. Escrivan: Beyond the facts dealt with, it seems to me the book is very relevant today. For, more than the precise example of these monks, the book tackles the issue of living together in harmony whatever our religions, and allows us to think about how to pass on Christ's message among people who don't want any of it. In a different way, it's not that far from what Western countries are going through today.

All over the world, the issue of living together in harmony whatever our religions, is at the core of today. It's also a challenge. And you learn from others' experiences.

There's also the message of Hope emanating from the monks' particular experience, which inspires you something different from the pessimism often expressed today.

REGINA : Would you have a message to pass on, especially to young men like yourself ?

Fr. Escrivan: I always say that, at the end of the day, only few things are genuinely bad. More often than not, it's about how you use things, or how you look at them, or the context. Christianity is a religion of love, of course, but also one of freedom and responsibility. People often have a negative opinion of the Church, because they only see what is prohibited, what is limited, what you 'can't do'. While, in fact, you can almost do anything as long as you do it for the love of God or for the love of others, with love for God and love for others. It's what you do with things and events that make these good or bad. Christian faith is a path of freedom. It's sad to see that lots of people consider it a constraint. God is everywhere and is waiting for us everywhere. •

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Most Precious Blood Parish “We’ll just pray for a miracle”

Photos courtesy of Precious Blood parishioners

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Article By: Donna Sue Berry

T

he Latin Mass is a grassroots, growing phenomenon – and you can’t get much more ‘grassroots’ than Tulsa, Oklahoma. Fittingly, it is there that we find the amazing growth story of Most Precious Blood parish, as parishioners Jeff Smith, Monica Phibbs and David and Kim Homoney explain in this exclusive REGINA Magazine interview.

It all started more than 20 years ago, when a group of Catholics asked that the Extraordinary Form of the Holy Mass be made available in the Diocese, and his Excellency Bishop Edward J Slattery granted their request. In 1995, the Parish of St. Peter began in Tulsa, and from its inception, priests from the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter staffed the quasi-parish.

Mass was first offered in the Chapel at Holy Family Cathedral in Tulsa, but after several years, they were graciously offered the use of the facilities at the Parish of St. Augustine by Bishop Slattery and the kind parishioners there. The parish grew and remained there until April 2013 when they obtained their own building. On October 28th, 2013 they were formally granted status as a full parish with the name of Most Precious Blood. Father William Define, FSSP is the current pastor.

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REGINA: Tell us about your parish.

Jeff: We are blessed with a most supportive bishop, Edward Slattery, and our founding pastor was Father James Jackson, FSSP. Our Parish is unwaveringly loyal to the FSSP, its priests and its mission. We wanted to do two things: a) clarify our distinct identity from the other Latin Mass parish in the diocese, Sts. Peter and Paul – Tulsa, and b) perhaps evangelize to Protestants with the name ‘Most Precious Blood’. Father Define chose the name, and God has blessed us with growth and stability for so honoring His Son this way.

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month. A lot of young people have been joining us, thanks to Father Define’s work with young adults. In addition, our many young families are having more and more children, which makes our average parishioner age decline every month.

For example, we expect nine or ten new parishioners by June as our newly wedded couples are so open to life.

Kim & David: Our parish has been blessed with two babies so far this year, and we have seven more expectant mothers. We’re estimating at least 12 baptisms in 2016.

Jeff: Father celebrated six weddings in 2015, with more anticipated for 2016. We are Traditional Catholics but we are not of the ‘grumpy traditionalist type’ that one reads about so much.

Most Precious Blood Parish

PROCESSIONS AT MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD: “We have a large devotion to First Fridays and First Saturdays, as requested by Our Lady of Fatima,” said Kim Homoney, “Also, we have recitation of the Rosary before Mass. We do processions at the major feasts such as Corpus Christi, and we do May Crowning.”

We are truly joyful in our traditional Catholicism. This is a huge credit to Father Define’s inclusiveness, his compassion and his passion for his apostolate.

REGINA: Rumor had it that at one time your parish had been slated to close, is that true?

Monica: We were told in 2012, around Thanksgiving, that regrettably it was to close in six months, and there was nothing we could do.

We were devastated trying to imagine what we would do without our parish and FSSP priests. It seemed hopeless. I remember my eldest daughter, Alex, said, “We’ll just pray for a miracle.” She was fifteen at the time and had said it so matter of factly, with a beautiful childlike faith. So we prayed the St. Andrew Christmas Novena. Also, our parish made a pilgrimage to the National

Shrine of the Infant Jesus of Prague in Prague, Oklahoma with Father Van der Putten, who was our pastor at the time. He was able to offer the Traditional Latin Mass with the kind invitation of the Shrine director. God, our All-good and loving Father, brought the miracle about!

Kim & David: While the rumors of our potential demise were true, through the grace of God and with the support of both Bishop Slattery and the General Council and Superior General of the FSSP Fr. John Berg, not only were we able to acquire our own place and become a full parish -- but we have become part of the growing Latin Mass tradition within the Diocese of Tulsa, which now has three locations for the traditional Latin Mass every Sunday!

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SPECTACULAR NEW ALTAR AND ALTARPIECE: “Behind our altar is a reproduction of the same altarpiece found in the FSSP apostolate church in Rome. A parishioner arranged for this painting to be done by an artist in Amarillo, Texas,” said Jeff Smith. “ The intent is to remind us of our connection to the FSSP and its international mission as we worship God looking at the same painting that the Fraternity priests offer Holy Mass before in the personal parish church of the FSSP in the Holy City, the Church of the Most Holy Trinity of the Pilgrims.” (Editor’s Note: Trinita Dei Pellegrini is located a few steps from the Tiber near Piazza Farnese.)

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Most Precious Blood Parish

REGINA: Do a lot of people travel to attend Mass?

Jeff: Yes. We have four registered families who come over from Arkansas each week, and we have regular attendees from Kansas, Missouri, and throughout Northeast Oklahoma-- places like Okmulgee, Tahlequah, Muskogee, and Miami. Families in Hulbert and Wagoner, who live around the Our Lady of the Annunciation of Clear Creek Abbey, have registered with Most Precious Blood Parish. We are blessed with many visitors (family and friends of parishioners) who feel quite welcome thanks to our reverent Holy Mass and Father Define’s congeniality and genuine care for all who join us in worship.

Kim & David: We also have people coming from Bartlesville, Drumwright, and Skiatook. We had a man come a few weeks ago who was on a pilgrimage throughout the US, visiting Latin Mass parishes.

REGINA: Is there interest from non-Catholics; conversions or reversions to the Faith through the Latin Mass?

Jeff: Absolutely, yes. Father Define always has a convert that he is instructing. Most of our converts have been young adults in their 20’s and early 30’s.

Kim & David: My husband and I are reverts to the Catholic faith and reverted through the Novus Ordo. However, upon further study of the Catholic faith, we fully embraced the tradition and through the help and instruction of Fr. Angelo Van der Putten (now at the FSSP Apostolate in Nigeria) we became regular parishioners of Most Precious Blood. We moved from Lake Tenkiller to become very active in the parish

with David serving on the Finance Council, the Building Committee, adding the website and IT infrastructure, and I became the parish secretary and secretary for the aforementioned committees.

REGINA: What kind of organizations, societies, or prayer groups do you have at Most Precious Blood?

Jeff: There are the St. Maria Goretti Guild for girls and young women, the Troops of St. George for boys, St. Joseph’s Men’s Group, Altar and Rosary Society, and the St. John Bosco servers, to name a few.

Monica: We have a Great Books club for women, reading the great classics of western literature. Also, we have the Martha and Mary Guild which organizes feast day celebrations, potlucks, and our parish movie night.

Kim & David: We are still small, so we clean our own parish and have a parishioner who coordinates everyone to volunteer every Saturday.

REGINA: Are there any special traditions at Most Precious Blood?

Jeff: We live the Traditional Latin Mass and the life that goes with it. We truly attempt to center our lives around the liturgical year – that is perhaps our most unique feature. Our second major characteristic is our unfailing support for the work of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter. We are supporters of the Fraternity’s seminary in Denton, Nebraska, Our Lady of Guadalupe. We regularly host deacons and seminarians, and we hold at least two special collections to help fund seminarian educational expenses. A group of us annually attend the FSSP priestly ordinations in Nebraska.

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IN AFRICA: “We support all FSSP missions’ work, especially their mission in Nigeria staffed by our former pastor, Fr. Angelo Van der Putten, FSSP, and the mission in Guadalajara, Mexico staffed by our Former deacon, now Father Daniel Heenan, FSSP,” said Jeff Smith. “Our parish is very connected to these missions, and we support them both financially and with parishioners traveling to assist when possible.” (L-R, Fr. Angelo Van der Putten, Ekedu, David Homoney, Peter-Mary, Paul, and Fr. Timothy O’Brien) Monica: Every year, after the Easter Vigil Mass, we go out to eat breakfast together to celebrate!

We have such a wonderful time celebrating Our Lord’s Resurrection in the early morning hours after the beautiful Solemn High Mass. Of course, we get inquisitive looks from others when they see our large group with a Priest or visiting seminarians in their cassocks, but we love it!

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REGINA: Any conferences, classes, or missions planned for this year?

Kim & David: We have hosted conferences by Michael Voris of ChurchMilitant.com and Fr. Paul Nicholson, of the Diocese of London Ontario, Canada. Father Chad Ripperger has held conferences here, too. We have had a parishioner go to the Nigeria mission, and another young man from our parish is planning to leave in the spring to visit Guadalajara for a year to support the mission there.

Most Precious Blood Parish

Monica: We had two conferences by Mother Miriam of the Daughters of Mary, Mother of Israel’s Hope, and recently hosted Hugh Owen from the Kolbe Center.

REGINA: Any future building plans for Precious Blood?

Jeff: Yes, we are still in the process of turning what was a Protestant church building into a Catholic Church. Our first task was to build a rectory. Father Define spent the majority of our first year living in a parishioner’s RV we set up behind the parish hall. Then we began making permanent changes to the sanctuary, having it duly blessed by Bishop Slattery. We had a new altar built in Italy and have had it installed.

Bishop Slattery consecrated it on July 1st, 2015, on our patronal feast – Most Precious Blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are adding a new communion rail this month, and we have plans to redo the back of the church and entrance to better facilitate traditional Catholic worship.

All of this will come in time as we raise funds.

Kim & David: When we started having Mass, we were using padded chairs left by the previous tenant. We then installed pews, and later we added kneelers. Our Stations of the Cross are about 100 years old, restored by a parishioner.

We completely re-worked the Sanctuary from a Protestant carpeted stage with a large-sized baptismal tub to a Catholic, marble Sanctuary.

We added an organ to complement our choir. We hope to eventually build a choir loft, raise the roof, add confessionals, etc. all for the purpose of beautifying the worship space for the glory of God.

REGINA: What does it mean to you to be a parishioner at Most Precious Blood?

Jeff: I converted to the Roman Catholic Faith at Easter 1993. I was blessed to discover the Fraternity of St. Peter and the Traditional Latin Mass in the summer of 2002, and it has changed my life.

Catholic Tradition affirms everything a Christian must do to love and serve God. The first Fraternity priest I became acquainted with said something to me in 2002 I will never forget. It defines how I live my life. When I asked Fr. George Gabet why he chose the FSSP path, he told me that he had found something literally worth dying for. The beauty of the Traditional Latin Mass, particularly as celebrated by the FSSP in the Solemn High Mass is absolutely something I would give my life to preserve and protect out of love for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His Holy Church. Having the Most Precious Blood Parish right here in Tulsa allows me to order my life by putting the practice of my faith first. We have the opportunity for daily Mass, Confession, all of the Sacraments in the traditional form, and very holy men – the FSSP priests and seminarians – to guide us on our path to God. It means everything in the world to me to be a part of the Parish of the Most Precious Blood.

Monica: The Traditional Catholic faith, in all its richness, truth, and beauty, is the center of our family. When I thought we were going to lose our Parish, access to the Mass and the sacraments in the Traditional Rite with our well formed FSSP priests, I felt lost. My family started attending the parish about 14 years ago; it has been my compass.

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David: I was raised a Catholic in a mixed household, with my mother and sister being Protestant and my father and I being Catholic. I was not raised in traditional Catholicism and did not know about the Traditional Latin Mass. After high school, sadly, I left the Faith and stayed away for around 15 years. A few years before coming back I took my wife, Kim, on a vacation to Germany and France, on what we called our “Church and Museum” tour. I remember a very distinct moment when entering the Dom (Cathedral) in Trier, the Cathedral there commissioned by Emperor Constantine.

former faith. In doing so, I found two places that really and finally helped me learn my faith, airmaria.com and RealCatholicTV.com, now ChurchMilitant.com. These lead me, along with a huge amount of reading to conclude that God is real, Jesus Christ was God, that Christ founded a church and that church was Catholic, and that outside the church there is no salvation.

Through the guidance of a diocesan priest, Fr. Brian Brooks, I took instruction and was brought back to the Church, receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation on Easter Vigil 2012, taking the Confirmation name of Lawrence, after the great Archdeacon of Rome who was martyred. At the same time, through much reading and study, I came to find the Traditional Latin Mass and its liturgical beauty, richness, 100% conformity to the immemorial teachings of Holy Mother Church, and its patrimony lead me to Most Precious Blood Parish.

I entered the Cathedral and in my head heard, “Mein Gott ist hier” (‘My God is here’) which was odd as I don’t really speak German. I brushed this off but it always stuck with me.

Later on a business trip to California, a car with a Catholic Radio bumper sticker kept parking near me, and I finally decided to tune in. I heard a talk by Fr. John Corapi and had never heard the Catholic faith so forcefully taught. This awakKim: I was baptized Catholic but never raised in ened the desire to start to learn more about my the Faith. I was taught to believe in God, and we 138 Regina Magazine | Amazing Parishes

Most Precious Blood Parish

“In 2014 we brought my mother (now 79) with us. She is a cradle Catholic and had left the faith when things changed in the 1960’s. She was floored! This was how she remembered the Mass, how it “was supposed to be” from her childhood in a small Czech community in Texas.”

said grace before dinner, but that was about it.

At first, I attended Mass with my husband out of a desire to stay connected with him. In reality, I was one of those people who thought I didn’t need “formalized religion,” and that I could just talk to God from home. My husband informed me how very arrogant that idea was because God tells us how to worship Him, not the other way around.

So I embarked on this journey back to the Faith with my husband. I was also confirmed on Easter Vigil 2010. We were attending a Novus Ordo parish in Muskogee and we noticed what we considered to be odd behavior at Mass every Sunday. One family wore their football team’s jerseys, women were dressed very immodestly, and people other than the priest were giving out Communion in the hand.

David found the Latin Mass in Tulsa on the Internet and there we found exactly the reverence and everything else we’d been seeking. It’s been an interesting journey for me, and I find myself

becoming more and more interested in learning about my faith.

In 2014 we brought my mother (now 79) with us. She is a cradle Catholic and had left the faith when things changed in the 1960’s. She was floored! This was how she remembered the Mass, how it ‘was supposed to be’ from her childhood in a small Czech community in Texas. She then drove herself every Sunday from Tahlequah (two hours round trip) until she moved to Tulsa last summer to be closer to us and to her beloved parish, Most Precious Blood. • Most Precious Blood Parish 3029 South 57th West Avenue Tulsa, OK 74107 Phone 918-615-8404 Web: http://www.mpbptulsa.com Twitter @ PreciousBLFSSP Facebook: Most Precious Blood

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Hanceville Says Goodbye to Mother Angelica

By Ginger Quick

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With all of the hullaballoo surrounding the passing of Mother Angelica, it's easy to miss the people closest to her -- her Alabama neighbors.

Here's some commentary by one of them, Regina writer Ginger Quick, on watching the body of Mother Angelica being brought to the Shrine she built in the heart of the Deep South of America.

When we arrived at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, AL -home of Mother's nuns as well as the Knights of the Holy Eucharist, the Franciscan Order of brothers which she founded -- people were just quietly waiting. Not much talking at all, but people were smiling and happy.

The weather was unbelievable. About 70 degrees. Very sunny and slightly breezy, it could not have been more gorgeous. The sky at the Shrine is always stunning with a wide open view to the sky.

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Knights of Columbus Traditional Latin Mass Association “Equites Traditionis�

Join Knights from around the world promoting the traditional Latin Liturgy. We have monthly conference calls to discuss various ways of accomplishing this and to coordinate collaborative events www.kofclatinmass.org Join today!

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THE PROCESSION EMERGED FROM THE SHRINE; the local paper is reporting hundreds were there, but it seemed so intimate and not crowded at all. I really feel like there were maybe 100 there.

Not just local people either; I read from as far way as New Jersey, Illinois, Louisiana and Georgia.

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LAW ENFORCEMENT IS RAMPING UP, expecting huge increases in traffic over the next couple of days leading up to her funeral Mass, which is by invitation only. Anyone can come and stand on the piazza to pay their respects however. They are setting up port-a-potties, first aid stations, big media stands. It appears they are really bracing themselves for many people to attend the funeral, as well as the public viewings, which begin within the hour.

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Hanceville Says Goodbye to Mother Angelica

“I believe Mother Angelica is going to say many prayers for them over their lifetime. I have certainly asked her to.”

I won’t be attending those for concern of getting stuck in crowds with my little boys. All of this will be live on EWTN, I believe, so I will watch from home.

My boys didn’t completely understand what was happening. The day after Mother Angelica died, I told them she had gone to heaven to be with Jesus.

Now they know who she is, we are big fans in our home. We listen to re-runs of all of her shows.

The Shrine is a place we go at least once or twice a month; it’s just ten minutes from our house. They know Mother built that Shrine where we spend so much time. I didn’t expect much understanding from them, but my eldest son’s face just went blank. He went silent (which never happens). I was afraid I had scared him and asked if he was OK. His voice trembled, “I’m just in shock, Mommy...(pause)...I’m just shocked.”

I explained she was where she most wanted to be, with Jesus and it was OK, and it didn’t take him long to be ok with that. They have never had anyone die that they know, so I believe Mother Angelica is going to say many prayers for them over their lifetime. I have certainly asked her to.

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THE PRIEST WAS FATHER JOSEPH MARY WOLFE, of EWTN. He is a frequent homilist there and presides over all the healing processions they have there. The next one will be in May, I believe, for Our Lady of Fatima. These processions usually have around 300 people.

I expect that might begin to increase as possible canonization process begins. I don’t know, it certainly seems a possibility doesn’t it?

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A FEW MINUTES BEFORE THREE, we saw a cloud of incense, and they begin processing from the church towards us. It got totally silent as people began noticing them. You could hear cameras clicking, the sound of professional cameras.

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Hanceville Says Goodbye to Mother Angelica

ALL THE CHILDREN THERE WERE SO WELL BEHAVED, and they seemed to understand the magnitude of what was going on. Or at least they felt the solemn gravity of the event.

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THEY PROCESSED TO THE PARKING LOT AND EVERYONE JUST LINED UP. The girls with mantillas began putting them on. Everyone processed into the shrine’s upper church, where the Divine Mercy Chaplet was prayed.

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SHE WAS CARRIED TO THE STATUE OF THE DIVINE CHRIST CHILD JESUS, which meant so much to her and there was a long pause there before everyone went inside the church. Heavy with sadness, everybody seemed during those moments.

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PEOPLE WERE SOLEMN, PEACEFUL-- like they were in the presence of a saint, is what came to my mind. So reverent. No sobbing, a few sniffles and whispered prayers...unintelligible, but I could tell that’s what people were doing.

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Hanceville Says Goodbye to Mother Angelica

IT JUST FELT LIKE WE WERE REALLY A PART OF SOMETHING HISTORIC AND POWERFUL. I can’t describe it adequately.

Mother Angelica means so much to the Catholics in this area.

This is the south. The Catholic population is really small, but here is this place in the middle of nowhere, where we live, where these amazing things are unfolding. It’s exciting. The whole existence of the Shrine here, is miraculous itself!

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I just this second asked my son if he would like to say anything for a magazine article regarding Mother. "I love you, Mother Angelica," he said, and ran off. •

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THE PORTA

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ABLE ALTAR

apprentice.com

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St Joseph’s in Salem

In the Shadow of America’s Most Unchurched St

By Beverly De Soto

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m, Oregon

tate Capital

Article By: Harry Stevens Photo Credit: Rick Keating

I

t was 1853 – in the midst of a Famine which was killing fully one quarter of his countrymen -- when the Irish immigrant Father James Croke saddled up his horse in Portland, Oregon. Ahead of him lay a 47 mile-long trek through an American wilderness to six-year old Salem.

His mission? Rent a building. His choice?

One on the corner of Church and Chemeketa streets, formerly used by the Freemasons. St. Joseph’s still stands near there today.

The doughty Father Croke was clearly an optimist, as he found only one living Catholic in all of Salem during his August visit. His diary matter-of-factly notes that “the majority of people here are bigoted against the Catholic religion.”

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THE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURIES CONFIRMED FATHER CROKE’S OPTIMISM, and St Joseph’s Parish soon boasted lovely Victorian buildings such as Sacred Heart Academy for girls (above).

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St Joseph’s in Salem, Oregon

IN THE 1950’s ‘PROGRESS’ WAS IN STYLE, and St Joseph’s lovely old buildings fell victim to the wrecker’s ball. One hundred years after Father Croke arrived, the present St Joseph’s Church was dedicated on the exact same spot -- a stone’s throw from the Oregon state capital building.

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TODAY, THE PARISH HAS APPROXIMATELY 2000 FAMILIES REGISTERED, along with a great number who worship there unregistered, such as commuters or those who attend Sunday Mass in various languages.

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THIS GROWING, VIBRANT PARISH IS LOCATED IN THE SHADOW OF THE CAPITAL OF ARGUABLY THE MOST UNCHURCHED STATE IN AMERICA —which has pioneered, for example, physician-assisted euthanasia-on-demand.

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ST JOSEPH REGULARLY HOSTS 11 SUNDAY MASSES (includes two vigil Masses): six in English, four in Spanish (one off-site), one in Vietnamese. There is an extraordinary form Latin Mass on the first Sunday of each month. Additionally St Joseph ministers to inmates at four different local state correctional institutions (maximum, medium, and low security) with two additional off-site Masses each Sunday.

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St Joseph’s in Salem, Oregon

AND THEN THERE’S ST. JOSEPH’S 24 HOUR ADORATION CHAPEL – plus an elementary school, youth ministry, and a Knights of Columbus council.

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ST JOSEPH’S HAS AN ACTIVE HISPANIC MINISTRY. 178 Regina Magazine | Amazing Parishes

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THE AVAILABILITY OF CONFESSION IS KEY TO THE VIBRANCY of a parish. At St. Joseph’s, confessions are heard before four Masses on Sunday, plus one hour on Saturday and weekdays M-F for a half-hour before the 12:05pm Mass.

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AT THE HEAD OF ALL THIS ACTIVITY IS THE INDEFATIGABLE MONSIGNOR HUNEGER, who began his own education at St Joseph grade school in 1952, and God willing, will finish his priestly ministry there as well.

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REGINA: What makes your parish amazing?

Monsignor Huneger: St Joseph Parish is remarkable in many ways.

By virtue of our central location, we are “home” in a variety of ways to many folks on a broader, regional basis, beyond those who live within the parish geographic boundaries: State workers who come for daily Mass, a long-standing Hispanic community and a Vietnamese community, just to mention a few.

REGINA: And quite a history, especially for the Northwest!

Monsignor Huneger: Yes, for example our School has a pedigree going back over 150 years, when the Holy Name Sisters, then a new community from Canada, set down roots in Salem (1863), Marylhurst, St Mary’s Academy in Portland, and for a time in Oregon City as well.

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REGINA: What is most apparent to onlookers, do you think?

Monsignor Huneger: To most people, what is most evident is our liturgical activity: the coming and going of cars in the parking lot, many times over on a weekend. Some may even stop by to take a peek!

REGINA: Music seems to play a huge role at St. Joseph’s.

Monsignor Huneger: Our Music Director Doug Schneider has a dozen different choirs, including a Gregorian Schola, 10:00am Soprano-Alto-Tenor-Bass (four-part harmony), 8:30am with piano, flute, and bass, Women’s Schola, Children’s Classical Choir, etc. And the Hispanic community has about 10 musical groups as well, with a combination of instruments: guitars, piano, violins, flutes, tuba, trumpets, with quite good players, some of virtuoso quality. The Vietnamese also have a group of choirs encompassing youth, youth adults, and adults, who sing a wide variety of music: lovely Vietnamese folk tune hymns, all the way to SATB, and Pange Lingua chant; they have wonderful universal participation in the singing, and chant the rosary before Mass.

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REGINA: What do most people NOT know?

Monsignor Huneger: St Joseph’s has a history of providing a lot of vocations to the priesthood Of course, as a large parish, we have more to draw from. We had an ordination last June, and we have another two coming over the next few years.

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St Joseph’s in Salem, Oregon

One of our seminarians became a Catholic after he and his friend, on a lark, went to Mount Angel Abbey to see a Latin Mass. He’d never been to Mass before in his life. He was in college. He then converted his entire family -- his mother was a lapsed Catholic – which had been very active in an evangelical church.

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ARCHBISHOP ALEXANDER SAMPLE gives Communion at a Confirmation Mass 188 Regina Magazine | Amazing Parishes

Why is St Joseph’s parish amazing?

KEVIN L. MANNIX: St. Joseph parish is amazing because of the diversity of its parish members, combined with their dedication and involvement. We have a very large parish which can only succeed in its mission because of a combination of leadership of the Pastor, the capability of the parish staff and the willingness of many parishioners to volunteer their services.

For example, St. Joseph is sponsoring a mission operation in East Salem. Already, more than 600 people attend the 10:00 am Mass on Sundays at the East Salem Community Center. Over the years, I envision the creation of a new parish in East Salem, with significant Hispanic participation, sponsored by St. Joseph parish. I also see the possibility of a major music program, centered at St. Joseph parish, for the Archdiocese. This last item will depend on the support that Monsignor Huneger can get from the church community.

JONATHAN CUTTING: I come from an Evangelical background.

Most evangelical and “non-denominational” Christian groups lay a heavy emphasis on contemporary worship music and I got my share of that. But early in my Christian life I also attended a Baptist Bible college where the students were required to attend a chapel service 5 days a week. There I was exposed to traditional hymnody and the pipe organ and that experience forever changed my opinions about “church music.”

I know that a lot of my fellow Catholics enjoy the more modern “worship” style songs that are popular in a lot of parishes. But to my thinking guitars, drums and tambourines just don’t feel right for the Mass. And so it is that among the traits that drew me to Saint Joseph’s parish is the music.

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St Joseph’s in Salem, Oregon

At St Joseph we use the St Michael hymnal accompanied by the organ. Many think this kind of music is outdated. But I find the organ to be the best instrument to encourage and accompany hymn singing and I find the traditional hymns to be profound and rich in theological meaning. And because traditional hymnody was written in a manner that follows meter (like poetry) they are eminently more “singable” than most contemporary music. At St Joseph we do have a very good choir. But the parishioners here sing as well! Obviously, for me music is a very important part of the Mass and I feel our music minister at St. Joseph has a found the right formula in this area. I know that many of my fellow parishioners feel the same way!

JOHN SHAEFER: I have been a member since about 1985. Our seven children attended school here and two of them were married here.

There is no short answer to that question. First of all, we have as many as 4500 Mass attendees on any given weekend. Our three priests assisted by clergy from Mt Angel Seminary and at least one each week from the Portland area celebrate 12 Masses on Saturday and Sunday in three languages. When we include all of the weekday Masses here, our clergy celebrate 24 Masses each week plus any special events like weddings and funerals. Needless to say, this is an especially busy parish and reportedly the largest in our Archdiocese.

Most importantly, given all of the involvement by the various ethnic groups here, I would say that the Faith is alive and well in downtown Salem. Another of our special events is our monthly Traditional Latin Mass which is growing in popularity and getting attention from groups from outside the parish. However, if I had to reduce the parish to just a one or two-line description, I would have to say that here at St. Joseph there is a growing faith and a hunger for the traditional expression of that faith. •

St Joseph’s website: http://www.stjosephchurch.com

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