Vol4 autumn 2013 110513

REGINA Inspiring. Intelligent. Catholic.

The Secret Catholic Insider’s Guide to America Autumn 2013

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iving outside of America gives ex-pats a rare perspective. Instead of focusing on what is immediately around us and deciding that this reality is ‘America,’ we are forced to pay attention to other voices.

Today, the American Catholic voices we hear are full of pain. The odious sexual scandals in the Church turn out to have been a forewarning of the tsunami of corruption – financial, sexual, political – which has swept America in recent years.

If you pay attention to the media, our national life has taken on the character of a race to the bottom.

The politics of ‘victimization’ and government dependency is triumphant.

So many people are out of work, or severely under-employed. Addictions – to everything from prescription drugs to internet porn to cheap candy – rule people’s lives. Corporations move jobs out of America, seeking healthier worker populations and a less predatory legal class.

Our schools seem to be run by student bullies, inadvertently supported by hapless administrators and teachers stressed to the max. Parents mistrust the universities they pay so much money for – what are their children learning, really? Free range consumerism, selfishness and immorality seem to be the order of the day.

Reality TV-inspired fashion has our young men dressing like thugs, and our young women like prostitutes. Hollywood gives us porn, political correctness, ultra-violence and endless riffs on ‘Shrek.’ Hit TV sitcoms offer a snide, sniping humor, mean-spirited in the extreme. ‘Really?’

Any attempt to address the moral underbelly at the root of this agony is labeled as ‘intolerance.’ For Catholics, watered-down Catechism, fanciful liturgies and clerics with political agendas are rife. The values of faithful Catholics – along with other Christians, Mormons, Jews, Sufis and Muslims – are routinely derided. Occasional reports surface of physical attacks on places of worship.

The personal cost of such endemic cultural stress is very high, indeed.

Marriages sink, families disintegrate, people’s health collapses – and the downward spiral continues.

All of this is well-known. What is less well-known is that there are rays of hope, nearly everywhere now – all over Catholic America. In this issue, we look at America’s past, present and future hope: her saints, her brave Catholics and the children being raised today, who will lead us in the future.

REGINA Editor Beverly De Soto Writers Teresa Limjoco Beverly De Soto Suzanne Duque Salvo Angie Gadacz Erica McCullagh Ed Masters Rev. Richard G. Cipolla Barbara Monzon-Puleo Dan Flaherty Georgeanne Rashilla Bridget Hester Green Donna Sue Berry Sequoia Sierra Sylvana Budesheim Kerry Harrison Sam Guzman Dr. Parnell Donahue Roseanne Therese Sullivan Michael Durnan

Nick Phillips Raising Saints Mandy Green John Rao Layout/Graphic Designer Phil Roussin Style Section Designed by Sammi Loman Photography Credits: Phil Roussin Stuart Chessman Robert March Susan Altstatt Cathy Blankenau Bender Harry Stevens Yume Delegato Noel Marcantel Webmaster Jim Bryant

REGINA Magazine is a quarterly Catholic review published electronically on www.reginamag.com.

REGINA draws together extraordinary Catholic writers with a vibrant faith, and wide-ranging interests. We’re interested in everything under the Catholic sun — from work and family to religious and eternal life.

We seek the Good, the Beautiful and the True – in our Tradition and with our God-given Reason. We really do believe in one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church. We are joyfully loyal to the Magisterium. We proudly celebrate our literary and artistic heritage and seek to live and teach the authentic Faith.

We hope you are as inspired by these stories as we are.

REGINA is under the patronage of Our Lady, Mary Most Holy. We pray that she lays our humble work at the feet of her Son, and that His Will be done.

Beverly De Soto Editor, REGINA October 2013

ON THE COVER: Solemn Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament with His Eminence, Raymond Cardinal Burke at Saint Francis de Sales Oratory in Saint Louis, Missouri. Saint Francis de Sales Oratory is administered by the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest and is one of many apostolates dedicated solely to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite in the United States. Photo by Phil Roussin

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Today we place REGINA under the patronage of Our Lady, Mary Most Holy. We pray that she lays our humble work at the feet of her Son, and that His Will be done.

There is no charge for REGINA. Inquiries should be directed to “Regina Magazine” on Facebook or the Editor at editor.regina@gmail.com.

Table of Contents Columbus the Catholic

Update: The Latin Mass in America Today A Candid Interview with Byron Smith One Man’s Perspective After 30 years of working to support the Latin Mass May God Give Us Strength To Do What Needs to Be Done

The Parishes

A Diocese

The Media

The Cathedral of South Saint Louis Restoring Saint Francis de Sales Oratory

Living In Lincoln A Beautiful Catholic Culture

How Catholic Radio Changed My Life

How I Got to Saint Louis An Interview with Canon Raphael Ueda

Back from the ‘Promised Land’ Our Move to Nebraska from California The Schools

In Hoc Signo: “We Shall Publish” The Amazing Success of Ignatius Press

Prayer, Prudence, and Courage East Side, West Side, All Around the Town The Latin Mass in New York City My First Time Discovering the Latin Mass in West Virginia Bringing the ‘Catholic’ Back to a California Parish The Wonder of ‘Weird’ Portland How Holy Rosary Parish Thrives

The Orders The Sisters

The Home Front H o m e S c h oo l i n g 11 Steps to Selecting a Catholic Homeschool Curriculum In Their Own Words The Family That Learns Together The Homeschooling Hesters

The Universities “In True Franciscan Fashion” The Steubenville Story Towards a Catholic Resurgence in the Media John Paul Catholic University

The Order with Vocations ‘from the least expected places’

A Liberating Education Thomas Aquinas College

The Sisters Of Mercy and the Statues in the Attic A Treacherous Journey The Brothers An American Renaissance The Fast Growing Friars The Eastern Province of the Dominicans

Breathing Catholic in the Shenandoah Valley Christendom College

Style A Beautiful Goodbye Something Old, Something Borrowed Diary of a Latin Mass Wedding Veiling in America

“Maybe He Will Be a Priest” Nick’s Story

A Catholic Thanksgiving, OklahomaStyle Family Night: Sunday Dinner for 30

The Laity

The Nashville Dominicans Springtime for an American Order of Preachers

Young Americans Today ‘Know What Emptiness Is’

Can You Be Fabulous?

An Army Wife Goes Paleo

The Catholic Gentleman One of Facebook’s Hottest New Pages Doctor Dad Says Real Pilrimages Miracle in Palo Alto How the Saint Ann Choir Kept Chant and Polyphony Alive for 50 Years Ave Maria A Very Catholic Town Rebuilding a Catholic Renaissance

The Saints The American Disciple Chesterton with Dale Ahlquist Saint Katharine Drexel She was an American Millionaire, and a Saint Francesca Cabrini The First American Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton The First Saint Born in America

“What failure! His failure towered over other men’s successes.”

by Ed Masters

Columbus the Catholic

C

ristoforo Columbo was the given name of the man known to the English-speaking world as ‘Christopher Columbus’ and to the Spanish world as ‘Cristobal Colon;’ his descendants living in Spain still carry this surname. He was born in the Republic of Genoa in 1451 (a scant two years before the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks) to Domenico Columbo, a middle class wool weaver and Susanna Fontanarossa.

While much has been written about Columbus over the last five centuries, he was by no means the first to step foot in the New World. American Indians had lived on the two continents and surrounding islands for thousands of years; the Vikings had landed in Canada; and the Irish under St. Brendan, the Carthaginians and the Phoenicians[1] all more than likely brushed the shores of the Americas. (The Phoenicians actually had bigger and better ships than our intrepid Genoese.)

He was born in the Republic of Genoa in 1451 to Domenico Columbo, a middle class wool weaver and his wife, Susanna Fontanarossa.

Columbus and The Faith It was, however, Columbus’s voyages which had the most lasting impact.

And although this is often glossed over by modern historians, Columbus brought the Catholic Faith to the Americas. Indeed, Columbus treasured this missionary view of himself; he believed that this mission was his destiny. He was, after all, named after St. Christopher, (“Christ bearer”) traditionally a patron of travelers.

Spanish Connections Columbus was a Third Order Franciscan friar in Spain; this is why when he arrived in Spain he and his young son went to the Franciscan monastery of La Rabida. The Provincial put Columbus in contact with a number of noblemen, who then introduced him to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. Before Columbus sailed from Palos, Spain on August 2, 1492 (the Feast of Our Lady of the Angels), he prayed at a Shrine of Guadalupe.

This Shrine was famous because of an image of the Virgin Mary, hidden for centuries until she appeared to a herdsman, instructing him to have the local bishop unearth the statue and build a chapel on the spot. Columbus is said to have taken a replica of the image with him on his First Voyage; he eventually landed on an island which he named Guadeloupe. Years later another Guadelupe -- this one in Mexico -- would become even more famous.

Columbus was a Third Order Franciscan friar in Spain; this is why when he arrived in Spain he and his young son went to the Franciscan monastery of La Rabida.

Father Perez and Queen Isabella As the explorers prepared to depart from Spain, Columbus received the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion at the hands of Father Juan Perez, as well as a parting Benediction. His crew followed his example.

Father Perez had been key in enlisting the aid of the Pinzon brothers, who captained the Pinta and Nina. Father Perez was critical in another way to the voyages of discovery; as Isabella’s confessor, it was Perez who convinced the Catholic Queen to change her mind about financing Columbus’s first voyage.

After the Moors were evicted from Spain in early 1492 when Granada fell, she was even further convinced. Christopher Columbus was in the white tent city called Santa Fe (“Holy Faith”) which the Christians had erected on the plains outside Granada. When the Christians raised the silver cross over Granada’s battlements to signal the Caliph’s departure after more than 700 years of oppressive Moorish rule, Columbus and Isabella were among the thousands who knelt on the plain to chant a Te Deum in thanks.

Columbus was convinced he had a Divine mission; he wrote what he called a “Book of Prophecies” -- a collection of passages selected from the Bible that he felt pertained to his destiny to sail westward. In that book he also quoted the prophecy made by the ancient Roman philosopher Seneca, who foresaw a time when “in the last ages of the world a time shall come when the Ocean will relax its bonds and a great land shall be discovered.

Tethys shall unveil new worlds and Thule shall no longer be the utmost extremity of the earth.” Columbus’ son Ferdinand years later asserted that this prophecy was fulfilled by his father.

Father Perez was critical in another way to the voyages of discovery; as Isabella’s confessor, it was Perez who convinced the Catholic Queen to change her mind about financing Columbus’s first voyage.

Faith on the First Voyage Columbus’s fervent devotion to the Mother of God is evident in his naming his flagship the “Santa Maria”. The smallest of his three ships, the “Nina,” (“girl” in Spanish) had the official name of “Santa Clara,” after Saint Clare of Assisi.

On his historic first voyage, Columbus recited the Divine Office daily aboard his ship. Each night, he and his crew sang the Ave Maria in honor of the Virgin. On September 15, 1492 (the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows) Columbus noted that while he was looking for the correct course to steer his ships, he was guided by a “marvelous branch of fire that fell from the sky.”

On his historic first voyage, Columbus recited the Divine Office daily aboard his ship. Each night, he and his crew sang the Ave Maria in honor of the Virgin.

Spain’s own natural sources of gold. Furthermore, he had a vested interest; he needed to finance further any explorations -- as these voyages cost a great deal of money.

His flagship, the Santa Maria, ran aground at Santo Domingo on Christmas Day of 1492, on the same day he established a settlement there, “La navidad.” He used some of the wood from the Santa Maria to build a fort at Santo Domingo, named after St. Dominick Guzman.

What Columbus Really Did in the Indies Once he made landfall, he named the first island he disembarked on “San Salvador” after the Savior, and he and his men sang the Salve Regina in Thanksgiving for their safe Atlantic crossing. The second island he stepped foot on was given the name “Santa Maria de la Concepcion,” after the Blessed Virgin. Yet another island was called Montserrat after the famous Marian Shrine in the north of Spain. On every island he visited, Columbus had crosses planted and he personally taught the natives Christian prayers.

The first natives Columbus and his men encountered were the Arawaks.

Columbus described them as “full of love, gentle, without greed, free from wickedness.” He further noted that they were to “be delivered and converted to our Holy Faith by love rather than by force.” He wrote the following in his log book on November 6 where he addressed Ferdinand and Isabella: “I have to say, Most Serene Princes, that if devout religious persons know the Indian language well, all these people would soon become Christians.

Thus I pray to Our Lord that Your Highnesses will appoint persons of great diligence in order to bring to the Church such great numbers of peoples, and that they will convert these peoples. . . . And after your days, for we are all mortal, you will leave your realms in a very tranquil state, free from heresy and wickedness, and you will be well received before the Eternal Creator.”

Indeed, there has been a story repeated often through the years that Columbus gave the natives the name “Indians” because the thought he reached the Indies. The truth is that he described them in Spanish as “indios” which roughly translated from Spanish means “of God.” In his later voyages, Columbus sought to protect the Arawaks from their fierce enemies, the cannibalistic Caribs (cannibal is a corruption of the word ‘Carib.’)

Columbus also sought gold in his exploration of the New World, though not out of greed or avarice, as some latter-day commentators would have it. He was charged with helping fill the depleted coffers of Spain.

A Glorious Return to Spain On March 15, 1493, Columbus returned to Spain after his first voyage. He marched in a solemn procession to the monastery at La Rabida, where Father Juan Perez offered a Mass of Thanksgiving and chanted a Te Deum.

He was received with great enthusiasm by the Court of Spain and soon all of Europe was abuzz talking about his voyages. He was at the height of his glory, but his subsequent three voyages and career would be anything but smooth sailing, though the monarchs of Spain made him viceroy (governor) of the lands he explored.

Return to America Columbus’s second voyage to the New World commenced on September 25, 1493. His flagship on this Atlantic crossing was named the Maria Galante, also after the Blessed Virgin. This time his fleet included seventeen ships, and 1500 men -- priests, officials, farmers and soldiers -- with the goals of spreading the Faith, exploring and for the first time, colonization. One of the men who sailed with Columbus on this voyage would later find fame in his own right as the explorer of the modern day U.S. State of Florida and searcher of the Fountain of Youth, Juan Ponce de Leon. Columbus was supplied with beef on one or two of his later voyages by Amerigo Vespucci, who wound up having the new lands named after him and not Columbus.

Events from this point on spiraled out of control. Many of the Spanish sailors, colonists, etc. resented Columbus as he was considered a foreigner and they refused to obey his orders. The natives were ravished by the Spaniards and Columbus eventually resorted to torturing both Spaniards and natives for disobedience, warfare, knowledge of gold deposits, and so forth.

He returned from his second voyage wearing his brown Franciscan habit and from his third in chains. Columbus acknowledged he had been a failure as viceroy, lamenting, “I am the world’s greatest sinner.”

The first natives Columbus and his men encountered were the Arawaks.

Columbus described them as “full of love, gentle, without greed, free from wickedness.” He further noted that they were to “be delivered and converted to our Holy Faith by love rather than by force.”

He returned from his second voyage wearing his brown Franciscan habit and from his third in chains. Columbus acknowledged he had been a failure as viceroy, lamenting, “I am the world’s greatest sinner.”

Why Columbus Sought Gold

The Fourth Voyage

Columbus also sought gold in his exploration of the New World, though not out of greed or avarice, as some latter-day commentators would have it.

He was charged with helping fill the depleted coffers of Spain. The Crown needed gold because wars with the Muslims over the course of 800 years and occupation by the Romans for nearly six centuries before had depleted

His Faith sustained him even on his fourth and last trip to the Americas. He had been marooned on the island of Jamaica for about a year. He predicted a lunar eclipse would happen, which tricked the natives into giving his the supplies he desperately needed to get to Hispaniola (modern day Haiti and the Dominican Republic) as the governor of that island had thwarted all efforts to rescue him.

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While he was sailing near the South American coast, he and his men were caught in a huge storm. They saw what they described as huge silvery tower which became bigger, louder and headed straight for their vessel. Columbus reasoned that whatever this was that he and his men were encountering, it was subject to the One who was the Creator and Master of the seas and storms.

Calling upon the Lord, he then began reciting the Last Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

and propagandists. He was not – as these claim – a monstrous ogre, intent on exterminating entire populations in order to claim the lands he explored for Spain.

He was an explorer who felt he was on a Divine mission to spread the Catholic Faith. There is an apocryphal story that his grandfather Stephen had a vision of lands undiscovered across the sea peopled by natives who needed conversion and that this story was passed down to Christopher himself.

Doubtless he committed cruelties. He was suited to be a mariner and Before he even finished, the storm headed in the opposite direction, the explorer, not a governor. Circumstances beyond his control often led him to sun came out, the sea saw a great calm, and hundreds of seagulls circling react in ways unbecoming a devout Catholic. However, he was by no means the boat told them that land was nearby. Columbus and his men had seen a a systematic oppressor of the natives he encountered. He acknowledged his sins and mistakes in his writings in many of his dealings with natives and waterspout, or a tornado on the ocean.

Spaniards under his command.

The Death of Isabella and the Admiral In 1892, the Quadricentennial of Columbus’s first voyage, Pope Leo XIII Columbus finally arrived in Spain on November 7, 1504. On November 26, wrote an Encyclical in tribute entitled Quarto Abeunte Saeculo, noting that Queen Isabella died. Ten days after her death Columbus wrote to his son the famed explorer “sought the improvement of human society through Diego: “The most important thing is to commend lovingly and with much knowledge, nor did he despise glory... an ideal to great souls, nor did he devotion the soul of the Queen our lady to God. Her life was always Catholic scorn a hope of great advantage to himself. But along with human desires and holy and prompt in all things in His holy service. Because of this we was the consideration of Christianity that provided him with the strength of should believe that she is in holy glory and beyond the cares of this harsh mind and will... and consoled him in the midst of the greatest difficulties.” and weary world.”

But his main objective was to “open a way for the Gospel over new land and seas.”

“The most important thing is to commend lovingly and with much devotion the soul of the Queen our lady to God. Her life was always Catholic and holy and prompt in all things in His holy service. Because of this we should Columbus was by no means a systematic oppressor of the natives he believe that she is in holy glory and beyond the cares of this harsh and encountered. In his writings, he acknowledged his sins and mistakes in weary world.” many of his dealings with both natives and Spaniards under his command.

With the death of his Queen and benefactor, and with illness and age ravaging his own body, the Admiral knew his own end would arrive soon.

He died wearing the brown habit of St. Francis of Assisi, surrounded by his sons and a few Franciscans in a boarding house on May 20, 1506. The chains he was brought back in from his third voyage were hung on his wall, a sobering reminder that he was departing this life in near poverty, all but forgotten by the Court.

Why The Caribbean Islands Owe Their Beautiful Names To Columbus Island Montserrat Antigua

He died wearing the brown habit of St. Francis of Assisi, surrounded by his sons and a few Franciscans in a boarding house on May 20, 1506. The chains he was brought back in from his third voyage were hung on his wall, a sobering reminder that he was departing this life in near poverty, all but forgotten by the Court.

Who Columbus Really Was Christopher Columbus has been arguably traduced by modern day historians

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Why Columbus Chose The Name After the Monastery of Santa Maria de Montserrat, considered the national treasure of Catalonia, Spain.

After a Seville church Columbus frequented, called Santa Maria la Antigua -- "Old Saint Mary's"

Redonda

Santa Maria le Redonda or St.Mary the Round due to the island's shape.

Nevis

Derived from the Spanish for Our Lady of the Snows possibly because Columbus thought the clouds over Nevis Peak made it resemble a snow capped mountain

St. Kitts

Named after his namesake and patron of travelers St. Christopher

St. Eustatius Saba

After an early Roman martyr After the Queen of Sheba, an Old Testament figure

St. Martin St. Croix The Virgin Islands San Pedro

Puerto Rico

Seminal early Christian bishop, who founded parishes throughout France; Feast Day November 11 From the Spanish “Santa Cruz” – “Holy Cross” After St. Ursula and the 11,000 virgins martyrs of early Christianity.

After St. Peter Originally named after St. John the Baptist but eventually only the capital city retained the name of “San Juan.” The Saint’s Feast Day – June 24 – is still celebrated there.

R.

Columbus Again Behind him lay the gray Azores, Behind the Gates of Hercules; Before him not the ghost of shores, Before him only shoreless seas. The good mate said: “Now must we pray, For lo! the very stars are gone. Brave Admiral, speak, what shall I say?” “Why, say, ‘Sail on! sail on! and on!’

They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the mate: “This mad sea shows his teeth to-night. He curls his lip, he lies in wait, With lifted teeth, as if to bite! Brave Admiral, say but one good word: What shall we do when hope is gone?” The words leapt like a leaping sword: “Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!”

Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck, And peered through darkness. Ah, that night Of all dark nights! And then a speck— A light! A light! A light! A light! It grew, a starlit flag unfurled! It grew to be Time’s burst of dawn. He gained a world; he gave that world Its grandest lesson: “On! sail on!”

-- Joaquin Miller, 1892

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Update: The Latin Mass in America Today A Candid Interview with Byron Smith

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e’s the secretary of Una Voce America, which today sup ports the training of diocesan priests in the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, otherwise known as the Latin Mass. In the this wide-ranging, exclusive REGINA Magazine interview, Byron Smith tells the astounding story of the many people -- some famous, some obscure -- who have labored long and hard for more than fifty years to bring this Mass to Catholics in North America.

Q. Where were the earliest Latin Masses after Vatican II, in America?

Perhaps the best-known of the surviving authorized Masses on this continent was in Ottawa, Canada, which eventually became the St Clement’s Latin Community. It became an inspiration to those holding similar aspirations in the States.

Q. What is the background on Una Voce America?

Una Voce in the United States was founded in September 1967. Its first Chairman was eminent philosopher, anti-Nazi and religious writer, Dietrich von Hildebrand.

He led the association until his death in 1977, hosting several national meetings in Manhattan, near his academic home at Fordham University.

Before coming to the United States, Dr. von Hildebrand had written Liturgy and Personality (Salzburg, 1933) that had focused on the healing power of formal prayer as exemplified in the ancient Latin Mass. During his chairmanship, he wrote several books that concerned both the liturgy and the changes in the Church after Vatican II: • Trojan Horse in the City of God (1967) • The Devastated Vineyard (1973) • Jaws of Death: Gate of Heaven (1976)

PILGRIMAGE AT CHARTRES: Traditional Catholics in France have become a role model for other countries, including the United States and Canada.

Following Dr. von Hildebrand’s death, W. Robert Opelle of California assumed the leadership of Una Voce in this country. Mr. Opelle had worked with the late Fr. Harry Marchosky to win diocesan approval for the traditional Mass at Serra Chapel of the San Juan Capistrano Mission, one of the first Mass locations approved after promulgation of the 1984 indult, Quattuor Abhinc Annos. It is still being offered there today.

During his tenure (1978-1995), Mr. Opelle increased the visibility of Una Voce with a widely-read newsletter, “Our Catholic Tradition.” He initiated a national petition for a traditional Ordinariate that gathered nearly 50,000 names and was placed directly into the hands of Pope John Paul II in 1994

by Bob himself.

Through a long process of petitioning sympathetic members of the Curia, Pope John Paul II granted permission for the traditional Mass in his 1984 indult. With that, a few weekly Mass sites were established in the U.S., in the dioceses of San Diego, Corpus Christi, and Orange. (In the latter was the famous mission of San Juan Capistrano.) A number of “experimental” and less-frequent Latin Masses were offered elsewhere, but the restrictions of this indult still made it difficult to obtain permissions from bishops.

When British author Michael Davies indicated his desire in 1995 to merge all the traditional Mass organizations in North America into an umbrella Federation called Una Voce America, Mr. Opelle was named to its first board of directors.

In America, Una Voce’s main activity since 2007 has been to financially and logistically support the training of diocesan priests in the Latin Mass.

Q. How big is Una Voce today?

Una Voce America currently consists of over 65 chapters and 10 affiliates across the United States and eastern Canada, all working to increase the visibility and support the ministry of what Pope Benedict XVI pronounced, in Summorum Pontificum (2007), the Extraordinary Use of the Roman Rite.

Its Chairman today is R. Michael Dunnigan, JCL, and its main activity since 2007 has been to financially and logistically support the training of diocesan priests in the Latin Mass.

There are a variety of resources on the website of Una Voce America and you can also subscribe to its publication entitled “Una Voce America NOTA.”

Just about every Latin Mass community draws a disproportionate number of college-age young adults.

Q. There has been considerable growth in the TLM in the last 10 years in America. Can you give us a sense of how much growth there was before the Motu Proprio? After?

EARLY SITE FOR THE LATIN MASS: In the 1980s, the chapel at famous California Mission San Juan Capistrano was one of the tiny number of locations where the Mass was allowed.

In the late 1970s, there were, perhaps, a dozen elderly priests in America who were permitted to offer the Mass privately. Those were the “dark ages” for the traditional liturgy.

Q. Where is the newest TLM in America?

One of the most recent began in April, 2013, in Salisbury, North Carolina (diocese of Charlotte). Another began May 26 in San Francisco, California.

At this writing, there may be others.

Q. Can you characterize the Latin Mass movement in terms of any demographics at all? I ask because I have the sense that early aficionados were intellectuals and artists. Is this true or am I way off base?

Along with the increasing number of Sunday Masses, daily Mass is offered in 60 locations in the U.S. also. Approximately 1,000 priests have completed a formal training program for the traditional Latin Mass and a few seminaries in the U.S. are training their men in offering the Extraordinary Form.

(Statistics courtesy of UVA affiliate, Coalition in Support of Ecclesia Dei) Q. What were the ‘worst of times’ for the TLM in America?

LITTLE ANGELS: Independent lay-run Catholic academies have sprung up beside the celebration of the Latin Mass in communities around America.

Until 1975, Archbishop Lefebvre’s still-unsuppressed Society of St. Pius X established several chapels in the U.S. that, while never accepted by local bishops, were not technically “unauthorized.” By the late 1970s, however, authorized Sunday celebrations of the traditional Latin Mass disappeared entirely. There were, perhaps, a dozen elderly priests who were permitted to offer the Mass privately. Those were the “dark ages” for the traditional liturgy.

As for intellectuals and artists, yes, we can begin with Dietrich von Hildebrand who was an internationally renowned scholar. Joining him on his board of directors were Dr. Thomas Molnar, Catholic philosopher and author of over 40 books; political theorist Russell Kirk, whose writings gave shape to the post-World War II conservative movement; Major General Thomas A. Lane, columnist, lecturer and author and H. Lyman Stebbins, founder of Catholics United for the Faith, among others.

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We draw talented musicians and composers and there are new schools of Catholic art arising in university life, inspired by the traditional Latin liturgy.

Along with that, one of the most important segments in our demographic is college and university students. We have at least two Una Voce chapters founded on university campuses and just about every Latin Mass community draws a disproportionate number of college-age young adults. This is an indication of how the Latin Mass answers the spiritual search that young people pursue, as well as its power to appeal to the intellect. For our own organization, we are grateful and blessed to have Michael Dunnigan, who is an internationally known canonist and scholar as chairman of UVA. So, you’re not off-base at all.

Q. Where have there been the most friendly bishops? Has there been progress in this area?

Perhaps one of the friendliest bishops in 1990 was the late Joseph T. O’Keefe, under whose auspices many regular Sunday Masses (including Sacraments and Requiems) were approved in the Archdiocese of New York and the diocese of Syracuse. Bishop James Timlin of Scranton invited the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter to establish a seminary and school in Scranton.

After the promulgation of Summorum Pontificum, the number of Sunday Masses in the US almost doubled from 220 in 2006 to 420 today.

Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska strongly encouraged the work of the FSSP and permitted them to build a permanent seminary in his diocese.. (Bishop Bruskewitz retired recently and it seems that his successor, Bishop Conley will continue his legacy.) In a sense, any bishop who responds positively to the needs of his faithful can be said to be friendly -- and there are have been many of these.

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We draw talented musicians and composers and there are new schools of Catholic art arising in university life, inspired by the traditional Latin liturgy.

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To date, approximately 1,000 priests have completed a formal training program for the traditional Latin Mass in North America.

One Man’s Perspective After 30 years of working to support the Latin Mass in America, Stuart Chessman has a point of view PHOTOS BY: STUART CHESSMAN

Q. How many years have you been involved with the Latin Mass? In what capacities? I’ve been involved with the Latin Mass in America for at least 30 years --as a member of the congregation, as an organizer of Latin Masses (both traditional and Novus Ordo), as a server and as a reporter/photographer.

Q. What progress do you see being made, say, since the Motu Proprio of 2007? Traditional Mass communities have arisen with more depth and stability. The TLM has been celebrated at many more locations. The ceremony and music in many places are of a very high order. There is great involvement of the young - especially large families. Solemn Masses and even pontifical solemn masses are nowadays no rarity - that is an improvement even over the pre-conciliar situation.

OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL, Bronx, New York

Q. Are there many more priests learning the Mass? How does the Mass gain a foothold? What typically happens? Yes there is quite a demand for this training. For the Mass to gain a foothold, it requires dedication of the priest. It requires men who will support him with the necessary resources for the ceremony and music. And it requires dedication and perseverance. It cannot be done on the side as an afterthought in hopes it will catch on. The liturgical sense of the Catholic population has been too dulled for that approach. It must be one of the “core missions” of the parish, and there must be the will to persevere if at first the numbers are not as great as had been hoped.

Q. In many countries, there seems to be no crisis of priestly vocations in circles where the Extraordinary Form of the Mass is supported. Have you noticed this to be the case in your experience? What I have actually seen? Parishes in New York and here (in Norwalk, Connecticut) where the TLM is celebrated generate vocations disproportionately.

BELOW: LIGHTING THE EASTER FIRE for the Solemn Vigil of Easter in Connecticut. ABOVE: CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION and Eucharistic Adoration in Connecticut.

Q. Many Catholics today no longer see the need for Confession, or Reconciliation, though this does not seem to be the case for those who attend the TLM. Why do you think this is? One of the most striking things I have noticed here in Norwalk is that there is a much greater demand for Confession.

Q. Anecdotally, I have heard many people say that they were converted to Catholicism through the beauty of their experience of the Extraordinary Form. Do you find this to be true?

I can’t speak directly to that as I was brought up Catholic, but I have seen several conversions at our parish and I am pretty sure the TLM played some role there.

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May God Give Us Strength To Do What Needs to Be Done

by Rev. Richard G. Cipolla He is a convert from the Episcopal Church, a priest who learned the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) only reluctantly -- and at the behest of his bishop. Herewith the story of Father Richard Cipolla, a priest of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut and a Latin scholar who came to love and celebrate the TLM. (Reprinted from New Liturgical Movement)

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o say that discovering and learning the traditional Roman Mass (I shall avoid the problematic term “Extraordinary Form”) saved my priesthood may be too dramatic to begin this personal account of the importance of the Traditional Mass in my life as a Catholic priest. Although I cannot say with any certainty what would have become of my priesthood had I not encountered the Traditional Mass, I can certainly say that that encounter had such a radical effect on me as a priest that I cannot imagine my priesthood without the real presence of the Traditional Mass in my life.

When the post-Vatican II liturgical changes came in the late 1960’s, we in the Episcopal Church adopted most of the changes including the free standing altar and facing the people. I remember so well when facing the people my feeling of being “ultra-cool” and dismissing the protests of the parishioners against the changes with “Father knows best” because “Roma locuta est, causa finita est.”

I am a convert from the Episcopal Church, having functioned as an Episcopal minister for nearly eleven years before deciding to enter the Catholic Church. I was always associated with the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Episcopal Church, so the Mass was always at the center of my faith, and I always understood the role of beauty in the celebration of Mass. When the post-Vatican II liturgical changes came in the late 1960’s, we adopted most of the changes including the free standing altar and facing the people. I remember so well when facing the people my feeling of being “ultra-cool” and dismissing the protests of the parishioners against the changes with “Father knows best” because “Roma locuta est, causa finita est.”

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My First Days as a Catholic Priest The proximate reason why I left the Episcopal Church was because of developments within that body that departed from the Catholic understanding of the Church. But the deeper reason was that, after much study, learning and prayer, I saw, like Newman, that the Catholic Church is the Church that Christ founded and that once one understood this, one had the moral obligation to become part of that Church. The impetus for becoming Catholic was Blessed John Paul’s formation of the Pastoral Provision in the 1980’s that made possible for former Episcopal priests who were married to be considered for the Catholic priesthood. I was received into the Church in 1982 and ordained priest in 1984.

The deeper reason why I left the Episcopal Church was that, after much study, learning and prayer, I saw, like Newman, that the Catholic Church is the Church that Christ founded.

I became a Catholic at a time during which there was continuing liturgical abuse, when Catholic music seemed to no longer exist in parishes and in its place saccharine sacro-pop prevailed, a time when Mass seemed more like a high school assembly than the awesome Sacrifice, a time when it seemed as if there was a deliberate forgetting, a mass amnesia, of the Tradition of the Mass. As a Pastoral Provision priest I had the option of being an Anglican Use priest, but I decided against this quite vehemently, for I wanted to be an ordinary Catholic priest at this particular time in the Church’s history. No nostalgia for me, no hankering after the good old days—the Novus Ordo defined the Mass in this present time, and I knew that I must submit to this and do my best to celebrate what the Church had given to me.

I became a Catholic at a time during which there was continuing liturgical abuse, when Catholic music seemed to no longer exist in parishes and in its place saccharine sacro-pop prevailed.

How I Came to Learn the Traditional Latin Mass This background is necessary to understand the profound effect that learning and celebrating the Traditional Mass had on me. The first ten years of my priesthood were not easy but were a source of grace. But I always felt an incompleteness, that there was something missing, something I should have known but did not. And this sense of incompleteness was always associated with the celebration of Mass. It was at this time that my bishop asked if I would learn the Traditional Mass, because one of the priests who celebrated the two

Indult Masses in the diocese had died. I was asked because of my strong background in Latin. I initially refused. My refusal was based on my fear that this would be seen by my fellow priests as a reversion to my old “highchurch” (a damnable term) days as an Anglican.

I wanted to be an ordinary Catholic priest at this particular time in the Church’s history. No nostalgia for me, no hankering after the good old days. Then my bishop asked if I would learn the Traditional Mass, because one of the priests who celebrated the two Indult Masses in the diocese had died. I was asked because of my strong background in Latin. I initially refused.

Easter Sunday at St. Mary, Norwalk, VA But the bishop prevailed. I learned the Mass at the hands of one of the great mentors of so many priests who have learned the Traditional Mass, Mr. William Riccio of New Haven. He, quite rightly, taught me Solemn Mass first, rather than Low Mass. I remember, more than my ordination, my first Solemn Mass at Sacred Heart Church in New Haven under the sponsorship of the St. Gregory Society, which in the dark days of the Indult, supported the Traditional Mass in an important and heroic way.

What Happened at My First Traditional Latin Mass As I walked up the aisle at my first Mass, I was terrified, frightened that I would forget what I was supposed to be doing. Suddenly I was overwhelmed with the thought of remembering all the gestures, the order of things. But I knew Bill was by my side as the MC and that gave me comfort. I got through the Mass through the Offertory without any disasters.

Today, Beauty and Depth Overflowing I am blessed with being a priest in a parish where the main Sunday Mass is the Traditional Roman rite Solemn Mass. This Mass has been a great blessing to our priests and to our parishioners, for its beauty and its depth overflows to the celebrations of the Novus Ordo Mass in both English and Spanish. I am convinced that the presence of the Traditional Mass in every Catholic parish in the world would be a key to that re-evangelization of the Western world that must happen before we can evangelize the world.

Hoc est opus nostrum, hoc est labor. May God give us the strength to do what needs to be done.

And so I started the Canon. I cannot write this except with great emotion, for the moment is so etched into my memory. I came to the consecration and said those words that are at the very heart of Catholic faith and worship. It was then, during the Unde et memores, that suddenly, while saying the words silently, that I realized in a flash of insight, that this was what was missing, this is what I was meant to do as a Catholic priest, this is what joined me to the Tradition of the Church. That was a moment of healing, a moment of graceful surprise, surprised by joy, and the joy of that moment changed me as a priest, and in the very real trials of being a priest in the Church at this time in history this moment of joy has never left me.

And so I started the Canon. I cannot write this except with great emotion, for the moment is so etched into my memory. I came to the consecration and said those words that are at the very heart of Catholic faith and worship. It was then, during the Unde et memores, that suddenly, while saying the words silently, that I realized in a flash of insight, that this was what was missing, this is what I was meant to do as a Catholic priest, this is what joined me to the Tradition of the Church.

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Published with permission from Father Cipolla, first printed at The New Liturgical Movement, photos by Stuart Chessman with permission.

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T he Parishes

NEWLY INSTALLED ARCHBISHOP Alexander K. Sample preaches from the pulpit at Holy 14 | Page Rosary Church in Portland, Orgeon.

The Cathedral of South Saint Louis

the parishes

Restoring Saint Francis de Sales Oratory

For over one hundred years, the silhouette of Saint Francis de Sales has been a distinctive mark on the skyline of Saint Louis, Missouri. While the area surrounding the church has undergone considerable change, the 300-foot tower has remained a steadfast symbol of Catholic tradition and hope.

Now, the Oratory is being renewed by the faithful witness of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. In this article, parishioner and photographer Phil Roussin discusses the history and the reality of this American treasure.

History and Background In 1867, seven German dairy farmers purchased a plot of land between Gravois and Ohio streets on which to build a new church. With the laying of the first cornerstone on September 15, 1867, Saint Francis de Sales Church began to serve as the spiritual and social anchor of the community. Over the next 40 years, a new generation of Americans built the church with the hope of a prosperous future in their new country. They first added a school, then a convent, then started to plan the next phase: a larger church which would capture the grandeur of the eternal expression of truth.

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By the 1890s, Saint Louis had become the fourth largest city in the United States after New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Amidst the post-Civil War economic expansion, bustling Saint Louis City became the proud owner of a new transportation infrastructure, as well as one of the world’s first skyscrapers: the 10-story Wainwright Building.

It was against this backdrop that the parishioners of Saint Francis de Sales planned to build their new, larger church. Led by their pastor, Fr. Lotz, the largely German congregation looked to their ancestral heritage for a set of architectural plans. The original German design called for an elaborate Gothic Revival church built with cut stone and two towers at each transept arm. However, at this point an act of Divine Providence definitely intervened.

Before the basement of the church could be completed as planned, the most devastating tornado ever to strike Saint Louis happened on May 27, 1896.

The original church was all but completely destroyed, and much damage was inflicted likewise upon the homes of the entire neighborhood. All plans to raise funds for a new church had to await the return of normal conditions among the people of the parish and the city.

In recognition of its architectural, cultural, and historic significance, Saint Francis de Sales Church was entered in the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. In spite of these efforts, the decline continued, and the church was in danger of being closed and demolished.

In 2005, an important change took place in the effort to preserve this magnificent church. Under then-Archbishop Raymond Burke, Saint Francis de Sales was erected as an Oratory of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, serving Saint Louis as the premier center of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. Since the architecture and the interior of Saint Francis de Sales were originally designed for this use of the Roman Rite, the church was perfectly suited for this new endeavor.

On January 8th, 2011 at the invitation of the superiors of the Institute, His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke returned to Saint Francis de Sales Oratory to celebrate a Solemn Te Deum and Benediction in thanksgiving for his elevation to the College of Cardinals by His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI. A reception in the Cardinals honor was held in the hall afterwards. (also see cover photo)

THE FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI: Solemn procession through the Fox Park Neighborhood of South Saint Louis.

However, it was not long before the work continued without interruption.

It is interesting to note that on the twelfth anniversary of the terrible tornado (May 27, 1908), at the precise time that the tragic tornado had destroyed the old parish church, parishioners raised the old church’s iron cross on the pinnacle of the church’s majestic new steeple, amid the full and loud ringing of the new church bells. There was cause for much rejoicing.

This immense new church was built to symbolize the hopes and dreams of the immigrant community, deeply rooted in the traditions and heritage of their forefathers. It was a brick and mortar symbol of American values of the time: faith, beauty, and grandeur in the midst of hard work and community sacrifice, venerable traditions in a new land, and hope for the future. This spiritual edifice embodied the aspirations of an American community. What came to be known as the Cathedral of South Saint Louis would also be a living tradition of the past.

Decline and Renewal Since its dedication in 1908, the fate of Saint Francis de Sales Church has closely dovetailed with that of the city of Saint Louis. As the city grew, the parish also grew continuously through the 1950s, adding a thriving high school to its campus in 1939. However, in the 1950s the population of Saint Louis steadily declined due to outward migration towards the suburbs.

Fox Park, the neighborhood of Saint Francis de Sales, followed the same pattern. By 1974 the parish dissipated to the point that Saint Francis de Sales High School would close for good. With decades of dwindling support, the condition of the church and surrounding campus began to deteriorate visibly and rapidly. As the city embarked on various urban renewal projects, so did the Fox Park neighborhood. The DeSales Community Housing Corporation was formed from the congregation of Saint Francis de Sales in an effort to stay the tide of decline. In recognition of its architectural, cultural, and historic significance, Saint Francis de Sales Church was entered in the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. In spite of these efforts, the decline continued, and the church was in danger of being closed and demolished.

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With its new mission, the appeal of Saint Francis de Sales would be extended beyond the boundaries of the original parish, and beyond any singular demographic group. For the first time, there was hope that the deserted infrastructure would slowly regain active and purposeful use. The perfect balance between usage and preservation would be an effective means of safeguarding a cultural treasure of Saint Louis.

The New Focus In 2008, Saint Francis de Sales’ centennial celebration was attended by members and visitors from all over the Saint Louis metropolitan area and beyond. Two consecutive annual surveys (2010 & 2011) show that the average family drives 20 miles (one-way) to attend Holy Mass at Saint Francis de Sales. These annual surveys also reveal the median age of the congregation to be less than 30 years old. The church building may be old, but the youthful families it attracts are as vigorous as ever.

One aspect of our preservation work is to bring to life the repository of sacred music used in the Church’s highest liturgies. A living tradition, sacred music has enriched the hearts and minds of many souls in every age through the centuries.

At Saint Francis de Sales Oratory, the ever-growing TRADITION FOR TOMORROW First communicants repertoire of ancient chants, receive the Brown Scapular after their First Holy classical music, polyphony, Communion and magnificent organ pieces can be heard in the context for which they were originally composed.

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This immense new church was a brick and mortar symbol of American values of the time: faith, beauty, and grandeur in the midst of hard work and community sacrifice, venerable traditions in a new land, and hope for the future.

The Restoration - A Daunting Task in Small Steps Due to the size of the campus and the enormity of the church, restoring its dilapidated infrastructure is a daunting task from any perspective. Nevertheless, since 2005, generous volunteers yielding much success have done the ongoing restoration in steady, small steps.

Through the generosity of a local machine company, new parts were made and our volunteer repairman is in the process of installing the new gears, coordinating the four movements and calibrating the speed of the drive motor. We hope to have the clock working in the very near future as an outward sign of the church’s restoration efforts.

Tradition for Tomorrow Restoring the campus of Saint Francis de Sales is also much more than brick and mortar repairs. It is equally about restoring the sense of community amongst the faithful and the youth. We discuss this at length with Canon Raphael Ueda, Vicar of Saint Francis de Sales Oratory in the article How I Got to Saint Louis in this issue.)

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The most recent restoration work on the church building was restoring the damage caused by water on the tall steeple masonry. Brick and terra cotta pieces were missing and damaged, and some of the brickwork was loose. Due to the extreme height of the steeple and the limited reach of standard lifts, a special lift was required to be used that could access the damage at the 150 foot level.

Several locations needed work and the timing required calm and clear weather to safely accomplish the repairs.

Another recently completed project was the restoration of two statues of adoring angels that had been lost for many years. They had been given to the parish some time ago but were sent off for restoration and forgotten.

While in a search for other liturgical items, the angels were accidently discovered at a specialty restoration company and identified as belonging to Saint Francis de Sales. Through the efforts of some members of the congregation, the statues were restored to their original glory in time to be made available for use during Holy Week devotions at the Oratory.

Through the efforts of some members of the congregation, two statues of adoring angels which had been lost for many years were restored to their original glory in time for Holy Week at the Oratory.

PHOTOS: (top left) Adoring angels as they appeared before the restoration process, both sets of wings and hands where either cracked or broken. A new coat of paint matches their original color scheme and finish. (top right) Our Summer at the Oratory (shown) and Gaudete Gala are two of our major annual fundraising events. (bottom) The newly restored chapel located in the convent is now used throughout the year for private Masses and particularly during the annual priestly retreat of the U.S. province held here at the Oratory.

ADORING ANGELS: The recently restored angels have been placed at the St. Joseph’s altar, where daily Mass is celebrated. During Holy Week these angels adorn the Blessed Sacrament at the Altar of Repose.

An on-going restoration project concerns the steeple clock that has been non-functional for many years. Pieces of the mechanical gearing that drives the hands at the four faces were missing and the remaining mechanism was corroded and unable to turn. Through the generosity of a local machine company, new parts were made and our volunteer repairman is in the process of installing the new gears, coordinating the four movements and calibrating the speed of the drive motor. We hope to have the clock working in the very near future as an outward sign of the church’s restoration efforts.

A future restoration project is to ensure the continued viability of all of the outstanding stained glass windows that are the hallmark of this beautiful structure. They are all intact but require replacement of the protective outer glass, sealing all the joints to make them watertight, stabilizing them, and cleaning the interiors from decades of soot and smoke accumulation.

Due to the number of these windows and the terra cotta replacement work for the columns that provide the exterior support, this work will be phased in over a period of years, working on the most deteriorated windows first.

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Please consider making a donation to help Save the Cathedral of South Saint Louis by visiting:

www.TraditionForTomorrow.com and making a donation today

Saint Francis de Sales Oratory Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest 2653 Ohio Avenue Saint Louis, Missouri 63118 314-771-3100 • sfds@institute-christ-king.org

How I Got to Saint Louis the parishes

An Interview with Canon Raphael Ueda He is a Japanese convert to the Faith. Canon Raphael Ueda, Vicar of Saint Francis de Sales Oratory, in a recent interview with REGINA Magazine discussed his background as a Catholic priest of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest and the work that is being done at the Oratory. See ‘Cathedral of South Saint Louis’.

Q. Tell us a little bit about your background; when were you ordained, and how did you become a priest of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest? What have some of your other assignments been?

A. I was not born a Catholic. Divine Providence guided me to an encounter with the Catholic faith. For those who are in the Catholic Church the veracity of the Church is very evident, but for me who is not Catholic by birth, especially born in Japan (in the far east where Catholicism is in its entirety not known) it was not so easy. But as always Divine Providence guides those who are sincerely looking for the truth in a very mysterious way.

Then in 2012 I was assigned to Saint Francis de Sales Oratory here in Saint Louis as Vicar. I am very grateful to serve the faithful of the city Saint Louis, which is called Rome of the West because of its longstanding Catholic culture tradition, which is both dynamic and diverse. The faithful are great.

They are generous and sincerely looking for the love of God. They love the Catholic Church.

I was born in Kobe, Japan, in 1968; I studied as a medical student to become a doctor in Kyoto, the ancient imperial capital of the country for more than one thousand years. However God had another plan for me. An Italian missionary baptized me when I was 27 years old in Kobe.

Q. What are some of the greatest challenges you encounter as a priest?

How have they affected your priesthood?

A. I was baptized as a Catholic but that does not mean I cease to be Japanese. I left Japan in 1995. Since then I have had several occasions to return. Living previously in Quebec, Italy, and now the U.S., it is always a challenge for me to grow as Catholic in a harmonious way without losing my identity as Japanese. Jesus was called as Jesus of Nazareth.

I was born in Kobe, Japan, in 1968; I studied as a medical student to become a doctor in Kyoto, the ancient imperial capital of the country for more than one thousand years. However God had another plan for me. An Italian missionary baptized me when I was 27 years old in Kobe. That same year I left for Quebec, Canada where I would learn the French language (in the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, French is the common language.)

Even though the Catholic faith is universal, when we live our faith in a concrete way, we need to take flesh in the place where we are put by Divine Providence. This is really a challenge for me. Preserving identity while remaining open is a process that will continue to entail much pain and confusion. It is a process likely to be carried along on the tide of risk taking and withdrawal, expansion and contraction, exhilaration and disappointment, consolation and desolation, integration and disintegration.

At this time I did not know that one day I would join the Institute, but providentially this stay in Quebec allowed me to. In 2001 I joined Saint Phillip Neri Seminary (the seminary of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest) in Florence, Italy. After 8 years of prayer, study, and hard work His Eminence, Raymond Cardinal Burke ordained me a priest in Florence, Italy. It was a long journey to become a priest. After my ordination, I stayed for a year in Europe, and in 2010 I was assigned to the Shrine of Christ the King in Chicago, Illinois. There I served as Vicar for two years. It was an exciting experience to stay in this windy and dynamic city.

I was baptized as a Catholic but that does not mean I cease to be Japanese. I left Japan in 1995.

ORDINATION: Canon Ueda is ordained a priest forever by His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke at the Chiesa dei Santi Michele e Gaetano in Florence, Italy on July 2nd 2009.

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Q. What do you hope to achieve in Saint Louis?

A. The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest is an international community. The members come from all over the world. As of now, I am the only Japanese priest but the diversity of origin of all the Institutes members has helped me. The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest has received the mission from the Church to celebrate the extraordinary form of the Latin Rite in its integrity.

This venerable Liturgy which fostered the souls of Catholics for thousands of years has help me to understand the transcendence of God. Since my ordination by Cardinal Raymond Burke in 2009, I have been celebrating this Liturgy every day. Our superiors say: “Service of Christ the King Sovereign Priest is the leading goal of our existence. Every member of the Institute wants to belong fully to the Lord through His Eternal Priesthood and His Supernatural Kingship. Under the protection of His Immaculate Mother, we try to conform our will to the Divine Will in every moment of our lives.

We wish to be modeled into faithful servants of His Kingship, who receive all their strength from Divine Grace flowing from the Holy Mysteries of the Liturgy. The center of our spiritual life is the Altar and the Divine Office.”

This is true. I can realize this truth more and more every day.

Our Archbishop, Most Reverend Robert J. Carlson wrote the preface for the Oratory’s booklet in which he says “We are proud of the contributions the Catholic Church has made to the rich traditions and history of all our community and our state.” This is true. People and Clergy in Saint Louis

have a genuine love of God. It is a blessing for me to exercise my ministry in Saint Louis as a part of local and universal Church.

Q. Tell us about the homeschool co-op at the Oratory; what it is, how it’s organized, and what have been the greatest challenges and rewards of teaching.

A. In the spirit of the Apostolic Constitution Sacrae Disciplinae Legis (Pope John Paul II, 1983), Catholic parents are specifically graced by Christ to exercise the charism of teaching their children in accord with the magisterium of the Holy Roman Catholic Church. To that aim, the Saint Francis de Sales Homeschool Co-op was established as an aid to parents in providing this education to their children in matters of faith, academics, social direction, and to provide an environment of support for the parents to their home schooling endeavor, all of which is to give greater glory to God. The Co-op is an organization under the leadership of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, and the day-to-day affairs of the Co-op are managed by a volunteer committee. Indeed the children are the future of the Church and our society; they need a very solid formation to be able to carry the responsibility of life.

The homeschool co-op at Saint Francis de Sales began fall of 2007 with approximately 22 families. There were around 60 children in K-8th grade at the beginning. We were given access to half of the 3rd floor of the 1888 building (the former grade school of Saint Francis de Sales Parish, built in 1888), which was full of debris. We had to clean it and do many repairs.

We offered Latin, Catechism, art, music, drama, science, and physical education. By the grace of God and the tireless efforts of both mothers and teachers, the homeschool co-op at Saint Francis de Sales has grown into the 28 families and almost 100 students!

By the grace of God and the tireless efforts of both mothers and teachers, the homeschool co-op at Saint Francis de Sales has grown into the 28 families and almost 100 students!

Jesus said that ‘you are in this world but not of this world.’ In this secularized world the desire of parents to keep their children apart from the world might be very great. Nevertheless Jesus says that you should be in this world. So our objective is to educate our children so they can be strong enough to resist against the temptation of this world. Our goals reach much further than just the education of the children, who are the future to edify the Church and convert the world.

This is a real challenge, especially in our days when government has become too strong and wants to dictate everything, but our mothers are very courageous. They will begin this year putting together a group for our young people, grades 7-12, to socialize and contribute to the Oratory.

This will offer opportunities for the children to volunteer at the Oratory by cleaning, babysitting, fundraising, and just being available to the parish needs, as well as opportunities to volunteer outside the Oratory with prolife work and visiting the elderly. Also, the mothers like the thought of the young people having the chance to spend time with like-minded people and have fun.

Children have still very tender hearts. They can sense the truth and the good. And they are very eager to learn and grow up. So it is the greatest reward of teaching for me to see that they absorb and assimilate our teachings and grow up in the love and the truth of God.

This is a real challenge, especially in our days when government has become too strong and wants dictate everything, but our mothers are very courageous.

Q. I know you are very active in Sursum Corda. Tell us about this organization and any upcoming events.

A. Sursum Corda is a national young adults group, ages 18 to 35, under the direction of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. The goal of the Institute is to extend the reign of Christ in society. To this end the Sursum Corda group is formed to foster the necessary harmony between spiritual, social and cultural life of the youth. This is done through group prayer, faith discussion, fun activities, and charity work as a means of building up

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Catholic identity. In our age we can get almost everything in a very fast and convenient way. Social networking often fuels and informs our personal lives, but we also need personal contact to share our joys, dreams, and concerns with other young people so that all of us can be encouraged to continue our lives in the love of God. Pope Francis encourages us to build up the culture of encounter and dialogue. Of course e-mail is a wonderful way to communicate, but to see our friends face to face, talk and share a time together is indispensable in our lives.

I would like to cite a text, which one of our group members wrote about our last gathering. You can feel their joy.

“Last weekend saw another enjoyable Sursum Corda get-together at Saint Francis de Sales Oratory. This one was made more special by the addition of some of the young adults from the Shrine of Christ the King in Chicago! A few enthusiastic Saint Louis Sursum Cordians were on hand to greet them on Friday night but the majority of the record attendance (41!!) came on Saturday, which began with eight ‘o clock Mass.

After a breakfast in the hall, everyone piled into vehicles for the hour and a half drive to Onandoga Cave in Leesburg, MO. In spite of being very cold and clammy, the cave tour was most impressive and instructive.

Everyone had a chance to discuss the cave at a picnic lunch outside of the visitor’s center before enjoying some barbecue and volleyball!

“We were also treated to a spiritual conference by Canon Ueda on Pope Francis’ new encyclical Lumen Fidei, a powerful reminder of the importance of faith in our lives. The gathering broke up after ten ‘o clock Mass, followed by brunch on Sunday to end one of the most enjoyable weekends of my life. Things at the convent were never quiet as the girls discussed everything from old movies, to the Civil War, to family Christmas traditions!”

On Saturday, 14 September, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and sixth anniversary of the implementation of Pope Benedict XVI’s motu proprio “Summorum P o n t i f i c u m ”, Sursum Corda visited the Shrine of Saint Joseph, located just north of downtown Saint Louis. Founded in 1843 by the Jesuits, the Shrine is a beautiful example of Romanesque SURSUM CORDA visits the Shrine of Saint Joseph in Saint Louis, MO R e v i v a l for High Mass. architecture, and is the location of the only Vatican-authenticated miracle in the Midwest.

Although we have visited the Shrine in the past, this time we were able to have a High Mass, with a choir formed from our own members. The Mass was open to the public and I am grateful to Divine Providence for this timely grace.

St. Francis de Sales, ora pro nobis

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Prayer, Prudence, and Courage

the parishes

Father Markey, how long has St. Mary’s offered the Latin Mass?

We started in Advent 2007, a few months after the implementation of Summorum Pontificum. We began with a Missa Cantata, and now we have a Solemn High Mass every Sunday. We have been offering the Solemn High Mass every Sunday and every Holy Day, for about seven years. We also do the entire Holy Week services exclusively in the Extraordinary Form (EF).

I put the EF Mass right at the center of the Sunday schedule, at 9:30 A.M., to show that this Mass is not a fringe element, but an essential part of our parish life. We offer the EF three times a week now. Pope Benedict XVI has asked for the “mutual enrichment” of the two forms and the EF has influenced our Ordinary Form (OF) Mass in various ways. For example, all of our OF Masses are now oriented.

How would you characterize your parish and Mass attendance?

We have a wide demographic for the EF. To begin with, our parish has about 30 nationalities represented, and we offer the OF in both English and Spanish. On any given Sunday you can see people at the EF with Latin Missals in their hands that are Latin/English, Latin/Spanish, Latin/ Portuguese, Latin/German, and and Latin/ Lithuanian. There are well educated professionals and also first generation immigrants who simply love the reverence. We have many young large families. As is common here in the United States with the EF, homeschoolers are also well represented.

We have locals who come from the town, but also families that come as far as an hour away every Sunday. It is inspiring to see the commitment of some of these young families who fill their minivans every Sunday and drive such a distance. The OF Spanish Mass is our largest Mass on Sunday and the Solemn EF is the second largest. Clearly, the EF Mass has the largest collection.

How would you characterize the growth in your parish?

I have now been here for almost 10 years and in the beginning I was implementing many changes in the OF that prepared the way for the EF - more Latin, altar boys only, rarely using extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist, and of course following closely the General Introduction to the Roman Missal (GIRM) and Redemptionis Sacramentum, the two keys rubrical documents for the OF. Change is always hard so I held classes, wrote articles in the bulletin, taught from the pulpit. A key element was investing parish finances in a much more developed sacred music program.

For the first few years there was a lot shuffling around - some people leaving and many more coming. This period was not without conflict and I can only hope I was prudent in my decisions.

People who normally attend the EF do not often understand how important and challenging these types of changes are in the OF. The vast majority of Catholics only know the OF. If mainstream Catholics are to discover the EF as the timeless spiritual treasure that sanctified our forefathers, then exposing them to reverent OF Masses with more traditional elements becomes an important bridge. Pastors are going to encounter obstacles in trying to implement these changes. Some who prefer the EF can become impatient but we must remember that the bottom line is the salvation of souls. We cannot make the same mistake they made in the late 1960’s of implementing rapid liturgical changes with little catechesis. Many faithful Catholics had their faith terribly damaged during that period because of abuses, and it happened so sudden. Again, souls are at stake. A shepherd

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has to lead his flock through the transition with great care. Once the pastor is intellectually convinced that a holy liturgy is the most effective means of sanctifying souls, it is then a matter of the will. The key elements become prayer, prudence, and courage.

Despite the difficulties I sometimes encountered with these changes, there was ultimately dramatic growth during that period. Once we started the EF, it was like opening a watering hole in the desert. Committed faithful Catholics flocked from far distances to be part of it. Overall we doubled our Sunday collection.

After the first five or six years of dramatic change and growth, I have to say the parish is now making only modest gains. The EF is averaging 225 people on any given Sunday. There is great commitment on the part of many faithful and the parish slowly grows. I think the Lord is saying that the key now is to keep the course, winning souls and families one at a time.

Confession is a big part of most successful parishes. How would you characterize the numbers of people who come to Confession at St. Mary’s?

About 4.5 hours of Confessions are scheduled every week, spread out over six days. To be honest, it is not enough. There are always lines and my pastoral responsibilities often don’t allow me to complete the people on line. Once a priest starts preaching Confession, and offering hours in the Confessional, people come from all over. I need to work harder at getting in the Confessional even more.

Any vocations from the parish?

We have one man who was ordained so far from the parish and three men who are currently in seminary. One young lady has entered the convent, and there are numerous more who are seriously discerning the call to religious life. Beyond finances and census numbers, vocations to the priesthood and religious life is the true measure of the health of the parish.

I am praying that God will bless our parish with more vocations. It should be said that, as Cardinal Dolan has pointed out, the true vocation crisis is really about the crisis in the family. Vocations come from holy families. The parish is simply the support system for the family. Make strong marriages and families and we will have plenty of good vocations.

How actively are your parishioners participating in the life of St. Mary’s?

Like most parishes, there are plenty of groups to which one can belong.

The CCD program is a huge part of parish life, with many devoted teachers, and families that need help. Intellectual formation is an essential part of Religious Education, but you really have to get involved in people’s lives to make a difference. This is always a challenge finding the time and energy to address all the needs of troubled families who lack formation. We also have women’s Bible Study, Spanish Bible Study, Teen Catechism, Youth groups, various devotions. We have Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament all day on Friday and I would like to increase the number of hours. The homeschoolers are present, adding a lot of life to the parish, but they can be more difficult to organize because they are by nature quite independent.

There is an independent lay-run school nearby associated with NAPSIS, but there is no official connection with the parish. They do good work in forming families as well.

What impact has music had on your parish?

“People who normally attend the EF do not often understand how important and challenging these types of changes are in the OF. The vast majority of Catholics only know the OF. If mainstream Catholics are to discover the EF as the timeless spiritual treasure that sanctified our forefathers, then exposing them to reverent OF Masses with more traditional elements becomes an important bridge.”

The parish budget for the sacred music program has more than quadrupled during my time here. This has been a priority. The music program run by our choirmaster, David Hughes, who is not only a gifted organist and singer, but he has the uncanny capacity for teaching people of varied backgrounds how to appreciate and sing sacred music. We have three adult choirs - a professional schola doing renaissance polyphony every Sunday, a volunteer adult choir, and a Spanish adult choir. David’s great passion is working with children, teaching them Gregorian chant and polyphony. We have a student schola of nearly 100 students that meets twice a week to rehearse from September to June. The student schola is quite accomplished and sang at the English Masses for World Youth Day in Madrid.

What have been your three greatest challenges?

First, I think it is the same challenge of Dom Proper Gueranger, the Father of the Liturgical Movement: exposing people to the reality that we have been given an inexhaustible treasure in the Traditional Latin Mass. There is a richness in this Mass that never stops giving at a profound level of one’s being, if only people would take a little more time to work at it. This is the hard work, one soul at a time, one family at a time. Many of the faithful who attend the OF have trouble appreciating the EF, or see it as a threat.

There are some of the OF faithful who can appreciate the EF the minute they first experience it. This is a special grace. For most others, it takes time.

I regularly say that it takes 5 times before you can start to appreciate the EF. The Liturgical Movement inspired by Gueranger morphed in the 1950’s away from this hard work of teaching people about our liturgical traditions and instead opted for the easier root of reforming the liturgy, making the ritual less complicated, hoping that people would then be drawn to Mass even more. Hence we have the OF. While the intentions may have been good, it is my opinion that something quite valuable was lost.

Second, being a pastor to those who already love the EF but who have not allowed it to transform their interior life. There can be a thinly veiled combination of Gnosticism and Protestantism in those who love the EF that manifests its disingenuous nature by a lack of charity. The Church is alway in need of purification, but those who love the EF can fall into the trap of attacking the boat of Peter in a way that is unhelpful, placing themselves above the Church itself. Some of this bitterness is a self-inflicted wound.

Certain Church authorities falsely suppressed the EF after the Council, arguing that EF had been abrogated, attempting to make those who love the Traditional Latin Mass feel as if they were doing something wrong.

Pope Benedict XVI courageously corrected this error with Summorum Pontificum. However, the bitterness remains. No doubt many faithful who loved the Traditional Latin Mass after the Council were forced underground or to the fringes. For those who have been wronged it is good to focus on the Spiritual Act of Mercy, bearing wrongs patiently.

At the same time it must be said that those who love the EF must recognize that they have received an unmerited grace. It is a gift, not to be held over

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others who do not understand it, but as something to be shared. One beggar showing another beggar where he can find a piece of bread. Those who love the EF must have a passion for unity within the Church, making sure that this Mass does not become a source of division within the Body of Christ, and following the example of the saints, practicing obedience to Church authority.

Third, personal holiness. The only way this whole liturgical question is going to be resolved is by saints. Rephrasing a story about Chesterton, when asked what is the greatest problem with the Liturgical Movement today, I have to say that I am. If I had done a better job with what the Lord had entrusted to me here, there would be more far reaching results.

And your three greatest joys?

First, watching people’s lives being transformed by the liturgy. Some people have truly grasped all that we are trying to do. It is beautiful to watch them go beyond what I have said and to truly encounter the Lord Himself in the liturgy. I am not trying to draw people to myself, but to Our Lord’s True Presence in the Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady. Once I see them connected to the Source, there is great satisfaction. Watching the altar boys who are drawn to this Mass is beautiful as well. They take pride in serving the Mass, starting at a young age and continuing through college years. How this happens is a mysterious working of grace.

Second, the miraculous renovation of our beautiful church of St. Mary’s.

We have been renovating it for about four years and we just about to complete this final phase. The most impressive part of the renovation with the central reredos, an altarpiece over the high altar. It is an original painting by Leonard Porter of the Assumption. It is a great joy to offer Mass in this church.

Third, Solemn High Extraordinary Form Mass every Sunday. I love to offer the Solemn High Mass. My vocation is fulfilled when I am offering that Mass and great mysteries are communicated to my soul. The text speaks to me, the prayers speak to me, and the music transforms the moment into an eternal mystery. Even when I do not have the Mass, I enjoy sitting in choir, admiring the beauty the Church, praying the liturgy with the priest, watching the parishioners in their own prayers, and listening to the sacred music. I imagine heaven will be like this.

What do you see in the next three years on the horizon for St. Mary’s?

Once again, I think once our church renovation is completed, I think it is simply the hard work of keeping the boat on course, exposing more and more people to this great gift that God has given to us so that people’s lives can be transformed by the Eucharist and Our Lady. This is the hard work begun by Dom Gueranger over 100 years ago, and we continue it today.

R.

East Side, West Side, All Around the Town

the parishes

The Latin Mass in New York City

by Barbara Monzon-Puleo It was a determined but hopeful crowd which gathered at the Church of St Agnes in mid-town Manhattan one evening in 1989. Cardinal O’Connor had asked the pastor to establish a weekly Sunday Tridentine Mass. The gathering included such pioneers as the late Dr. William Marra.

“We have the traditional Midnight Mass at midnight on Christmas Eve. It is always very well attended. A professional choir was hired for this Mass. We have the Midnight Mass every year and (for the past two years) we have also sung the Anno a creation mundi and had a blessing of the Manger before the start of the Mass,” Mr. Toribio stated proudly.

The Brooklyn Story Bishop Mugavero appointed Monsignor James Asip to coordinate the weekly Latin Mass in Brooklyn. Msgr. Asip, a popular diocesan priest, soon gathered a group of a loyal parishioners who moved with the Mass to various locations, beginning with the Most Precious Blood Monastery to its present home at Our Lady of Peace Church in downtown Brooklyn.

HOLY INNOCENTS CHURCH on West 37th Street in the now-gentrifying heart of Manhattan’s famous Garment Center, is experiencing a renaissance.

M

onsignor Eugene Clark fielded questions from a nervous audience still suffering from feelings of abandonment by the Church since the Second Vatican Council. This author recalls when an older woman, seated somewhere in the back of the church suddenly interrupted Monsignor’s explanation about the planning of the Latin Mass.

“You will need to re-consecrate the altar!” She shouted.

“Everything will be taken care of, “ Monsignor replied in his controlled way.

A year before, Ecclesia Dei had opened citywide not only weekly Masses according to the 1962 missal but conferences, Catechism classes, devotions and the sacraments.

Today, twenty-four years later, the reassurance that the Mass of the Ages would be available to the faithful has been a commitment carried out by the Archbishops of New York and the Bishops of Brooklyn. But Latin Mass devotees are diffused throughout the city and must travel to take advantage of all these offerings.

A Renaissance in NYC’s Garment Center After the 2007 promulgation of the Motu Propio, another NYC parish which answered the call was Holy Innocents Church. Located on West 37th Street in the now-gentrifying heart of Manhattan’s famous Garment Center, the parish is experiencing a renaissance.

“When the then-Pastor expressed his openness to having a daily Mass, the Confraternity of the Sacred Heart and some male lay servers were very instrumental in assisting him to get in touch with possible priests and servers who would help say and serve the Mass,” explains their master of ceremonies Eddy Jose Toribio. “They were also very instrumental in helping the priests and servers to become familiar with the ceremonies of the Mass, in providing for the music, and for the vestments and other things that were necessary for the traditional Mass.”

Since then, the Church has also hosted Pontifical and Christmas Masses, First Saturday devotions and Holy Days.

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Monsignor Asip pioneered marrying couples, performing baptisms and administering First Holy Communions in the Extraordinary Form. He also recruited priests in the city who he knew could tackle Latin. These included two Jesuits from Fordham University in the Bronx and some retired chaplains -- and from the Vatican Mission to the United Nations, most recently, Monsignor Mauro Cionini.

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION In the Extraordinary Form, Brooklyn Style

A Fordham priest is currently in charge of the Mass at Our Lady of Peace, which a loyal group of 50-60 parishioners attend each Sunday. The parish gets together once a year after Mass for a Communion breakfast.

Teaching Saturdays To this group, one must add the several dozen Catholics who come from far and wide around New York and its suburbs to attend the parish’s new monthly Saturday Teaching. These sessions, conducted by various priests from the NYC metropolitan area, teach the theology of the Latin Mass.

“Quite a few people come back each time,” says David Adam Smith, one of the organizers. “And there are always new people arriving. The teaching begins at 12:00 noon, with a Solemn Mass or a Missa Cantata offered at 1:00 p.m. The schola is quite good, and provides an excellent example of what Catholic music should be.”

Our Lady of Peace offers monthly Saturday Teaching sessions which instruct a growing crowd of Catholics about the theology of the Latin Mass.

The TLM in a Cemetery Chapel and the Future Because many parishioners travel many hours from other boroughs or New York suburbs, the Diocese of Brooklyn gave permission for a Latin Mass at the chapel of St. John’s Cemetery in Queens, celebrated by Father John Wilson. This Mass is quite crowded, attended weekly by about 100 people.

Many of these are young families who are clearly hoping for a parish of their own in the near future.

Today, across New York City, the faithful enjoy Masses, processions, devotions and sacraments in the traditional rite. But what of the future?

A parishioner at Brooklyn’s Our Lady of Peace, Robert Maresca, offers a pithy prognostication.

“Of course, the Traditional Mass is available in several churches today, but it’s my belief that it will grow only to the extent that the Church hierarchy promotes that growth.”

R.

My First Time Discovering the Latin Mass in West Virginia

the parishes

By Teresa Limjoco I did it. I finally took myself in hand, determined to find a Sunday Latin Mass in rural West Virginia.

manner. His soothing tenor gave a nice cadence and smoothness to the Latin text.

True to form, the Mass was held at an unusual time (2 pm), in an inconvenient place. Holy Trinity Church is a 70’s building in a depressed residential area with a tiny minority of Catholics, in Nitro – a town named for the nitroglycerine industry which was once its economic mainstay.

Just before the homily, Father related a fascinating story of how the statues were found. It turns out that they actually came from the original church that stood next door, which was demolished to make way for this new one in 1979. An older parishioner saw the statues in someone’s barn, immediately recognized them, and bought them for 25 dollars! Father planned to send the statues to Pennsylvania for restoration. He also intended to restore the tabernacle to its rightful place in the centre of the sanctuary.

I arrived an hour early to be sure I was on time for the Mass, and found a young couple quietly contemplating the illuminated sanctuary atop three shallow steps, against a plain back wall. The makeshift altar was covered with a green-and-gold cloth – with six tall candlesticks and a covered chalice. Off to the side were two small chapels with votive candles, dedicated to Our Lady.

It was very quiet. Dark wooden pews (with kneelers, thankfully), squeaked scandalously with every move I made. The echoey hall magnified the tiniest of rustling sounds.

‘Because I prayed for it’ A half-hour before Mass, K arrived and propped open the church’s double doors. I told her I was taking pictures of the church, and she said she’d turn on the lights for me. We stood before the sanctuary, admiring the altar.

She said she was doing all she could to get the word out about the Traditional Latin Mass. I was glad to hear that.

Why, I asked, did the TLM come to this particular town?

She replied dryly, ‘Because I prayed for it.’ Then more seriously, ‘Oh, how I prayed so hard for this to come here!’ I understood, and chuckled. I liked K at once.

K used to be a Baptist and converted some twenty years ago when she fell in love with Catholic masses she saw depicted in the movies. ‘This,’ she said, nodding at the candlestick-laden altar, ‘was why I converted.’ She was dismayed to discover that the Novus Ordo Mass was the dominant form in the real-life Catholic Church, but then decided to pray fervently for a change.

She pointed out the life-like crucifix on the centre back wall. ‘That’s new. It came from South America. It’s very interesting because it looks so real. The blood looks like it’s dripping down from Jesus’ head.’ Some people didn’t like it, she said. However, Father J, the TLM priest, had bought it for the church; it replaced the Risen Christ figure typical of the post-Vatican II novelties.

Two old statues of St Anthony of Padua and Thérèse of Lisieux flanked the crucifix. Their countenances were angelic and calm; they looked antique, but I couldn’t tell their exact age. The paint was faded, and white spots and chips bore witness to their neglect. K told me mysteriously that someone had bought these at ‘some sale.’

A Latin Mass in a Spartan Place The Mass was about to start. I took my seat, armed with my 1962 Missal. There were just ten of us there, nine adults and one teen – the usual number, I was later told.

Father J conducted the Latin Mass in an unfussy, solemn

Father also happily announced that his Capuchin order of a hundred priests is looking at fifty – yes, fifty! - young men currently discerning a vocation. (I couldn’t help contrasting this to the diocese’s own ‘harvest’ of seven potential priests now at seminary.)

The homily proper began. In the secular culture today, proclaiming the Truth of the Catholic Church was simply not enough, Father said. Taking his cue from a recent issue of Latin Mass magazine, he believed that showing the world the Beauty inherent in our Catholic music, liturgy, and culture was going to be a more effective tack to take. I found myself nodding and smiling at everything he said.

Fr. J worked at a disadvantage. With no altar servers, a middle-aged fellow up front took charge of ringing the bells. There was no incense burning. The church had no altar rail, so we all trooped to the front pews and knelt there to receive Holy Communion.

A Conversation with Father After Mass, about half of us gathered around Father -- a neatly dressed older couple, a fortyish woman with seven children, and K. I was pleased to learn that older couple belonged to my parish. Everyone was here purposefully, and serious about their liturgy.

Father was gracious. He said he’d been a Capuchin priest for 27 years, and was now 47 years old. He was a missionary working in a Southwest Pacific island before coming back to the States. It was upon his return Stateside that he first experienced a Traditional Latin Mass. It was, you might say, love at first sight, and hearing. He would soon receive training in the TLM with the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. The Bishop then assigned him to this small, three-church parish two years ago to celebrate both the TLM and Novus Ordo Masses.

But why here, of all places? Well, some time back, about a hundred parishioners each in two nearby cities petitioned the Bishop for a TLM in their respective parishes. Father J says that the decision was taken to choose this town and the admittedly odd times for the Mass (weekdays at 7 am) in order to avoid conflicts with the Novus Ordo Masses in the older, established parishes. It was for diplomatic reasons, and this sounded reasonable to me.

Referring to his homily on Beauty, Father brought up a

recent video featuring a motley trio of young men on a TV talent show. They ‘brought down the house’ with their performance, he said, singing an excerpt from a Catholic Requiem hymn - the ‘Pie Jesu’!

Yes, Father thought that an excellent example of evangelizing more persuasively by simply sharing the moving artistry and elegance found in, in this case, our liturgical music. It was very likely that no-one in that studio even knew the Catholic origins of that ‘song’.

Father then spoke about the tabernacle. Having it right there in the centre of the sanctuary, he said, would remind people that Christ was, indeed, present inside this church, and deserved due reverence. He related sadly that some parishioners failed to genuflect upon entering the church.

I shook his hand gratefully, confessing that his homilies were the very kind I had sought at Mass. The future of his TLM parish also looked bright. Father hoped to one day celebrate a High Mass here... and then he sighed, saying he wished he could just say Mass in a place that ‘looked like a real church’.

I could sympathize. This forlorn 70’s structure was built at a time when modernist churches stripped of any complex religious art or architecture were all the rage.

Father intended to make a ‘real church’ of this Spartan place, and I thought that was no idle threat.

Strange and Wonderful My ears then pricked up when Father let slip that a solemn High TLM might soon be coming to my local parish. ‘Twas another reason to smile, I thought -- oh, what a sweet, smart, gentle, and dedicated priest Fr. J is!

This was in stark contrast to my local parish priest, in my opinion. He was ordained in the early Eighties, and spent a decade as a military chaplain before serving for a few years at a parish further north.

To be honest, I was a bit put off by his endless joketelling, even in homilies. Like many priests of his generation who learned to say the Novus Ordo Mass versus populum, I thought perhaps he felt a need to entertain the crowd. To his credit, I conceded that he’d kept liturgical abuse out of his Masses, and performed his priestly duties with gusto.

Before taking my leave, I shook Fr. J’s hand once more, thanking him profusely. He smiled and gave me his blessing; I find that TLM priests have generally been much warmer folks.

I’ll be including Fr. J in my daily prayers henceforth – and my local parish priest, too. We’re repeatedly told to pray for all priests, but today I just learned something amazing.

To my utter shock, it turns out that my own parish priest has been taking lessons in saying the TLM from Fr. J himself – unbeknownst to all of us, for some time now!

How strange and wonderful are the ways of God.

R.

the parishes

Bringing the ‘Catholic’ Back to a California Parish Pundits are fond of pointing out that ‘California leads the nation’ when it comes to trends. Here’s one such an example, in a priest who has been quietly laboring in the Lord’s vineyard in Newark, California.

Can you tell us the story of your parish, as you found it?

St. Edward Catholic Church is located in Newark, CA, in the southern end of the Diocese of Oakland. On my arrival here in 2004, the liturgy was exclusively contemporary music, generally from contemporary Christian music sources. The Gloria and the Memorial acclamations used were unapproved texts and there was an active liturgical dance troupe that performed at the main liturgies.

Here I heard one of our “best” catechists tell the students they could decide for themselves who Jesus was for them. After a year of struggle I was able to fire the music director and hire a new one in September, 2005. I am still struggling with the Catechetical program although there have been some improvements in the First Communion program.

The Gloria and the Memorial acclamations used were unapproved texts and there was an active liturgical dance troupe that performed at the main liturgies.

Was this because of the ‘spirit’ of Vatican II? Vatican II never told us to stop using Latin. Vatican II never told us to turn our altars around and Vatican II never told us to take out the altar rails.

It was the introduction of the Latin that got most of the reaction. I was pegged as a traditionalist and accused of taking us backward. It really did not help to cite chapter and verse, but it was clear that no one had read the documents of Vatican II.

Father Keyes, what is your background and training?

I entered the seminary in 1971. In four years I learned how to play guitar and got a degree in Thomistic Philosophy. I left the seminary in 1976 and worked in a hot dog stand and an insurance company before re-entering another seminary in 1977.

The ‘70s did horrific damage to the church and I was criticized for associating priesthood too closely to the sacraments and worship and not enough to social justice. They did not want a “musical priest.” I was also told to throw away that old Thomistic stuff.

Disgusted and hurt, I went back to selling hotdogs and making music in a liberal Catholic church on Sunday evenings. I also spent summers in the mid-West working on Graduate Degree in Liturgy and music. When I first got to that Midwest College, all my professors in music were priests, Precious Blood Priests. I am especially grateful to Fr. Bob Onofrey and Fr. Larry Heiman for encouraging me to be both musician and priest. After all, if they could do it, why could I not do it?

Fr. Heiman would become my mentor in Gregorian Chant for more than 30 years until his death at the age of 92. I joined the Precious Blood community in 1988. I was professed in 1990 and ordained to the priesthood, October 26, 1991.

In my early days as a new priest I served as Vocation Director and as Lay Associate Director and then was made pastor of St. Barnabas, Alameda in 1994. In 2001 I went to Chicago as Director of Formation and then became Pastor of St. Edward in August 2004.

The ‘70s did horrific damage to the church and I was criticized for associating priesthood too closely to the sacraments and worship and not enough to social justice.

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With ‘Alleluia’ and ‘Amen,’ the people respond with Hebrew and Aramaic without thinking, and even an ‘80s Rock groups sings “Kyrie Eleison” because the words sound “powerful.” But some people avoid Latin like it is the plague because they do not understand it. Any adult Catholic who does not know what “Agnus Dei” means is simply not trying.

The following was posted to the parish Facebook page in February 2013: “I will only attend the mass here as long as it’s not Fr. Keys. I don’t know how he turned this church into like a singing contest. He sings from the beginning to the end. He also sometimes do it in Latin. Who understand latin in USA? Not me. Most of the parishioners that used to attend the mass here are now attending in Holy Spirit or St. Anne. Fr. Keys, please bring the old St. Edwards tradition back 20-30 years ago. Fr. Jim is the only one doing an excellent job.”

But some people avoid Latin like it is the plague because they do not understand it. Any adult Catholic who does not know what “Agnus Dei” means is simply not trying.

This was my response: • The center here is Jesus, Not Fr. Keyes or Fr. Jim. It is not about the priest. The priest is supposed to disappear.

• Singing contest? Who are the contestants?

• Latin is the official language of the Catholic Church and a unifying element in a congregation that speaks 30 languages. Beware that your anti-Latin tirade may be implicitly racist.

• Vatican II placed Gregorian chant in first place. It does not have first place at St. Edward, but now it has a place.

• Liberal traditions of the past are gone. Now we try to do what the Church asks. The 70’s are over.

• St. Edward ‘traditions’ of 20-30 years ago were not Catholic traditions. This is a Roman Catholic Parish.

• Father’s name is spelled “Keyes” • St. Anne and Holy Spirit are fine parishes and people are free to go where they want. But treating parishes like a commercial operation where you go where you like the music or the preacher is a Protestant tradition.

What liturgical changes did you make when you arrived?

Now in our liturgy the music is from a variety of eras and cultures and there is a Missa Cantata each Sunday. There has been a progressive introduction of the Roman propers and ordinary at the Missa Cantata.

The General Instruction on the Roman Missal is observed in varying degrees over the nine Masses, but progress is being made. In September, 2012, the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite returned to St. Edward after an absence of 50 years.

Additionally, a cry room which also served as a meeting room has been transformed into an adoration chapel. Morning and Evening prayer from the Liturgy of Hours is now sung every day.

What is your liturgy like today?

At our parish, there are adult Catholics who speak French, Spanish, Portuguese and Farsi who now sing “Pater Noster” by heart; they know what they are saying and they don’t hold hands because they are praying to their Father, and they don’t lift their hands to the heavens because the real presence of our God is on the Altar in front of us.

The following was posted on Yelp: Have you ever wanted to visit the Vatican and experience a liturgy there but couldn’t afford it? Well..

If you have ever been to Rome or desire to go to Rome but for some reason haven’t been able to make it to Italy, come to St. Edwards!! It’s been one of the fewest (or only?) places in the tri-city that has liturgy celebrated like they do at the Vatican. The 10am mass is very beautiful with some of the prayers sung in latin, but not to worry, the readings and the homily are in English. The choir is truly amazing that it truly feels like you’re surrounded by angels singing a heavenly hymn to God. Although I know most people prefer the upbeat music where you clap your hands and hear drumbeats. This is truly a treat and a find, and even if you could come and participate in this mass once a month (and attend mass somewhere else the rest of the weeks), you will leave truly spiritually uplifted. Hey you never know, you may start coming here every week.

“The 10am mass is very beautiful with some of the prayers sung in latin, but not to worry, the readings and the homily are in English. The choir is truly amazing that it truly feels like you’re surrounded by angels singing a heavenly hymn to God.” You either love it or you hate it. Yes, we lost several parishioners who now go to other nearby liberal parishes. Many former choir members now sing in a Presbyterian Church. But we also have many people who travel all the way from Hayward or Livermore for what they call their “Roman fix.”

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We began with the introduction of real lectionaries, replacing the fake loose-leaf binder that had been the focus of the Word of God prior. The fake plastic green trees were removed and statues were put in their place. The fake oil candles on the altar were replaced with new floor length candle stands with tall, real 51% beeswax candles.

The Advent wreath was a tall wooden stand with four blue and pink plastic candles with oil inserts. They had used them for years and the candles never burned down completely erasing some of the imagery and symbolism associated with that practice. A new wooden stand was fashioned in 2009, placing the wreath no longer in the center of the sanctuary but to the side in front of the Ambo.

A Crucifix was added to the Sanctuary in 2006. That year we also refashioned the baptismal font. The old one was corroded and could have been restored, but the delight of this new font is that it looks like it belongs here, and was actually designed by someone who celebrates the sacrament. Other additions were an ambry, kneelers, and credence tables, floor altar candles and a New Easter Candle and stand.

In 2013 the carpet in the Sanctuary was replaced with wood laminate and the old asbestos tile in the main body of the Church was covered with new VCT tile. In January The Church received a new coat of paint with some new colors, inside and out. In February the fiberglass Risen Jesus statue was removed from the Sanctuary, a new cross was fashioned out of Blood Wood from South Africa, and a new hand carved, hand painted Lindenwood Corpus was installed.

The previous Easter Candle was an old plastic one with a small candle insert. We had a new Paschal candle stand fashioned and ordered a 40lb candle for the first Easter Vigil in 2005. (That was also the first time we did not do two Easter Vigils, one Vigil in Spanish and one in English. Now we do one Easter Vigil utilizing Latin as well as Spanish and English. We also combine the choirs. ) A Filthy, Ugly Altar Something had to be done about that altar. It was filthy and the altar clothes were ugly and in bad repair. It took two days to clean all the paste and glue from the altar. There had been many years of pasting paper banners to the front for school liturgies and first communions.

There was this ugly cloth banner that was fashioned each year PARISHIONERS RECONSTRUCT THE BEAUTY out of the handprints of the OF THE ORIGINAL from a 1970s photo of St second graders that was pasted Edward’s original altar rail. to the front of the altar for first communion.

All of these programs were halted and the altar became a sacred place again. We purchased new altar cloths and a Jacobean frontal, and new linen corporals. We also placed relics into the altar.

It took two days to clean all the paste and glue from the altar. There had been many years of pasting paper banners to the front for school liturgies and first communions.

Relics Are Placed The altar had a stone but nothing was in it. I had a few relics collected over the years, and a few relics were given to me for this event in 2008. Our altar now has first class relics of St. Maria Goretti, St. Gaspar del Bufalo, St. Maria de Mattias, St. James the Apostle, St. Martin de Porres, St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Pius X. It was in May of 2008 with the whole school present and seven school children assisting that we placed the relics in the altar and placed the stone in the altar.

TRANSFORMATION: Before (2004, top) and after (2013, bottom) photos illustrate the beautiful transformation of the interior of St Edwards Catholic Church in Newark, California.

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The Wonder of ‘Weird’ Portland

the parishes

How Holy Rosary Parish Thrives It should have been the death of an urban parish.

We are told it is the faithfulness to the Divine Liturgy, orthodox doctrinal preaching, the availability of confessions, sound catechesis, and the spirit of prayer that draw people from so far afield.

Q. Confession is a big part of most successful parishes. How would you characterize the numbers of people who come to Confession at Holy Rosary? We have thought about keeping count of the number of confessions at Holy Rosary, but that would be most difficult! It is our belief that if you preach about confessions and make them available, many people will come to seek out the Sacrament of God’s Mercy. Indeed with apostolic preaching, ensuring the availability of confessions was one of the main goals of the first Friars who came to Portland.

On an average week we have at least six and half hours of scheduled confessions, but very frequently we run over the time allotted. As people also walk in or make special appointments so that time increases. The beginning of each month, with first Fridays and first Saturdays, there a great increase in the numbers of penitents and we provide extra confessors and hours. On first Sundays confessions are also heard before the morning Masses.

In 1980, Holy Rosary Church and Priory in northeast Portland, Oregon was an island in a vast sea of debris. What had been a classic American working class Catholic neighborhood had been utterly destroyed. Sixties-era government ‘urban renewal’ programs had driven out families and small businesses. Land prices plummeted, and Motel 6, car washes, parking areas, and gas stations took their place.

On an average week we have at least six and half hours of scheduled confessions, but very frequently we run over the time allotted. On the “first weeks” of the month we hear about 12 hours of confessions.

In short order, the parish community evaporated. There were no more than a dozen families who came to Mass at the Dominican church on Sundays.

The church was surrounded by vacant lots, choked with litter.

Today, Holy Rosary has over 900 families on the parish rolls, who faithfully fill the pews for six Masses every weekend. What’s more, many Catholics drive from the areas around Portland for Mass, socializing, catechism, Bible classes and book groups.

How did this miracle happen, in Portland, Oregon - a town known for its militant atheism and West Coast liberalism?

Father Vincent Kelber, OP, Holy Rosary’s hard-working pastor, tells us in this exclusive REGINA Magazine interview: Q. How would you characterize your parish and Mass attendance?

Holy Rosary Parish was founded in 1894 to, as one Archbishop stated it, “labor to build up and increase the worship of the Blessed Mother of our Lord Jesus.” This is what Holy Rosary has continued to do for almost 120 years, administered by the Western Dominican Province. The church itself is the chapel of the Rosary Confraternity whose western offices are across the street.

Q. Any vocations from the parish?

Father Paul Duffner, O.P., 98 years old and still assigned to the Priory community of Friars, founded KBVM as a radio Rosary apostolate to broadcast the recitation of the Holy Rosary and provide catechesis, even before the founding of EWTN. Although a territorial parish, Holy Rosary has ever served the wider Portland Metropolitan area. A great number of parishioners travel 45 minutes or more each Sunday to attend Mass at the parish.

Thankfully, there are also many young people currently in the parish discerning such a vocation. It should be added, that there are many married men and women who have found strength and inspiration for their vocation from the parish as well.

We are told it is the faithfulness to the sacred liturgy, orthodox doctrinal preaching, the availability of confessions, sound catechesis, and the spirit of prayer that draw people from so far afield. Holy Rosary Church has also long celebrated the ancient Dominican Rite on a regular basis.

Holy Rosary gladly serves two kinds of “parishioners:” those who are registered here and attend frequently and the many visitors who do so occasionally to augment their spiritual life.

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Holy Rosary Parish has been the source of many vocations to the priesthood and religious life. While an official count needs to be taken, we would say that upwards of 30 men and women attribute at least part of their discernment to time spent at the church.

While an official count needs to be taken, we would say that upwards of 30 men and women attribute at least part of their discernment to time spent at the church. Thankfully, there are also many young people currently in the parish discerning such a vocation.

Q. How actively are your parishioners participating in the life of HR? Given that Holy Rosary Parish is very much a “commuter parish,” the extent of the participation in parish life is remarkable. Parishioners are active in supporting the liturgy, assistance of the poor, ministry to the ill, catechesis, street evangelization, maintenance and labor support, homeschool activities, hospitality, Third Order Dominicans, Knights of Columbus, reading

groups, participation in homeschool activities, apostolates of prayer, social events, youth groups, etc... Truly the people of Holy Rosary Parish remind us that this church is not only a sanctuary of prayer, but is also active as a leaven in our local community.

Parishioners are active in supporting the liturgy, ministry to the poor and ill, catechesis, street evangelization, maintenance and labor support, homeschool activities, hospitality, Third Order Dominicans, Knights of Columbus, reading groups, participation in homeschool activities, apostolates of prayer, social events, youth groups, etc...

Q. What impact has music had on your parish?

As a parish dedicated to the preservation of the sacred liturgy and contributing to the ongoing new liturgical movement, music has been an essential component. Gregorian chant and the rich repository of sacred polyphony graces the 11 o’clock Sunday Mass, while the preceding 9 o’clock Mass with organ and cantor fosters the very best of congregational participation through traditional hymns and sung responses accompanied by the parish’s impressive pipe organ. Latin Polyphonic Masses for Feast Days and other liturgical observances throughout the year are sung by Cantores in Ecclesia, an extraordinary choir long associated with the parish.

Its Director, Blake Applegate, is the principal Cantor for Holy Rosary, and its founder is the long-standing Parish Director of Music, Oxford-trained Dean Applegate.

As a parish dedicated to the preservation of the sacred liturgy and contributing to the ongoing new liturgical movement, music has been an essential component. Gregorian chant and the rich repository of sacred polyphony graces the 11 o’clock Sunday Mass.

Q. What have been your greatest challenges? Your greatest joys?

One challenge and opportunity for the parish is to continue to grow in a manner that not only teaches and sanctifies those with worship here, but continues to give to the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon.

So to preserve the traditions of the parish and the parish community is essential as is the continued building up of the parish as a regional resource of prayer and catechesis.

In many ways Holy Rosary is not unlike a shine which as the USCCB states, “is dedicated to promoting the faith of the pilgrims by centering on a mystery of the Catholic faith, a devotion based on authentic Church tradition, revelations recognized by the Church, or the lives of those in the Church’s calendar of saints.” My greatest joy is to see how the lives of Catholics are changed by the encounter with Christ that happens at Holy Rosary, as well at the potential for even greater heights of ministry.

Holy Rosary is not unlike a shrine which as the USCCB states, “is dedicated to promoting the faith of the pilgrims by centering on a mystery of the Catholic faith, a devotion based on authentic Church tradition, revelations recognized by the Church, or the lives of those in the Church’s calendar of saints.”

The Parish: Supporting Catholic Homeschooling For 30 Years

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f you’re among the growing ranks of American Catholics looking to support homeschooling through your parish, Holy Rosary is an excellent model. Begun by pioneer homeschoolers in the 1980s, Holy Rosary Homeschool Group today is a Catholic support group with over 120 families.

“We are obedient to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church and believe that parents are the first educators of their children,” says Dorothy Gill, the group’s experienced leader. “Although based at Holy Rosary , our membership includes parishioners from many other Catholic churches in the Portland/Vancouver metro area.

If you’re among the growing ranks of American Catholics looking to support homeschooling through your parish, Holy Rosary is an excellent model.

“Our members enjoy monthly support meetings, field trips for both elementary and high school students, Little Flowers, and a high school commencement ceremony. We also arrange weekly enrichment classes which include ballet, piano, violin, iconography, and more.”

Holy Rosary’s homeschool group offers weekly summer park days, feast day parties, service projects and an annual talent show. Their monthly newsletter, The Torchbearer, keeps members informed while the e-mails lists allow us to stay connected with prayer requests, sharing and advice.

We are obedient to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church and believe that parents are the first educators of their children. We support our homeschooling families with weekly enrichment classes which have included ballet, piano, violin, Latin and iconography. That’s not to mention weekly summer park days, feast day parties, service projects and an annual talent show!

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PHOTOS: top His Grace, Archbishop Alexander Sample with Fr. Stephen Maria and Fr. Vincent after Confirmation. middle left Young parishioners (lr) Susie Scheese, Davey Scheese, Michael Ludwikoski and Larry Scheese packing food for the needy of the parish for the annual Thanksgiving Baskets. middle right Fr. Vincent talks with parishioners after Mass. bottom left Oldest Dominican in the Western Dominican Province on the 70th Anniversary of his ordination. Fr. Paul Aquinas Duffner. 12/2010 R.

The Orders

Today in America and throughout the world, Traditional Orders of Men and Women Religious are thriving. In this issue, REGINA Magazine features wide-ranging interviews with some of these Orders. We also are privileged to have an intimate conversation with a 31brand | Page new pre-seminary candidate entering The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest at their Oratory in Saint Louis, Missouri.

the orders

The Sisters Today, in cloisters and schools around America, the sound of young voices is ringing out. These sisters’ voices resound in classrooms, lift in chant, laugh on the playing field — and bring their fresh, healthy orthodox Catholicism into the spiritual desert.

In September 1971, Sister Imelda Marie, O.P. stepped into our eighth grade classroom. She was greeted by a stunned silence.

Sister smiled awkwardly, and then turned on her heel to write pre-algebra equations on the chalkboard.

From the back of the classroom came a stifled giggle, then a raised hand.

“Sister, where’s your habit?”

Sister Imelda was a formal person, so she didn’t joke with us. The class surveyed her warily — after all, we were a little shocked. She was dressed in the height of 1970s fashion – a no-nonsense, powder-blue, pantsuit.

“The Order, in their wisdom, has decided that we will no longer wear our habits,” she said shortly, and turned back to her chalk board. That was all the explanation we ever received.

Sister Imelda Marie wasn’t alone. In the 1970s, almost every Dominican group in the United States banished the traditional garb worn by the Order since it was founded by St. Dominic Guzman in the 1300s. There followed a massive exodus of sisters. Since then, the Order has dwindled to a mere shadow of its former significant presence in Catholic schools and parishes across America.

The decimation of the Dominican convents was, for decades, in some Church circles explained away as a ‘positive’ fruit of the ‘spirit’ of Vatican II. When such face-saving exercises became futile, many would simply shrug and point to the ‘effects’ of the ‘turbulent’ 1960s.

These days, the Western news media routinely highlights the lack of vocations as merely one aspect of a Catholic Church engulfed by crisis. And thanks to the media publicity heaped on the dissident ‘Nuns on the Bus,’ most Americans today can be forgiven if they think that Catholic sisters are all septuagenarians in pantsuits pushing an out-there feminist agenda.

This is a huge misconception. In fact, the media has missed a story which is truly historic: • All over America, a quiet revolution has been taking place since the 1990s.

• US religious orders who wear traditional garb and live in community have been experiencing a renaissance — a veritable ‘springtime’ of the Church.

• These orders are growing — many by leaps and bounds — as reverent young women have sought out the life that has sustained their forebears and the Church through the centuries.

Today, in cloisters and schools around America, the sound of young voices is ringing out. These sisters’ voices resound in classrooms, lift in chant, laugh on the playing field — and bring their fresh, healthy orthodox Catholicism into the spiritual desert that we have lived through lo these many decades.

This is a real story of rebirth – and not just for the Dominicans. We begin, however, with them.

US religious orders who wear traditional garb and live in community have been experiencing a renaissance — a veritable ‘springtime’ of the Church. These orders are growing — many by leaps and bounds — as reverent young women have sought out the life that has sustained their forebears and the Church through the centuries

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S T U D E N T SISTERS: Once they have professed their first vows, the sisters work toward the completion of a degree or teaching certification at Aquinas College.

Their time at school is a combination of study, prayer, and recreation. When they return home in the afternoon, the sisters have time for study, prayer, duties or recreation before Vespers.

The Nashville Dominicans

the orders

Springtime for an American Order of Preachers

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or more than 150 years, the Sisters of St Cecilia in Nashville, Tennessee have exemplified the Dominican charism.

The charism of a community is such that if all written records were destroyed, it could be re-created through the living testimony of its members.

After Vatican II, the ‘Nashville Dominicans,’ as they are known, elected to continue to follow their charism closely, retaining their religious habits and their life in community. Fast forward 50 years, and the Order has experienced an outpouring of interest on the part of many young American women, bursting the seams of their Motherhouse and prompting an expansion of the Order to other parts of America and beyond.

ask us questions, or ask our prayers for something. Very often they are surprised to learn that there are people around who have chosen to give their lives totally to Christ, and yet I have found that our presence is a sign of hope to people, even when they cannot quite understand exactly what our life means.

“People who are not Catholic or who have never seen a sister are not always quite sure who we are, but so often we find that they want to talk to us, ask us questions, or ask our prayers for something. Very often they are surprised to learn that there are people around who have chosen to give their lives totally to Christ.”

Q. Can you relate some anecdotes about how young girls find your order?

How they come to understand that they have a vocation?

Young women find out about our order in various ways–through our website, through a priest or friends who know us, through meeting one of our sisters at a retreat or on a college campus, through seeing one of our brochures. I am always amazed how God’s Providence works so uniquely in the life of each young woman to draw her to Himself in the way He knows best. While some young women know clearly and early on in their lives that God is calling them, I would say for most of us the call emerges gradually over a period of time.

In my own case, I had a friend from college who had decided to enter our community, and she was my initial reason for coming to visit. For most girls considering a religious vocation, they need to visit a convent in order to see what the life is actually like and to ask themselves, “Can I see myself being happy here?” Talking to the sisters, asking them questions, learning more about the life–all of this is important in the discernment process.

Q. Sister Anne Catherine, O.P, you have just announced a foundation in Scotland. Is this your Order’s first foray outside America? How did this come about?

This fall four of our sisters went to the Diocese of Aberdeen. This is our first mission house in the UK, although we also have sisters in Vancouver, British Columbia, Sydney, Australia, and Rome.

The story of how the sisters got to Scotland is referenced in the homily of Bishop Hugh Gilbert of Aberdeen at the welcome Mass: Bishop Hugh Gilbert, a Benedictine and former abbot of Pluscarden Abbey, has so kindly prepared for the sisters’ arrival and is a great advocate for the presence of Dominican life in the local Church.

“Over 60 sisters are currently in formation in our novitiate, with 27 young women entering our community this August.”

Q. Can you characterize your order’s growth for us in any way? Percentage growth over the last ten or twenty years, for example?

Our Congregation has grown 46% in the past 14 years, and currently, at 300, we are the largest we have ever been. Since I entered the convent in 1998, over 150 sisters have followed me. Over 60 sisters are currently in formation in our novitiate, with 27 young women entering our community this August. While the numbers vary, I think the underlying fact is that the Lord continues to call young women to religious life, and they are responding with generosity.

Q. Many -in fact most – people don’t yet realize that the traditional orders are meeting with such success. Do you find that people are surprised that you exist — and that you are thriving?

Sometimes we are met with surprised expressions–in airports, at grocery stores, on the street–and a person may come up to us and say he or she was taught by sisters in grade school and is glad to see we are still around.

People who are not Catholic or who have never seen a sister are not always quite sure who we are, but so often we find that they want to talk to us,

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But most important of all is to develop a deeper friendship with Christ through prayer and the sacraments. In a world surrounded by noise, we have to learn to hear the Lord’s voice speaking to us in the depths of our hearts and revealing Himself in the ordinary events of every day.

Q. What do you see as the Order’s next challenge(s)?

We have a number of young sisters, and going forward we want to make sure we have room for all of them to flourish! We also want to continue to provide the best formation and support we can for all of our sisters, and this takes ongoing thoughtful consideration. I think any person who takes seriously the call to follow the Lord, and not just one called to religious life, is going to meet with many challenges in this culture, for there are a lot of forces acting against the Gospel message.

Therefore, we need to be well-formed and equipped to see the needs of the new evangelization in the situations in which we find ourselves, and be ready to respond with energy and creativity in preaching the truth of Christ.

There are many good and necessary things we can and must do to spread the Gospel in a world that so desperately needs to hear it, especially in our apostolate of education, but we also have to remember that if we are not first faithful to our primary relationship with Christ, then we will have little of value to give to the world.

As the Dominican motto says, “Contemplate and give to others the fruits of your contemplation.”

“We have a number of young sisters, and going forward we want to make sure we have room for all of them to flourish!”

The Nashville Dominican sisters at a reception following their first profession of vows!

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the orders

The Order with Vocations ‘from the least expected places’ Mother Maria Aeiparthenos is the Mistress of Novices for the St. Kateri Tekakwitha Novitiate for the Religious Family of the Incarnate Word, located in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Her Order, which wears a traditional habit, is one of many experiencing a significant uptick in interest on the part of young, American Catholic women. Now, Mother shares her joyful experience in this exclusive interview with REGINA Magazine:

The Servants of the Lord was founded by Father Carlos Miguel Buela in Argentina on March 19, 1988. Now the Servants of the Lord have over 1000 members who serve in 35 countries. By the grace of God, generous souls continue to come; around the world, there are currently more than 90 novices and 90 aspirants.

Q. What is your Order’s charism?

Q. How would you characterize the formation of young Catholics these days - as opposed to 20 years ago? Any reason for hope?

The Religious Family of the Incarnate Word is missionary and Marian. We are comprised of both a male branch, the Priests of the Institute of the Incarnate Word, and a female branch, the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará.

Our mission is to commit all our strength to inculturate the Gospel, that is to say, “to prolong the Incarnation” of Jesus Christ. Following the call of Blessed John Paul II, our goal is to evangelize the culture in the most difficult places. Our evangelization takes many forms: homes of mercy for children, the elderly, and the sick, parish work, Catholic education, popular missions (in which we go door-to-door in the neighborhood of the parish and invite people to the parish mission), providing the St. Ignatius Spiritual Exercises.

We also have contemplative sisters who sustain the mission through their prayers and sacrifices.

We entrust the missions and our entire lives to Christ, our Spouse, through the hands of his mother; we take a fourth vow of consecration to the Virgin Mary according to the method of St. Louis de Montfort.

The Servants of the Lord was founded by Father Carlos Miguel Buela in Argentina on March 19, 1988.

Q. Given the scarcity of vocations in America, how is your Order doing in this regard?

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Now the Servants of the Lord have over 1000 members who serve in 35 countries. By the grace of God, generous souls continue to come; around the world, there are currently more than 90 novices and 90 aspirants.

There is always hope! Men naturally desire truth. In a world plagued with increasing violence, youth have an ever greater urge to give themselves to God – to live for eternity while we’re here on earth. The generation that has grown up with Blessed John Paul II, a strong and vibrant witness of hope, thirsts for Truth, and they have received many answers through the fruits of the Second Vatican Council: the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Theology of the Body, and many World Youth Days.

Young Catholics are the leaders of the New Evangelization. Youth from the most difficult or least Christian cultures joyfully pick up the Cross of Christ; for example, we have many vocations from some of the least expected places: Tajikistan, Egypt, and Holland!

There is always hope! Men naturally desire truth.

Support In addition to direct monetary donations, anyone wishing to contribute through donations of food, household products, office supplies, old furniture, or services (auto repair, plumbing, etc.) is invited to contact the convent closest to them by consulting the Order’s Province-wide directory.

Some of their missions have special needs. Read about the missions on their website to learn more about their apostolates and how you can share in their work through prayers and material support. It is now easier to help online using PayPal. Click here to make a tax free donation.

Our evangelization takes many forms: homes of mercy for children, the elderly, and the sick, parish work, Catholic education, popular missions and providing the St. Ignatius Spiritual Exercises.

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Young Americans Today ‘Know What Emptiness Is’ the orders

The Franciscan Sisters Third Order Regular of Penance of the Sorrowful Mother

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his growing new Community’s Motherhouse is in Toronto, Ohio. The Sisters also have two houses in Steubenville, Ohio and one in Gaming, Austria. In this exclusive interview, Mother Katherine Caldwell and Sister Della Marie Doyle, Director of Vocations, give Regina Magazine readers an intimate look inside their Community.

August 15th, 2013 is the 25th Anniversary of our founding as a religious community. We are so grateful to the Lord for creating us and sustaining us as a community these past 25 years! This video describes our history and a little bit about our life of prayer, fraternity, and ministry that the Lord has inspired for the Church and the world. It was put together during this 25th year with the help of a dear friend of the community, Stephanie Stewart, who did most of the filming and editing. Thank you Stephanie and thank you to all who have made our life possible! With Our Lady, our “souls proclaim the greatness of the Lord and our spirits rejoice in God our Savior”.

Mother Katherine Caldwell, you are a founding member of this new Community. What is your foundation and mission?

As a Franciscan contemplative-active religious community, established August 15, 1988, we were founded to renew the emphasis of prayer that was so central in the lives of St. Francis and his early followers, and is so essential for the renewal of our Christian culture and Catholic faith today.

From our life of prayer flows the heart of our mission to make known God’s merciful love to the poor, the sick and those in need of evangelization and to renew the fullness of Catholic life through the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, thus following the pattern of Christ and His servant Francis in preaching by both word and deed.

Twenty years ago the youth were formed by the culture of MTV, movies, television, and other distractions. This, coupled with poor faith formation, has led to a crisis of faith and moral decay.

Q. Tell us about the founding of your Community.

People often ask me why I was part of starting a new community. I must admit that if I was not 100% convinced that this was God’s call and will for my life, I would have given up years ago for it would have been much easier to join an existing congregation.

I can still remember when I received this call. While I had a love and desire to serve the poor, the grace of the contemplative life was so strong that I thought I was called to be a cloistered Poor Clare (given solely to a life of prayer), but God spoke so clearly in my heart that I was called to be a contemplative in the world that I could not doubt His call.

He then drew me to scriptures that confirmed this call. Later, I realized that these were the same scriptures given to Francis when he was discerning whether to be purely contemplative or to also preach.

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Q. Can you tell us a little about the Community’s prayer life?

It is the combination of a fervent life of prayer, at least 5 hours of prayer each day, works of mercy and a vibrant and caring fraternal life that makes our life a wonderful gift not only to our sisters, but I believe for the Church and for the world.

While we are blessed to hear about many answered prayers, people being touched by our caring presence or the hope our joyful sisterhood brings, we will only know fully in heaven the difference our consecrated life has made for the salvation of souls, our spiritual children.

I recently had a friend of the community do a little math to point out to me in a concrete way the amount of prayer that we are offering to honor and praise God and to pray for others. In one day our sisters (31 of us) offer 155 hours of prayer, 1085 hours per week, 4,659 hours per month, and 56,420 hours per year. All to glorify God and to make known His Merciful love!

(Editor’s Note: The sisters have since gained six more members.)

By embracing the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience—forsaking the treasures of this world—we strive to give witness to the abundant love of God. Q. Sister Della Marie, what sort of work do your sisters perform?

Our ministry and work flow from our life of prayer. Prayer itself is an apostolate for us. Some of the ministries we are involved in are: Serving those in need through a thrift shop, emergency food bank and a soup kitchen. We also serve on college campuses in evangelization, women’s ministry, leadership training, retreats, talks, and spiritual direction. Our Sisters also visit residents at a nursing home. Periodically we give talks and retreats at parishes or church groups. Our Vocation outreach consists in giving talks about religious life, discernment retreats, and presence at vocation fairs, local colleges, and high schools.

Q. Mother, can you tell us a little about your Community’s spirituality?

With grateful hearts, we recognize our consecration as the initiative and gift of the Father, our response of love to Christ whose love has captured our hearts and the Holy Spirit who has graced us to give ourselves to God who has given Himself totally to us.

By embracing the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience— forsaking the treasures of this world—we strive to give witness to the abundant love of God in this life, the priority of His kingdom, and the fullness of life and glory that awaits the faithful in heaven, when we will meet Christ our Bridegroom face to face.

Our life, rooted in our Catholic and Franciscan spirituality, flows from the dynamic love relationship within the three Persons of the Trinity, is centered in Christ, is animated and guided by the Holy Spirit, finds its source of strength in the Eucharist, and is modeled after Mary, especially under the title ‘Our Mother of Sorrows.’

“Despite our culture that is far from Christian, there is hope. The youth of our times know what emptiness is and they long for love, meaning, purpose, and truth.”

Q. Sister Della Marie, as Vocations Director, you are best placed to give us some perspective on vocations. What do you think draws young women to your order?

We are experiencing gradual growth and we are very grateful to the Lord’s generosity in blessing us with vocations. We are becoming more well known through social media especially Facebook and this has increased vocational interest. Also, I believe that the construction of our chapel in our motherhouse has given our community greater stability and space to welcome vocations. The size of our candidate classes are beginning to increase.

I believe what attracts women to our community is the authentic joy they see in our Sisters. This joy is a fruit of our life rooted in the Sacraments and in prayer, especially in daily Eucharistic Adoration. Our time of communal prayer brings unity and shared vision to our life in community and from this flows the witness of joy and the ability to see Christ and uphold the dignity of all those we serve.

The youth of today with internet available 24/7 on their phones have far greater moral temptation than 20 years ago especially in regards to pornography. Pornography is an epidemic that extinguishes the capacity of persons to give of themselves selflessly. Therefore, many are incapable of being in relationship with others; they are incapable of love, and they are incredibly lonely and lost.

Q. How would you characterize the formation of young Catholics these days - as opposed to 20 years ago? Any reason for hope?

The youth of our times are much more formed by social media than the youth of 20 years ago. There has been poor catechesis for a long time. I think this is changing and this will make a difference for the youth of today. Twenty years ago the youth were formed by the culture of MTV, movies, television, and other distractions. This, coupled with poor faith formation, has led to a crisis of faith and moral decay. The youth of today with internet available 24/7 on their phones have far greater moral temptation than 20 years ago especially in regards to pornography. Pornography is an epidemic that extinguishes the capacity of persons to give of themselves selflessly. Therefore, many are incapable of being in relationship with others; they are incapable of love, and they are incredibly lonely and lost.

Despite our culture that is far from Christian, there is hope. The youth of our times know what emptiness is and they long for love, meaning, purpose, and truth. There are many who are proclaiming truth to the youth and they are embracing it. The harvest is plenty and we need to continually pray for more laborers. Every Christian is called to be a witness and to labor for souls.

The world needs Christians who are in love with Jesus and who are willing to lay down their lives for their neighbors. We need to be constantly in tune with the Holy Spirit, so we will know how to love in every circumstance and give witness to the Truth. The Truth will attract the youth of our times and will form them in Love.

Q. Mother, how can young women with an interest in your community learn more?

A good first step might be to read about how other sisters found their way to us and of course, Sister Della Marie, our vocations director is always available to speak with!

You can make a tax deductible donation to the sisters here

It is at the foot of the cross that we fully experience the love and mercy of our God flowing from the pierced Heart of Christ and find the strength to give ourselves totally to Him and His people in love.

R.

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The Sisters Of Mercy and the Statues in the Attic

the orders

by Donna Sue Berry

A Treacherous Journey

F

ive Sisters of Mercy arrived in the Oklahoma Territory in 1884, a scant five years before the famous Oklahoma Land Run. They had accepted an invitation from the Rev. Isidore Robot, first Prefect Apostolic of the Indian Territory, to work with the Native American tribes at Sacred Heart Mission.

The Center of Catholicism Their first order of business was to open a boarding school for Native American girls. Saint Mary’s Academy educated the daughters of Pottawatomie, Chickasaw, and Seminole tribes as well as the daughters of white settlers. In the years that followed, the little school would grow into a self-sustaining community, an island of civilization. The Sisters had stables, employees’ houses, a blacksmith shop, a tool shop, a carpenter shop, and a bakery where the sisters baked 500 big French loaves each day.

Sacred Heart Monastery, which had been built before the sisters’ arrival, housed the novitiate and a boys’ school run by the Benedictines. The large campus was called Sacred Heart; it became the center of Catholicism in the Territory.

Then, disaster struck. On the night of January 15th, 1901 a fire engulfed the Sacred Heart Mission. It swept through the boys and girls schools and overtook the monastery, convent, and college – everything was burned to the ground. The bakery and a small log cabin are the only buildings remaining today.

Their long journey to Oklahoma (Choctaw for ‘red people’) began in Lacon, Illinois. The Sisters endured forging rivers, riding in covered wagons, walking endless miles, living through an encounter with outlaws, and even surviving a tornado! Undaunted, the little band overcame the hardships of the long, wearying trip. They did not turn back as other Orders before had.

These Sisters belonged to an Order which was founded in 1831 by Mother Catherine McAuley in Dublin, Ireland. By the grace of God, this Order was established to shelter, feed and educate poor women and children, and to help relieve their sufferings. Shortly after Mother Catherine’s death just ten years later, the order had grown to 150 sisters. Like many successful Orders before and since, they began to establish Missions, sending small groups of sisters to the east and west coasts of America. So when these five sisters settled down into Potawotami tribal land in July of 1884, they were indeed following the dream of their foundress.

On their way to the Oklahoma Te r r i t o r y , the Sisters endured forging rivers, riding in covered wagons, walking endless miles, living through an encounter w i t h outlaws, and even surviving a tornado!

Mother Catherine McAuley

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Mount Saint Mary’s Academy

In the years that followed, the little school would grow into a self-sustaining community, an island of civilization. Then, disaster struck.

The ‘Mount’ Two years later, the Sisters moved to Oklahoma City to continue their ministry of education with the opening of Mount Saint Mary’s Academy boarding school (which my great grandfather helped build). The cornerstone was laid, and soon young ladies began arriving from across the United States to be educated. It was there at ‘the Mount’ during 1910 that local women also began to attend day classes. Mount Saint Mary’s Academy continued as a novitiate until 1929, with at least 32 of their graduates answering the call to a religious vocation.

In 1947 the Sisters of Mercy bought the 85 bed Oklahoma City General Hospital in downtown OKC which they would re-name Mercy Hospital.

In 1974 they made the visionary decision to build a new Mercy Hospital in very north Oklahoma City in a cow pasture. Today, it is a huge medical complex.

Mount Saint Mary’s Academy continued as a novitiate until 1929, with at least 32 of their graduates answering the call to a religious vocation.

had been worried that some of the younger Sisters would have had the statues destroyed.

Three Sisters To Steal Your Heart Over the years, my family has had many encounters with these sisters, and we have become friends with a few. Less than a decade later, three Sisters of Mercy walked into our small Catholic Bookstore, Our Lady of Fatima.

There they stood in their modified habits: Sister Beatrice Bergman, Sister Boniface Kettner, and Sister Madlyn McCann. Sister Madlyn stole my heart immediately. She was short, round and her smile reminded me my grandmother. As they oohed and ahhed their way through our store, they endeared themselves to us immediately as they excitedly examined all the Catholic devotional books and items on our shelves. All three began talking about how they loved their life as Sisters of Mercy, their favorite devotions, and their love for all things holy in the Catholic Church.

Our relationship with these Sisters grew over the years. Once, they invited mom and me to Mount Saint Mary’s for a tour. One year the International Statue of Our Lady of Fatima came to Oklahoma for an entire month, and every church, school or organization had a chance to secure a day or night for a visit. Mom and I were thrilled to be asked to be on the committee to host the statue.

They’d made a secret plan, they said. Some of the older boys from the Mount had agreed to help them hide their treasures in the attic, where they had rested undisturbed for decades since.

Our Sisters were excited, too and immediately asked their pastor to host Our Lady’s statue. His response was an emphatic “NO!” He did not want that statue visiting, he explained disdainfully, because the Church was past all that nonsense.

Well, those Sisters told me that they would NOT take no for an answer.

They would go over the priest’s head -- to the Mother of God. They began to pray their rosaries, and fast! They also made a novena.

Just before the final time slot was taken for the statue, their priest suddenly called me. To my utter shock, he asked politely if his parish might have the statue for an evening. Before I could respond, he named the very date we had open.

Our Sisters immediately asked their pastor to host Our Lady’s statue. His response was an emphatic “NO!” He did not want that statue visiting, he explained disdainfully, because the Church was past all that nonsense.

A Spooky Old Attic on the Mount What an incredible evening it was. Snow was falling, and we had been invited to stay all night at the convent at Mount Saint Mary’s. Late in the evening, our three Sisters told us that they had a surprise for us.

We were intrigued, as they beckoned us to follow their flashlights down dimly lit hallways and into an old, old elevator that creaked as it labored to take us to the top floor. We emerged from the lift into a dark space, leading into a staircase into the attic.

Those Sisters fairly flew up those broken old steps. We followed, but at the top of the stairs we stopped abruptly. The attic looked like a scene out of a scary movie – complete with ghosts everywhere!

However, the ghosts turned out to be sheet-covered statues, crucifixes, framed papal blessings, and various other Catholic treasures. We were in awe; all of these holy things were very, very old. The Sisters explained that some of them had survived the fire at Sacred Heart Mission. Others were gifts to Mount Saint Mary’s during the early days.

Those Sisters fairly flew up those broken old steps.

We followed, but at the top of the stairs we stopped abruptly. The attic looked like a scene out of a scary movie – complete with ghosts everywhere!

The Sisters’ Secret Why were these treasures hidden in the attic? The Sisters exchanged glances and lowered their voices. Decades before, the changes in the Church had led to changes within their own convent, they said sadly. They

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Oh, how those three Sisters treasured the secret contents of the attic! This time it was our turn to ooh and awe at the sight of so many sacramentals hidden away.

After a short time, we started back down the treacherous stairway. When we shut the door to the attic behind us, we never dreamt that we’d see anything like this again.

Why were these treasures hidden in the attic? The Sisters exchanged glances and lowered their voices.

Decades before, they had been worried that some of the younger Sisters would have had the statues destroyed, they explained.

Five Years Later Sister Beatrice asked if we would like a few of the treasures from the attic, as they had won permission to give them to someone who would take care of them. They had already given a few things away -- a Sacred Heart statue and a Saint Joseph statue went to a church that had gladly taken them.

Of course we said yes, and that’s when Saint Anthony, Saint Jude, Saint Aloysius, Saint Agnes and two altar angels came to live at our home. Today, the angels adorn either side of an altar at St Damien of Molokai church, where the Traditional Latin Mass is said each day.

These statues are all indeed treasures, beautiful sacramentals, and each time we look at them it brings back the sweetest memories of those three very special Sisters of Mercy -- gone now, to their heavenly reward.

Requiescat in pace.

R.

the orders

The Brothers

Beyond their individual histories and charisms, all of these growing men’s Orders in America have some common elements. They wear habits. They follow their Rule strictly. And they are orthodox in their views, quite loyal to the Magisterium.

An American Renaissance Ten years ago, no one would have believed what we are witnessing today.

Back in 2002-2003, horrendous headlines blared across America and Catholics cringed.

After wave upon wave of sex scandals cut a debilitating swath through the ranks of our priests and brothers, the US Catholic Church made more then $3.4 billion in payments to a few law firms. Most allegations were never proven, as most cases never came to trial.

Pundits predicted the imminent demise of the Church. Not many Catholics dared to disagree. No one, it seemed, would want to associate themselves with such perfidy.

A Surprising Trend But the Barque of Peter is ever-buoyant. It may come as a surprise to the nay-sayers and the secular media, but the traditional male Catholic religious Orders in America are experiencing a renaissance.

This is occurring regardless of the Form of the Mass celebrated by the Order. From the Benedictines at Clear Creek, Oklahoma who celebrate the Extraordinary Form to the Dominicans of the Eastern Province who celebrate a reverent Novus Ordo Mass, American young men are stepping forward to take vows in Religious Orders.

Some Common Elements Beyond their individual histories and charisms, all of these growing Orders in America have some common elements.

They wear habits. They follow their Rule strictly.

And they are orthodox in their views, quite loyal to the Magisterium.

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The Fast-Growing Friars

the orders

The Eastern Province of the Dominicans Q. Rumor has it that there are many new candidates joining the Eastern Province of the Dominicans. Is this true?

Our province covers the Northeastern part of the USA, as far South as Virginia, and as far West as Kentucky and Ohio. We have had a steady stream of novices from this region in recent years (see chart). In 2013, we had 18 men enter as novices.

A ‘novice’ is in the initial stage of entering religious life, lasting one year.

After his first, simple vows, he becomes a student brother . Only after the friar has professed solemn vows (that is: “usque ad mortem” - until death), is he ordained a deacon and then a year later, a priest. Our formation is 7 years counting the novitiate year, and that is only after the man comes with a 4 year degree (which he would have before he comes to us, unless he wishes to be a cooperator brother it would be shortened). A number of men come also with graduate or advanced degrees and have had significant work experience.

I would add that in 2009, our province added a significant extension to the Dominican House of Studies since we needed more room; this was being done even as other religious communities are closing/relocating and selling their houses around the vicinity of the Catholic University of America.

In 2009, our province added a significant extension to the Dominican House of Studies since we needed more room; this was being done even as other religious communities are closing/relocating and selling their houses around the vicinity of the Catholic University of America.

If a young man thinking of a vocation comes to visit us, well it is impressive to see the sea of white in our chapel when our 80+ friars gather for prayer four times a day at the Dominican House of Studies.

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Q. Could you sum up the key elements of the order’s strategy and the appeal to candidates?

Well, we don’t have much of a strategy. We generally try to be faithful to our charism and way of life; I think we do a relatively good job of it - but all of us are “a work in progress.” I think that despite our limitations, the Lord is sending us intelligent men to preach the Gospel in the way of St. Dominic.

Even back when I entered in 1992 we were doing well with vocations. I was one of 8 men who entered our province. Four of us persevered and were ordained to the priesthood. We also have a strong formation program for our student friars in our novitiate house and our House of Studies in Washington, DC. This formation includes intellectual, pastoral and spiritual elements that are part of traditional religious formation given by the Church and other elements that are unique to the Order of Preachers. Our formation is guided by our Dominican constitutions.

I think the draw for men to the Dominicans is pretty simple. Dominicans have a strong intellectual tradition, with the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas (our “all-star”) and men know they will need this strong, systematic approach to understand the world and the human person in order to preach the Gospel effectively today.

This corporate witness that goes out to the world, is attractive for young men today. When they see us trying to follow Christ in the way envisioned

by St. Dominic, they want to be a part of it. It seems that a number of men are coming to visit us because they have heard we are having a “vocations boom” and they want to see what is happening. We do have a certain momentum going. If a young man thinking of a vocation comes to visit us, well it is impressive to see the sea of white in our chapel when our 85 friars gather for prayer four times a day at the Dominican House of Studies. Most young men who come to us very much want to be faithful to the Church and they are looking for a religious community that is “with” the Church and not working against the Church.

I think the media brutalizes the Church today. But the Dominicans live something that goes beyond the whim of the day or the politically correct agenda of Hollywood. The guys who come to us know this and they are ready to be counter-cultural to follow Christ. The men who come to us are not about to forego the good of wife and children for the sake of the Gospel only to join a community of men who subscribe to a version of Catholicism that fails to bear witness. The men who come to us today also know we are entering into what might be called a cultural battle. I have no doubt the Dominicans will be on the forefront of that battle in presenting the Truth in a convincing way. Our medieval dialectic way of engaging people and the ways that we preach, manage to take other perspectives into consideration and constantly search for the Truth who ultimately is Christ - this is attractive today to just about everyone.

When a young man comes to the Dominican House of Studies in Washington DC, he meets normal guys, who are pious, masculine, and faithful to the Church who are happy and ready to follow Christ, no matter the cost. I think it is true that young men take a look at us not only because of our intellectual approach, but also our orthodoxy or fidelity to the teachings of Jesus Christ found within the Church. This is not a strategy though, it simply is who we are - Dominicans have a long tradition in helping people see the Truth of Jesus Christ.

I think the draw for men to the Dominicans is pretty simple. Dominicans have a strong intellectual tradition, with the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas (our “all-star”) and men know they will need this strong, systematic approach to understand the world and the human person in order to preach the Gospel effectively today.

As one of our friars noted a few years back, it seems that many young men who come to us have had the experience of arriving to the edge of an abyss in our culture with which there is no compromise if they are to follow Christ.

This is not to say they are running from the culture, but it seems it has radicalized them before they come to us. If they are going to follow Christ in today’s environment something more rigorous is needed - something like a living tradition of 800 years of a life founded by St. Dominic that has produced many saints. Anyone who reads the history of the Church knows Dominicans have played significant roles both intellectual and evangelical.

We are made to evangelize and to engage the culture - we do this as a community of friars (brothers).

Many young men who come to us have had the experience of arriving to the edge of an abyss in our culture with which there is no compromise if they are to follow Christ. This is not to say they are running from the culture, but it seems it has radicalized them before they come to us. If they are going to follow Christ in today’s environment something more rigorous is needed - something like a living tradition of 800 years of a life founded by St. Dominic that has produced many saints.

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If we have a strategy, it certainly includes the new media. We have various projects in which our friars are engaged: on-line video (Kindly Light Media) now changed to Blackfriar films), radio, websites, blogs, use of social media (Facebook, Twitter, Google+) just to get the word out of what our friars are doing. We just started a new website that carries many stories of what is happening in our province: OPEast.org.

And of course, our friars are doing the typical things Dominicans do as well: writing books (Philosophy and Theology), writing articles for scholarly journals, speaking and most importantly, PREACHING! Some are even involved in the sciences, like our friars that teach at Providence College.

Most of our friars are not about to broadcast all the good they do each day - so this makes my job difficult.

When a young man comes to the Dominican House of Studies in Washington DC, he meets normal guys who are pious, masculine, and faithful to the Church-- and who are happy and ready to follow Christ, no matter the cost.

Q. What is the demographic description of new candidates -- what is the age range, occupations, etc.

Here you will see our current novices and their bios and ages. The ages of the men are right out of college (22) all the way up to their early 30’s.

Q. What is the turnover -- what percentage of people leave the order after joining?

The men who come to us are not about to forego the good of wife and children for the sake of the Gospel only to join a community of men who subscribe to a version of Catholicism that fails to bear witness. The men who come to us today also know we are entering into what might be called a cultural battle. I have no doubt the Dominicans will be on the forefront of that battle in presenting the Truth in a convincing way.

In years past our attrition rate for those going all the way to solemn vows or priesthood was about 50% which is actually pretty good for men’s religious orders in the US. What is notable now though, is that we have more men entering and we have lower attrition - in other words, more men are staying. Why is that? Well, I think our screening process is perhaps more rigorous and careful. The majority of young men who enter our way of life are flourishing.

Right now our Province has 70 men in formation for the priesthood and cooperator brotherhood.

The majority of young men who enter our way of life are flourishing.

Right now our Province has 70 men in formation for the priesthood and cooperator brotherhood.

Q.Dominicans talk about the importance of a clear identity and vibrant community to attract new candidates -- such as the wearing of habits.

Could you address that issue? Does it make a difference in recruitment?

I would say we don’t talk about the “wearing of habits” very often. We, in fact, do wear the habit and it serves what we call the “common life” showing forth our brotherhood and the poverty we attempt to live in following Christ. But again, there is no grand “plan” to wear the habit and get vocations. We perhaps do wear the habit more than other men’s religious communities, but I am not sure about that. For example if I am traveling to preach somewhere in the car I will wear it - even en route. But it is not rocket science, if we did not wear the habit, no one would know we are Dominicans, unless we had a conversation with them. Occasionally our friars will also wear the clerical collar.

There is a desire among the young to recover a sense of the sacredness of liturgy and to give a public witness to their faith. This is a response in part to what they perceive as a kind of watering down of the splendors of the Catholic tradition in recent decades. So the visibility of the habit matters to them, and the integrity of life it is meant to suggest (no “time off from the vocation”). As I said, it is a sign of poverty and a kind of visible witness to the importance of the religious liturgical element of culture to which our current age seems largely oblivious.

The habit is part of our common life and the wearing of it unifies us and does give us an identity to the world. We have a saying, “the habit does not make the monk.” And this is true, the witness of religious consecration to

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Christ must not simply be expressed in what we wear, but what is internal as well. I think for all of us, the habit simply says we are a work in progress.

“The habit does not make the monk” but it sure helps!

There is a desire among the young to recover a sense of the sacredness of liturgy and to give a public witness to their faith. This is a response in part to what they perceive as a kind of watering down of the splendors of the Catholic tradition in recent decades. So the visibility of the habit matters to them.

Q. Do economic hard times give candidates more space to think about joining the friars? In boom times would they not even consider such a choice?

People have asked me about this before. There might be some connection to the economy. I believe though something as serious as a vocation to the Dominicans might be distracted by the economy, but ultimately a man is not going to forego the good of wife and family simply because of the economy. That decision will most certainly come with a divine calling and a desire to follow Christ more radically in our world.

Donate Online

R.

FROM THE FRIARS OF THE EASTERN PROVINCE: The world is in desperate need of a Word that opens our eyes, and gives faith, hope, and charity. It needs the Word Himself, Jesus Christ. It also needs preachers who will proclaim the Word fully, faithfully, and effectively. God has blessed us with many vocations already, and many more are on the way! Thank you for your incredible generosity, and may the Lord bless you and your family abundantly.

PHOTO CREDIT: www.DominicanFriars.org

“Maybe He Will Be a Priest”

the orders

Nick’s Story

by Nick Phillips Most of us can’t imagine the internal struggles the some young men work through as they grapple with their vocation. In this remarkably candid account, one young man takes us along as he moves from dread to joy, on his way to becoming a priest.

I remember this like it was yesterday. I was sitting in a family friend’s living room watching a movie. I had nothing on my mind but the cares of this world — which was normal for me, an energetic fifth grader.

My father was in the other room talking with his friend and it is from this conversation that my life changed forever. I do not remember their whole conversation; all I remember are the words “Maybe he will be a priest.”

This was the first time I remember ever considering the priesthood and it was not a sense of joy that overwhelmed my heart that night; it was, much to my utter shame, a sense of dread.

This was the first time I remember ever considering the priesthood and it was not a sense of joy that overwhelmed my heart that night; it was, much to my utter shame, a sense of dread.

My Teenage Years The next memory I have regarding my vocation is what I call the prayer. I was no older than fourteen. I was attempting some night prayers which during these early stages were as irregular as my moods. The prayer went like this: Oh Dear Lord, I will do anything literally anything if I do not have to be a priest. I will go to Africa and live in a cardboard box. Please, I will do anything just do not call me to the priesthood. Even at this time there was an inner voice that I could not shake.

This for the most part was the status quo until I was a junior in high school. What happened? It was a chastity talk. I received the grace that I am sure that Our Lord had been preparing for some time. The students of my all male Jesuit high school were as quiet and respectful as I had ever seen them. They needed to hear that talk and to be quite frank, so did I. It was while walking out of that gymnasium that I said to myself “I do not want to be a priest but if God wants that for me then I will do it.”

I prayed: “Oh Dear Lord, I will do anything literally anything if I do not have to be a priest. I will go to Africa and live in a cardboard box. Please, I will do anything just do not call me to the priesthood.”

It was a year later that I actually felt like I wanted to be a priest.

However, as with most things in life this realization was not the end of the struggle. I wanted to be a priest, but I lacked the fortitude and temperance to put it into practice. I fell into the all too easy pitfall: I am going to be a priest later so I can be sinful now. This was anything but virtuous and it is only because of the protection and tender care of the Blessed Virgin Mother that I was not forever a slave to my passions.

Why I Am Not A Monk After a year of college and by the grace of God my passions were subdued and I entered the Carmelite monastery in Wyoming. The seven months I was there was like heaven on earth. My heart will always be Carmelite.

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It changed me forever; however, it was like an average American going from the couch to the Navy Seals. I did what I could, but I committed a lot of faults both voluntarily and involuntarily and ultimately left. I was fairly sure that I was called to the priesthood and that I was not called to be a monk.

It was like an average American going from the couch to the Navy Seals. Afterwards, I was fairly sure that I was called to the priesthood and that I was not called to be a monk.

Back to College I was forced to return to the world and by the care of my tender Mother I did not become of the world. After taking counsel from a good priest I decided to return to Benedictine College and complete my degree in Theology and Philosophy. The years of college were both a gift and a cross. It was a gift in that I had the Sacraments and Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament within walking distance. It was a cross in that I had to live in an environment that even at the best of schools is like living in a lion’s den – and the whole time I was dreaming of the Altar and offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

My Priestly Vocation During my college time I applied to and was accepted to a wonderful community: the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. They are a society of apostolic life that desires to bring the reign of Christ the King to all hearts. I was attracted by their great love and reverence for the Holy Mass. It is after this acceptance and my recent graduation from college that I sit on another couch and share my heart with you.

During this time I applied to and was accepted by the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. I was attracted by their great love and reverence for the Holy Mass.

I started as a fifth grader who would have done anything to be relieved from the duty of the priesthood. I am now a 23 year old who hopes and prays that Our Lord wishes to place that easy and peaceful yoke of the sacred priesthood on my willing shoulders. I began formation in August 2013. Oh please dear, Jesus and Mary grant me the grace.

R.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Nick Phillips has been accepted to start formation with the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest at Saint Francis de Sales Oratory in Saint Louis, Missouri. Please pray for him as he must fundraise his formation costs.

Please consider spiritually adopting him while helping also to support his vocation financially.

He can be reached at nick. slaveofmary@gmail.com.

a Catholic Diocese Lincoln, Nebraska

Corpus Christi Procession 45 | Page Nebraska Lincoln,

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Living In Lincoln A Beautiful Catholic Culture a diocese

by Georgeanne Rashilla

M

y husband Rick and I have lived in the Lincoln Diocese for 19 years. We were not aware that the Diocese was very traditional until we moved here. In fact, it was not really until we returned to Ohio for my father-in-law’s funeral in 2000 when we spoke with the priest who had married us and baptized our children that we knew there was a stigma about our Diocese. Even that priest raised his eyebrows when we told him we were living in Lincoln. But we also told him that we never felt closer to God or more committed to our Catholic faith.

who wants their child to have a good faith foundation.

I do know of people who have actually moved from across the world just to live in this Diocese. It’s amazing and we feel so very blessed to live here.

The Catechetical program for the public school students is also well done.

And there is no shortage of priests either! The influence of the priests teaching my children in the grade and high schools, leading Quest and TEC retreats, providing a summer Leadership Camp for young boys who serve on the altar along with the seminarians is an opportunity for them to consider their own vocations.

From the very start, the authenticity of the Catholic teaching here - speaking from the pulpit about our history, emphasizing sacraments (especially Confession and the Eucharist), pro-life (including being faithful to not taking artificial contraception) - has truly challenged us to examine how we live our lives, what is Truth, and how to raise our children to be authentic Catholic Christians.

We have opportunities to participate in Bible studies and Pro-Life Conferences, and to serve the poor in Catholic Social Services or the St. Vincent de Paul Society. And of course, the encouragement to step outside yourself and volunteer is always present.

I do know of people who have actually moved from across the world just to live in this Diocese.

Amazing, Affordable, Faithful Catholic Schools The Lincoln diocesan schools feature Sisters in habits who live in community, teaching in the schools.

Thriving Religious Sister communities in Lincoln ‘help to keep the cost of Catholic education lower. I think that means Catholic Education is not just for the elite, but for anyone who wants their child to have a good faith foundation.’

In the Lincoln diocese, Catholic education is not just for the elite, but for anyone who wants their child to have a good faith foundation.

Our Newman Center Although we encouraged both our children to go away for college, neither has. I believe their decisions were made in part because of the campus ministry at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. The Catholic Newman Center, with its 10 FOCUS missionaries, is thriving. In fact, the daily Mass attendance every night is so large, and the Sunday Mass attendance so great that they are currently building a larger church. They’ve just completed the new Catholic fraternity, and will also build a Catholic sorority. Bible studies abound both in the dorms and in the Greek houses. The Newman Center is such a draw, that even the University advertises it in their materials to draw new students.

The fact that the Lincoln Diocese is free from sex abuse scandal does not surprise me at all.

Why We Stayed From the beginning we have been involved in both parish and school life. I have served as President of one of the altar societies at my parish, President of the Parish Council of Catholic Women, currently Treasurer of that same organization. I taught CCD for about 4 yrs. My husband is a 4th Degree Knight of Columbus.

Together we have served as Presidents of the School Family Association at our parish grade school and later on the fundraising board for the high school.

We have both participated/led Bible studies or Leadership Conferences. My husband also served on the fundraising board for our parish when we were building an addition to the church/school.

The Lincoln diocesan schools feature Sisters in habits who live in community, teaching in the schools.

Both our children have been raised in Lincoln. Their Catholic schools were much like what my husband and I experienced in our youth - Sisters in habits, who live community, teaching in the schools, and priests teaching at the high school level and visiting the grade schools.

I can assure anyone who asks that the Catholic Diocese here is the main reason we have stayed all these years. It is a beautiful Catholic culture.

Rick and I grew up in different parts of the country, moved as single people to various states, and only as a married couple did we move here in 1994.

We never would have thought that Lincoln, NE would be a place we’d be in for long. I can assure anyone who asks that the Catholic Diocese here is the main reason we have stayed all these years. It is a beautiful Catholic culture.

In fact, about 11 years ago, my husband and I were forced to make a decision due to employment changes as to whether or not we would leave the Diocese.

The major factor in our staying in Lincoln was to keep our children in these Catholic Schools, where we felt a real foundation was being laid.

In Lincoln, Catholic schools thrive and are kept very affordable through the support of the parishes. It helps also to have thriving Religious Sister communities here that help to keep the cost of Catholic education lower. I think that means Catholic Education is not just for the elite, but for anyone

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Back from the ‘Promised Land’ a diocese

Our Move to Nebraska from California You moved to be in the Lincoln diocese; was it a difficult move? Are you happy?

The decision to leave California in and of itself was not difficult, despite the fact we were leaving my husband’s family and many friends. We were very disappointed that the diocese we lived in had turned down the FSSP’s offer to bring an apostolate to them.

We were also very concerned about the dramatic rise in crime, drugs and poverty that the city in which we lived was experiencing. We were very concerned that, although our children attended our parish school, the catechesis they were receiving, particularly in terms of sacramental preparation, was poor at best.

We also started homeschooling in January 2011, before we moved to Lincoln.

The decision to homeschool really helped us make the decision that we needed to relocate to Lincoln. We knew we wanted to raise our family in an environment which was safe, nurturing, and we could live our faith daily without having to apologize for being “too Catholic”.

We are very happy in Lincoln, NE, and hope to stay here permanently.

What are your new parishioners and neighborhood like, in contrast to California?

We currently attend St. Francis of Assisi Church in Lincoln, which is the FSSP apostolate. It is a small community, with approximately 60 registered families.

But, the families are all dedicated to the Traditional Latin Mass.

The Diocese of Lincoln is known for its orthodox bishop and priests. Because of this, the community at St. Francis has not grown significantly over the years.

The people who attend St. Francis do so because they are dedicated to the TLM. However, coming from our previous diocese, this is a huge improvement! Our previous TLM experience consisted of priests coming in from out of town from as far away as five hours, to say the TLM. The feeling that many TLMers had was one of the “ugly stepchild.”

The neighborhood in which we live now is in southwest Lincoln. It is a very safe and friendly neighborhood. My kids have introduced themselves to all of our neighbors and they have all been very friendly towards our kids, inviting them to play on their swing sets and use their basketball hoops without having to ask first.

I have no qualms about letting the kids play outside during the day without direct supervision. In California, we lived in a gated community on a cul-desac. Despite this, we did not know any of our neighbors, and I did not like sending the kids outside alone because I just did not feel that they were safe.

Do you have children? Are you homeschooling? Would you call it a healthy environment for kids?

We have three children, ages 12, 11 and 9. We adopted the kids as a sibling group out of foster care in October 2006. I have homeschooled all three

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children since January 2011.

Lincoln is a wonderful environment in which to raise a family.

There are many parks, hiking and biking trails throughout the city.

There is a terrific library system, and a number of kid-friendly museums.

The Catholic homeschooling community is strong, and it continues to get bigger and better every year. Whenever we go somewhere in town and the kids tell people that they are homeschooled, the response is often, “You are so lucky!” or “What a blessing!” We rarely received these responses in California about homeschooling, even from family and friends.

What have been your general impressions of the lay Catholics in Lincoln? The clergy?

I am continually impressed by how “Catholic” the Catholics are in Lincoln!

Sunday Masses are packed, on Holy Days of Obligation the churches are full, and there are lines for Confession! Those that I have met that are converts to the Faith are so solid in their catechesis, and they know more about the Church’s teachings than many “cradle Catholics” that I know who have grown up in other dioceses.

Even though we prefer attending the Traditional Latin Mass, it is such a relief to know that we can take our children to Mass anywhere in Lincoln and feel certain that they will not see the liturgical abuses that we witnessed in our previous diocese. The Novus Ordo priests in the Diocese of Lincoln have been properly catechized, and I know that I will not hear anything from the pulpit that is contrary to the Church’s teachings. I feel comfortable wearing my veil at any Mass, and do not get stared or glared at by others as we stay and pray after Mass.

All of the Catholic schools in the Diocese of Lincoln go to daily Mass. What a blessing! The parish school my children attended in California offered Mass only once a week. Sadly, Mass was frequently canceled for reasons that were never made clear to us.

The diocesan clergy that I have met personally here in Lincoln have been wonderful. Faith-filled men, dedicated to the Church, but not thrown off by the fact that we attend the TLM. Some of the more recently ordained diocesan priests have learned how to say the Low Mass, and have offered a Low Mass for an end to abortion once a month.

Another blessing has been discovering the women religious! There are 18 orders in the Diocese of Lincoln! And they all wear habits! Before moving to Lincoln my children had never seen a sister in a habit. Now, my children see these women in the community on a regular basis, and are able to say, “Hi Sister!” without staring or asking, “Who is that? Why is she dressed like that?”

The ministries these women offer are so valuable to the Lincoln community.

The Diocese of Lincoln was so blessed to have Bishop Bruskewicz at the helm for so many years, and the diocese continues to be blessed with Bishop Conley.

Clearly the faith-filled priests and women religious of Lincoln are a reflection of the orthodoxy of the Bishops of Lincoln. The longer we live in Lincoln the more we discover what a blessing it is to live here.

R.

Homeschooling

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11 Steps to Selecting a Catholic Homeschool Curriculum homeschooling

By Raising Saints on www.CatholicSistas.com 6. What works for your current life situation? There are some programs that are more labor-intensive than others. For example, searching for ‘living books’ when you are about to give birth to baby number six and all your children are eight and under might not be a realistic goal. Do not set yourself up to fail by doing this. Also, if you cannot afford certain programs do not put so much pressure on yourself. I have seen families with financial burdens homeschool for almost nothing.

7. Do you have access to a good library system? Before you start spending money, check your local library. A lot of times they carry those wonderful books and you can reserve them ahead of time and even have them delivered to your local library. Sometimes you can go to the children’s section and make suggestions on certain books. Don’t be afraid to ask a lot of times they are willing to purchase these recommendations.

Explore the great outdoors using new GPS-based technology that allows you to identify what you are seeing

O

ver the years our family has tried a variety of things – ranging from being an eclectic homeschooler, to using a complete curriculum package, to creating materials to use. So how do you decide what is the right fit for your family homeschool?

1. Think about your educational philosophy or teaching style. There are several methods of teaching; the method that both you and your children are comfortable with impacts which books you will select for your homeschool.

2. Consider your children’s learning styles. Every child is different in their learning approach and may process information differently. Some pieces of curriculum are tailored to meet the needs of various learners, so this is very helpful to know. Some children will need a particular style of curriculum to help them succeed.

3. Write down and decide on the educational goals have you set for your children and family. This is another area that is important to look at because you want to have a long range plan in each subject so that you feel confident that you are meeting these goals.

Travel videos from public libraries help students learn about the glories of Catholic culture and architecture, such as the Rialto Bridge in Venice

8. Have you asked others for their opinions? Warning: Don’t be overwhelmed with suggestions. Homeschooling support groups on Yahoo and Facebook can be a gem or a burden. If you ask a curriculum question in a group, be philosophical and glean the best from what others suggest. Do not be afraid to ask questions because you will find other homeschooling mothers who have become experts at certain curricula. You can also attend a homeschooling conference to listen to speakers and see the books first hand.

9. Did you check your own bookshelf? Starting with what you already have saves you time and money. You should make a list of the books you own and keep this list handy so that you do not purchase duplicates of books you already own.

10. Have you checked out SWAP groups? Once you have selected a product you like, it is much easier to buy things used or online. Yahoo Groups has a group and so does Facebook Groups where you can post WTB (Want to Buy) and ISO (In Search Of) threads looking for a used book to avoid paying retail and help another homeschooling mom save money. Oh, also, if you have books you don’t use anymore, SELL THEM! They don’t need to be collecting dust on your shelves.

11. Have you thought of borrowing? Sometimes, you can even swap/ borrow books with other families. For example, there is a family at my parish with sons in the 11th and 9thgrades; I have a son in 10th grade. I give her my books for her 9th grader; she gives me her books from her 11th grader. We both win! :)

The Internet is a great source of information for homeschooled students researching Apostolic history

4. Do you have a spending budget? This is really important and I strongly advise setting a budget and knowing your spending limits. Start off by making a list of the books you select and then finding out what their retail rate is. It is important to think long term within your budget. If the book fits your needs and you can reuse it with subsequent children, it’s a long term savings!

5. What subjects can your children work together in? Some families focus on specific grade levels and books while other families work on certain subject areas together as a family. Subjects like Science and History are great examples of working as a family on a particular topic with varying expectations depending on the child’s abilities. This will help you save money as well.

R.

homeschooling

In Their Own Words What Young Adults Who Were Homeschooled Tell Us Today They were homeschooled in the 70s and 80s, decades before the current explosion in homeschooling across America. Today, they are adults, with lives of their own.

In this exclusive REGINA Magazine interview, two West Coast young people share their stories, reflecting on the surprising ‘good, bad and ugly’ about homeschooling -- in their own personal experience.* REGINA: When were you homeschooled and for how long?

Jennifer: I started being homeschooled in 1973, for nine years.

Keith: I was homeschooled for 12 years, beginning in 1988.

REGINA: Where did you attend university and what are your professions today?

Jennifer: I graduated from Portland State University with a BFA. I am now a freelance fine artist.

Keith: Bachelor of Science in Computer Science.

University of Portland (2005) and a Master of Science in Computer Science and Engineering.

University of Notre Dame (2008) I am now employed as a software engineer with WW Technology Group (government contractor).

REGINA: Looking back on your own experience after all these years, what would you say were the benefits of being homeschooled?

“Homeschooling gave me the freedom to explore interests and develop skills. And freedom from negative peer pressure. Not to mention free time.”

Jennifer: For me, it was the freedom to explore interests and develop skills.

And freedom from negative peer pressure. Not to mention free time.

no one knows our children’s strengths, weaknesses, gifts, abilities and personalities better than we do. Ideally, we are the ones best equipped to tailor their educational experience and help them flourish as unique Keith: I would say there were three benefits for me. The first was autonomous individuals. learning; I learned how to pursue and acquire knowledge on my own, which led to an easy college transition. Second was customized education; I was Keith: Homeschooling amplifies the influence of the parents (and siblings) able to engage topics of interest in the manner best suited to my learning and reduces the influence of peers. If the parents are likely to be a positive modality. Finally, there was social skills; I interacted with adults and children influence on their children, I would recommend that they homeschool. of other ages as frequently as with my peers. I learned from them and “Homeschooling amplifies the influence of the parents (and siblings) and become comfortable interacting with them. reduces the influence of peers. If the parents are likely to be a positive influence on their children, I would recommend that they homeschool.”

REGINA: Sounds very impressive. How about the negatives?

Jennifer: I experienced a lack of acceptance/understanding from society at large.

Keith: The three main negatives for me were preconceived biases, assumed cultural knowledge and mornings. (LOL) “The three main negatives for me were preconceived biases, assumed cultural knowledge and mornings. (LOL)” REGINA: On balance, would you recommend homeschooling to your friends and family? Why or why not?

Jennifer: I believe the benefits always outweigh any drawbacks. As parents,

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* Interviewees’ names have been changed to guarantee their anonymity and to encourage their candor.

homeschooling

The Family That Learns Together The Homeschooling Hesters

by Bridget Hester Green

I

am thirty-three years old, and my homeschooling adventure began 24 years ago, when my mother pulled my brother and me out of our parish grammar school. Mom believed that she -- a mother of 16 and a veteran parent of just about every type of school there was -- could do better.

Today, Mary Lou, the mother of ten homeschooled kids, is philosophical on this question.

“I had become dissatisfied with the erosion of the educational program,” Mom says today. “I wanted a program for my kids that was at least as good as the one I had received.”

Mary Lou did not embrace homeschooling immediately, however.

A Magna Cum Laude for Bridget As far as I’m concerned, Mom was right. I spent nine happy years at home before venturing out to college -- from which I graduated magna cum laude. This is not a boast; I say this simply to illustrate some of what homeschooling did for me.

Interestingly, academic achievement is not even the important part. What homeschooling really did was help my parents and we three homeschooled siblings grow closer to each other and to God. Homeschooling, to me, was a way of life -- not just a question of a physical location where we were educated.

Later, as a wife and mother, there was no question whether or not to homeschool for my new family. As luck (or the Holy Spirit) would have it, my husband, a graduate of twelve years of Catholic schools (who’d never met another homeschooler before me) totally agreed. We’ve been happily homeschooling since our oldest was born.

We are not alone on this adventure either; far from it. All told, including my family, there are a total of 30 homeschoolers and five homeschooling mothers in my family. In fact, the majority of my parents’ 52 grandchildren are homeschooled.

Mary Lou’s Experience Our multigenerational homeschooling family is a living, breathing testament to those first brave steps taken by my mother, Mary Ann, and my older sister, Mary Lou, back in the late ‘80s.

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“When I started homeschooling 25 years ago I felt that I had been led there

by God. It had taken a period of two or three years. And then I was knocked off a horse. Kind of like St. Paul.”

“At first, homeschooling intrigued me...[but] it wasn’t for me. When I finally took the leap it took me about a week to figure out that this was exactly where I was supposed to be and I should just move on...I keep doing it because I know it’s where I belong.”

Mary Lou’s is a feeling that my entire family shares. It is our conviction that God calls us to homeschool, even when -- as is the case of my sister Barbara -- it’s not what we would have chosen for ourselves.

“When I started homeschooling 25 years ago, I felt like I was knocked off a horse. Kind of like St. Paul.”

Barbara, the Reluctant Homeschooler Barbara is not a typical homeschooler. She would be just as happy to send her five children out to a nice parochial school, such as the one she attended, where they would be safe and sound, learning about the three Rs and God. The problem is, these schools no longer exist. As a result, she’s a reluctant homeschooler.

More than just convenience, one loses separation of duties when one homeschools. Barbara would be happier to not be her children’s teacher. Not just for her, but for most of us homeschooling moms, it’s very hard, almost impossible, to have some sort of distinction between “Mom” who is kind and loving, who comforts, protects, and defends, and “Teacher,” who must be strict, demanding, and at times hard-nosed in order to get the work done.

“When I got married, I didn’t intend on homeschooling. Obviously, God had other plans.”

Although she often jokes about being doomed to repeat the third grade ad

infinitum, she also says that she knows it will all be worth it because she is following the path laid out for her by God.

Barbara would prefer a nice parochial school, where her kids would be safe and sound and learning about the three R’s and God. The problem is, these schools no longer exist.

Mary Ann’s Battle Barbara is not the only one who feels the mental and physical strain of being mother and educator. Our sister Mary Ann, with five at the homeschool table, looks at it as a battle. At stake? Our children’s souls.

“Quitting is not an option if I intend my children to become strong, welleducated Catholics,” Mary Ann says.

I think, when it comes down to it, that’s the ultimate reason any of us really has. God has given us a sacred duty to raise up our children to Him, and for those of us called to it, homeschooling is the best way we can ensure that this happens.

“Quitting is not an option if I intend my children to become strong, well-educated Catholics.”

There are a total of 30 homeschoolers and five homeschooling mothers in my family.

In fact, the majority of my parents’ 52 grandchildren are homeschooled.

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R.

The Universities

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Graduation Day: John Paul the Great Catholic University

R.

“In True Franciscan Fashion”

the universities

The Steubenville Story

F

ather Sean Sheridan, TOR, is an interesting guy. In addition to a BA in pharmacy, he’s a lawyer with degrees is both secular (University of Pittsburgh) and canon (Catholic University of America) law. He’s a late vocation, too, having spent a decade practicing law in Sacramento and Pittsburgh, with a focus on healthcare litigation before joining the Franciscans in 2000. He’s also an expert on the role of a Catholic university; his 2009 dissertation was a canonical commentary on John Paul II’s 1990 apostolic constitution “Ex Corde Ecclesiae,” which deals with the role of the Catholic university in the Church’s mission.

Today, Father Sheridan is the new President of Franciscan University of Steubenville, and he’s taken time out of his busy schedule to give this exclusive interview -- an-depth look at his University, as it stands today.

Q. What was the genesis -- the inspiration for the college?

Franciscan University of Steubenville was founded as the College of Steubenville in 1946, in the aftermath of World War II. The Diocese of Steubenville had just been formed and its first bishop, John King Mussio, reached out to a religious order to establish a Catholic college in his diocese.

That order asked the bishop for $1 million to accomplish the task.

Not having the funds, Bishop Mussio turned to the religious order to which I belong, the Franciscan Friars of the Third Order Regular, Province of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, which is based in Loretto, Pennsylvania, and which already was running a Catholic college there. The friars accepted Bishop Mussio’s offer, and in true Franciscan fashion they borrowed $348,000 and to the surprise of many, were able to open the College of Steubenville in under six months.

From our first president, Father Dan Egan, TOR, we find that his vision is in concert with today’s vision for the school. In a 1946 speech he said, “The College has a two-fold purpose . . . to give those who enroll here a thorough sense of values designed to train men for a full life which occupies 24 hours a day, not simply 8 hours spent in the shop or office. It also aims to contribute to the development and welfare of a man’s nature, recognizing that he has not only a body but an immortal soul.”

The College of Steubenville went through some tough times in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was on the verge of closing due to stiff competition from state institutions and the social unrest of the era. Our fourth president, Father Michael Scanlan, TOR, did an amazing job of rededicating the school to Jesus Christ and turning it into a Catholic university of national prominence that today draws students from all 50 states and many foreign countries.

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Father Terence Henry, TOR, took the mantle from Father Scanlan in 2000 and built on that foundation, adding a Catholic bioethics institute and many other academic and student life programs that have bolstered our Catholic identity and our commitment to academic excellence.

In true Franciscan fashion the Friars borrowed $348,000 and to the surprise of many, were able to open the College of Steubenville in under six months.

Q. What has been your experience of the university?

When I became president in June 2013, I dedicated myself to upholding these foundations. I taught theology here for one year before becoming president, and I can tell you first hand that there is a rigorous pursuit of truth through academic study here. This comes in every course of study, from accounting to theology and every subject in between. But we know that academic study, while good in and of itself, is not the supreme goal of our learning. Our students and faculty know that academic work naturally lead us to the source of all truth – God himself.

And so, in our daily activities, the way we gather as a worshipping community is central to this encounter with God. In his apostolic constitution, Ex corde Ecclesiae, Pope John Paul II taught that as a natural expression of the identity of the Catholic university, the university community should give a practical demonstration of its faith in its daily activity, with expressions of prayer, and especially the Eucharist, as the most perfect act of community worship.

So the life of prayer is central to our academic life. Each semester, 24/7, students take an hour with the Lord for eucharistic adoration in the Portiuncula Chapel, a replica of one of the chapels repaired by St. Francis early in his public ministry. Our daily Mass attendance is very strong: Over 70 percent of our students voluntarily go to Mass two or more times a week. On Saturday afternoons over 800 students who belong to small faith-

sharing groups known as faith households hold Lord’s Day celebrations. We have a monthly Festival of Praise that fills our fieldhouse, and students join in weekly praise and worship, Bible studies, Rosaries, among other prayers and devotions.

In my homily at the Opening of the School Year Mass, I told the students that “as members of the body of Christ, all that you say, all that you do, must be rooted in God. God is the center of our lives, God is the beginning, God is our source for beginning to understand and embrace the truth.”

Over 70 percent of our students voluntarily go to Mass two or more times a week.

Q. How would you characterize the formation of young Catholics these days, as opposed to 20 years ago? Any reason for hope?

Young Catholics today are passionately searching in their lives for the truth that can only be found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Many have come to understand that despite what society might promise with regard to finding “happiness” in material possessions, they can only find joy by embracing, rather than running away from, the challenges that living lives of truth might require. As a result, many young Catholics are willing to dedicate their lives to not only pursuing holiness themselves but to assisting others with their pursuit of holiness. Strong catechetical programs such as we offer at Franciscan University prepare young Catholics to be formed and also to form others.

All of these themes tie into what our recent Holy Fathers have called the new evangelization—to catechize properly the baptized so that they might catechize others. There is great cause for hope that the formation of young Catholics will continue to improve as we see their great desire to deepen their relationship with Christ and to demand the formation needed to do so—both personal and as provided in catechetical programs.

Q. How is your school helping to answer the dire need for vocations?

First of all, I would say by the overall spiritual atmosphere that pervades the Franciscan University of Steubenville campus. Students often tell us how much they appreciate the many opportunities for prayer and the daily interactions with priests and nuns they find here.

We have 20 Franciscan friars teaching and serving in various capacities— an astoundingly high number for any Catholic university today. Our friars are a strong presence on campus. They serve as chaplains to the athletic teams, as advisors to the faith households and other student groups, they provide individual spiritual direction and have many informal interactions with students, such as conversations after Mass and while walking across campus, which help increase awareness of the call to the priesthood and religious life.

We have eight Franciscan TOR sisters who work in campus ministry at the University and at our study abroad program in Gaming, Austria. Add to this the many women’s religious orders who send members here for studies, and it’s clear that our female students have many encounters with religious sisters during which they can learn about these orders and their particular charisms.

In a more formal ways, our Priestly Discernment Program was established in 1985 expressly to encourage vocations. In this program, the men commit to a shared life that includes daily Mass, a Holy Hour, daily communal prayer, regular spiritual direction and weekly talks on the call to the priesthood.

This year, six men who graduated from this program entered a major seminary or joined a religious community.

Over the last seven years, more than 76 Franciscan graduates who discerned and prepared for the priesthood through the University’s Priestly Discernment Program have entered seminary or a religious order.

We also have a Third Order Regular Affiliate House in one of our residence halls for men discerning entering the Franciscan Third Order Regular after they complete their studies at Franciscan University.

Many young Catholics have come to understand that despite what society might promise with regard to finding “happiness” in material possessions, they can only find joy by embracing, rather than 55 | running Page away from, the challenges that living lives of truth might require.

Q. What kind of young person is attracted to your school? Where are they from? What kind of student are they?

Franciscan University is a national Catholic university. We draw students from all 50 states and over a dozen foreign countries. For the incoming class of 2017, the top 10 states were: Ohio, California, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Texas, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New York, and Indiana.

The top 10 majors chosen by these new students were theology, business, nursing, communication arts, catechetics, education, biology, and psychology.

Academically, our students place above the national average. The average ACT score of new freshman students is close to 25, which is 4 points higher than the national average.

Q. What are your students seeking?

What we hear from our students over and over is that they seek a living Catholic culture to immerse themselves in while in college. Our students tell us they want to be around other students who can encourage them in developing a prayer life, to be called on to live a life of holiness but also to be encouraged to study hard—and still have good, wholesome fun, too, I might add.

We have many transfer students who tell us that they felt isolated at the state, private or Catholic university they were attending. When they came here for a visit, especially when they spent a night in one of the residence halls, they found what they were looking for. They saw how our students had fun—dances, outdoor movies on the grass, socials on the Piazza dei Santi, NCAA athletics, and the like—while they also lived out their faith life.

And that appealed to them.

We have many transfer students who tell us that they felt isolated at the state, private or Catholic university they were attending. When they came here for a visit, especially when they spent a night in one of the residence halls, they found what they were looking for.

Of course, not all vocations come directly through these formal programs.

For instance, two men not in either of these programs who graduated this year are now Franciscan TOR postulants. We did some research recently and found that in total, more than 400 Franciscan graduates currently serve the Church in the priesthood.

We’re also helping with vocation discernment at the high school level.

Franciscan University hosts high school summer conferences that this year reached over 42,000 participants at 18 locations across the U.S. and Canada. A highlight at each conference is the “vocations call” at the closing Mass where young men and women step forward to be prayed over about a possible religious vocation. Over four thousand youth responded to the vocation call this summer.

According to a study conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 11 percent of all priests ordained in the U.S. in 2013 said they participated in a Franciscan University Youth Conference before entering seminary or religious life, and 11 percent of women in the U.S. who professed perpetual vows in religious life in 2012 said they participated in a Franciscan University Youth Conference prior to entering religious life.

We did some research recently and found that in total, more than 400 Franciscan graduates currently serve the Church in the priesthood.

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Q. How do students rate their experience at your school? After 5 or so years? Further out?

Our recent alumni survey revealed that: • More than 90 percent of Franciscan graduates successfully enter the next phase of life—employment, further education, the priesthood, or religious life—within one year of graduation.

• Ninety-four percent of alumni said they would recommend Franciscan University to a prospective student or parent.

• Over 91 percent rated their overall Franciscan University experience as an 8 or higher, with 48 percent rating it a perfect 10.

• Over 90 percent of alumni say they are “very connected” to Franciscan, and have visited campus, attended reunions or University events and read Franciscan Way and other materials sent to them by the University.

Q. Cost is a huge factor these days as students balk at assuming large debt for undergrad degrees. How is your school addressing this?

Over 80 percent of Franciscan University students receive some form of financial aid that totals more than $11 million each year. Aid comes in the form of academic and need-based scholarships, military aid, and grants

that do not need to be repaid, to various types of loans and work study. Students are also directed to outside scholarships and direct financial aid for which they may be eligible.

During our most recent Capital Campaign $15.6 million was raised for new and existing scholarships. Our newest scholarship, the Spirit of St. Francis Scholarship Fund, benefits students who qualify to attend Franciscan University but have limited income, including those who come from large families.

Our newest scholarship, the Spirit of St. Francis Scholarship Fund, benefits students who qualify to attend Franciscan University but have limited income, including those who come from large families.

About Franciscan University of Steubenville: • For more than 11 consecutive years, U.S. News & World Report’s guidebook on “America’s Best Colleges” has ranked Franciscan University in the elite “top tier” of Midwestern universities.

• Young America’s Foundation rates Franciscan as one of the top 15 conservative colleges in the nation.

• The Templeton Honor Roll for Education in a Free Society considers Franciscan one of the 13 colleges that are “best in liberal arts education.”

• Franciscan is one of 22 “faithfully Catholic universities” in the U.S. recognized by the Cardinal Newman Society.

• Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine has included Franciscan University of Steubenville as one of its “best values” in private higher education, ranking it 83rd among the top 100 private universities in the nation.

Ways to Give You can help Franciscan lead the way in providing a faithfully Catholic education! There are many ways to help support Franciscan University of Steubenville, and all levels of support are greatly appreciated. Every amount makes a big difference.

However you choose to support the mission of Franciscan University of Steubenville, you have our deepest gratitude, and will be included in prayeres offered at Mass as well as holy hours for benefactors and supporters.

R.

Support Franciscan University Today!

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Towards a Catholic Resurgence in the Media

the universities

John Paul Catholic University Q. How do students rate their experience of your school?

Most students love their JP Catholic experience – they can’t find an experience like it anywhere. Some don’t fit – small, niche and non-traditional is not everyone’s cup-of-tea. We don’t try to please everyone – we can’t.

Q. Given the scarcity of vocations in America, how is your school doing in this regard?

We have many students responding to God’s call. As we begin Summer quarter, we will have seven Chaldean rite Catholic seminarians, four doing a Masters in Biblical Theology and three doing undergraduate degrees alongside their pre-theology studies. Two graduates will be starting their graduate Theology studies at St John’s Seminary in Camarillo, CA. We also have a pre-theology seminarian from the Eudist religious order. Two of our graduates are in the convent of the Workers in the Vineyard. Many more students continue to discern.

Escondido, California

On November 2nd, 2000, while visiting Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, Derry Connolly experienced something that would change his life.

“I saw a campus full of young Catholic students on fire for the Lord. I had never seen that level of excitement about Jesus Christ by so many students on a college campus. Late on that evening, sitting in front of the Blessed Sacrament in the Portiuncula chapel, I felt the Lord placing on my heart the request to build a university, like Franciscan, in San Diego. My immediate answer to the Lord was ‘NO - Impossible, a university is too big and too expensive. And I don’t know how to do it!’

“During the summer of 2003, three key thoughts came together in my mind. First, I had just finished teaching a class on the start-up process for entrepreneurial high-tech companies to graduate and undergraduate students at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), I was strongly impressed by the passion the UCSD students had to go out and change the world by building successful technology based businesses. Next, I reflected with deep concern on the fact that the Catholic influence on the media was near rock bottom. The New Media industry was rapidly evolving and maturing daily, and was poised to radically change the landscape of the media industry.

“Finally, contemplating the role of Stanford University in the growth of Silicon Valley, I was convinced that a Catholic university, centered on Jesus Christ, in the model of Franciscan University, must be a critical centerpiece to the Catholic resurgence in the field of media. San Diego, long a hub for innovation in new media enabling technology and geographically very close to the creative center of the industry in Los Angeles, was a great place to start.”

John Paul Catholic University was born on September 2nd, 2003.

Connolly’s vision for the University was a ‘niche’ Catholic university focused on the culturally influential field of media, with the dynamic spirituality of Franciscan University, and the creative and entrepreneurial spirit of UCSD. Q. What kind of young person is attracted to your school?

Students tend to have a strong desire for a deep relationship with Jesus. Faith matters. They are entrepreneurial – not afraid of someplace new and small. They come from all across the US – from Vermont to Guam, from Florida to Alaska. They seek an education the fields of Entertainment Media, Entrepreneurial Business and Biblical Theology.

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Q. Cost is a huge factor these days as students balk at assuming large debts for undergrad degrees. How is your school addressing this?

We give generous institutional aid. We are proactive in assessing student success and are quick to recommend alternate career options for students that are likely not to benefit from an expensive college education. College is a great investment for many. However, it can be a terrible investment for some.

Q. How would you characterize the formation of young Catholics these days - as opposed to 20 years ago? Any reason for hope?

Great reasons for hope. The Lord is blessing us with increasingly fine young men and women. That said, formation is very tough – the force of Satan infused through the secular culture is very confusing even to young Catholics from strong families. Formation is a battle, which often times is very tiring to fight. A very high percentage of our graduates tend to become strong Catholic men and women. Christ is truly is hope.

How can I help?

Make a decision to help. Fund a scholarship for a student with a great need. Endow a professor. Fund a new program. Create a program resource. Seed fund the process to build a permanent campus.

If you feel called to connect your legacy with that of the University, please contact Derry Connolly, President at 858-653-6740 or email DConnolly@jpcatholic.com

the universities

A Liberating Education

Thomas Aquinas College Thomas Aquinas College was founded in response to the decline of Catholic higher education evident in the late 1960s, and in accordance with the Second Vatican Council’s encouraging of Catholic laity to take a more active part in “the explanation and defense of Christian principles.”

The College founders proposed to establish a new Catholic institution that was determined to pass on the great intellectual patrimony of our civilization and the wisdom of the Church’s greatest thinkers, and to do so in complete fidelity to the Church and her Magisterium.

Thus, amid this great turmoil and disintegration, and in spite of the dominant relativism and skepticism in higher education, Thomas Aquinas College came to life. This new college would be dedicated to renewing what is best in the Western intellectual heritage and to conducting liberal education under the guiding light of the Catholic faith. The College welcomed its first freshman class to its Santa Paula, California campus in 1971.

The years since have been exciting ones of great growth and increasing recognition. In this exclusive REGINA Magazine interview, Anne Forsyth, Director of College Relations, gives her perspective on the school and its success.

Q. What kind of young person is attracted to your school?

mathematics and natural science (not your typical liberal arts program!).

All kinds, really. People sometimes think that because we offer only one and the same fully-integrated, 4-year program of studies, that our students must walk in lock step. Not at all.

But even more than having “the brains” to do our program, students need to have a deep desire to understand the causes and principles of things, especially for the junior and senior years when the studies become intense – Newton, Descartes, Einstein, the modern philosophers such as Kant and Hegel. The works by these authors are difficult to read and require real perseverance. And I didn’t even mention St. Thomas! The junior and senior theology courses are devoted exclusively to studies of the Summa – law, proofs for the existence of God, the Trinity, the Incarnation, the sacraments. All wonderful and edifying, but quite difficult. And then there’s Aristotle’s physics and metaphysics which make up the senior year philosophy curriculum – studies of such abstract notions as place and time, and natural theology, as well.

Some have tremendous musical talent; others are gifted artists; some are practically-oriented, intent on pursuing careers in law, medicine, engineering after graduation; some come to us already hearing a call to the priesthood or religious life but desiring an education as a basis for the consecrated life. And there are those you might expect to find at a “liberal arts” school, those who desire to teach, and at all levels.

Many (between 40-50%) of our entering freshmen are home-schooled.

A steady 5% already have college credits, and some come with BA’s and even MA’s from prestigious institutions in certain practical fields, e.g., engineering) but find that though well-trained, they do not yet have an education.

Our students come from across the U.S. (only 1/3 come from California, and over 40% come from east of the Mississippi). We also have foreign students each year. Predominant among them are Canadians, but we draw form others, mostly English-speaking countries. This year we have students from Nigeria, Argentina, and Spain, among others.

What these students do have in common is a thirst for what is true, good, and beautiful, and a sense of wonder about creation and the God who made and sustains it. They are a very intelligent group, and this is necessary to be able to accomplish our rigorous program which includes four years of

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Thomas Aquinas College, California

But even more than having “the brains” to do our program, students need to have a deep desire to understand the causes and principles of things.

All of this is to say that our students are serious students. There is a great deal of study they must do. But there is also a great deal of joy among them, and a tremendous sense of fun, outlets for which come in the form of intramural sports, quarterly dances (and more), trips to the beach only 20 minutes away, and hikes in the national forest, literally at our back door.

All of this makes for a community life animated by charity and ordered to the best things. While not perfect (witness confessions being heard 8 times a day, before and after each Mass), it is a community striving to follow Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Our students are a very intelligent group, and this is necessary to be able to accomplish our rigorous program which includes four years of mathematics and natural science -- not your typical liberal arts program!

Q. Given the scarcity of vocations in America, how is your school doing in this regard?

As for religious – most of our 40 professed alumni are women, though we have a few brothers, as well. They gravitate to the new, solidly orthodox orders, or those that are being renewed. We have 8, I believe, with the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia, one of whom served as president of their Aquinas College for some years. There are 3 or 4 with Mother Assumpta and the Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. Others are in Europe with teaching and contemplative orders. Still more are stateside, e.g., two who were recently sent from the Carmelite Monastery in Lincoln, Nebraska, to found a new house in the Bay Area, in Northern California.

U.S. News “Great Schools, Great Price” rankings (again, the only Catholic college on this list).

Our benefactors are our “spiritual alumni,” who without having benefit to themselves, yet give generously to our students because they see them as a kind of leaven for the Church and our culture. The result is that 100% of our students’ demonstrated need is met each year.

All in all, we are truly blessed with alumni vocations. Our goal is to provide the good soil for God to cultivate, and He seems to be hard at work here.

A number of years ago, our late president Tom Dillon was asked by the Congregation for Education to give an account of how it is that we could have so many vocations. They had been astounded to learn of the relatively high number, knowing that we were lay-founded, lay-administered, and co-educational, and wanted to share with their readers “the secret” as it were. You can find that article on our website.

A number of years ago, our late president Tom Dillon was asked by the Congregation for Education to give an account of how it is that we could have so many vocations. They had been astounded to learn of the relatively high number, knowing that we were lay-founded, lay-administered, and co-educational, and wanted to share with their readers “the secret...”

ONE STUDENT’S VIEW: “My own experiences here at Thomas Aquinas College seem to be very different indeed. Everyone here is genuinely concerned about what we are learning here. Everyone is actively and excitedly seeking the truth, and more than willing to help other students no matter what year they are in school. When talking to my friends I cannot say that I have ever heard them express such a sentiment. Most of their schools are so big and the courses of study are so varied that it is impossible to form the kind of connections with people that we have here at Thomas Aquinas College.”

For the first $4,000 or so of financial aid, students perform 13 hours/week of work on campus, in the kitchen, on landscaping, working in offices or the library, assisting in the labs, etc. If more funding is needed, grants are then made accordingly.

Students receiving financial aid must also take out loans, approximately $4000 each year. But we do cap that at $16,000 or so at the end of 4 years.

Again, it is our benefactors who make it possible for our students not to be strapped by crushing debt after graduation. And again, we are ranked in the top 25 schools in the country by U.S. News “Least Debt” ranking.

St. Thomas Aquinas College is ranked in the top 25 schools in the country

by U.S. News “Least Debt” ranking.

“Last, but not least, is the deeply spiritual character of the students. The student body is 95% Catholic. Many come from homes where they have been very well-formed and have habits already of daily Mass, Rosary, adoration, confession. But some do not. Yet, because of the example of their peers and faculty members, they begin to practice these devotions and acquire the same habits. It really is wonderful to observe the effects of “peer pressure” here.”

Q. How would you characterize the formation of young Catholics these days - as opposed to 20 years ago? Any reason for hope?

These are definitely reasons for hope.

Q. Cost is a huge factor these days as students balk at assuming large debts for undergrad degrees. How is your school addressing this?

Our admissions policy is needs-blind. Students are accepted without any regard to their financial wherewithal. At that point, they and their families are asked to make a maximum effort toward covering the cost of tuition. In nearly 80% of cases that effort falls far short of the actual need. The College, however, has been committed since its beginning that no qualified student ever be turned away for lack of resources. Because we accept no direct government funding, lest our Catholic identity and academic integrity be compromised, we must, therefore, raise over $4 million annually to cover the financial aid needs of our students.

Our alumni, though young and raising large families, typically on one income, are very generous (we’re #2 in the country on the U.S. News “Most Loved” by alumni list, based on alumni giving percentages). But their giving is not sufficient for the need. It is, therefore, private individuals and foundations who fill the gap. We think of these benefactors as our “spiritual alumni,” who without having benefit to themselves, yet give generously to our students, seeing them as a kind of leaven for the Church and our culture.

The result is that 100% of our students’ demonstrated need is met each year, a fact for which the College is lauded by college reviews, e.g., the Princeton Review’s “Financial Aid Honor Roll” (it’s worth noting, I think, that TAC is the only Catholic college in the country to be so ranked) and the

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On the other hand, with what one reads of the culture and the terrible state of education, especially in the public schools, it is hard to be hopeful. The TAC ALUMNI Sr. Sophia and Sr. Mary Josepha of the Benedictines of Mary prevalence of pornography alone, at ever younger ages, is heartbreaking and frightening. One wonders how we can pull ourselves out of these depths.

For this reason, I am especially grateful to our contemplative alumni who spend their days, months, and years, in prayer, making reparation for the sins of the world and begging for the graces we must have to overcome it.

Consider making a gift today. The need is great, and the reward for your investment will be far greater still.

R.

the universities

Breathing Catholic in the Shenandoah Valley Christendom College Christendom College is a four-year coeducational Roman Catholic Liberal Arts College with undergraduate and graduate programs offered on three campuses in Front Royal and Alexandria, Virginia, as well as in Rome, Italy. Founded in 1977 in response to the devastating blow inflicted on Catholic higher education by the cultural revolution which swept across America in the 1960s, Christendom’s goal is to provide a truly Catholic education in fidelity to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church and thereby to prepare students for their role of restoring all things in Christ.

In this exclusive REGINA Magazine interview, Christendom’s Director of Admissions Tom Mc Fadden fields our questions about the school and its students.

We prepare ourselves, first of all, by learning, study and practice. We investigate the character of Christendom in past ages, the enduring principles which must undergird any Christian society, and the particular new applications of these principles for our age in the area of society and government which have been set forth by the recent Vicars of Christ in their social encyclicals. We learn the Christian and Catholic foundations for every field of study we enter and every action we undertake. Above all, we try to build in our own lives, and in our work with fellow Christians, a miniChristendom, a society, however small, in which Christ does truly reign.

Christendom College aims to be such a Christian society, a microcosm of the social reign of Christ. As such, it will strive to be an example and a model, as well as a center of study on what Christendom is and how it might be built anew even in our secularized age. The education Christendom College provides, primarily for laymen who will spend their lives in the world, will prepare and strengthen them both to maintain themselves and their families in that world, and for the better service to God within it.

“There is no wider Christendom today. The very word, once commonly used to designate our Western civilization, is going out of style and even out of knowledge. Many have never heard it, cannot pronounce it, much less explain and serve what it stands for. At this moment of history, Christendom can exist only in small and self-contained places. But the Christian in such a place never settles for it, never hides in it, for he has a message to bring to the world.”

“There is no wider Christendom today. The very word, once commonly used to designate our Western civilization, is going out of style and even out of knowledge. Many have never heard it, cannot pronounce it, much less explain and serve what it stands for. “ Q. What was the genesis - the inspiration - for Christendom College?

Q. What kind of young person is attracted to your school? Where are they from? What kind of student are they? What are they seeking?

A. According to the college founder, Dr. Warren H. Carroll, the purpose and goal of Christendom College is not only to provide a truly Catholic liberal arts education of the highest quality, but to maintain the idea of “Christendom” and to show how “Christendom” works in action, even on a small college campus.

In 1977, Dr. Carroll wrote the following in response to the question, “What is Christendom?”

A. We attract a wide range of students, from home-educated to public school.

From students who are from our state of Virginia to as far away as Africa.

From students interested in acting and the fine arts to students who love the competition of our varsity sports. In general, they are students who are attracted to the lasting value of a liberal arts education and hold a deep love for the Faith.

Our varied student body, coupled with the ample opportunities to be active in or lead a wide variety of clubs makes our campus life very rich.

“Our college takes its name from the word which embodies the Christian social and political ideal: a society, a culture, a government in which Christ the King reigns. To help extend His reign, insofar as His grace strengthens us to do so, is the heart of our mission.

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This past freshman class was comprised of139 students, the largest in our history: 38% are siblings of either current Christendom students or alumni, 14% are legacy students, 45% attended one of the College’s Summer Programs, and from 31 US States, Italy, and Japan. Their average SAT score was 1833 - the highest in 5 years.

Q. How do students rate their experience of your school?

A. Here are two testimonies from last year’s graduates:

Christendom gives each and every student a true and strong foundation upon which to start his life beyond Christendom, and endure through the many trials and temptations of the world.

“The Good Lord knows my weaknesses and struggles, but Christendom has given me the strength to recover when I stumble, and fight through this world to reach the next. After all, that is what Christendom is for: it gives each person what is necessary to reach eternal salvation, and nothing is more important than that. That is what makes Christendom one of the best colleges in the world.

“Christendom also is the start of many life-long friendships. I have made friends with people who make me a better person, and who give me strength and inspiration in my life, and I know that I will have these friends my whole life. When I look back to how I was four years ago, I thank God for all that I have experienced at Christendom which has helped me to be better prepared for the world. Perhaps I never will be ready for it, but without Christendom, without the foundation that it has provided, I would sink for sure. Through the education, the friendships, and the experiences that Christendom has given to me, I know that I can face the challenges of this world. And for that, I thank Christendom with all my heart.

“My four years at Christendom have given me the best friends I may ever have, an education that is unparalleled in its commitment to Catholicism, and the opportunity to see virtue in action. What we have been given is priceless.”

“At graduation, Anne Carroll, the wife of Christendom’s founder Warren Carroll, quoted what our founder used to call “The Watchwords of Christendom,” saying, “Truth exists. The Incarnation happened.”

“This, she said, was what motivated Dr. Carroll to found Christendom, to write the History of Christendom series, and to inspire so many young people to pursue truth in a world that has forgotten it exists.

“Graduation is a bittersweet time. Any senior will tell you that. Every moment is a mix of tears at parting and excitement for the future.

It’s also a time of reflection. Five years ago, I came to the Experience Christendom Summer Program as a brand new Catholic. I admit to being one of those kids who came to Christendom very reluctantly.

As a convert, what made the most impact on me was the unity of the Christendom community. As a senior, I understand so much more that the unity within the College is not due to the size of the school, the emphasis we put on formation, or the events Student Activities hosts.

It comes from each individual member’s commitment to Truth. We are Catholic, united in the person of Jesus Christ Who is Truth itself.

“Looking back on the last four years, and all the memories made, I can’t help but be excited about what the future has in store. I think I can safely say that these past four years have been the best of my life so far, but I think I can also safely say that the best is yet to come, which fills me with excitement and wonder about what God has planned for me in the upcoming life that Christendom has started for me. So, to Christendom College, the professors, faculty, staff, and students, I thank you for an amazing experience, a fantastic start, and a firm foundation.

“And to the class of 2013: thank you for these past four years. Thank you for the memories, the experiences, and the friendships. You will all remain with me and be in my prayers. God bless each and every one of you, and may He keep you always close and firmly in His Sacred Heart.

I love you all, and I will miss you! Ciao!”

-Nate Collins, Class of 2013

“No institution is perfect. Every student at Christendom, myself included, has his or her complaints. It is necessary, however, to step back from those complaints to recognize that very few college students are given the gift of faculty and staff who applaud their colleagues as men and women of true virtue. To know someone who is truly virtuous is rare, and to be taught or mentored by that person is a gift that, at Christendom, we students have a tendency to take for granted.

“Our professors sacrifice so much for Truth. That alone speaks to the fulfillment of the vision of Warren Carroll. My four years at Christendom have given me the best friends I may ever have, an education that is unparalleled in its commitment to Catholicism, and the opportunity to see virtue in action. What we have been given is priceless. Dr. Carroll’s mission will live on in the faculty, staff, and students of Christendom College. Truth exists. The Incarnation happened.”

-Emiko Funai, Class of 2013

Christendom has given me the strength to recover when I stumble, and fight through this world to reach the next.

“When I was asked to reflect on my years at Christendom, I thought to myself, “where on earth am I going to start?” That thought kept running through my head, as I tried to think of a way to start. Then it occurred to me: Christendom IS the start.

“In so many ways, Christendom is the starting point of its students’ lives.

I am not saying that people did not have lives before or during their time at Christendom, but the real start to their own lives as individual adults begins at Christendom, and is able to flourish because of Christendom.

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Q. Given the scarcity of vocations in America, how is your school doing in this regard?

A. As of September 2013, Christendom College has helped foster 148 religious vocations amongst its alumni ranks (68 priests, 50 sisters, 2 brothers, 1 deacon, and 27 men currently in seminary). Students entering religious orders and who take final vows of poverty, chastity and obedience are eligible for loan forgiveness from the College. Students who pursue missionary or other lay apostolic work also qualify for some deferments.

The college has also seen 358 alumnus-to-alumna weddings over the past 35 years.

As of September 2013, Christendom College has helped foster 148 religious vocations amongst its alumni ranks (68 priests, 50 sisters, 2 brothers, 1 deacon, and 27 men currently in seminary).

Q. Cost is a huge factor these days as students balk at assuming large debts for undergrad degrees. How is your school addressing this?

A. We deliver a high-quality education at an affordable price. That’s why

Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine ranks us as the #3 private school in the nation that provides both academic quality and affordability.

Christendom’s tuition, fees, and room/board costs have been set for the 2013-14 year as follows: Tuition = $22,050, Room and Board = $8280, and Fees = $670, Total = $31,000. Christendom’s total cost of $31,000 is one of the lowest of any private, Catholic institutions of higher learning in the US today.

Additionally, Christendom (although we do not accept Federal loans, grants, subsidies, or aid of any kind) does offer its own well-funded financial aid fund from which students are given loans, grants, and academic scholarships. We have our own Financial Aid Form which mirrors the FAFSA form, and from the information provided, we give out loans and grants to students to help cover costs of tuition. The average financial aid package is around $15,000 a year.

While the challenge in combating the current culture is great, there are reasons for hope that can be seen in the youth who attend Christendom and thrive in its culture.

At our 2011 commencement Bishop James Conley (of Lincoln, Nebraska) said of Christendom: “You are the real change-makers in our culture even though, relatively speaking, you lack the size and endowments of so many larger Catholic institutions of higher learning. Speaking from the heart of the Church with a confident Catholic identity, you are forming talented and creative disciples, equipping them with a Christian vision of life, culture, and history and sending them out well prepared to be leaders in the contemporary world.”

We offer academic scholarships and on campus employment opportunities to help defray the costs. Also, something we offer which I believe is unique is our sibling discount. If two siblings attend at the same time, the second sibling receives 25% off tuition. If there are three siblings attending at the same time, the 3rd one receives 50% off tuition.

And lastly, if someone who has received loans from Christendom chooses to join a religious order which takes a vow of poverty, Christendom erases the total amount of the loan.

So, hopefully you can see that although the initial “sticker price” of a Christendom education may seem a bit steep, we have many ways to lessen the costs. The Class of 2012 had an average indebtedness of “only” $25,875 after four years. Again, although this may seem like a lot of money, compared to national figures, it is a bit below the average for a private institution.

According to The College Board’s “Trends in Student Aid 2012” report, the average student debt for 2009 graduates of four-year, private colleges was $29,900. And the Christendom students would have been given that loan of $25,875 interest and payment free for the entire four years they attended, as well as given one full grace year of not having to pay anything on the loan and the loan would not accrue interest during that grace year.

Giving to Christendom College

If someone who has received loans from Christendom chooses to join a religious order which takes a vow of poverty, Christendom erases the total amount of the loan.

Q. How would you characterize the formation of young Catholics these days - as opposed to 20 years ago? Any reason for hope?

A. Today, our youth need to be equipped to handle the philosophical errors which run rampant in our relativistic culture of death. Our education gives them the intellectual tools to do this. Another essential element in the formation of the youth is the development of their character and their spiritual life. Through the campus life, activities, and availability of the sacraments, our students are given an opportunity to “learn Christ” and to learn how to live with Him. This encounter with Christ and a Christ-centered culture gives them a vision on how to restore the current culture and become leaders in our current culture war. While the challenge in combating the current culture is great, there are reasons for hope that can be seen in the youth who attend Christendom and thrive in its culture.

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Our firm stance means that our students rely on you—our generous benefactors—to provide them with financial support that others receive from the federal government. Your support will continue to give our students (many from large, single-income families) the comprehensive scholarship and financial aid assistance program they need, enabling them to receive a formation that prepares them to join—and light— the fight for the Truth.

Style

A Beautiful

Goodbye

(What to Wear to a Catholic Funeral)

By Sequoia Sierra

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Style

As the autumnal days shorten and the year begins to wane, our thoughts naturally turn to eternal verities.

The Faith has age-old wisdom and time-tested traditions to share with us in all these matters, including when we face the fact of our mortality -- and that of our loved ones. In these difficult moments, it may be helpful to fall back on some good advice from LA stylist Sequoia Sierra.

At her ancient rituals, the Catholic Church traditionally expects certain types of attire to be worn as a way to demonstrate respect for the most critical moments of our lives, and the lives of our family and friends. The two most formal religious events that all people will surely attend at sometime in their lives are funerals and weddings.

Today, we are focused on funerals. Whether you are attending a Requiem Mass in the Extraordinary Form or a simple graveside blessing, the most important thing to remember is that we are present to show our support for others, and respect for the Faith. While nowadays it is acceptable to wear different colors to funerals, it is best to keep them to muted tones. Don’t pick a funeral as the day for a neon-colored outfit, or flashy jewelry.

Requiem Mass for Pope Paul VI Traditionally, the best color to wear for funerals is black. For a Requiem Mass, one most also keep in mind appropriate church attire. Business attire is typically the dress code norm acceptable for the average funeral -- unless it is a funeral of a dignitary, or it is specifically stated as being more formal.

It's interesting to note that both funerals and weddings are also two events where one should never wear all white. Some white paired with or mixed in with other colors is fine, but all white is disrespectful to wear at either a wedding or a funeral. R.

“With all of this said, the ne�t �me you a�end a funeral, keep in mind that black is the most appropriate color for mourning, and it also serves as a reminder of our own mortality and that all in this world is passing.”

Of course, demonstra�ng respect for the dead and their family means that you should not draw a�en�on to yourself.

Men should also wear a button-down shirt, and bring along a suit jacket or sports coat for inside the church. It is not considered respectful for men to wear hats inside a church.

Of course, shorts are not appropriate attire for either men or women.

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For women, if the funeral occurs during a warm season and you are wearing a sleeveless dress, please be sure to bring a shawl, cardigan, or suit jacket to wear while inside the church or if you are giving a Eulogy at any point during the funeral. Of course, demonstrating respect for the dead and their family means that you should not draw attention to yourself with plunging necklines or super-short skirt lengths. Hats are very appropriate for women to don inside and outside of the Church.

Style

Something Old, Something Borrowed A NEW LIFE FOR YOUR OLD WEDDING DRESS With the popularity of shows like “Say Yes to the Dress,” it is clear that a major focal point of today's wedding is the gown. Brides spend copious amounts of time, effort and money finding the 'perfect' gown, appropriate for the time of day and year, the location, and the bride herself.

It is almost amusing to see how so much can go into an article of clothing which will only be used once. Brides spend copious amounts of time, effort and money finding the 'perfect' gown.

by Sylvana Budesheim

“Today, there are seamstresses who specialize in cu�ng wedding gowns into beau�ful bap�smal gowns, thereby extending the sacraments of the Church into the next genera�on�”

The Problem of the Traditional Option What to do with that ornate—and expensive—wedding gown once the ceremony and reception have passed? Dry cleaners suggest that brides have dresses cleaned and preserved, so the silk, organza, and tulle don’t yellow and any cake frosting or stray makeup is carefully removed.

There is also the chance that the properly preserved dress will make another appearance in due time, on a bride’s female relative in the next generation; a daughter, a niece, or perhaps a god-daughter.

Unfortunately, since there is no guarantee that size or style are hereditary, many a preserved wedding dress is left to languish in the box.

Unfortunately, since there is no guarantee that size or style are hereditary, many a preserved wedding dress is left to languish in the box.

Trashing -- Or Looking to the Future?

Popular society has embraced the nihilistic trend of wedding gown trashing, with photographers documenting the gown’s burning or shredding.

Thankfully, there is a kinder option, especially for those brides who look forward to motherhood with joy and longing. Today, there are seamstresses who specialize in cutting wedding gowns into beautiful and ornate baptismal gowns, thereby extending the Sacraments of the Church into the next generation.

THIS BRIDE, confident that her daughters would be much too tall to have inherited her dress, made the decision to turn it into a ba��smal gown.

Popular society has embraced the nihilistic trend of wedding gown trashing, with photographers documenting the gown’s burning or shredding.

Other brides will carry a handkerchief as their “something old,” a reference to the old anonymous poem about what will bring good luck to a bride. The handkerchief is something of the bygone era for the most part, but some are especially made with a dual purpose. With a few stitches, the handkerchief becomes a bonnet for the new baby to wear with their baptismal gown.

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Your wedding gown is more than a pretty dress. Understood properly, and in the right hands, it can become a window to the past, or a treasured gift for the future. R.

Style

The Diary of A Latin Mass Wedding

By Kerry Harrison

“At rst, I was fascinated by the concept of Mass in an ancient and otherwise silent language. I wanted to hear it, just once.”

“When I went, I felt like I was living inside a movie. It felt like something transcendent.”

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It wasn't supposed to happen this way. Back in the 1990s, all the best people knew the Latin Mass wouldn't last.

Nevertheless, at the behest of Pope John Paul II, in bishops' palaces around the world a grudging 'accommodation' was made to those faithful who were -- albeit inexplicably -- still 'attached' to the old Form of the Mass. (In this way, it was to be hoped, the old Mass would quietly die out with those die-hards in the old generation.) But it didn't happen that way.

Today, this inexplicable 'attachment' has spread far and wide -- and most rapidly and passionately, among young, serious Catholics.

Herewith then, is the story of a young couple, amid photos of their magnificent wedding that 'all the best people' would never have believed possible -- in Latin, in Connecticut, in 2013.

(With honeymoon photos in Rome!)

“I’m Kerry Harrison. I’m 26 and my husband Peter is 27. I am from Connecticut -Peter is from the Boston area originally, but moved to Connecticut to work for the Knights of Columbus Headquarters in New Haven, CT. We got engaged on our one year anniversary, at church after the Easter Vigil Mass, at the stroke of midnight...”

ON THE LATIN MASS How I Found the Tridentine Mass: “I've been attending the TLM since 2009. I took Latin in school, and one day someone told me, "Did you know that in the Middle Ages the Mass used to be in Latin?" I thought, "I wish that still happened, somewhere on earth."

Then, I found out there was a traditional Latin Mass at St. Agnes in New York City, so I started taking the train from Connecticut to attend. I had no idea there were any TLMs anywhere else, much less any in Connecticut.

“I was so excited when I heard about the Latin Mass in Connecticut. I went the next Sunday and haven't stopped since. That parish is a blessing in my life.

I can't describe how much I have learned and changed in the time since I found it, and how grateful I am for the wonderful people I've met at St. Mary's in Norwalk, Connecticut. They've been with me through thick and thin, good days and bad. It really feels a lot like family.”

otherworldly. I found it wasn't so hard to believe, after all. When you realize that your grandparents, and great-grandparents, and great-great grandparents, all the saints and doctors of the Church, have prayed these same prayers, repeated these same words, you realize how small you are in the vastness of time, how little you are and how big God is. And you begin to really love Him for loving you.

‘Getting Lost’ Is the Point:

One of the best pieces of advice I got is that you're not really going to get it at first, and that's normal. You can go every week and months in, still get totally lost. It's not a play. The priest is doing one thing, the choir is doing another, the altar boys are doing something, and a bell is ringing, all at the same time. You don't know where you're supposed to look. But that's okay, and knowing where you are in the Mass isn't the goal. If you get lost in prayer, or reading and re-reading one part while everyone else has moved on, or you forget to care what the words mean when the chant takes your breath away, then, in my mind, you really have met the goal. The point is to 'get lost.'

Peter’s Introduction:

Peter had gone to one TLM before, in college, but since he didn't know Latin, he was a bit lost. When we went on our first date, I told him how I loved this Mass, and said he was welcome to come any Sunday. He showed up the next day. However, it was Palm Sunday, and he didn't know that meant a two hour liturgy, followed by a Gregorian chant procession through the city streets, and an hours-long brunch, quaintly termed "coffee hour". I think the poor man was in shock.

Deepening My Faith:

At first, I was fascinated by the concept of Mass in an ancient and otherwise silent language. I wanted to hear it, just once. When I went, it felt absolutely

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What People Said About Our Wedding:

My family knew that the wedding would be a TLM. (They're usually pretty entertained by us.) Our practicing Catholic friends were very interested in the Mass, and our other friends seemed interested in the concept. I didn't get a lot of questions beforehand about the Mass, one of my aunts wanted to know what it was so she could look it up. The response from guests was positive. Many people had never been to a Latin Mass before and found it very interesting. A few people thanked us for the opportunity to attend a TLM.

On Marriage Chastity’s Importance: “What about chastity? I would say that I think it's critical for the formation of a healthy relationship. If you use sex from the start as a means of fixing fights or providing entertainment when you're bored, I think you cheat yourself of a lot of information. You may use intimacy as a crutch, instead of realizing, "We fight a lot" or "I'm bored... we don't have that much in common". You skip a lot of steps, instead of seeing if the relationship has real staying power and real compatibility. The Church doesn't teach what it does because it enjoys being a fun-squasher. It teaches what it does because God knows us better than we know ourselves sometimes, and because God wants to call us to be better than our human nature often does. I don't think too many people regret holding out on sex. I think a lot more people regret too much, too fast, too soon.”

A honeymoon in Rome

A Relationship Based On Truth: On our first date, we started talking about politics. I began to say, "I think the most important issue today is -" and he finished my sentence with the exact words I was going to use: "the right to life. Because without that right, all other rights are meaningless." We both began to realize that we saw the world the same way. Our unity on this issue has drawn us closer together and been the basis for a relationship based on truth rather than the lies our society is often selling.”

Fountain in St. Peter ’s Square

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The times they are achangin' again...

Veiling Ve in America

by Roseanne T. Sullivan 70 | Page

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The T he trend tr tr rend end that tha hat t is is sweeping sweeping Ameri swee Ame America. r ca. ri

While the 1983 Code of Canon Law may have revoked the regulation that required women to cover their heads in church, the times they are a changin' again.

Of late, more and more Catholic women of all ages are choosing to wear veils -and not just at weddings, or at traditional Latin Masses.

Says Michelle of Liturgical Time veil shop:

“It has been my observation that more and more women are adopting the practice of head-covering. I think this is true particularly of younger women for whom the women's movement in the 60s and 70s was not part of their personal experience. These women are not as predisposed to view head-covering as repressive, but rather, may be more likely to feel free to choose whether to embrace its historical, biblical, and spiritual elements as beneficial to their walk with Christ -- without viewing them through the lens of an earlier time."

“Of course, traditionally, married women wore black, or darker colors, and single women and girls wore white, or lighter colors. Now, though, it seems to me that those practices have relaxed a bit. I would say that, as women are reembracing the practice of head-covering, we are, to some extent, doing so with creativity and a personal touch. However, I am sure that local parishes may have different norms and practices.”

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Liturgical Time Veil Shop This Etsy store sells homemade veils, headscarves, and Israeli-style �chels, "made with prayer." One of its best sellers is an easy to wear “Eternity Veil.” (Also known as a moibus or infinity veil.)

Popular Na�onal Catholic Register blogger, atheist-toCatholic convert Jennifer Fulwiler waxed enthusias�c about the eternity veil recently, “What’s great about it is that it can be worn as a scarf… And then slipped over your head to use as a veil! The design allowed it to stay on my head easily—I didn’t need any bobby pins to keep it in place. Also, it helped me relax to know that I could just drop it down and wear it around my neck if it got to be too much to hassle with.”

AS A SCARF: Blogger Jennifer Fulwiler in her Eternity veil.

AS A VEIL: Elegant and hassle-free veil.

Union Made Bride Shop This Etsy store is for the vintage bride -- but you don't have to be contempla�ng marriage to love these oneof-a-kind veils! Some recent finds include these 60sera man�llas suitable for non-wedding wear.

2nd Look Vintage Store Among this store's wide selec�on of vintage crochet pa�erns is this gorgeous man�lla, (If you don’t have the �me or skills to make it, the owner of the Crocheted Catholic Chapel Veils store will make it to order for a mere $24.99 + shipping. This is a virtual steal since the veil has �2 separate mo�fs of � different sizes and requires two different sizes of hooks!)

“I do no�ce a return to handmade ‘heirloom’ pieces such as this one," says store owner Lauren Fraser. "A piece such as ORIGINALLY SOLD as “So Drama�cally New” in 1964. this takes many, many hours to complete … to think that it will be handed down from genera�on to genera�on is so lovely--and is the reason I work so hard to bring these vintage pa�erns back.”

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NANCY REAGAN WORE A SPANISH MANTILLA for her visit with Pope John Paul II in 1982.

A MANTILLA-CLAD JACKIE KENNEDY at her private audience with Pope John XXIII in 1962.

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Robin Nest Lane Store �he started this as a shop for veils for li�le girls, but today �obin Fit�gerald o�ers veils for all ages.

"My oldest daughter was four at the �me, and the oldest of three. It seemed that she would spend most of Holy Mass without her veil on since my hands weren't free to straighten it. I experimented with some le�over lace, adding �ebacks to a triangular veil. �he wore it for years and years, and I made one for each of our daughters as they became old enough to veil. Nine years later, I began selling these li�le veils on �tsy. I honestly wanted to share the prac�cality and cuteness of this li�le veil --a�er all, it had served to signi�cantly reduce my stress level during Mass.� “The ages of my adult customers varies greatly, from college students to veterans of the La�n Mass who s�ll remember Va�can II. I do remember being pleasantly surprised to see the younger women veiling, especially those who are not yet married. I feel it speaks to their maturity and their love of the Faith!"

“Truth be told, veiling has been an integral part of my spiritual conversion. � am very than�ful to have spent �me in a parish where veiling was taught and encouraged, not misunderstood.”

- Robin Fitzgerald

Custom Crocheted Catholic Chapel Veils “Bringing beauty back to the Mass, one veil at a �me� is this store's deligh�ul slogan. �specially for those who avoid manmade fabrics, this shop on Facebook and the web has lovely co�on veils. They will also make your special veil to order at a reasonable price!

Veils By Lily “I fell in love with the idea of making a symbolic act of humility before the Lord in the Blessed �acrament, but I had a di�cult �me �nding a veil I could see myself wearing," Veils by Lily owner Lily Beck Wilson explains.

“Then, I found a simple yet beau�ful veil. Now, I imagined that other women might have had the same problem, and I didn't like the thought of this deterring them from making such a beau�ful gesture to show reverence to our Lord. I started looking for so�, beau�ful laces and soon enough, I made my �rst veil, s�tched completely by hand because I didn't know how to use a sewing machine yet. My mother suggested I make a website, and less than a month later, I was selling veils online.

“Tradi�onally, married women would wear black or darker colors and unmarried women, white or lighter colors. However, since veiling is a custom that is just now coming back, there are really no hard and fast rules to follow. �t the La�n Mass oratory I've been to, some women wear veils to match their ou�it, others wear colors they have simply decided they like, etc. In parishes where few women veil, it is common for women to want to wear something that blends in with their hair. ��en, women will save the more special-looking veils for feasts of the church."

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Style “Veils by Lily specializes in imported French and Spanish man�llas. “�hese beau�ful new man�llas come directly from Calais, France, known for its so�, vintage-style lace that clings to the hair, and from Barcelona, Spain, where they are ar�ully embroidered for a lovely drape.� �heir so� tulle collec�on is "made with one of the finest laces available. Each veil has a deligh�ul so�ness and drapes beau�fully."

Authentic Spanish Medallion Mantilla

French Bouquet Mantilla

Authentic Spanish Floral Mantilla

Are There Rules?

Unsurprisingly, the veiling trend is a hot topic these days. Over at Father Z's blog, there's even a live survey on the topic “Should the custom of women wearing head coverings in church be revived?”

So are there rules to wearing the veil correctly?

“I have spoken with some customers who have requested veils in certain styles and colors based on traditions. Our family was a part of a parish where it was an unspoken ‘rule’ that the single women wore white veils while the married and widowed wore black," says Robin Fitzgerald. "We have also been a part of and visited parishes where the liturgical season seemed to influence veil color and style. For example, during Ordinary Time and Feast Days, you would see a variety of styles, colors and lengths, while during penitential seasons, the women and girls would wear longer, black veils. I would encourage anyone new to veiling or contemplating the idea to go with whatever you feel you will be most comfortable in. I wouldn't ever want to make someone feel awkward or shunned for not wearing the ‘right’ color or length of veil. It is between the woman and God.” "As this new generation has embraced headcovering, they have done so without the cultural strictures that earlier generations had been raised with," according to Michelle at Liturgical Time. "I find that the styles women choose vary somewhat with the seasons. As Advent and Lent approach, for instance, more traditional styles are popular. In the summer months, light weight cotton headcoverings that can be tied beneath the hair become popular."

"When I was a child I occasionally ended up in churches for weddings or funerals, and when I saw the men remove their hats, they always looked a li�le smaller and less powerful a�er doing so. I understood on a visceral level that for a man to bare his head was an act of humility. For women, it’s the opposite."

But is it really appropriate for women to try to look gorgeous when we cover our heads in church?

Jennifer Fulwiler who operates the blog Conversion Diary writes in Notes from Beneath the Veil that the purpose of women’s head coverings actually is to deflect attention: “When I was a child I occasionally ended up in churches for weddings or funerals, and when I saw the men remove their hats, they always looked a little smaller and less powerful after doing so. I understood on a visceral level that for a man to bare his head was an act of humility. For women, it’s the opposite. Imagine a girl standing in front of a mirror, heading out to a party, determined to look as gorgeous as possible…but totally neglecting her hair. It simply seemed to me that men uncovering their heads and women covering theirs was a nice, optional thing that people could do to deflect attention from themselves in a holy place.”

The Media

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How Catholic Radio Changed My Life

the media

by Angie Gadacz

T

here have been some big changes in my life. Recently, our family decided to reset our priorities; a job change and a move across our home state of Minnesota soon followed.

My husband moved into a job less demanding of his time. My employer asked me to work remotely. Our kids are no longer in daycare.

In the beginning of our new, more relaxed life, I listened to political talk radio; though after the 2012 election, I began to search for something more positive and meaningful. I found an ICatholicRadio app for my phone, and I have some advice for their marketers. Do pledge drives featuring how much people’s lives were changed by listening actually work?

Yes. I was fascinated, though to be honest, somewhat disappointed to realize how little I knew about our Faith.

A Catholic Psychologist with Real-Life Answers I began to listen to Dr. Ray Gaurendi on The Doctor Is In. He’s a common sense psychologist -- with a sense of humor -who helps people raising their children or in relationship struggles. Dr Guarendi teaches time-tested, useful techniques.

Interestingly, he acknowledges that his profession had given rise to many problems in raising children in our increasingly secular world. For example, he says the excessive praise bestowed upon children does not serve the best interest of families; just one among many problems with the way parents are now encouraged to raise their children.

Before long, I found the Relevant Radio app, (and Tune In Radio where I can pick up my local affiliate)—and a whole new set of programs throughout the day: • Morning Air with Sean Herriot is a great show where guests from a wide variety of professional fields cover a huge range of topics.

• Glen’s Story Corner starts off my day with an inspirational story on my Facebook feed, and my local affiliate posts the daily gospel readings.

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• Every day I hear Mass from a local parish, followed by the rosary and prayers said by local seminarians.

Angie’s Picks

• The Inner Life features a spiritual director counseling call-in listeners.

New priests always offer a fresh perspective, too!

Do you have questions about the Faith? I recommend Calling All Catholics (The Station of the Cross); Catholic Answers Live; EWTN Open Line and Right Here Right Now.

• When my kids are home in the summer, our lunch hours are spent listening to the Rev. Know-it-all (Fr. Simon) or Msgr. Swetland on Go Ask Your Father, both fielding questions from people all around the country.

Are you curious about people who convert? Check out The Journey Home.

• My favorite is On the Journey, by Lighthouse Catholic Media, where I can hear well-known Catholic speakers such as Fr. Robert Barron, Scott Hahn, Jeff Cavins and Steve Ray.

Are you tired of all your news about the Church being filtered through a political lens? Shows such as Vatican Insider, Celtic Connections, Kresta in the Afternoon, A Closer Look with Sheila Laugminas, or Register Radio are a great way to find out what is going on in the Church – in the US and the world.

• Last but not least, afternoons on The Station of the Cross, an EWTN radio network affiliate, the “Quiet Waters Holy Hour” (3:00 p.m. EST) is a nice break. I listen to the Divine Mercy Chaplet in song, followed by prayers, meditations, songs, the Stations of the Cross and the Rosary.

Do you have questions about vocations, or how to live out your faith in your personal life? Check out programs such as Vocation Boom!, On Call with Wendy Weise, Women of Grace or Dynamic Catholic.

US Catholic Radio Today Many Catholics might not know that there’s a thriving Catholic radio scene out there.

For example, Relevant Radio, in its 13th year, has 13 stations and 20 affiliate stations covering 13 states. The EWTN Catholic Radio Network has over 200 affiliated stations, covering about 40 states. ETWN Radio Network stations are all independently owned and EWTN programs are provided to the radio stations free of charge to air, to minimize costs for the stations.

Are you interested in Catholic athletes? Tune in to Blessed 2 Play and Crossing the Goal. Both shows feature far better role models for our kids than the ones we hear the most about.

Do you love reading Catholic literature? There’s Bookmark with Doug Keck.

EWTN

You can check out the programming grids for my favorite networks here. (Hint: Look for the links on the web pages.)

• “The Stations of the Cross” (Search for ICatholicRadio in the App store on your phone.) http://www.wlof.net/index.php • Relevant Radio (Search for Relevant Radio in the App store on your phone.) http://relevantradio.com/about-us/stations • EWTN Radio Network stations http://www.ewtn.com/radio/amfm.asp

All Catholic radio is financed primarily through funds donated by listeners.

Many of the local stations have some of their own locally produced shows, so each station’s programming is slightly different. Most stations can be listened to through their website online, or with a phone app.

RIGHT Fr. Marty Moleski and Gina, host/producer of Calling All Catholics on Relevant Radio LEFT Morning Air hosts Sean Herriott and Glen Lewerenz on Relevant Radio

In Hoc Signo: “We Shall Publish” The Amazing Success of Ignatius Press

the media

by Bridget Hester Green

Have you heard of the Youcat? How about a little number called The Harp and the Laurel Wreath? Perhaps you have read Jesus of Nazareth by then-Cardinal Ratzinger? Even if you haven’t come across any of these, there’s a great likelihood that there’s a child in your life who is acquainted with the Faith and Life series through their parish CCD program.

All of these have something in common: they have been published by a home-grown American upstart, San-Francisco-based Ignatius Press.

Ignatius Press – named for the Jesuits’ founder, the 15th century St. Ignatius Loyola – is an astonishing success story run by a Jesuit priest. Today, it is one of the foremost Catholic publishing houses in the world.

Founded in 1978 by the Jesuit Father Joseph Fessio, San-Franciscobased Ignatius Press is a home-grown American upstart, a real success story. A former student of then-Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Father Fessio has since taken the Pope emeritus’ call to the “new evangelization” to a global scale.

Astounding scope

THE FILMS OF IGNATIUS PRESS include distributing critically-acclaimed foreign films to the English-speaking world. Here Maia Morgenstern is the lead in “Edith Stein: The Seventh Chamber” originally released in Italian. Available in DVD from Ignatius Press.

And, Ignatius keeps growing -- the breadth of traditional works being published and promoted by the publishing house today is amazing.

Everything from exclusively web-based magazines like Catholic World Report and Homiletic & Pastoral Review to printed and online

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catechesis, and from homiletics to hymnals to movies, Ignatius does it all. And, unlike some others, Ignatius does it all well.

From homiletics to hymnals to movies, Ignatius Press does it all.

And, unlike some others, Ignatius does it all well.

Doing it for God What is it about this company that makes them so well suited to filling the media needs of Catholics the world over? They do it all for God. Founded in 1978 by Fr. Joseph Fessio, Ignatius Press is spreading the message of Christ through the publication and sale of solidly Catholic works. A former student of then-Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Father Fessio has taken the Pope emeritus’ call to the “new evangelization” to a global scale.

Fr. Fessio has held posts at a number of colleges and universities, including Ave Maria University. He has written extensively on matters of faith and morals, defending the Magisterium at every turn. His friends and colleagues are a list of those among the best known and most faithful priests, bishops, and cardinals of our day. (And, as we all know, we are who our friends are.)

Currently, Ignatius Press has over 1800 titles in print, and more are coming each month. Their film series alone is unmatched and unparalleled by any publishing venture in the world today.

This October, in the month of the Rosary and the month dedicated to respecting life at all stages, their latest epic movie hits theaters: Mary of Nazareth. The film also has a Facebook Page.With this new film, Ignatius Press and Fr. Fessio will take yet another step forward in spreading the Gospel of Christ to all lands.

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The Home Front

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Can You Be Fabulous?

the home front

An Army Wife Goes Paleo

by Erica McCullagh Of course, adding a 750-1000 calorie treat a few times a week wreaked havoc on my body. By the end of my pregnancy I had gained 70 pounds and been diagnosed with high blood pressure and preeclampsia. This resulted in a crisis environment for my child during labor and lead to an emergency cesarean section. Had I done this fifty years ago, both my baby and I would have died.

Baby Food from Scratch Thank the Lord, I gave birth to a healthy baby girl. I was over the moon in love with her, and my husband and I agreed I should stay home with her.

We had a wonderful time -- there was always something new and exciting going on.

When it was time for her to start eating solid foods, I bought her baby food in a package, until one day I read the food label. I began to wonder how the ingredients listed did not spoil for almost two years from the date I purchased them. How could they require no refrigeration? My mother’s intuition warned me “something is not right here.”

Does the word “cook” arouse fear in your soul?

Truth be told, there was a time in my life when that’s how I felt. Although my mother made delicious meals and baked scrumptious desserts, I wasn’t much interested in cooking as a child.

But once out on my own, I was young, fabulous, and knew everything there was to know about life’s intricacies. I also thought I was a good ‘cook.’ I could follow any recipe on my prepackaged, ‘just-add-meat-and water’ dinner in a box. I could operate a can opener like no other and perfectly pour that delicious can of “homemade” soup into the pot. Heat and stir! The same goes for my ‘freshly’ prepared, canned vegetables, yogurt topped with boxed granola, discount bread slathered with store-bought peanut butter and jelly -- or sometimes even peanut butter and marshmallow cream!

My Fabulousness Little did I know that I was completely clueless about how to eat, when to eat, what to eat, and what was even considered ‘real’ food. Fast forward seven years, and I found myself quite miserable: married for five years, moved around by the U.S. Army three times, and twenty pounds overweight. I was tired and run down. I was constantly irritable and I felt emotionally unstable at times. What had happened to my fabulousness?

As 2008 dawned, my husband and I joined a gym, pledging to eat better and get healthy. The first six weeks went swimmingly. So well, in fact, that I conceived my first child right away. I was shocked!

My research led me to start making her baby food from scratch. I found some excellent books by Anabel Karmel, with simple, easy to follow recipes which could be doubled and tripled with any extras frozen. I vowed never to buy prepackaged baby food again. Not only did her food taste better, there were no added preservatives, artificial food coloring or flavoring. I found so much joy in cooking for my daughter, knowing that with each bite her little body was being nourished the way God had intended.

However, even as I was doing all of this wonderful cooking for her, I was not doing anything for myself. Most of my food still came from a box or a can, and only required minimal additions to become a complete meal. And before I knew it, we were moving again due to my husband’s career in the Army. This time, we were headed to Germany.

It had been almost a year since I had my little girl, and I was still 45 pounds overweight. My stateside doctor told me, “Be careful over there with the pastries or you will get fatter than you already are.” (That doctor had some nerve, I tell you!)

Eating Dirty, Eating Clean Over the next several months, I could feel my self-esteem sinking lower and lower. I was run down, tired, irritable, and sad. I had to make a change.

I talked to my husband and told him my plan -- making changes in how I was eating would affect him as well. I was not going to be cooking three different meals for each family member. He agreed and was on board with me.

‘Eating Clean’ by Tosca Reno gave me ideas, backed by proven research.

Her plan made logical sense, and I felt confident that I could make her strategy fit into my life. Eating clean was pretty easy, and I started losing pounds right away. My confidence began to rise. I was sleeping better, eating better, and feeling better. I was beginning to look forward to each new day instead of dreading it.

There is nothing in the world that can make a woman turn her entire world around faster than conceiving a precious, delicate, new life. In my case, that is exactly what happened; I was determined to maintain my new healthier eating habits.

My favorite part? Just as when I began making homemade baby food, I knew exactly what was in my food and every ingredient that was nourishing to my body. I continued eating this way for about seven months, and began exercising more. This combination helped me to lose 35 pounds, bringing me back to my pre-pregnancy weight. Okay, but not fabulous.

Oreo Blizzards After the fifth month however, I decided to give in to a tiny craving. I went to Dairy Queen after dinner and ordered a small Oreo Blizzard. Oh my goodness -- heaven from the first bite! After that first treat, I had an Oreo Blizzard at least three times every week. Soon, I graduated to the medium size. Sometimes, I ordered a large.

Eating Paleo Then, everything stalled. So I began researching once more on healthy lifestyles, and found the Paleo Diet (http://thepaleodiet.com). After doing a lot of reading, I decided to try it for one month. Would I like this? Would my body respond?

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Well, my whole world changed again. My weight started dropping (15 pounds in one month to be exact), my energy increased, I slept better than I had in years, and my digestion issues were fixed. My acne (at 30 years of age!) completely disappeared and my skin was glowing, my chronic inflammation was gone, my hair was shinier and my nails were stronger. My energy level went through the roof; I could chase my two year old from dawn until dusk and still have some energy left over.

I have now been happily eating Paleo for a year and a half, and I have never felt better. My health has improved tremendously as well. Every now and then I will eat something non-Paleo, but I don’t beat myself up about it.

lifestyle, but this journey has really been a blessing in disguise for my health and the health of my family.

The single, best lesson of this whole process has been learning how to cook healthy and delicious meals for my family. This is key; in recent years my husband has been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, leaving me alone with our child for months at a time. He came home to a happy, healthy family – and the daily blessing of a real meal together, at home.

Eating together, after a Catholic grace, forms the stable core of our day.

What worked for me may or may not work for you, but the best thing to do is to start. The longest journey begins with the first step. Keep things simple, not complicated, and just go for it!

Why? Because at the end of the day, I have to live my life, and sometimes that means I can’t be perfect. Mistakes happen and I’m caught unprepared. But I just get right back on the Paleo wagon the next day and all is well.

Cooking For a Young Family It took me two and a half years of trial and error to find a healthy

Skillet Apple Pie By: Elana Amsterdam

The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook

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Crust

1 cup blanched almond flour 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder ½ teaspoon sea salt 2 tablespoons grape seed oil (can substitute butter or coconut oil 1:1) 1 tablespoon agave nectar, honey, or 100% pure maple syrup (grade B)

Filling

2 tablespoons grape seed oil, butter, or coconut oil 5 medium apples (about 2 ½ lbs), peeled, cored, and sliced ¼ inch thick ½ cup apple juice ¼ cup agave nectar, honey, or pure maple syrup (grade B) 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Egg Wash

1 egg white Position an oven rack in the upper part of the oven.

Preheat the oven to 500*F. To make the crust, blend together the almond flour, arrowroot powder, and salt in a food processor. Pulse in the grape seed oil and agave nectar. Blend until the mixture is crumbly, about 10 seconds. Transfer the dough to a bowl and place in the freezer for 20 minutes.

To make the filling, heat the grape seed oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Saute the apples, stirring occasionally until lightly caramelized, about 5 minutes.

Remove from the heat.

In a medium bowl, whisk the apple juice, agave nectar, lemon juice, arrowroot powder, and cinnamon. Stir the apple juice mixture into the skillet with the caramelized apples.

Remove the dough from the freezer and form into a ball.

Place the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper generously dusted with almond flour, and roll the dough into an 11-inch circle, 1/16 inch thick. Remove the top sheet of parchment and place the circle of dough over the skillet filled with caramelized apples. Peel back the remaining sheet of parchment paper and allow the dough to gently fall onto the apples. (The dough will crumble and break a bit – this is normal.) In a small bowl, whisk the egg white, then brush it over the crust.

Bake for 5 to 7 minutes, checking frequently, until golden brown. Turn the oven off. Carefully move the pie to a lower oven rack and leave in for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, until the crust is deep golden, almost dark brown.

Serve the pie hot out to the oven.

the home front

A Catholic Thanksgiving, Oklahoma-Style

by Donna Sue Berry

Archie Bee’s Sweet Potato Pie

If there’s one thing Americans do right, it is Thanksgiving Day dinner.

But how do Catholics celebrate this national holiday? Here in Edmond, Oklahoma, we think starting the day off with Mass is always a good idea -- where we thank God for the freedoms that we have enjoyed in these United States, and pray for those who have fought for our right to be free.

The Day Rain or shine, the cooler weather we wished for all summer is now here, and the brightly colored fall leaves have all but fallen from the trees.

There would be a sort of sadness except for the fact that Thanksgiving Day is almost here! Once October is past and football season is in full swing, there’s anticipation that the next big thing is just around the corner and plans begin for big family gatherings.

There’s plenty to do, mostly involving lists and plans. Lists of foods to be served. Lists of grocery items. Seating plans to accommodate everyone who may show up.

In 1621, the Pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts colony celebrated a harvest meal, the famous first Thanksgiving here in the New World. In 1863, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln made it official, proclaiming a national day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”

The Bird The Thanksgiving Day ‘Turkey’ has been an integral part of the celebration ever since those old Pilgrims first sliced into theirs. Now, although there are those hunter-gatherer types who bring home a bird after a trip into the woods, in my household it’s always a trip to the grocery store.

Crunch time Everyone who enters my kitchen during this time gets put to work! Usually there are pecan pies, pumpkin pies, and cakes to be made, but there is nothing ever so good as a homemade sweet potato pie. (Editor’s Note: Regina readers will be delighted to know that Joel Doc Berry’s family recipe can be found below.)

The Table Our Thanksgiving table would not be complete without mashed potatoes, cornbread dressing, ham, sweet buttered corn, green beans, cranberry sauce, various salads, and hot rolls with sweet cream butter.

The Blessing When everything is prepared, family and friends seated around our table, we light our candles.

After a Catholic grace in which we say ‘Thank you to Almighty God for our many blessings’ -- we begin this most American of feasts!

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Donna Sue’s Note: Archie Bee Fisher was the granddaughter of slaves. Her grandfather was set free by my husband Joel’s great grandpa --they were Methodists --and earned a living on his ranch in east Texas. Archie Bee was born and grew up there and eventually became a paid house maid. She helped to raise Joel, and he literally did call her his ‘Mammy.’ This was a term of endearment and as such was treasured by Archie Bee. She and Joel’s Grandma Carter taught Joel to cook, sew, and quilt. His Grandpa Carter taught him to run a ranch, buy and sell stock, and break horses.

My husband is a man of many talents.

However, in trying to pull this recipe out of him, I almost had to call in the troops. He doesn’t cook by recipes!!!

brown sugar and eggs, (one at a time mixing well). Depending on the sweet potatoes, if the mixture is too thick, add heavy cream to thin it. Pie filling should be a little runny. Sprinkle crushed up pecans on top of pie. Pour into pie crust and bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes.

Pie Crust ½ cup lard ½ butter

Filling

2 cups flour

1lb to ½ lbs. of sweet potatoes, depending on size of your pie pan

Pinch of salt

1 can of condensed milk

In a large bowl, loosely cut lard, butter and salt into flour, and then put into freezer for half an hour.

Next take the loose dough out of freezer and cut it well, adding the ice water to form a ball.

1 cup brown sugar 3 eggs 1 tsp. cinnamon ¼ tsp. Mexican vanilla Bake sweet potatoes in oven at 350 degrees until done. Peel and then mash sweet potatoes with a potato masher in a large bowl. Add condensed milk, vanilla and cinnamon and mix. Then add

6 to 8 Tbsp. of ice water

Divide the ball into halves and wrap in saran wrap. Place in refrigerator for 4 hours. If making only one pie, you can freeze the second ball of dough until needed. Roll out one ball of dough and put into pie pan. Add filling.

the home front

Family Night: Sunday Dinner for 30

“I remember wondering why your sister got upset if we couldn’t make it to family night.

Now, if we miss one Sunday dinner, I think, ‘WHY? What am I supposed to DO? I’m so lost!’

Before family night, I had a life. But now if you aren’t at family night you just aren’t in.”

This is what my brother-in-law said a few months ago. This is the same guy who today makes up epic adventures at every Sunday dinner about kings who eat too much spaghetti and cousins who fight bad guys and ride off into sunsets. The same guy who is father to five of my blondest and silliest nieces and nephews.

Sunday Nights in Flu Season

This is the same guy who today makes up epic adventures at every Sunday dinner about kings who eat too much spaghetti and cousins who fight bad guys and ride off into sunsets.

On the plus side, there’s quiet time visiting with Mima and Grandawg (as our children call my parents), but it doesn’t feel right if someone is missing.

The first week we’re all together after an extended flu season is full of exclamations about how much nieces and nephews managed to grow.

Once last year, various family members passed around an illness so long that we had two separate dinners -- one for the well people and one for those who still had a fever.

How It Began I am not sure what year the Sunday dinners at my parents’ house began, but it was around eight years ago. During this time I was a young mother, busy with a husband, a business, and a baby every year. We would go when we could, often staying overnight to make the most out of the drive.

(Anyone who has spent three hours in a car with a screaming two year old and a hungry infant knows why we weren’t eager for round two on the way home.)

At that point, I wasn’t able to make family night every week, and I wondered how long it would last. How many times can the same 20-30 people have dinner together without getting tired of each other?

Turns out, the answer is lots of times. Eight years later, it’s still going strong. What started as a way to get together and reconnect as the various birdies left the nest has turned into a meaningful custom spanning three generations. Today, our Sunday dinner nights have expanded to include great-grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, and neighbors.

Just yesterday, my kids were discussing how it might look to strangers driving past my parents’ home on Sunday evenings. Some weeks there are eight-passenger vehicles surrounding the smaller (and cooler) cars that my parents and single brothers drive. Other weeks the road is lined with pickup trucks with big tires, American flags and Red Dirt Trucks stickers on the back. (This is because my brothers’ friends showed up to sit around the fire.) Still other weeks, you’ll see ten mini-vans out front because it just so happens that family nights are a great time to host birthday parties.

I wondered how long it would last. How many times can the same 20-30 people have dinner together without getting tired of each other?

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And some weeks, especially during flu season, only one or two vehicles sit outside. On those weeks, the lucky families with no sick children have a smaller and quieter dinner. This has its pros and cons.

The Generations Expand Since this tradition began, all four of my sisters married and started their own families. One brother is engaged to a lovely young woman I will be happy to have as a sister-in-law. Our other brother is busy planning a life beside the ocean.

My parents now have twenty-one grandchildren, ranging in age from thirteen years to three months. More babies are on the way and are as anxiously awaited as the first. Being an aunt is one of the best aspects of my life; I treasure this time to get to know each one of those precious little ones.

My parents now have twenty-one grandchildren, ranging in age from thirteen years to three months.

More babies are on the way and are as anxiously awaited as the first.

Blessing for a Single Mama For me and my children, Sundays are a haven of peace and fun at the end of chaotic weeks of school and work. We look forward to spending the morning at Mass and the time afterward to visit with friends. Come late afternoon, I put the finishing touches on my contribution to our Sunday meal while the kids get more anxious to leave. We drive the two miles to my parents’ house. If you’re between the ages of four and ten, it’s very important to be the first group of cousins to arrive.

Today, I am a single mama of six, and family night is more important to me that it ever has been. My children get to spend time with their six uncles.

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Whether it’s driveway basketball, races on the TV in the garage, or wrestling on the living room floor, I am so thankful for these six brothers who make such a strong impression on my kids. Four of them are my brothers by marriage, but that’s another benefit of Sunday dinner; the term “in-law” doesn’t matter anymore when they’ve had so many hours to spend proving they can be just as adorably annoying as real little brothers. (I had to say “adorably” to be nice, but eldest sisters everywhere will know what I mean.)

The time with my sisters and my mom in the kitchen is such a blessing for me. Those couple hours of idle chatter make up the majority of my adult interaction for most weeks, and I don’t know what I’d do without it.

Today, I am a single mama of six, and family night is more important to me that it ever has been. My children get to spend time with their six uncles. Whether it’s driveway basketball, races on the TV in the garage, or wrestling on the living room floor, I am so thankful for these six brothers who make such a strong impression on my kids.

Granddawg the Party Animal My dad is the king of party setups. If it’s hot, he will have a massive fan set up outside the garage, or a small air conditioner in the bed of a pickup truck. If it’s cold, he’ll have a fire going in the pit outside. Four-wheelers with trailers full of grandchildren, lawn mower rides, bounce houses, and sprinklers are some of the fun our legendary Grandawg has rigged up for the grandkids. They love him, and if there’s not a three year old clinging to him, it’s an odd day.

Four-wheelers with trailers full of grandchildren, lawn mower rides, bounce houses, and sprinklers are some of the fun our legendary Grandawg has rigged up for the grandkids. They love him, and if there’s not a three year old clinging to him, it’s an odd day.

Why Sunday Dinner is Crucial Sunday dinner at Mima and Grandawg’s house is an integral part of our day of reconnecting. Our own family has time at home to be unscheduled; we have time at Mass to immerse ourselves in Our Lord, our parish family, and our Communion of Saints family.

Then dinner is for mom and dad, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, cousins – with music in the driveway, garage-band jamming, husbands and wives taking turns changing diapers, skinned knees, “circuses” put on by the smaller kids, shooing people out of the kitchen before dinner is ready, and sitting in lawn chairs around a fire after dark.

This is the day we reconnect. After Sunday dinner, we are replenished, ready for another week.

Sunday dinner is for mom and dad, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, cousins – with music in the driveway, garage-band jamming, husbands and wives taking turns changing diapers, skinned knees, “circuses” put on by the smaller kids, shooing people out of the kitchen before dinner is ready, and sitting in lawn chairs around a fire after dark.

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The Laity 84 | Page

The Catholic Gentleman the laity

Facebook’s Hottest New Catholic Page Men today are told that they are either fools, belching brutes, or effeminate fops. This simply isn’t true.

O

ne of the hottest pages on Facebook these days goes by the unlikely name of “The Catholic Gentleman.”

Here’s REGINA Magazine’s exclusive interview with the young gentleman behind this fascinating look into the minds and hearts of young American Catholics today.

Q. So, you are “The Catholic Gentleman” on Facebook, but who are you, really?

A. My real name is Sam Guzman, and I am 25 years old. I live in the Milwaukee area of Wisconsin, USA.

courage better than anyone else.

Rather than sharing advice on the virtuous life from Ben Franklin, I envisioned blogging about the four cardinal virtues, the three theological virtues, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, and other treasures of wisdom and knowledge left to us by Holy Mother Church. I realized more strongly than before that everything a man needs to know is contained in the Catholic faith, and I simply wanted to share that with the world. The Catholic Gentleman was born.

Everything a man needs to know is contained in the Catholic faith, and I simply wanted to share that with the world. Hence, The Catholic Gentleman was born.

I am not a cradle Catholic; I am a convert. My journey to Catholic faith is too long to share here, but very briefly, I was raised protestant with a strong Reformed influence---as in the doctrines of John Calvin. In college, I strongly considered becoming a Baptist minister, and further on my road to Rome, an Anglican priest. Eventually, after much agonizing study and prayer, I realized that Jesus had founded only one true Church, and I had to unite with it to be faithful to him. My wife and I were confirmed in the Catholic and Apostolic Faith Easter of 2012.

By day, I am the Communications Director for Pro-Life Wisconsin, a legislative action and educational organization dedicated to defend the dignity of human life from conception until natural death.

I am married to a beautiful woman, and I am the father of three children--one in heaven, one just over a year, and one about to be born.

Q. How did you arrive at the idea for this page?

A. For many years, I have been a faithful reader of the site, The Art of Manliness---a blog which seeks to encourage a revival of classic manhood.

AoM regularly features articles on everything from shaving, to starting a fire, to virtuous manhood. Frequently, posts will center on manly heroes, such as Teddy Roosevelt, and draw practical wisdom from their lives.

While praying about how I could serve the Church, the idea occurred to create a Catholic version of The Art of Manliness. Instead of inspiring men with the example of Teddy Roosevelt, I envisioned sharing the lives of the masculine gentleman saints from the history of the Church. After all, these extraordinary men modeled true holiness, masculinity, toughness, and

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Q. What are you trying to accomplish?

A. First and foremost, it is my desire to inspire men to be saints by creating an atmosphere---an ethos---of Catholic manliness. Contrary to popular opinion, there is nothing more manly, challenging, or rewarding than the pursuit of holiness. The truest men were the saints.

Unfortunately, the Church has been effeminized and softened in recent years, and men have drifted away. This happened for a number of reasons, but seeking to deny it will do no good. It is a fact. Most men no longer see the Catholic faith as something worthy of a man’s interest, and this is a tragedy in the highest degree. I want to counteract this notion by presenting images that portray the strength, majesty, and beauty of the Catholic faith.

Along the way, I hope to encourage a revival of classic manliness. Men today are told that they are either fools, belching brutes, or effeminate fops. This simply isn’t true. Men (I include myself) need to know traditional manly arts like how to treat a lady, iron their pants, use technology responsibly, defend their families, or polish their shoes.

The Catholic gentleman loves and protects everything that is good and true. He does not sink to the lowest common denominator or choose the path of least resistance.

Q. Can you give us some examples of Catholic gentleman -- from history, from today?

A. There are countless Catholic gentleman, but among the saints, St. Francis de Sales is foremost. This humble man was universally known for his gentle courtesy and the warmth of his charity. He even earned the nickname, “the gentleman saint.” You can read my profile of him in the link above.

Among modern Catholic men, I believe Pope Benedict XVI is a shining example of Catholic gentlemanliness. While he is often overshadowed by the charismatic John Paul II and Pope Francis, Pope Benedict is a wonderful and holy man, and it is hard to overestimate his contributions to the Church. He possesses both a profound intellect and a profound humility, and throughout his pontificate, he sought to promote the treasures of Catholic culture---artistically, musically, and liturgically.

Q. Who are your fans? Male? Female?

A. Due to the nature of the content, most of the fans are men. However, I am continually surprised at how many women readers we have. While I can’t speak for all women, I believe women are drawn to true masculinity, just as men are drawn to true femininity. While feminism has sought to effeminize men, deep down women love men that are tough and strong, but who are also gentle and holy. That is my theory, anyway!

I want to emphasize that I am very much learning as I go. It has been said that the best way to learn is to teach, and I find that adage true. By no means do I consider myself the master of all things manly or Catholic.

But that really isn’t the point. True masculinity is a journey, and we are all at different stages of it. I am the one managing the page and writing the posts, but this community is about journeying side by side, encouraging one another and learning together.

It is also worth noting that we have protestant readers. Lutherans, Anglicans, and Presbyterians have left comments that they enjoy the page. I always take the opportunity to encourage them to become Catholic!

Q. How do people react to your page? Any negatives?

A. We had one angry atheist pay a visit, but other than that, all the feedback Finally, I want to have fun. Catholics know how to have a good time, and I has been very positive. It is incredible to see the passionate community want the page to be a place where men can talk about manly things and that has formed in a short amount of time. enjoy themselves. There are a lot of bad things happening in the world, and we all need somewhere to laugh and be encouraged, even if it is an Q. What are your plans for the page you have created? online community.

Long term, I want to give back to the fans with opportunities for them to share their projects and passions. I am still working out exactly how this will be done, but I am constantly receiving links to great things men are A. Above all, the Catholic gentleman has God at the center of his life, working on, and I want to share them in some way. informing every decision, desire, and action. He loves and protects everything that is good and true. He fights zealously for the honor of Christ In addition, I am working on a book. While the blog is a great venue for and his Bride, the Catholic Church. He pursue holiness with his whole heart, sharing brief thoughts, I see the need for a full length book covering Catholic mind, and strength. He is a virtuous man. manhood. There are many such books for women, but only a few for men.

Q. What is your definition of a Catholic Gentleman?

The Catholic gentleman is also cultured and courteous. He doesn’t dress like a slob, and he is respectful of others. He is temperate and self-controlled.

He knows how to treat a lady, and he cherishes true femininity. He is humble enough to learn from others, and he does not scorn wisdom or learning. He does not sink to the lowest common denominator or choose the path of least resistance. Instead, he is always ready to courageously embrace sacrifice and suffering.

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We had one angry atheist pay a visit, but other than that, all the feedback has been very positive. It is incredible to see the passionate community that has formed in a short amount of time.

the laity

Doctor Dad Says

D

octor Parnell Donahue is a retired pediatrician, and the father of four grown children and 14 grandchildren.

He is also the author of Messengers in Denim, The Amazing Things Parents Can Learn from Teens. His latest book is Tools for Effective Parenting.

In this article, Dr. Par speaks to today’s Catholic fathers about one of their primary responsibilities: passing on the Faith.

What Cheeseheads Can Teach Us About Getting Our Kids To Church Some time ago I took two of our neighbor girls who had volunteered at Children’s Hospital to lunch.

Somehow the conversation turned to religion; fortunately, that happens frequently here in the center of the Bible Belt. One of the girls (pardon me, young women) said that most of the things churches tell us we shouldn’t do aren’t good for us anyhow. And, she was right!

Teens, like people of every age, are searching for meaning in life; belief in God and adherence to religious principles helps find that meaning. Religious rules are guides to curb our behavior and ensure our happiness.

Teens, like people of every age, are searching for meaning in life.

On ‘the need to temporarily disconnect’ Yes, life seems harder at the end of the teenage years so the need to temporarily disconnect is understandable. But it is far better, more exciting, and a lot easier to simply find a guide to follow and plow ahead.

First, be a fan and watch the games. Remember action is more important than talk.

Then, get some Packer paraphernalia like caps, jerseys, and maybe even a Cheese-head or two. Talk about the players at dinner and involve your kids in the conversation. Hey, get some tickets and make a family road trip to Wisconsin. By the time your kids are teens they will be fans.

Isn’t that what we need to do to get our kids to be church goers? Go to church, have some religious things around the house, read some religious books, and involve your kids in religious discussion at the dinner table. In short, become a Church “fan”.

You’ll soon have kids who, like their parents, are involved in their church and will become leaders in Campus Ministry.

Try it, they’ll like it, and so will you!

Go to church, have some religious things around the house, read some religious books, and involve your kids in religious discussion at the dinner table.

That all-important moral compass The presence of faith in children’s lives helps them develop that all-important moral compass that will guide them to happiness and fulfillment, regardless of age or circumstances.

Faith will make your teens stronger, less likely to get a serious case of ‘senioritis’ -- and make us, their parents, even prouder of them.

Dr. Donahue’s book “Messengers in Denim” can be purchased at Amazon or you can get both his books directly from his website by clicking on the images below.

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Life is infinitely more enjoyable without the consequences of reckless sex, overdrinking, and overindulgence. Most churches have always known and preached these lessons, but some teens, like my neighbor girls, Nicole and Maria, just latch onto that wisdom sooner than others their age.

So, how do you get your kids to want to go church and to continue going when they are in college or become young adults?

Life is infinitely more enjoyable without the consequences of reckless sex, overdrinking, and overindulgence.

How to transmit loyalty Look at it this way: If you moved from Green Bay, Wisconsin and wanted your kids to continue to be Packer fans, how would you transmit this loyalty to your kids?

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DR. PAR DONAHUE is a semi-retired pediatrician and the father of four grown children as well as 14 grandchildren-- now between 12 and 20 years old.

the laity

Real Pilgrimages

Inside the World of Faith-Based Travel I wanted to share with Americans the special feeling I had there. There was no doubt in my mind that I was in a holy place.

I wanted to share with Americans the special feeling I had there. There was no doubt in my mind that I was in a holy place. Just as a visit to Medjugorje changed my life and the Blessed Mother set me on a path, I believe going on a pilgrimage impacts people in a very powerful and profound way – if they are open to the change and allow it.

Tell us about your business.

Our origin was as the first US-based company offering organized pilgrimages to Medjugorje. Then we added Rome to our product line. The other destinations such as the Holy Land, Poland, England, etc were added based on client demand. When a client who traveled with us wanted to visit a new Shrine, we did our research, visited the place and created the new itinerary.

Edita Krunic is an immigrant to the US. She started her business, “Select International Tours,” in 1985 in New Jersey. Not just a typical tour company, Select International focused on a little-known travel market: pilgrimages to holy places. In this exclusive Regina Magazine interview, Edita takes us on a special tour, inside the booming world of faith-based travel.

I was born in Sarajevo in former Yugoslavia, in what is now Bosnia. My parents were anti- communist and very religious. They could not pray, prosper or raise their children in freedom so they decided to leave their homeland.

With the help of a Lutheran Church organization we came to the USA. To support myself through college and graduate school I worked in a travel agency, first as a receptions, then a travel agent, an office manager and then a branch manager. Later I worked as a sales manager for an airline. I worked my way up and attended school full time, and was so grateful for the opportunity as my friends in Yugoslavia could do neither, study or work they had no opportunity as I did. Travel was always a passion so I studied International Relations, hoping to work for the United Nations.

However my life path led me to Medjugorje in southern Bosnia and Hercegovina where the Blessed Mother was appearing to a group of young children. I was curious to see what was going on in this small, remote village where thousands of people were coming from all over the world, to pray and petition the Holy Virgin for a cause. That trip changed my life because immediately upon arrival I felt a tremendous sense of peace and serenity engulf me. There was so much hope and good energy in this small place that I decided to quit my job and start a pilgrimage company.

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We never offer a destination unless we visit the places first, because people rely on our experience and knowledge. We now offer Faith-Based trips to all of Europe, South America, Mexico and Canada. Educational travel was added five years ago, again based on client demand.

Our new product line is “educational pilgrimages”. I believe we are the first company to offer a spiritual trip which combines visiting the holy sites along with exploring a hobby or a passion. Our bestselling Faith and Food trips have had a huge response from people — obviously people love to pray and to eat well.

Have you seen an increase in interest in faith tourism?

There has been a tremendous increase in Faith-Based travel. I believe people are looking for a strong connection to their faith and religious leaders are responding with offering pilgrimages. Travel is a great church and community outreach program and many organizations are starting to use travel for fund raising. More traditional travel companies have jumped into the market which also helps to create awareness and buzz.

There has been a tremendous increase in FaithBased travel. I believe people are looking for a strong connection to their faith, and travel is a great church.

‘Sharing the Bread’ takes Western Christians into the homes of locals for a meal. Breaking bread together in a home breaks barriers.We help support women and make connections among Western and Holy Land Christians.

What kind of people go on your tours?

The age of the travelers varies as do their backgrounds. We work with many Catholic groups, as well as Christian Orthodox and Protestant groups.

People come from all over the country and from all walks of life. The common thread is their need to learn more about their faith, to connect with the history of their religion and to pray.

Pilgrims are people of hope and curiosity. With a well-planned program and a strong spiritual leader a faith-based trip is a life changer. I stress that not every travel company offering religious travel has the background and the staff who can plan a good religious trip, so people need to do their research and find the right fit.

Where have you visited? What has been your favorite place?

I have been blessed to have traveled to almost all the countries in Europe, Canada, Mexico and the Middle East. My favorite is the Holy Land. There is no match for the importance of walking in the steps of Jesus, seeing the Bible come to life and standing on the Mt. of Olives looking over the Holy City of Jerusalem. Christianity vibrates through every pore of my body on a Holy Land trip.

I also love Italy, Ireland and Portugal. I love it all, I love and live to travel.

In Israel I felt the pain of the dwindling Christian population, especially the women who do not have much opportunity, which led to Select International Tours establishing a not-for-profit foundation, Select to Give.

We focus on supporting women’s programs in Bethlehem.

Our program ‘Sharing the Bread” takes Western Christians into the homes of locals for a meal. Breaking bread together in a home setting breaks barriers and opens up communication like no other program. We help support women through this program and make connections among the Western and Holy Land Christians.

Yes, their faith is renewed and strengthened because they are immersed in prayer and reflection for the duration of the trip, visiting beautiful holy sites which you have heard and learned about in church but on a trip you are actually experiencing them.

I lead a very large group, VIP from an Archdiocese to Holy Land several years ago and was stressed out because I wanted every detail perfect. The spiritual leader, a Father Gill, every time he saw me made a sign of the cross, smiled and said ‘Peace, Edita’ in a beautiful calm voice. After a few days I started to relax and every time I thought of Fr. Gill and his peace gesture I smiled and started to relax.

Our trips are not religious vacations; they are real pilgrimages, filled with faith and prayer. This is an important distinction between Select International and other travel companies.

My staff, business partners and I now use this simple but powerful method to bring peace and harmony to into our body and mind every time we feel stress. It’s beautiful and works.

Do people deepen their faith on your tours?

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We hear and see all the time the impact a trip makes on one’s life. We call them ‘trips of spiritual destiny’, because if your destiny takes you on a trip, it’s a life changer.

Recently, a young man who was abused as a child and very tormented by his past accompanied us on a pilgrimage to Lourdes.

He found peace and the ability to deal with his addictions and the demons inside him.

He is now on a path to recovery.

Do you know of anyone who has converted or returned to the church as a result of your tours?

We hear many stories of people changing, turning their lives around, strengthening their marriage, dealing with addiction and substance abuse after a pilgrimage.

Most recently, we heard of a young man who was abused as a child and very tormented by his past. After a pilgrimage he found peace and the ability to deal with his addictions and the demons inside him and is on a path to recovery.

His experience was on a pilgrimage in Lourdes, but we hear stories from people of all religions.

This is the most gratifying part in this niche of the travel market. We hear and see all the time the impact a trip makes on one’s life. We call them trips of spiritual destiny, because if your destiny takes you on a trip, it’s a life changer.

One must be ready, be open and allow the change.

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Miracle in Palo Alto

the laity

How the St. Ann Choir Kept Chant and Polyphony Alive for 50 Years

by Roseanne Therese Sullivan

T

he St. Ann Choir is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The timing of its beginning seems to have been providential. The Choir began singing the music for the traditional cycle of the Church year at Sunday Masses in the Fall of 1963, before radical changes to Roman Catholic liturgy and music occurred after the Second Vatican Council.

Lovers of the traditional music of the Roman Catholic liturgy may want to stop a moment and marvel about the Choir’s unique achievement: Fifty years of continual performance of Latin Gregorian chant and polyphony at weekly liturgies in diocesan churches—even after this kind of music went out of favor and was virtually banned for most of those years.

By its perseverance, the St. Ann Choir has made a unique contribution to the preservation of what the Vatican II Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy called “a treasure of inestimable value.” The weekly inclusion of this music as part of the liturgy---where it belongs--has allowed Catholics to experience the traditional music of the Church as a living form instead of as a mere academic discipline.

Just In the Nick of Time: “We Started One Year Before the Language Started to Change” The choir is directed by Stanford Professor William Peter Mahrt. Professor Mahrt also leads the Stanford Early Music Singers, is president of the Church Music Association of America and editor of the CMAA journal Sacred Music.

Mahrt joined the choir as a Stanford graduate student shortly after it began under the leadership of the late William Pohl, and became its director when Pohl took an academic job in another state.

“The main achievement of our choir is to have maintained the traditional music of the Roman Catholic Church. We began singing Gregorian chant and classical polyphony and included organ music THE MAN BEHIND THE MIRACLE: St. Ann Choir in liturgies before the director and Stanford Professor William P. Mahrt, council, and our program who is also president of the Church Music is pretty much the same as it was when we started,” Association of America and editor of “Sacred says Professor Mahrt, St. Music.”

Ann Choir Director. “Our choir started one year before the language changed [from Latin to the vernacular]—if we had tried to start one year later, we might not have been able to do it.”

“The musical tradition of the universal Church is a treasure of inestimable value, greater even than that of any other art. The main reason for this pre-eminence is that, as a combination of sacred music and words, it forms a necessary or integral part of the solemn liturgy.”

-- Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium §112

NO SMALL ACHIEVEMENT: “The truth is that ever since 1963, Professor Mahrt has been very much on his own in this enormously time-, talent- and energyconsuming enterprise.”

“It is rare to hear chant in Catholic churches, and it is rarely taught in Catholic institutions. Catholics who are familiar with the chant and polyphonic repertoire are more likely to have gained this familiarity from listening to recordings than to have experienced this music as “an integral part of the solemn liturgy”. (Adoremus Online: March 2001)

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was built in an architectural style called Carpenter Gothic, a popular style in the 1900s when wood and skilled carpenters were plentiful.

Today, at St. Ann chapel where the choir first began in 1963, paint is peeling from the painted windows and the colors have faded. The modernist style of architecture and art has lost much of its appeal over the decades, but the choir has been able to maintain its own nostalgic attachment. Some members gather each Sunday to sing Vespers at the chapel, by the kind invitation of the Anglican Archbishop Robert Morse.

Perhaps the most telling commentary of all comes from René Girard, Stanford Professor Emeritus, and one of only 40 members, or ‘immortals,’ of the Académie Française, who had this to say about Professor Mahrt’s achievement: “When I first attended, I assumed that the Catholic Church and the University actively supported this unique contribution to the spiritual and cultural life of the community. The truth is that ever since 1963, Professor Mahrt has been very much on his own in this enormously time-, talent- and energy-consuming enterprise.” (“Noteworthy: On Wings of Song” by Cynthia Haven, Stanford Magazine, March/April 2003.)

“I recently read a biography of Renaissance composer William Byrd by a former St. Ann choir member, now Duke University Musicology Professor, Kerry McCarthy, in which she vividly describes the destruction of traditional Catholic liturgy and music that was in progress when Byrd was born in England in 1540. That was the year King Henry VIII completed the dissolution of the monasteries. The monastic libraries were sacked, and the manuscripts were used for scrap.

The Complex and Fascinating History of St. Ann’s Chapel The St. Ann choir first began singing at Masses at St. Ann Chapel, which has a complex and fascinating history of its own. At the time the choir started in 1963, St. Ann chapel was 12 years old. It had been built by Ambassador, Congresswoman, and playwright, Clare Boothe Luce, wife of the publishing giant Henry Luce, and donated for use by Stanford University’s Newman Club, the Catholic student center. The chapel was dedicated to St. Ann as a memorial to Luce’s daughter, Ann Brokaw, who had died in an accident months before she was to graduate from Stanford in 1944.

CONSIDER THIS: Lovers of the traditional music of the Roman Catholic liturgy may want to stop a moment and marvel about the St. Ann Choir’s unique achievement: Fifty years of continual performance of Gregorian chant and polyphony at weekly liturgies in diocesan churches—even while this kind of music was out of favor in the Church.

“Frankly, I can’t help but see a similarity in the widespread disdain by many since the Second Vatican Council for the Church’s traditional doctrines and for the beautiful Gregorian chant and polyphonic music that had evolved as an intrinsic part of the Mass and the Divine Office over the centuries.”

-- Roseanne Therese Sullivan

R.

Luce intended the chapel to be a small gem to illustrate that modernism and sacred art are compatible, and she commissioned artists to decorate the chapel with expressionistic (and experimental) painted instead of stained glass, painted stations of the Cross, a cubist-inspired mosaic of the Blessed Virgin, and a steel mesh flat canopy over the altar decorated with mosaics and Cubist-inspired angels. A very large impressionistic green bronze of St. Ann with the Virgin Mary is over the entrance to the flat red, brick front of the modern chapel.

The Newman Club at Stanford University used St. Ann Chapel for worship for almost 50 years. After Newman Center activities were transferred to the Stanford Memorial Church on campus, the Diocese of San Jose sold the chapel, which was decommissioned as a Catholic church and came into the possession of the Anglican Province of Christ the King.

In 1998, the choir began singing at Masses on Sundays and major feast days at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, another historic Palo Alto church, which

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WHERE THE CHOIR SINGS TODAY: St. Thomas Aquinas Church is an historic Palo Alto church built in an architectural style called Carpenter Gothic at the beginning of the 20th century.

Ave Maria A Very Catholic Town the laity

by Michael Durnan

PHOTO CREDIT: AveMariaLiving.com

‘When I first saw the rendering of Ave Maria town and the Oratory I thought that this is a place we would like to live,” writes Sue Maturo on one of the town’s blogs, avemarialiving. com.

‘There’s something very special about Ave Maria and the people who live here,” says resident Joseph Pierce. ”It’s a community centered on Christ.’

These American Catholics have chosen to make Ave Maria the place they want to live and to raise their families. Located forty miles from the town of Naples, Collier County, in Florida, Ave Maria is the brainchild PHOTO CREDIT: AveMariaLiving.com of Tom Monaghan, the founder of the Domino’s Pizza chain and a Catholic philanthropist. (See below: The Tom Monaghan Story.”

Ave Maria is the brainchild of Tom Monaghan, the founder of the Domino’s Pizza chain and a Catholic philanthropist.

How the Ave Maria College and Ave Maria School of Law Began

officials refused to grant permission for this. Hence, Monaghan was forced to seek another location. Eventually, community leaders in Collier County, Florida offered him a large undeveloped area of land, thirty miles east of Naples, on which to establish the new university.

AVE MARIA UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC BUILDING, with the Oratory in the distance.

Ave Maria Beginnings In February 2006, the foundations of the new Ave Maria University and town were established. Ave Maria is built around a Catholic Oratory and Ave Maria University, a liberal arts college, which was relocated from Ypsilanti, Michigan. Ypsilanti is also home to the first-ever Domino Pizza restaurant. Tom Monaghan sold his control of Domino Pizza, and later his remaining shares, and has since devoted himself to philanthropic works and the support of Catholic causes.

Ave Maria town is a joint venture with a real estate developer; Monaghan owns 50% of the non-university real estate. The plan is to build 11,000 homes and several business districts. At the announcement, Monaghan stated that any businesses in Ave Maria would be prohibited from selling contraceptives and pornography which drew legal criticism and comment from the American Civil Liberties Union. Residents will tell you that they welcome anyone who is open to what the town offers, and realtors readily point out that anyone can buy a home or open a business in town.

In 2000, the Ave Maria School of Law opened which was inspired by several former professors from the Catholic University of Detroit Mercy. These had left that University after it had invited several pro-abortion members of the Michigan Supreme Court to attend the annual ‘Red Mass’. These professors then approached Tom Monaghan for support to establish a Catholic law school faithful to the teachings of the Church. Ave Maria Law School was established in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where it remains today.

A former student of architecture, Tom Monaghan has retained a passion for and interest in the subject, especially the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. It was Monaghan himself who sketched the first design for the Oratory on a tablecloth. The Oratory design was inspired by several works of Wright’s protégé, E. Fay Jones, especially the 1988 Mildred Cooper chapel. One of the distinctive features of the Oratory is the visible steel structure which can be seen inside and out. In 2008, The Oratory won an award for its distinctive architecture from the American Institute of Steel Construction.

In early 2000, Tom Monaghan sought to establish Ave Maria University — the fledgling school was operating out of an old elementary school building at the time — in Ann Arbor on land which he still owned that he had leased to Domino Pizza. The plan included a 250 ft. crucifix, taller than the Statue of Liberty, but

A former student of architecture, Tom Monaghan has retained a passion for and interest in the subject, especially the work of Frank Lloyd Wright.

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Ave Maria Today Since the town of Ave Maria was established in 2007, 500 homes have been built with the eventual goal of 11,000. The goal is to attract college students and families by providing attractive housing, amenities, good schools and a safe and secure environment underpinned by a distinctive Catholic ethos.

The town has a variety of facilities and amenities, including a pub named The Queen Mary, after the eldest daughter of Henry VIII and Catholic Queen of England. the pub’s signature drink is called “The THE QUEEN MARY PUB hosts evenings of special Bloody Bess,” named after Queen interest to Catholics in Ave Maria town.

Elizabeth I. (This is a fact which pleases the English author of this article and makes a refreshing change from the preoccupation with her notorious Tudor father and half sister, Elizabeth.) The Queen Mary even has its own dedicated Facebook page.

The town’s newspaper of record is www.AveHerald.com There is community weblog avemarialiving.com, run by residents of the town, which provides over 100 links to pages with information about Ave Maria town.

The goal is to attract college students and families by providing attractive housing, amenities, good schools and a safe and secure environment underpinned by a distinctive Catholic ethos.

The Tom Monaghan Story

T

om Monaghan was born in 1937 and grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan. When Tom was four years old, his father died, leaving his mother to raise him and his younger brother. But after two years of experiencing considerable difficulties, Tom’s mother made the difficult decision to give her sons to the care of an orphanage – the St. Joseph’s Home for Children in Jackson, Michigan, run by the Felician Sisters of Livonia.

Tom and his brother remained at the orphanage until 1949 when they were re-united with their mother. The care, love and faith displayed by the nuns inspired Tom’s devotion to the Catholic Faith and he later pursued a vocation as a priest. However, he left the seminary and enrolled in the US Marines in 1956 and he was honorably discharged in 1959.

When Tom was four years old, his father died, leaving his mother to raise him and his younger brother.

But after two years of experiencing considerable difficulties, Tom’s mother made the difficult decision to give her sons to the care of an orphanage – the St. Joseph’s Home for Children in Jackson, Michigan, run by the Felician Sisters of Livonia. Tom and his brother remained at the orphanage until 1949 when they were re-united with their mother. The care, love and faith displayed by the nuns inspired Tom’s devotion to the Faith.

Good Manners, Generosity and Charity Catholic writer Michael Novak taught a minicourse at Ave Maria University on Religion and the Founding Fathers; he writes in the National Review about his impressions of Ave Maria and its citizens. Novak says how he has never lived in a more Catholic culture than he experienced at Ave Maria and observed how on Sundays, 95% of the whole town attends Mass and 65% of students on weekdays.

Interestingly, what impressed Novak most were the good manners, generosity and charity of the townspeople and their willingness to help and to receive help. He was also impressed by the dedication and sacrifice of the university students and staff. Novak especially rejoiced in the large families of the faculty members and the goodness and holiness of the people he encountered in Ave Maria.

DOMINICAN SISTER of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, gives a well-attended talk at the Bean café in Ave Maria Town.

Ave Maria is still a relatively new enterprise and it remains to be seen if it will grow as large Tom Monaghan has envisaged. It appears to have made a promising start, however, supported by people who are committed to its ethos and values.

Interestingly, what impressed Novak most were the good manners, generosity and charity of the townspeople and their willingness to help and to receive help.

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Monaghan then returned to Ann Arbor and enrolled in the University of Michigan to study architecture and later, with his brother, purchased a small pizza store, named DomiNick’s, with a loan of $500. His aim was to finance himself through college but the pizza business took up more and more of his time until he devoted himself to developing the business into what would become one of the largest franchise fast food companies in the US. In 1998, Monaghan eventually sold his control of Domino’s Pizza to Bain capital for an estimated $1 billion. This accumulated wealth enabled Tom to indulge in lavish lifestyle, but after reading a passage about pride in C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity, he disposed of some of his most flamboyant and conspicuous possessions, including the ownership of the Detroit Tigers baseball team, as well as his lavish office suite at Domino Pizza and calling a halt to the construction of a mansion inspired by his interest in the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, which remains unfinished to this day.

In 1983, Tom Monaghan established the Ave Maria Foundation to support Catholic education, media and community projects, as well as other Catholic charities. After visiting the Vatican in 1987, an experience that had a profound and moving impact on him, Monaghan resolved to promote the Faith with greater determination and resolve. Some of his foundations include Ave Maria Radio, the Ave Maria List, a pro-life political action committee and the Thomas More Law Center, a public interest law firm dedicated to promoting and defending issues in line with Catholic moral teaching, such as pro-life and traditional marriage.

R.

Rebuilding the Catholic Renaissance

the laity

Where Catholic Liturgy, Thought, and the Arts Reign Supreme

by John Rao Since 1993, the Forum has fulfilled this mission through a “basic training”-systematically teaching Catholics how to “shoot best”, with all of the magnificent spiritual, intellectual, and artistic weapons at their disposal, and at the right target as well.

A knowledge and love of the complete Catholic Tradition alone can make believers valiant and effective defenders of the Faith against modern barbarism.

‘God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best.”

V

oltaire did not pen the above for the use of Catholics. Still, we ought to take the argument that he makes seriously, adding to it only the comment that those who shoot best must know precisely what their target really should be. When the proper target is not identified, skill in “shooting” is irrelevant.

The proper target for militant believers is the army of spiritual, intellectual, artistic, political, and economic ideas now being used to “sack Rome” and dismantle the final remnants of civilization in all its forms.

But in order to understand the nature of this army, and how to defend Christendom against its onslaught, one must first know and appreciate the fullness of the Catholic Tradition and the splendor of the whole of Catholic Culture. Without such knowledge, gained in love of Christ, all estimation of the enemy will be woefully inadequate, and Catholic Action pointless.

The Roman Forum Today At the Roman Forum, we accomplish this in two ways.

One is through a Church History and Culture program that runs from September to May in New York City. The other is by means of a Summer Symposium at Gardone Riviera on Lake Garda in northern Italy, which for two weeks is literally transformed into an international Catholic village.

Men and women from all continents participate---with some returning annually. They enjoy daily traditional masses, lectures, camaraderie, music, art, theater, superb food and wine, and day trips to surrounding sites of spiritual importance. Our hope is to make Gardone the center for a permanent Roman Forum Academy.

Join us in New York or on the shores of Lake Garda--where Catholic liturgy, thought, and the arts once again reign supreme. Even if you cannot personally participate, you can play ‘Lorenzo the Magnificent’ to our Catholic Renaissance. All gifts, large and small, are most welcome—and, for Americans, tax deductible as well. To make a donation click the link and then click on the yellow “DONATE” button on their site.

The more effective and international our work becomes, the more our costs rise. But the international movement of informed Catholic lay action gradually emerging from it is worth the price.

The Summer Symposium at Gardone Riviera on Lake Garda in northern Italy is for two weeks literally transformed into an international Catholic village. Catholic men and women from all continents come to the annual Forum on Lake Garda to enjoy daily traditional Latin Masses, lectures, camaraderie, music, art, theater, superb food and wine, and day trips to surrounding sites of spiritual importance.

But in order to understand the nature of the army of ideas now being used to ‘sack Rome’, and how to defend Christendom against its onslaught, one must first know and appreciate the fullness of the Catholic Tradition and the splendor of the whole of Catholic Culture.

Founded by Dietrich von Hildebrand The mission of the Roman Forum, a tax-exempt, not-for-profit organization founded in 1968 by the great German Professor Dietrich von Hildebrand (1889-1977), is that of encouraging a knowledge and love of the complete Catholic Tradition. This alone can make believers valiant and effective defenders of the Faith against modern barbarism.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dr. John C. Rao obtained his doctorate in Modern European History from Oxford University in 1977. His dissertation concerned nineteenth century Catholic reactions to the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. He worked in 1978-1979 as Eastern Director of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania and is now Associate Professor of European History at St. John’s University in New York City, where he has taught since 1979. Dr. Rao is also director of the Roman Forum, a Catholic cultural organization founded by the late Professor Dietrich von Hildebrand in 1968, which works in both New York City and Italy.

The Saints

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The American Disciple the saints

Chesterton with Dale Ahlquist

by Angie Gadacz “Ask after the dox. Ask how long the dox has been in the world.

How many nations or centuries have believed in the dox? How often the dox has proved itself right. In practice, how often have thoughtful men returned to the dox? In theory, pursue the dox, persecute the dox. In short, ask the dox whether it is orthodox.”

G. K. Chesterton

has written a series of books to help new readers engage in Chesterton’s work. These serve as a virtual ‘intro to Chesterton’ course and include G.K. Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense, Common Sense 101: Lessons from G.K. Chesterton, and The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton. Ahlquist then recommends that new readers should pick up G.K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy and read it through three times!

Saint G.K. Chesterton?

In the 1920s, British writer G. K. Chesterton famously used ‘common sense’ to find his way into the Catholic Church. Now, many decades later and half a world away, another Protestant has followed in Chesterton’s footsteps.

Recently, the Catholic world has focused on the American Chesterton Society.

At the annual Chesterton conference on August 1, Ahlquist was delighted to announce that His Eminence Peter Doyle, Bishop of Northampton (UK) will start the process to determine if a cause for Sainthood should be opened for GK Chesterton.

As an American Baptist Evangelical and a C.S. Lewis fan, Dale Ahlquist’s curiosity about Chesterton was piqued after learning how Chesterton influenced Lewis.

As he read his way through Chesterton’s prolific work, Ahlquist was so stunned that he began to feel that his four years spent in a liberal arts college was ‘fraudulent.’

Ahlquist says that he has been in regular contact with Bishop Doyle ‘through various forms of communication, although none face to face.’ He also worked with Bishop Doyle’s predecessor to open a cause for the canonization of G.K. Chesterton.

How was it that he had discovered one of the greatest writers of the last century -- a giant intellect with unmatched literary accomplishment -- yet had never heard about him at university? He had learned about most of Chesterton’s contemporaries such as George Bernard Shaw, yet Chesterton was never mentioned.

After 16 years, Dale was received into the Catholic Church, he says, due to Chesterton’s words.

Not to Let the Next Generation Be Cheated

It took a long time to convince the Bishop that there was a local cult devoted to Chesterton, in spite of the obvious presence of a universal cult. When people in England started making their presence known to Bishop Doyle, however, he was very gracious.

Looking for a dose of common sense? If you’re tired of the insanity that pervades so much of our culture, visit www. chesterton.org.

Dale says of Bishop Doyle, “In addition to our persistence, I think he was very moved by the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman (2010), which created great excitement in the Catholic Church in England. Then, most recently, he found out that Pope Francis is not only a Chesterton fan, but, when he was Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires, approved a prayer for Chesterton’s intercession to be used for private devotion. That was an eye-opener.”

Dale and the American Chesterton Society are assisting in the process of working on Chesterton’s cause towards canonization. The clerics assigned to the cause will be required to conduct a thorough investigation into Chesterton’s life. The Society has spent years collecting this material; this may save much time in the research phase.

What Would Chesterton Have Said?

Today, Ahlquist is one of the top Chesterton scholars in the world. Determined not to let the next generation be cheated, he has dedicated his life to educating people about the great truths promoted by Chesterton.

As president of the American Chesterton Society, he’s is an internationally sought-after speaker, giving Chesterton talks on a variety of topics at colleges and other venues. (Chesterton seemed to have something to say about virtually every topic.)

“Aside from Chesterton’s literary importance,” says Ahlquist, “is his importance as a great soul and a great teacher. He tells the truth that we need to hear. And he tells the truth with great wit and beauty.”

Ahlquist also hosts an EWTN television series, G.K. Chesterton-The Apostle of Common Sense. He does frequent radio interviews on Morning Air with Sean Herriot (a Relevant Radio program), Kresta in the Afternoon (an Ave Maria Radio program), and others. The Society has also produced about 50 Chesterton Minute radio segments for EWTN radio networks.

1920’s British English How should a modern reader approach Chesterton?

As some may find his 1920’s British English to be somewhat daunting, Ahlquist

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The Society’s goal is to show Chesterton’s great joy in defending the Catholic faith, and relevance to our own time. They publish Gilbert Magazine which addresses today’s controversial topics with Chesterton’s prophetic words.

Certainly Chesterton saw the Culture of Death coming, Ahlquist says, pointing out that Chesterton confronted many of these problems squarely, as he foresaw today’s attacks against marriage, the family and the Faith.

“He is exactly what we need for today,” Ahlquist says. “It is great to see that the Church recognizes that he could be a saint. I am really privileged to have played a small role in the Chesterton revival. I hope I can do even more.”

Chesterton’s wit also seems to be contagious. Does Ahlquist have a favorite show to promote Chesterton?

“Well, I hear that “G.K. Chesterton - The Apostle of Common Sense” on EWTN is pretty popular, but I can’t bear to watch it,” he says with a twinkle. “The host is insufferable.”

Find the approved prayer to ask Chesterton’s intercession as part of the cause for sainthood process here

Saint Katharine Drexel

the saints

She was an American Millionaire, and a Saint

by Suzanne Duque Salvo

T

he story of Saint Katharine Drexel’s life is a muchneeded lesson for American Catholics today. Living as we do in a secularized and sybaritic culture, how can we help our children write their own extraordinary life stories?

How do we teach young people to consider the consequences of their actions? How do we learn what it takes to raise children of God and better future citizens?

Emma Bouvier, Stepmother Katharine’s mother Hannah, a Quaker Baptist, died when Katharine was just five weeks old. It was her father Francis and stepmother Emma – a Catholic Bouvier, like Jackie Kennedy – who laid the foundation for Katharine’s great Faith and compassion.

From Katharine’s journals, diaries and letters, we learn how Catholicism was woven into the fabric of the Drexel’s daily lives. In fact, Emma was the key that unlocked Katharine’s fervor. It was Emma who reserved a chapel in the family’s winter and summer homes so that prayer, rosary and contemplation could be incorporated into their daily schedule. Katharine and her sisters grew up seeing their wealthy and powerful father spend his first thirty minutes in the chapel, every night, upon his arrival home.

During summers at their country home, Emma and her older children established a Sunday School for their workers’ children. According to Katherine’s younger sister Louise, “The older children were taught by Elizabeth, the youngest by Katharine. After the lessons were recited, the children were assembled around the piano in the parlor and hymns were sung. After a few years, the number of children increased, so that fifty or more came every Sunday.”

Author Suzanne Duque Salvo argues that we can do this by learning what a life well-lived entails.

Katharine Drexel was an American princess. Her distinguished surname placed her among the creme-de-la-creme of American high society, illustrious in both the worlds of banking and higher education.

But unlike today’s celebrity heiresses, Katharine Drexel did not throw lavish, wild parties, paint the town red or binge-shop in fashion meccas.

This was not because such a lifestyle was unheard of in the 19th century.

On the contrary, American robber barons’ offspring lived lives of great self-indulgence -- such as Alice Silverthorne, scion to the Armour meat processing moguls.

Consider this: Katharine Drexel’s share in the Trust Estate her father willed to his three daughters would amount to over a hundred million dollars today. And Katharine Drexel chose to give away all of her money and live in poverty.

The beneficiaries of her compassion were those she believed were most in need because “she saw their agony.” For Katharine sought out the poorest Native American Indians and African-Americans, seeking to provide what they needed to know God, and the practical tools necessary to expand their horizons beyond the confines of racisim.

Now why would an American princess do that?

A Safe, Happy, Spiritual Childhood Today, we know that strong parental attachments correlate positively with a child’s concept of God and their relationship with religion. This was the case in Katharine’s early life. According to her biographer, Sr Consuela Marie Duffy SBS: Ev er y t hi ng that coul d have been fitted into a human ex i ste nce to perm eate i t wi th joy and happiness w as a consi tuent part of her earliest day s. The gift of fai t h, t h e dee p af fec ti on of devoted parent s, t he l ov e and a ttenti on of num e rou s relat iv es, a t horough and com pl ete educati on under competent t utors, t r av el i n thi s countr y and ab road, material wealt h, a home an d fam i l y l i fe of pea ce, tenderness and joy.

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Francis Anthony Drexel and Emma Bouvier Drexel

Wealth Entrusted by God Three days a week, Emma welcomed the poor to the Drexel home with food, medication and clothing. When people asked for rent money, the Drexels would first verify the need. This is characteristic of a family who believed their wealth was something God had entrusted to them, not to be wantonly spent. They were merely stewards whose job was to allocate and distribute their wealth where necessary. Their socio-economic status was not entitlement, but rather fiscal responsibility.

Francis Drexel, after all, was a banker. More importantly, the family ethic was that claiming the gift of Catholic faith meant living their religion - not with an outward manifestation of piety but a genuine compassion and concern for the poor and an active and sincere practice of both corporal and spiritual works of mercy. And with these responsibilities, spiritual guidance was imperative.

At age 14, three years after Katharine received her First Communion, she already had a spiritual director. Fast forward to Katharine at age 33 - the same age as our modern heiresses Paris and Kim today - and her journals show a wisdom gleaned from habitual reflection, guidance and discernment: “Manifest yourself. You have no time to occupy your thoughts with that complacency or consideration of what others will think. Your business is simply, ‘What will my father in heaven think.’”

A Missionary’s Life Such words help us understand Katharine’s drive to live her missionary calling. She was an incessant traveler to remote and rugged places where her missions lay, or to reconnoiter for new projects and assess real need.

She literally spent most of her time traveling by carriage, mule, ship, trains and even on foot, from her missions to her motherhouse in Pennsylvania, where she laid out plans and logistics.

Katharine treated her missions as if they were her children -- giving each hope, her attention, love and dedication. She had an astounding 258 such ‘children’: 132 missions for African Americans in 24 states; 50 missions for Native American Indians in 16 states; 25 abroad plus 52 others. This was before she founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People.

“Union with God alone gives us life and abundance of life. We are not sufficient in ourselves.”

A Supernatural Sense of Justice In his book The Priority of Christ, Fr. Robert Barron SJ highlights four female saints who ‘participated in a new life in Christ…[and] the peculiar transformation that occurs when a natural virtue is elevated by contact with grace’ to showcase examples of an iconic christological ethic.

One of these female saints is Katharine. Barron says St Katharine Drexel personified ‘elevated justice,’ implying that her sense of justice was supernatural.

Ironically, she never spoke about justice; yet she lived it. She did not merely give to the other what was due, but gave in excess. Her decision to be a missionary and to establish a new religious order had everything to do with giving of herself totally in order to best assure the physical, intellectual and spiritual well-being of her spiritual children.

Thirty-three years after her death, Katharine Drexel was canonized; interestingly, her canonization miracles both involved healing deafness.

The Vice Postulator of her Cause summed it up: “I think it’s almost as though God is saying to us through Katherine Drexel, ‘Open your ears, the ears of your heart!’”

To this writer, such parental words are familiar. All of a sudden, I’m hearing my mom and dad’s voices, telling me to listen.

R.

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Saint Katharine Drexel

Francesca Cabrini

the saints

The First American Saint

by Ed Masters

T

he woman who was to become the first US saint was born in the remote village of Sant’Angelo (“Holy Angel”) Lombardy, then part of the Austrian Empire. Given the name of the town she was born in, it seems that she was destined for a life doing notable deeds for the Church.

Maria Francesca Cabrini was born on July 15, 1850 – one of eleven children - to a cherry farmer, Agostino Cabrini and his wife, Stella Oldini. Both had great faith and piety, though only four of their children survived beyond their teenage years. Maria Francesa herself was born two months prematurely; she would suffer with frail health for her entire life.

As a child, Maria Francesca dreamt of being a missionary to China and the East, inspired as she was by her family’s reading of the Annals of the Propagation of the Faith. One family story relates how she gave up eating sweets because she knew that in China she would not have access to them. By age 18, she had earned a teacher’s certificate; her parents died the following year. Francesca then sought to enter two Orders with Chinese missionary houses but was rejected because of her poor health. So she spent the next ten years teaching and directing a school Maria Francesca Cabrini, aged 10 for orphans, satisfying her zeal for the Faith by giving Catechism instructions and visiting the poor. She also did heroic work as a nurse during a smallpox epidemic in 1872.

In 1874, Francesca went to the House of Providence in Codogno, a badly-managed orphanage, as the Bishop wished its staff to become a religious community. This enabled her to take her religious vows in 1877; she took the name Xavier after that great Apostle of the Indies, St. Francis Xavier. After six years of hard work and fierce opposition from its foundress, Antonia Tondini, the Bishop of Todi closed the orphanage but invited Frances to found a new institution. Moving into an abandoned Franciscan friary at Codogno with seven new sisters, she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. She dedicated her Congregation to the education of girls and care of poor children in schools and hospitals.

This brought her to the attention of both Bishop Giovanni Scalabrini of Piacenza and Pope Leo XIII. In 1888 Mother Cabrini’s Institute received the approval of the Holy See. However, both Bishop Scalabrini and Pope Leo XIII told her not to go to the East as she had planned, but to the West. These greatly respected prelates wanted Mother Cabrini to work with the Italian immigrants in New York.

“Renounce yourselves entirely if you wish to enjoy peace...she who is not holy will make no one holy.”

Francesca Cabrini arrived in New York City on March 31, 1889, where she met with Archbishop Corrigan. Though she spoke no English, she nevertheless convinced him of the importance of this work. By that July everything was already in order in New York; by then she had founded an orphanage and a free school where the poorest Italians lived. In time the orphanage had over 400 orphans, maintained by alms that the Sisters received by begging in the streets of NYC every day; this because they didn’t receive enough help from other religious congregations and wealthy donors.

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For the next 27 years Francesca Cabrini traveled extensively, repeatedly facing and conquering her fear of crossing the ocean. In a rapid few years, Mother Cabrini’s sisters spread all over the United States. In 1892, they opened their first hospital, Columbus Hospital in New York City; sadly this facility was closed after 110 years in 2002. She also founded an orphanage in West Park, New York. In Chicago, the Sisters of her Congregation opened up Columbus Extension Hospital (later renamed St. Cabrini’s Hospital) in the heart of the Italian neighborhood on the city’s west side.

Before he died in 1903, Pope Leo XIII counted her among his favorites.

Whenever Francesca made the long, wearying journey to Rome, the old pontiff would wait restlessly to greet her.

“Cabrini!” he would exclaim with a twinkle in his eye upon catching sight of her diminutive figure in black bonnet and habit. The young nun and the old pope would then talk intensely about her journeys, her missions and the needs of the thousands in the New World who relied on her and the Church.

“Mother Cabrini is a woman of fine understanding and great holiness...she is a Saint,” the pope told the Vatican staff.

Her work proved him to be prescient. In the next few decades, Francesca Cabrini’s Congregation spread to Central and South America as well as Italy, France, and England. By the time her work was over, this astonishing woman had founded more than fifty hospitals, schools, orphanages, convents and other foundations. Literally hundreds of thousands of poor Catholics of every nationality and background would find care, support and education from Mother Cabrini’s sisters over the ensuing century. Mother Cabrini was naturalized as an American citizen in 1909 in Seattle, Washington.

When she wasn’t busy accomplishing the deeds that would one day result in her becoming famous throughout the Catholic world, Mother Cabrini spent much of her time in prayer, dedicating her work to the glory of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Her letters to her nuns are filled with motherly advice to those with whom she worked and those who would come long after she was gone. “Renounce yourselves entirely if you wish to enjoy peace...she who is not holy will make no one holy.”

Pope Leo XIII counted her among his favorites. Whenever Francesca made the long, wearying journey to Rome, the old pontiff would wait restlessly to greet her.

Mother Cabrini died of malaria at the age of 67 on December 22, 1917.

True to form, she was working in Chicago’s Columbus Hospital, preparing Christmas presents and candy for 500 children. Her body was buried, as per her wishes, on the grounds of the first orphanage she founded in West Park, New York.

In 1931 her body was exhumed as part of the canonization process and was found to be partially incorrupt. Her body now rests under the high altar in the chapel of Mother Cabrini High School in the northernmost part of Manhattan.

She was beatified by Pope Pius XI on November 13, 1938. Her beatification miracle involved the restoring of a child’s Mother Cabrini’s body, under the high eyesight, blinded as the result of too altar at Cabrini High School’s chapel in much silver nitrate applied to the eyes. northern Manhattan Maria Francesca Cabrini was canonized by Pope Pius XII on July 7, 1946.

Her canonization miracle involved the healing of a terminally ill nun.

The Saint is the Patroness of immigrants, emigrants, orphans, hospital administrators and against malaria. Her Feast Day is December 22 on the Traditional Calendar and November 13 on the New Calendar.

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Elizabeth Ann Seton the saints

The First Saint Born in America

by Dan Flaherty

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stay in Italy. Her husband’s business partner, Antonio Filich was a devout Catholic with a family of his own in Livorno. In their private chapel, Elizabeth was introduced to the fullness of the Faith.

Abandoned, then Well-Married Born in New York City in 1774 to prosperous French Protestant parents, Elizabeth was just three years old when her mother passed away. Tragically, after her father’s second marriage ended in separation, she and her sister were effectively abandoned. Their stepmother didn’t want them, their father departed for London and the girls were sent to live with relatives.

Elizabeth was ready to go to Canada and start over when Divine Providence intervened in the form of a French priest named Abbe Louis William Valentine Dubourg.

aint Elizabeth Ann Seton is beloved by American Catholics as our first native-born saint. In this article, U.S. author Dan Flaherty recounts how this great Saint had a heart of charity from an early age -- and how she endured much hardship along a road that would eventually result in her canonization more than two hundred years later, in 1975.

In the time spent with her father, however, we see the early seeds of Elizabeth’s ultimate legacy, as he passed on to her his great love for intellectual pursuits, both in religion and history.

When she was nineteen, Elizabeth married William Magee Seton, a wealthy importer. It was a happy marriage. With financial means at her disposal, and social prominence through New York City’s Trinity Church, Elizabeth founded an organization to provide relief to impoverished children and poor widows.

On her return to New York City, Elizabeth converted to Catholicism, but at a great cost. First, her academy for young women suffered, when Protestant families withdrew their daughters. Soon, families with political influence were seeking to expel her school from the state.

Because of her conversion, Elizabeth’s New York academy for young women suffered when Protestant families withdrew their daughters. Soon, families with political influence were seeking to expel her school from the state.

A Fugitive from the French Reign of Terror Father Dubourg was a French Supulcian Father, in refuge from the Reign of Terror in his home country. (Editor’s Note: As well he might have. At the beginning of the Reign of Terror, there were over 11,000 Catholic priests in France. By the end, there were 394 priests left. Many were murdered in cold blood by mobs; others were beheaded by the French State.)

Dubourg was the president of St. Mary’s College in Maryland. He invited Elizabeth to establish a religious school there. She accepted the invitation, and moved to Emmitsburg, MD with her daughters. With Mr. Filich supporting her sons at the new Catholic Jesuit university at Georgetown, Elizabeth could now begin the work that would define her legacy.

Father Dubourg was a French Supulcian Father, in refuge from the Reign of Terror in his home country.

NEW YORK’S TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH TODAY: This was the ‘society parish’ that Elizabeth Ann Seton belonged to prior to her conversion to Catholicism. (This is actually a later church building, in the 19th century Romantic style that was considered to be too controversially ‘Catholic’ at the time it was built.) PHOTO CREDIT: Daniel Schwen

Caring for the Poor Elizabeth started St. Joseph’s Academy for Catholic girls, and also established a religious community—the Sisters of Charity—for the care of poor children. Over the ensuing two decades the Sisters would eventually found six schools as far west as Cincinnati and New Orleans.

The early 19th century saw the return of hardship in Elizabeth’s life, however.

The Napoleonic Wars in Europe involved a blockade of England, which devastated William’s shipping business. Her husband first went bankrupt and then fell ill with tuberculosis. Doctors prescribed an escape to Italy for its warmer climate, and so they departed for the Continent.

William would pass away in 1803 and her sister a year later, but the trip to Italy proved to be the vehicle whereby Elizabeth’s sufferings would be transformed by grace.

Tragically, after her father’s second marriage ended in separation, she and her sister were effectively abandoned. Their stepmother didn’t want them, their father departed for London and the girls were sent to live with relatives.

The Cost of Conversion In their grief and bereavement, Elizabeth and her five children elected to

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A HEART FOR CHARITY: Elizabeth started St. Joseph’s Academy for Catholic girls, and also established a religious community—the Sisters of Charity—for the care of poor children.

Her spiritual life, as is the case with all the saints, was founded a great love for Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. The 23rd Psalm —“The Lord is my shepherd…”— was her personal favorite, even prior to her conversion to the Church.

The work Elizabeth did in education has resulted in her being revered as the patroness of Catholic schools, the heavenly role for which she is best known. It’s less widely known that she is also patroness of the sea services in the U.S. military; she had two sons who served in our Navy.

Elizabeth was a prolific writer, including her diaries and correspondence and this has aided in the preservation of her legacy.

Elizabeth started St. Joseph’s Academy for Catholic girls, and also established a religious community—the Sisters of Charity—for the care of poor children.

A Visit to Seton’s National Shrine

AT THE SAINT’S SHRINE: The two houses in which Elizabeth lived are open for touring, with trained guides on hand to answer questions. The houses—a stone house and a white clapboard house—are perfectly preserved, with an early 19th century feel.

This is a task carried in our own day by the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmittsburg. The Shrine is on beautiful grounds in western Maryland with hiking available to pilgrims. Masses are offered at its Basilica three days during the week and on Sunday. The dedicated staff provides numerous opportunities for its roughly 50,000 annual visitors to learn about both Mother Seton and the Sisters of Charity.

A museum, with an accompanying movie, provides background on the life of the first American saint. The two houses in which Elizabeth lived are open for touring, with trained guides on hand to answer questions.

The houses—a stone house and a white clapboard house—are perfectly preserved, with an early 19th century feel.

“It gives you an idea of what it was like to live in that period,” said Amanda Johnston, the Marketing Director and Communications Manager. The Shrine is replete with beautiful art, and also includes a “Legacy Garden.”

The garden includes inspirational quotes from Elizabeth, and is the venue for a tour event where people important in the life of the Sisters of Charity “appear” to tell the story.

Elizabeth is entombed in the Basilica, with imported mosaics from Germany and marble from Italy. It melds beautifully into a scenic landscape that the saint called her “Valley of Blessings.”

Through Saint Elizabeth Seton’s intercession, those blessings continue to flow today. Visit setonheritage.org to learn more about how you can share in the life and legacy of America’s first native-born saint.

Elizabeth is entombed in the Basilica, with imported mosaics from Germany and marble from Italy. It melds beautifully into a scenic landscape that the saint called her “Valley of Blessings.”

TIMELINE: THE STORY OF THE ‘AMERICAN RULE’ 1809: Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton founded the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph’s in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Her community of sisters followed a modified form of the Rule written for the Daughters of Charity by St. Vincent de Paul and Saint Louise de Marillac in 1633. Commonly referred to as the American Rule, it is built upon simple vows and a life spent living the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. For their habit, Mother Seton adapted the Italian widow’s black dress; they became known as the “black cap Sisters.”

1812: The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth were founded by Fr. John Baptist David and Mother Catherine Spalding near Bardstown, KY, in 1812 and also adopted the American rule. These Sisters wore a black dress and a white cap and were called the“white cap Sisters.”

1829: Bishop John England founded the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Charleston, SC, basing their community on the American rule used by Mother Seton. The Sisters wore the black cap habit until 1932. In 1949, the community added the word Charity to its original title, making them the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy.

1850: The original community in Emmitsburg formally joined the Daughters of Charity of Paris as an American Province and began wearing the Daughters’ traditional habit of the white cornette and the dark blue dress.

1817-59: During Mother Seton’s life and shortly thereafter, her Sisters went to different parts of the country at the request of local bishops. In time, these local communities of Sisters formed separate religious congregations but retained the name “Sisters of Charity” as well as the black cap habit.

This process led to the founding of the Sisters of Charity of New York, the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, and the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, NJ.

Support the Shrine

HISTORY COMES ALIVE: the Shrine features a tour event where people important in the life of the Sisters of Charity “appear” to tell the story.

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The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton is supported solely by the generosity of our benefactors. These women, men, and organizations ensure that the vital work we do to promote the life and legacy of Mother Seton can continue.

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