Book review: "The Closing of the Muslim Mind"

In Caritate Non Ficta: Book review: "The Closing of the Muslim Mind"

Day in DC

Yesterday, the 38th March for Life, the Friars from Philadelphia went on pilgrimage to give witness and participate w/ 100s of thousands of other prolifers in the prayer and petition to overturn Roe vs. Wade.  Our morning began with the praying of the Divine Office and Holy Mass; the superior of the Monastery of Our Lady of Mercy got some donuts for the brothers (we are in need of nourishment for the long journey... haha). Once we had our sugary fix, we quickly got last minute things together to head on the road, south, to DC.

Here we see Fr. Matthew and Bro. Gerard anxiously preparing for the roadtrip, haha.

Once we got on the road, the brothers chatted, prayed, read, slept, listened to a little music, trying to soak every little bit of warmth that could be stored in anticipation of the FREEZING temps in the nation's Capital(ol?).

we arrived and the sign is together... there is Bro. Daniel, pumped and READY to march FOR LIFE!!!

Fr. Matthew w/ a look of sheer pride.... 

Postulant Josiah's feet were numb, but that wouldn't stop him from smiling and loving BABIES!!

Our Bro. James, manning the sign w/ a smile... he's freezing cold, but he loves BABIES more than worrying about the cold!!

Hebdomada Tertia per annum

This homily, from Fr. John Speekman, an Australian, speaks to the very heart of obedience and steadfastness to the Faith.

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year A

Isaiah 8:23- 9:3; 1Corinthians 1:10-13.17; Matthew 4:12-23

I appeal to you, brothers, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, to make up the differences between you, and instead of disagreeing among yourselves, to be united again in your belief and practice. From what Chloe's people have been telling me, my dear brothers, it is clear that there are serious differences among you.

In my opinion there is nothing more demoralising and destructive going on in our Catholic Church today than division, and it’s everywhere. Division causes peace and joy to evaporate and replaces them with tension and squabbling. The great temptation, of course, is to try to paper over the serious differences tearing our Church apart but clearly that’s not working.

Recently an article appeared in the quarterly magazine of the National Council of Priests of Australia (which represents no small percentage of Australia’s clergy). This article was written by a priest. It condemned Pope John Paul as ‘out of touch in scripture and limited in theology, a bad listener.’ Pope Benedict and Pope Paul VI were similarly rubbished. This priest slated the ‘theologically limited’ Roman Curia as well as our present bishops whom he sees as ‘low on creativity, leadership, education and even intelligence.’ He dissents from various key teachings of the Church, calling them ‘policies’ and consistently refers to the vocation of priesthood as a ‘job’. All in all, and without exaggeration, this article was enough to make one cry. What was totally lacking was love for and trust in the Church.

The next article, by another priest, aimed to demonstrate that missing Mass was not a big deal and should not worry us much. ‘In none of Jesus’ teachings do we find exhortations or commands to participate in weekly services of worship,’ he confidently asserts, as though Holy Mother Church had never existed.

Indeed, Chloe’s people were right: My dear brothers, it is clear that there are serious differences among you.

The ‘serious differences’ are really a profound crisis of faith. Catholics are unbelievably confused about the Faith. It seems all has boiled down to ‘opinions’ rather than obedience.

There is continual and deliberate spreading of errors in every segment of the Catholic Church by large numbers of priests and laity. The interior disunity of the Church is a bleeding sore which no one seems willing to stem. What a disaster! And what suffering for those Catholics who know the Faith and who know how things should actually be in their parishes!

Almost entirely gone is any notion of sin and so there is a general acceptance of those who habitually live in sin and there are many who do so. Confession has all but disappeared as a result of the confusion caused by disobedient priests who illicitly used the third rite of Reconciliation for many years. All this has resulted in parishes with great attendance at the parish barbeque and negligible numbers seriously living the Christian life, which has been reduced to ‘doing jobs at Mass’ and engaging in social activity around the parish.

As a priest committed to orthodoxy in faith and morals, in liturgical worship, obedience to Rome and especially, love for the Church, I meet with extraordinary opposition from priests and laity who are strangely angered and even scandalised at me. I believe it is because these priests have somehow come to believe that they have been commissioned to change the Church while I, and many like me, have clung to the apparently outdated notion that we should be letting the Church try to change us.

Pope Paul VI, one year before his death, said: There is a great uneasiness, at this time, in the world and in the Church, and that which is in question is the faith … What strikes me, when I think of the Catholic world, is that within Catholicism, there seems sometimes to predominate a non-Catholic way of thinking, and it can happen that this non-Catholic thought within Catholicism, will tomorrow become the stronger. But it will never represent the thought of the Church. (The Secret Paul VI by Jean Guitton, pages 152 and 153)

From prison Paul wrote to implore the Ephesians to preserve ‘the unity of the Spirit’ so that they would not be ‘carried along by every wind of doctrine, at the mercy of all the tricks men play and their cleverness in practising deceit.’(Eph 4:1.14)

To Timothy he wrote: The time is sure to come when, far from being content with sound teaching, people will be avid for the latest novelty and collect themselves a whole series of teachers according to their own tastes and then, instead of listening to the truth, they will turn to myths. Be careful always to choose the right course… . (2Tim 4:3-5)

Be careful always to choose the right course! This is not advice; it is a warning - a warning on which depends our relationship with Christ and his Church and, therefore, our eternal future.

Many orthodox priests are anguished by the present state of our Church. Pope Paul VI rightly foresaw that it would become worse in succeeding years. I call upon you, my friends, to be equally concerned and to make every effort you can to learn the Faith and live the Faith of the Catholic Church and to resist anyone, anywhere, who attempts to pervert or misrepresent it.

Day of Penance

This was from March for Life, 2009.  The Parish and School of Our Lady of Lourdes and the Mercedarian Friar,  from Philadelphia.

Today, we remember the infamous decision which ushered a complete wave that transformed the moral compass of our nation. It was, indeed, stamping out of the definitive call of His Holiness, Paul VI, to love, defend, support and promote life.  On this day, the Supreme Court handed down its decision giving women a constitutional right to abort the lives of their children in the womb.  Thousands upon tens-of thousands gather in Washington, D.C., today to give witness to the ultimate and most precious gift of God -- namely, LIFE.  They gather to pray, sing praise to God, seek His mercy and forgiveness, and provide a glimmer of hope to the numerous young men and women who are simply held captive to the thought that there is NO OTHER SOLUTION.

The Friars at the Monastery of Our Lady of Mercy have made it a special point to pray a novena in Reparation for the Decision of Roe vs. Wade, and to beg for God's Mercy upon OUR souls for those times when were a little more silent about the tragedy of abortion and the other insults to human life and dignity.  The Friars will travel to D.C., Monday morning, to March and be in solidarity with the movement to protect, promote, and proclaim human life and dignity.

If you cannot be at the March, on January 24, offer a moment of prayer to be solidarity with the pro-lifers everywhere; offer a prayer to petition and reparation and thanksgiving.

This is 'Sonny'. He's the godson of one of the Friars and HE is pro-life, too!!

Solemnity of the Dedication of the Chapel of Our Holy Mother

Ten years ago, today, His Excellency, Bishop Joseph Martino, consecrated the altar and dedicated the chapel of the Mercedarian Friars at the Monastery of Our Lady of Mercy, in Philadelphia. In grateful Thanksgiving to Almighty God and the beneficence of Our Blessed Mother, we commemorate this day with great Solemnity and immense JOY! Happy FEAST!

Here is a picture of our small Chapel taken from the Solemnity of Our Lady of Ransom.  Fr. Matthew H. Phelan, O.de M., Superior of the Monastery is leading the Holy Rosary with our Third Order of Mercy and some members of a local Praesidium of the Legion of Mary.  Following the Rosary, the friars, other clergy, the Third Order and the Legion of Mary offered Solemn Vespers.

Novena of Christian Unity

We find ourselves in the midst of the 'Week of Prayer for Christian Unity'.  In reflection upon this, it needs to be said that such a week is not an invention that comes to us following the Second Vatican Council.  Rather, it was an intention of the Church prior to the Council.  In fact, as I understand it, beginning on the Feast of the Chair of Peter at Rome, the Church prayed daily for the unity of the flock under one Shepherd, in one Church.  This great "novena" ended with the Festival of the the Conversion of Paul.  The intervening days included great Feasts of Martyrs, Virgins, Confessors who suffered and persevered in the Faith for the greater honor and glory of God and of His Most Blessed Mother.

I thought that I would review the Introit and the Collecta from the Votive Mass which may have been offered at some point in this Week -- that is the Votive Mass for the Unity of the Church.

Introit: Save us, O Lord our God: and gather us from among the nations: that we may give thanks unto Thy holy name: and may glory in Thy praise. Ps. Give glory to the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endureth forever. Glory be to the Father....

What is important to consider in this the opening words of the Mass is the prayer of the Church toward Her Lord and Master to gather us from our differences and from the "scatteredness" of our world into a body, into a flock, into a FAMILY who give honor and praise to him.  And in that unity, which ONLY God can give, we participate in His glory and experience His LOVING mercy, through the sacraments.

Collect: O God, Who settest straight what has gone astray, and gatherest together what is scattered, and keepest what Thou hast gathered together: we beseech Thee in Thy mercy to pour down on Christian people the grace of union with Thee, that, putting disunion aside and joining themselves to the true Shepherd of Thy Church, they may be able to render Thee worthy service. Through our Lord.

The Church, that bulwark and defense against the wiles of the devil, is at the same time the true harbor and port of the ship that sails the seas of the world on a journey toward heaven.  She has the complete map, a working compass, and a sure rudder that strong.  The test of Faith is to remain aboard during storms, boredom, and/or restlessness.... At times, the emotions lead us astray and we THINK that we find assurance and consolation in what feeds those emotions.

Feast of the Pontifical Approbation of the Order of Mercy, January 17, 1235

From Historical Synthesis of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy:

With the bull Devotionis vestrae, on January 17, 1235, in Perugia, Pope Gregory IX canonically incorporated the new Order in the universal Church. For that reason, with its brief text and simple structure, this bull is especially important for the Order’s history. Some fundamental elements proceed from it.

When the bull was sent, the Order of Mercy already existed as an organized religious institution with its Master and its brothers living together like the military orders and it was known as the House of Saint Eulalia of Barcelona.

The Order had requested the bull. In fact, it was addressed to the Master, namely to Peter Nolasco and to his brothers as the response to the plea sent to the pope.

In addition, the bull presupposed that the said religious organization was functioning with the approbation of the appropriate diocesan authority. If the Roman Pontiff had not had reliable documents to that effect, he would not have granted the confirmation bull.

Likewise, it presupposed that from its foundation in 1218, the Order of Mercy was following the Rule of Saint Augustine in what pertained to the organization of life in common. However, it had not yet been officially incorporated in any of the religious institutions approved by the Church. In fact, at the time, the religious institutions approved by the Church formed several groups according to the Rule which they observed in keeping with the dispositions of the Fourth Lateran Council: the group observing the Rule of Saint Basil, the group following the Rule of Saint Augustine, the group serving under the Rule of Saint Benedict and the group of those who had their own Rules with the approbation of the Holy See. This bull ratified the addition of the Order of Mercy to the group of religious institutions which observed the Rule of Saint Augustine.