Saturday, October 27, 2012

More on the New SSPX Seminary

The SSPX seminary of St. Thomas Aquinas in Winona, Minnesota, USA is too small to house the number of young men seeking a vocation to the priesthood. The men are crammed in at the seminary; meanwhile many of the seminaries in the conciliar Catholic Church are shutting down for lack of vocations.
 
As a result, a new seminary is being built in Virginia. This is a project worth supporting and one to which I have made a commitment. I hope you will consider it worthy of your prayers and support.
 
New seminary video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgOS9m-SBHg&feature=relmfu
 
Several years ago, on an Ignatian retreat at the present seminary, I met each of the priests who have a speaking part in the video.
* Fr. Asher was a deacon who helped give the retreat.
* Fr. LeRoux had just been installed as the rector of the seminary.
* I had the privilege of losing a game of chess to then-seminarian Mr. Joseph Wood.


More about the project

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Candyland

In last night's presidential debate, the two candidates went at it like light-weight grade-schoolers. Had I been there, my question would have been, "Can either of you tell the truth?"I give the trophy for the event to the moderator, Candy “death wish ticket” Crowley.

To wit:
* She gave 9% more time to her candidate, Obama.

* She got to tell Romney to “sit down.”

* The question about why Obama had not kept his promise to ban assault rifles she re-cast as why Romney had flip-flopped on his stance on assault weapons.

* More than once she broke with the format of the session to deny Romney his follow-up comment.

* She interrupted Romney 28 times; Obama, a mere 9.

* The time when Obama took over Romney’s session for a full minute, she remained mute.

* On Benghazi, she seconded Obama’s false statement about how he’d called the attacks acts of terror the day after the assault (to which reporters in the audience cheered).


It was Candy all the way - trick or treat. On the plus side, she did become the first woman to ever win a presidential debate.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Lepanto: 7 October 1571

At the Battle of Lepanto off the west coast of Greece, the Holy League – a combined effort of papal, Spanish, Venetian, and Genoese fleets under Don John of Austria – gained victory over the Turkish fleet on this day in 1571.

The forces
The Turkish fleet had about 200 galleys and four dozen small ships with 32,000 soldiers, 50,000 sailors and oarsmen, and 750 guns.

The Christian fleet had slightly fewer vessels, 23,000 soldiers, 40,000 sailors and oarsmen, and 1,300 guns.

The outcome
Fighting commenced at dawn and lasted five hours.

Fifteen Turkish ships were sunk and 177 taken, 20,000-30,000 men disabled, and 12,000-15,000 Christian rowers -- slaves on the Turkish galleys -- were delivered.

The crusaders lost 17 ships and 7,500 men.

The Christian victory was significant: the Ottomans had not lost a major naval
battle since the 15th century, and the engagement deprived them of control of the Mediterranean
Sea; it reversed what had been centuries of unstoppable Moslem raids along Europe’s southern shores. Christians of the west grew in confidence that the Turks, previously unstoppable, could be beaten.

The Holy League immediately credited the outcome to the Blessed Virgin Mary. On the day of the battle, Pope St. Pius V saw the victory in a vision.

Today David Warren has a nice write-up of the event.

The Battle of Lepanto


Angelus Domini

The Angelus is a short practice of devotion in honor of the Incarnation repeated three times each day, morning, noon, and evening.

When done properly, it sounds like this.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Atlanta Archdiocese: No More Support for Komen

Source

The announcement was a little weak and a little late: the Archdiocese of Atlanta has directed its parishes, missions, and schools of one million Catholics to end support or participation in activities related to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The chief reason mentioned was Komen's grants to abortion provider Planned Parenthood.

It's interesting to read some of the comments about why the Archdiocese is wrong for doing this. The reasons, as a rule, are irrelevant; what they amount to is little more than a general disdain for the Catholic Church and/or Catholic teaching. Prejudice is alive and well in the AJC readership (that it also thrives at the AJC is just a given).

Tuesday, October 2, 2012