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The Innate Qualities of the Child

Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P. (1877-1964) was one of the greatest theologians of modern times. He was a staunch anti-modernist, who engaged and exposed the twerpy upstarts responsible for the neo-modernist Nouvelle Théologie (”New Theology”). Much more than a controversialist, the Dominican Friar could write of the deepest spiritual truths with a relish and lucidity that make his theology engaging to study.

In a series of three Ad Rem, I purpose to present his thoughts on “spiritual childhood.”

by Brother André Marie March 11th, 2010

‘England should be a Catholic country again’


Brother André Marie

That’s the motion that was debated last week in London, at an event hosted by the Spectator and held at the Royal Geographical Society. And guess what — “the 700-strong sell-out audience voted overwhelmingly in favour of the motion”!

Excerpt from The Catholic Herald:

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, author Piers Paul Read and Dom Anthony Sutch, former headmaster of Downside, spoke for the motion.


No Way to Anime


Brian Kelly

Anime cartoons and their characters are a huge cultic phenomenon, the most popular of all escapist media venues. It is very addictive and very dangerous, to the soul and the mind. I don’t post weird stories, but this blog by Zoe Romanowski from Inside Catholic, along with another, even …


CDF Prefect Affirms: ‘Union with the Catholic Church is the goal of ecumenism’


Brother André Marie

One of the commentators on the relevant CWN article expressed it well: “It’s past time someone said this. Too often ecumenism is taken to mean the weakening of the teachings of the Church and the addition of non-Catholic ritual and beliefs.” A-m-e-n-!

Past time is better than no time — or, “better late than never.” All the scandal that has transpired, and is ongoing, in the name of ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue should cease at these words of Cardinal Levada defining its purpose (or “final cause” to you Aristotelians out there): “Union with the Catholic Church is the goal of ecumenism.”


2010 Saint Benedict Center Conference


The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Our 2010 conference will be held on October 8 and 9 at Saint Benedict Center in Richmond, New Hampshire.

The information currently available is as follows:

Theme: “The Romance of Wisdom”

Cost: $100 for both days (Friday and Saturday). This includes meals. Single days without meals: $40.

Note: This year, Friday and Saturday will both be full days. There will be eight speakers giving presentations in addition to the master of ceremonies, our Prior, Brother Andre Marie.


Why Buddhism Is Open to Suicide


Brian Kelly

Archbishop Alberto Bottari de Castello, apostolic nuncio to Japan, has a very perceptive insight into the subversive effects Buddhist doctrine  has on the soul of a suffering devotee confronting hopelessness.  From Sandro Magister’s latest column: “Why Life is Worth So Little in Prosperous Japan.”

“The Japanese do not have a personal …


Is the False Apparition in Medjugorje Finally to Be Condemned?


The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

[March 5, 2010 - Rome Reports (with hat tip to Rorate Caeli)]

Benedict XVI has formed a commission to investigate if Our Lady truly appeared in Medjugorje, a small town in Bosnia.

The commission is part of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Cardinal Camillo Ruini will preside over the commission. Ruini is the pope’s former vicar of Rome’s diocese. Ruini goal will be to explain to the pope what’s happening at the sanctuary which has become the third most visited in Europe.

Allegedly, at least 6 people have witnessed the Virgins apparitions there since 1981.


Yet Another Defense of Pius XII


Brother André Marie

When the enemies of the Church, the enemies of Christianity in general, and those who want to “hold” the Catholic hierarchy’s “feet to the fire” constantly jabber about Pius XII’s supposed complicity in the Nazi murder of Jews, it becomes necessary to defend the truth as well as the honor of the Holy Father. He was, after all, not only innocent of the crime of which he stands accused by an angry mob, but was also proactive in the protection of innocent Jews. That’s history. Catholics have a particular duty to defend the Church’s honor, but even secular historians of the era ought to vindicate Pius XII, if only to protect the integrity of their science.


The ‘Woman’ of Genesis


Brian Kelly

In changing the traditional Douay-Rheims rendering of Genesis 3:15 from “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel” to the Catholic Revised Standard Version translation (based on the King James Bible), “I will put enmities between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed: he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel,” the scriptural foundation for the dogma of the Immaculate Conception is compromised. So, too, is the traditional doctrine concerning Our Lady’s essential role in salvation history, which has been translated into her more modern title of “Co-redemptrix.”


Iraq’s Dechristianization Continues


Brother André Marie

“The United Nations estimated that 683 Christians fled Mosul between February 20 and February 27. Chaldean Catholic Bishop Emil Shimoun Nona of Mosul estimated that ‘about 400 families’ had left the city’s community of 4,000 Christians.”

This disheartening data comes from an article in Catholic World News. The Iraqi Catholic bishops themselves are bemoaning the situation. But that’s not all they are doing; they are also praying, fasting, and organizing their people to protest peacefully. The facts are not to be denied, and they are not the “spin” of liberal news pundits trying to make a Republican effort look bad.


Manchester Bishop John B. McCormack to Lead Pilgrimage for Brother André’s Canonization


The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Bishop John B. McCormack is inviting New Hampshire Catholics to join him on a pilgrimage to Rome and other Italian holy sites from October 15-25 in celebration of the canonization of Blessed Brother André Bessette.

Pope Benedict XVI recently announced that Blessed Brother André will be formally declared a saint at a ceremony in Saint Peter’s Square on October 17, 2010.

The pilgrimage will be organized by Canterbury Tours of Bedford, NH. It will also include visits to other Italian holy sites in Rome, Assisi, and Siena.


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Sacramentals and Relics

Sacramentals: The sacramentals that are most familiar to us are the rosary, the brown scapular, and the miraculous medal. They all have this in common: they are blessed, visible objects that the Church sanctions for holy uses in order to achieve through the merits of the faithful certain effects, mainly of a spiritual nature. Although, like the sacraments, they are visible signs of spiritual things, they do not confer sanctifying grace ex opere operato, but ex opere operantis.  The conferring of sanctifying grace by a worthy reception of any of the seven sacraments is achieved by the operation of the act itself. Sacramentals, on the other hand, confer grace grace dependent on the subjective devotion of the individual using them.  The more fervent the recipient is in using the sacramental, the greater the increase of grace.

Other commonly used sacramentals are holy water, blessed oil, blessed candles, various approved scapulars, and many approved medals, such as the St. Benedict Medal, which is the oldest and most highly indulgenced of all sacramental objects.  But the term covers much more.  Excepting the sacraments and the public prayer of the Church (divine office and five litanies) blessings of ashes and palms, blessed foods, and even the Confiteors and Creeds and the giving of alms can all be considered sacramental.

The Church has always honored the bodies of the faithful departed in her funeral and burial rites. Just as the body of the deceased is blessed and sprinkled with holy water, so, too, is the very ground in which the deceased is buried, a consecrated ground. All of this is to give reverence to the body of the faithful departed, which was once a temple of the Holy Ghost, and which will rise at the last day in immortal glory.

Our flagship article for sacramentals is Catholic Sacramentals — Gifts of Grace.

Relics: The bodies of the canonized saints or blesseds are more worthy of veneration because these bodies were employed in heroic acts of love of God and neighbor.  They may be the saint’s entire remains (in some cases the body is incorrupt), or a part of the body. These are first class relics and they are often venerated in churches in glass sarcophagi or reliquaries. Second class relics are taken from the clothing of the saint. Third class relics can include anything touched by the saint. God often grants favors to those who venerate the relics of His saints, i.e., spiritual blessings and cures. Such favors, if they are miraculous, are God’s sign that the holy person is worthy of canonization.

Never will anyone really be able to understand the marvelous riches of sanctification that are contained in the prayers and mys­teries of the Holy Rosary. This meditation on the mysteries of the life and death of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the source of the most wonderful fruits for those who use it. Read More »

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To all our readers: Happy Thanksgiving! And lest you think that heathens and heretics dining on maize and turkey is the historical “first Thanksgiving” in America, we present a myth-shattering article by Adam Miller, who truly tells the story of “The First Thanksgiving.” (Hint: It was Catholic!)

Today is also the feast of the Miraculous Medal. As I only recently visited the Church of Sant’Andrea delle Fratte, where the most well-known Miraculous Medal miracle took place, I would like to tell the story of that miracle Read More »

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(Last time, I promised to follow up Ad Rem 89 with some concrete advice. This will come, God willing, but first something more timely for November.)

Fingerprints burned into a prayer book. A clearly visible charred hand print on a wooden table. Similar marks on shirt sleeves, a night cap, and aprons. These are among the curiosities to be seen in Rome’s Purgatory Museum. Read More »

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Since the expulsion from Heaven of Lucifer and the other fallen angels — an event antecedent to Adam’s creation — the Blessed Mother of God has been the razor by which the good are divided from the bad, the children of God from the children of the devil. When the Holy Rosary was given to us, it became at once a distinctive badge and powerful weapon of devotees of Our Lady. Read More »

Defenses against two common objections to the Holy Rosary, written, we hope, with a little humor.


“Vain Repetition” — The Big Canard

This is probably the objection Protestants have to the Rosary, that “vain repetition” is condemned by God. Read More »

You may not have noticed it, but this is an election year.

For a moment, though, we would do well to look beyond electioneering to the true hope of the Republic. This is not to dismiss politics — the way society is governed — as something of no account or something too worldly for the faithful to concern ourselves with, for neither is the case. Read More »

You may not have noticed it, but next year is an election year.

For a moment, though, we would do well to look beyond electioneering to the true hope of the Republic. This is not to dismiss politics — the way society is governed — as something of no account or something too worldly for the faithful to concern ourselves with, for neither is the case. It is, rather, to explore how the supernatural can leaven politics in order to make it Christian. Read More »

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Summary:

1. News Notes

2. The Public Square Rosary Campaign Read More »

In November of 1955 a plane carrying 27 passengers crashed. All died except one young lady. Read More »

“Time was when in this city the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary was held in dishonor and contempt,” wrote Reverend John F. Byrne, C.SS.R., in his book, The Glories of Mary in Boston. “But today,” he continued, “deep devotion is shown, and sublime honor paid, to Her of whom was born the Sun of Justice, Christ our God.” Read More »

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