A number of Wanderer readers who have responded to my previous “memos” asked me to give periodic updates on my condition. First, and most important, I begin by offering my profound thanks for your prayers and financial support, which are appreciated both by my wife, Paulette, and me, and are much needed.
My latest quarterly CT Scan, on March 1, showed that the cancerous tumor in my pelvic area is growing; it is not treatable by surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation. “Pain management” is my only medical treatment, a task which is becoming more difficult as the days and weeks go by. Sitting is nearly impossible due to the tumor’s pressure on my nerves, and though I can still walk a bit and stand for short periods, that, too, is becoming more of a challenge, as is fatigue.
On the plus side — perhaps due to the many prayers you are offering on my behalf — my brain is starting to recover from nearly a year of “heavy-duty” chemo and I have regained my ability to do some serious reading, which gives me great pleasure!
Among the books I have recently read, given to me by a friend, is The Theology of Illness by Jean-Claude Larchet, and published by St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press. I cannot strongly and enthusiastically enough recommend this book for those dealing with serious illness — as I know some of my supporters are. It is not a big book, but it is jam-packed with the deep insights of the early Church fathers on illness and suffering, and I found it very consoling.
As John Breck writes in the foreword, the book “offers us fresh insight into the mystery of evil, sin, and illness, and their place within our struggle toward holiness. . . . It gives us renewed hope, by locating the ‘problem of pain’ in a profoundly theological framework, in which ultimate resolution of the mystery of illness and suffering is provided by the healing touch of Christ Himself, the Physician of our souls and bodies.”
A book I have revisited for the second or third time is Henri-Daniel Rops’ The Church in the Dark Ages, volume three in his masterful History of the Church of Christ. Prompted by the news out of Europe on the invasion of the continent by war-ravaged refugees, I wanted to relearn the six centuries of invasions Europe suffered from northern Europe, from Asia and the Middle East, from the Vandals of St. Augustine’s time, around AD 400, to the Nordic invasions c. 950, including the assaults of Islam midway between them — and how the Church survived.
As Daniel-Rops wrote of St. Augustine, I have always believed of Pope St. John Paul II: the “historic mission” of both “was to sense the needs of the future and to prepare for them. Alive at one of the most important turning points in history, a clear-sighted witness of the collapse of an entire world, he stands on the threshold of the new era, like the spokesman and guide of distressed humanity. . . . His philosophy is to serve as a beacon for generations yet unborn. . . . Augustine [as did Pope St. John Paul II, P.L.] understood that Christianity was the only bastion capable of protecting the wealth of the mind against the barbarism which threatened. . . . There are no human values which can be separated from the supernatural order of things.”
In this context, I have to wonder if the new “barbarian” invasion of Europe is as serious a threat to “European values” as the elites’ imposition of gender ideology in schools, health care, and cultural institutions, and government at every level, whose goal is the destruction of the family.
For Lent, I am rereading The Revelations of St. Gertrude, the 13th-century German nun, who was extolled by Pope Benedict XVI in his general audience of October 6, 2010 as “an exceptional woman, endowed with special natural talents and extraordinary gifts of grace, the most profound humility and ardent zeal for her neighbor’s salvation. She was in close communion with God both in contemplation and in her readiness to go to the help of those in need.”
What I find so helpful in her work is her advice on how we are to “heal the wounds of the Church” which she learned directly from Christ Himself.
In closing this note, I again thank all who have supported me with your prayers and financial support, and beg you to continue both as more difficult times approach.
In thanks for financial support, I am offering, via email only, the biography I wrote of my mentor, the great Canadian Catholic journalist Larry Henderson, which he commissioned me to write in 1990. For various complicated reasons, it was never published, but it came very close to printing by one of Canada’s major publishing houses. Larry’s life spanned the years from 1917 to 2006.
Larry, who came into the Church in 1964, was Canada’s first national nightly news broadcaster for CBC TV. He began his journalistic career in 1945 with CBC Radio covering postwar Europe, and was then assigned to the Middle East to cover the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. The book is full of fascinating vignettes from his life, and his interactions with leading journalists, politicians, philosophers, novelists, artists, actors, and Churchmen spanning more than 40 years in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Those who love reading about intrigue will love this book.
He was the first Western journalist to travel across and report from the Soviet Union after the death of Stalin. (He recounted the incredible adventure in Journey to Samarkand, which is still available through Amazon). He also covered the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Among his “firsts” was live broadcasting from the front lines in Korea (with a device designed by his engineer wife), and he was in Dien Bien Phu when the French were defeated in Vietnam in 1954, and again in the mid-1960s.
Our book, which was tentatively titled Larry Henderson’s Three Revolutions, covers Larry’s role in the three great revolutions of our time: in radio and television broadcasting, Canadian national politics, and the Church. It is based primarily on the extensive diaries he kept from the mid-1930s until the mid-1980s.
Those who read it will be gripped with his details on Communist influence in broadcasting, his inside information on Quebec’s not-so-quiet Revolution, when leftist terrorists were bombing banks, railway stations, and military installations and carrying out assassination attempts on political leaders in the 1960s, his archaeological studies in the Holy Land which led to his conversion, his work in Africa training journalists and setting up radio stations in Tanzania, the war in the post-Vatican II Church, which he observed as editor of Toronto’s Catholic Register, where he occupied the “hot seat” from which he recruited me to work for him in 1981 — and much more.
The 100,000-word, 260-page book is the story of a very important North American journalist, a 20th-century “great” whose story has not been told, and whose life should not be consigned to Orwell’s memory hole, for he was not only a reporter, but also an actor in major events.
For those who would like to continue to support me, and would like a copy of this unpublished manuscript — which had Larry’s approval — write to me at: Paul Likoudis, P.O. Box 236, Hector, NY, 14841. For those who would like to contact me, my phone number is 607-582-6650; my email is paullikoudis@empacc.net.
Sincerely,
Paul Likoudis
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress