Rome Quotes

"In the field of compulsory education the issue is absolute and inevitable.  A universal and homogeneous system of compulsory instruction imposed by the State upon the family cannot fit in with the Catholic Church.  Even with a society homogeneously Catholic it could not fit, for automatically the Catholic spirit would dissolve its compulsory quality and its mechanical uniformity of universal action.  The Catholic spirit automatically restores diversity of mind and freedom.  But with the press it is otherwise.  The popular press is often represented as a solvent of religion, and in particular a solvent of Catholicism; but there is nothing in its nature to make it so.  It happens to have arisen in a world where the false conception that religion was a private affair had taken root.  Therefore it does not spread the atmosphere of religion, it does not concern itself with life in the order which true religion demands.  It presents as matters of chief importance things not even important in natural religion, let alone in the eyes of the Church.  It tends, for instance, to substitute notoriety for fame, and to base notoriety upon ridiculous accidents of wealth or adventure.  Again, it presents as objects for admiration a bundle of things incongruous: a few of some moment, the great part trivial.  Above all it grossly distorts.  Its chief force as a sustainer of the 'modern mind' lies in its power to intensify any disease prevalent in the masses, and especially in the human dust of our great towns.  Thus the 'modern mind' dislikes thinking: the popular press increases that sloth by providing sensational substitutes.  Disliking thought, the 'modern mind' dislikes close attention, and indeed any sustained effort; the popular press increases the debility by an orgy of pictures and headlines.  The 'modern mind' ascribes a false authority to reiteration; the popular press serves it with ceaseless iteration."

-Hilaire Belloc 

Catholic Culture: Shrine to Our Lady on Parish Grounds

A beautiful place to pray and for kids to visit.

Maple Ridge, Canada. 

Before and After: Church of All Saints in Minneapolis (USA)

Image from the parish FB page.

A big change as this 1930s Polish immigrant parish has been restored to its heritage splendor.

The Twin Cities are a Catholic wonderland.  It has produced many prominent church figures.  I myself was born there, as well as the great Fr. Z and Fr. John Berg, Superior General of the FSSP.

Do visit this special place if you can.  Marvel at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis as well as the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.  See, too, the church of St. Agnes, the Assumption, and so much more.   

Dynamic new life is brought to these ailing parishes when the keys are passed to vibrant new religious orders:

http://www.fsspminneapolis.org/

Priests from the Emerald Isle

Ireland's resplendent Catholicism has played a big part in planting the Faith across the globe.

Priests born in Ireland have been missionaries to the world.

It was the diaspora of Irish families that brought large bodies of Catholics to various nations and thus, we were reared in the Faith.

The great Catholic historian Hilarie Belloc writes:

"In our own time all that has largely changed.  The chief agent of the change has been the Irish people dispersed by famine.  They brought a large Catholic body into England, Australia, Canada and America.  There has also been more recently a large immigration into the Unites States from other districts of Catholic culture - Poles, South Germans, Italians.  There has been to some extent in the United States, but probably with much more effect in Britain, a movement of conversion.  This movement has not largely affected numbers, but it has had a profound moral effect, because it has touched so many leaders of thought, so many general writers, and latterly, so many historians." 

Vestments from the World's Fair in Paris: Grand Prize Cope 115 Years in Service!

115 years later, and still in use at the service of the altar!

In former years bishops would attend a World's Fair looking to purchase things like a church organ or even the finest vestments money could buy.

The world's fair was a big deal.  Achievements of the past were celebrated while people would view some of the most fascinating inventions and creations.  I remember well my own grandmother telling me of her exciting visit to the the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. 

It is said nearly 50 million people attended the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900.  The World's Fair in Paris exhibited an extraordinary collection of sacred vestments.  Lyon, the Primatial See and Catholic wonderland of France, was home to many fine clerical tailors and that is where this wonderful cope was created.

Seen at the wonderful church of Sts. Joachim and Ann in Aldergrove, Canada: August 16, 2015. 

 

Teaching the Faith: CTS Booklets

Such a resource as this should be in the back of every parish. 

The solution is always education.  Educate the faithful of all ages. 

Where to Purchase Beautiful Handmade Rosaries

Made in Canada. 

The Good Old Days in the Vatican

Extraordinary Form at Vancouver Cathedral

 Vigil of the Assumption, August 14, 2015.

A lovely Mass in a packed church.  Music by the very talented Chorus Faustinae (Mass Ordinary: Mass for Three Voices by William Byrd).  

Reverence is the mother of all virtues and of all religion  It is the foundation and beginning because it enables our spirit to possess real knowledge and particularly the knowledge of values.  This is what attracts people to the EF.  They see that the lack of reverence is a specific defect of our age.

Reverence is the essential basis for such a perception of values and for a true relationship with the whole realm of values - with what is above and what speaks from above.  With the Absolute, the supernatural, the divine.

The EF, much like the Byzantine rite, is penetrated with majesty and more than anything else by the spirit of true reverence and it draws those who live it directly into this spirit.  It is deeply permeated by the fear of God (cum timore et tremore!) and of the spirit of serving God in joy (servire Domino in laetitia!).  Meanwhile, we look in the direction of the Father, and cry out with Christ, "Abba!" 

Choristers of Mexico City Cathedral

These are the junior seminarians from the choir school of the Metropolitan Cathedral chapter of Mexico City.  They are professionally trained choristers, and they sing like angels, in the cathedral choir at Pontifical Mass.  Nice to see these traditions are being maintained.  I love the buckled shoes!