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Restoring The Sacred Getting Our Liturgical History Right

November 13, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Restoring The Sacred Getting Our Liturgical History Right

By JAMES MONTI So much of modern and post-modern liturgical thought centers on the premise that for the liturgy to be authentic it must be “neo-primitive” — that it must replicate as closely as possible what the very earliest liturgies were supposedly like, fantasized as liturgies of undogmatic, free-spirited, casual spontaneity, and that the liturgy must also be purged of medieval and Baroque era accretions that allegedly dogmatized, ritualized, and solemnized in a heretofore unprecedented manner the forms of Christian worship. This fundamentally flawed premise was masterfully critiqued by Pope Benedict XVI in his 2000 book, The Spirit of the Liturgy: “As I see it, the problem with a large part of modern liturgiology is that it tends to recognize…Continue Reading

Faithful Stewardship Requires An Authentic Catholicity

November 12, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Faithful Stewardship Requires An Authentic Catholicity

By SHAUN KENNEY While most of the nation is happily recovering from (or still celebrating) the 2016 presidential election season, Virginia and New Jersey have the wonderful Jeffersonian tradition of off-year elections. And by wonderful, I mean the “wow did we get our backsides walloped” sort of tradition. Now, of course, in the sense that I mean “we” one should interpret this in a strictly Catholic sense of the word. For those who have read this column under my stewardship, one is aware that I am intensely conservative and traditionalist in my outlook. Rum, Romanism and Rebellion sound like a great time. Frankly, I would rather settle for coffee, books, and my farm. So when it comes to the things…Continue Reading

Sixty Vincentians Martyred During Spanish Civil War Beatified

November 11, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Sixty Vincentians Martyred During Spanish Civil War Beatified

MADRID (CNA) — Sixty members of the Vincentian Order who were martyred during the Spanish Civil War were beatified at a November 11 Mass in Madrid, a “celebration of hope, faith, and forgiveness.” “The grace experienced by these martyrs is impossible to understand without faith,” said Sr. Angeles Infante, a Daughter of Charity who is postulator of the cause for beatification. She praised the martyrs’ “faithfulness to the Vincentian charism, giving their lives, the greatest treasure they had, for Christ.” The November 11 Mass of Beatification at the Palacio Vistalegre is a celebration of hope because “these martyrs believed in the beatitudes and their martyrdom summed them all up,” said Sr. Angeles before the Mass took place. “It’s not a…Continue Reading

A Letter From The Past

November 10, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on A Letter From The Past

By DONALD DeMARCO The expression “May you live in interesting times” is purported to be a traditional Chinese curse. The word “interesting” is a euphemism for disorder and conflict. Well, we do live in “interesting” times, but as Christians, we live in hope. No matter how “interesting” things may be at the moment, they should not crush our spirit. And, indeed, we now live in “interesting” times. The secular world seems to be having its way. We are now witnessing homosexual marriages, an increasing divorce rate, rampant abortion, widespread pornography, the zealous promotion of euthanasia, terrorism, racism, and a significant decline in religious practices. What is even more disconcerting to many is a lack of leadership from the top, not…Continue Reading

USCCB Publishes… “Prayers Against The Powers Of Darkness”

November 9, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on USCCB Publishes… “Prayers Against The Powers Of Darkness”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is making available through their publishing division prayers drawn from the appendix of the first official English-language translation of the ritual book on the rite of Exorcism. While the ritual book is not available for widespread distribution, it contains an appendix of prayers that can be used by anyone. Available through the USCCB’s online bookstore, the appendix is available for purchase in a small booklet entitled Prayers Against the Powers of Darkness. Fr. Andrew Menke, executive director of the USCCB’s Secretariat of Divine Worship, notes that these prayers can strengthen and assist anyone who prays them. “The book is meant to facilitate a very reflective kind of prayer. It’s meant to…Continue Reading

A Book Review… Outstanding Tips For Faithful College Students And Others

November 8, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on A Book Review… Outstanding Tips For Faithful College Students And Others

By MITCHELL KALPAKGIAN How I Stayed Catholic at Harvard, by Aurora Griffin (Ignatius Press: San Francisco, 2016), 181 pp. $15.95. Available at www.ignatius.com or 1-800-651-1531. Subtitled “Forty Tips for Faithful College Students,” Aurora Griffin’s book provides a valuable guide for parents and prospective students to avert the seductive temptations in higher education that beleaguer the young at prestigious secular universities. Whether it is the dogmatic atheism that mocks “silly religious people,” the radical ideologies espoused by a majority of faculty and students, the moral relativism that rejects traditional norms or Christian morality, or the drug culture, binge-drinking, and casual promiscuity that infiltrate college campuses, the culture of the modern university endangers the faith of the young when they fail to…Continue Reading

Hungary Helps Embattled Middle-Eastern Christians

November 7, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Hungary Helps Embattled Middle-Eastern Christians

By JOHN J. METZLER UNITED NATIONS — One of the silent tragedies among the conflicts raging in the Middle East concerns the fate of the ancient and now persecuted Christian communities. Concerns for the forgotten and once vibrant Christian minorities especially in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon are often politely airbrushed out of political discussions. Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has taken special care to underline the plight of persecuted minorities in the Middle East who are facing attacks by Islamic terrorist groups. In an exclusive interview with this writer, Minister Szijjarto conceded, “Unfortunately the Western world suffers hypocrisy and political correctness. It is strange but many of us are not brave enough to speak about the necessity of protecting Christians.”…Continue Reading

The Attack On Bishop Morlino Is Scurrilous

November 6, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on The Attack On Bishop Morlino Is Scurrilous

By WILLIAM DONOHUE (Editor’s Note: Catholic League President William Donohue commented October 30 on recent attacks on Bishop Robert Morlino of the Diocese of Madison, Wis. The Wanderer encourages its readers to follow Donohue’s advice and send messages of support to Bishop Morlino. His email address is given below at the end of Donohue’s commentary.) + + + Catholics in the Diocese of Madison are very fortunate to have such a brilliant and courageous leader in Bishop Robert Morlino. He is currently under attack by dissident Catholics, ex-Catholics, and those who never were Catholic, for merely upholding the teachings of the Catholic Church. The uproar is wholly unjustified, and is indeed scurrilous. It was occasioned when the vicar general of…Continue Reading

Our Lady Of Fatima: The October Apparition And The Miracle Of The Sun

November 5, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Our Lady Of Fatima: The October Apparition And The Miracle Of The Sun

By FR. SEAN CONNOLLY (Editor’s Note: This is the ninth in a series of articles on the one hundredth anniversary of our Lady’s apparitions at Fatima. Fr. Connolly is a priest of the Archdiocese of New York.) + + + Reports of the Mother of God appearing to three shepherd children in the Cova da Iria spread throughout the countryside of Portugal by word of mouth without any systemized propaganda or publicity. The irresistible flow of pilgrims increased more and more each 13th of the month in response to the message of hope given by our Lady to the children which man had lost. During the last apparition on October 13, 1917, a crowd of 70,000 gathered at the Cova.…Continue Reading

St. Albert… Great In Mind And Spirit

November 4, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on St. Albert… Great In Mind And Spirit

By RAY CAVANAUGH St. Albert the Great a/k/a “Albertus Magnus” — the patron saint of scientists — felt that each newly discovered fragment of scientific knowledge revealed something about the mystery of the Creator. His feast day is November 15. Albert was born to a family of minor nobility in Lauingen in the Bavarian region of Germany. His date of birth is unknown: Historians have given different years, ranging from 1193 to 1206. It is known that he had a younger brother who joined the Dominican order, and he might have had one or possibly even two sisters who became nuns. Albert studied liberal arts at the University of Padua, before joining the Dominican order there. Shortly after 1240, he…Continue Reading