By Fr. C. John McCloskey III

Way back in 1989 (my, how the years fly by), I wrote an an article for the Christmas edition of the old Crisis magazine entitled “Good Guys Finish First: Ten Reasons to Smile This Christmas.” Over two decades later, I remain bullish on the Catholic Church in America for the New Year of 2012, especially if the year includes persecution and further societal decline.

That’s because the Church flourishes in bad times.

Read Father’s article here: http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/desiderata-for-2012.html

Top country singer: This is who I am
‘My fans have responded with great support’

Posted: December 29, 2011
12:20 am Eastern

By Anita Crane
© 2011 WND

Country music star Collin Raye doesn’t just sing his heart out, he also wears his heart on his sleeve.

As spokesman for the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, Raye boldly defends the fundamental human right to life and calls people to political action.

He recently released “His Love Remains” for the love of God and his late granddaughter, who died at the age of 10 from neurological disorders that impaired her breathing.

“I made a decision years ago, especially during Haley’s illness, to focus on what’s important and my fans responded accordingly,” Raye told WND. “This album is the first time I’ve been able to say, ‘I’m a Christian music artist and I’m lovin’ it!’

“If you take a stand on issues, some people are going to get upset. But for the most part, my fans have responded with great support because they know I’m passionate about my faith and it’s just about deciding to fight the good fight above board and in front of everybody instead of trying to do it behind the scenes.”

Read the rest of the story: http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=381897#ixzz1huS5j7M6

Photo by Jonathan Fowler, courtesy of CollinRaye.com

He’s not just away in a manger, He’s at your local Catholic church, maybe your local hospital or in a chapel at the airport you’re traveling through.

Nothing gives me more peace than going directly to the Lord and adoring Him in person – not so much to talk, but to listen. You can go to Him any time of any day. Jesus Christ Almighty is humbly waiting for you in Catholic chapels around the world. Find chapels across the United States and Canada at this marvelous website by the Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament: http://www.acfp2000.com/Chapels/northamerica.htm

Contact the Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament and read wisdom on the following page, from where I borrowed (or stole!) the image you see to your left: http://www.acfp2000.com/Sections/sec2.htm

Happy Advent & Merry Christmas!

Sorry to say the Busted Halo Advent calendar is oddly non-Christian, featuring platitudes by celebrities. Wonder why…

Now for a video that gives me chills: http://www.anitacrane.com/blog/yes-this-is-why-im-catholic/

What remains now before our eyes? It is a crucified man, a cross raised on Golgotha, a cross which seems a sign of the final defeat of the One who brought light to those immersed in darkness, the One who spoke of the power of forgiveness and of mercy, the One who asked us to believe in God’s infinite love for each human person. Despised and rejected by men, there stands before us “a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity, one from whom others hide their faces” (Is 53:3).

But let us look more closely at that man crucified between earth and heaven. Let us contemplate him more intently, and we will realize that the cross is not the banner of the victory of death, sin and evil, but rather the luminous sign of love, of God’s immense love, of something that we could never have asked, imagined or expected: God bent down over us, he lowered himself, even to the darkest corner of our lives, in order to stretch out his hand and draw us to himself, to bring us all the way to himself. The cross speaks to us of the supreme love of God and invites, today, to renew our faith in the power of that love, and to believe that in every situation of our lives, our history and our world, God is able to vanquish death, sin and evil, and to give us new, risen life. In the Son of God’s death on the cross, we find the seed of new hope for life, like the seed which dies within the earth.

Read the rest here: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2011/april/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20110422_via-crucis-colosseo_en.html

(The Christ of St. John of the Cross by Salvador Dali, 1951)

California Catholic Daily says, “According to the Vatican Information Service, the official news agency of the Holy See, Cardinal Burke, well known for his orthodox views, was named by the Holy Father on Dec. 29 as a member of three important congregations of the Roman Curia.”

Read the rest here: http://calcatholic.web141.discountasp.net/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=99ec8383-3b45-45a6-9896-daf5d8681c53

My shoddy shot of Father Hardon and Mother Teresa. Still, I like the way it emphasizes a beautiful Christian paradox: Two physically frail people who were spiritual giants. ©1992 all rights reserved by Anita Crane

Father John Hardon lived a glorious earthly life from 1914-2000. Because Father practiced what he preached, His Grace, Archbishop Raymond Burke, now Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, initiated Father Hardon’s cause for canonization and the Catholic Church has declared Father a Servant of God. For more about the cause, visit  HardonSJ.org. This interview was published by Crisis magazine in December 1997 and it’s online with a treasury of Father Hardon’s work at TheRealPresence.org.

John A. Hardon, S.J. has fought the good fight for some time. He has published more than 25 books (some translated into Japanese, German, and Spanish), written innumerable articles, founded several Catholic organizations, and contributed to six encyclopedias. Recently, he spoke at the Call to Holiness Conference in Michigan. He has been a leader in Catholic media and a shining light for faithful Catholics in the U.S. and around the world – all of this with great humility and generosity of spirit. In this interview with Crisis, Fr. Hardon speaks on Catholics in the media, millennial suffering, his spiritual regimen and the Catholic call to live, faithfully and courageously, the Gospel.

First of all Father, thank you for interviewing with Crisis and congratulations on the 50th anniversary of your ordination. You mentioned in your homily today that suffering was a great part of the priesthood and that your fidelity to the Magisterium and to the Holy Father had provoked persecution. Would you tell us something about that?

I would say that I define suffering as the rational experience of pain. Notice rational experience of pain. Animals, strictly speaking, don’t suffer. They have pain but they don’t have minds to reflect on the pain that they experience. We define pain as whatever is contrary to the created will. And of course that can be physical pain, it can be emotional pain, or it can be a spiritual pain. The deepest kind of pain is, needless to say, spiritual pain. I said that suffering is the rational experience of pain. Consequently, it is important not just to experience pain, but I even dare to say enjoy – enjoy – suffering. Behind that strange statement is the deepest mystery of our faith: namely, that God, as St. Paul tells us, became man having joy set before him and He chose the Cross. That’s the deepest mystery of our existence. Clearly, when the Second Person of the Holy Trinity became man, He resigned Himself to pain. He chose it. He chose to experience what is contrary to the human will so that He might teach us the most difficult mystery of life. And we ought to accept it – accept what is contrary to our wills in order to experience the satisfaction of doing the will of God.

You also said that this is the century of the most martyrs, but that the Holy Father predicts that the next century will be the greatest so far for the Church.

Yes, and there is a logic behind that for the Holy Father. As I said during my homily, I don’t think that anyone should question that the 20th century has been the most sin-laden in human history. There have been more abortions since 1900 than there were in all the previous centuries put together.

And you consider abortion part of the martyrdom?

Yes, of course. Martyrdom is witnessing to the truth and paying for the witness. In other words, we’re living in the age of martyrs in two senses. First, on the level of suffering and pain. For many, suffering due to physical pain has been reduced by advances in science; thus, the deepest pain is not in the body, but in the soul. In the souls of the just, there has been an ocean of suffering. One sees so much evil in the world and often it is very close to home. It is a deep suffering. When we see evil perpetrated, committed by people whom we dearly love, it causes us deep suffering. And so that’s martyrdom you might say. But when we accept such suffering as a witness to our love for Jesus Christ, we are practicing martyrdom and, with His grace, we can even enjoy the experience.

The Holy Father’s prediction that the 21st century will bring the greatest spiritual renaissance in human history follows on the suffering of the believing people who will be rewarded for their witness. The more they adhere to Christ’s teachings, the more they will pay for it.

Suffering is, for many of us, a living or white martyrdom. The other martyrdom is the red, for bloodshed. From the first century, from the beginning of Christianity, Christ and his followers have been opposed. What a mild verb, opposed. Christ and his followers have been opposed, persecuted, hated and crucified. The event on Calvary has been going on now for almost 2000 years. When I was doing my studies in Rome for my doctorate in theology, I often took visitors, tourists, to the ruins in Pompeii. I’ll never forget it. Etched in the soft stone of one of the buildings which survived the volcano was written in Latin, Christiani delendi sunt: “Christians must be eradicated.” For the first 300 years the Church was the church of red martyrs and that inscription has been there for almost 2000 years. But there is another saying, Sanguis martyrum, semen Christianum: “The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians.” Christianity was born on the Cross. Christianity flourishes in and through the Cross. In other words, the Church grows in numbers, in her love of Christ and in her loyalty to Him because she is living a martyr’s life and because she is ready to die a martyr’s death. Because Christians have suffered so much in this century, we are sowing the seeds of phenomenal growth, both in numbers and in sanctity, for the Catholic Church of the 21st century.

So the Church is growing more than we know?

Yes.

But you wouldn’t know it from the media. A person would not know that from the way that the media cover things.

Let us pick up on the word “media,” a force so prevalent in our society today. In 1971, Ugo Modotti, a Camaldolese abbot, was sent to America by Pope Paul VI to summon a group of ten, both clergy and laity, including myself, to establish a Catholic media organization. We all met with the abbot three times in the next year. We spent two or three days in meetings. And the Holy Father’s mission was very clear: American Catholics must get some control of the media of social communication; otherwise, the pope feared for the survival of the Church in our country.

About a year later, Abbot Modotti and I were having dinner at the residence of the Little Sisters of the Poor in Palatine, Illinois. Toward the end of the meal he said, “Father, I have a strange request to make of you. Would you take over my mission from the Holy Father?” I said, “Thanks for the compliment,” (for I knew that the pope trusted the abbot), “but I am no Modotti, the pope doesn’t know me.” He said, “Too late, I already told the Holy Father to appoint you to the Holy See and if anything should happen to me, then you should take over my mission.” Two weeks later he was found dead in bed. Since his death I have done everything I possibly can to encourage Catholics to evangelize and catechize through the use of the media in teaching the one, true faith.

Tell us more about your commission from the Holy See. You want more good Catholics in media. You want media reform as the Holy Father, as the Vatican, has said. That’s a very difficult thing to achieve.

Most zealous Catholics are not as well organized or cooperative as those in the world. One of the hardest things is to get orthodox Catholics to cooperate. For their own projects, God will bless them, but they are no match for the organized efforts of those on the other side. This is a weakness. Catholics must enter the media on all levels, they must provide sound doctrine and authentic Catholics must cooperate with each other. Catholics must evangelize through print, film, radio, television, and now the internet. The first medium is print. It is not necessarily the most influential, but it is the most lasting, and so it has the most lasting influence.

Crisis. The word “crisis” is Greek for choice, decision. It is a good name for your magazine, because we are called to choose truth, we are called to decide for Christ. I read Crisis because it is authentic. These can be days of great grace. These are days when the media have great control of our culture. Let me tell you something that I will never forget. For six winters I taught at the University of Ottawa in Canada. My confessor there was an Oblate priest named John Mole. I was with him there in 1972 on the happy anniversary of his ordination. On that day, he had received a letter from Marshall McLuhan, whom Father Mole had received into the Church. Does that name ring a bell?

Absolutely. He wrote the famous phrase, “The medium is the message.”

Well, on that day when my confessor and I were in conversation, Father Mole showed me the letter which he had just received from McLuhan and in the postscript of that letter McLuhan wrote this statement, “The modern media are engaged in a Luciferian conspiracy against the truth.” Certain statements you never forget. And that was prophetic. Since I’ve been with the Holy See, from Pope Paul VI to the present pope, John Paul II, the popes have wanted Catholics to change that. Imagine the alternative: “The modern media are engaged in a Christlike, shall I use the word, conspiracy, for the truth.”

As you well know, dissident movements are getting bolder and bolder. In addition to reforming the media so that the public has a truer knowledge of the Church, what is the best thing that Catholics can do to combat heresy and dissidence?

The Catholic method has three parts. Everything in imitation of the Holy Trinity! And this is what I’ve been told by the Holy See for 28 years. Part one: find the believing Catholics. Part two: train them. Part three: organize them. There are all kinds of training, but this is my own sacred responsibility. After finding the believers, I have trained them, again in three parts. They are the Marian Catechists, who have been required first to make the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius for 30 days. That discipline prepares them to consult God in making decisions, to learn the Catechism and to teach it. Then they are trained in doctrine by taking a home study course based on the Catechism. Years ago, the Marian Catechesis was based on the forthcoming Catechism, before it was published, because I was on the commission and I knew what was going to be in it. The third part of the catechists’ training is a certain structured life, including prayer and worship. Most people do not live an organized life. The only structure in their lives is what they have to do to show up on time for work. Or, if they have a family, they might say what the family duties require. Finally, the organization of these catechists must involve the Church hierarchy; which means that they should be organized under the authority of their bishops united with the Vicar of Christ, the Bishop of Rome.

A rough calculation indicates that your own personal prayer regimen takes three hours a day. To most people that would seem insurmountable. What do you recommend for the beginner?

The latest statistics show that the average American watches 28 hours of television a week – four hours a day. What I recommend for the beginner is based, in part, on what I require of the Marian Catechists. Daily Mass and Holy Communion, daily rosary, daily spiritual reading and daily examination of conscience. The daily examination has, of course, three parts. First, thanksgiving for everything which has happened throughout the day, including pain, because some of the most choice blessings that we receive from God are painful. Second, examination of conscience for failure in doing His will and telling Him, “Lord, I’m sorry for my laziness or my pride or for controlling not my sinful thoughts.” Thirdly, and this is the most important part, is anticipation of the next day; ask the Lord what to do next and how to do it. Don’t ask Him if He wants you to do something, of course He does, ask Him what. Our natural tendency is to do that which is pleasant first, that which is useful second and that which is necessary last. Remember that in Latin, agenda means “things that must be done.” And so we should ask for the light to do what He wants us to do and do it generously.

©1992 all rights reserved by Anita Crane

Now this is where Mother Teresa’s sisters come in. Fourteen years ago Pope John Paul II called Mother Teresa to the Vatican and said what she was shocked to hear. He said, “Mother,” (he called her “Mother”), “I want your nuns to become catechists.” She said that her sisters were not trained for that. The pope said, “I knew you’d say that. I’m telling you to train them.” Then Mother asked, “Where do we start?” And the pope answered, “I told Cardinal Ratzinger to expect you after our meeting here.” She met with the cardinal and I got a call. Cardinal Ratzinger said, “We’ve got a job for you.” And so the Marian Catechists were commissioned to train Mother Teresa’s nuns, which are now 4000 Missionaries of Charity. Today there are 265 Marian Catechists in this country and more in 100 countries throughout the world. We could not have done it unless the Marian Catechists lived the structured life.

So it came back to you. It makes me think of your saying “There’s no rest until eternal rest.”

No, and there shouldn’t be. Otherwise we should confess it as laziness!

Father, many people contact us at Crisis because they are frustrated. They witness violations of doctrine and liturgy in their parishes and when they bring it to their pastor’s attention and then to their bishop’s, nothing is done. To whom shall they go? To whom in the Holy See shall they present evidence of aberration?

That’s an important question because so often people write to the Holy Father, which is wonderful. But He’s flooded with mail. A Vatican official told me that He doesn’t even have enough secretaries to open the mail, let alone answer it. So be judicious.

For any aberration, there is an official. The officials head up congregations. For example, there is the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, headed by Cardinal Ratzinger. There is the Congregation of Bishops, the Congregation of the Clergy, of the Apostolate, of the Family, and so on. There are councils too. All are commissions which the Holy Father uses. To know whom to contact, Americans can acquire the Official Catholic Directory, which lists the data of the U.S. dioceses, but also has a listing of the congregation officials, etc., under the section of the Church hierarchy. For more details, one could acquire the Annuario Pontificio, the annual pontifical directory, which is in Italian.

What would you like to say in closing, Father?

I strongly recommend that the faithful are trained to understand and share their faith with others: mothers with their children, grandparents with their grandchildren, husbands with their in-laws, wives too. In other words, there’s not a single believing Catholic who does not have wide-open apostolic potential. However, let me make it very clear. We cannot be ordinary followers of Christ. Only those who are holy and heroic Catholics will even survive, not to say thrive, in today’s society.