On our recent pilgrimage to Poland I was reminded again of St Maximilian Kolbe’s devotion to Mary who he referred to as “the Immaculata” In the face of the growing evil in Europe during his lifetime he formed the Militia of the Immaculate because he wanted an army of Catholics totally dedicated to the spiritual warfare with the Blessed Virgin Mary as commander in chief. Why does this matter? It matters because Mary is the one who crushes the head of... Read more

My article at Aleteia this week is a reflection on our pilgrimage visit to Kolbe’s friary and subsequent visit to Auschwitz. We were graced this month to travel to Poland on a parish pilgrimage. It was my first extended visit to the country, so it was therefore a great joy to visit Niepokalanow — the friary of St. Maximilian Kolbe. The visit started with Mass in the simple chapel founded by the saint. We continued by visiting his cell, viewing... Read more

I didn’t get to blog very much during our parish pilgrimage to Poland because we were on the go the whole time and when I wasn’t on the move I was spending time with the pilgrims, hearing confessions, saying Mass, leading prayers or just hanging out. We’re all trying to sift through our memories to see what God is saying to us and how he is working in our lives. For all of us one of the key highlights of... Read more

We are heading home after a fantastic parish pilgrimage to Poland where we were uplifted, astounded and inspired by Catholic Poland. Part of the reason for our journey was to receive first class relics of Pope St John Paul II and St Faustina to be housed in the new Shrine of the Divine Mercy in our new church of Our Lady of the Rosary. Yesterday we received the relic of John Paul II from the Cardinal Archbishop of Cracow and... Read more

I’m blogging from Poland, and meant to do a fair bit of writing from this wonderful country, but the schedule of our pilgrimage has been full of faith and fellowship, so the blogging and writing has gotten pushed back. On our departure a week ago we heard about the new Eucharistic miracle at Legnica in Poland. I announced to the group at the airport that we would try to visit the parish there, but it is too far out of... Read more

Readers have asked for my opinion about the Holy Father’s Apostolic Exhortation, and apart from a couple of posts over the weekend about the issue of marriage in general I haven’t commented that much. That’s because I haven’t had the time to read the exhortation. Now, having read it, my reactions are much the same as a good number of other people. From a literary point of view I wish the pope had a better editor. The exhortation is prolix,... Read more

  One of my favorite Catholic images is that of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding the child Jesus, standing on the globe crowned with twelve stars, trampling a serpent under her feet and offering the rosary to the world. This image from the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation captures the majesty and power of the Virgin and her Son. It captures the role they play in the battle against the ancient foe, the dragon. Mary is a great... Read more

The other day a woman came to see me with a problem. During her prayer time she saw an angel. It was a beautiful angel who smiled at her. She told me all about her vision in great detail and waited for my reply. I said, “Wonderful. What are you going to do about that?” She shot me a quizzical look and said, “What do you mean Father?” I said, “What are you going to do about that?” She remained puzzled.... Read more