Iran: Christian convert to be executed

Iran: Christian convert to be executed | Fr. Z's Blog – What Does The Prayer Really Say?:

"Pray, please, for our brother Christian Youcef, sentenced to be executed in Iran for converting to Christianity from the religion of peace."

from Fr. Z's Blog – What Does The Prayer Really Say?

Catholic Voters Hold the Balance of Power in America

Catholic voters hold the balance of power in America: Let us have the courage to bring about a Christian political awakening that will rescue America from the darkness of secular liberalism.

read more here.

Christian Worshipers Killed in Baghdad Church Raid | The Guardian

The violence began just after 9pm, almost four hours after a group of between six and eight gunmen wearing military uniforms stormed Our Lady of Salvation Chaldean Catholic church in the inner-city suburb of Karrada.

"After a while one of the terrorists opened the door and threw in a bomb," said a man who identified himself as Bassam. "There were injuries. They killed people, they injured people," he said, before collapsing on the road outside the church. "Where is our father?" he screamed," referring to his priest. "Where is our father?"

For the next four hours, the terrified congregation cowered inside the room. The streets of central Karrada were shut down and darkened, with only flares from circling helicopters illuminating a pitch-black sky. As the Iraqi forces closed in, militants inside the church detonated several large bombs.

read the full article here.

"It May Well be that Liturgical Changes, Scheduled and Unscheduled, Have Drained the Mass of its Awe and Reverence."

One reads that large numbers of Catholics do not understand or accept the teaching of the real presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Can it be that the pews are filled with people who don't know what they are doing? I have heard homilies on the real presence so tentative it is unlikely they would enlighten or strengthen the faith. But copies of the Catechism are available in bookshops everywhere, even in greeting card shops. Maybe tongue-tied pastors ought to buy a copy for every parishioner. What will turn things around is the growing practice of exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. At Notre Dame, a group of undergraduates has established this practice in one of the hall chapels, supplementing the Friday afternoon Eucharistic adoration in Sacred Heart Basilica.

It may well be that liturgical changes, scheduled and unscheduled, have drained the Mass of its awe and reverence. My wife, never easy prey to nostalgia, recently attended a Tridentine Mass and was reminded what it felt like to pray in church. Romper room music and bushels of bonhomie don't prepare one to receive Jesus in the sacrament, delivered with a mindless smile by an extraordinary eucharistic minister who might as well be offering cheese samples at the supermarket. With so little sense of the real presence being exhibited during the sanctuary mob scene that precedes communion, it is perhaps less surprising that belief has seeped away. - Ralph McInerny

please click here for the full article.

InsideCatholic.com | My High Holy Day

All the decorations are up, folks are frantically shopping and preparing, and the anticipation is almost killing me as I await the brightest, best moment of the whole liturgical year: Halloween, of course.

As far back as I can remember, this feast far outclassed Christmas on my personal calendar. No matter that Santa brought piles of gifts like the board game version of The Six Million Dollar Man, the Shrunken Head Machine, or yet one more encyclopedia set which I had begged for. None of this could compare with the fistfuls of crunchy loot that strangers dropped into our sacks, as we trooped up and down the stairwells of our tenements. What made those gobs of candy glow with a sinister excitement was the threat that some might be -- must be! -- laced with deadly poison, our apples stuffed with razor blades, by evil old crones who were eager to kill off the children. Or so my mother insisted, and made me swear not to pop a single kernel of black candy corn into my mouth that she had not personally inspected.

Conversely, given the kind of neighborhood mine was, the threat implied in "Trick or Treat!" was not to be taken lightly. I remember pondering with military thoroughness proportionate punishments for "mean" old ladies or puzzled aliens who offered us nothing -- or worse yet, bizarre and improvised foreign items like figs or chunks of feta. The worst thing I ever did was to cover, in its entirety, some miser's apartment door with dad's shaving cream. I didn't get the belt for doing that -- I got the buckle. But no regrets; to me, a night of treats with no real threat of tricks seemed like miserable, liberal theology: a guaranteed Heaven floating pink and full of fairies over a desolate, empty Hell.

Of course, this holiday was born to commemorate the many nameless saints and prepare for the feast of holy souls in Purgatory -- that scary, fascinating middle place that only we Catholics really believe in. That makes All Souls' Day (November 2) the most distinctively Roman Catholic holiday in the calendar. The Orthodox pray for the dead, but if you accuse them of agreeing with Catholic teaching on this subject -- as on any other --they will vigorously deny it. Likewise, their liturgy and traditions affirm truths suspiciously similar to the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption, which they only began to deny once Rome declared them infallible. Had I the pope's ear, I'd beg him to teach, ex cathedra, that Jesus really existed -- if only to hear the monks of Mt. Athos find ways to deny it.

click here for more.

All the Evil in the World is Due to Lukewarm Catholics

The evil that has been allowed to spread in the Church is the problem. That is why that insane baby killer is sitting in the White House. Because the Church did not speak up like it should have. This is why there is a Congress running wild, destroying your futures and your children's futures, and your children's children's future and saddling this country with a ridiculous debt...and all doing it in the name of God...Justice...Peace?! This is happening because the Church did not do what it is supposed to be doing. All the evil in the world is due to lukewarm Catholics. - Michael Voris

The Great Global Warming Myth: Bad Science and Evil Intentions

I ran across this Catholic Facebook page today which is seeking to reduce the Catholic carbon foot print (ughh...typing that made me queezy). That would be commendable, if there were a cause for concern. Man induced Global Warming is a fabricated concept generated by elitist environmentalists whose main goal is to reduce the population (for some, the goal is to gain power, but let's just say: regardless of their evil motives, they work together nicely). Thousands of scientists reject the theory of global warming. Why don't you hear about it in the media, you ask? Because you rely on the wrong media. Still don't believe me? Watch the documentary: "Global Warming Unmasked: The Hidden Agenda" by Michael Voris here (just create a free account and search 'global warming'). See a mini-explanation from Michael Voris here. Voris is not some Republican operative, he is a concerned Catholic citizen fighting against and exposing the evils of today's society. His claims are not empty or baseless. They are backed up by overwhelming evidence. He is not the only one calling B.S. on this global warming swindle. I know that you are probably skeptical because companies who try to stay green, public school teachers, and democratic politicians weep over global warming so much that you'd think they'd be willing to kill themselves in order to reduce their carbon foot print. The sad truth is that America was duped by the global warming propagandists. Their evil agenda is even being promoted within the Church.

take a look at this eye opening excerpt from an article I found which exposes some of the evil:

These radical environmentalists actually believe that there will be unprecedented global disasters if radical population control measures are not enforced across the globe immediately.

Of course by now most people who will read this article know that this bizarre population control agenda is even represented in the White House. Barack Obama's "science czar", John P. Holdren, once co-authored a textbook entitled "Ecoscience" in which he advocated population control measures that are so wild and so bizarre that it is difficult to believe that a sane individual actually authored them.

What follows are actual quotes from Holdren's textbook...

Pages 787 and 788:

“Adding a sterilant to drinking water or staple foods is a suggestion that seems to horrify people more than most proposals for involuntary fertility control. Indeed, this would pose some very difficult political, legal, and social questions, to say nothing of the technical problems. No such sterilant exists today, nor does one appear to be under development. To be acceptable, such a substance would haveto meet some rather stiff requirements: it must be uniformly effective, despite widely varying doses received by individuals, and despite varying degrees of fertility and sensitivity among individuals; it must be free of dangerous or unpleasant side effects; and it must have no effect on members of the opposite sex, children, old people, pets, or livestock.”

Pages 786 and 787:

“A program of sterilizing women after their second or third child, despite the relatively greater difficulty of the operation than vasectomy, might be easier to implement than trying to sterilize men.

The development of a long-term sterilizing capsule that could be implanted under the skin and removed when pregnancy is desired opens additional possibilities for coercive fertility control. The capsule could be implanted at puberty and might be removable, with official permission, for a limited number of births.”

Page 838:

“In today’s world, however, the number of children in a family is a matter of profound public concern. The law regulates other highly personal matters. For example, no one may lawfully have more than one spouse at a time. Why should the law not be able to prevent a person from having more than two children?”

Keep in mind that Holdren is now Barack Obama's top science advisor.

But even some of the richest people in the world are absolutely obsessed with population control. Back on May 5th, Bill Gates, David Rockefeller, Warren Buffett, George Soros, Michael Bloomberg, Ted Turner, Oprah Winfrey and a number of other of the wealthiest people in the world gathered for a clandestine meeting in Manhattan. The meeting was supposed to be so secret that many of the billionaires’ aides were only told that they were at "security briefings".

So what was so important that so many of the wealthiest people in the world had to gather for a secret meeting?

Population control.

According to one major U.K. newspaper, one person who attended this secret meeting confessed that "a consensus emerged that they would back a strategy in which population growth would be tackled as a potentially disastrous environmental, social and industrial threat."

This is what the richest people in the world are so upset about?

The article goes on to quote one attendee of the meeting as saying the following about the "overpopulation problem"

"This is something so nightmarish that everyone in this group agreed it needs big-brain answers."

Apparently they do not intend to include the rest of us as they come up with their "big-brain answers".

It would be a mistake to underestimate how obsessed the global elite are with population issues.

The truth is that they are absolutely committed to trying to solve the "population problem" in this generation.

So what will their "solutions" look like?

We can only guess.

But what we do know is that in the name of fighting "climate change", the United Nations and the global elite plan to pursue a radical population control agenda. According to their own documents, the number one problem the world is facing is "climate change" and the number one cause of "climate change" is overpopulation.

Knowing that many nations on earth will never willingly submit to open population control measures, the global elite will likely implement their population reduction methods by subtle means. Let us just hope that they are not successful in their attempts to eliminate as many people as possible.

I am Pretty Sure Christ Never Once Said Give All Your Money to the Government and Follow Me.

I stumbled upon this atrocious article today that literally left my head aching. It tried to make the claim that the Tea Party movement is not in line with Catholic teaching. There may be many people confused by this, even a lot of Catholics. This is largely because we Catholics generally have a positive view of the world (sometimes too positive). We trust our politicians and don't doubt their integrity. We would all like to believe that we are not being lied to. However, we cannot buy into the lie that democratic 'social justice' policies like Health Care Reform, tax hikes, and other welfare initiatives are designed to help the little guy. We cannot underestimate the power and the evil of the liberal agenda. The democratic volunteers waving signs for their favorite candidates may be passionate about the poor or gay rights but the radical left strategists are not concerned with the little guy. They are more concerned with government power, money in their pockets, population control, and the shredding of any remaining moral fiber in our society.

This article goes as far as to say that 'there really is a pretty sharp tension between some of the basic teachings of the Church in regards to politics, the role of government and what we owe to the poor, and what these tea party advocates are promoting.' And what exactly is the Church teaching that is in tension with freedom? What exactly is the Church teaching demanding big government? Oh that's right, there is none. Popes have been standing on the front lines, battling against the evil of socialism. They encourage individual charity and Church based charity.

The only tension here is between liberal Catholic dissidents and Catholic Tea Party patriots. Beware: Just like the Tea Party is doing with the GOP (exposing phonies and RINOs), we will do with you. You cannot use the beautiful Catholic tradition and teachings of charity that Christ gave the Church in order to defend the evil liberal social agenda. Really, you should be ashamed of yourself.

This Schneck guy even has the nerve to stretch the truth this far: '[m]uch as we might like otherwise, the Catholic argument is that government and citizen are equally expected to be our brother’s keeper.' WOAH WOAH WOAH there, buddy...since when did any Catholic teaching demand that the government perform our acts of charity for us? ERRR WRONG AGAIN.

Let's get one thing clear, the Catholic Church has fought against the evils of socialism and communism since they reared their ugly heads. Don't let this guy fool you into believing that government has the right to spread your wealth around. Of course, we are all obligated to be charitable and help the poor as much as we can. This, however, does not mean voting for out of touch democrats who want to use your hard earned money to fund their so-called 'social justice' projects. You should have the freedom to donate to private charities of your choice. Hey, maybe if they'd quit taxing us we could start our own charities with the money we save. Don't you get it!? It is not about the poor, it is about power.

I could continue but this person who commented on the article says it all:

Sigh...When will we take responsibility for our own actions? It has been shown over and over again throughout history that government can not support the poor. Only with true Christ like compassion can we help the less fortunate in this world. The government takes my money and squanders it leaving me with barely enough to be charitable outside of my community. It takes the government $7 to get $1 to the poor. While good Christ centered charities give 90% of there contributions directly to the poor. I say give me my 7 bucks let me give 5 to the poor the get 4 and a half bucks instead of 1 and I have 3 more to give to other causes and maybe take my wife out to dinner. Health care provided by the government is a failure everywhere it has been tried. What really happens is that the poor will receive sub-par health care and the rich will receive superior as they will go to private doctors. Christ never asked us to make government equal and forgive me but I have no clue where that dogma came from. If that where the case we would have no need for a Church as the government would be dogmatic, just like it is in China. Government wants to suppress Christ because satan know we hold the way, the truth and the light. I am no tea party supporter but to say they are not in sync with social teaching is unfair. Whose social teachings? Most liberal social teachers in the Church do not even know what the Church truly teaches as they put their own agenda in place on issues of life, contraception, poverty and the like. They think they know better, sounds kind of like Luther to me. Look at the “Faithful Citizenship Document” I know many Catholics who justified their voting for a Pro Abortion candidate because of this wishy washy document that does not speak to the truth of what Christ teaches. I am pretty sure Christ never once said give all your money to the government and follow me.

So there is only one thing to do - pray. If it doesn't come easily, pray all the more.

I found this article on www.catholic.org and enjoyed it. (:

"Anyone who prays only when she can affectively bring along her heart and soul will not sustain prayer for long. But the habit of prayer, the ritual, simple fidelity to the act, showing up to do it irrespective of feelings and mood, can sustain prayer for a lifetime and reign in the roaming of the head and heart."

So there is only one thing to do - pray. If it doesn't come easily, pray all the more.

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - It feels like a terrible thing I'm about to say, but here goes: I often have a very hard time with prayer.

I wish I didn't. I wish I had a heart like St. Therese or John Paul the Great or St. Francis de Sales, but right now I don't. I've been struggling greatly with discouragement and futility and a lack-luster, ho-hum spirit. Combine that with the busyness of homeschooling, childcare, housework, and other responsibilities and it's a recipe for defeat.

Why is it such a struggle? Everything in me wants to be closer to Jesus. There's nothing in my heart that wants to reject Jesus and choose the world instead. Yet I continually seem to be clawing my way up the mountain loaded down with frustration and doubt instead of walking steadily along the path of trust and devotion.

I love Jesus. There is no doubt about that. He is my Wonderful, merciful Savior. I will not let Him go. That much I know for sure. So why doesn't that translate into a vibrant, rich, colorful, fulfilling prayer life? What's wrong with me?

What's wrong is that I'm me and not the idealized, perfected image of me that I want to be. I have many weaknesses to overcome. If I am ever to do that, I need help. And Jesus, being ever wise and helpful, gives me what I need - struggle.

The struggle is a gift because the most important thing I need to learn is simply to be faithful. To adopt Nike's slogan, "Just Do It." Like strengthening a muscle through repeated exercises, my heart needs some strength training, and some days the weight is heavier than others. There are those sweet times when prayer is joyful and rewarding and inspiring, but then there's times when it's like schlepping through thick mud and it feels utterly pointless.

It is a test of my faithfulness. It's the weight of perseverance. It will strengthen me if I carry it. I don't have to run with it, only walk. But if I truly want to grow in devotion and holiness, I am obligated to struggle. There's no assurance that I won't fall or fail miserably - quite the opposite. Sure as the sun will rise, I will fall. I'll screw up. It doesn't matter. I'm obligated to struggle anyway.

Devotion is proven during the hard times; the flat, stale, monotonous times. It's easy to fall in love, but staying in love requires great effort. God has heard me say I want to love Him more, and He obliges my request by giving me ample opportunities to prove it. It's up to me to push my weak heart to resist the complacency and excuses and distractions and come to Him in prayer.

I recently read "The Sustaining Power of Ritual: Emotions, Celebration, Boredom" by Fr. Ronald Rolheiser and it was a good dose of encouragement. He begins like this: "Never travel with anyone who expects you to be interesting all the time. On a long trip there are bound to be some boring stretches."

He writes in a reassuring way about the purpose of ritual and habit in our spiritual lives. Everything is not exciting, brimming with emotion and romance all the time. That does not automatically mean there's something wrong. There is something important to be said for routine and duty.

"Duty and commitment without heart will not ultimately sustain themselves. However, with that being admitted, it is important to recognize and name the fact that any relationship in love, family, church or prayer can only sustain itself over a long period of time through ritual and routine. Ritual sustains the heart, not vice versa."

"Anyone who prays only when she can affectively bring along her heart and soul will not sustain prayer for long. But the habit of prayer, the ritual, simple fidelity to the act, showing up to do it irrespective of feelings and mood, can sustain prayer for a lifetime and reign in the roaming of the head and heart."

Jesus knows what meager, pitiful things I have to give Him even on my best days. It's not Jesus who tells me I must prepare an extravagant banquet for Him every time I pray, but the enemy of my soul. That way he can persuade me to skip prayer when I am feeling stressed or disinterested or unmotivated. It's pointless to pray when your heart isn't in it, he lies. Why bother?

Well, I need to bother because it's the only way to resist the liar. It is never pointless to pray and Satan knows it. And whether I say, "Amen" and feel any better for the time I spent in prayer or not is beside the point. I'm building spiritual muscle and training my will. I'm showing the Lord in my small way that I'm not a fair-weather friend but a sincere follower.

The good news is that as Catholics we have a rich storehouse of prayers at our disposal to help train our weak prayer muscles. The Liturgy of the Hours, the Rosary, the Divine Mercy chaplet, the Angelus, etc., are all tailor-made for developing a sustaining ritual of prayer throughout the day. There's also no shortage of wonderful devotional books with daily readings to jump-start your prayer and focus your heart in the right place. My favorite right now is the In Conversation with God series by Francis Fernandez. (It's easy to find on Amazon and most Catholic bookstores.)

Whether the prayers spill out of a full heart and roll off the tongue or whether it feels like schlepping through mud or as dull as watching paint dry, it's all good. The hardest part may be just showing up and doing it. It takes repetition, time, determination, and humility. It's a struggle I don't think is going to go away anytime soon. But fidelity through the hard times is the evidence of love; faithfulness when it's easier to give up is the mark of devotion.

So there is only one thing to do - pray. If it doesn't come easily, pray all the more. And be assured that by doing so your heart will be strengthened, your faith increased whether you can immediately perceive it or not. The struggle is not there to frustrate you or discourage you but to condition your soul for the battle.

Just do it. And remember you're not alone. I'm schlepping right along with you.

Fr. Z: Save the Liturgy, Save the World

I urge all priests and bishops who read this blog with any slight quaver of resonance or benevolence, to consider this with care:

If you sense that something quite serious and important is going on right now, for the love of God rethink your approach to how you foster Holy Church’s proper public worship.

Do all in your power and through your influence to foster a worship of God which conforms not to worldly goals – as praiseworthy as they may be in a world still dominated by its dire prince – but rather to the real point of religion: an encounter with mystery.

Our worship must become more and more focused on the one who is Other. Seek what is truly above in your rites and raise people to encounter mystery.

You will be challenged and reviled, blocked and attacked as you do. You will be worn down and afraid under the weight of resistance.

But I think that to save the world we must save the liturgy.

Sunday reaffirmed this for me.

They can’t compete with the fullness of Catholic liturgy and sound preaching.

Reforming the liturgy along the lines Pope Benedict has proposed may be the most loving and effective option we have in these ever hotter times.

People will have to keep working very much in the sphere of the secular. Of course! Our inward Catholic Christian identity must find outward expression and bring concrete fruits.

But I think the real work now – where we will make some effective headway – must be done at the level of our public worship.

In the present circumstances, we are not going to argue most people out of danger or error. But together we can draw them in and along and back through worship.

So long as we remain doctrinally faithful and active in works of mercy both spiritual and especially temporal, if we get our public worship together we will have a strong bastion against error.

Holy Catholic worship will be an attractive force for conversion.

We need to foster worship which stuns, which leaves the newcomer, long-time practicing Catholic, above all the fallen-away simply thunder stuck. Worship must at some point leave people speechless in awe. We need language and music and gesture which in its beauty floods the mind with light even while it swells the heart to bursting.

The more people encounter mystery through liturgy, the more hollow will clang the false or incomplete messages of those who have strayed from the good path, either to the left or to the right.

Our goal must be that which is good and beautiful because it is true, that which reflects what is of God, not man’s image merely. Give us mystery, not fabrications smacking of the world, fallen and transitory.

Fathers, and you Reverend Bishops, if anything of alarm has sounded in your hearts and minds of late, rethink your approach to our worship. Examine your approach with an eye on the signs of the times. Take a new approach.

The approach we have had least last few decades isn’t getting it done. Really … it isn’t

Going neither left nor right along the road toward the Lord, even as He comes to us, take the flock now deeper, now higher on that path, but always to encounter the mystery which distinguishes truly Catholic liturgy… and therefore true Catholics.

Lines are being drawn, sides taken, choices made.

More than ever we need what Christ, the true Actor of our liturgy, desires to offer us through Holy Church’s worship.

Extracted from Fr. Z's article: Liturgical-Political Manifesto

Fr. Euteneuer Returning to Diocese of Palm Beach

Fr. Euteneuer is returning to my diocese (Palm Beach) after ten years of intense pro-life missionary work at Human Life International! In addition to his tireless battle against the evil of abortion, Fr. Euteneuer has also been "performing exorcisms for seven years with approval from numerous dioceses in the United States. His interest in the ministry was a natural outgrowth of his work in the pro-life field, which deals with the organized power of evil on a global scale" (Human Life International). I found this excerpt from his book on RenewAmerica.com:

The Real Power of Satan

In today's day and age, Satan is growing exponentially more powerful due to the enormity of human sinfulness, and the Church must confront his power either willingly or unwillingly. Satan is normally "hidden in the dark sea of human sin and error," like Leviathan of the Old Testament, but nowadays he is walking tall in powerful structures of sin like abortion, pornography, sex slavery, rapacious greed and terrorism. He flexes his muscles in the massive diffusion of errors and sinful practices like the doctrines of myriad false religions, pernicious ideologies like radical feminism and "pro-choice" extremism, the militant homosexual movement and the aggressive mass media which is the ministry of propaganda for Satan and all his works and all his empty promises.

Never in all of history have we seen evil promoted so effectively and the true good so roundly mocked and rejected as in this age of extreme technological prowess. Although evil has existed since the dawn of time and manifested itself to the world, the difference between the modern world and past generations is that Satan has a greater ability to use groups and institutions for increasing his wicked reach into human life and society. No longer is evil just practiced in the haunts of cemeteries, seedy parlors and hidden covens. Nowadays, objective evil is displayed out in the open air with impunity, celebrated in the public forum and strategized in plush board rooms. Whole industries and power groups are dedicated to its promotion and dissemination, and sometimes the sheer power of these industries of immorality defies imagination. They target the younger generations with an immense seductive force, and the young are almost entirely unequipped to deal with this tyranny of sin due to unparalleled attacks on faith, marriage, family and innocent human life in modern times. Not only do young people not know the truth about their salvation; they don't even know that they don't know it.

The 21st century is a moral and spiritual battlefield of such immense proportions that no era of human history will have ever seen a war like it. Satan is using the cumulative force of this world's sinfulness to re-define life as we know it. Now, this war is not just against trained combatants. It is total war against all that is sacred and natural. It is a war against humanity itself, something unseen before in all of history with the possible exception of atheistic Communism.

The devil now arrogates to himself the right to control the totality of human existence even in so-called free societies: from manipulating the very act of creation (in vitro fertilization, cloning, Human Genome); to the authority over life and death (abortion, embryonic stem cell research, euthanasia); to the definition of human sexuality and marriage (birth control, divorce, homosexual unions); to the very prospect of human annihilation (nuclear war, genocide and the impending New World Order). Nothing escapes the rebellious forces of hedonism and secularism in their violent march through our world. They creep into the fabric of our lives and families like a vapor until they have poisoned the entire environment and make everyone believe that their toxicity is "normal." If the measure of a war's ferociousness is the number of casualties, the modern war to exterminate souls is unprecedented in the history of humanity; it is nothing short of history's worst nuclear holocaust in spiritual terms.

Malachi Martin, in the 1992 preface to his book, Hostage to the Devil, said that "ritualistic Satanism and its inevitable consequence, demonic Possession, are now part and parcel of the atmosphere of life in America....such pervasive cultural desolation is the most fertile ground one could possibly imagine for the causes of Possession to take root and flourish in almost unimpeded freedom." It must be kept in mind that such a frightening observation was made at a time before the advent of the Internet, the massive diffusion of New Age beliefs and the Harry Potter books and movies. Martin's observations suggest that this evil is so all-encompassing that only the authority of God Himself, borne and administered by the Church, is adequate to meet this challenge.

The Authority of the Church Militant

We know from our catechism that the whole Church of Christ is not confined just to this earthly realm. The battle against Satan has already been won in heaven and purgatory, and only in this earthly realm is the devil allowed to work. God, in His Mercy, certainly has not abandoned us to the forces of evil, though. There is one spiritual force on earth that can counter the hubris of Satan and his apostate angels and conquer them. That force is the "One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church," which, in my opinion, has been singularly unprepared for and unengaged in the hard work of spiritual warfare since the Second Vatican Council. By this I mean that if the institutional Church on earth were ever to train its members to be spiritual combatants and aggressively apply its great authority against the power of evil in this world, the evils mentioned above would simply not be able to exist in their potency or scope. As it is, the Church has yet to seriously enter the battle and become what it is called to be, namely, the Church Militant.

The hour is late, Satan's forces are already assembled, and the Church's army and its officers must stir for battle. The trumpet call of Christ our Commander beckons. Souls are at stake, and the devil's only real hope for victory is that the Church will sit this one out. The devil certainly "knows that his time is short" and would be much shorter should the Church of Christ ever take the call to spiritual warfare seriously. When our Lord healed a paralytic by forgiving his sins and restoring him to health, the Gospel said that "a feeling of awe came over the crowd, and they praised God for giving such authority to men." Indeed, that spiritual authority has been given to the men of the Church for the protection, sanctification and saving of souls — it only has to be used.


to order a copy of Fr. Euteneuer's book or to learn more, visit: www.exorcismbook.com

to explore some of the work Fr. Euteneuer is involved in, you can visit Human Life International.

and to keep up to date on current events, please visit RenewAmerica.com.

He has loved you with a love of unspeakable foresight...

I have heard some of my peers who have remained faithful to our Holy Church and who have had the privilege of staying in God's graces their whole lives express some anxiety regarding their spiritual fervor.

Some converts tell their story of how they became as prodigal sons by rejecting the truths of the faith and then by the powerful Grace of God were awakened and eventually led home. These stories can sometimes captivate audiences and inspire others to never stray from God.

This can lead the people who have never committed great sins or rebelled against the faith to feel somewhat less exciting or perhaps spiritually dull. Thérèse of Lisieux briefly touches upon this in her manuscripts and I think it provides for us a beautiful glimpse into the mysterious love of God.


O blessed ignorance! which has helped me avoid great evils! How can a heart given over to the affection of creatures be intimately united with God? I feel this is not possible. Without having drunk the poisoned cup of a too ardent love for creatures, I feel I cannot be mistaken. I have seen so many souls, seduced by this false light, fly like poor moths and burn their wings, and then return to the real and gentle light of Love that gives them new wings which are more brilliant and delicate, so that they can fly toward Jesus, that Divine Fire "which burns without consuming" (St. John of the Cross) Ah! I feel it! Jesus knew I was too feeble to be exposed to temptation; perhaps I would have allowed myself to be burned entirely by the misleading light had I seen it shining in my eyes. It was not so for me, for I encountered only bitterness where stronger souls met with joy, and they detached themselves from it through fidelity. I have no merit at all, then in not having given myself up to the love of creatures. I was preserved from it only through God's mercy!

I know that without Him, I could have fallen as low as St. Mary Magdalene, and the profound words of Our Lord to Simon resound with a great sweetness in my soul. I know that "he to whom less is forgiven, loves less," (Luke 7:47) but I also know that Jesus has forgiven me more than St. Mary Magdalene since He forgave me in advance by preventing me from falling. Ah! I wish I could explain how I feel.

Here is an example which will express my thoughts at least a little. Suppose a clever physician's child meets with a stone in his path which causes him to fall and break a limb. His father comes to him immediately, picks him up lovingly, takes care of his hurt, using all the resources of his profession for this. His child, completely cured, shows his gratitude. This child is no doubt right in loving his father! But I am going to make another comparison. The father, knowing there is a stone in his child's way, hastens ahead of him and removes it but without anyone seeing him do it. Certainly this child, the object of his father's tender foresight, but unaware of the misfortune from which he was delivered by him, will not thank him and will love him less than if he had been cured by him. But if he should come to learn the danger from which he escaped, will he not love his father more? Well, I am this child, the object of the foreseeing love of a Father who has not sent His Word to save the just, but sinners. He wants me to love Him because He has forgiven me not much but ALL. He has not expected me to love Him much like Mary Magdalene, but He has willed that I KNOW how He has loved me with a love of unspeakable foresight in order that now I may love Him unto folly! I have heard it said that one cannot meet a pure soul who loves more than a repentant soul; ah! how I wish to give the lie to this statement!

Eight Beatitudes for Politicians

The late Cardinal Francois-Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, who was president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, proposed the moral guidelines on May 3rd at a conference in the northern Italian city of Padua. Echoing the eight beatitudes preached by Christ in his Sermon on the Mount, Cardinal Thuan said politicians needed a similar set of rules that leave room for the faith in their profession:

1. Blessed the politician who well understands his role in the world.

2. Blessed the politician who personally exemplifies credibility.

3. Blessed the politician who works for the common good and not for his own interests.

4. Blessed the politician who is true to himself, his faith and his electoral promises.

5. Blessed the politician who works for unity and makes Jesus the fulcrum of its defence.

6. Blessed the politician who works for radical change, refusing to call good that which is evil and using the Gospel as a guide.

7. Blessed the politician who listens to the people before, during and after the elections, and who listens to God in prayers.

8. Blessed the politician who has no fear of the truth or the mass media, because at the time of judgment he will answer only to God, not the media.

Cardinal Thuan was imprisoned for 13 years (nine spent in solitary confinement) due to unjust and evil government in Vietnam. We should follow his example by standing firm against socialism and communism in America.

Thuan was born into a family with a long Catholic tradition, his relatives were among the martyrs since 1698. From an early age, Thuan was brought up in a Catholic environment with deep faith, owing much to his exemplary holy mother, Elizabeth. Every evening she told her son stories from the Bible and those of the martyrs of Vietnam, especially of his ancestors. She introduced him to the example of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, taught him to love and forgive, and also taught him to cherish his homeland of Vietnam.

Thuan entered the An Ninh Minor Seminary in his early teens, and followed his studies in philosophy and theology at Phu Xuan Major Seminary. He was ordained priest on June 11, 1953 by Bishop Urrutia. The young priest was assigned to St. Francis parish to help with the transition from a French majority in that parish to a Vietnamese one. After a few months at St. Francis parish, Bishop Urrutia appointed him chaplain of the Pellerin Institute (where he himself had been educated), the Central Hospital, and the provincial prisons. Only a few months as chaplain of the Pellerin Institute, the Central Hospital, and the provincial prisons, he was once again assigned by Bishop Urrutia to study in Rome. He spent three years (1956-1959) at the Urbanian University, a pontifical institute founded by Pope Urban VIII in 1627.

He was awarded the Doctor in Canon Law Summa Cum Laude for his thesis on "Organization of military chaplains around the world". Upon his return to Vietnam, he was assigned to teach at An Ninh Seminary of Hue, and then become its rector. He went on to serve as vicar general in the Archdiocese of Hue from 1964-1967. On April 13, 1967, Pope Paul VI appointed him Bishop of Nha Trang, the first Vietnamese Bishop of Nha Trang, replacing Bishop Raymond Paul Piquet, M.E.P. (Bishop of Nha Trang from 1957-1967). He was consecrated Bishop on June 24, 1967, the solemnity of St John the Baptist, at Hue by H.E. Angelo Palmas, Apostolic Delegate for Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

He chose as his motto the title of the new constitution, Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope), because he desired to be an apostle of joy and hope. During his eight years in Nha Trang, he spared no effort in the development of the diocese before the advent of difficult times. He focused on training the grassroots cadres, increasing the number of major seminarians from 42 to 147, and minor seminarians from 200 to 500 in four seminaries, organized In-service Courses for priests of 6 dioceses in Central Vietnam. He also organized other formation courses, such as: development and training of Youth associations, the laity, parish associations and parish councils with training courses for the Justice and Peace Movement, Cursillos and Focolare, and founded the Community of Hope and the LaVang Community. Bishop Thuan wrote six circular letters for the formation of his diocese:

Awake and Pray (1968) Strong in Faith,
Advance with Serenity (1969)
Justice and Peace (1970)
The Mission of Christ is also our Mission
Remembering 300 years (1971)
Holy Years of Renewal and Reconciliation (1971)

Cardinal Thuan held various positions in the Vietnamese Episcopal Conference: He was Chairman of the Justice and Peace Committee, Social Communication Committee and the Development of Vietnam Committee in charge of Corev to assist in resettlement of refugees from the war areas. He was one of the founding members of the Catholic Radio Station ‘Radio Veritas’ Asia, Manila. He frequently attended the Asian Bishops Conference of Asia (F.A.B.C.). He was named Advisor of the Pontifical Council of the Laity from 1971-1975. It was during these meetings that he had the opportunity to meet Pope John Paul II, then Archbishop of Cracow, and to learn from him of pastoral experiences during the most difficult period in Poland under the communist regime. He was also appointed Advisor, then member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of the Peoples, and member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of Sacraments. The Congregation for the Evangelization of the Peoples also entrusted him with the responsibility of visiting and overseeing the Seminaries in a number of countries in Africa. On April 23, 1975 Pope Paul VI named him Coadjutor Archbishop with rights of succession to the Archbishop of Saigon, and at the same time named him titular Archbishop of Vadesi. However the Communist regime did not approve this nomination and forced him to return to Nha Trang.

On the solemnity of the Assumption (August 15, 1975), he was detained and escorted to Nha Trang where he was held in house arrest at Cay Vong. Without ever being tried or sentenced, he was taken to North Vietnam where he was imprisoned for more than 13 years, nine of which were spent in solitary confinement at Vinh Quang (Vinh Phu) prison, then in the prison run by the Hanoi Police. Later, he was again held under house arrest at Giang-Xa. During his years of imprisonment he wrote ‘The Road of Hope’, the Spiritual Testimony (Will) to all the Catholic Vietnamese in Vietnam and abroad.

On November 21, 1988, Feast of the Presentation of Our Lady, he was released from detention and was ordered to live at the Archbishop's House in Hanoi, without permission to perform any pastoral work. In March 1989 he was allowed to visit his aged parents in Sydney, Australia, and travel to Rome to meet the Holy Father and return to Hanoi. In 1991 he was allowed to travel to Rome but was not allowed to return.

Ever since that time he lived in exile, though his heart was always with the Church in Vietnam and his homeland. He spared no efforts to assist social services in Vietnam. For example, leprosarium, charitable organizations, research programs to promote the culture of Vietnam and of the Catholic Church in Vietnam, reconstruction of churches, and the training of seminarians as conditions allowed. In spite of the persecutions imposed on the Church and on himself personally, he always lived and preached forgiveness and reconciliation.

In his life outside Vietnam, he was often invited to preach and lecture in many countries and to various audiences, for example at the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris during Lent, and at various universities in the world. At Mexico in May of l998, he preached to more than 50,000 young people. On May 11, 1996 he received an Honorary Doctorate at the Jesuit University in New Orleans, LA, USA. He also received other honorary titles and prizes including: 9 June 1999 – Roma: “Commandeur de l’Ordre National du Mérite” Embassy of France to the Holy See; 12 December 2000 – Rome (Campidoglio), Italy, Prize “Together for Peace Foundation”; 20 October 2001 –Turin, Italy, Prize for Peace (SERMIG – Associazione Missionaria di giovani); 9 December 2001 – Pistoia, Italy: Prize of Peace 2001, Center of Studies G. Donati. On November 11, 1994 the Holy Father named him Vice President of the Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace, and subsequently President on June 24, 1998 replacing Cardinal Y. R. Etchegaray, who had retired.

During Lent 2000, he received a special invitation from Pope John Paul II to preach the Lenten Retreat to the Curia, at the beginning of the third millennium. When the Holy Father received him in private audience after the retreat, giving him a chalice, Cardinal Thuan said:

“24 years ago I said Mass with three drops of wine and one drop of water in the palm of my hand, I never would have thought that today the Holy Father would give me a gilt chalice. Our Lord is great indeed and so is his love”.

On February 21, 2001 he was elevated to the College of Cardinals by the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, who named him Cardinal of the Church of Santa Maria della Scala. This church is under the pastoral care of the Carmelite Fathers. Since his release from prison, he had undergone 7 operations, 3 of which he suffered infections and was critically ill. The second to last operation was on April 17, 2001 at the Saint Elisabeth’s Medical Center in Boston, MA, USA. The last operation was on May 8, 2002 at the Centre of Research for Tumors in Milan, Italy.

His condition worsened at the beginning of June 2002 and received treatment at Agostino Gemelli Hospital, a teaching hospital attached to the Catholic Sacred Heart University in Rome. He was later transferred to Pio XI hospital for further treatment.

God called Cardinal Thuan home on September 16, 2002 in Rome.

source: Cardinal Van Thuan Foundation

St. Maximilian Kolbe

original source: catholicpages.com

Priest hero of a death camp

His name wasn't always Maximilian. He was born the second son of a poor weaver on 8 January 1894 at Zdunska Wola near Lodz in Poland, and was given the baptismal name of Raymond. Both parents were devout Christians with a particular devotion to Mary. In his infancy, Raymond seems to have been normally mischievous but we are told that one day, after his mother had scolded him for some mischief or other, her words took effect and brought about a radical change in the child's behaviour. Later he explained this change. "That night, I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked me if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them both." Thus early did the child believe and accept that he was destined for martyrdom. His belief in his dream coloured all his future actions.

In 1907, Raymond and his elder brother entered a junior Franciscan seminary in Lwow. Here he excelled in mathematics and physics and his teachers predicted a brilliant future for him in science. Others, seeing his passionate interest in all things military, saw in him a future strategist. For a time indeed, his interest in military affairs together with his fiery patriotism made him lose interest in the idea of becoming a priest. The fulfilment of his dream would lie in saving Poland from her oppressors as a soldier. But before he could tell anyone about his decision his mother announced that, as all their children were now in seminaries, she and her husband intended to enter religious life. Raymond hadn't the heart to upset his parents' plans and so he abandoned his plans for joining the army. He was recieved as a novice in September 1910 and with the habit he took the new name of Maximilian. From 1912 to 1915, he was in Rome studying philosophy at the Gregorian College, and from 1915 to 1919 theology at the Collegio Serafico. He was ordained in Rome on 28 April 1918.

The love of fighting didn't leave him, but while he was in Rome he stopped seeing the struggle as a military one. He didn't like what he saw of the world, in fact he saw it as downright evil. The fight, he decided, was a spiritual one. The world was bigger than Poland and there were worse slaveries than earthly ones. The fight was still on, but he would not be waging it with the sword. At that time, many Catholics in Europe regarded freemasonry as their chief enemy; and it was against the freemasons that Maximilian Kolbe began to wage war. On 16 October 1917, with six companions, he founded the Crusade of Mary Immaculate (Militia Immaculatae), with the aim of "converting sinners, heretics and schismatics, particularly freemasons, and bringing all men to love Mary Immaculate".

As he entered what was to be the most creative period of his life, Fr Maximilian's health had already begun to deteriorate. He was by now in an advanced state of tuberculosis, and he felt himself overshadowed by death. His love for Mary Immaculate now became the devouring characteristic of his life. He regarded himself as no more than an instrument of her will, and the only time he was known to lose his temper was in defence of her honour. It was for her that he strove to develop all the good that was in him, and he wanted to encourage others to do the same.

When Maximilian returned to Poland in 1919, he rejoiced to see his country free once again, a liberation which he attributed to Mary Immaculate. Pius XI, in response to a request from the Polish bishops, had just promulgated the Feast of Our Lady, Queen of Poland, and Fr Maximilian wrote: "She must be the Queen of Poland of every Polish heart. We must labour to win each and every heart for her." He set himself to extend the influence of his Crusade, and formed cells and circles all over Poland. The doctors had by now pronounced him incurable; one lung had collapsed and the other was damaged. Yet it was now that he flung himself into a whirlwind of activity. In January 1922, he began to publish a monthly review, the Knight of the Immaculate, in Krakow. Its aim was to "illuminate the truth and show the true way to happiness". As funds were low, only 5,000 copies of the first issue were printed. In 1922, he removed to another friary in Grodno and acquired a small printing establishment; and from now on the review began to grow. In 1927, 70,000 copies were being printed. The Grodno Friary became too small to house such a mammoth operation, so Fr Maximilian began to look for a site nearer to Warsaw. Prince Jan Drucko-Lubecki offered him some land at Teresin, west of Warsaw, Fr Maximilian promptly erected a statue of Mary Immaculate there, and the monks began the arduous work of construction.

On 21 November 1927, the Franciscans moved from Grodno to Teresin and on 8 December, the friary was consecrated and was given the name of Niepokalanow, the City of the Immaculate. "Niepokalanow", said Fr Maximilian, "is a place chosen by Mary Immaculate and is exclusively dedicated to spreading her cult. All that is and will be at Niepokalanow will belong to her. The monastic spirit will flourish here; we shall practise obedience and we shall be poor, in the spirit of St Francis."

At first, Niepokalanow consisted of no more than a few shacks with tar-paper roofs, but it soon flourished. To cope with the flood of vocations all over Poland, a junior seminary was built at Niepokalanow "to prepare priests for the missions capable of every task in the name of the Immaculate and with her help". A few years later, there were more than a hundred seminarians and the numbers were still growing. Before long, Niepokalanow had become one of the largest (some say the largest) friaries in the world. In 1939, it housed 762 inhabitants: 13 priests, 18 novices, 527 brothers, 122 boys in the junior seminary and 82 candidates for the priesthood. No matter how many labourers were in the vineyard, there was always work for more. Among the inhabitants of Niepokalanow there were doctors, dentists, farmers, mechanics, tailors, builders, printers, gardeners, shoemakers, cooks. The place was entirely self-supporting.

Not only the friary but the printing house had been expanding. More modern machinery had been installed, including three machines which could produce 16,000 copies of the review in an hour. New techniques of type, photogravure and binding were adopted. The new machinery and techniques made it possible to meet the growing demand for Knight of the Immaculate -- which had now reached the incredible circulation figure of 750,000 per month -- and to produce other publications as well. In 1935, they began to produce a daily Catholic newspaper, The Little Daily, of which 137,000 copies were printed on weekdays and 225,000 on Sundays and holydays.

Maximilian did not rest content with mere journalistic activity. His sights were set even further. On 8 December 1938, a radio station was installed at Neipokalanow with the signature tune (played by the brothers' own orchestra) of the Lourdes hymn. And now that there was so much valuable equipment around, Niepokalanow acquired its own fire brigade to protect it against its enemies. Some of the brothers were now trained as firemen.

There was no doubt that Niepokalanow was going from strength to strength, a unique situation within Poland. The results of the work done there were becoming apparent. Priests in parishes all over the country reported a tremendous upsurge of faith, which they attributed to the literature emerging from Niepokalanow. A campaign against abortion in the columns of the Knight (1938) seemed to awaken the conscience of the nation: more than a million people of all classes and professions ranged themselves behind the standard of Mary Immaculate. Years later, after the war, the Polish bishops sent an official letter to the Holy See claiming that Fr Kolbe's magazine had prepared the Polish nation to endure and survive the horrors of the war that was soon to follow.

Fr Maximilian was a restless spirit, and his activities could not be confined to Poland. His junior seminary had been started in 1929, but he didn't intend to wait for its first priest to be trained before he himself set out for the mission lands. To those who pointed out that Niepokalonow wasn't yet up to undertaking foreign apostolic work, he quoted the example of St Francis, who had risked himself on the mission fields when the other Orders had remained uninvolved. With the blessing of his Father General, Maximilian prepared his expedition. Asked whether he had money to finance it, he replied: "Money? It will turn up somehow or other. Mary will see to it. It's her business and her Son's."

On 26 February 1930, Fr Maximilian left Poland with four brothers from Niepokalanow on a journey to the Far East. They travelled by way of Port Said, Saigon and Shanghai, and on 24 April they landed at Nagasaki in Japan. Here they were given epispcopal permission to stay. In fact Archbishop Hayasaka received them very warmly when he learned that Fr Maximilian had two doctorates and would be able to tkae the vacant chair of philosophy in the diocesan seminary in exchange for a licence to print his review.

The going was hard. The Poles' only shelter was a wretched hut whose walls and roof were caving in. They slept on what straw they could find and their tables were planks of wood. But despite such hardships, and the fact that they knew no word of the Japanese language, and had no money, on 24 April 1930, exactly a month after their arrival, a telegram was despatched to Niepokalanow: "Today distributing Japanese Knight. Have printing press. Praise to Mary Immaculate." After that, it was scarcely surprising that a year later the Japanese Niepokalanow was inaugurated -- Mugenzai no Sono (the Garden of the Immaculate), built on the slopes of Mount Kikosan. The choice of this site in the suburbs had been dictated by poverty, but it proved to be a lucky one. People thought Fr Maximilian was crazy to be building on steep ground sloping away from the town; but in 1945, when the atomic bomb all but levelled Nagaskai, Mugenzai no Sono sustained no more damage than a few broken pains of stained glass. Today it forms the centre of a Franciscan province.

Despite his passionate zeal in the cause of Mary, Fr Maximilian proved to be a wise missionary. He did not attempt to impose Western ideas on the Japanese. He respected their national customers and looked for what was good in Buddhism and Shintoism. He entered into dialogue with Buddhist priests and some of them became his friends. In 1931, he founded a novitiate, and in 1936 a junior seminary. And of course he continued to publish his beloved magazine. Seibo no Kishi, the Japanese Knight, had a circulation six times that of the nearest Japanese Catholic rival. This was because it was aimed at the whole community, not just Catholics. The first 10,000 copies had swollen to 65,000 by 1936.

Fr. Maximilian's health was rapidly deteriorating, but he didn't allow this fact to diminish his zeal -- or his restless energy. Although he often complained of the lack of manpower and machines needed to serve the people of Japan, in 1932 he was already seeking fresh pastures. On 31 May he left Japan and sailed to Malabar where, after a few initial difficulties, he founded the third Niepokalanow. But his superiors requested him to return to Japan, and as no priests could be spared for Malabar, that idea had to be given up. On another of his journeys, he travelled through Siberia and spent some time in Moscow. Even here, he dreamed of publishing his magazine -- in Russian. He had studied the language and had a fair acquaintance with marxist literature. Like Pope John XXIII, he looked for the good elements, even in systems he believed to be evil; and he tried to teach his friars to do likewise.

In 1936, he was recalled to Poland, and left Japan for the last time. He had thought that he would find martyrdom there; and indeed he had found martyrdom of a kind. He was racked by violent headaches and covered with abscesses brought on by the food to which he could not grow accustomed. But these things were only pinpricks: the real martyrdom awaited him elsewhere.

Just before the Second World War broke out, Fr Maximilian spoke to his friars about suffering. They must not be afraid, he said, for suffering accepted with love would bring them closer to Mary. All his life, he had dreamt of a martyr's crown, and the time was nearly at hand.

By 13 September 1939, Niepokalanow had been occupied by the invading Germans and most of its inhabitants had been deported to Germany. Among them was Fr Maximilian. But that exile did not last long and on 8 December (the feast of the Immaculate Conception) the prisoners were set free. From the moment that he returned to Niepokalanow, Fr Maximilian was galvanised into a new kind of activity. He began to organize a shelter for 3,000 Polish refugees, among whom were 2,000 Jews. "We must do everything in our power to help these unfortunate people who have been driven from their homes and deprived of even the most basic necessities. Our mission is among them in the days that lie ahead." The friars shared everything they had with the refugees. They housed, fed and clothed them, and brought all their machinery into use in their service.

Inevitably, the community came under suspicion and was watched closely. Early in 1941, in the only edition of The Knight of the Immaculate which he was allowed to publish, Fr Maximilian set pen to paper and thus provoked his own arrest. "No one in the world can change Truth," he wrote. "What we can do and should do is to seek truth and to serve it when we have found it. The real conflict is the inner conflict. Beyond armies of occupation and the hecatombs of extermination camps, there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth of every soul: good and evil, sin and love. And what use are the victories on the battlefield if we ourselves are defeated in our innermost personal selves?"

He would never know that kind of defeat; but a more obvious defeat was near. On 17 February 1941, he was arrested and sent to the infamous Pawiak prison in Warsaw. Here he was singled out for special ill-treatment. A witness tells us that in March of that year an SS guard, seeing this man in his habit girdled with a rosary, asked if he believed in Christ. When the priest calmly replied, "I do", the guard struck him. The SS man repeated his question several times and receiving always the same answer went on beating him mercilessly. Shortly afterwards the Franciscan habit was taken away and a prisoner's garment was substituted. On 28 May, Fr Maximilian was with over 300 others who were deported from Pawiak to Auschwitz. There he received his striped convict's garments and was branded with the number 16670. He was put to work immediately carrying blocks of stone for the construction of a crematorium wall. On the last day of May he was assigned with other priests to the Babice section which was under the direction of "Bloody" Krott, an ex-criminal. "These men are layabouts and parisites", said the Commandant to Krott, "get them working." Krott forced the priests to cut and carry huge tree trunks. The work went on all day without a stop and had to be done running --- with the aid of vicious blows from the guards. Depsite his one lung, Father Maximilain accepted the work and the blows with surprising calm. Krott conceived a relentless hatred against the Franciscan and gave him heavier tasks than the others. Sometimes his colleagues would try to come to his aid but he would not expose them to danger. Always he replied, "Mary gives me strength. All will be well." At this time he wrote to his mother, "Do not worry about me or my health, for the good Lord is everywhere and holds every one of us in his great love."

One day, Krott found some of the heaviest planks he could lay hold of and personally loaded them on the Franciscan's back, ordering him to run. When he collapsed, Krott kicked him in the stomach and face and had his men give him fifty lashes. When the priest lost consciousness Krott threw him in the mud and left him for dead. But his companions managed to smuggle him to the Revier, the camp hospital. Although he was suffering greatly, he secretly heard confessions in the hospital and spoke to the other inmates of the love of God. In Aushcwitz, where hunger and hatred reigned and faith evaporated, this man opened his heart to others and spoke of God's infinite love. He seemed never to think of himself. When food was brought in and everyone struggled to get his place in the queue so as to be sure of a share, Fr Maximilian stood aside, so that frequently there was none left for him. At other times he shared his meagre ration of soup or bread with others. He was once asked whether such self-abnegation made sense in a place where every man was engaged in a struggle or survival, and he answered: "Every man has an aim in life. For most men it is to return home to their wives and families, or to their mothers. For my part, I give my life for the good of all men."

Men gathered in secret to hear his words of love and encouragement, but it was his example which counted for most. Fr Zygmunt Rusczak remembers: "Each time I saw Fr Kolbe in the courtyard I felt within myself an extraordinary effusion of his goodness. Although he wore the same ragged clothes as the rest of us, with the same tin can hanging from his belt, one forgot his wretched exterior and was conscious only of the charm of his inspired countenance and of his radiant holiness."

There remained only the last act in the drama. The events are recorded in the sworn testimonials of former inmates of the camp, collected as part of the beatification proceedings. They are as follows:

Tadeusz Joachimowski, clerk of Block 14A: "In the summer of 1941, most probably on the last day of Juyl, the camp siren announced that there had been an escape. At the evening roll-call of the same day we, ie Block 14A, were formed up in the street between the buildings of Blocks 14 and 17. After some delay we were joined by a group of the Landwirtschafts-Kommando. During the count it was found that three prisoners from this Kommando had escaped: one from our Block and the two others from other Blocks. Lagerfuhrer Fritzsch announced that on account of the escape of the three prisoners, ten prisoners would be picked in reprisal from the blocks in which the fugitives had lived and would be assigned to the Bunker (the underground starvation cell)"

Jan Jakub Zegidewicz takes up the story from there: "After the group of doomed men had already been selected, a prisoner stepped out from the ranks of one of the Blocks. I recognized Fr Kolbe. Owing to my poor knowledge of German I did not understand what they talked about, nor do I remember whether Fr Kolbe spoke directly to Fritzsch. When making his request, Fr Kolbe stood at attention and pointed at a former non-commissioned officer known to me from the camp. It could be inferred from the expression on Fritzsch's face that he was surprised at Fr Kolbe's action. As the sign was given, Fr Kolbe joined the ranks of the doomed and the non-commissioned officer left the ranks of the doomed Firzsch had consented to the exchange. A little later, the doomed men were marched off in the direction of Block 13, the death Block."

The non-commissioned officer was Franciszek Gajowniczek. When the sentence of doom had been pronounced, Gajowniczek had cried out in despair, "Oh, my poor wife, my poor children. I shall never see them again." It was then that the unexpected had happened, and that from among the ranks of those temporarily reprieved, prisoner 16670 had stepped forward and offered himself in the other man's place. Then the ten condemned men were led off to the dreaded Bunker, to the airless underground cells were men died slowly without food or water.

Bruno Borgowiec was an eyewitness of those last terrible days, for he was an assistant to the janitor and an interpreter in the underground Bunkers. He tells us what happened: "In the cell of the poor wretches there were daily loud prayers, the rosary and singing, in which prisnoers from neighbouring cells also joined. When no SS men were in the Block, I went to the Bunker to talk to the men and comfort them. Fervent prayers and songs to the Holy Mother resounded in all the corridors of the Bunker. I had the impression I was in a church. Fr Kolbe was leading and the prisoners responded in unison. They were often so deep in prayer that they did not even hear that inspecting SS men had descended to the Bunker; and the voices fell silent only at the loud yelling of their visitors. When the cells were opened the poor wretches cried loudly and begged for a piece of bread and for water, which they did not receive, however. If any of the stronger ones approached the door he was immediately kicked in the stomach by the SS men, so that falling backwards on the cement floor he was instantly killed; or he was shot to death ... Fr Kolbe bore up bravely, he did not beg and did not complain but raised the spirits of the others. ...Since they had grown very weak, prayers were now only whispered. At every inspection, when almost all the others were now lying on the floor, Fr Kolbe was seen kneeling or standing in the centre as he looked cheerfully in the face of the SS men. Two weeks passed in this way. Meanwhile one after another they died, until only Fr Kolbe was left. This the authorities felt was too long; the cell was needed for new victims. So one day they brought in the head of the sickquarters, a German, a common criminal named Bock, who gave Fr Kolbe an injection of carbolic acid in the vein of his left arm. Fr Kolbe, with a prayer on his lips, himself gave his arm to the executioner. Unable to watch this I left under the pretext of work to be done. Immediately after the SS men with the executioner had left I returned to the cell, where I found Fr Kolbe leaning in a sitting position against the back wall with his eyes open and his head dropping sideways. His face was calm and radiant."

The heroism of Fr Kolbe went echoing through Auschwiz. In that desert of hatred he had sown love. Mr Jozef Stemler, former director of an important cultural institute in Poland, comments: "In those conditions ... in the midst of a brutalization of thought and feeling and words such as had never before been known, man indeed became a ravening wolf in his relations with other men. And into this state of affairs came the heroic self-sacrifice of Fr Maximilian. The atmosphere grew lighter, as this thunderbolt provoked its profound and salutary shock." Jerzy Bielecki declared that Fr Kolbe's death was "a shock filled with hope, bringing new life and strength. ...It was like a powerful shaft of light in the darkness of the camp."

His reputation spread far and wide, through the Nazi camps and beyond. After the war newspapers all over the world were deluged with articles abouth this "saint for our times", "saint of progress", "giant of holiness". Biographies were written, and everywhere there were claims of cures being brought about through his intercession. "The life and death of this one man alone," wrote the Polish bishops, "can be proof and witness of the fact that the love of God can overcome the greatest hatred, the greatest injustice, evern death itself." The demands for his beatification became insistent, and at last on 12 Augsut 1947 proceedings started. Seventy-five witnesses were questioned. His cause was introduced on 16 March 1960. When all the usual objections had been overcome, the promoter spoke of the "charm of this magnificent fool." On 17 October 1971, Maximilian Kolbe was beatified. Like his master Jesus Christ he had loved his fellow-men to the point of sacrificing his life for them. "Greater love hath no man than this ..." and these were the opening words of the papal decree introducing the process of beatification. Fr Kolbe's canonisation was not long delayed. It was the Pope from Poland, John Paul II, who had the joy of declaring his compatriot a saint on 10 October 1982.

St Maximilian Kolbe's feast day is 14 August, the day before the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady.

St Maximilian Mary Kolbe, pray for us.

Looks like young Evangelicals are seeking traditional worship...

The Perils of 'Wannabe Cool' Christianity

original source: WSJ.com

By BRETT MCCRACKEN

'How can we stop the oil gusher?" may have been the question of the summer for most Americans. Yet for many evangelical pastors and leaders, the leaking well is nothing compared to the threat posed by an ongoing gusher of a different sort: Young people pouring out of their churches, never to return.

As a 27-year-old evangelical myself, I understand the concern. My peers, many of whom grew up in the church, are losing interest in the Christian establishment.

Recent statistics have shown an increasing exodus of young people from churches, especially after they leave home and live on their own. In a 2007 study, Lifeway Research determined that 70% of young Protestant adults between 18-22 stop attending church regularly.

Statistics like these have created something of a mania in recent years, as baby-boomer evangelical leaders frantically assess what they have done wrong (why didn't megachurches work to attract youth in the long term?) and scramble to figure out a plan to keep young members engaged in the life of the church.

Increasingly, the "plan" has taken the form of a total image overhaul, where efforts are made to rebrand Christianity as hip, countercultural, relevant. As a result, in the early 2000s, we got something called "the emerging church"—a sort of postmodern stab at an evangelical reform movement. Perhaps because it was too "let's rethink everything" radical, it fizzled quickly. But the impulse behind it—to rehabilitate Christianity's image and make it "cool"—remains.

There are various ways that churches attempt to be cool. For some, it means trying to seem more culturally savvy. The pastor quotes Stephen Colbert or references Lady Gaga during his sermon, or a church sponsors a screening of the R-rated "No Country For Old Men." For others, the emphasis is on looking cool, perhaps by giving the pastor a metrosexual makeover, with skinny jeans and an $80 haircut, or by insisting on trendy eco-friendly paper and helvetica-only fonts on all printed materials. Then there is the option of holding a worship service in a bar or nightclub (as is the case for L.A.'s Mosaic church, whose downtown location meets at a nightspot called Club Mayan).

"Wannabe cool" Christianity also manifests itself as an obsession with being on the technological cutting edge. Churches like Central Christian in Las Vegas and Liquid Church in New Brunswick, N.J., for example, have online church services where people can have a worship experience at an "iCampus." Many other churches now encourage texting, Twitter and iPhone interaction with the pastor during their services.

But one of the most popular—and arguably most unseemly—methods of making Christianity hip is to make it shocking. What better way to appeal to younger generations than to push the envelope and go where no fundamentalist has gone before?

Sex is a popular shock tactic. Evangelical-authored books like "Sex God" (by Rob Bell) and "Real Sex" (by Lauren Winner) are par for the course these days. At the same time, many churches are finding creative ways to use sex-themed marketing gimmicks to lure people into church.

Oak Leaf Church in Cartersville, Georgia, created a website called yourgreatsexlife.com to pique the interest of young seekers. Flamingo Road Church in Florida created an online, anonymous confessional (IveScrewedUp.com), and had a web series called MyNakedPastor.com, which featured a 24/7 webcam showing five weeks in the life of the pastor, Troy Gramling. Then there is Mark Driscoll at Seattle's Mars Hill Church—who delivers sermons with titles like "Biblical Oral Sex" and "Pleasuring Your Spouse," and is probably the first and only pastor I have ever heard say the word "vulva" during a sermon.

But are these gimmicks really going to bring young people back to church? Is this what people really come to church for? Maybe sex sermons and indie- rock worship music do help in getting people in the door, and maybe even in winning new converts. But what sort of Christianity are they being converted to?

In his book, "The Courage to Be Protestant," David Wells writes:"The born-again, marketing church has calculated that unless it makes deep, serious cultural adaptations, it will go out of business, especially with the younger generations. What it has not considered carefully enough is that it may well be putting itself out of business with God.

"And the further irony," he adds, "is that the younger generations who are less impressed by whiz-bang technology, who often see through what is slick and glitzy, and who have been on the receiving end of enough marketing to nauseate them, are as likely to walk away from these oh-so-relevant churches as to walk into them."

If the evangelical Christian leadership thinks that "cool Christianity" is a sustainable path forward, they are severely mistaken. As a twentysomething, I can say with confidence that when it comes to church, we don't want cool as much as we want real.

If we are interested in Christianity in any sort of serious way, it is not because it's easy or trendy or popular. It's because Jesus himself is appealing, and what he says rings true. It's because the world we inhabit is utterly phony, ephemeral, narcissistic, image-obsessed and sex-drenched—and we want an alternative. It's not because we want more of the same.

Mr. McCracken's book, "Hipster Christianity: Where Church and Cool Collide" (Baker Books) was published this month.

We are at battle

Champaign, Ill., Jul 9, 2010 / 06:20 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The University of Illinois has fired an adjunct professor for teaching in a class on Catholicism that homosexual acts violate natural moral law.

Read more here.

The Reality of Spiritual Warfare

"For I am a soldier in the army of God... I will never give up and I will never surrender for surrender is not an option. We find ourselves at war. Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against fallen angels, principalities and powers, the rulers of this present age of darkness and the spiritual hosts of wickedness...so I put on the armor of God, I take up the instruments of war, my spiritual weapons, and I press on." - Father Corapi


Father John Corapi- Surrender is not a option

Keifer Aka SAWXS H2O | MySpace Video

Barack Obama Has Awakened a Sleeping Nation by Gary Hubbell

Barack Obama is the best thing that has happened to America in the last 100 years. Truly, he is the savior of America's future. He is the best thing ever. Despite the fact that he has some of the lowest approval ratings among recent presidents, history will see Barack Obama as the source of America's resurrection.

Barack Obama has plunged the country into levels of debt that we could not have previously imagined; his efforts to nationalize health care have been met with fierce resistance nationwide; TARP bailouts and stimulus spending have shown little positive effect on the national economy; unemployment is unacceptably high and looks to remain that way for most of a decade; legacy entitlement programs have ballooned to unsustainable levels, and there is a seething anger in the populace. That's why Barack Obama is such a good thing for America.

Obama is the symbol of a creeping liberalism that has infected our society like a cancer for the last 100 years. Just as Hitler is the face of fascism, Obama will go down in history as the face of unchecked liberalism. The cancer metastasized to the point where it could no longer be ignored.

Average Americans who have quietly gone about their lives, earning a paycheck, contributing to their favorite charities, going to high school football games on Friday night, spending their weekends at the beach or on hunting trips - they've gotten off the fence. They've woken up. There is a level of political activism in this country that we haven't seen since the American Revolution, and Barack Obama has been the catalyst that has sparked a restructuring of the American political and social consciousness.

Think of the crap we've slowly learned to tolerate over the past 50 years as liberalism sought to re-structure the America that was the symbol of freedom and liberty to all the people of the world. Immigration laws were ignored on the basis of compassion. Welfare policies encouraged irresponsibility, the fracturing of families, and a cycle of generations of dependency. Debt was regarded as a tonic to lubricate the economy. Our children left school having been taught that they are exceptional and special, while great numbers of them cannot perform basic functions of mathematics and literacy. Legislators decided that people could not be trusted to defend their own homes, and stripped citizens of their rights to own firearms. Productive members of society have been penalized with a heavy burden of taxes in order to support legions of do-nothings who loll around, reveling in their addictions, obesity, indolence, ignorance and "disabilities." Criminals have been arrested and re-arrested, coddled and set free to pillage the citizenry yet again. Lawyers routinely extort fortunes from doctors, contractors, and business people with dubious torts. We slowly learned to tolerate these outrages, shaking our heads in disbelief, and we went on with our lives. But, Barack Obama has ripped the lid off a seething cauldron of dissatisfaction and unrest.

In the time of Barack Obama, Black Panther members stand outside polling places in black commando uniforms, slapping truncheons into their palms. ACORN - a taxpayer-supported organization - is given a role in taking the census - even after its members were caught on tape offering advice to set up child prostitution rings. A former Communist is given a paid government position in the White House as an advisor to the president. Auto companies are taken over by the government, and the auto workers' union - whose contracts are completely insupportable in any economic sense - is rewarded with a stake in the company. Government bails out Wall Street investment bankers and insurance companies, who pay their executives outrageous bonuses as thanks for the public support. Terrorists are read their Miranda rights and given free lawyers. And, despite overwhelming public disapproval, Barack Obama has pushed forward with a health care plan that would re-structure one-sixth of the American economy.

I don't know about you, but the other day I was at the courthouse doing some business, and I stepped into the court clerk's office and changed my voter affiliation from "Independent" to "Republican." I am under no illusion that the Republican party is perfect, but at least they're starting to awaken to the fact that we cannot sustain massive levels of debt; we cannot afford to hand out billions of dollars in corporate subsidies; we have to somehow trim our massive entitlement programs; we can no longer be the world's policeman and dole out billions in aid to countries whose citizens seek to harm us.

Literally millions of Americans have had enough. They're organizing, they're studying the Constitution and the Federalist Papers, they're reading history and case law, they're showing up at rallies and meetings, and a slew of conservative candidates are throwing their hats into the ring. Is there a revolution brewing? Yes, in the sense that there is a keen awareness that our priorities and sensibilities must be radically re-structured. Will it be a violent revolution? No. It will be done through the interpretation of the original document that has guided us for 220 years - the Constitution.

Just as the pendulum swung to embrace political correctness and liberalism, there will be a backlash, a complete repudiation of a hundred years of nonsense. A hundred years from now, history will perceive the year 2010 as the time when America got back on the right track. And for that, we can thank Barack Hussein Obama.


Gary Hubbell
Aspen Times Weekly

I have depended on You since before I was born, from my mother’s womb You have been my God.

I have depended on you since before I was born,
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

But my soul will be alive to him,
and my seed shall serve him.
They shall tell of the Lord to the next generation,
they shall proclaim his righteousness to a people yet to be born.
“Hear what the Lord has done!”

All baptised in Christ, you have all clothed yourselves in Christ, and there are no more distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, but all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
The disciples rejoiced, alleluia,
– when they saw the Lord, alleluia.

Lord Jesus Christ, at this sixth hour darkness covered the whole earth
and you ascended the Cross, innocent, for our redemption.
Give us the light that will make us worthy to come at last to eternal life.
You live and reign for ever and ever.

Tidal Wave

I wish I could cross my arms
And cross your mind 'cause I believe
You'd unfold your paper heart
And wear it on your sleeve

All my life I wish I broke mirrors
Instead of promises
'Cause all I see is a shattered conscience
Staring right back at me

I wish I had covered all my tracks completely
'Cause I'm so afraid
Is that the light at the far end of the tunnel
Or just the train?

Lift your arms, only Heaven knows
Where the danger grows and it's safe to say
There's a bright light up ahead
And help is on the way, help is on the way

I forget the last time I felt brave
I just recall insecurity
'Cause it came down like a tidal wave
And sorrow swept over me

Depression, please cut to the chase
And cut a long story short
Oh, please be done, how much longer
Can this drama afford to run?

Fate looks sharp, severs all my ties
And breaks whatever doesn't bend
But sadly then, all my heavy hopes
Just pull me back down again

I forget the last time I felt brave
I just recall insecurity
'Cause it came down like a tidal wave
And sorrow swept over me

Then I was given grace and love
I was blind but now I can see
'Cause I found a new hope from above
And courage swept over me

It hurts just to wake up
Whenever you're wearing thin
Alone on the outside
So tired of looking in

The end is uncertain
And I've never been so afraid
But I don't need a telescope
To see that there's hope
And that makes me feel brave

- Owl City