Podcasts about pope leo xiii

The Holy Spirit came down powerfully in Topeka, KS on January 1st, 1901 after Pope Leo XIII invoked the "Veni Creator Spiritus," and we have the promise of another outpouring if we ask with expectation and perseverance!

Full Text of ReadingsFriday of the First Week of Lent Lectionary: 228The Saint of the day is Saint Katharine DrexelSaint Katharine Drexel's Story If your father is an international banker and you ride in a private railroad car, you are not likely to be drawn into a life of voluntary poverty. But if your mother opens your home to the poor three days each week and your father spends half an hour each evening in prayer, it is not impossible that you will devote your life to the poor and give away millions of dollars. Katharine Drexel did that. Born in Philadelphia in 1858, she had an excellent education and traveled widely. As a rich girl, Katharine also had a grand debut into society. But when she nursed her stepmother through a three-year terminal illness, she saw that all the Drexel money could not buy safety from pain or death, and her life took a profound turn. Katharine had always been interested in the plight of the Indians, having been appalled by what she read in Helen Hunt Jackson's A Century of Dishonor. While on a European tour, she met Pope Leo XIII and asked him to send more missionaries to Wyoming for her friend Bishop James O'Connor. The pope replied, “Why don't you become a missionary?” His answer shocked her into considering new possibilities. Back home, Katharine visited the Dakotas, met the Sioux leader Red Cloud and began her systematic aid to Indian missions. Katharine Drexel could easily have married. But after much discussion with Bishop O'Connor, she wrote in 1889, “The feast of Saint Joseph brought me the grace to give the remainder of my life to the Indians and the Colored.” Newspaper headlines screamed “Gives Up Seven Million!” After three and a half years of training, Mother Drexel and her first band of nuns—Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored—opened a boarding school in Santa Fe. A string of foundations followed. By 1942, she had a system of black Catholic schools in 13 states, plus 40 mission centers and 23 rural schools. Segregationists harassed her work, even burning a school in Pennsylvania. In all, she established 50 missions for Indians in 16 states. Two saints met when Mother Drexel was advised by Mother Cabrini about the “politics” of getting her order's Rule approved in Rome. Her crowning achievement was the founding of Xavier University in New Orleans, the first Catholic university in the United States for African Americans. At 77, Mother Drexel suffered a heart attack and was forced to retire. Apparently her life was over. But now came almost 20 years of quiet, intense prayer from a small room overlooking the sanctuary. Small notebooks and slips of paper record her various prayers, ceaseless aspirations, and meditations. She died at 96 and was canonized in 2000. Reflection Saints have always said the same thing: Pray, be humble, accept the cross, love and forgive. But it is good to hear these things in the American idiom from one who, for instance, had her ears pierced as a teenager, who resolved to have “no cake, no preserves,” who wore a watch, was interviewed by the press, traveled by train, and could concern herself with the proper size of pipe for a new mission. These are obvious reminders that holiness can be lived in today's culture as well as in that of Jerusalem or Rome. Click here for more on Saint Katharine Drexel! Saint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media

March 3: Saint Katharine Drexel, Virgin (U.S.A.) 1858–1955 Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: White (Violet when Lenten Weekday) Patron Saint of racial justice and philanthropists From riches to rags, she lived the Catholic dream Today's saint wove in and out of oncoming traffic. She travelled north while everyone else was zooming south. Friends and acquaintances in her refined, educated, upper-class milieu glided past her in search of marriage, children, wealth, travel, security, and leisure. Katharine deftly avoided them and moved forward at her own deliberate pace, looking for poverty, chastity, obedience, solitude, and God. She turned down a marriage proposal, rejected a life of luxury, and resisted the expectations of her status. Katharine was deeply rooted in all things Catholic from her youth. She went from riches to rags, starting out immensely wealthy yet becoming progressively poorer with age. The classic American story is to begin with little, work hard, identify opportunity, live frugally, and ultimately attain success through sheer dint of effort. Saint Katharine Drexel's father was immensely wealthy and powerful. He lived, even embodied, the American dream. His daughter lived the Catholic dream. One of the reasons why Saint Katharine ever became a nun in the first place was because a Pope did his job. In 1887, Katharine and her two sisters went to Rome and were received in audience by Pope Leo XIII. Having come into enormous inheritances upon their father's recent death, the young ladies were financially supporting some Indian missions in the American West. Katharine asked the Holy Father if he could send some missionaries to staff these missions. The Pope responded like a wise and zealous priest. He asked Katharine to send herself. That is, he asked her to consider consecrating her own life to Christ as a missionary sister. The Pope's words were a turning point. She sought spiritual counsel from trusted priests and saw the path forward. In 1889, her local newspaper ran the headline: “Miss Drexel Enters a Catholic Convent—Gives Up Seven Million." From that point on, Sister Katharine Drexel never stopped giving. Saint Teresa of Ávila said that one man and God make an army. With Saint Katharine Drexel, one woman and a fortune made an army. She founded an order, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, with the counsel and encouragement of Saint Mother Cabrini. Her order began over a hundred missions and schools for American Indians and African Americans in the American South and West, including one of the first universities to admit racial minorities. Katharine was decades ahead of the civil rights movement which caught fire in the U.S. in the decade after her death. Sister Katharine spent a good part of her life on trains, travelling at least six months every year to visit her apostolates and the sisters who staffed them. Yet amid all this activity, she maintained an intense life of prayer. In this she emulated the balance typical of the greatest saints. Their concern for justice, not social justice, was rooted in a deep love of God present in the Blessed Sacrament. There was no duality in this. It wasn't social work on one side and the sacraments and devotion on the other side. It was contemplation in action, love of God overflowing naturally into love of neighbor. After a life of generous self-gift, Saint Katharine suffered a major heart attack and spent the last twenty years of her life largely immobile, in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. She had always retained the desire to become a contemplative, and it was granted, in a sense, in her last two decades. She died at a venerable age and was canonized by Pope Saint John Paul II in 2000. Saint John Neumann, the Bishop of Philadelphia who died just two years after Katharine was born in his diocese, was a poor immigrant who embodied the best of the first wave of immigrant Catholicism in the U.S. Katharine embodied a succeeding generation of homegrown Catholicism. She was an icon of a new era of Catholic Americans who would power the incredibly organized and vibrant early and mid-twentieth century Church in the U.S: Catholic educated, socially conscious, pope-friendly, sacramentally focused, wealthy, and very generous. Saint Katharine lived and died a model nun. Saint Katharine Drexel, intercede for all who love inordinately the things of this world. Your holy detachment from wealth and comfort freed you for a life dedicated to prayer and service. May we have that same detachment and that same commitment to God.

TRADCAST EXPRESS - Episode 170 Topic covered: A critical analysis of Taylor Marshall and Matt Gaspers' video "Can Pope Francis ban the Latin Mass?" of Jan. 27, 2023. (Part 2 of 2) Links: Video: Dr. Taylor Marshall and Mr. Matthew Gaspers: "Can Pope Francis ban the Latin Mass?" (Jan. 27, 2023) Matthew Gaspers, "WATCH: Gaspers Joins Marshall to Discuss Whether or Not a Pope Can Ban the TLM", Catholic Family News (Jan. 30, 2023) Pope St. Pius X, Decree Quam Singulari (Aug. 8, 1910) Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Mediator Dei (Nov. 20, 1947) Antipope Paul VI, Apostolic Constitution Missale Romanum (Apr. 3, 1969) Pope St. Pius V, Apostolic Constitution Quo Primum (July 14, 1570) Abp. Amleto G. Cicognani, Canon Law (Philadelphia, PA: Dolphin Press, 1934) Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, et al., Short Critical Study of the New Order of Mass ("Ottaviani Intervention", Sep. 25, 1969) Antipope Benedict XVI, Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum (July 7, 2007) Pope Leo XIII, Apostolic Letter Epistola Tua (June 17, 1885) Antipope Francis, Apostolic Letter Desiderio Desideravi (June 29, 2022) "The 'St. Paul resisted St. Peter to his Face' Objection", Novus Ordo Wire (June 14, 2018) St. Robert Bellarmine, On the Roman Pontiff, trans. by Ryan Grant "St. Robert Bellarmine's Teaching on Resisting a Pope", Novus Ordo Wire (Apr. 11, 2018) Sign up to be notified of new episode releases automatically at tradcast.org. Produced by NOVUSORDOWATCH.org Support us by making a tax-deductible contribution at NovusOrdoWatch.org/donate/

If you missed Part 1, please check that out first HERE!Part II: The Practice of Love by the Church as a “Community of Love” (19 - 39)Now that the exploration of the concept of love is finished, Pope Benedict turns his attention to the concrete. We have answered what love is, now we see how love is lived. The Church's charitable activity as a manifestation of Trinitarian love (19)Part II begins by speaking on the Church's charitable activity as a manifestation of Trinitarian love. Concretely there is nothing more *real* than the Blessed Trinity. The Godhead is a unity of three Divine Persons who are in a community of life and love: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father eternally begets and loves the Son, the perfect self-image of the Father, who eternally reflects that perfect love back to the Father. The love outpoured eternally between Father and Son is the Person of the Holy Spirit, proceeding from each eternally. If nothing I said makes any sense, that is okay! Trinitarian theology is remarkably complicated and nuanced because it is the mystery of God, as He is. Mystery though it is, God is the source of all, as Trinity. And so, how can we recognize the Trinity? The Pope quotes St. Augustine in saying: “If you see charity, you see the Trinity (19).”God created all things, seen and unseen, in a plan of sheer loving goodness. When God sent His Son to assume our humanity, He invited us, in love, to share in His divinity. We can say that the mystery of the Church is the drawing of men into the mystery of God. The Father “wishes to make humanity a single family in his Son (19).” He does this through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit who the Pope speaks of as “the energy which transforms the heart of the ecclesial community, so that it becomes a witness before the world to the love of the Father (19).” Gathering all men to Himself as the Church, the Father “seeks the integral good of man (19).” This seeking of our good, the Pope says, is an expression of love in the entire activity of the Church. By His Word and the Sacraments, the Church shares the reality of the Good News of Jesus Christ with the world. What greater love can we share with our fellow man than the work of evangelization?Charity as a responsibility of the Church (20 - 25)This outward act of love of evangelization does not end with the spiritual but also includes the corporal. Charity is a responsibility of the whole Church, clergy, religious, and laity. From the beginning, Jesus Christ established the Church upon four pillars, outlined by Acts 2:42: “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” These four pillars give structure to the Church in every age and are reflected in the Catechism of the Council of Trent and in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The apostolic teaching is doctrine. Fellowship, also translated as communal life, is the moral life in Christ. The breaking of the bread is the early term for the Eucharist and for the Sacraments generally. And prayer is Christian prayer, perfectly expressed in the Our Father which our Lord gave us.Pope Benedict gives attention in paragraph 20 of Deus Caritas Est to this idea of fellowship, communion, or communal life. The Greek word in Acts is koinonia. Koinonia “consists in the fact that believers hold all things in common and that among them, there is no longer any distinction between rich and poor (20).” This sort of radical communal life is part and parcel of early Christianity. But as the Pope remarks:“As the Church grew, this radical form of material communion could not in fact be preserved. But its essential core remained: within the community of believers there can never be room for a poverty that denies anyone what is needed for a dignified life (20).”When it became necessary, the Church instituted the clerical office of the Diaconate, the first level of participation in the priesthood of Jesus Christ and the lowest level of the Sacrament of Holy Orders. A diakonos was historically a servant of the king. And so, the Deacon, is a servant of Christ the King and his vicar in a particular diocese, the bishop. They were to provide for the spiritual and corporal needs of the people. As Pope Benedict puts it:“... the social which they were meant to provide was absolutely concrete, yet at the same time it was also a spiritual service; theirs was a truly spiritual office which carried out an essential responsibility of the Church, namely a well-ordered love of neighbour (21).”This system of charity must have been a formidable force in the ancient world because the Roman leader Julian the Apostate, who rejected Christianity and tried to instantiate Neoplatonic Hellenism, told his pagan priests that they needed to imitate and outdo the Church's charity. Of course, they failed because imitation can never capture what is authentically of God.Beyond the diaconate, the proclamation of the Good News, and the liturgy were indispensable to the Church. As the Pope puts it:“The Church's deepest nature is expressed in her three-fold responsibility: of proclaiming the word of God (kerygma-martyria), celebrating the sacraments (leitourgia), and exercising the ministry of charity (diakonia). These duties presuppose each other and are inseparable (25).”Though the Church is now worldwide and the radical form of community of the early Church is less possible, the Church is nonetheless responsible for Her Members. The needs of the People of God are not only spiritual. Like any family, the Church is obliged to care for the necessities of those in the Church, in a particular way. As Benedict says:“The Church is God's family in the world. In this family no one ought to go without the necessities of life… Without in any way detracting from this commandment of universal love, the Church also has a specific responsibility: within the ecclesial family no member should suffer through being in need (25).”Justice and Charity (26 - 29)After concluding the section on the responsibility of charity in the Church, the Pope moves on to a fairly expansive conversation of justice and charity. Rooted deeply in Catholic social teaching, expounded since Pope Leo XIII especially, Pope Benedict begins by addressing the elephant in the room: Karl Marx. Since the nineteenth century, Marxists have critiqued the Church saying that “the poor… do not need charity but justice (26).” Benedict offers a steel-man explanation of the Marxist critique, saying:“Works of charity—almsgiving—are in effect a way for the rich to shirk their obligation to work for justice and a means of soothing their consciences, while preserving their own status and robbing the poor of their rights. Instead of contributing through individual works of charity to maintaining the status quo, we need to build a just social order in which all receive their share of the world's goods and no longer have to depend on charity (26).”He admits that there is some merit to the argument, but there is much that is mistaken. Historically, capital became concentrated in the hands of a powerful few and there has been conflict between employer and laborer. But rather than succumbing the Hegelian notion which Marx put forward of class warfare and revolution, the Pope offers that Catholic social teaching is applicable beyond the confines of the Church, saying:“Marxism had seen world revolution and its preliminaries as the panacea for the social problem: revolution and the subsequent collectivization of the means of production, so it was claimed, would immediately change things for the better. This illusion has vanished. In today's complex situation, not least because of the growth of a globalized economy, the Church's social doctrine has become a set of fundamental guidelines offering approaches that are valid even beyond the confines of the Church: in the face of ongoing development these guidelines need to be addressed in the context of dialogue with all those seriously concerned for humanity and for the world in which we live (27).”Commitment to Justice and Ministry of CharityThe Church, and the world, has a necessary commitment to justice and the ministry of charity. There is no dichotomy between justice and charity. Both are necessary. First, “the just ordering of society and the State is a central responsibility of politics (28),” says the Pope. Quoting St. Augustine, he says: “a State which is not governed according to justice would be just a bunch of thieves… (28).”Venturing into the subject of freedom of religion in a State, Pope Benedict says that,“The State may not impose religion, yet it must guarantee religious freedom and harmony between the followers of different religions. For her part, the Church, as the social expression of Christian faith, has a proper independence and is structured on the basis of her faith as a community which the State must recognize. The two spheres are distinct, yet always interrelated (28).”In other words: the State cannot coerce the Church. Rather the Church is independent of the State but interrelated with the State. What faithful Catholic can switch off their Catholicism when they engage in matters of politics and the State? They cannot. Only unfaithful Catholics attempt this, which results in deadly scandal and sin. Why is this? It is because God is the Lawgiver; He alone created all that is and He alone is the arbiter of morality.Justice is the aim of politics, properly understood and it is the criteria for good politics. Politics is not merely about rules governing public life: “its origin and its goal,” say the Pope, “are found in justice, which by its very nature has to do with ethics (28).”If justice is the aim and internal criterion of politics, as Benedict says, then why do Catholics need anything beyond reason? Why is faith necessary for true justice? Benedict explains:“Faith by its specific nature is an encounter with the living God—an encounter opening up new horizons extending beyond the sphere of reason. But it is also a purifying force for reason itself. From God's standpoint, faith liberates reason from its blind spots and therefore helps it to be ever more fully itself. Faith enables reason to do its work more effectively and to see its proper object more clearly… Its aim is simply to help purify reason and to contribute, here and now, to the acknowledgment and attainment of what is just (28).”If Faith is necessary, then is the Pope calling on the Church to engage directly in matters of State? Not quite. A just social and civil order is ordered towards each person receiving his or her due, which is an essential task in every generation. But it is a political task and therefore is a human responsibility rather than an ecclesial responsibility. The Church can help to purify our powers of reason and provide ethical formation. Benedict also says clearly, “The Church cannot and must not take upon herself the political battle to bring about the most just society possible. She cannot and must not replace the State. Yet at the same time she cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice (28).”The clergy are called to sanctify the laity and the laity are sent out into the world to sanctify the temporal order. Love is NecessaryEven in the best, most just societies, love will always be necessary. Care and concern for the other will always happen best on the local level. This is the principle of subsidiarity which holds that the best decisions are made on the lowest possible level and the highest level necessary. In fact, injustices stem from a higher level claiming authority over something which in fact belongs naturally to someone personally closer to the situation. Against totalitarianism of this kind, Pope Benedict writes beautifully of the bigger, complicated picture:“We do not need a State which regulates and controls everything, but a State which, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, generously acknowledges and supports initiatives arising from the different social forces and combines spontaneity with closeness to those in need. The Church is one of those living forces: she is alive with the love enkindled by the Spirit of Christ. This love does not simply offer people material help, but refreshment and care for their souls, something which often is even more necessary than material support. In the end, the claim that just social structures would make works of charity superfluous masks a materialist conception of man: the mistaken notion that man can live “by bread alone” (Mt 4:4; cf. Dt 8:3)—a conviction that demeans man and ultimately disregards all that is specifically human (28).”As I mentioned earlier, the clergy are called to sanctify the laity and the laity are sent out into the world to sanctify the temporal order. In this way, the Pope says:“The direct duty to work for a just ordering of society, on the other hand, is proper to the lay faithful. As citizens of the State, they are called to take part in public life in a personal capacity… The mission of the lay faithful is therefore to configure social life correctly, respecting its legitimate autonomy and cooperating with other citizens according to their respective competences and fulfilling their own responsibility (29).” The Church, of course, still sponsors organizations which practice charity. But this is not merely an activity of justice because it is focused on the admixture of the love of God, which is a universal human need. As Benedict says,“The Church's charitable organizations, on the other hand, constitute an opus proprium, a task agreeable to her, in which she does not cooperate collaterally, but acts as a subject with direct responsibility, doing what corresponds to her nature. The Church can never be exempted from practicing charity as an organized activity of believers, and on the other hand, there will never be a situation where the charity of each individual Christian is unnecessary, because in addition to justice man needs, and will always need, love (29).”The multiple structures of charitable service in the social context of the present day (30)Because there is never going to be a situation where individual Christians are unneeded in charitable service, Pope Benedict recognizes the social context of the present day. Long since gone is the time of Christendom when Christian kingdoms ruled. Now, there are many different types of governments, organizations, nonprofits, and social structures. Even our way of communicating is different now. As the Pope says, “Mass communication has narrowed the distance between peoples and cultures (30).” Despite the narrowing of the distance, there is still work to be done in making sure that no one is forgotten. These groups are diverse, but they all are marked with the love of God. The Pope remarks that, “Numerous organizations have arisen that are a cooperation of State and Church, but these agencies still have a Christian quality (30).” This Christian quality is not a vague echo of the love of Jesus Christ. Rather, it is a direct result of Church agencies cooperating with State agencies. Also, due to the growing amount of leisure time afforded to modern man, especially among the youth, the Pope says, “our time has also seen a growth and spread of different kinds of volunteer work, which assume responsibility for providing a variety of services (30).” What is clear is that there are a myriad of ways to get involved; however, love compels us to leave the sidelines and get in the game.In non-Catholic Churches and Ecclesial Communities, there has also been a new rising of charitable activity, with new life and energy. The Catholic Church must have a readiness, Pope Benedict says, to:“cooperate with the charitable agencies of these Churches and Communities, since we all have the same fundamental motivation and look towards the same goal: a true humanism, which acknowledges that man is made in the image of God and wants to help him to live in a way consonant with that dignity (30).”Ideally, all Christians and all people of good will would work with a united voice to inculcate, as Pope Benedict says, quoting St. John Paul II in Ut Unum Sint, “respect for the rights and needs of everyone, especially the poor, the lowly and the defenseless (30).”Thank you for reading Will Wright Catholic. This post is public so feel free to share it.The distinctiveness of the Church's charitable activity (31)After speaking on the interplay of Church and State cooperation, Pope Benedict then turns his attention to the distinctiveness of the Church's charitable activity. The Pontiff explains that there are a few essential elements of Christian and ecclesial charity.First, there must be a simple response to immediate needs and specific situations. Second, and related to the first, resources and personnel needed for the work must be provided. Though Pope Benedict does not mention subsidiarity here by name, I think it is worth mentioning. Subsidiarity is the principle of Catholic social teaching which says that the best decision is made at the highest level necessary and the lowest level possible. Why leave a decision best left to the local Parish to the Vatican, for example? The local communities all need to strive to care for those in their immediate vicinity.The third essential element of Christian and ecclesial charity is that individuals who care for those in need must be professionally competent and properly trained. As the Pope explains:“We are dealing with human beings, and human beings always need something more than technically proper care. They need humanity. They need heartfelt concern. Those who work for the Church's charitable organizations must be distinguished by the fact that they do not merely meet the needs of the moment, but they dedicate themselves to others with heartfelt concern, enabling them to experience the richness of their humanity… Consequently, in addition to their necessary professional training, these charity workers need a “formation of the heart”: they need to be led to that encounter with God in Christ which awakens their love and opens their spirits to others. As a result, love of neighbor will no longer be for them a commandment imposed, so to speak, from without, but a consequence deriving from their faith, a faith which becomes active through love (cf. Gal 5:6) (31).”The fourth essential element is that Christian charitable activity must be independent of parties and ideologies. Charitable activity is not a useful means to a longer end goal. It is not done to change the world ideologically, nor is at “at the service of worldly strategems,” says Pope Benedict, “but is a way of making present here and now the love which man always needs (31).” As a Church of Christ rather than a ‘church of causes,' we must follow the “program of Jesus” which is a “a heart which sees (31).” The Pope continues:“This heart sees where love is needed and acts accordingly. Obviously when charitable activity is carried out by the Church as a communitarian initiative, the spontaneity of individuals must be combined with planning, foresight and cooperation with other similar institutions (31).”Fifth and finally, charity cannot be used as a means of engaging in proselytism. Pope Benedict clearly states:“Love is free; it is not practiced as a way of achieving other ends. But this does not mean that charitable activity must somehow leave God and Christ aside. For it is always concerned with the whole man. Often the deepest cause of suffering is the very absence of God… A Christian knows when it is time to speak of God and when it is better to say nothing and to let love alone speak (31).”Having given these five essential elements of Christian charity, who is responsible for the Church's charitable activity?Those responsible for the Church's charitable activity (32 - 39)Charity is such a deep action of the Church that it is part of Her identity. So, those responsible for charitable activity are the whole Church: bishops, priests, deacons, lay, and religious. In regard to bishops, Pope Benedict says the following:“In the rite of episcopal ordination, prior to the act of consecration itself, the candidate must respond to several questions which express the essential elements of his office and recall the duties of his future ministry. He promises expressly to be, in the Lord's name, welcoming and merciful to the poor and to all those in need of consolation and assistance. The Code of Canon Law, in the canons on the ministry of the Bishop, does not expressly mention charity as a specific sector of episcopal activity, but speaks in general terms of the Bishop's responsibility for coordinating the different works of the apostolate with due regard for their proper character (32).”He goes on to say once again that no one is off the hook from doing charitable work. Okay, he does not put it quite that way. He says this:“With regard to the personnel who carry out the Church's charitable activity on the practical level, the essential has already been said: they must not be inspired by ideologies aimed at improving the world, but should rather be guided by the faith which works through love… Consequently, more than anything, they must be persons moved by Christ's love, persons whose hearts Christ has conquered with his love, awakening within them a love of neighbor (33).”Of course it is always the love of Christ which marks our meritorious work. Charity inflames us to do good, in and through Christ, apart from Whom we can do nothing of true merit. Christ came to redeem the whole world and God loves each man and woman. Interior openness to Christ and His love is what makes the service of Christ's disciples so distinctive. St. Paul's hymn to charity in 1 Cor. 13 teaches us that service is more than activity alone: “If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, I gain nothing (1 Cor. 13:3).” Pope Benedict refers to this hymn as the “Magna Carta of all ecclesial service (34)” and the summary of all the reflections on love which he offers in Deus Caritas Est.He goes on to say:“Practical activity will always be insufficient, unless it visibly expresses a love for man, a love nourished by an encounter with Christ. My deep personal sharing in the needs and sufferings of others becomes a sharing of my very self with them: if my gift is not to prove a source of humiliation, I must give to others not only something that is my own, but my very self; I must be personally present in my gift (34).”When we serve in this self-giving way, we learn humility and grow in humility. As Pope Benedict beautifully reminds us:“We recognize that we are not acting on the basis of any superiority or greater personal efficiency, but because the Lord has graciously enabled us to do so… We offer him our service only to the extent that we can, and for as long as he grants us the strength. To do all we can with what strength we have, however, is the task which keeps the good servant of Jesus Christ always at work: ‘The love of Christ urges us on' (2 Cor 5:14) (35).”Finding the BalanceUrged on by the love of Christ, it is easy to lose balance. “When we consider the immensity of others' needs, we can, on the one hand,” Pope Benedict says, “be driven towards an ideology that would aim at doing what God's governance of the world apparently cannot: fully resolving every problem. Or we can be tempted to give in to inertia, since it would seem that in any event nothing can be accomplished (36).”So, how can we overcome these temptations? How can we find balance and keep the seesaw from tipping completely one way or the other? Pope Benedict continues:“At such times, a living relationship with Christ is decisive if we are to keep on the right path, without falling into an arrogant contempt for man, something not only unconstructive but actually destructive, or surrendering to a resignation which would prevent us from being guided by love in the service of others. Prayer, as a means of drawing ever new strength from Christ, is concretely and urgently needed. People who pray are not wasting their time, even though the situation appears desperate and seems to call for action alone (36).”Personal Relationship with GodPrayer is vital if we are to live in and with God. Prayer is our life blood. Our entire life can become a prayer if continually drawn deeply from the well of Christ. With the scourge of secularism prowling and the misguided extreme arm of activism, Christians are engaged in charitable work. Prayer is the antidote to this worldly spirit. A personal relationship with our loving Father, through Christ, in the Holy Spirit is utterly necessary. Pope Benedict puts it this way:“Clearly, the Christian who prays does not claim to be able to change God's plans or correct what he has foreseen. Rather, he seeks an encounter with the Father of Jesus Christ, asking God to be present with the consolation of the Spirit to him and his work (37).”The Problem of EvilThis personal relationship with God is all the more necessary for us in the midst of the problem of evil. We can often experience bewilderment and fail to understand the world around us. In these moments, the Pope says:“Christians continue to believe in the ‘goodness and loving kindness of God' (Tit 3:4). Immersed like everyone else in the dramatic complexity of historical events, they remain unshakably certain that God is our Father and loves us, even when his silence remains incomprehensible (38).”Faith, Hope, and CharityIn the midst of darkness, we trust in the love of God which surpasses all understanding. The theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity, God's own life, have been instilled in our soul through the gift of Baptism. These theological virtues go together. Pope Benedict teaches us:“Hope is practiced through the virtue of patience, which continues to do good even in the face of apparent failure, and through the virtue of humility, which accepts God's mystery and trusts him even at times of darkness. Faith tells us that God has given his Son for our sake and gives us the victorious certainty that it is really true: God is love! It thus transforms our impatience and our doubts into the sure hope that God holds the world in his hands and that, as the dramatic imagery of the end of the Book of Revelation points out, in spite of all darkness he ultimately triumphs in glory (39).”We cannot see the full picture; only God does. And He has revealed so much to us. More than revelation, He has given us Himself. He shares in our humanity that we might share in His divinity. In Baptism, we are given the light and made to be the light to the world, in and through Christ. Pope Benedict sums up his first encyclical this way:“Faith, which sees the love of God revealed in the pierced heart of Jesus on the Cross, gives rise to love. Love is the light—and in the end, the only light—that can always illuminate a world grown dim and give us the courage needed to keep living and working. Love is possible, and we are able to practice it because we are created in the image of God. To experience love and in this way to cause the light of God to enter into the world—this is the invitation I would like to extend with the present Encyclical (39).”Conclusion (40 - 42)As was the practice with his predecessor, Pope Benedict dedicates the conclusion of his document to the Mother of God, Mary most holy. Truly, each of the saints are a beautiful witness to the charity of God in every way imaginable. However, there is a preeminence to the holy charity of our Blessed Mother, the first disciple of her Holy Son, Jesus Christ.I highly recommend reading the entire Conclusion (and the whole document, really) in full. But I would like to draw what resonated most with me. I simply love the way Pope Benedict speaks about our Blessed Mother. He says:“Mary's greatness consists in the fact that she wants to magnify God, not herself. She is lowly: her only desire is to be the handmaid of the Lord (cf. Lk 1:38, 48) She knows that she will only contribute to the salvation of the world if, rather than carrying out her own projects, she places herself completely at the disposal of God's initiatives (41).” How often do you and I carry out our own projects, without putting ourselves at the disposal of God's initiatives. Mary, form us, teach us! The Pope goes on:“Mary is a woman who loves. How could it be otherwise? As a believer who in faith thinks with God's thoughts and wills with God's will, she cannot fail to be a woman who loves. We sense this in her quiet gestures, as recounted by the infancy narratives in the Gospel. We see it in the delicacy with which she recognizes the need of the spouses at Cana and makes it known to Jesus. We see it in the humility with which she recedes into the background during Jesus' public life, knowing that the Son must establish a new family and that the Mother's hour will come only with the Cross, which will be Jesus' true hour (cf. Jn 2:4; 13:1). When the disciples flee, Mary will remain beneath the Cross (cf. Jn 19:25-27); later, at the hour of Pentecost, it will be they who gather around her as they wait for the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14) (41).”Mary was there through it all. By her “yes” the Word of God took flesh, provided by her own body. Even despite her prominence and grandeur, the humility of the Theotokos is led by love. She loves with the love of God flowing through her as a perfect vessel and she loves with a human, motherly love. The Pope goes on:“Mary, Virgin and Mother, shows us what love is and whence it draws its origin and its constantly renewed power. To her we entrust the Church and her mission in the service of love (42).”Here Pope Benedict ends with a prayer to the Theotokos, which I would like to end today's article with as well. Please join me in praying:“Holy Mary, Mother of God, you have given the world its true light, Jesus, your Son – the Son of God. You abandoned yourself completely to God's call and thus became a wellspring of the goodness which flows forth from him. Show us Jesus. Lead us to him. Teach us to know and love him, so that we too can become capable of true love and be fountains of living water in the midst of a thirsting world (42).”Amen. Get full access to Will Wright Catholic Podcast at www.willwrightcatholic.com/subscribe

TRADCAST EXPRESS - Episode 169 Topic covered: A critical analysis of Taylor Marshall and Matt Gaspers' video "Can Pope Francis ban the Latin Mass?" of Jan. 27, 2023. (Part 1 of 2) Links: Video: Dr. Taylor Marshall and Mr. Matthew Gaspers: "Can Pope Francis ban the Latin Mass?" (Jan. 27, 2023). Matthew Gaspers, "WATCH: Gaspers Joins Marshall to Discuss Whether or Not a Pope Can Ban the TLM", Catholic Family News (Jan. 30, 2023) Henry Denzinger, The Sources of Catholic Dogma (1954 edition) Pope Leo XIII, Apostolic Letter Epistola Tua (June 17, 1885) Pope St. Pius X, Address Con Vera Soddisfazione (May 10, 1909) St. Robert Bellarmine, On the Roman Pontiff, trans. by Ryan Grant Sign up to be notified of new episode releases automatically at tradcast.org. Produced by NOVUSORDOWATCH.org Support us by making a tax-deductible contribution at NovusOrdoWatch.org/donate/

Today read through Pope Leo XIII's 5th Encyclical on the Holy Rosary. The full text can be found here: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_22091891_octobri-mense.html The Latin Prayer Podcast is on Patreon -  for those of you who are able to financially support the podcast please Click Here (https://www.patreon.com/thelatinprayerpodcast). A huge thank you to my patrons! Please check out our Resources, Gift Ideas & Affiliate Links page: https://dylandrego.podbean.com/p/resources-gift-ideas-affiliate-links Join me and others in praying the Holy Rosary every day; here are the Spotify quick links to the Rosary: Joyful Mysteries https://open.spotify.com/episode/1yhnGJNSl67psg94j3si3s?si=7IjqIg2wQQaZTJTiDm-Dhw Sorrowful Mysteries https://open.spotify.com/episode/3P0nIdaLuEjesHRMklwfoj?si=6qF7JBYpRiG0ylwuOohFwA Glorious Mysteries https://open.spotify.com/episode/3t7lCF7nFQDR3py1jjTAE1?si=hBb_5Ne5Rwu-993nUUqHqg Luminous Mysteries https://open.spotify.com/episode/6vlAjEGgWPCI79K7Eylh31?si=Hue9USzkTf-L3wrXrK79MQ 15 Decade Rosary https://open.spotify.com/episode/2q33PXMrinZi6fkaV6X7vn?si=Jy_d2xLlTVihD5qa4fSH9g To follow me on other platforms Click on my LinkTree below. linktr.ee/dylandrego If you have any prayers you'd like to request, or comments and/or suggestions - please email me at latinprayerpodcast@gmail.com. Know that if you are listening to this, I am praying for you. Please continue to pray with me and for me and my family. May everything you do be Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam. God Love You! Valete (Goodbye)    

In this episode, Fr. Lawrence Carney discusses his latest book: The Secret of the Holy Face: The Devotion Destined to Save Society. Fr. Carney discusses the critical need for Catholics to enroll in the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face, founded by Pope Leo XIII to defeat communism, atheism, and revolutionary men whose aim it is to destroy the Catholic Church. WQPH's Mary Ann Harold joins Bonnie Quirke and Angela Tomlinson in this episode.   Here is the link to Fr. Carney's book: https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Holy-Face-Devotion-Destined-ebook/dp/B0B4BG966F/ref=sr_1_1?crid=14HK0HY8GOWX0&keywords=The+Secret+of+the+Holy+Face%3A+The+Devotion+Destined+to+Save+Society&qid=1673034737&sprefix=the+secret+of+the+holy+face+the+devotion+destined+to+save+society%2Caps%2C138&sr=8-1  

As for the failures of the Church: the faithful and the faithless have failed to be perfect in all eras and situations and nations since the beginning of time, and on that all groups agree. If you don't believe me, you haven't read the Old Testament or the Greek epics or even Native American myths, because all takes are full of fallen man. The news from last evening where I live was full of overdoses, murders, and domestic disputes. We cannot keep the Commandments, not without help from above. This is kind of the whole point of the person of Jesus, and why he came, in case you didn't know, and many today don't know. It's an interesting time because millions of people have not heard the Gospel, or have no idea of what it says.He brought us the second part of what we need, called the Beatitudes, but people are less aware of these than they are of the Commandments. The Commandments are like a beam we have to walk on above a shark filled tank. But the Commandments with the Beatitudes is like a nice sidewalk with a guardrail above the shark tank where we can relax, be joyful, and not be constantly worried about falling off the beam.We cannot live the Beatitudes by themselves either. We need the Commandments with the Beatitudes, otherwise we just discard the idea of sin altogether. We need to use the cheat code. There is a cheat code, but it's not as easy as what video game developers build into their systems. The way to win is to stop trying to cheat. We have to take up our cross and follow Christ. I think what people fail to understand is that Christ showed us how to live. In the devolving of Christendom, through our obsession with knowledge, we have to unlearn and invert nearly everything that our American teachers have taught us to value, from public school, to Hollywood, to government. Christ way of living is an inversion of Americanism, which is why Americanism was called out as a heresy by the Church in 1899. Pope Leo XIII didn't just go on the offensive against the errors of Karl Marx in Rerum Novarum (a prophetic encyclical that predicted all of the horrors of Communism), he also called out the errors that Thomas Jefferson gave birth to with his mistress, the “pursuit of happiness.” This might be a news flash to some: the Church is neither capitalist nor socialist. Instead, the Church is for both the Commandments and the Beatitudes. Again, Catholicism is a both/and religion, except for when it comes to ideologies - then it is neither/nor. Sometimes I think we focus on the Commandments too much and forget about the Beatitudes. A common critique of Catholics is that they are “too dogmatic,” and act like Pharisees. But oddly enough, while, yes, Jesus does scold the Pharisees frequently, the reason he does is telling. In Matthew 23, Jesus says, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; 3 therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach.”Now, this can be passed over easily, but Jesus says something really important here. The Pharisees sit on Moses' seat. The Church today refers to “the seat of Peter,” or “the chair of Peter.” The Pharisees, according to Jesus himself, have authority to interpret Sacred Scripture. This, dear reader, is why the Pharisees bear the brunt of Jesus' anger in the Gospels. God chose Moses. He chose Moses' successors, and they are the Pharisees. It is not the Sadducees, or Jesus would have said that they sit on Moses' seat. This idea of Moses' seat must be attended to. Later, in Matthew 28, Jesus says before ascending to heaven something extremely important about that authority. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”So the Pharisees held the seat of Moses, and Jesus was given all authority in heaven and earth. But what about when he's gone? Then who has authority to interpret and defend the Word of God? Who will the Holy Spirit be with? Well, that was covered in Matthew 16:18-19. Simon was given a new name, Peter, the rock, upon who he would build his church. “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”Let's recap here. Jesus states plainly that there is to be a Church. One Church. Peter is the leader. This is a direct commission, by name. There's not even any wiggle room on this for interpretation. Further, nothing will ever defeat the Church that is founded on Peter, even though that Church may be attacked by Hell itself. There is only one Church founded on Peter. That is the Catholic Church. Ok fine. So we know there is to be a Church. We also know that baptism is important, even critical to salvation. The Eucharist is as well, which Jesus spoke ample words about at the Last Supper and in the Bread of Life chat after feeing the 5,000. And in this verse above, we know that Confession is important because in order to “bind” and “loose” sins, you have to speak them out loud to someone. As far as I know, the Apostles could not read minds like Jesus. (Although Peter does seem to be able to in Acts with Ananias, but that's another story). In Matthew 18:18-19, Jesus also states this “binding and loosing” power. He also says that his followers must gather in Jesus' name, meaning there should be what? A meeting. “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”Now, this brings me to a point about the Gospel of Matthew that has led me to many hours of pondering and displeasure, which I will write about later or this will never end. I am teeming with words here, so I need to resist commenting on the lies of 19th century German scholarship and their intentions of tearing down Matthew because of these important phrases.Let's get back to the Commandments and the Beatitudes, and why both are needed. Living by the Commandments and the Beatitudes can only come through following Jesus. You can't have one without the other. Otherwise you end up a Pharisee, a legalist on the one hand, and on the other hand you are all free-love and dope and Jesus becomes the Big Lebowski, the dude. In fact, if you watch the Big Lebowski, you can see the problems of Pharisees and libertines rather plainly. Walter is a jerk obsessed about the rules, and the Dude cares for no rules. One is all justice and is a hypocrite, and the other is a buffoon that stands for nothing. Donny, the forgotten third character, is a kind of Jesus character, and indeed, he is indirectly killed by Walter and Dude's dispute with the nihilists, which wouldn't have happened had they not both been so hell-bent on justice (Walter) and mercy (the Dude). Donny is martyred for their sins. So we need to be like Donny a bit. Humble. Peaceful. Seeking righteousness while following the rules. Ok, now forget Donny. Be like Jesus.When you wake up in the morning, surrender to God, be grateful for breath, and ask Jesus, “What are we going to do today?” To follow him requires surrender and obedience. Freedom requires forgetting the self. Let's cut to the chase: nobody loves a list of rules. Rules alone do not inspire. No one ever built a Cathedral because of a list of rules any more than the local swimming pool was built to hang up a sign of “pool rules.” Kids do not go to the swimming pool on a hot summer day to celebrate the rules. They go to the pool to play and cannonball and scream and splash. This to me is the fundamental error of the Pharisees, and Catholics can become Pharisaical quickly if they think the early Christians were gathering just to celebrate a list of rules instead of cannonballing into a pool with Christ. They came for community, beauty, joy, truth. St. Peter's Basilica and Notre Dame were not built so that we could hang up a sign that read, “No running. No glass bottles.” They were built because people experience a union with God that unshackles them from life and makes them free, in a way that the pool, or drinking, or sex, or money, or trophies can never even come close to reaching. The funny thing about the rules is that once you find that key that opens the door, and you follow Christ, only then do the rules make total sense and you actually want to follow them. You even yearn to follow them, because it would please God to do so. In fact, the pool was built for joy, but if there were no pool rules it would be chaos and no one would want to swim there. Lawless pools with loud drunks and kids running wild end up as empty pools. Suddenly, once you believe, the joy singing goes right along with the requirements of fasting. The prayer where the heart surges toward God goes right alongside Confession. That's the miracle that happens, which I will keep repeating it on this site until I move to my cave someday, following the leads of St. Benedict or St. Anthony of Egypt, where there is no internet.We're all “failures” to some degree and we deal with our human flaws in different ways. This is the problem of sin. In order to feel better, we need to elevate our side. Out of this competition, scapegoats are born. We want to scapegoat and point fingers at the failures of our opponents. The notion to blame is always inserted into our heads, put there as a thought from somewhere. I can tell you where that somewhere thought comes from. For many years I assumed thoughts came from myself, but the conception of thoughts have outer origins. It is from the devil, who is the divider and the distractor. There I said it. The devil is real. What a relief. It's nice to stop dancing around these things and just say it. The favorite, perennial scapegoat for all sides is the Church, as in the Catholic Church, because it's an easy target, and it is the main target. And I mean all sides are on the attack. Even Catholics attack the Church relentlessly, from both the liberal progressive side and the Rad-Trad side. After a while, when you see how much hatred is directed at the Church, it should start to make you wonder. Why? Why is there so much hate against the Church? Because they say that abortion is wrong? Because they say that marriage is between a man and a woman? Because they reprimanded Galileo? Because of the Crusades? There are hundreds of these reasons, but none of them are the real reason.The real reason is because God granted the Church authority on interpreting faith and morals until Jesus returns, and we really, really hate anyone telling us how to live. We hate authority. But that is exactly what Jesus claimed, and he deputized the Apostles, with Peter as the leader. Even “scripture alone” interpreters have to dance around the fact of Jesus giving the keys to Peter, and Peter being the rock of the Church. Furthermore, you have to pretend Peter never lived in Rome, and do all kind of “textual criticism” and other rain-dances to try and undo the fact that the Church was founded on Peter, and Peter's took his seat in Rome. We hate authority so much that we'll do anything to tear it down or avoid it. And this is precisely what the devil does. It's really the first line from the serpent over and over again, as he said to Eve: “Did God really say…?” That is his opening phrase and his unending hymn of rebellion. When Jesus gave Peter the keys to the Church, he chose a leader and gave him and the Apostles the authority to bind and loose sins. This is really irritating to people because it means that someone has the authority, and the reason we dislike that idea is because we, each of us, wants to be king. Thus, the claim to authority over faith and morals becomes a target just as it did in the Garden of Eden, when the authority of God was questioned and rejected. Now, I know for any of my Protestant friends who read this, they will disagree, and will assume that for 1,500 years the church was in the wrong, and only the Reformation brought Christianity back to life. But that assumes that all of the spiritual battles and bloodshed by every saint and martyr from 30 A.D. onward was for a Church on the wrong track, which to me is ludicrous. The early church was the Catholic Church, and the more I read of early Church history, the more it's clear that the doctrines in the Catechism we use today matches with what Jesus and the Apostles believed. As John Henry Neumann said, "To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant."But, even Protestants should be wary of this urge to blame Catholics, because if they pray for the demise of the Church and the Pope, you can bet that the next domino to go is your local Bible-believing neighborhood church, because the only keeper of doctrine is then in the pastor's head, or three-ring binder, or the next vote at the annual conference. Chastity is currently on the chopping block for many Protestants, and the faith of the early church is being flung aside for the spirit of the age. The long history of half-truths being told about the Catholic Church will only blow up in the face of anti-Catholic Christians in the end. Why? Because we are all, at the root, brothers in Christ. We are all drinking from the same vine. But here's my belief: the last stand of Christianity will be made in the barque of Peter, the Catholic Church, not in your local pastor's three-ring binder, or in the Southern Baptist Convention or in one of the Lutheran Synods or in the First, Second, or Third Baptist Church. And if the barque of Peter goes down, then so shall all other boats, because the focal point of the anger always lands on the Church. If the gates of hell were to prevail against the Catholic Church (which can't actually happen), then all of the denominations that came after the Catholic Church will lose the boogeyman. Then they will become the boogeyman and would crumble quickly under the weight of the world. The Church, I believe, is in the world, but is not of this world, and Jesus guaranteed that his followers would be hated, and they most certainly are. But that only encourages us to keep speaking, to keep partaking in the Sacraments, and to keep “praying to Mary and our statues” as the detractors like to say. As for the unbelievers, the “love of others” has taken precedent over the first commandment of Christ, which is to “love God.” And here's the problem with that: When love of God and his word gets put into second place and given the silver medal, then love thy neighbor attempts to take the podium, the gold. Unfortunately, this never works. There is a reason for the order. The imitation of Christ is not a game with optional modes of play, it's guidance for the salvation of your soul. So much has been forgotten in the distractions and fragmentation of modern thought. This is why you now see Pride flags outside of Methodist and ELCA churches that would make the Wesley brothers' and Martin Luther's heads explode. It's honestly hard to imagine a greater insult to their names and legacy than what has happened in their churches, but because their own step to form these churches was one of protest, it's not terribly surprising that the protestors are now protesting the earlier protestors. This again, goes back to the beginning and illustrates exactly why the odd story of the Garden of Eden has such lasting power. Obedience to God must be first. Not flags, not clubs, not organizations, and certainly nothing national or political. None of those things can provide the foundation needed. If Jesus said that not one letter of the law would be undone, meaning the Commandments, then how on earth can you skip Sunday Mass for youth sports or claim that sex outside of marriage is allowed? You can only do that if you are ignoring what Jesus says. And the Church was established to defend and follow his example. To argue against marriage and chastity means you have to throw out the Gospel, and if you start throwing out parts, you've thrown out all of it. It comes as a package. Moreover, it only makes sense as an entire package. The baby and bathwater are both out on the lawn now in those churches because they have rejected the Gospel and called it “love.” What they really mean by love is “lust.” Many people have forgotten that Jesus was a celibate man his whole life and ardently, clearly stated that there is to be one marriage in life, and if you aren't married, no sex. No one wants to hear that, but it's incredibly loud and crystal clear if we would just take a minute to open up the book and actually look at the words. The only thing the Church is saying to make people so angry is the exact words of Jesus in Mark 6. It's remarkable really, that just repeating the Gospel words, as they are written, can cause such madness among us lusty moderns. That is how you can tell that we are under a kind of slavery to the passions. The same happens when you try to take away an addict's drugs or when a wealthy person's finances collapse. When the devil finds the right bait for each of us, he keeps using it and sets the hook deep.In our era, methinks the Protesting hath gone on too long and each protesting generation tries to remake the world anew in its own desires. This is why the saying rings true that “A church that marries the age it finds itself in will find itself a widow in the next.” This is the logical conclusion of sola scriptura and sola fide. By faith alone, you can do whatever you want because you were saved fifteen years ago. With sola scriptura, you can interpret the book yourself, however you like, which is being proved out right now before our eyes. Want to throw out chastity? It's gone! Poof. Want to sacralize greed? As you wish, says Kenneth Copeland. Want to rid yourself of the Eucharist and just focus on preaching? Welcome to the party, Zwingli and all you other random people who wants to start your own church. Every heresy since Christ rose from the tomb has played out again and again, thanks to the five solas of Protestantism, but mostly because of two: sola fide and sola scriptura. You can argue yourself into any position, because, well, why not? If you're saved by your faith, actions don't matter. If traditional interpretations of scripture doesn't quite match your wants, then you can hammer it intellectually into the shape you like. Works? Works mean nothing. Works are optional. As soon as you cut out the physical, as soon as the Sacraments are not needed, you've cut the body from the soul, because the body is what carries out “works.” In fact, if there is one damning bit of evidence against Protestantism's shedding of the Sacraments it's that Covid proved that church attendance is not necessary. The internet and streaming video seems to be God's humorous way of proving that “four walls and a sermon” make not a Church, because now everyone can stay home to watch it online. Covid presented this fact in full, because a community gathering to hear a sermon is only as compelling as the speaker, and if the mouthpiece can be piped into the ear alone, then getting dressed and driving to church is not needed. With the Catholic Mass, attendance is required. You cannot do confession over Zoom, and you most certainly cannot receive the Eucharist through an iPhone. Again, body and soul are required in the Catholic Church. This is a great feature of the Church. It's worth noting that Jesus isn't here in the flesh. He is risen. So that means that we must act as the arms and legs now. He is the head of the Church, but the mystical body is important, too. We can use our individual bodies like cells of the mystical body. Our bodies can move around. We can use our bodies to feed the poor or to carry out sinful actions. Ideally, we move toward using it for God's purposes rather than our own. Socialists understand that the body is needed to do good things, so they have half of this whole thing figured out, except they deny the soul. Protestants have the soul and faith part figured out, but can't quite factor in the body because it's not really needed. Put them together and you have something more whole, body and soul, and it's called the Catholic Church. I don't believe that scripture alone or faith alone jives with the Gospel. Otherwise, when you are on your third marriage or looking at porn or having extra-marital sex, you get angry when the Church merely points out the words that Jesus said. Simply reminding others what Jesus said about marriage gets people fired up. It's not like the Church made any of this up. Jesus said these things and the Apostles wrote them down. Merely saying what Jesus said invokes rage from many unbelievers and Protestors, because they have already decided that Jesus is some watered down hippy teacher. But he's a knife that divides people. He was clearly offensive. Nice people don't get crucified. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.whydidpetersink.com

Episode 210This year end projection stuff and regular activities on the part of government officials is why I titled this episode Booger Eating Morons in the Church and State.Resources For This EpisodeIn an effort to provide you with the best, most helpful experience we can, any resource mentioned in The Cantankerous Catholic podcast will always be listed in this section. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases on links that are for purchases made from Amazon. This costs you nothing, but Amazon pays me a small commission on purchases made through those links. This helps to support this apostolate.Make My Website ADA CompliantThe Wanderer Catholic Newspaper. Get one month for one dollar by texting the word “news” to 830-331-5729.Podcasters Paradise complete and in-depth podcasting course—the one I took.Substack with Joe Sixpack—The Every Catholic Guy articles: Secrets of the Catholic FaithHelp Keep the Joe Sixpack—The Every Catholic Guy Apostolate AliveFOR CHECKS: make checks payable to Cassock Media, P.O. Box 41, Villa Ridge, Missouri 63089Rank & Review The Cantankerous Catholic so more Catholics can join us!The Sacred Heart Wins! with Bishop Joseph Strickland Robert asks, “We know that we are supposed to pray for the Holy Fathers intentions, but our consciences tell us not to. Is this a sin? What are we to do?”Mike asks, “Why can't the "canceled" priests move to an orthodox diocese and work under a holy Bishop?”Jeffery asks, “Why does it seem as all is lost in the church? Heretics like Fr James Martin receive an audience with the pope but Orthodox priests like Cardinal Zen are shunned and sent away? I know our hope is in Christ but what is a good Catholic to think these days?”Catholic BootcampThis week Joe Sixpack—The Every Catholic Guy's Catholic Bootcamp is titled Fr. Tim Bannes.Catholic QuotesThis week's quote is from Pope Leo XIII.Catholic StoriesThis episode features a story about a faithful bishop in Jerusalem being confronted by Muslims.Rick Stender—Official Voice of The Cantankerous CatholicSubscribeMake sure you never miss an episode of The Cantankerous Catholic by subscribing through one of these links, or wherever else you get your podcasts.Subscribe to The Cantankerous Catholic hereJoe Sixpack's StuffJoeSixpackAnswers.comSecrets of the Catholic Faith by Joe Sixpack—The Every Catholic GuyThe Lay Evangelist's

Catholic Drive Time - 877-757-9424 Date – Tuesday, January 3, 2023 – Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Jesus INTRO – “Lord, I love you” - Benedict XVI & His Legacy – Michael Hichborn joins us. And – The fall of Christianity in the UK – Dr. Gavin Ashenden weighs in. Quick News - - Buffalo Bills Safety Damar Hamlin Collapses on the Field After Appearing to Have Suffered a Cardiac Event. Early reports suggested he had a pulse but wasn't breathing on his own. He is listed in critical condition. - When the 118th Congress convenes today, and members are sworn in, Vice President Kamala Harris is requiring senators, their spouses, and guests older than 2 to provide a negative coronavirus test before participating in a photo op. - 19-year-old accused of attacking 3 NYPD officers with a machete was reportedly 'radicalized' online, expressed desire to fight alongside Islamic terrorists - Avengers actor Jeremy Renner is out of surgery but remains in a critical condition after an accident with a snow plough,... Renner suffered blunt chest trauma and orthopaedic injuries, and is still in intensive care, - Dry Tortugas National Park in the Florida Keys announced it would close beginning Monday in response to a flood of migrants arriving on its shores. Join Email list! GRNonline.com/CDT GRN to 42828 What's Concerning Us? – Benedict's Legacy with Michael Hichborn "dictatorship of relativism" Benedict XVI wrote comparatively few encyclicals, issuing just three in his eight-year pontificate (the 19th-century Pope Leo XIII produced 90 during his admittedly long pontificate). In his last official statement as pope, before a general audience on Feb. 27, 2013, Pope Benedict assured the tens of thousands of people gathered to hear him speak as pope for the last time that even though he was stepping back from official duties, he would remain, in essence, pope “The ‘always' is also a ‘forever' — there can no longer be a return to the private sphere. My decision to resign the active exercise of the ministry does not revoke this,” Benedict said. “I do not return to private life, to a life of travel, meetings, receptions, conferences, and so on. I am not abandoning the cross, but remaining in a new way at the side of the crucified Lord,” he told the crowd. By his decision to continue to dress in white like the pope, retain the title of pope, and keep the coat of arms of his papacy, Benedict revealed that in giving up the “active exercise of the ministry,” he was not forsaking the role of pope altogether. In a speech at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome on May 20, 2016, Gänswein said that Pope Francis and Benedict are not two popes “in competition” with one another but represent one “expanded” Petrine office with “an active member” and a “contemplative.” VII – the last alive? From liberal to conservative? Traditionalism? Bank reform? Cleaning up the abusers? For fear of the wolves? Patristics as the interpretive key to everything. The resignation Guest Seg. - Dr. Gavin Ashenden – the fall of Christianity in the UK -The King's Speech -Trans Priests -Women arrested for praying silently -More toleration of LGBTQ and Islam than Christianity Joe Social Media IG: @TheCatholicHack Twitter: @Catholic_Hack Facebook: Joe McClane YouTube: Joe McClane Rudy Social Media IG: @ydursolrac Youtube: Glad Trad Podcast Adrian Social Media IG: @ffonze Twitter: @AdrianFonze Facebook: Adrian Fonseca YouTube: Adrian Fonseca YouTube: Catholic Conversations Visit our website to learn more about us, find a local GRN radio station, a schedule of our programming and so much more. http://grnonline.com/

"You shall not steal."What actually constitutes stealing? Is anything absolutely my own? How much should I give to others?In this episode, we begin our discussion of the seventh Commandment.This episode covers Part Three, Section Two, Chapter Two, Article Seven of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (pts 2401-2418).Contact the podcast: crashcoursecatholicism@gmail.com.Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crashcoursecatholicism/.....References and further reading/listening/viewing:Matthew 5:40Luke 19:1-10Peter Kreeft, Catholic Christianity. Pope Leo XIII, Rerum NovarumChris Lilley, "Jaime King, We Can Be Heroes", YouTube.Victor Hugo, Les Miserables.  Les, Miserables, Tenth Anniversary Concert. YouTube.  dir. Tom Hooper, Les Miserables. Ascension Press, "The Virtue of Justice Explained", YouTube.The Catholic Encyclopedia, "Justice"The Catholic Encyclopedia, "Theft"Miranda Hart, Peggy and Me.Thomas Aquinas, "Justice",   Summa Theologiae, II.ii, Question 58Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 3.Gerard Manly Hopkins "As Kingfishers Catch Fire, Dragonflies Draw Flame"https://goodonyou.eco/

Pope Leo XIII's 4th Encyclical on the Holy Rosary VI È BEN NOTO ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII ON THE ROSARY AND PUBLIC LIFE*   To the Bishops of Italy. Venerable Brethren, You know how We place amid present dangers Our confidence in the Glorious Virginof the Holy Rosary, for the safety and prosperity of Christendom and the peaceand tranquillity of the Church. Mindful that in moments of great trial, pastors and people have ever had recourse with entire confidence to the august Mother of God, in whose hands are all graces, certain too, that devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary is most opportune for the needs of these times, We have desired to revive everywhere this devotion, and to spread it far and wide among the faithful of the world. Often times already We, in recommending the pious practice of devoting October to honouring Our Lady, have pointed out Our reasons and hope for so doing, and the forms to be observed; and the entire Church, docile to Our desires, has ever replied by special manifestations of devotion; and now is making ready to pay to Mary, during a whole month, a daily tribute of thedevotion so dear to it. In such pious rivalry Italy has not been behind-hand, for devotion to Our Lady is deeply and widely rooted in this land; and We doubt not that this year too, Italy will set a glorious example of love for the august Mother of God, and will give Us fresh reasons for consolation and hope. Nevertheless We cannot do less than address to you, Venerable Brethren, a few words of exhortation, so that with particular and renewed zeal the month dedicated to the Most Holy Virgin of the Rosary may be sanctified in every diocese of Italy. 2. It is easy to imagine what reasons We have for doing this. Since God called Us to govern His Church on earth, We have sought to use every possible means that We deemed suitable, for the sanctification of souls and the extension of the reign of Jesus Christ. We have excepted from Our daily solicitude no nationand no people, mindful that Our Redeemer shed His precious blood on the Cross and opened the reign of grace and of glory for all. None, however, can be surprised that We showed special care for the Italian people, for Our Divine Master Jesus Christ chose, from out all the world, Italy to be the seat of His Vicar on earth, and in His providential designs appointed Rome to be the capitalof the Catholic world. On this account the Italian people is called upon to live close to the Father of the whole Christian family, and to share in a special way in his sorrows and his glory. Unfortunately We find in Italy much to sadden Our souls. Faith and Christian morals, the precious inheritance be queathed by Our ancestors, and in all past rimes the glory of Our country and of Italy's great ones, are being attacked artfully and in covert ways, or even openly, with cynicism that is revolting, by a handful of men who seek to rob others of that faith and morality they have themselves lost. In this more especially is seen the work of the sects, and of those who are more or less their willing tools. Above all, in this city of Rome, where Christ's Vicar has his See are their efforts concentrated and their diabolical designs displayed with ferocious obstinacy. 3. We need not tell you, Venerable Brethren, with what bitterness Our soul is filled at seeing the danger there is for the salvation of so many of Our beloved children. And Our sorrow is greater because We find it impossible to oppose such great evil with that salutary efficacity We would desire and that We have the right to use, for you know, Venerable Brethren, and all the world knows, the state to which we are reduced. On this account We feel a still greater desire to call upon the Mother of God and to ask her help. Let all good Italians pray for their misguided brethren, for their common Father the Roman Pontiff, that God, in His infinite mercy, may hear and answer the prayers of a father and his sons. And Our most lively and sure hope is placed in the Queen of the Rosary, who has shown herself, since she has been invoked by that title, so ready to help the Church and Christian peoples in their necessities. Already have We recorded these glories and the great triumphs won over the Albigenses and other powerful enemies, glories and triumphs which have not only profited the Church, afflicted and persecuted, but also the temporal welfare of peoples and nations. Why in this hour of need should We not behold again such marvels of the power and goodness of the august Virgin, for the good of the Church and its Head, and of the whole Christian world, if the faithful only revive, on their part, the magnificent examples of piety given by their fore fathers, under similar circumstances? And to make this most powerful Queen more and more propitious, We would honour her more and more in the invocation of the Rosary, and increase this devotion. And to this end We have made a double of the second class for all the Church of the Feast of the Rosary. And for the same purpose We ardently desire the Catholics of Italy, with lively faith, especially during this month of October, to invoke this august Virgin and to do loving violence to her mother's heart, and to pray to her for the triumph of the Church and the Apostolic See, for the liberty of the Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth, and for peace and public prosperity. And since the effects of such prayers will be proportionate to the dispositions of those offering them, We ardently exhort you, venerable brethren, to devote all your care and zeal to kindle among those committed to your charge a strong, living, and active faith, and to call on all to return by penance to grace and to the faithful fulfilment of all their duties. Among such duties, considering the state of the times, must be reckoned as paramount an open and sincere profession of the faith and teaching of Jesus Christ, casting aside all human respect, and considering before all things the interest of religion and the salvation of souls. It cannot be concealed that, although thanks to the mercy of God religious feeling is strong and widely spread among Italians, nevertheless by the evil influence of men and the times religious indifference is on the increase, and hence there is a lessening of that respect and filial love for the Church which was the glory of our ancestors and in which they placed their highest ambition. Let it be your work, venerable brethren, to revive this Christian feeling among your people, an interest in the Catholic cause, a confidence in Our Lady's help, and a spirit of prayer. It is certain that the august Queen, invoked thus well by her many sons, would deign to hear their prayer, console Us in Our sorrow, and crown Our efforts for the Church and for Italy, by granting better times to both. With these desires, We bestow on you, venerable brethren, and the clergy and people committed to your care, the Apostolic Benediction as a promise of graces and favours of the highest kind from heaven. Given at the Vatican this 20th day of September 1887. Join me and others in praying the Holy Rosary every day; here are the Spotify quick links to the Rosary: Joyful Mysteries https://open.spotify.com/episode/1yhnGJNSl67psg94j3si3s?si=7IjqIg2wQQaZTJTiDm-Dhw Sorrowful Mysteries https://open.spotify.com/episode/3P0nIdaLuEjesHRMklwfoj?si=6qF7JBYpRiG0ylwuOohFwA Glorious Mysteries https://open.spotify.com/episode/3t7lCF7nFQDR3py1jjTAE1?si=hBb_5Ne5Rwu-993nUUqHqg Luminous Mysteries https://open.spotify.com/episode/6vlAjEGgWPCI79K7Eylh31?si=Hue9USzkTf-L3wrXrK79MQ 15 Decade Rosary https://open.spotify.com/episode/2q33PXMrinZi6fkaV6X7vn?si=Jy_d2xLlTVihD5qa4fSH9g The Latin Prayer Podcast Patreon is finally up and running - for those of you who are able to financially support the podcast please Click Here (https://www.patreon.com/thelatinprayerpodcast). A huge thank you to my patrons! To follow me on other platforms Click on my LinkTree below. linktr.ee/dylandrego If you have any prayers you'd like to request, or comments and/or suggestions - please email me at latinprayerpodcast@gmail.com. Know that if you are listening to this, I am praying for you. Please continue to pray with me and for me and my family. May everything you do be Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam. God Love You! Valete (Goodbye)  

Full Text of ReadingsThirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 159All podcast readings are produced by the USCCB and are from the Catholic Lectionary, based on the New American Bible and approved for use in the United States _______________________________________The Saint of the day is Saint Frances Xavier CabriniFrances Xavier Cabrini was the first United States citizen to be canonized. Her deep trust in the loving care of her God gave her the strength to be a valiant woman doing the work of Christ. Refused admission to the religious order which had educated her to be a teacher, she began charitable work at the House of Providence Orphanage in Cadogno, Italy. In September 1877, she made her vows there and took the religious habit. When the bishop closed the orphanage in 1880, he named Frances prioress of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. Seven young women from the orphanage joined her. Since her early childhood in Italy, Frances had wanted to be a missionary in China but, at the urging of Pope Leo XIII, Frances went west instead of east. She traveled with six sisters to New York City to work with the thousands of Italian immigrants living there. She found disappointment and difficulties with every step. When she arrived in New York, the house intended to be her first orphanage in the United States was not available. The archbishop advised her to return to Italy. But Frances, truly a valiant woman, departed from the archbishop's residence all the more determined to establish that orphanage. And she did. In 35 years, Frances Xavier Cabrini founded 67 institutions dedicated to caring for the poor, the abandoned, the uneducated and the sick. Seeing great need among Italian immigrants who were losing their faith, she organized schools and adult education classes. As a child, she was always frightened of water, unable to overcome her fear of drowning. Yet, despite this fear, she traveled across the Atlantic Ocean more than 30 times. She died of malaria in her own Columbus Hospital in Chicago. Reflection The compassion and dedication of Mother Cabrini is still seen in hundreds of thousands of her fellow citizens who care for the sick in hospitals, nursing homes, and state institutions. We complain of increased medical costs in an affluent society, but the daily news shows us millions who have little or no medical care, and who are calling for new Mother Cabrinis to become citizen-servants of their land. Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini is a Patron Saint of: Hospital Administrators Immigrants Impossible Causes Click here for more Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini! Saint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media

November 13: Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Virgin (USA)1850–1917USA Memorial; Liturgical Color: WhitePatron Saint of immigrants and hospital administratorsIndomitable and charismatic, she moved mountains for GodThe hurricane of apostolic activity that was Mother Cabrini motored powerfully over the Atlantic Ocean, gathered force as it swept into the American heartland, and then rested there, perpetually oscillating, for almost three decades. A serene eye, though, hovered at the center of this low roar of activity. Mother Cabrini accomplished so much, so well, and so quickly, precisely because her soul rotated calmly around a fixed point, the immovable Christ. A peaceful focus on God in the morning rained down a storm of good works in the afternoon and evening.Frances Cabrini was the tenth child born into a rural but well-to-do family in Northern Italy. Her uncle, a priest, had a deep influence on her, as did the Daughters of the Sacred Heart, whose school she attended as a teen. After graduation, she petitioned for entrance into the Daughters and, later, the Conossian Sisters. But Frances' tiny frame had never quite conquered the frailty resulting from her premature birth. These Orders needed robust women capable of caring for children and the infirm. Nuns did not take vows so they could take care of other nuns. So even an application from an otherwise stellar candidate like Frances was reluctantly rejected due to her ill health. Frances eventually obtained a position as the lay director of an orphanage. Her innate charisma pulled people toward her like a magnet, and soon a small community of women grew up around her to share a common religious life.As proof of her apostolic zeal, Frances added “Xavier” to her baptismal name in honor of the great missionary Saint Francis Xavier. She then founded a modest house, along with six other women, dedicated to serving in the Church's foreign missions. Frances was clearly the leader and wrote the new Institute's Rule. Eventually the small Order received Church approval as the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The sisters' excellent work became well known, and in 1887 Mother Cabrini, the Superior, met with Pope Leo XIII in Rome to inquire about her sisters evangelizing in China. The Pope listened to her in silence and then concluded simply: Her mission was “not to the East, but to the West.” The plug had been pulled on entire regions of Italy and their populations drained away to the United States. They needed the Church's attention.In 1889 Mother Cabrini left for the United States with six sisters. Disembarking from the ship in New York Harbor, they were met by not even a single person. No one expected them, and no one welcomed them. The Archbishop was cold and told Mother Cabrini that he wanted Italian priests, not sisters, and that her ship was still docked in the harbor if she wanted to return to Italy. She replied “I have letters from the Pope” and stayed and persevered amidst the most extreme hardships.Starting from absolute zero, Mother Cabrini miraculously began her work among Italian immigrants. She would work almost exclusively with, and for, Italians the rest of her life. She begged, pleaded, and cajoled. She pulled every lever of charm and persuasion she could reach. It worked. Her deep spirituality and constant state of motion soon put her in contact with Italian benefactors eager to help their own. Mother Cabrini was then seemingly everywhere, doing everything. She founded hospitals, orphanages, schools, workshops, and convents in New York, Denver, Cincinnati, Pittsburg, St. Louis, San Francisco, and Chicago. She trekked to Nicaragua, Argentina, and Brazil. She sailed back to Italy nine times. She became an American citizen but remained fully Italian in her identity and a source of pride for America's many “Little Italies.” Mother Cabrini's relentless energy, remarkable administrative skills, shrewdness, humility, and charisma quickly built an empire of charity. When she died in Chicago, she left behind sixty-seven institutions and a robust Order of dedicated nuns. On July 7, 1946, she became the first United States citizen to be canonized a saint.Mother Cabrini, you were indefatigable in your work for Christ and the Church. You knew no rest, no stranger, and no obstacle that could not be overcome. Inspire all evangelizers and teachers to be so brave and tireless in their service.

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ST. GERARD MAJELLA l Patron of mothers, expectant mothers and childbirth Feast Day : October 16 Why a young lay brother is principally proclaimed patron of mothers, expectant mothers and childbirth is a real puzzle. Why not a female saint, but the life story of our saint today, St. Gerard Majella will tell us why. Gerard, the youngest son of five children, was born in Muro, southern Italy on April 6, 1726. Being frail, he was immediately taken to the church for Baptism after his birth. He grew up to be a very prayerful boy and even when he was just five, he would pray daily in a small chapel near his home. Often, he would bring home a loaf of bread. Asked where the bread came from, he would say that “a most beautiful boy” gave it to him. When his sister secretly followed him to the chapel one day, she saw him praying before the statue of Mary holding the Child Jesus. After a short while, Jesus went down and played with Gerard, then gave him a loaf of bread and sent him home. · Voice: When Gerard was twelve years old his father, who was a tailor, died and to help the family, his mother sent him to his uncle so as to teach him the work of his father. Though the foreman was abusive, Gerard kept silent but when his uncle knew about it he was told to resign. Then, he became a houseboy in the Bishop's house. When the Bishop died, Gerard tried to work on his own and the money he earned he gave half to his mother, gave some to the poor and offered Masses for the souls in Purgatory. He entered the Capuchin Order two times but he did not persevere due to his poor health. In 1749, he joined the Redemptorists and after three years he became a lay brother. He professed the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and stayed close with the poor. He worked in the community as a gardener, sacristan, infirmarian, tailor, porter, cook, carpenter and foreman on a building construction. He was often called to minister to the sick. And he graciously accepted any call by saying he was available to “do the will of God.” Voice: His charity, service, obedience, prayerful life, and penances made him a perfect model for lay brothers. At 27, he was falsely accused by a girl, saying he was the father of the child she was carrying. The superior general, St. Alphonsus, reprimanded him, denied him the privilege of receiving Holy Communion and prohibited him from having contact with outsiders. Gerard bore with patience this calumny and doubled his penances and prayer. But when the girl got seriously ill and no remedy was available to heal her, she retracted and wrote St. Alphonsus that she had lied. Although he was vindicated, Gerard did not show any self-complacency. He just thanked God for saving him from such a terrible trial. · The life of Gerard was replete with miraculous events. He often fell into ecstasy while in prayer. He had also the gift of levitation and bi-location. His apostolate for mothers began when the handkerchief he left in a certain house was afterwards instrumental in curing a woman giving birth. Gerard was always frail in health. In 1755, he had a strong hemorrhage but his superior commanded him to get up. He got up and was well for a month, yet he knew he was dying. He died in the morning of October 15, 1755 at 29 years old. He was beatified on January 29,1895 by Pope Leo XIII and was canonized on December 11, 1904 by Pope Pius X. He was proclaimed patron of mothers, expectant mothers, child birth, falsely accused, unborn children. · Prayer: “St. Gerard, please pray for the conversion of those who calumniate others.” · Reflection:Am I inclined to accuse and malign other people for my own advantage?

October 9: Saint John Henry Newman (England and Wales)1801–1890Memorial; Liturgical color: WhiteAs mellow as a breeze, as elegant as a swan, he walked alone the path to RomePope Benedict XVI, a professional theologian, did not typically perform beatification ceremonies, instead entrusting them to his Cardinals. But such was Benedict's immense respect for Cardinal John Henry Newman's life and thought that the Pope not only personally celebrated Newman's beatification Mass but even traveled to England, Newman's homeland, to do so in September 2010.Cardinal Newman is known to most American Catholics as the namesake of the Newman Centers, which are found on the campuses of many secular universities in the United States. Yet Newman's profile casts a much broader shadow than these university centers alone. John Henry Newman was a man of vast learning culled from a life of prodigious reading. He was a one-man library who mastered both Greek and Latin, had a comprehensive knowledge of Scripture, and was conversant with the theological nuances of every great theologian of the first five centuries of the Church. In addition, Newman elucidated complex theological material in a prose so elegant that the words of his many essays and books seem to glide across the page.It was precisely in his writing where Newman's gifts sparkled. He had that elusive gift called style. Newman's swan-like gracefulness can be favorably compared with any other man or woman who has ever put pen to paper in the English language. Newman's ability to express lyrically and precisely his every thought would have counted for little if he had had nothing to say. But, of course, Newman did have something to say. He had much to say, in fact. The silken threads of Newman's words weave like a loom. His intricate sentences thread over and under and around each other, creating a taut and beautiful garment of masterful theology, original insight, and deep historical awareness. When a foe pulled at this or that thread of his theological fabric, Newman would unsheath his pen from its inkwell and wield it like a rapier to slice into shreds his opponent's arguments, but never his character. Newman did not make personal attacks. Newman's exquisite works make for compelling reading, provided the reader concurs. If not, Newman was, and is, a gigantic problem who must be confronted.John Henry Newman was a convert to Catholicism. He was raised as an Anglican and was somewhat evangelical in his youthful love of the Lord Jesus. As his head sunk deeper and deeper into books in adulthood, however, he concluded that to be immersed in history was to cease to be a Protestant. His conversion to Catholicism shook the English academic world and led to decades of adversarial letters, books, and essays arguing disputed theological points between Newman and his colleagues. But Newman's ability to express his ideas on the page was so superior, his arguments so unassailable, and the personal cost he paid for converting so agonizing, that the totality of his witness ultimately carried the day. Yet Newman was more than just a brain in a jar. His bravery in converting to Catholicism manifested steely resolve and deep virtue not otherwise apparent in his genteel and sensitive personality. His conversion cost him almost everything—status, friendship, income, prestige, academic positions—and on and on. Yet his example emboldened numerous others in subsequent decades to walk the same path to Rome which Newman had first trod alone. A whole generation of English academic converts to Catholicism trace their theological lineage to Cardinal Newman.In the last few years of his life, Newman lived like a monk without a desert. Though he was never ordained a Bishop, Father Newman was named a Cardinal by Pope Leo XIII. It was a wreath of laurel crowning a great man's quiet holiness, brave perseverance, immense erudition, and unequalled polish in composing from within the most dramatic work he ever authored—the story of his own holy life.Saint John Henry Newman, from your place in heaven, we ask that your virtues of serenity amid controversy, of erudition amid confusion, and of steadfastness amid attacks provide a holy example to all Christians to persevere in seeking the truth.

October 7: Our Lady of the RosaryMemorial; Liturgical color: WhitePatroness of Malaga, Spain, and the Archdiocese of VancouverMary comes to the rescue, and the Catholic West avoids the fate of the Orthodox EastIn 1204 Venetian Crusaders traveling to the Holy Land sacked Constantinople. Debts were not being paid, so something had to be done. Relics were packed up and shipped back to Italy, as well as gold, silver, precious stones, art, vestments, and booty. The city was stripped clean. The conquered have much longer memories than the conquerors, and Constantinople, the New Rome, never forgot 1204. So, in the first half of the 1400s, when Ottoman Turks ringed the walls of Constantinople, making it a tiny Christian island in a vast Islamic sea, unifying with Rome for common defense was not an option for the Orthodox.As the Muslim noose tightened around the city's neck, little by little, year after year, Constantinople struggled for air. Emperor and Patriarch were desperate, so they finally approached the Pope and Western princes. Help us! A deal was struck. The Orthodox would unify with Rome, just in time to save Constantinople! But the memories of 1204 were too much to overcome. The Orthodox faithful rejected the rapprochement. Westerners were hated; their help unwelcome. A Byzantine official, when asked about unifying with Rome, made the sad comment that “I would rather see the Muslim turban in the midst of the city than the Latin mitre.” And so in 1453 the high, thick walls of Constantinople were breached. The Turks let loose on the city, slaves were taken, churches desecrated, the Hagia Sophia turned into a mosque, and the last Roman Byzantine Emperor, ironically named Constantine like the first Byzantine Emperor, was killed. New Rome having been taken, Old Rome was next. All of Europe now lay before the Turks like an empty table. No one and nothing stopped the Ottoman Turks until Our Lady did. The naval battle of Lepanto was the “September 11, 2001” moment of its generation. On the first Sunday of October, 1571, the ships of a Holy League of Catholic Kingdoms and the Papal States defeated the Ottoman navydecisively in the seas off of Greece. Islam was stopped in its tracks. There would be no repeat of 1453 in Old Rome. No desecration or pillaging, no murder of the Pope. A line had been drawn which has still not been crossed.Pope Saint Pius V, a Dominican, animated and organized the Holy League. He implored the faithful throughout Europe to pray the rosary, and himself led a rosary procession in the Eternal City, for Christian triumph. The ships of the Holy League were outmatched and outnumbered and needed all the divine assistance prayer could muster. These prayers were answered. The doors to the Mediterranean, and to the Atlantic beyond, were shut on the Turks. In thanksgiving for this miraculous victory, Pius V instituted the “Feast of Our Lady of Victory,” later changed to “Feast of the Holy Rosary” and finally “Feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary.” Pope Leo XIII added the title "Queen of the Most Holy Rosary" to the Litany of Loreto in honor of Mary's intercession through the rosary.It may seem redundant to give Mary the title “Our Lady of the Rosary.” It sounds a bit like saying “Jesus of the Cross.” Of course she is Our Lady of the Rosary and of course He is Jesus of the Cross! Yet Mary and Jesus are multi-faceted, like diamonds whose angles and cuts play and sparkle as we admire their flawless symmetry. One mystery, then a doctrine, and then a truth, flash and blink as they rotate before us. The title “Our Lady of the Rosary” is like a facet. One aspect of the mystery of Mary shines in that title, deepening our love of the whole gem. Reflecting on one specific truth also helps the believer absorb the otherwise unfathomable greatness of God. Today our eye trains itself on the crown, the face, or just the cool elegance of our one-hundred carat Lady. Today we focus on Saint Mary, who loves to hear us call her by name, over and over and over again as our fingers run up and down the beads.Our Lady of the Rosary, we implore your intercession day in and day out, in the morning and in the evening, because we love to say your name and you love to hear us invoke you. You defeated vast armies seeking to destroy the Church. Help us to conquer our sins.

October 1: Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor1873–1897Memorial; Liturgical Color: WhitePatron Saint of florists, missions, and aviatorsA sensitive country girl wades into the deepThérèse Martin was a weepy child, as emotionally brittle as porcelain. She was easily offended and easily pleased. A furled brow or a sideways glance from her father would dissolve her into tears. A beautiful flower or a kind word and she would beam a smile. She grew up in a brotherless home. Her father, an uncle, and priests were the men in her life. Her parents were canonized in 2015, the only married couple ever raised to the altars. Thérèse and her four sisters all became nuns, with the cause for beatification and canonization of her sister Léonie being opened in 2015. The Martin home was totally absorbed in the mysteries of God, prayer, saints, the Sacraments, and the Church.Thérèse grew up in Normandy, a region of Northern France. She left only once, to go on a month-long pilgrimage to Italy, where she met Pope Leo XIII at a public audience and begged his special permission to enter the Carmelites before the required age. On this trip she was also the object of some tender male glances. Conscious of her delicate emotions and eager to flee the world's “poisonous breath,” upon returning from Italy Thérèse pulled every lever to enter her local Carmel. She finally entered at the age of fifteen in 1888. She was given the religious name “of the Child Jesus” and received permission to adopt a second name too, “of the Holy Face.” Once the door of the convent shut behind her, it never reopened. Her short life ended there just nine years later. Thérèse was a dedicated nun who strictly followed the demanding Carmelite rule. She kept silence when required, avoided seeking out her blood sisters, fasted, ingratiated herself with nuns she did not naturally find sympathetic, and spent long hours in prayer and work.In the convent, Thérèse's childish sweetness matured into a more durable spirituality. Her sensitivity mellowed. She was able to accept criticism. Her youthful presumption that all priests were as perfectas diamonds became more realistic, and she prayed and sacrificed ardently for priests. The hard realities of convent life narrowed Thérèse's spiritual goals. She no longer desired to be a great soul like Saint Joan of Arc. But with this narrowing came a deepening, a concentrated focus. She decided she would be God's heart, not His hands or feet or mind. She decided that the only way she could fly close to the blazing sun of the Holy Trinity would be to become small.Her petite voie (“little way” or “by small means”) was to spiritually reduce herself to a tiny creature carried in the claws of the divine eagle, Jesus Christ. As Christ soared in the heavens, she would be in His grasp, going only where He could go, until she was burned up in the Father-Son-Spirit love of the fireball of the Trinity. This was no broad path or wide way but a little way for a great soul. The goal was to reduce oneself to nothing so the Lord could transport you. The goal was to remove the “self” from “oneself.”When Thérèse's sister Céline entered the convent in 1894, she was given permission to bring her camera. Céline's pictures of Thérèse would be among the first ever taken of a saint. They complimented Thérèse's letters and spiritual writings perfectly, heightening interest in Thérèse after she died. The intriguing photos and profound writings hinted at the secret depths concealed behind a convent's four walls. Saint Thérèse suffered intensely from tuberculosis and died at an age when many lives are just beginning to flower. She was canonized in 1925, declared co-patron of France in 1944, and named the thirty-third Doctor of the Church by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1997, the youngest Doctor to date and probably the youngest the Church will ever recognize.Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, you discovered deep truths in a confined space. Your soul was fertile ground for the mysteries of our faith. Lend heavenly assistance to all who try to emulate your example of suffering, prayer, and tender dedication to God.

Friends of the Rosary: Today, we celebrate the feast day of the archangels Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, the holy archangels with important roles in the history of salvation. Michael — whose name means Who is like God? —, the Prince of the Heavenly Host, is the protector of all humanity from the snares of the Devil. St. Michael was the leader of all of the good angels, who fought against Lucifer and his followers when they rebelled against God, breaking a battle in Heaven. Pope Leo XIII, in 1899, having had a prophetic vision of the evil that would be inflicted upon the Church and the world in the 20th century, instituted a prayer asking for Saint Michael's protection to be said at the end of every Mass. Gabriel (Strength of God) announced the birth of John the Baptist to his father Zacharias, and the Incarnation of the Word in the womb of Mary. He greeted the Holy Virgin with the “Hail, full of grace.” St. Gabriel might be the angel who consoled Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Raphael is the archangel who healed Tobias' blindness. He is in charge of healing and acts of mercy. His name means “God has healed.” Ave Maria! Jesus, I Trust In You! Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael Pray for Us! + Mikel A. | RosaryNetwork.com, New York • September 29, 2021, Today's Rosary on YouTube | Daily broadcast at 7:30 pm ET

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Full Text of ReadingsMemorial of Saint Vincent de Paul, Priest Lectionary: 456All podcast readings are produced by the USCCB and are from the Catholic Lectionary, based on the New American Bible and approved for use in the United States _______________________________________The Saint of the day is Saint Vincent de PaulThe deathbed confession of a dying servant opened Vincent de Paul's eyes to the crying spiritual needs of the peasantry of France. This seems to have been a crucial moment in the life of the man from a small farm in Gascony, France, who had become a priest with little more ambition than to have a comfortable life. The Countess de Gondi—whose servant he had helped—persuaded her husband to endow and support a group of able and zealous missionaries who would work among poor tenant farmers and country people in general. Vincent was too humble to accept leadership at first, but after working for some time in Paris among imprisoned galley slaves, he returned to be the leader of what is now known as the Congregation of the Mission, or the Vincentians. These priests, with vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and stability, were to devote themselves entirely to the people in smaller towns and villages. Later, Vincent established confraternities of charity for the spiritual and physical relief of the poor and sick of each parish. From these, with the help of Saint Louise de Marillac, came the Daughters of Charity, “whose convent is the sickroom, whose chapel is the parish church, whose cloister is the streets of the city.” He organized the rich women of Paris to collect funds for his missionary projects, founded several hospitals, collected relief funds for the victims of war, and ransomed over 1,200 galley slaves from North Africa. He was zealous in conducting retreats for clergy at a time when there was great laxity, abuse, and ignorance among them. He was a pioneer in clerical training and was instrumental in establishing seminaries. Most remarkably, Vincent was by temperament a very irascible person—even his friends admitted it. He said that except for the grace of God he would have been “hard and repulsive, rough and cross.” But he became a tender and affectionate man, very sensitive to the needs of others. Pope Leo XIII made him the patron of all charitable societies. Outstanding among these, of course, is the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, founded in 1833 by his admirer Blessed Frédéric Ozanam. Reflection The Church is for all God's children, rich and poor, peasants and scholars, the sophisticated and the simple. But obviously the greatest concern of the Church must be for those who need the most help—those made helpless by sickness, poverty, ignorance, or cruelty. Vincent de Paul is a particularly appropriate patron for all Christians today, when hunger has become starvation, and the high living of the rich stands in more and more glaring contrast to the physical and moral degradation in which many of God's children are forced to live. Saint Vincent de Paul is the Patron Saint of: Charitable Societies Saint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media

Pope Leo XIII DESTROYS the Recognize & Resist View Does Pope Leo XIII accept the recognize and resist theory? Michael goes over Epistola Tua from Leo XIII to answer the question. He then deals with a seemingly bogus quote from Pope Pius IX about heretical popes, which is often used to respond to what Leo […]

TRADCAST EXPRESS - Episode 161 Topics covered: A refutation of Eric Sammons' ideas about whether and how the Holy Spirit still guides the Catholic Church. Links: Eric Sammons, "Does the Holy Spirit Still Guide the Church?", Crisis Magazine (Sep. 8, 2022) Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Divinum Illud (1897) Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Casti Connubii (1930) Pope Pius IX, Encyclical Quartus Supra (1873) Pope Benedict XV, Encyclical Principi Apostolorum Petro (1920) Novus Ordo Watch, A Response to Athanasius Schneider's Claims against Pope Liberius (Nov. 25, 2016) The Catholic Teaching on the Papacy: A Collection of Magisterial Quotes Henry Denzinger, ed.: The Sources of Catholic Dogma (1954 ed.) Sign up to be notified of new episode releases automatically at tradcast.org. Produced by NOVUSORDOWATCH.org Support us by making a tax-deductible contribution at NovusOrdoWatch.org/donate/

In his encyclical letter, Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII makes an astounding claim.  He claims that the involvement of religion in the affairs of the state and the economy is necessary as a means to regulate and perfect the potentials of the same.  The same can be applies to each one of us in our workplaces where we lead.  Understanding how our faith impacts the well running of our offices can help us be convinced of the power of our faith in our business.

It has been said that human society can be divided into those who have and those who have not.  For many this opposition is the source of a lot of contention and fighting.  But does it have to be this way?  In his encyclical, “Rerum Novarum”, Pope Leo XIII uses this very question as an opportunity to present an attractive proposition of the Gospel.  In fact, Christians need to fill the space of possessions, talents, needs, and wants with Jesus Christ.  This is the role of the Catholic leader.

Full Text of ReadingsMemorial of Saint Peter Claver, Priest Lectionary: 441All podcast readings are produced by the USCCB and are from the Catholic Lectionary, based on the New American Bible and approved for use in the United States _______________________________________The Saint of the day is Saint Peter ClaverA native of Spain, young Jesuit Peter Claver left his homeland forever in 1610 to be a missionary in the colonies of the New World. He sailed into Cartagena, a rich port city washed by the Caribbean. He was ordained there in 1615. By this time the slave trade had been established in the Americas for nearly 100 years, and Cartagena was a chief center for it. Ten thousand slaves poured into the port each year after crossing the Atlantic from West Africa under conditions so foul and inhuman that an estimated one-third of the passengers died in transit. Although the practice of slave-trading was condemned by Pope Paul III and later labeled “supreme villainy” by Pope Pius IX, it continued to flourish. Peter Claver's predecessor, Jesuit Father Alfonso de Sandoval, had devoted himself to the service of the slaves for 40 years before Claver arrived to continue his work, declaring himself “the slave of the Negroes forever.” As soon as a slave ship entered the port, Peter Claver moved into its infested hold to minister to the ill-treated and exhausted passengers. After the slaves were herded out of the ship like chained animals and shut up in nearby yards to be gazed at by the crowds, Claver plunged in among them with medicines, food, bread, brandy, lemons, and tobacco. With the help of interpreters he gave basic instructions and assured his brothers and sisters of their human dignity and God's love. During the 40 years of his ministry, Claver instructed and baptized an estimated 300,000 slaves. Fr. Claver's apostolate extended beyond his care for slaves. He became a moral force, indeed, the apostle of Cartagena. He preached in the city square, gave missions to sailors and traders as well as country missions, during which he avoided, when possible, the hospitality of the planters and owners and lodged in the slave quarters instead. After four years of sickness, which forced the saint to remain inactive and largely neglected, Claver died on September 8, 1654. The city magistrates, who had previously frowned at his solicitude for the black outcasts, ordered that he should be buried at public expense and with great pomp. Peter Claver was canonized in 1888, and Pope Leo XIII declared him the worldwide patron of missionary work among black slaves. Reflection The Holy Spirit's might and power are manifested in the striking decisions and bold actions of Peter Claver. A decision to leave one's homeland never to return reveals a gigantic act of will difficult for us to imagine. Peter's determination to serve forever the most abused, rejected, and lowly of all people is stunningly heroic. When we measure our lives against such a man's, we become aware of our own barely used potential and of our need to open ourselves more to the jolting power of Jesus' Spirit. Saint Peter Claver is the Patron Saint of: African Diaspora African Missions Colombia Interracial Justice Saint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media

Let's face it, work is hard, and a lot of people would prefer not to work if they didn't have to.  What would a world look like where people no longer worked?  People no longer owned things?  Wouldn't it be better or in fact could it be really worse?  Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical Rerum Novarum explores this asking the question about the link between work and dignity.  It becomes a practical question for each one of us.

Full Text of ReadingsTuesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 432All podcast readings are produced by the USCCB and are from the Catholic Lectionary, based on the New American Bible and approved for use in the United States _______________________________________The Saint of the day is Saint Jeanne JuganBorn in northern France during the French Revolution—a time when congregations of women and men religious were being suppressed by the national government, Jeanne would eventually be highly praised in the French academy for her community's compassionate care of elderly poor people. When Jeanne was three and a half years old, her father, a fisherman, was lost at sea. Her widowed mother was hard pressed to raise her eight children alone; four died young. At the age of 15 or 16, Jeanne became a kitchen maid for a family that not only cared for its own members, but also served poor, elderly people nearby. Ten years later, Jeanne became a nurse at the hospital in Le Rosais. Soon thereafter, she joined a third order group founded by Saint John Eudes. After six years she became a servant and friend of a woman she met through the third order. They prayed, visited the poor, and taught catechism to children. After her friend's death, Jeanne and two other women continued a similar life in the city of Saint-Sevran. In 1839, they brought in their first permanent guest. They began an association, received more members, and more guests. Mère Marie of the Cross, as Jeanne was now known, founded six more houses for the elderly by the end of 1849, all staffed by members of her association—the Little Sisters of the Poor. By 1853, the association numbered 500 and had houses as far away as England. Abbé Le Pailleur, a chaplain, had prevented Jeanne's reelection as superior in 1843; nine years later, he had her assigned to duties within the congregation, but would not allow her to be recognized as its founder. In 1890, the Holy See removed him from office. By the time Pope Leo XIII gave her final approval to the community's constitutions in 1879, there were 2,400 Little Sisters of the Poor. Jeanne died later that same year, on August 30. Her cause was introduced in Rome in 1970. She was beatified in 1982, and canonized in 2009. Reflection Jeanne Jugan saw Christ in what Saint Teresa of Calcutta would describe as his “distressing disguises.” With great confidence in God's providence and the intercession of Saint Joseph, she begged willingly for the many homes that she opened, relying on the good example of the Sisters and the generosity of benefactors who knew the good that the Sisters were doing. They now work in 30 countries. “With the eye of faith, we must see Jesus in our old people—for they are God's mouthpiece,” Jeanne once said. No matter what the difficulties, she was always able to praise God and move ahead. Saint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media

It's common place to hear people say that things are happening today that have never happened before and that social tensions today are unique.  However true that statement might be it needs to be grounded in history.  In point of fact, the political tensions, the social tensions we suffer from today have roots as far back as the industrial era.  Encyclical “Rerum Novarum” by Pope Leo XIII addressed many of these tensions and by studying them we can gain jewels of wisdom for our approach today. 

Dr. Tom Curran shares insights from Archbishop Fulton Sheen about different movements in the church. Tom clarifies the origins of the Charismatic Renewal Movement, reflects on the Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on the Holy Spirit, and talks about the persistence of Blessed Elena Guerra.

How are we saved? Through faith, works, or both? What is grace? Can I earn grace or is it just a free gift from God? Today we wrap up our introduction to Catholic morality by looking at one of the most significant areas of division between Catholics and Protestants.  This episode covers Part Three, Section One, Chapter Three of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (pts 1949-2055).Contact the podcast: crashcoursecatholicism@gmail.com.Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crashcoursecatholicism/.....References and further reading/listening/viewing:Prayer for Christian UnityJames 2:14-26Ephesians 2:8-9John 15:5Romans 8:29Mark 10:17-231 Corinthians 12:1-12The Compendium of the Catechism pt. 424Martin Luther, "Preface to the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans"Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will  Tom Nash, "The Reformers' Distorted View of Salvation", Catholic AnswersTom Nash, "Catholic and Protestant Views on Justification and Sanctification" Catholic AnswersMark Brumley, "Is Justification Ongoing?" Catholic Answers.Tim Staples, "Justification: Process or One-Time Deal?" Catholic Answers.The Catholic Encyclopedia, "Justification"The Catholic Encyclopedia, "Charismata" Pope Leo XIII, LibertasJacques Philippe, Interior Freedom Jacques Philippe "Freedom"Aleteia, "What is the difference between the Catholic and Protestant understandings of grace?" Peter Kreeft, Catholic ChristianityFr Mike Schmitz, "Do All Good People Go to Heaven?"Gerard Manley Hopkins "As Kingfishers Catch Fire"

Kevin Symonds explains the truth about the vision of Pope Leo XIII about a dialogue between Jesus and Satan. He explains how this relates to the St. Michael prayer and if there are any connections to Our Lady of Fatima.

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1027-1032. We know that, as Christians, we are to help out our neighbors. Sister Faustina helps out a sick person in another room and renders them a great service. This reading reminded me of when I read Pope Leo XIII's encyclical "Rerum Noverum." He stresses in it how important it is for us to help people at the local level. More help can be done there than by a government. 

SIR KNIGHT DARYL BREESE - Vatican Claims That Aliens Do Not Clash With Church Doctrine - Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican's chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday. The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, was quoted as saying the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones. "How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?" Funes said. "Just as we consider earthly creatures as 'a brother,' and 'sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? It would still be part of creation." In the interview by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes said that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens would still be God's creatures. Ruling out the existence of aliens would be like "putting limits" on God's creative freedom, he said. The interview, headlined "The extraterrestrial is my brother," covered a variety of topics including the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and science, and the theological implications of the existence of alien life. Funes said science, especially astronomy, does not contradict religion, touching on a theme of Pope Benedict XVI, who has made exploring the relationship between faith and reason a key aspect of his papacy. The Bible "is not a science book," Funes said, adding that he believes the Big Bang theory is the most "reasonable" explanation for the creation of the universe. The theory says the universe began billions of years ago in the explosion of a single, super-dense point that contained all matter. But he said he continues to believe that "God is the creator of the universe and that we are not the result of chance." Funes urged the church and the scientific community to leave behind divisions caused by Galileo's persecution 400 years ago, saying the incident has "caused wounds." In 1633 the astronomer was tried as a heretic and forced to recant his theory that the Earth revolved around the sun. Church teaching at the time placed Earth at the center of the universe. "The church has somehow recognized its mistakes," he said. "Maybe it could have done it better, but now it's time to heal those wounds and this can be done through calm dialogue and collaboration." Pope John Paul declared in 1992 that the ruling against Galileo was an error resulting from "tragic mutual incomprehension." The Vatican Observatory has been at the forefront of efforts to bridge the gap between religion and science. Its scientist-clerics have generated top-notch research and its meteorite collection is considered one of the world's best. The observatory, founded by Pope Leo XIII in 1891, is based in Castel Gandolfo, a lakeside town in the hills outside Rome where the pope has a summer residence. It also conducts research at an observatory at the University of Arizona, in Tucson.*** AND NOW ***The ‘X' Zone TV Channel on SimulTV - www.simultv.comThe ‘X' Zone TV Channel Radio Feed (Free - No Subscription Required) - https://www.spreaker.com/show/xztv-the-x-zone-tv-show-audio The ‘X' Chronicles Newspaper - www.xchroniclesnewspaper.com (Free)To contact Rob McConnell - misterx@xzoneradiotv.com

Full Text of ReadingsTuesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 396All podcast readings are produced by the USCCB and are from the Catholic Lectionary, based on the New American Bible and approved for use in the United States _______________________________________The Saint of the day is Saint Mary MacKillopIf Saint Mary MacKillop were alive today, she would be a household name. It's not that she sought the limelight. On the contrary, she simply wanted to serve the poor wherever she found them in her native Australia. But along the way, she managed to arouse the ire of some rather powerful churchmen. One even excommunicated her for a time. Born in Melbourne in 1842, to parents who had emigrated from Scotland, Mary grew up in a family that faced constant financial struggles. As a young woman she was drawn to religious life but could not find an existing order of Sisters that met her needs. In 1860, she met Father Julian Woods, who became her spiritual director. Together they founded a new community of women—the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, also known as the Josephite Sisters. Its members were to staff schools especially for poor children, as well as orphanages, and do other works of charity. As the congregation grew, so did Mary MacKillop's problems. Her priest-friend proved unreliable in many ways and his responsibilities for direction of the Sisters were removed. Meanwhile, Mary had the support of some local bishops as she and her Sisters went about their work. But the bishop in South Australia, aging and relying on others for advice, briefly excommunicated Mary—charging her with disobedience—and dispensed 50 of her Sisters from their vows. In truth, the bishop's quarrel was about power and who had authority over whom. He ultimately rescinded his order of excommunication. Mary insisted that her congregation should be governed by an elected mother general answerable to Rome, not to the local bishop. There also were disputes about whether or not the congregation could own property. In the end, Rome proved to be Mary's best source of support. After a long wait official approval of the congregation—and how it was to be governed—came from Pope Leo XIII. Despite her struggles with Church authorities, Mary MacKillop and her Sisters were able to offer social services that few, if any, government agencies in Australia could. They served Protestants and Catholics alike. They worked among the aborigines. They taught in schools and orphanages and served unmarried mothers. Money, actually the lack of it, was a constant worry. But the Sisters who begged from door to door, were bolstered by faith and by the conviction that their struggles were opportunities to grow closer to God. By the time Mary was approaching the end of her life, the congregation was thriving. She died in 1909 at the age of 67. Pope John Paul II beatified her in 1995. In 2010, when Pope Benedict XVI canonized her, she became Australia's first saint. Her liturgical feast is celebrated on August 8. Reflection The story of many foundresses of religious communities and the tales of the early days of those communities can make for fascinating reading. Those women were dedicated and tough and fought for those they served. Let's thank the Lord for raising up such wonderful examples of faith. Click here for more on Saint Mary MacKillop! Saint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media