Monday, April 30, 2012

Is Destroying Property Free Speech?

The Left exercising “free speech.”
The Left exercising “free speech.”
April 27, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Pro-life advocates, pro-family organizations, and traditional Christians do not expect to get a fair shake in the media, but the dogged, seasoned journalists of the prestige publications have overlooked a disturbing new trend: an increasing number of left-wing activists claim that destroying or defacing other people’s property is part of their First Amendment “free speech” rights.
Read more:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/property-destruction-the-new-free-speech

Friday, April 27, 2012

TFP Spring Conference: Rallying to the Rosary and Fatima


 

Usually conferences are held in comfortable hotels with all the amenities to make the experience uneventful. However, at the American TFP’s National Spring Conference in Kansas City, participants suddenly found themselves outside on the sidewalk of a busy intersection with blustery winds praying the Rosary.

Such was the program at the April 21-22 event which mixed a lively program of talks with “hands-on” experience. The theme of the spring conference was “Why the Rosary and Fatima will Decide Our Future.” A special emphasis was given to the America Needs Fatima Public Square Rosary Rallies. Naturally, the theory of how to organize rallies led to actually holding a rally at the nearby Country Club Plaza as part of the conference.

Many of the participants were in fact rally captains from across the country. They came to hone their skills for the coming rallies later in October. To this effect, conference organizer Michael Drake spoke on the lessons learned from the rallies over the years. TFP Student Action director John Ritchie held a lively talk/workshop on “Ten Ways to Improve Your Rosary Rally and Reach More Souls.” Mr. Kevin Ritchie made the connection between the rallies and the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary promised at Fatima.

A focus of the conference was also the timeliness of the Fatima message to our days. TFP speaker Michael Whitcraft gave a masterful presentation on applying the message to the present situation of the United States. American TFP Vice President John Horvat spoke on how Fatima calls Catholics to heroic sanctity.

Other speakers included Mr. Mario Navarro da Costa of the TFP’s Washington Bureau who showed how the life of TFP founder Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira is an example of how one committed Catholic can make a difference. TFP speaker and author Norman Fulkerson demonstrated why devotion to Our Lady is crucial for the times while Cesar Franco from TFP Louisiana gave an excellent talk on the need for confidence in the Blessed Mother. Byron Whitcraft of the TFP-run St. Louis de Montfort Academy put together and presented a general history of the TFP and its America Needs Fatima campaign.

The occasion proved to be an excellent opportunity for TFP supporters, old and new, to meet, converse and exchange ideas. It also served as a public witness to the fact that the rosary and Fatima need to be in the public square now more than ever!  

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

The Story of Our Lady of Genazzano


Her feast is April 26
The Story of Our Lady of Genazzano
  A few miles from the city of Rome, lies Genazzano — a city rich in history and blessed with the presence of a miraculous painting of the Blessed Virgin that has an amazing story.

The origins of Genazzano date back to the times of the Roman emperors. Because of its proximity to Rome, the city was chosen by many patricians and imperial courtiers as a site for their country villas. The vast gardens surrounding these villas often served as the stage for perverse feasts, pagan games and heathen rituals in honor of the gods to whom the Romans attributed the fertility of their fields.

One of these celebrations was held every April 25 in honor of the goddess Flora or Venus. For this event, people of all social classes — freemen and slaves, patricians and plebeians — gathered together for a great feast. This practice gradually dissolved and the temples fell into ruins as the life-giving breath of Christianity regenerated the peoples of Europe.

In the third century, an order was given to build a shrine dedicated to the Mother of God under the tender invocation of Mother of Good Counsel on the ruins of the Roman temples.

As the years went by, the city became more populous and the shrine grew in fame. During the Middle Ages, the Franciscans and the Augustinians founded monasteries nearby. With the passing of years, the primitive temple erected in honor of the Mother of Good Counsel began to show signs of disrepair. Moreover, as the shrine was small, the faithful built larger and richer churches for their solemn functions.

In 1356, about a century before the appearance of the miraculous painting that would introduce Genazzano into the annals of marvels in the Church, Prince Pietro Giordan Colonna, whose family had acquired lordship of the city, assigned the most ancient church of the city and its parish to the care of the Hermits of St. Augustine. The faithful would thereby have the necessary pastoral assistance, and repairs could be made on the old church.

Although the prayers of the faithful intensified, financial difficulties prevented the necessary and urgent restoration of the ancient temple. But the Mother who gives wise counsel in every circumstance and attentively provides for the necessities of men chose a Third Order Augustinian, Petruccia de Nocera, to carry out a supernatural prodigy that would bring about the much-desired restoration.

Petruccia had been left a modest fortune following the death of her husband in 1436. Living alone, she dedicated most of her time to prayer and services in the church of the Mother of Good Counsel. It grieved her to see the deplorable state of the sacred premises, and she prayed fervently that they would be restored. Finally, she resolved to take the initiative. After obtaining permission from the friars, she donated her goods to initiate the restoration in the hope that others would help complete it once it was commenced.

A plan was drawn up for the building of a magnificent church. However, once that arduous undertaking had begun, Petruccia, who was already eighty years old, found that her generous offering was scarcely enough to complete the first phase of the new construction. To make matters worse, no one came forth to help.

To her dismay, the building had hardly risen three feet when construction came to a halt due to lack of resources. Her friends and neighbors began to ridicule her, and detractors accused her of imprudence. Others severely reprimanded her in public. To all of them she would say: "My dear children, do not put too much importance on this apparent misfortune. I assure you that before my death the Blessed Virgin and our holy father Augustine will finish the church begun by me."

On April 25, 1467, the feast day of the city's patron, Saint Mark, a solemn celebration began with Mass. It was Saturday, and the crowd began to gather in front of the church of the Mother of Good Counsel. The only discrepant note in the celebration was the unfinished work of Petruccia.

At about four in the afternoon, everyone heard the chords of a beautiful melody that seemed to come from heaven. The people looked up toward the towers of the churches and saw a white cloud that shone with a thousand luminous rays; it gradually neared the stupefied crowd to the sound of an exceptionally beautiful melody. The cloud descended on the church of the Mother of Good Counsel and poised over the wall of the unfinished chapel of Saint Biagio, which Petruccia had started.
Our Lady of Good Counsel, Genazzano, Italy
The miraculous fresco of Our Lady of Good Counsel.

Suddenly, the bells of the old tower began to ring by themselves, and the other bells of the town rang miraculously in unison. The rays that emanated from the little cloud faded away, and the cloud itself gradually vanished, revealing a beautiful object to the enchanted gaze of the spectators. It was a painting that represented Our Lady tenderly holding her Divine Son in her arms. Almost immediately, the Virgin Mary began to cure the sick and grant countless consolations, the memory of which was recorded for posterity by the local ecclesiastical authority.

The news of the painting and its miracles spread throughout the province and beyond, attracting multitudes. Some cities formed enthusiastic processions to see the picture that the people called the Madonna of Paradise because of its celestial entrance into the city. Numerous alms were donated as an answer to the unwavering confidence that Our Lady had inspired in Petruccia.

Amidst the general enthusiasm caused by the painting, Our Lady wished to divulge the true origin of the marvelous fresco to her devotees. Two foreigners named Giorgio and De Sclavis entered the city among a group of pilgrims that had come from Rome. They wore strange clothes and spoke a foreign tongue, saying they had arrived in Rome earlier that year from Albania. While most people had refused to believe their story, it had a special significance for the inhabitants of Genazzano.

*          *          *

January of 1467 saw the death of the last great Albanian leader, George Castriota, better known as Scanderbeg. Raised by an Albanian chief, he placed himself at the head of his own people.

Subsequently, Scanderbeg inflicted stunning defeats on the Turkish army and occupied fortresses all over Albania.

With Scanderbeg’s death, the Turkish army, finally free from the Fulminating Lion of War, poured into Albania, occupying all its fortresses, cities and provinces with the exception of Scutari, in the north of the country.

However, the city's capacity to resist was limited, and its capture was expected at any moment. With its fall, Christian Albania would be defeated. Faced with this prospect, those who wished to practice their faith in Christian lands began a sad exodus. Giorgio and De Sclavis also studied the possibility of fleeing, but something kept them in Scutari, where there was a small church, considered the shrine of the whole Albanian kingdom. In this church the faithful venerated a picture of Our Lady which had mysteriously descended from the heavens two hundred years before.

According to tradition, it had come from the east. Having poured out innumerable graces over the whole population, its church became the principal center of pilgrimage in Albania. Scanderbeg himself had visited this shrine more than once to ardently ask for victory in battle. Now the shrine was threatened with imminent destruction and profanation.

The two Albanians were torn by the idea of leaving the great treasure of Albania in the hands of the enemy in order to flee the Turkish terror. In their perplexity, they went to the old church to ask their Blessed Mother for the good counsel they needed.

That night, the Consoler of the Afflicted inspired both of them in their sleep. She commanded them to prepare to leave their country, which they would never see again. She added that the miraculous fresco was also going to leave Scutari for another country to escape profanation at the hands of the Turks. Finally, she ordered them to follow the painting wherever it went.

The next morning, the two friends went to the shrine. At a certain moment they saw the picture detach itself from the wall on which it had hung for two centuries. Leaving its niche, it hovered for a moment and was then suddenly wrapped in a white cloud through which the image continued to be visible.

The pilgrim painting left the church and the environs of Scutari. It traveled slowly through the air at a considerable altitude and advanced in the direction of the Adriatic Sea at a speed that allowed the two walkers to follow; after covering some twenty-four miles, they reached the coast.
Giorgio and De Scalvis walk the waters of the Adriatic Sea to Italy
With unbounded confidence, Giorgio and De Scalvis walked on the waves of the Adriatic Sea.

Without stopping, the picture left the land and advanced over the waters while the faithful Giorgio and De Sclavis continued to follow, walking on the waves much like their Divine Master had done on Lake Genesareth. When night would fall, the mysterious cloud, which had protected them with its shade from the heat of the sun during the day, guided them by night with light, like the column of fire in the desert that guided the Jews in their exodus from Egypt.

They traveled day and night until they reached the Italian coast. There, they continued following the miraculous picture, climbing mountains, fording rivers and passing through valleys. Finally, they reached the vast plain of Lazio from where they could see the towers and domes of Rome. Upon reaching the gates of the city, the cloud suddenly disappeared before their disappointed eyes.

Giorgio and De Sclavis began to search the city, going from church to church asking if the painting had descended there. All their attempts to find the painting failed, and the Romans incredulously regarded the two foreigners and their strange tale.

Shortly thereafter, amazing news came to Rome: a picture of Our Lady had appeared in the skies of Genazzano to the sound of beautiful music and had come to rest over the wall of a church that was being rebuilt. The two Albanians rushed to find their country's beloved treasure miraculously suspended in the air next to the wall of the chapel where it remains to this day.

Although some inhabitants found the strangers' story difficult to believe, careful investigation later proved that the two were telling the truth and that the image was indeed the same one that graced the shrine in Scutari.

*          *          *

Thus Mary Most Holy, with the humble participation of a pious Third Order Augustinian on one side of the Adriatic and two faithful Albanians on the other, transported her mysterious fresco from the unhappy and unfortunate Albania to a little city very close to the heart of Christendom. Beginning her historic journey from that small Albanian shrine, which she had not chosen by chance, she traveled across the sea to pour on the world a new torrent of graces under the invocation of Mother of Good Counsel.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Charity Does Not Justify Compromise


"While Jesus was kind to sinners and to those who went astray, He did not respect their false ideas, however sincere they might have appeared. He loved them all, but He instructed them in order to convert them and save them.

"While He called to Himself in order to convert them, those who toiled and suffered, it was not to preach to them the jealousy of a chimerical equality. While He lifted up the lowly, it was not to instill in them the sentiment of a dignity independent from, and rebellious against, the duty of obedience. While His heart overflowed with gentleness to the souls of good will, He could also arm Himself with holy indignation against the profaners of the House of God, against the wretched men who scandalized the little ones, against the authorities who crush the people with the weight of heavy burdens without putting out a hand to lift them.

"He was strong as He was gentle. He reproved, threatened, chastised, knowing and teaching us that fear is the beginning of wisdom and that it is sometimes proper for a man to cut off an offending limb to save his body. Finally, He did not announce for future society the reign of an ideal happiness from which suffering would be banished; but, by His lesson and by His example, He traced the path of happiness in heaven: the royal way of the Cross."

Pope St. Pius XEncyclical Our Apostolic Mandate, (Hawthorne, Vic., Australia: Tenet Books, 1974), pp.21-22

Friday, April 20, 2012

Bishop Calls for Heroic not Casual Catholicism!

From: www.catholicculture.org
Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria told the 500 men who attended the diocese’s annual men’s march and Mass that “the days in which we live now require heroic Catholicism, not casual Catholicism.”

“We can no longer be Catholics by accident, but instead [must] be Catholics by conviction. In our own families, in our parishes, where we live and where we work--like that very first apostolic generation--we must be bold witnesses to the Lordship of Jesus Christ,” he preached. “We must be a fearless army of Catholic men, ready to give everything we have for the Lord, who gave everything for our salvation.”
Read more:
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=14026

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Another Homosexual "Catholic" Accepted for Parish Council in Austria

Hilary White, Rome Correspondent
LifeSiteNews.com
Tue Apr 17, 2012

VIENNA – Immediately following the resignation of the parish priest in the town of Stützenhofen after he opposed the election of an active homosexual to his parish council, another homosexual has been confirmed to sit on a Catholic parish council in Austria according to the Standard newspaper. Forty-four year-old Mark Casna, who has lived openly with another man since he was 19, has been accepted for a third term with the approval of the parish priest, Fr. Michael Blassnigg, who told media that he has “no problem with it.”

Casna told the Standard that the Dean of the parish had encouraged him to join. “He knew then that I was in a homosexual relationship,” Casna said.

Casna also commented on his beliefs, saying, “Confession was invented in the Middle Ages, and celibacy is an invention also of the Roman Catholic Church.” He added that he approved of the Austrian Priests’ Initiative that has called for open disobedience on clerical celibacy and female ordination, saying that it is “on track” and that he is confident that the “breakthrough” will succeed.

Kaprun is a village of 3000 a hundred kilometers southwest of Salzburg.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Untold Story: Priest Goes Down with Titanic Hearing Confessions

by Patrick B. Craine

Amidst all the tales of chivalry from the Titanic disaster there is one that’s not often told.

Fr. Thomas Byles

It is that of Fr. Thomas Byles, the Catholic priest who gave up two spots on a lifeboat in favour of offering spiritual aid to the other victims as they all went down with the “unsinkable” vessel.

A 42-year-old English convert, Fr. Byles was on his way to New York to offer the wedding Mass for his brother William. Reports suggest that he was reciting his breviary on the upper deck when the Titanic struck the iceberg in the twilight hours of Sunday, April 14th, 1912.

According to witnesses, as the ship went down the priest helped women and children get into the lifeboats, then heard confessions, gave absolution, and led passengers in reciting the Rosary.

Agnes McCoy, one of the survivors, says that as the great ship sank, Fr. Byles “stood on the deck with Catholics, Protestants and Jews kneeling around him.”

“Father Byles was saying the rosary and praying for the repose of the souls of those about to perish,” she told the New York Telegram on April 22, 1912, according to the website devoted to his memory, FatherByles.com.

In the words of the priest’s friend Fr. Patrick McKenna, “He twice refused the offer of a place in a boat, saying his duty was to stay on the ship while one soul wanted his ministrations.”

Nearly two weeks after the disaster, The Church Progress in St. Louis, Missouri wrote this moving tribute to the heroic priest:

In almost every line that has been written, and in every sentence that has been spoken, there stands boldly out above every other expression a picture of sublime heroism that will be copied into the pages of history. And well it may, for it is deserving of that honor.

But when it is, mention should be made of one whom pens and tongues have almost forgotten in their accounts of this awful sea tragedy. Among those who safely reached the land again no one seems to have been aware of his presence on the ship, but we may hope that many who meet him in a blissful eternity will praise God that Father Thomas Byles was there to administer absolution unto them.

Monday, April 16, 2012

How to Remove Objectionable Links From a Website

How to Remove Objectionable Links From a Website

Written by John Horvat II


For some time, concerned Catholics have found objectionable live links on the websites of major Catholic universities all over the country. Among these links are pro-abortion and pro-homosexual sites that openly clash with Catholic teachings on these issues. Even more disconcerting is the fact that these links are presented in favorable contexts such as intern opportunities or student resources.

TFP Student Action has been very active in asking these institutions to take these links down since they send at best a confused message to Catholic students and Catholics in general. However, not all of these requests have been heeded.

More often than not, these Catholic universities tend to put off the requests as if it were a very complex and difficult operation that has been asked of them. At times, spokesmen will announce they are looking into the possibility of taking them down. When pressed to take action, protesters are often made to look impatient.

Perhaps these universities should be given the benefit of the doubt. Maybe these links really were put up inadvertently by students or faculty that did not realize what they were doing. Extending the doubt yet further, perhaps the personnel at these tech-savy institutions really do experience difficulty in taking the links down.

For the benefit of these institutions and their staff, we have put together step-by-step instructions on how to remove objectionable links from a website.

1. Identify the web page that has the objectionable link. This can be done by looking at the line at the top of the web browser or using the title of the page.

2. Enter into the backend of the website via the normal procedure (exactly in the same way in which the link was inserted) Put in user name and password. Press enter.

3. Find the article manager module of the web program and click on the icon that will allow you to view a listing of all articles or pages on the website.

4. Put the name of the article (see step 1) in the search filter. When the article pops up, click on the article and enter into the editable text.

5. Find the objectionable link. This can be done by going control-F and then type in Planned Parenthood, National Organization of Women or any of many such organizations that have been known to appear in these sections. Press enter.

6. The cursor should then be on the actual link. Highlight the entire text of the link with your mouse. Then look at the editing tools and find the icon of a broken chain link. Click on this icon. The link has been broken!

7. The process is not over. Next highlight the text again and push delete. With this step all reference to the objectionable organization will be wiped off the page forever. Please be sure that text is really off and does not appear on the page. Repeat process for other links if necessary.

8. Next go up to the exit icons. Find the save and exit button and click on it. By this action, the program now saves all changes and takes the links offline.

9. Go to the web page that HAD the objectionable link before and verify that the link is actually offline. If it has not, please repeat process. If another objectionable link is cited on the same page, please repeat process for that link.

10. Save instructions for other technicians who are not familiar with procedure so as to reduce future difficulties. Teach the process to other students and tech personnel.


The whole process should take about three minutes the first time. After a bit of practice, it will take a maximum of 90 seconds.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Life in a World Without God

How are we faring mentally in a world without God?

In the face of this social disintegration, we have essentially hired an army of replacement confidants, an entire class of professional carers. As Ronald Dworkin pointed out in a 2010 paper for the Hoover Institution, in the late ’40s, the United States was home to 2,500 clinical psychologists, 30,000 social workers, and fewer than 500 marriage and family therapists. As of 2010, the country had 77,000 clinical psychologists, 192,000 clinical social workers, 400,000 nonclinical social workers, 50,000 marriage and family therapists, 105,000 mental-health counselors, 220,000 substance-abuse counselors, 17,000 nurse psychotherapists, and 30,000 life coaches. The majority of patients in therapy do not warrant a psychiatric diagnosis. This raft of psychic servants is helping us through what used to be called regular problems. We have outsourced the work of everyday caring.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Protest: Our Lord Again Blasphemed In The Play Corpus Christi

Send Your Instant E-PROTEST Message NOW

The blasphemous theater play Corpus Christi will show at two venues in San Francisco, California, at the end of April.

DSCN5897

(Our Lord Scourged: During His Passion he foresaw all of these sins and suffered terribly because of them. Let’s offer Him a fitting reparation.)

And worse, the play is now accompanied by a documentary film called Corpus Christi: Playing With Redemption.

(Please read with caution. This is very disturbing.)

The trailer for the film is shocking and gross. It previews scenes from the play and shows “Our Lord” viciously striking a female actress, and two homosexual men getting “married” by “Our Lord.”

Interspersed is the usual attempt to portray protestors in the way you have come to expect while portraying the blasphemous play itself as all about “love and compassion”.

Send Your Instant E-PROTEST Message

The venues are in San Francisco: the play will be shown at the Southside Theater at Fort Mason Center, and The First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco; the film will be shown at the Castro Theatre. We will send your polite but firm protest message to all three in the hope that they will cancel the showings.

To show Our Lord and His apostles as homosexuals is an abomination that must not go unanswered. Again, we are called to defend Jesus’ honor by peacefully and prayerfully, but loudly raising our voices against this outrageous blasphemy.

And please, right now, Send Your Instant E-PROTEST Message.

Then let’s offer fervent prayers and ardent sacrifices in reparation. Here’s a beautiful reparation prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

The Real St. Gemma

Saint Gemma Galgani

“If you really want to love Jesus, first learn to suffer,
because suffering teaches you to love.” Saint Gemma

Written by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

This photograph is of St. Gemma Galgani (1878-1903), a famous mystic who lived in the enchanting town of Lucca, Italy.

Her countenance is impressive for several reasons. First, we note her profound reflection and the harmony of her traits. Second, the saint’s gaze has something elevated and sublime about it. Her thoughts are not of this earth: her countenance displays a supernatural aura.

Her dignity and angelic purity are striking. This is seen by the way her head rests on her shoulders: straight and unpretentious.

She wears no adornment at all. Her hair is simply combed and arranged. Her face is very clean and reveals nothing of a desire for embellishment.

Her dress is black and simple. Yet, St. Gemma combines an extraordinary dignity with a virginal purity which is impalpably reflected in the luminous splendor of her skin. One could say that her skin is as luminous as her gaze. Moreover, her gaze reflects total uprightness. It is that of a mystic immersed in that which she sees. Even we discern something of what she perceives.

The virtue of fortitude also shines forth in her countenance. When the Faith commands her to do something, her will is unbending.

What does she desire? She wants to serve God, Our Lady and the Catholic Church. She forges ahead on this road regardless of the obstacles. She represents the strong woman of incomparable values referred to in Holy Scriptures. Like a rare stone, one readily walks to the ends of the earth to find her.

(Published in the August 1999 issue of Catolicismo)

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The Need for Parental Wisdom in Video Games


Elizabeth Woolley is the founder of the Online Gamers Anonymous organization and is an outspoken opponent of addictive video games. Mrs. Woolley has been interviewed by the Catholic Herald Citizen, CBC, CBS, and the BBC. She has travelled internationally to speak at conferences on the dangers of gaming. In 2002, she started a website to warn society about the “dark” side of gaming and to provide help and counseling for those who are already addicted to video games.


Crusade: Could you please explain why you founded Online Gamers Anonymous?

Read the full interview by clicking here.

Monday, April 9, 2012

The Profile of Today's New Nuns -- Traditional

The typical woman religious who professed perpetual vows in 2011 is a 39-year-old cradle Catholic who prayed the Rosary and participated in retreats and Eucharistic adoration before entering religious life. She comes from a large family...

Read more:

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=13925

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Holy Week in Malaga -- Marvelous Video



This video deserves the big screen.

The Spanish hold huge public ceremonies in the streets. They have dozens of floats carried by strong Catholics, members of special confraternities, as can be seen in the video.

About the Penitential Robes

In the Middle Ages when the penitential robes and hood originated people did public penance to give testimony to the horror of sin and the need for reparation.

However, the Catholic Church was careful of protect the identity of the penitent, especially if the sin committed was not public. The high-tipped hood and the solemn robe with cape make it impossible to know who the person wearing it is; all that remains is a grave reminder that sin calls for reparation.

43 Arrested in Post-papal Visit Cuba Crackdown

I think someone said that you can trust the Communists to be true communist.

43 arrested in post-papal visit Cuba crackdown - Yahoo! News Canada
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/43-arrested-post-papal-visit-cuba-crackdown-213447808.html
At least 43 Cuban dissidents have been arrested in areas near where Pope Benedict XVI visited last week, dissidents said Tuesday, as the United States urged their immediate release.
Read the full story

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Statue of Our Lady Present at Lepanto Just Found!

The statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary that was on board the royal galley commanded by Don John of Austria, half brother of King Philip II of Spain, during the Battle of Lepanto, has been discovered.

Our Lady of the Rosary was offered to Don John of Austria by the Venetians. Back in Spain after this feat of arms witnessed by the statue of the Mother of God, it was donated by Don John of Austria upon his death in 1578 to the Brotherhood of the Galleys in the church of St. John Lateran Port of Santa María in Cádiz.

In 1854 the statue was transferred to the Marine Guards Academy of San Fernando, precursor of the Spanish Naval Academy. It was then passed from hand to hand until it was lost. But recently it was delivered back to the Naval Museum of Madrid, where the statue will be restored and then exposed to the public. Although the statue has lost one eye, it retains all its supernatural presence.

Battle of Lepanto Painted by Tony Stafki http://tonystafki.imagekind.com/

While Pope Pius V prayed in Rome for the victory of the Christians, the flagship of the fleet fought against the Turkish galley of the commander of Ottoman forces, Ali Pasha, who was beheaded soon after. The victory of the Holy League stopped Muslim incursions deeper into Europe, although their attacks to the coast to capture slaves continued. This victory is celebrated annually on the feast of Our Lady of Rosary.

Source: Correspondance Européenne

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

The US military Hosts First-ever Event for Atheists.

The Rock Beyond Belief concert at Fort Bragg was held Saturday for soldiers and others on the base who don't believe in God, the Associated Press reported. It was aimed at showing soldiers without religious beliefs that they have a place in the military. The event "is the most visible sign so far of a growing desire by military personnel with atheist or other secular beliefs to get the same recognition as their religious counterparts," the AP said.

Read more:

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/120331/us-military-atheists-event-fort-bragg-rock-beyond-belief

Monday, April 2, 2012

How is It Possible? Cardinal Approves Homosexual Parish Council Member

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, who leads the Roman Catholic Church in Austria, has apparently confirmed that an openly homosexual man may serve on the parish council at a church in Stutzenhofen – a town in the Weinviertel region. Florian Stangl was elected to the advisory post by members of the congregation, but apparently did not find approval on the part of his pastor, Rev. Gerhard Swierzek.

(Cardinal Christoph Schonborn)

Stangl and his companion resorted to asking for a personal interview with Cardinal Schonborn, who then spoke with the pair and dined with them. According to Austrian daily Die Presse, Cardinal Schonborn decided that Stangl should not be excluded from the position, but the decision was not made public until March 30.


Rev. Swierzek, who had opposed the homosexual Stangl, has since received death threats. Gasoline is said to have been poured through a window at his rectory, while a local newspaper reported that there was a rumour that the priest has left on vacation.

The priest arrived at the editorial offices of Bezirksblätter, the daily newspaper in Stuzenhofen, to demand a retraction of the false report of his absence from the town, while also threatening to file a lawsuit. Local reports says that the Vicar General, Rev. Nikolaus Krasa – who oversees the priests in the region – has advised the outraged priest to remain calm and refrain from any confrontations with the media.

From Spero news, click here for link