Category Archives: Catholic America
Catholic America
Along with our crusade in defense of the defined doctrine of no salvation outside the Church, Saint Benedict Center is committed to working for the conversion of America. The false ecumenism and religious indifferentism that infected the Church in the twentieth century did much to dissipate the promising momentum of conversions to the Faith that marked nineteenth century America.
It is astonishing to read about the great work that Catholic priests and religious, sisters and brothers, were doing throughout this vast land not so long ago. Converts were flocking into the Church because our priests were giving Protestants not only an invitation, but knowledge of the Faith, and a challenge to submit to a visible religious authority that had all the divine credentials. Whether it was through reading apologetic and polemical materials or by attending one of the thousands of missions given by Jesuits and Redemptorists, the hearts of non-Catholics were responding to grace in ever growing numbers. America was on its way to becoming a Catholic nation, and that was before the more massive waves of Catholic immigrants came here after the turn of the century.
It can happen again.
Gil Hodges
“The thing that most people hear about that one is that a priest [Father Herbert Redmond of St. Francis Roman Catholic Church] stood in a Brooklyn pulpit that Sunday and said, “It’s too hot for a sermon. Just go home and say a prayer for Gil Hodges.” Well, I know that I’ll never forget that, but also I won’t forget the hundreds of people who … More →
Pilgrimage in Chicago Honoring First Black American Priest
CNA: In honor of Father Augustus Tolton, the first African-American priest in the U.S., the Chicago archdiocese is holding a pilgrimage in May which will visit sites associated with his life and ministry. “He has been looked upon as a founder, if you will, of the black Catholic community of the Archdiocese of Chicago,” Andrew Lyke, director of the archdiocesan Office for Black Catholics, told … More →
Oakland A’s Center Fielder Speaks About Life as a Norbertine
National Catholic Register: In January of 2010, Grant Desme shocked the baseball world by announcing his retirement from the game. Only 23 at the time, Desme had recently been named the 2009 Arizona Fall League MVP and was on the verge of playing in the majors. Despite his athletic success, the former center fielder knew he was called to something greater. Read more of the interview here.
Father Johannes Bapst, S.J., in the Company of Jesus
Did you know that in 1850, in Maine, the first president-to-be of Boston College was beaten, tarred, and feathered by Know-Nothing thugs? He was Jesuit Father Johannes Bapst. Born in Switzerland in 1815, and ordained a priest in 1846, Father Bapst was first sent to minister to the Indians in New England. Many different tribes were indigenous to the area, principally among which were the … More →
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‘Religious Liberty’ and Conflicting Rights Claims
Rereading the excellent post on Rorate Caeli, “Religious Liberty or Liberty for Christians?,” led me to some broader considerations on the subject of religious liberty. Roberto de Mattei, the author of the piece, expresses what is no doubt a controversial, if very true, thesis: “For this reason we say that man has the right to profess, not any religion, but to profess the only true … More →
NYT’s Ideological Solution for Catholic Education
The New York Times has published an Op-Ed piece by Patrick J. McCloskey, a project director at the Center for Catholic School Effectiveness at Loyola University Chicago, and Joseph Claude Harris, a financial analyst. Citing statistics of school closures and vocational decline, they paint a grim picture of Catholic education in America. The crisis is a real one, but the solution proposed is silly: One … More →
Notre Dame Football’s Catholic Tradition
Trent Beattie of National Catholic Register has an interesting article on Notre Dame football. Although the “Catholicity” of the college has been undermined by scandalously compromising presidents, such as Father Theodore Hesburgh (member of Council on Foreign Relations, past president of the Rockefeller Foundation, and the big gun behind the schismatic Land O’Lakes academic rebellion) and Obamaphile, Father John I. Jenkins, not to mention heretical “theologians” like … More →
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Nativity Scene Wins Victory in Warren Michigan Over Anti-Christian Org
CNA: A 67-year-old tradition of placing a nativity scene on a public median in Warren, Mich. has been re-established after a four-year legal battle involving the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Full report here.
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‘Who Painted It?’
We posted this as a news item back in 2009. But, being that yesterday was the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, I decided to post it again, anew. As with her Son, and because of Him, Mary is a ‘sign of contradiction.’ How many millions of unbelievers, heretics, and pretended Christians have known of, seen pictures of, and ignored the miraculous image of … More →
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New Orleans Hornets to Change Name to Eucharistic Symbol ‘Pelicans’
Patheos: I suspect most fans won’t be aware of this—and it’s probably not the sort of thing franchise owners would publicize—but the folks changing the name of the New Orleans Hornets to the New Orleans Pelicans are giving the team a profoundly Catholic, even Eucharistic, name. More on this here. Also check our website here for the story about the Louisiana flag and seal.
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International Congress on Church in America Opened Yesterday
Vatican Information Service: Among other things Pope Benedict told the assembly there was this call for a more zealous missionary spirit: “The love of Christ impels us to devote ourselves without reserve to proclaiming His name throughout America, bringing it freely and enthusiastically to the hearts of all its inhabitants. … For this reason we ought to take up this commitment, … encouraging priests, deacons … More →
![Pere Marquette and the Indians [at the Mississippi River], oil painting (1869) by Wilhelm Lamprecht (1838–1906), at Marquette University](http://catholicism.org/files/2012/12/597px-Pere_Marquette-140x140.jpg)
Pére Marquette’s Prayer to the Immaculate Conception
Pére Jacques Marquette, S.J., is best remembered as the French explorer, who, along with Louis Joliet, discovered the Mississippi River in 1673. The fact that he was first a Jesuit missionary priest, whose work as an explorer was sublimated and directed to that noble vocation, is often overlooked. In preparation for tomorrow’s Feast of the Immaculate Conception, I present here a lovely prayer Father Marquette … More →
USCCB Gen. Assembly Honors Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos
Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, the nineteenth-century Bavarian Redemptorist whose relics are enshrined in New Orleans, has been honored by the General Assembly of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (CWN) By large margins, members of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to approve a statement encouraging Catholics to go to Confession during Lent (236-1 vote), to approve a statement on Sunday homilies (227-11 … More →
Matt Archbold’s Interview With Eduardo Verástegui: A Gem
The Denver Register: I write for the National Catholic Register so sometimes I’ll get an email or a call from public relations people to interview a writer or a celebrity. It’s kinda’ cool. I know some writers and reporters get it all the time so it’s kinda’ boring for them but for me it’s still pretty cool. Read full column here.
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Excellent Review of Cristero War Movie
William Jasper of The New American has written a very good critique of the movie, which in the USA, is titled “for Greater Glory.” He also provides an historical background of the Cristero War (1926-1929) and the merciless persecution of the anti-Catholic communist Plutarco Calles. Here is the lede: “¡Viva Cristo Rey!” (“Long Live Christ the King.”) That was the rallying cry for millions of … More →
