"Our faith is only in Jesus"

A few good words for Holy Week from Archbishop Dolan:

Pray for us bishops and priests, please. We’re sorry when we hurt you. We must try harder to conform our lives to Jesus. But don’t ever let our sins drive you away.

A blessed Holy Week!

The Gammarelli Man

This article is tremendous in every way! You can now purchase your own socks in "cardinal red, bishop purple, or priest black" from Gammarelli, clothier to popes, bishops and priests for over 100 years. (Papal white is only offered on special request.J)

I suspect you know someone from their target audience:

Mes Chaussettes Rouges targets a particular kind of customer – what they call “The Gammarelli Man” – who, according to the website, is someone who possesses true virtue in all things and appreciates the little things in life.

Just make sure they don't clash with your tartan tie.

From the vocations blog of the Congregation of Holy Cross comes a story about a young priest who is putting his love of reading to good use (besides the good that normally comes from reading, that is):

I read. A lot. Well over a one-hundred books a year, in fact. I mix fiction and non-fiction while sprinkling in a little theology here and there to stay updated professionally. Previously, it all added up to an impressive (yet perhaps ministerially irrelevant) intellectual stew. Inspired by fellow Holy Cross priests who run marathons to fundraise for parish and school, I decided to use my powers for the forces of good. Last summer, I proposed a reading marathon to the parish: churchgoers would sponsor me $1 per book I read over the course of the year with the proceeds subsidizing youth group expenses to the National Catholic Youth Conference in the fall of 2011.

(read the rest here)

A charge to Pious Men

Today's second reading seemed an excellent charge to Pious Men everywhere:

But you, man of God, pursue righteousness,
devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness.
Compete well for the faith.
Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called
when you made the noble confession in the presence of many witnesses.
I charge you before God, who gives life to all things,
and before Christ Jesus,
who gave testimony under Pontius Pilate for the noble confession,
to keep the commandment without stain or reproach
until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ
that the blessed and only ruler
will make manifest at the proper time,
the King of kings and Lord of lords,
who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light,
and whom no human being has seen or can see.
To him be honor and eternal power. Amen.
[1 Tm, 6-11]

Prayer in defense of the family

It was reported in yesterday's news that the Archbishop of Saint Paul/Minneapolis has recorded an 8 minute DVD outlining the Church's teachings defending marriage between one man and one woman, and that a copy will be mailed to each of the state's 800,000 Catholics.

Archbishop John Nienstedt stated "Our target is basically our Catholic people. To remind them of what we believe and why we believe it and why it's so important that they believe it." "We're not a political force," Nienstedt said, "but we are a religious force. So we think we should be part of the conversation."

Please read the details and join me in prayer that the DVD will be met with open minds and hearts that are willing to embrace the Truth. Pray also in thanksgiving for this courageous bishop and that he and all his brother bishops will continue to boldly teach the truth with clarity and love.

I suggest this Novena to the Holy Family:

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, bless me and grant me the grace of loving Holy Church as I should, above every earthly thing, and of ever showing my love by deeds.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, bless me and grant me the grace of openly professing as I should, with courage and without human respect, the faith that I received as your gift in holy Baptism.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, bless me and grant me the grace of sharing as I should in the defense and propagation of the Faith when duty calls, whether by word or by the sacrifice of my possessions and my life.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, bless me and grant me the grace of loving my family and others in mutual charity as I should, and establish us in perfect harmony of thought, will, and action, under the rule and guidance of the shepherds of the Church.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, bless me and grant me the grace of conforming my life fully as I should to the commandments of God’s law and those of His Holy Church, so as to live always in that charity which they set forth.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I ask in particular this special favor:

(Mention your favor).

St. Ninian's Tartan

I'm a bit of a fabric-fan, so I read with interest that a new tartan has been created for Pope Benedict in honor of his visit to Scotland tomorrow.

As is fitting for such an important gift, every detail is rich in meaning:

The white line on blue field draws upon Scotland's national colours while the green reflects the lichens growing on the stones of Whithorn in Galloway. It was there that Ninian first brought the gospel of Jesus Christ to Scottish shores over 1,600 years ago.

The white lines are also accompanied by a pair of red lines, reflecting the colours of Cardinal Newman's crest. And finally, the thin yellow lines in the tartan, together with the white, reflect the colours of the Vatican.

Each white line on the green contains exactly eight threads, one for each Catholic diocese in Scotland. There are 452 threads in the design from pivot to pivot, representing the number of Catholic parishes.

Wouldn't this be a great gift for that nice Catholic gentleman on your Christmas list?

I can't find any details about purchasing such a thing,

but will post an update if I discover anything.

A special Lego project

Check out Faith and Family for a letter and photos from a reader about a special gift for her son's First Holy Communion day. What a sweet and thoughtful idea for a Lego lover!

A Mother Superior remembers her Father

In Italy, Fathers' Day is celebrated on March 19, the feast of St Joseph. Hence, this lovely article from Sister Mary Denise Villaume, originally published in The New York Times blog.

On a regular basis the Little Sisters of the Poor drove their truck up to the macaroni building, and Dad filled it with food. I once heard my mom ask if it was prudent to be giving so much when they didn’t know if they’d be able to put us kids through college. It wasn’t a hostile challenge, but an earnest question. Dad’s answer was unequivocal: help neighbors today, trust God with tomorrow. [full post]

Saint Joseph - old or young?

Today we celebrate the solemn feast of St. Joseph.

We see St. Joseph's image is everywhere, but how much do we really know about this saint?

He is the patron and protector of the Church, just as he was he protector and patron of Our Lord and Lady while they walked this earth. We know that he was a "just and holy man" - the perfect pious gentleman. We usually think of him as a bearded man in green and brown holding the Christ Child and a staff of lilies.

But how much more do we know?


St. Joseph never speaks in the Gospels. We find him in Matthew and Luke, but only briefly. The Gospels say little about him. Yet we know that he was a carpenter. We read that he was a "just man" from the line of David. His age at the time of his betrothal and marriage to Our Lady is highly debated.

Many of our statues and images depict him as a middle-aged or even elderly man. We sing in the Cherry Tree Carol "Joseph was an old man, a very old man was he, when he married Mary in the land of Galilee."

But was Joseph really old?

The concept of the elderly Joseph comes from the apocryphal gospel The Protoevangelium of James. There we read:

And when she was twelve years old there was held a council of the priests, saying: "Behold, Mary has reached the age of twelve years in the temple of the Lord. What then shall we do with her, lest perchance she defile the sanctuary of the Lord?"

And they said to the high priest: "You stand by the altar of the Lord; go in, and pray concerning her"... behold an angel of the Lord stood by him, saying unto him: "Zacharias, Zacharias, go out and assemble the widowers of the people, and let them bring each his rod; and to whomsoever the Lord shall show a sign, his wife shall she be." And the heralds went out through all the circuit of Judæa, and the trumpet of the Lord sounded, and all ran.

And Joseph, throwing away his axe, went out to meet them; and when they had assembled, they went away to the high priest, taking with them their rods. And he, taking the rods of all of them, entered into the temple...and Joseph took his rod last; and, behold, a dove came out of the rod, and flew upon Joseph's head.

And the priest said to Joseph, "You have been chosen by lot to take into your keeping the virgin of the Lord."

But Joseph refused, saying: "I have children, and I am an old man, and she is a young girl. I am afraid lest I become a laughing-stock to the sons of Israel."

And the priest said to Joseph: "Fear the Lord your God, and remember what the Lord did to Dathan, and Abiram, and Korah; how the earth opened, and they were swallowed up on account of their contradiction. And now fear, O Joseph, lest the same things happen in your house."

And Joseph was afraid, and took her into his keeping. And Joseph said to Mary: "Behold, I have received you from the temple of the Lord; and now I leave you in my house, and go away to build my buildings, and I shall come to you. The Lord will protect you."

Here we see St. Joseph as an old widower, with children, and frankly, a bit of a jerk.

So was that St. Joseph? The Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas, certainly did not think so as he condemned the Protoevangelium as "apocryphal ravings."

While St. Thomas doesn't offer any insights on the life of St. Joseph, a number of holy mystics do. Ven. Maria de Agrida and Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich both write of St. Joseph as seen in their visions.

Ven. Maria writes in The Mystical City of God that:

"Among the number was Joseph, a native of Nazareth. and then living in Jerusalem; for he was one of the descendants of the royal race of David. He was then thirty-three years of age, of handsome person and pleasing countenance, but also of incomparable modesty and gravity; above all he was most chaste in thought and conduct, and most saintly in all his inclinations. From his twelfth year he had made and kept the vow of chastity. He was related to the Virgin Mary in the third degree, and was known for the utmost purity of his life, holy and irreprehensible in the eyes of God and of men."

Bl. Anne Catherine, in The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, does not specify St. Joseph's age, but merely that he was "unmarried." His actions and demeanor in her writings do, however, seem more reflective of a younger man than an older one.

To note a third: Padre Pio reportedly insisted the St. Joseph was even younger - perhaps only 18 when espoused to Our Lady.

Numerous other scholars and theologians have agreed that Joseph was certainly not old. A number believe that he may have been even as young at 16 - only a year or two older than Our Lady.

Why would St. Joseph's age matter? Perhaps it doesn't, but it seems easy enough to believe that an old man, already a father, would be more likely to live chastely with a girl he could regard as his granddaughter (or at least daughter). The virtue required of a teenage or young adult man to care for a pregnant girl, help her raise her son, all the while living a perfectly chaste life, without committing a single personal sin, would be truly heroic. That is the kind of virtue that merits the title "Patron of the Universal Church" and the kind of virtue you'd hope the patron of husbands would possess.


Further Reading:

The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich
The Mystical City of God: The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mother of God, Ven. Mary of Jesus of Agrida
Redemptoris Custos, Pope John Paul II
or follow any of the links in the text

Laetare Sunday

"The fourth Sunday in Advent came as a respite. Laetare, or Refreshment Sunday. There were flowers in the sanctuary and shrine, the vestments were rose-colored, and Silverside and dumplings for dinner....

"Gaudete cum laetitia- "Rejoice and be glad"- the community sang. It was a taste of joy, "a breather," as Sister Hilary said, before going into Passiontide, the great drama of Christ's journey from Galilee to Jerusalem and his surrender into the hands of his enemies." [Rumer Godden, In this House of Brede]

Some Laetare Sunday ideas:
-The Gospel for today's Mass was traditionally the Feeding of the Multitude. Consider making a donation to your local food pantry.

-Read this reflection on today's readings, which includes the parable of the Prodigal Son.

-Set the table with a rose-colored cloth or flowers.

-Laetare Sunday was also called Mothering Sunday, because of the celebration of ancestry in the Epistle. Try your hand a traditional simnel cake. Pious men, pick up some spring flowers for the mother of your family.

N.B. for all the Pious Men

“The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.”

-Theodore Hesburgh, CSC, '39

Stamped with Episcopal Approval

Stamps are miniature documents of human history. They are the means by which a country gives sensible expression to its hopes and needs; its beliefs and ideals. They mirror the past and presage the future. They delineate cultural attainments, industrial works, domestic, civil, and social life. In a word, these vignettes give a vivid picture of the world, its occupants, and their multifarious endeavors. –Francis Cardinal Spellman

Last weekend, I unexpectedly toured the Cardinal Spellman Stamp Museum, featuring the collections of His Eminence and President Eisenhower. I admit, I was predisposed to like the place: as a young priest, Father Spellman was pastor of my parish and I have a connection to the women's religious order that once ran the museum. Cardinal Spellman was a great philatelist; the permanent collection features his own stamps, while the exhibitions change monthly.



This postcard was sent by one Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli (who became Pope Pius XII) to Cardinal Spellman's mother. What a great piece of history!

A gift for your beloved

It's February and you know what that means ... time to think about Valentine's Day! Happily, it comes before Ash Wednesday this year so you can celebrate as elaborately as you'd like.

If you didn't make some of these as Christmas gifts, this might be just the idea you're looking for to show how much you appreciate him. It's handmade by you, especially for him, and sends a nice message about qualities you may appreciate in a man: chivalry, thoughtfulness, and practicality.

This post from the Art of Manliness may be just the motivation he needs to carry a handkerchief:

But the best reason to carry a handkerchief has nothing to do with you. It’s the chance to lend it to others that’s commends this practice the most. Be sure to put one in your pocket when you go see a tear-jerker movie with your girlfriend or accompany your wife to a funeral. When women are feeling vulnerable, they’ll really appreciate your offer of a soft hankie. It’s a gallant and chivalrous gesture; there’s just something comforting about it.

Just one more reason why I love my priest...

He's a great diplomat with a pious agenda to bring us ever nearer to beautiful liturgy. From today's bulletin:

On Holy Thursday we celebrate the institution of two sacraments, Holy Orders and the Eucharist. Holy Thursday is also the Liturgy in which we remember Jesus washing the feet of the Apostles. In John's Gospel, this foot-washing is connected to the Apostles being ordained. In light of this year being named the Year for Priests, this year's Holy Thursday foot-washing will be all men.

Giving a "soul" to the web

In his message for the 44th World Day for Social Communications, Pope Benedict calls for priests to "make astute use" of available technology in becoming a presence as community leaders on the web.

-Catholic News Agency

Reading this made me think about the interactions I have with priests through the web and how they've enriched my life. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Author, convert, school chaplain, speaker, blogger, husband and father; Father Dwight Longenecker is a busy guy! Fascinating posts on the Personal Ordinariate for Anglicans and lots of other fun. I love his alter egos, especially Caitlyn O'Rourke and Mantilla Amontillado (aka Mantilla the Hon, and it's a dream of mine to have Mantilla write a guest post of advice for our Church Ladies someday. ;-)
• Father Robert Barron may well be the poster priest for effective use of technology to reach a huge "congregation." You can find him in print, watch his Faith Clips and listen to his pod casts, and browse his 200 entries on YouTube (everything from movie reviews, to explaining the Holy Trinity). I can hardly wait for his Catholicism Project to be completed- even the trailer gives me goosebumps!
• Father Phillip Powell, OP at Domine, da mihi hanc aquam! also blogs about news and posts his great homilies. Author, outstanding teacher, UDallas grad, and current student, Father Powell's Coffee Bowl Browsing posts have led me to way too many interesting things on the 'net and I appreciate his political leanings (and his quirky sense of humor).
• Father Zuhlsdorf is a clearinghouse of all things Catholic. No one beats his blog for sheer volume of posts and for lively interaction in the comments box.

Who are your favorites?

Today's required reading -

This excellent article in the current issue of First Things has some great insights about motivating boys to noble action.

What I think I have come to understand about boys is that a desire to commit violence is not the same thing as a desire to commit evil.

and...

Several years ago, two boys in our parish, faced with a school assignment to form a “good-citizenship club,” surprised their mother by deciding to start a Eucharistic-adoration society. Each month this club, which now numbers more than twenty boys, offers hours of adoration for various prayer intentions. This year, in honor of the Year of the Priest, the boys are praying for all the priests in our diocese by name, in monthly rotation.

If it seems a little unlikely, this vision of twenty teen and preteen boys choosing to spend hours of their time kneeling silently in church, let me divulge two secrets. The first is the name of the club: the Holy Crusaders. They chose, deliberately, a title that evokes knighthood, even war. No pastel, goody-two-shoes club, this.

The second is the initiation rite, devised and performed by our parish’s young priest a year in the church. This rite involves a series of solemn vows to be “a man of the Church,” “a man of prayer,” and so forth. It includes induction into the Order of the Brown Scapular, the bestowing of a decidedly manly red-and-black knot rosary, and the awarding of a red sash. What the boys look forward to, though, with much teasing of soon-to-be inductees about sharpened blades and close shaves and collars pulled protectively high on the neck, is the moment when a new boy kneels before Father and is whacked smartly on each shoulder with a large, impressive, and thoroughly real sword.

These Holy Crusaders are, after all, ordinary boys—sweaty and goofy and physical. For them to take the Cross—to take it seriously—requires something like a sword. For them to take the sword, knowing what it’s for, requires the Cross.

Field Trip!

On Friday we had the opportunity to bring an out of state guest to Mass at beautiful Saint Agnes church in St. Paul. We were a little disappointed to discover Mass was celebrated downstairs in the chapel, but their very hospitable pastor, Father John Ubel, graciously gave us a wonderful tour of the main church afterwards.

Among other things, we got to see this lovely chapel where Father pointed out the needlework was hand made by the 90 year-old mother of Bishop LeVoir of New Ulm. As our gentleman guest pointed out, surely she qualifies for the Church Lady Hall of Fame.

Also on the field trip list for the weekend: Loomes, the Cathedral of St. Paul/Minneapolis, and back to Saint Agnes on Sunday for their beautiful Latin High Mass.