My tweets must have been re-tweeted to a less than sympathetic audience because a reply came floating back that anyone with a conscience should leave the “corrupt, immoral, crime ridden Catholic Church.” What I find curious in the present wave of anti-Catholicism is that the new atheists and the old fundamentalists resort to many of the same attacks on the Catholic religion. Hatred for the Catholic Church comes from all quarters, and one of this attack–that the Catholic Church is... Read more
Sin is monotonous. Sanctity is totally original. Underneath this observation lurks a deeper truth–that sin is boring. We believe in original sin, but there is nothing original about sin. This is because evil is derivative. Satan cannot create anything, all he can do is twist or destroy or distort what is good. Take any sin at all and you will find that it is a distortion or destruction of something that is good. Lying? It’s the absence or the truth... Read more
“Sanctity! It must be won at the point of a sword!” said the little warrior St Therese. If anyone has read her Story of a Soul and gave it up as a sentimental exercise in French bad taste they should pick up The Last Conversations. The first book might just put folks off with the cute stories of Daddy’s little girl who went to the beach and saw her name written in the stars. They might get a bit fed up... Read more
Last night after our vigil Mass for All Saints I kissed one of the old ladies on the cheek and said, “Just venerating one of the old relics my dear…” We had fifteen first class relics at stations around the perimeter of the church. The honor roll: Pope Gregory the Great, Pope St Pius X, Bishop Neumann, Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos, Padre Pio, Francis deSales, Jane Francis de Chantal, Therese of Lisieux, Teresa of Avila, Elizabeth Ann Seton, Catherine Labore,... Read more
This hymn has great memories for me. I first learned it while a student at Bob Jones University. We went to a little Anglican Church in Greenville, South Carolina and learned some of the great Anglican hymns. Once I moved to England we sang it every All Saints Day and often for other saints’ celebrations. The words are by the Victorian Anglican bishop W. Walsham How and the tune–Sine Nomine by Vaughan Williams. This version is sung by the choir... Read more
C.S. Lewis once observed, ‘How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been: how gloriously different are the saints.’ In his little biographies of Thomas Aquinas and Saint Francis of Assisi, G.K.Chesterton revelled in the sparkling individuality of both saints. Aquinas was the greatest philosopher of his time while Francis was a troubadour for Christ. Thomas a great bull of a man; Francis a scraggy fool of a man. Thomas was a restrained logician; Francis an extravagant poet.... Read more
Various posts from the past on the subject of the powers of the dark side: Are Witches Real? on which I discuss the dangers of witchcraft. The horrible connections between barbaric practices in primitive cultures and our own society: Abortion, Cannibalism and Black Magic, Read my own account of a dark attack one night: Deliver Us From Evil. Read more
Guest blogger, Duane Mandible is a contributing editor to The Truth Hurts, a bi-monthly journal of politics, economics and opinion. He also contributes regularly to Freedom Monthly; Illuminations and The Sojourner. Duane is the author of Guns and Knives will Save Your Children’s Lives. He is Vice President of the Sacred Society of St Philibustre, and enjoys hunting rattlesnakes, square dancing and watching re runs of comedy classics. He is unmarried. I see from the news headlines on the so-called ‘internet’, that two notoriously liberal... Read more
Remember the old joke about the man who says to the priest, “I never go to your church Father. The place is full of hypocrites!” Priest answers, “Well come along anyway. We can always make room for one more.” In today’s gospel Jesus heals a woman on the Sabbath and the Pharisees pick him up on it for breaking the religious law. He loses his cool and calls the Pharisee a hypocrite. What tickles me is not the fact that... Read more
We’re talking about metaphysical realities and a transaction of utter transformation. One of St Paul’s most eloquent passages is today’s first reading from the third chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians: Brothers and sisters: I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self, and that Christ may... Read more
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Fr. Dwight Longenecker
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