The List!

Here is Dr. Andrew Child's top 100 Music list.

Enjoy!

http://www.angelusonline.org/index.php?section=articles&subsection=show_article&article_id=2807

Times Past, Hope for the Future.

http://www.remnantnewspaper.com/Archives/2010-1231-gawley-pottersville.htm

Merry Christmas!!!

Vienna Boy Choir : Adeste Fideles.

Opera Company of Philadelphia "Hallelujah!"

Click bottom right to watch in HD.

The Mass

"The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the cross" St. Thomas Aquinas

"Man should tremble, the world should vibrate, all Heaven should be deeply moved when the Son of God appears on the alter in the hands of the priest" St. Francis of Assisi

ObamaCare: The Facts On Abortion

The Sacrifice of the Mass

Sancte Pie Decime

Sancte Pie Decime
gloriose Patrone, Ora, ora
pro nobis
(Sung three times.)

HAERENT ANIMO

TO THE CATHOLIC CLERGY ON PRIESTLY SANCTITY

HAERENT ANIMO

Apostolic Exhortation given by Pope St. Pius X on August 4, 1908.

This letter by Pope St. Pius X is an essential read for seminarians, especially in today's day and age. Our seminarians are being formed to become the next generation of priests. We are in desperate need of holy priests. Priests who will set aside creature comforts to offer themselves totally and completely as did our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Priests who will emulate St. Jean Vianney in sacrifices and penances and who will emulate the defense and protection of our holy Catholic Faith as did St. Pius X.

http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius10/p10haer.htm

Off to University?

I have recently thought of the question on how to survive college and not only keep the Catholic faith, but to grow in it. This is a very important question as countless Catholics enter into the secular or at best conservative colleges and universities in North America each year.

The majority of Catholics today do not think enough about the moral implication of current university and college life, or are just simply not aware of the circumstances in most universities and colleges. Traditional Catholics are most likely made aware and are better prepared, yet they are the very small minority. So what about the rest of the world? What kind of advice if any can be directed toward them? Whether they are aware of the dangers or not, they are going. So is there hope for the Catholic entering into the University or College life? Given some guidance and much prayer, we have to hope.

University and college campuses are a haven of moral relativism and vice. It is a place of freedom, liberation and acceptance, at least in the narrow sense from parental guidance and supervision. Real freedom is only found in the truth, not in false ideologies and relativism. In terms of acceptance, anyone is bound to find someone of similar interest and is most likely not to be segregated the same way one can be in high school. Sexual immorality, immaturity, drunkenness and idleness are common marks of college life today. The Remnant has an excellent article that serves as a good aid in preparing to enter into university or college here:

http://www.remnantnewspaper.com/Archives/2008-0915-college-catholic-mullins.htm

So what to do? How does one prepare for the battle! How does one put on the armour of Christ as St. Paul teaches in Ephesians 6:10-18
"Finally, brethren, be strengthened in the Lord, and in the might of his power. Put you on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armour of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace: In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit (which is the word of God)."

Here are a list of guidelines that I have come up with that I believe are necessary to survive College and University. These guidelines apply whether you are attending a well known party school, or a more well known Catholic university such as the Franciscan University of Steubenville.

1. Establish home base: Find the local Catholic parishes, Newman Center, or Catholic Chaplaincy. Warning! The next step will be to determine whether or not they are acceptable?? Do they teach relativism, or heresy? If the Traditional Latin Mass is not available, do they have a reverent alternative? At best one may only be able to find a conservative parish and or priest. You need to know where you are going to Mass every Sunday (your bare minimum obligation) and on weekdays. If one has not already done so, making the practice of confession a regular habit – every week or two (or as soon as possible when fallen into a state of mortal sin) - will aid against the moral slide that countless students fall into.

2. Equip your dorm room (or off campus room). Place a crucifix (blessed) on your wall. Have a priest come over to bless the room. (Who knows what went on in your very room over the previous years.) It is very important to have the room cleansed (blessed by a priest). You will be spending around 40% of your college life in your room.

3. Pack your weapon! The Rosary is a sacramental weapon against evil. Have one available in your room and one on you at all times. The daily recitation of the Rosary is mandatory in the battle against evil, and in the acquisition of virtue.

4. Holy Water. Have a bottle in your room and use it liberally.

5. Good books. Besides your textbooks, a Good Bible, a Catechism (Baltimore Catechism 3, Trent, etc), and good spiritual reading such as books on the Saints should occupy your bookshelf.

The more time and effort you take to prepare from the get go, the better you will be 4 years down the road on graduation day. Don’t forget this is your soul we are talking about, and your time at university or college will determine so much more than just your career.

The Truth About the Winnipeg Statement

Challenge Magazine published an article written by Msgr. Vincent Foy in 1988 explaining the Winnipeg Statement and its devastating effects on the Catholic Church in Canada. This is the best explanation on the statement I have come across. It has been reprinted on LifeSite.net

For those of you who do not know, this statement was a response to Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae, essentially rejecting the Encyclical by rejecting the Church's teaching on artificial contraception. To this day the Winnipeg statement has not been retracted.

Link below:

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004_docs/tragedyatwinnipeg.pdf

The Latin Mass

"Frank Sheed, the great street corner Catholic apologist of the twentieth century, once said that the devil despised most the souls in hell who 'lowered the intellectual level of the place.'

The ancient Mass protected the intellectual health of the Church for at least fifteen centuries because language and ritual escorted the mind and heart toward the transcendent majesty of God. The unambiguous scent of sacrifice enveloped the ancient Mass and properly oriented Catholics toward their need for redemption.

The ancient Mass safeguards culture because it prohibits the order of the two great commandments from becoming inverted, thus uncompromisingly promulgating and protecting the truth about God and man. It effortlessly unveils beauty because it incarnates the Catholic view that reality is a matter of discovery, not of intervention."

Father James McLucas. Latin Mass Magazine, Spring 2007

Words of Wisdom from Fr. Prendergraft

The Roman Forum 2010 Lake Garda, Italy Fr. Prendergraft, FSSP

Fr. emphasizes the need to pray the rosary every day as well as to stop and pray the Angelus at noon, and 6pm. And 6am if you are up. "Why do we do that, why did the Church develop such a custom as certain hours to pray? Because every six hours is too little. But at least every 6 hours we must remember the very act by which we are saved."

Speedway Stout Arrival!

Although this has little to do with Catholicism, I thought I would post on one of my favourite hobbies, beer! My passion was kick started 4 years ago when I was in Brussels, just before heading down to Lourdes.

It has been about 4 years now that I have been trying to get my hands on AleSmith Speedway Stout, an American Stout and one of the top ten beers in the world (according to ratebeer.com.) My parents were driving back home from Florida when a light bulb went off in my head. I would call every rated beer store along the I-75 from Cincinnati, Ohio to Detroit, Michigan (Ratebeer.com maps out every beer store in the world). I was looking for Founders Breakfast Stout, Bells Expedition Stout, and AleSmith Speedway Stout. A few stores had the Expedition Stout (which I already have), and the Breakfast Stout was no where to be found. Finally one of the last stores I contacted had a few bottles of AleSmith Speedway Stout. Miami Valley Wine and Spirits in Tipp City, Ohio, about an hour north of Cincinnati and literally right of the I-75. I put a few Wee Heavy's on hold as well.

The only problem is that I ordered 3 Speedway Stouts and 2 Wee Heavy's. A slight mistake here, but I can't complain. I am happy to have 2 beers that have avoided me for 4 years. See link for top 50 beer ratings: www.ratebeer.com/beer/top-50/