Sunday, January 31, 2016

Life Training Institute

http://prolifetraining.com/

Rome Quotes

"Marriage calls each spouse to fight against himself for the sake of his beloved.  This is why it has become so unpopular today.  People are no longer willing to achieve the greatest of all victories, the victory over self."

-Alice von Hildebrand

Friday, January 29, 2016

Support Promotion of Good Liturgy: Giovani e Tradizione

Pro-Life Generation

Teaching Your Kids the Meaning of "Chastity"

Catholics: Support CatholicVote.Org

https://catholicvote.org/

Do Not Kneel Before Zod

The Donald is a Democrat.

We have a lot of talent in the pool and we don't wan to blow it.  Give the conservatives a chance. 

Read Russell Kirk and help save American conservatism before it really is too late. 

https://catholicvote.org/nottrump/

This really is the most interesting election year in recent memory.

The Republicans have put forward a woman (Fiorina), a black guy (Carson), a Canadian (Cruz), a Latino (Rubio), a physician (Paul), a former governor (Huckabee and Christie), a former senator (Santorum), a son and brother of former presidents (Bush), and even a business magnate (Trump), who is actually a Democrat.

 I might add, a few Catholics!

Meanwhile, the leftist media continues to tell us how unspeakably horrible, evil and terrible the Republican Party is. God bless Hilarity and Bernie, the two white seniors still hanging in there, totally immune from media scrutiny.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Twin Cities Catholic Chorale

Traditional Latin Nuptial Mass in USA (Saint Paul, Minnesota)

An Inspiring New Book to Purchase


"The inspiring true story of the Twin Cities Catholic Chorale is one of the most positive and fruitful stories of the Vatican II-era.  In short, it is a triumph.  I strongly encourage Catholics across the globe to purchase this book and to be inspired by its contents.  Monsignor Schuler made history and we were blessed to have been a part of it.  Those, indeed, were the good old days.  Cum Angelis Canere!"

-J.P. Sonnen, KHS  

To Sing With The Angels

A New Book Chronicling the Remarkable History of the Twin Cities Catholic Chorale

By Virginia A. Schubert, PhD

http://saintceciliapublications.com/

SSPX in March For Life 2016

Catholic Culture: SSA (Same-Sex Attraction) Ministry

An excellent site by an excellent man (and convert to the Catholic Faith!) I am proud to call a good friend:

http://thesheepfold.typepad.com/the_sheepcat/

Best Clips of March for Life in the Snow 2016

March for Life 2016 - Freedom

Teach Your Kids Catholic Music

Tens of Thousands 'March for Life' in 2016

European Shrines "Jubilee Holy Year" Tour

Visit Rome and the Vatican during the Jubilee Year.

Tour includes Fatima, Lourdes and Santiago.

Daily Mass with Canadian priest in the Extraordinary Form.   

Don't miss out on this rare opportunity to see it all in one tour.

Deadline for registration this week.  CONTACT US ASAP TO REGISTER


Over 1,400 Attend: Acies - Pro Life Rosary, St. Marys, KS

The Great Dr. Alice von Hildebrand, PhD

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Paleo-Christian Remains in Carthage

There were 12 Christian Basilicas here.

Then came malaise, an economic crisis and the sword of Islam.

At the end of the 4th century, this place was rolling.  It was a city protected by impressive city walls constructed by the Emperor Theodosius.

Carthage boasted a stadium with a capacity of up to 70,000, an amphitheatre for 40,000, a theatre for 10,000, thermal baths, religious buildings, 12 Christian Basilicas and a major aqueduct. 

A great honor to pray here amid the rubble.  That these places of prayer might one day again be restored.  It will take a miracle and the conversion of the locals.  It has happened before.  

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.   

What an Early Christian Basilica Looked Like





The legendary Carthage was one of the largest cities in the ancient world - and it became a Christian city.

Founded in 814 BC, there is a lot of history here.  It was quite interesting to explore the ruins of this old Christian Basilica.

One can almost still hear the haunting Greek chants of the Liturgy.   

GREEK CHANT. 

Praying Inside a Ruined Christian Basilica at Carthage





Where Augustine and Monica walked.  

Today abandoned and forgotten.  But not by all.

It would be splendid to have THE DIVINE LITURGY sung here, in Greek, by the Basilican monks of the Exarchic Greek Abbey of St. Mary of Grottaferrata, located just outside Rome.  Tears would be flowing at the beauty, grace and power of the early Christian Liturgy.

Remains of a Ruined Christian Basilica in Carthage





Where Augustine would have prayed.

Today but a memory of the past. 

False Gods: Moloch and Propitiary Child Sacrifice by Parents

The chief God of Carthage.  The French named this street after him.

Greco-Roman sources tell us that Carthaginians burned their children as offerings to Baal Hammon.

Satan demands child sacrifice in every generation.  Abortion today.  Moloch then.  The evil spirits of child sacrifice are alive and well.  It is up to Christians to alert the world.     

Read LIVY

Know of the greatness of Rome. 

Glorious Catholic Architecture

Glory of Florence

Teaching Catholics to Evangelize: Support the New Evangelization Summit

We are getting ready for NES2016.

This is the second annual Summit, an international event and two-day conference hosted in Ottawa, the capital city of Canada.  

The event will be steamed to multiple host-sites across North America.  

The NES draws many thousands of faithful Catholics from cities across the USA and Canada.

The website reads:  "Our hearts need to be set on fire with a love for Christ and a desire to make Him known. Only a person that is deeply convinced of the need for evangelization will begin to go out and do it. It is easy for our love to grow lukewarm and our hearts to grow cold. We need to be reminded and inspired regularly of the tremendous gift God has for us: to be an instrument in leading other people to salvation."

For further information see here: www.newevangelization.ca

Rome Quotes

"There are, then, many reasons why mortification is necessary.  A further important consideration is that our facility in prayer largely depends on it, since without some kind of systematic self-denial we cannot pray well.  And why?  Because we cannot have close union with God unless we fulfill the conditions laid down by Himself, and one of these was that we should take up our cross daily.  But another reason for it is that self-indulgence is the enemy of fervor, and it also fills the mind with distracting images, and the heart with counter-attractions, both of which prevent prayer.  Indeed, so true is this connection between mortification and prayer that one spiritual master has roundly declared: 'There is a definite connection between how we take our food and how we pray.'  We know, too, that mortification has the effect of producing peace of mind, largely because it strengthens the power of the will over the passions.  That is one of several reasons why the most mortified individuals or communities are usually the most contented and cheerful, whereas the self-indulgent are generally restless and unhappy."

-Dom Basil Hemphill, OSB

RIP: Dr. Michael Jordan, PhD

My favorite old college prof has passed away from cancer.

He was a fine professor and very meek, an excellent combination.

He was also the only teacher at my alma mater I ever heard mention each day the beauty and importance of a proper understanding of "aesthetics."  In fact, some students in the class were unable to define the word.

He gave us a love for that branch of philosophy that touches on the nature of art, beauty, and taste.  The proper creation and true appreciation of authentic beauty must be instilled in the hearts of our youth from the youngest age.

Well done, good and faithful servant.  

In your charity, pray for the repose of his soul.

 “We never know how high we are till we are asked to rise.”  -Emily Dickinson

Alice von Hildebrand—The Church Has Been Infiltrated

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Family Day in Rome

http://roma.fssp.it/avvisi/family-day-2016/

Catholic Culture: Get Your Kids to the March for Life!

Yours truly grew up going to the Twin Cities March for Life every year.

We hated it.  It was cold and and an ugly subject. 

Further, many of us were ridiculed by the secular culture for standing up and not going along with the leftist media. 

But it was the Lord's work.   And missing school was nice. 

One year, I was there alone, in my college years.  Shivering on the steps of the Minnesota State Capitol.  It was freezing.  I did not want to be there.   

Two elderly men ran up and stood next to me, shivering in the cold, wearing scarves and winter caps.
I recognized them immediately. 

Bishop Paul Dudley and his brother, Fr. Francis Dudley.   Two saints, of blessed memory. 

In that moment, it hit me like a train.

The Lord confirmed me in that moment: we stand not alone!

Never give up.

If the liberal garbage media tells you it is okay to kill innocent babies in utero, then you stand up for the voiceless and be a voice!

January 22, 1973 is a day that will live in infamy.  It is the darkest day in U.S. history and is to be a day of prayer, fasting and penance for all Christians until killing babies becomes again a crime under the law in our land.

We are  not innocent.  The blood of 50 million butchered babies remains atop our soil.   

Personhood rights for all human persons.  Legal human abortion remains the greatest human rights abuse of our day.  

Our Lady of Victory, pray for us!

Monday, January 25, 2016

PODCAzT of Fr. Z Magnus

PODCAzTs from Fr. Z are always excellent.

I wish there were more.

He has a good radio voice and the editing and humor make it extra enjoyable.

Listen HERE

Rome Quotes

"Some of the worst enemies of Catholicism are Catholics.  It is safe to say that if all Catholics were half what they should be the world would with difficulty hold out against conversion.  But some Catholics repel people from the Faith.  Catholics in name, but not in reality, give Catholicism a bad character.  Instead of representing their religion, they misrepresent it.  The lives of some Catholics make a caricature of the religion they profess.  They do harm to the most sacred cause on earth."

-Martin Scott, S.J. 

The Beer Cardinals Drink in the Vatican

Now available in the USA!

Online purchase and doorstep delivery of Birra Nursia is a great thing.

The monk-brewed craft beer is made at the birthplace of St. Benedict, in the hills northeast of Rome, in the enclosure of the 1,000-year-old monastery.

I was able to visit the brewery last year in Norcia and it was a delight to see how the local Benedictine community has grown and flourished since the last time I was there.

The beer is generously served in the restaurants of Norcia (Trattoria dal Francese is my favorite). 

The monks have a newly renovated gift shop which is a must see, as well as the crypt of the Basilica, where St. Benedict and St. Scholastica were born.

To enjoy the beer is a touch of heaven.  All beer ought to be made by monks.      

A limited quantity of the beer will be available each month.

Order here: http://birranursia.com/.

Rome Quotes

"There are no happier people in the world than Catholics who live up to their religion."

-Martin Scott, S.J.

Responding to the Modern Attack on Christianity


Objective truth exists.  And you can know it.  And it can set you free.

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Ancient Carthage: the Archeological Ruins




"Carthago delenda est!" are the ancient words you can actually hear in the echoes of the ruins ("Carthage must be destroyed!").

A bit like our abortion culture of today, they too, began killing their babies, en masse.  Legal infanticide, sanctioned by the government.  They had sunk so low, their civilization crashed to pieces.    

Ancient Carthage: the Archeological Ruins




A fascinating place to visit.  Where history comes alive in the first degree.  The rise and fall of an ancient civilization. 

Old Town Medina Market

Not called a bazaar (that is the Persian), but a souq (the Arabic work for market). 

Carthage Tour Guide

If you speak French, you can make your way around just fine. 

With Vatican Radio's Own Mr. Christopher Wells!


Going Native

Before heading our for a safari in the desert. 

Carthage Real Estate

In Carthage you see lovely old colonial villas everywhere.  Some are still owned by French families.  It would be great to own one and to vacation here regularly.  Carthage is a magical place, a bit like Havana. 

Fez Hat

Also known as the tarboosh (in Arabic).

Best Souvenir in Carthage: A Birdcage

In Carthage they make the most lovely bird cages.  It makes a great souvenir.  You see them everywhere.

The Old White Fathers Seminary at Carthage

Now a museum, owned by the state. 

 Near here is where Churchill addressed British troops in the old Roman amphitheatre during WWII.

Visit Tunisia

A great place to visit.  French-speaking.  The elite spoke French and adopted many French habits.  The Francophilia is seen especially in the urban planning and excellent food.  The French did so much for these people, bringing them into the twentieth century.  Even Churchill vacationed here.   

Friday, January 22, 2016

Future Arms of Bishop Yet to be Carved

Facade of Cathedral of St. Vincent de Paul in Tunis, Tunisia. 

Built by the Missionaries of Our Lady of Africa (aka the White Fathers):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Fathers

The Church is in need of courageous new missionaries here!  Is this your vocation... 

Tunis Cathedral of St. Vincent de Paul







A fitting mixture of styles, including Moorish and Gothic revival and Neo-Byzantine.

Construction began in 1893 and the church was opened Christmas 1897.

Ironic as this is the city where St. Vincent, after having been kidnapped by Islamic pirates, was sold as a slave and was kept in chains for two years on the road until his escape with a former priest to Rome and back to France.

Today, raised to the glory of the altars, he intercedes for us while a Cathedral stands in his honor in the same city -- a beacon of hope in this beautiful land that is asking to be converted back to Christ, through the intercession of St. Augustine, a native of this same place (Algeria and Carthage).

The White Fathers who have worked here have gone off the rails, but so nice to see the Religious Family of the Incarnate Word working here today with a bunch of members (both priests & sisters): http://ive.org/ive/index.php/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=195&lang=en