Laudetur Iesus Christus! In the midst of an election cycle become tedious, I’ve named this column with a comically clunky turn of phrase from a past presidential election. While it did its original user little good, the statement somehow expresses my present sentiments. Here is how “we’re headed straight for the future”:
New Site. Regular readers of this site have no doubt already noticed the overhaul — you are, after all, an intelligent readership. After a few bugs are worked out and some material from the old site is brought into the new platform, the improved Catholicism.org will be fully functional, with daily news links, as well as regular columns and articles.
Newly Professed Religious. As announced ahead of time, Brothers Louis Marie and Maximilian Maria have professed their final vows as Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Deo Gratias! This happened on October 11, the feast of the Divine Maternity. Please pray for them, for more vocations, and for the perseverance of all our religious brothers and sisters.
A New CAT. No, we haven’t broken down and gotten a feline pet for the priory. I speak here of the Catholic America Tour, whose maiden voyage will be underway this weekend; destination: Wisconsin. If you are interested in sponsoring a talk at some venue local to you, please learn more about it.
So, you see, we really ARE headed straight for the future!
Hopefully, that future will be a Catholic America, and sooner rather than later. Sometimes a life-threatening illness renders someone more supple to divine grace. The reminder of our own mortality can wake us up to our last end. Could this happen on a national scale? The present economic mess is a reminder of our nation’s mortality. Orestes Brownson said that Americans have the sins that prosperity brings. Losing that prosperity, he reasoned, could be good for the Faith in America. Whether or not the present growing calamity will have conversion as its terminus, we can at least affirm with Saint Paul: “we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints.”
