No one knows for sure how Cambridge, Massachusetts, native, Father “Jim” Hennessey died, but what is certain is that when the Japanese took over the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific in 1942, he was taken prisoner on Saint Patrick’s … Continue reading
Category: Catholic America
Father Solanus Casey to Be Beatified Nov 18
CNA: Venerable Solanus Casey, an American-born Capuchin priest who died in 1957, will be beatified at a Nov. 18 Mass in Detroit. More here.
Lakota Holy Man Nicholas Black Elk
The photo of Black Elk praying the Rosary with his daughter, Lucy Looks Twice (see below), is priceless. You have to love the Indian names, don’t you? National Catholic Register, Peter Jesserer Smith: Basil Brave Heart remembers the day his … Continue reading
More on Steeler’s Alejandro Villanueva: His Catholic Heart
I posted a News item Monday on the valiant stand of 6’9” 330 lb tackle, Alejandro Villanueva, in his singular support for America while the rest of his teammates quarantined themselves with their coach in the locker room during the … Continue reading
Thomas More College: Center For the Renewal of Christian Culture
Catholic Culture, Phil Lawler: “Sometimes a single encounter with what is healthy and ordinary—I use the word advisedly, with its suggestion that things are in the order that God by means of his handmaid Nature has ordained—is enough to shake … Continue reading
Vincent Capodanno: Catholic Priest, Maryknoll Missionary, United States Marine, Servant Of God
Did you know that there is a very special Archdiocese in these United States of America that does not have any geographical boundaries? It has its own Archbishop based in Washington, D. C., but he is not the Bishop of … Continue reading
St. Katherine Drexel: A Life Devoted to the Salvation and Education of Negroes and Indians
Aleteia, Philip Kosloski: Katharine Drexel was a pioneer in many ways. After seeing the plight of the Native Americans, she founded a religious order that she hoped could help relieve the suffering of the poor and vulnerable minorities of the country. … Continue reading
Pat Buchanan: ‘What Still Unites Us’?
Patrick J. Buchanan Blog: Decades ago, a debate over what kind of nation America is roiled the conservative movement. Neocons claimed America was an “ideological nation” a “creedal nation,” dedicated to the proposition that “all men are created equal.” Expropriating the … Continue reading
Little Paul: ‘Angel of the Tribes’
Tradition in Action, Hugh O’Reilly: This is one of the extraordinary episodes recorded by Fr. Peter DeSmet at the first mission of the Flatheads Indians in St. Mary’s Mission in Bitter Root Valley, Montana. Story is here.
An Analogy from Hilaire Belloc’s “The Barbarians”
After recently re-reading after some years Hilaire Belloc’s 1912 essay, entitled “The Barbarians,” I have thought to apply a few of his keen insights about both ancient and modern civilisation to the current Catholic Church and her own “cultural immune … Continue reading
Mayhem in Charlottesville: Taking Sides
What are we to think of the distressing events of Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia? My first impression is that they are part of our nation’s continued descent into violent mayhem. I also sense that the affair is being managed by … Continue reading
Ven. Maria de Agreda, Vatican May Beatify This ‘Cloistered’ Missionary to American Indians
Saint Thomas says that God will send an angel to bring the Faith to one of good will who desires the truth. Well, He sent an ‘angel’ to the Jumano Indians; she was a cloistered nun who bilocated from Spain … Continue reading
Golden Jubilee of the Summer of Love
A few months ago, in this space, this writer offered some musings on the 65th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne. But this summer marks the Golden Jubilee of an event that has had far more impact … Continue reading
Little House on the Prairie, Conversion of the Ingalls Family
Church Pop, Lindsay Kuniyuki: Edith Florence Ingalls is mentioned only in passing by her nickname, Dolly, in The Little House in the Big Woods, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She was only a baby in the chapter entitled “Christmas.” But that’s a thrill enough … Continue reading
Unheralded Martyrs of Pre-Colonial America, About 1000 of Them
National Catholic Register, Peter Jesserer Smith: A small group of Catholic faithful in Florida never imagined that a simple inquiry into a mysterious plot of land in Tallahassee would reinvigorate a dream shared over three centuries by the king of Spain, … Continue reading