We continue what be began in our last number, a three-part study of spiritual childhood by Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P. (1877-1964).
St. Teresa of the Child Jesus reminds us that the principal virtues of the child of God are those in which are reproduced in an eminent degree the innate qualities of the child, minus his defects. Consequently the way of spiritual childhood will teach us to be supernaturally ourselves minus our defects.
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day
I just read on the New Advent website the Catholic Encyclopedia’s excellent account of the life of Erin’s great apostle. I would highly recommend it if you can spare fifteen minutes today. I can’t think of anything I’ve read elsewhere over the years about the saint that …
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.
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 …
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.”
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.
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 …
[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.
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.
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.”
“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.
The Seal of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary are a Congregation of religious brothers and sisters dedicated to a two-fold Crusade: the propagation and defense of Catholic dogma — especially extra ecclesiam nulla salus — and the conversion of America to the one, true Church. Besides the religious members, the Congregation has a Third Order comprised of mostly lay people living in the world.
Our Crusade was begun by Father Leonard Feeney, who strove to combat the liberalizing of Catholic dogma which he saw as a major impediment to the conversion of America. The choice of the word “Crusade” to describe our mission is no accident. “The life of man upon earth is a warfare” declared Holy Job (Job 7:1). St. Paul admonishes us to arm ourselves with spiritual weapons to fight the enemies of our souls (Eph. 6:11-17). While every Catholic is called upon to fight the world, the flesh, and the devil, our battle also engages them specifically in the forces of the Revolution 1 ,many of which have entered the very precincts of the Church.
Our methods are threefold: personal sanctification, education, and works of the apostolate.
For Religious members, personal sanctification comes by way of our prayer life, our Marian Total Consecration, and living the vows and virtues of the religious life. Our Third Order members also live the Marian Total Consecration, and are joined to the congregation by simple promises.
Our educational work takes place in several ways. One is the Saint Augustine Institute, a program of continuing Catholic education which has the goal of forming apostles to work for the conversion of America. Another is the running of primary and secondary schools (such as Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Richmond, New Hampshire). We believe very strongly that one must be a reservoir before he can be an aqueduct. For this reason, we promote continuing study of the Faith as one way to spread it.
As religious, the works of our apostolate include the publishing of books, pamphlets, and our quarterly journal, From the Housetops. We reach out to the “man on the street” with our publications by distributing them door-to-door in an effort to spread the faith. Another very important aspect of our apostolate is the work of fostering Catholic community life. At St. Benedict Center in Richmond, our religious brothers and sisters work with Third Order members and other faithful to build and maintain a thriving Catholic culture. The community provides both an atmosphere conducive to wholesome family life and a hub of missionary activity to convert this nation.
We are dedicated not only to the Deposit of Faith in its integrity and to sound Catholic morals, but also to the western liturgical patrimony of the Church as we have it in the traditional Roman Rite Mass (the “Extraordinary Form”) and the other sacramental rites associated with it.
We invite readers to learn more about our founder, our history, our Crusade, and its methods by reading the offerings in this section. The most common questions would be answered by reading these two postings:
Father Feeney was a priest of the Society of Jesus until, in 1949, he co-founded the religious order, Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Mancipia Immaculati Cordis Mariae), whose acronym is MICM.
This priest was a defender of the unchangeable traditional teaching/doctrine of the Catholic Church. Read More »
We will tell the history of the Center in a question-and-answer format.
How did Saint Benedict Center begin?
In 1940, a prominent Catholic laywoman, Catherine Goddard Clarke, sought permission of the then Archbishop of Boston, William Cardinal O’Connell, to establish an educational oasis of Catholic truth close to the renowned secular universities that dominated the area. The cardinal agreed to the project, admonishing Mrs. Clarke to “teach the Faith without compromise.” So it was that Saint Benedict Center quietly came into existence that year at the intersection of Bow and Arrow Streets in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Read More »
As we mourn the loss of a great man, our Superior, Brother Francis Maluf, M.I.C.M., we are pledged to promoting his life’s work for the Catholic Faith, sound reason, and holy beauty. This poet, philosopher and Catholic thinker’s work can be found not only in his few books, but also in his many recorded lectures, which are much applauded and loved by listeners the world over. Too, readers can browse his articles and poems on this web site. Read More »
It is certainly my pleasure to be a part of this tribute to our wonderful teacher. I’m sure I speak for all in saying that we know the one, true Faith better because of him. And for that we are all deeply grateful.
You may wonder why it is that I am up here speaking on this wonderful occasion. Well, I’ve been wondering about that too. I’ve come up with a possible answer. It is that I was chosen because I’m the only person in this room — other than Brother himself — who has ever been to Lebanon. Read More »
The obsequies of our beloved Brother Francis were an appropriate finale to his long and fruitful life in this tearful vale. This Ad Rem is a series of more-or-less random reflections on Brother’s wake and funeral, followed by a photo gallery of the same.
There is nothing in this world so sublime as the Church’s liturgy. The reason is simple. While Catholic liturgical rites take place in this world, they are not of this world. They not only represent, but effect a singularly supernal reality. In the Church’s liturgy, heaven is come down to earth so that we Christians may have conversation there (cf. Phil 3:20), rendering worthy homage to the Father through His Son, and in the unity of Their Spirit. 
Read More »
Brother Francis Maluf, M.I.C.M., (July 19, 1913 – September 05, 2009) Founding member of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Superior of Saint Benedict Center in Richmond, New Hampshire, Philosopher, College Professor, and published author died on Saturday, September 5, at the age of 96. Read More »
Since our announcement about Brother Francis’ health, our venerable Superior has had many visitors. Family from Canada and Ohio have joined friends and relations from the New England states coming to say their good-byes. A Benedictine Abbot and a retired Massachusetts State Supreme Court justice have been among the VIPs to see him. We expect the visits of priests, religious, and lay faithful who knew Brother to continue in a steady stream. Read More »
(Note: This was written on the occasion of the death of Brother Hugh, M.I.C.M., one of the founding members of our Order, who went to his reward on July 11, 1979. The piece introduced From the Housetops No. 18, which featured the life of Saint John Bosco. Brother Hugh was a real giant of a man who left a deep impression on many souls, and was an intrepid leader at Saint Benedict Center during very difficult times. Brother Francis loved him deeply, and has cherished his memory all these years. We thought it fitting, on the thirtieth anniversary of Brother Hugh’s death, to publish this small tribute on our web site. It is especially so inasmuch as its author is now very close to entering eternity himself, where, we hope, he will join his old confrere in beatitude.) Read More »
For the unaware, it should be made known that our sisters have a web site that is frequently updated with pieces of “educational philosophy and cultural miscellany from a classical Catholic viewpoint.” Their brief and frequent postings do not disappoint.
The sisters have what I would call a heightened esthetic sense. (And I should know, being a past member of the Tubists Universal Brotherhood Association – TUBA, for short.) Read More »
Today, the Feast of the Dedication of the Basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul, there is an interview with me published on the Renew America web site. Brian Mershon, a traditional Catholic journalist interviewed me several months ago, and this is the result:
One year later…the forgotten document: A reaffirmation of the one true Church of Jesus Christ
An interview with Brother Andre Marie of the St. Benedict Center Read More »
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