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Fri, 14 Apr 2017 | Cover | Page 01

Death

Visits The Remnant

By Michael J. Matt

John Vennari, RIP

In your charity, please remember the repose of the soul of our brother and champion defender of Christ’s Church, John Vennari, who died on Tuesday, April 4, 2017. He received the traditional Sacraments and blessings of the Church several times, and was able to receive Holy Viaticum, as well as Extreme Unction and the Apostolic Blessing.

He died wearing the Brown Scapular and the cord of St. Philomena, with the St. Benedict Crucifix (with the special ‘Happy Death’ indulgence attached) next to him. His last words were, "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners."

Quite frankly, I have no words to adequately express the magnitude of this loss, both for the traditional Catholic movement as a whole, and for us personally, here at The Remnant.

John was our ally, our friend and our brother in arms. The thought of fighting in these trenches without him at our side is still too unthinkable. And the Church has lost a most able and faithful watchman with this passing of the editor of the incomparable Catholic Family News.

I so want to assure myself and my readers that John is with Christ our King right now, but I dare not because I do not know that and I will not insult his memory by suggesting anything of the kind. I therefore beg Remnant readers all around the world to pray for the repose

~ See Editor's Desk/ Page 2

From the Editor’s Desk Continued…

of the soul of John Vennari, that he will be soon delivered from Purgatory and into the arms of Our Lady of Fatima— the great Queen of Heaven to whom he devoted his life’s work.

John’s funeral was held in Buffalo, New York on Saturday, April 8. I was honoured to serve as pallbearer. His funeral was one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. Seven priests were in the sanctuary, and Father Adam Purdy of the Society of Saint Pius X was the celebrant. The church was full of mourners and admirers. His family honored their brother, husband, and father in a way that was touching beyond words. If a man’s life can be evaluated by the character of the family he leaves behind, then John Vennari was truly a great man who had a wonderful life.

Thank you, John, for sharing some of your life with us. It was one of the great honors of my life to call you my friend.

I love you, and I promise I will never forget.

All of our love, support and prayers to John’s faithful wife Susan, and his beautiful children—Elizabeth, Philomena, and Benedict. John’s suffering is over now, and he is in God’s hands. He has fought the good fight, finished the course, and kept the faith. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace.

Last week I posted a personal story on The Remnant’s site entitled "Lindsey’s Gift of Life." Therein I shared the touching account of one heroic wife and mother, Lindsey Bourbeau, who though only recently starting out in her own married life, put everything on hold in order an undergo a major surgery to remove half of her liver and donate it to her husband’s dying aunt—my sister, Gretchen (Matt) Mills.

"In a world filled with ugly selfishness and proud conceit," I wrote, "I’m conflicted by, on the one hand, the beauty of what is going on here, and on the other, a sense of deep concern for the lives and health of these two strong Catholic women… Until recently, Gretchen, though quite literally wasting away, was considered by her doctors not quite sick enough (she now suffers from advanced cirrhosis) to be a candidate for liver transplant, unless she could find a live donor. Her situation recently became quite critical, and that’s when Lindsey stepped in."

I’m happy to report that Lindsey is out of Intensive Care and embarking now on the months-long process of recovering from that surgery, which doctors are calling a success.

Alas, God had other plans for Gretchen.

For seven days after the transplant, she not only responded favourably to the new liver but was also removed from the Intensive Care Unit, as well.

Though somewhat disoriented, Gretchen gradually began to emerge from an astonishing 17-hour surgery (her doctors had anticipated only 8) in good spirits.

She could recognize family members, was able to communicate, smile and even pray and listen to music. She made it known almost immediately that her main concern was for the health and wellbeing of her young hero-niece, lying in a bed in the same hospital a couple of floors up. All in all, we dared to hope that Gretchen might just beat death one last time.

That hope was misplaced. On the morning of the seventh day, things began to rapidly deteriorate, as an unknown infection set in overnight and began to cause massive organ failure. A short time later, I received an ominous text from my sister, Carrie: "Gretch has gone into code mode.

Pray hard!" And we did, on our knees, rosaries in hand.

Moments passed and then another text from Carrie and sister Cathy, both at Gretchen’s side: "Jim is asking for all of our prayers. Gretchen’s life has ended.

I’m so sorry to be the bearer of this news."

Gretchen would spend Holy Week in eternity, her life on this earth having been one long and hard-fought battle.

When Gretchen was younger, she’d was a first-rate nurse in St. John’s Hospital here in St. Paul. She knew her stuff, and she certainly understood the risks involved in this surgery—better than her doctors, I suspect. She’d gone into the surgery fully aware of the awesome challenge she faced, and I don’t think she deceived herself for one moment—it would take another miracle. But she believed in miracles, especially the kind that come from cooperating with God’s grace. She’d consulted priests, friends and family in her effort to discern what God wanted her to do. "If this is God’s will," she told to me a few days ago, "I’ll do this thing…for Margaret and for Jim." And that’s exactly what she did, with no regrets.

Her faith was positively on fire the last time I spoke to her, the day before her surgery. She was content and at peace, lying in her pre-op hospital bed. Her favourite priest had stopped by her house the day before, heard her Confession, given her Holy Viaticum, administered Extreme Unction in the traditional form, and bestowed upon her the Apostolic Blessing. She was spiritually invigorated, to be sure, but also ready to go, if it was God’s will—and she said as much. She’d stared death down so many times in her life that this time her only concern was for her family (especially Lindsey).

For her, death had lost its sting. She even joked that if she did survive the surgery, perhaps her case could be considered for the necessary miracle in the process of canonizing one of her favourite popes— Pius XII.

But that wasn’t meant it be. Despite Gretchen’s iron will to fight and to live much longer than she should have over the past 40 years of chronic illness, this surgery was to be her last. But for the sake of her Margaret—the little "miracle baby" her doctors told her she could never have—Gretchen once again declined to go gently into the night. She knew how to fight! Nineteen years ago, she’d fought hard when her doctors warned her that she risked death if she tried to conceive a child. She and Jim placed their faith in God, Our Lady of Lourdes, and Gretchen’s great heavenly pal, St. Raphael. They conceived a beautiful and healthy little girl—the light of her life (my godchild, by the way).

Since then and though she lived life to its fullest, her illness gradually grew worse as she accepted each new cross along the way to become an inspiration to us all, even as her battered body suffered every manner of affliction and indignity.

Despite it all, she lost neither faith nor hope, and was always the life of the party (when she felt good enough, that is, to leave her home for family gatherings). It wasn’t a party without the "Grand Poobah", a nickname we’d given her after decades of illness necessitated special chairs and even beds to alleviate chronic pain. So we joked that even despite debilitating illness, she was always proud and present and perched on a pillow — like some Grand Poobah.

Dear God, we loved her so! And so last week—for the sake of her family—she agreed to give life one last shot, trusting entirely in God’s holy will.

But I think God decided Gretchen had given enough, that Gretchen had

had enough. Her passing—ironically, after a lifetime of pain—was quick and painless, as she slipped quietly into eternity, leaving behind so many memories and a gaping hole in the lives of those of us who love her, worshipped her when we were kids, and must now content ourselves to mourn her passing and miss her for the rest of our lives. Our consolation lies now in the hope that one day we may all meet merrily together again in heaven, if God so wills it.

In your charity, dear Remnant friends and family, please say a prayer for the repose of the soul of Gretchen Mills— one of my favourite people in all the world. And dear, sweet Lindsey needs your prayers, too. To give so much so freely, only to have death take it all away—this is a heavy cross to bear. But, obviously, it changes nothing where our family’s unending gratitude for such a herculean effort to save our sister’s life is concerned. We’ll never forget what you’ve done for her, Lindsey, and neither will she.

Eternal rest grant unto Gretchen, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon her.

May her soul rest in peace.

(See you later, Sis. I love you forever.)

Gretchen (Matt) Mills Goes to God

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Fri, 14 Apr 2017 | Cover | Page 01

Easter, Feast of Triumph

By Joseph Kreuter, O.S.B.

Christmas and Easter, the outstanding festivals of the Church Year, commemorate two great mysteries of Christianity that have been heralded by angels from on high in these words: "This day is born to you a Savior" and: "He is risen, He is not here."

Both days are days of intense supernatural joy, a joy that cannot be experienced but by souls possessing supernatural faith. For this reason, gloom was characteristic of ancient paganism, and the pagan of our age seeks his joy in the resurrection of Mother Nature all about him this time of year. But many and fruitful are the thoughts that surge upon the mind of us Christians as we reread the simple yet sublime recital of the Evangelist recounting the resurrection of God made Man.

True, they are old; still, as we dwell upon them at each recurrence of this glorious festival, they seem to tell us more of life, conquest, victory and triumph than they did when we were in the prime of life. Perhaps the reason for this is because modern paganism, representing death, defeat, slavery and inward misery, is growing apace in the world today and the Easter joy of Christians stands in solemn contrast to the gloom of this new paganism. We are carried back in spirit to the first Easter morning, and, as we stand before the hallowed tomb, we see the great stone rolled back and the grave cloths lying about; we behold

~ See Easter/ Page 5

Easter, Feast of Triumph

Continued from Page 1

the angels clad in white robes, guarding the empty tomb; we catch the echo of the exultant message they proclaim to the holy women, who had come out of Jerusalem to anoint the dead Christ’s body: "Be not affrighted. You seek Jesus of Nazareth. He is risen. He is not here. Behold the place where they laid Him"— and at the gladsome tidings our hearts are filled with holy joy.

At the same time, we cannot help but feel for the many millions of men, women and children living in this Christian era, who are yet not ready to accept the joyous message of their Savior’s Resurrection, not a few of them even striving to undo the work of the Redeemer of mankind. Julian the Apostate in the early centuries of Christianity had endeavored to annihilate the power of the Christian religion, but had lost his battle, and, dying an infamous death, had cried out: "Galilean, Thou hast conquered!"

Many centuries have since passed, other enemies of Christ came, failed miserably and died. Because they refused to accept the Christmas message: "This day is born to you a Savior," they were deemed unworthy to receive the Easter message: "He is risen": they continued to walk along in the shadow of death until death overtook them and laid them low without the hope of ever rising unto new life. Their lives were dismal failures as must be the lives of all who fail to follow Him who said: "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life."

On Friday before Easter, when Christ hung dead and in shame upon the cross, His life was a failure, so at least it seemed. Today He turns that failure into triumph and rises in glory, a conqueror over the grave, a victor over death, thus assuring His followers that He was all that He had professed Himself to be, and that He would do all that He had pledged Himself to do. This is Christ’s day of victory, and because we wish to return Him love for the great love He manifested for us, we rejoice with Him in His triumph and glory, crying out with His Church: "This is the day the Lord had made, let us rejoice and be glad therein. Alleluia!"

Easter is a day of victory—victory so complete it knows no equal in the long history of the world. It is a day of conquest—conquest so tremendous that no thought of ours can compass its grandeurs. There have been many conquests as recorded in the annals of the world; but all man’s conquests are incomplete, many of them even pave the way to utter defeat later on. There is one enemy that as yet knows no defeat, that could boast of universal conquest.

He has laid low billions of human beings in the long history of mankind, and day by day, hour by hour, he leads his victims captive to the grave. He spares no one; he makes the earth a huge cemetery for men, women and children, for the learned and the ignorant, for the hero and the coward, for the saint and the criminal—all silent witnesses to the complete sway of this universal conquer—Death.

One might expect that mankind in general and each thinking man and woman in particular throughout the centuries should have looked out for Someone who had the power to conquer Death and thus by a singular triumph and unique victory prove himself to be the Lord over life and death. Thus would a real meaning be given to man’s life on this earth and true and lasting joy be afforded to countless souls that are still groping in the darkness and gloom of paganism. Easter is the triumphal festival of Him who alone has conquered Death and who alone was able to carry out such a conquest. He who proclaimed Himself the Truth, the Life and the Resurrection, the Omnipotent God, has proved that He has power over life and death, that He is the Son of the Most High. On Good Friday we saw Him die in ignominy and agony on the cross. With hearts full of grief, we silently watched Mary and the rest of the faithful followers prepare the dead and mangled Body for His burial: in spirit we accompanied the little funeral procession to where they laid Him in His alien tomb. How strange it all was! He seemed to be the Lord over life and death. Once He had stopped a small funeral procession near the village of Naim and restored the young son to his widowed mother. Again He had conquered Death at Bethany when He called Lazarus, in whose body decomposition had already set in, back to life with the words: "Lazarus, come forth!" But now He Himself had died and been buried. Is He really dead?

There cannot be the least doubt on this score. Will He remain dead? He cannot remain dead, because He is the Author of life and the Conqueror of death.

He had said: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My word shall not pass away. I am the Resurrection and the Life." His tomb is no like other tombs. His tomb on the glorious Easter morning was empty. It is the tomb of the triumphant Conqueror of death. It is the tomb that is guarded by His angels who declare: "He is risen, He is not here."

Never before was such a message given to man.

Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat.

■

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Fri, 14 Apr 2017 | Cover | Page 01

When the Dead Stand Again

By Christopher A. Ferrara

"And if Christ be not risen again, your faith is vain, for you are yet in your sins. Then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ, are perished." A few days ago, I watched my dear friend John Vennari being lowered into the ground in his coffin. A shovel full of earth from my hands was added to those from his family and friends. This vibrant personality, so full of life and learning, a figure who loomed large in the lay movement for Tradition for so many years, is suddenly gone from this earth at the age of 59, leaving behind a devoted wife and the three extraordinary children with whom they have both been blessed, though late they came to the married state.

The natural man looks upon death in such circumstances as a scandal. He shudders at the very thought of death and labors to drive it from his mind.

And should someone—an impertinent Catholic perhaps—remind him of his inevitable fate, he is likely to react with irrational anger over being confronted with the most unwelcome truth of all: that sooner or later his body will fail him and he will die. Or, as a French

~ See Dead Stand/ Page 6

John Vennari

Defender of the Old Faith, RIP

When the Dead Stand Again

C. Ferrara/ Continued from Page 1

proverb more earthily puts it: health is a precarious affair that always ends badly.

For the natural man, however, there are more clever ways to hide from the reality of death than a simple refusal to think about it. We have all witnessed the posturing of the modern stoic, often a celebrity or public intellectual, who professes to be indifferent toward death and to care not at all about his fate after death. He will enunciate some shallow philosophy of life along the lines of "living life to the fullest" and will express the rather pathetic hope that after "living life to the fullest" he will simply die peacefully in his sleep.

The entrepreneur Malcolm Forbes, posthumously revealed to be a homosexual, once expressed that same stoic sentiment in an interview. The text of that interview eludes me today, but I will never forget the substance: "I have everything I have ever wanted in this life, and I expect nothing in any life to come, if there is one. I wish only to die in my sleep." Six months later, Forbes got exactly he asked for, dying from a heart attack at the age of 70 while taking a nap in his New Jersey home, surrounded by his collection of Faberge eggs.

"Mr. Forbes had obviously died in his sleep. He had died very peacefully, apparently," said his personal physician.

"I don’t know anyone who enjoyed life so much or gave so much back," said Barbara Walters, as if that were the most that one could possibly say about the existence of an immortal soul with an eternal destiny. But Our Lord said something quite different about those who would live for the goods of this world alone: "Woe to you rich, for ye have received your consolation." (Luke 6:24) Yet is too easy to make light of the natural man’s futile attempts to avoid the inescapable reality of death. Where would we Catholics be without God’s gratuitous gift of the supernatural virtue of hope infused at our baptism, along with faith and charity? Hope is "a Divine virtue by which we confidently expect, with God’s help, to reach eternal felicity as well as to have at our disposal the means of securing it." That is, no man can attain the theological virtue of hope in life eternal by his own effort, not even by the habitual practice of moral virtue. Hence Pope Gregory XVI, in his anti-liberal encyclical Mirari vos, condemned the error of religious indifferentism, which even in the early 19th century was among "the evils with which the Church is afflicted at present." Today, of course, that error has penetrated to the Church’s very summits. As Gregory warned: This perverse opinion is spread on all sides by the fraud of the wicked, who claim that it is possible to obtain the eternal salvation of the soul by the profession of any kind of religion, as long as morality is maintained. Surely, in so clear a matter, you will drive this deadly error far from the people committed to your care. With the admonition of the apostle that "there is one God, one faith, one baptism" may those fear who contrive the notion that the safe harbor of salvation is open to persons of any religion whatever.

The supernatural virtue of hope in life eternal, infused by Baptism, is not a feeling arising from the passions, but an act of the will governed by reason, as is the exercise of the natural virtues.

Thus, it is no cause for despair that our feelings about death—the same feelings of dread that afflict the natural man— might seem at times to be at odds with a supernaturally infused hope. This is only an effect of the weakness of the flesh, though the spirit is willing.

Now, we cannot possess hope in the supernatural sense without the supernatural virtue of faith that precedes it, for the object of hope is the very God in whom we have faith as opposed to some earthly object that we might hope (in the natural sense) to attain by the mere habit of moral virtue. As Saint Thomas explains: Absolutely speaking, faith precedes hope. For the object of hope is a future good, arduous but possible to obtain.

In order, therefore, that we may hope, it is necessary for the object of hope to be proposed to us as possible. Now the object of hope is, in one way, eternal happiness, and in another way, the Divine assistance, as explained above, and both of these are proposed to us by faith, whereby we come to know that we are able to obtain eternal life, and that for this purpose the Divine assistance is ready for us, according to Hebrews 11:6: "He that cometh to God, must believe that He is, and is a rewarder to them that seek Him." Therefore it is evident that faith precedes hope. (ST II-II, Q.

17, Art. 7).

The faith that precedes hope is likewise an act of the will, enabled (as is hope) by the grace of justification received in baptism. But faith in turn rests upon belief in a single truth whose commemoration we are about to celebrate: that Christ is risen from the dead in a literal and bodily sense; that the Risen Christ walked again among His subjects, preached to them and even ate with them. This truth and this truth alone—which the neo-Modernism that plagues the Church today constantly seeks to undermine with emasculating interpretations—is the foundation of our faith and thus our hope. As Saint Paul teaches: Now if Christ be preached, that he arose again from the dead, how do some among you say, that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen again. And if Christ be not risen again, your faith is vain, for you are yet in your sins.

Then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ, are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, the first fruits of them that sleep: For by a man came death, and by a man the resurrection of the dead. And as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.

Without the Resurrection, says Saint Paul, we would be left with nothing but the hope of the natural man, and we would be fools not to do as the natural man does by "living life to the fullest" rather than suffering for the sake of a faith that is in vain: Otherwise what shall they do that are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not again at all? why are they then baptized for them? Why also are we in danger every hour? I die daily, I protest by your glory, brethren, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord. If (according to man) I fought with beasts at Ephesus, what doth it profit me, if the dead rise not again? Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die.

The faith of the Christian is thus no mere "blind sentiment of religion welling up from the depths of the subconscious under the impulse of the heart and the motion of a will trained to morality," as the generality of indifferentist churchmen more or less preach today, contrary to the abandoned Oath Against Modernism from which I have just quoted. Rather, as the Oath prescribed by Pope Saint Pius X declares, our faith is "a genuine assent of the intellect to truth received by hearing from an external source. By this assent, because of the authority of the supremely truthful God, we believe to be true that which has been revealed and attested to by a personal God, our Creator and Lord."

That is, our faith depends upon an actual event in history at a particular time and place, that being the advent of the Word Incarnate, whose life, death and resurrection were witnessed by the Apostles, who have handed down to us the truths the Word Incarnate revealed by the spoken word, to which we must assent if we would be saved—first and foremost the truth of the Resurrection, without which we would have nothing but the noble sentiments of a merely human teacher.

It is only by the light of faith that the believing Christian knows that "death is swallowed up in victory." (1 Cor. 15:54) And it is the Risen Christ alone who shows the way to our victory over death: "In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world." (Jn. 16:33) Above all, He has overcome death itself.

My dear friend John died with the confidence that the Resurrection alone makes possible. In the hope of life eternal, he faced down death with all the helps the Church that Christ founded can provide to the dying. The greatest thing he had ever done, John told one friend in his last hours, was to endure by the grace of God the illness that brought his earthly life to an end. The grace of final perseverance is indeed the greatest accomplishment any man can hope for: Hope, O my soul, hope. You know neither the day nor the hour.

Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is certain, and turns a very short time into a long one. Dream that the more you struggle, the more you prove the love that you bear your God, and the more you will rejoice one day with your Beloved, in a happiness and rapture that can never end. (St.

Theresa of Avila) ■

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Fri, 14 Apr 2017 | Cover | Page 02

Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro-Carámbula, RIP

By Dr. John C. Rao Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro-Carámbula, the chaplain of the Roman Forum, long-time head of the Rome Bureau of Human Life International, and dear, dear friend ended his earthly pilgrimage to God at 2:00 A.M. today, Holy Thursday.

His soul follows that of another dear friend, John Vennari, into Purgatory and--God willing---as swiftly as possible into Heaven. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ cannot but deal as mercifully as possible with both of these good, good men.

To give you just a bit of information

Continued on Page 11

Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro-Carámbula, RIP

Dr. Rao/ Continued from Page 2

about my beloved friend, Monsignor was born on October 22nd 1947 in Montevideo, Uruguay. After obtaining a doctorate in Law in Montevideo, he joined the foreign service of his country.

From 1978 to 1983 he was a member of the delegation of Uruguay to the U.N. In 1983 he entered the Dunwoodie Seminary in New York and was ordained a priest by Cardinal John O’Connor on November 14th 1987, in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York City.

In New York at the same time that he worked in a parish, he was involved with the Pro-Life apostolate. In 1991 he entered the University of the Holy Cross in Rome, obtaining his license in 1993 and his doctorate in Theology in 1997 with a dissertation on The Experience of God and of the Faith in God according to St. Thomas Aquinas. He was fluent in Spanish, English, French, and Italian.

In September 1998 Msgr. Barreiro was appointed Director of the HLI Rome Office, which was inaugurated on November of that same year, with the blessings of Pope John Paul II.

That is what there is to say about him "officially". But that does not tell you Don Ignacio’s full story, which I am going to relate to you now, not necessarily in the most elegant form, because I want to say this quickly and I am, as you may well imagine, a bit upset.

It is appropriate that he died on Holy Thursday, the Birthday of the Priesthood, because he was a heart-and-soul, 24/7 priest. He always wanted to be a priest, but certain circumstances propelled him into a legal career, one which involved him in very serious anti-communist labors in his native country, and then into diplomatic service. I met him thanks to an even closer friend of Don Ignacio, Fr.

Richard Munkelt, who is now the main chaplain of the Roman Forum, taking our departed comrade’s place. This was when he was working for Uruguay at the United Nations.

Don Ignacio loved his country, but he loved his Savior more. I know that it is hard for non-New Yorkers to believe how much those of us attached to this strange city feel about her, but it was appropriate that Monsignor Barreiro’s vocation got the better of him in this town to which he also gave his heart and soul.

Monsignor was one of the most intelligent men I know, and one with an aesthetic sense that did not brook foolish things lightly. It did not take long after he became a priest for him to know that he needed to be one "according to the order of Melchizedek" in the service of the Traditional Liturgy. Good theologian that he was, he never dreamed of denying the legitimacy of the Novus Ordo; he simply knew which form of worship was superior.

Everyone who knew and loved Don Ignacio knows that he was a soldier in every field that he entered. He was a Soldier of Christ. He was a Commando of Christ. He fought for the Old Mass.

He fought for the fullness of the Catholic Teaching, every iota of every doctrine.

He fought for the souls of all who came to him for help. He dropped everything— everything—for anyone who needed spiritual help. Knowing that my fatherin- law was near death a good number of years ago, he begged my wife to tell him the moment that she knew. That moment turned out to be 3 in the morning Rome time, and Monsignor got out of bed, vested, and said mass for him "on the double". In addition to being one of the most intelligent and aesthetically aware men that I have ever known, Don Ignacio was also one of the most humorous, amusing, and individual. Why? As we believers know---and non-believers can never grasp---this was because he was a Catholic, and Catholicism breeds true personality. Please pray for this good and faithful servant of God, whose endless work in endless ways, both in the United States and in Rome, has been totally unsung. He did more for the Cause than people outside his close circle of friends can imagine. He will do even more for all of us still trudging through this valley of tears when he makes it into the Company of the Saints. ■

Monsignor Barreiro in his HLI office in Rome (2013)

Photo: The Remnant Press, MJM

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Fri, 14 Apr 2017 | Cover | Page 03

The Remnant Speaks

Letters to the Editor: The Remnant Speaks P.O. Box 1117, Forest Lake, MN 55025 ~ Editor@RemnantNewspaper.

The Man Who Knew Too Much... About Planned Parenthood

Editor, The Remnant: I read your short article regarding the video of Planned Parenthood. As you know the organization who went public with this evidence is David Daleiden’s Center for Medical Progress, however you may not know the Mr. Daleiden is a devoted Trad.

As providence would have it, I met Mr. Daleiden after midnight Mass on Christmas Eve at the historic mission at San Juan Capistrano. I am an usher and sacristan for the Traditional Mass there and just happened to notice David standing at the side of the chapel during mass. I made a point of introducing myself after Mass and that is when I found out he was a fulltime Trad. I then asked him how he founded Center for Medical Progress and he told me it was in response to the grace he received from the Traditional Mass.

I won’t go into the details here, but I would like to encourage you to reach out to Mr. Daleiden as his story is very inspiring and I think would be of great interest to your readers. When you look at the tangible results of the decades-old pro-life movement, we must admit that little has been accomplished despite the best efforts of some amazing people.

Yet here comes a young man out of nowhere, armed with an idea that was inspired by the True Mass and now it’s looks like the fruits of his efforts will strike the first major and tangible blow against the culture of death - that is the defunding of Planned Parenthood.

God bless The Remnant, Jerry Sheehy

Editor’s Note: Thanks, Jerry. I couldn’t agree more, and we featured a full-page ad on David in the last issue of The Remnant (March 31, 2107). The ad was placed by the Thomas More Society, and is an effort to raise money for David’s defense. As you may know, The Remnant only accepts advertisements from organizations and projects that we completely endorse and support. For more information contact the Thomas More Society at Dept. 1703R, 19 S.

LaSalle St. Suite 603, Chicago Illinois 60603.

MJM More Fake Russian "News"

Editor, The Remnant: Whatever happened to the once-honorable endeavor of journalists to inform the world with real news? While lies have been spread to "fool the folks" since the disaster in the Garden of Eden (see Genesis), the modern Media have added a few new tricks, under the form of "Fake News". In a calculated diversion, "Demo-Globalists", with Media "helpers", chase after their very own "Fake News"—on Russia, Russia, Russia, with financial sanctions, sanctions, and more sanctions. This diversion of real news is a supposed clever short-term strategy to mask the long-term Globalist strategy of the "Deep-State’s" hidden objective—the New Order’s One-World. This hidden objective is now seen at work in the destruction of the ancient cultures of Europe, with its Christian base of over a thousand years. Conspiracy? Yes, wake up, it’s for real, as you may be rightly informed by our reliable source, The Remnant newspaper. With Media largely based in Liberal Globalist sources, we are constantly subjected to dishonest brain-wash.

The Chinese philosopher Confucius advises, "never take foolishness too seriously". So, it is well to develop a healthy suspicious evaluation of "politically correct" propaganda.

We may wonder if the typical "Demo-Globalist", when shown a world atlas, could even find the vast Russian territory which covers two continents. Where were your parents or grandparents when the royal Romanov family was captured by the Marxist revolutionaries in 1917 and quickly assassinated—murdered in cold blood— all of the Romanov family, including the Czar Nicolas-II and all of the women and children of the royal family? Today in Russia there is a movement to beatify this royal family.

Needless to say, in this Revolution, radical leaders of which were imported from afar (including Brooklyn, NY) the Russian Church of a thousand years was ruthlessly crushed, priests and prelates murdered en masse. Sadly, some Modernist neo-Christian politicos are in disbelief of a Christian revival in today’s new-Russia, and prattle-away for more sanctions on Russia.

Robert Dahl Maryland

Heresy Down Under, Too?

Editor, The Remnant: Some nights ago (28 March, in Perth, WA) I heard the Archbishop of Perth talk on Amoris Laetitia. What, we all wondered, would he say about its controversial section on forbidding de-facto couples from taking communion, or allowing them to?

He said we should be compassionate towards them and that, though it was the Church’s teaching to forbid them, Church regulations are works in progress and who knows? That was it. The implication was that the ruling might change and, if we didn’t like that, we were callous hypocrites.

Note the disguised victim card. Have compassion and let the offender off the hook, not in spite of his criminality but because of it. And never mind law and order, you up-tight person you! Too much of this has already happened with the paedophile priests being quietly shifted to other jobs, allowing the media to bash Catholics ever since.

Note too that the sacraments are a whole. If you violate one, you reject the lot and, like the chap who was only at the wedding for a free feed, you will find yourself gnashing and wailing and so on in a ditch in the dark.

Finally, note that touch of cruelty in letting people in mortal sin pretend they are still part of the Church, so they go to their deaths without ever being encouraged to repent. Some of the elite in our secular society (the Clerisy) like messing with our heads as a token, and tool, of our subjection. Could it be that our Novus Ordo Pontiff does too? And that the hierarchy does not want to speak out against this? I would have been much better pleased with our Arch had he simply stated the ambiguity of Amoris Laetitia on this subject, and said that nodoubt His Holiness was going to clarify it later. Rather than sugar-coating such a bitter pill.

Sincerely, (Dr) Peter Gilet Australia

God Likes Rocks!

Editor, The Remnant: During my conversion process to God’s Church I realized that, if you punched hard on my then-Church of Enlightenment, your fist would go right through to the other side, there being nothing solid to stop it. On the other hand, if you did the same to the Roman Catholic Church, you would come up against something which the present Pope apparently dislikes – solid bone i.e. rigidity.

In some way that escapes me, people suffering from this ‘rigidity’ are incapable of real charity and, of course, ‘compassion’. Rigidity = frigidity.

There is even something dodgy in their psyches, some weakness that has need of safety in this ‘rigidity’. Also, in their fanatic preference for the TLM, they are just nostalgic pre-conciliar fogeys and completely at a loss when released from the safe prison of the TLM into the freedom and creativity of the NO.

No, we trads go to the TLM because we find the presence of God there and not just human community which is available outside church. This rigidity refers to doctrine and morals, not personal qualities. All the saints in the Catholic calendar were doctrinally and morally rigid and, at the same time, models of charity to all; why cannot the two go together? They got this strength from the TLM and would have died rather than tamper with it.

God likes rocks and has created a lot of them to keep the Earth’s crust rigid for us to walk about on. How equally should God’s word be solid and reliable. The

Continued Next Page

Letters to the Editor Cont...

world is in a terrible flux today and in vital need of firm statements of belief, not ‘compassionate’ watering-down. The RC Church was described by Our Lord as a ‘rock’ and rocks are notorious for their rigid quality, regrettable maybe, but there it is.

Hear Matt.21:44 and Luke 20:18. ‘He that falls on this rock will be broken, but if it falls on anyone it will crush him.’ (KJV says, ‘be ground to powder’.) I am glad to have been supplied with a backbone together with all its necessary rigid bits, otherwise I might have become a jellyfish.

Jim Allen-Considering

a Vocation?

Editor, The Remnant: I want to introduce Remnant readers to a not-so-well-known Traditional Benedictine community that uses the 1962 missal. They do not advertise, so I want to do it for them. Any young man interested in the contemplative life should write them at Syon Abbey, P.O. Box 350, Copper Hill, VA. 24079. Sincerely, Oliver S. Furlong

Trump's Neocon Misstep

Editor, The Remnant: An excellent Open Letter! - I think we (including those of us who are not American) want to see President Trump 'stay on board' the political projectile he fired off in his Presidential campaign. Your Letter may contribute towards achieving that objective. In Europe (where I live in Germany), the secular majority are strongly opposed to Donald Trump, gleefully pointing to his personal failings as 'proof' of his unsuitability for Presidential office. In spite of the ongoing Obama adulation - you will recall the [Say after me:]'Yes, we can' populism - I think some of our locally disappointed Clinton admirers were very slowly beginning to realise that it's not actually Donald Trump who poses a physical threat to them even though President Trump's vision of 'world peace' does not fit in with their own. Now however, his Syrian bombing escapade has essentially enabled the European Left to portray President Trump as itching for a fight - especially when seen in tandem with his more military approach to the North Korean problem. For the German Left, America tends to be seen as a source of great evil for an otherwise peaceful world; as we know, the Left don't care much about war victims, whether dead of alive (they don't even care about abortion victims!), but they can be counted on to be on constant lookout for proof of U.S.

perfidity. To be sure, President Trump was not elected by the European Left to promote their agenda, but he needs our prayers to help him deal with his fickle 'allies' in this part of the world.

Brian Duffett

Remembering John Vennari

Editor, The Remnant: John, I came to believe you were right all along.

Sienamom RemnantNewspaper.com Editor, The Remnant: I can only weep.

If it had not been for Mr. Vennari and Catholic Family News, I would have never found Holy Tradition and the True Church. It’s as though I have lost my own father!

Kevin Crotzer RemnantNewspaper.com Editor, The Remnant: John was a neighbor and a dear friend. My husband and I would have the whole Vennari family over for Rosary and conversation, and due to John, corny jokes, and music.

John’s guitar skills were formidable, and he could play anything he heard by ear. He also loved our rocking chair, and whenever I see it, I think of John.

Funny how a rocking chair can make one cry. It was he who helped me turn to Tradition, with his writings, talks and cozy conversation. When I had questions about 1. Church politics, 2. how to use a Mac computer, I could always say to myself," I gotta talk to John." My last words to him were, "I love you John," and he blew me a kiss. He leaves behind a gaping hole. I don’t think we we’ll ever see the likes of him again.

Helen Westover RemnantNewspaper.com Editor, The Remnant: Mr. Vennari was literally my way to tradition. My God have mercy on him and his family. We may soon lose a wonderful man of faith and a son of the Holy Mother Church but he will remain in our minds as a great warrior for tradition. Martin Iron RemnantNewspaper.com Editor, The Remnant: John’s Catholic Family News, and the tapes and CDs from the CFN conferences had a lot to do with my conversion to the Faith. The reason of course is that they all contain Truth, which is so hard to find these days. I have kept every issue since 1993 when I began my journey in earnest. My girls used to make fun of me because I would drive around with my windows down, wearing my cool shades (which they hated), with a John Vennari lecture blaring from my car stereo – heavy on the bass, of course. I had a lot to learn.

When you convert in your thirties, it’s like learning to walk all over again, and how to think. It truly is a "re-birth".

I shudder to think where I would be without John and all he did for me, and consequently for my daughters who are now devout traditional Catholics (Deo gratias). He was a teacher of the highest order, in my mind, and a delightful human being. If there is anyone who deserves a very high place in Heaven, it’s John. May God rest his precious soul, and grant strength and peace to his dear family.

Marcy Mullins Phoenix, Arizona Editor, The Remnant: John Vennari’s influence reached far beyond what he could have known. My mother was a militant feminist and liberal atheist.

When she started her conversion process, it was Catholic Family News and The Remnant which I began to see pile up on the coffee table, and associate with the marked change in her convictions.

She attended the CFN conferences and was struck by John’s humility, wit, and most of all, his joy. She would come back home and tell stories of how John’s unassuming and straightforward take on Tradition made it easily accessible and less intimidating to "newbies", even those of the formerly-atheist bent.

His influence is hugely present in her Catholic formation, and I thank God for that, because she brought her two grown daughters into the Faith, as well.

Since that time, I too had the pleasure of knowing John, his kind wife, and three children who are an impressive credit to their parents. I saw John last at the CFN conference of summer 2016, and it hits me like a punch in the chest that he is gone. The Traditional movement is a lonely place indeed without his enthusiastic and joyful approach. I sincerely hope that the younger generations are prepared to follow in his footsteps, and to deserve the legacy of watchfulness and passionate defense of Truth which he leaves behind.

May God guide your dear family, John, and all of us, in this time of grief. Your journey has just begun.

Tess Mullins Phoenix, AZ Editor, The Remnant: I got to know John Vennari, not personally, through his videos and talks on the Fatima Center website. I loved him. What a wonderful Catholic gentleman and crusader for the truth. He is a man you would have loved to have met for his obvious warmth, sense of humour and conviction. I am in tears reading this and the tributes to him. May he rest in peace. I will pray for him and I get the feeling that before very long he will be praying for us.

Veritude RemnantNewspaper.com Editor, The Remnant: I just learned about John Vennari’s passing. I got to know him personally through the Catholic Identity Conferences and Fatima center. I really appreciated his zeal, sincerity, knowledge and I can say friendship. I want to thank you and Eric for building up those relationships that death cannot destroy but instead purify in the communion of saints. it will be made perfect and will continue in the eternal life. "Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy master". He will continue the good fight from Heaven, for sure. Be assured of a Mass and prayers for his eternal reward and rest. Thank you for all you do for the Institute, the Tradition and the Church. Blessed Holy Week. God bless you all Canon Moreau République de Maurice Editor, The Remnant: When I was in college, I found a copy of the Fatima Crusader on the table in the lobby of the Catholic community center off campus.

Through the Fatima Crusader, I learned about the crisis in the Church, CFN and the full Message of Fatima.

In 1997, my friend and I attended the CFN conference in Wilmington DE. +Fr.

Gruner was offering Mass, and the lady immediately in front of me turned to me and said: "Oh sweetheart, you must have your head covered!" and promptly pinned a tissue on my head with a bobby pin. I met +Fr. Gruner, +John Vennari and others at that conference. Now I can barely believe they’re gone. When +Fr. Nicholas Gruner died, I could imagine him before the throne of God asking Him if he could continue to work for Our Lady of Fatima. I can imagine +John doing the same thing. Vichnaya pamyat! Eternal memory!

Margaret RemnantNewspaper.com Editor, The Remnant: God bless John’s soul and his family through this difficult time. May he rest in peace. Thank you, John, from the bottom of my heart for your wonderful newspaper you produced all these years. Most importantly though for your powerful witness to Christ, His Church, Tradition and not being afraid of printing the truth, nor fear of human respect. Our Lady of Fatima, pray for John and Fr. Nicholas Gruner. Eternal rest grant unto them.

Melissa H RemnantNewspaper.com Editor, The Remnant: Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory Be to Him Forever! My deepest condolences on the loss of your friend +John Vennari. May God grant Mr. Vennari blessed repose and may his memory be eternal. My deepest sympathies to his wife and children and all his friends.

Mrs. Susan Buchko Editor, The Remnant: Thank you, John, for your beautiful example and for all that you’ve done for us and to us. God will have mercy on your soul. You and your wonderful family are in my prayers. Rest in God!

Michael McBride RemnantNewspaper.com Editor, The Remnant: This is very sad news. John Vennari was an amazing man and a source of inspiration for many Traditional Catholics. John, and his family will be very much in our prayers. We will pray that Our Blessed Lady takes him home on the next First Saturday, if not before.

Gildaswiseman RemnantNewspaper.com Editor, The Remnant: This is a great loss for the Traditional Catholic Resistance, John Vennari as well as Fr. Gruner was a giant in the defense of the Catholic Tradition and in the cause of Our Lady of Fatima!

Brian Kelleher RemnantNewspaper.com ■

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Fri, 14 Apr 2017 | Cover | Page 07

Shocked But Not Awed:

An Open Letter to President Trump

by Christopher Ferrara & Michael J. Matt

Editor's Note: I'm pleased to note that soon after Chris and I had posted this on The Remnant's site, the White House had already begun backing away from futher escalation of U.S. intervention in Syria. This was not surprising, given that everyone from Pat Buchanan to Ann Coulter to Ron Paul to Breitbart News and anyone else who remembers Iraq, immediately took issue with this decision. For example, Ann Coulter has a new book entitled 'In Trump We Trust' coming out this month. The president has no greater backer than Coulter, and yet she was rightfully outraged by this neo-con stunt in Syria. And this is precisely why we endorsed Trump in the first place, with plenty of qualifiers and conditions--because conservatives exercise influence over the White House, which would not have been the case under a President Hillary Clinton. This is far from over. Trump wants a second term. We've got to keep up the pressure, recalling that the man is, well, no rad trad, to put it mildly. The Remnant has praised him when he sticks with those who got him elected; and The Remnant will continue to object when he allows the likes of John McCain to lead him down neocon rabbit holes.

MJM Dear President Trump:

The mass media that seek to destroy you and even your Democrat opposition have praised your decision to launch 60 cruise missiles at an airfield in Syria in response to an alleged gas attack by the Assad regime on a remote Syrian village. This praise from your worst enemies should be a warning that you have gone down the wrong path, which is not the path you promised to follow when you mobilized what you rightly called a great movement to overturn the decadent status quo of the political establishment, including incessantly war-mongering Republican neo-cons and globalist elites. Are you really willing to repeat the same disastrous mistakes as your Republican predecessors by wading into a Middle Eastern quagmire for which there is no military solution?

Do you really believe the hubristic nonsense that America shows its greatness by blowing up things in a territory governed by a third-rate dictator who cannot fight back and poses no threat whatsoever to our national security?

Have you really accepted the notion that America nobly expresses its moral outrage by bombing a Syrian airfield on account of a gas attack while regimes that have perpetrated even worse atrocities, including our "ally" Saudi Arabia with its indiscriminate bombing of Yemen, are conveniently ignored?

Indeed, through a network of radical Sunni mosques and universities, Saudi Arabia is a primary breeding ground for the radical Islamic terrorism you have vowed to defeat. One of these radicalized Saudi Muslims has just slaughtered dozens of Christians in a Coptic church on Palm Sunday. Have you forgotten that 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudis?

What has happened to your sage recognition, via Twitter, that jingoistic fools like John McCain and Lindsey Graham "should focus their energies on ISIS, illegal immigration and border security instead of always looking to start World War III"?

Can you not see the threat of World War III in Syria, where further attacks by the US will inevitably lead to a direct military confrontation with Russia? Do you really want to be the President who ushers in an apocalypse while reckless war-mongers cheer you on?

What has happened to your vision, clearly enunciated with the help of Steve Bannon, of a non-interventionist foreign policy that places American interests first and avoids foolhardy and ruinous outbursts of unjustified military activity in distant lands, followed by an inevitable retreat and growing chaos in the Middle East?

We applaud you for the many decisive actions you have taken thus far in keeping with your campaign promises, including restoration of the Mexico City policy, the ending of federal grants to the United Nations Population Fund, which promotes and abortion and sterilization, the successful nomination of Neal Gorsuch as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court despite fierce opposition from the Left, the rollback of environmental regulations that have nothing to do with the quality of air and water, the freeze on all federal hiring outside of the military, the abandonment of the Obama administration’s absurd drive to force the states to accept "transgender" bathroom use in public facilities, cancelling the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, approving the Dakota Access and Keystone pipelines, the administrative rollback of Obamacare pending its repeal, the order to begin construction of the border wall, and the continuous negotiations that have persuaded numerous companies, both domestic and foreign, to invest in new plants in America.

Nevertheless, we did not vote you into office to implement the jingoistic, immensely destructive foreign policy of the Washington establishment and an "intelligence community" that demonstrably lied America into the disastrous war in Iraq, which led directly to the Middle East "mess" you rightly deplore—the same "intelligence community," still riddled with Obama appointees, that sought to undermine your candidacy and is now seeking to destroy your Presidency.

You enunciated and promised to accomplish a program of real and even revolutionary change in the geo-political status quo that is relentlessly subsuming this nation to a one-world hegemon ruled by the same elites who opposed your candidacy with a diabolical fury. But now we fear that you are being drawn into the same swamp you promised to drain. This is not what we voted for!

We respectfully demand that you keep your promise to the American people to end the veritable tyranny of unelected "Deep State" elites and Congressional war-mongers who constantly agitate for the next pointless war, the next massive sacrifice of American blood and treasure for an outcome that is infinitely worse than nothing. To quote your Inaugural Address: - For too long, a small group in our nation’s Capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost.

- Washington flourished – but the people did not share in its wealth….

- The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country.

- Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs; and while they celebrated in our nation’s Capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.

- That all changes – starting right here, and right now, because this moment is your moment: it belongs to you….

- At the center of this movement is a crucial conviction: that a nation exists to serve its citizens… - For many decades, we’ve enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry; - Subsidized the armies of other countries while allowing for the very sad depletion of our military; - We’ve defended other nation’s borders while refusing to defend our own; - And spent trillions of dollars overseas while America's infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay.

- But that is the past. And now we are looking only to the future.

- We assembled here today are issuing a new decree to be heard in every city, in every foreign capital, and in every hall of power.

- From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land.

- From this moment on, it’s going to be America First.

That is the vision you presented to the American people. Do not betray it! Do not allow yourself to become yet another politician who does the bidding of powers that have no respect for elections or the common people who vote in them. We hope and pray that the Syrian missile attack will be your one and only step down the path toward final disaster you promised to avoid, and that you will quickly regain the path that led you to the White House. The nearly 63 million Americans who voted for you did not expect to see merely the latest Presidential cog in a globalist machine that resists all change and either seduces or destroys anyone who attempts to undo its workings.

President Trump, have the courage to proceed in the faith that "with God all things are possible." (Matt 19:26) With prayers for the divine assistance in your governance of the nation, we remain, Respectfully yours, Christopher A. Ferrara Michael J. Matt ■

President George W. Trump?

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Fri, 14 Apr 2017 | Cover | Page 08

Lives of the Saints...

St. Mary Magdalene:"

The Penitent"

By Michael J. Matt

St. Mary Magdalen is one of those favored souls who actually walked with Our Lord, witnessed His passion and death, and yet kept the faith even after seeing firsthand the horrors of His Crucifixion. "God is dead," the Romans told her, but she paid them little mind then even as we should when they claim the same thing today.

In a time of discouragement and loss of faith, Magdalene emerges as the powerful patroness of hope and perseverance. She is not a doctor of the Church, but she shows what love of Christ can attain, even for poor, ignorant sinners, and how God crowns such love with His predilection. Her books were the Soul and the Sacred Humanity of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, and her wisdom was Eternal Wisdom Itself.

She is also the one who wept for Christ because she could not find Him. "The Angels said to her ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them ‘Because they have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid Him’.’" And for the sake of her enduring, faithful love, she was chosen by Our Lord to be an Apostle to the Apostles. It fell to St. Mary Magdalene to announce the Good News of the Resurrection to the bewildered, discouraged apostles who had hidden themselves away in the upper room "for fear of the Jews...."

Today, as our families divide, our Mass disappears, our world becomes plagued by war, we, too, do not always know where to find Him. Even in Catholic churches the tabernacle is often hidden away to make room for deified man in the sanctuaries. Where have they taken Him?

At a time such as this, it seems most fitting to turn to those who retained Hope even during the darkest hours in human history when there seemed to be little reason to persevere. Some say ours is the most terrible time in history, and yet what must it have been like for Magdalene at that cataclysmic moment when the Messiah breathed His last breath and gave up His spirit? Can you imagine the silence and desolation at the foot of the Cross just then!

This great saint saw the physical Body of Our Lord expire before her eyes. And, yet, far from despairing on that first Good Friday, she wept and prayed and never ceased to seek His Adorable Face.

His death on the Cross did not crush her faith, her love or her hope. What cause have we, then, to despair now as the Mystical Body of Christ seems to be expiring (in its human element) before our eyes. Easter Sunday will come, Mary knew it and so must we. Patiently, she waited with Our Lady in the shadow of the Cross, for the third day to dawn.

And so must we.

A frequent accusation leveled at tradition-minded Catholics these days is that we, in our arrogance, see ourselves as "more Catholic than the Church".

If there be any truth to this charge it is to be sadly lamented. But one wonders if Mary wasn’t accused of something similar, standing as she did beneath the Cross after all but one of the apostles had fled. Who is she? Who does she think she is? Peter isn’t even there!

It was love, not arrogance, that inspired Mary to stand at the foot of the Cross even when Peter was absent; so, too, it is love—love for Our Lord and His Church—that inspires Catholics today to cling to the Faith of the ages, even, alas, when most of the Apostles seem to be hiding for fear of the Jews.

And lest this be confused with illusions of grandeur or exaggerated holiness on our part, we hasten to admit that fear is also a motivator. We’re afraid to depart from Tradition for fear that our faith will fail us. If salvation was so difficult to attain in centuries past—back when Christendom reigned and there was still the glory of the Tridentine Mass offered daily throughout the world; devotions; holy armies of monks and brides of Christ; good Catholic schools; thriving, orthodox parishes, priests and seminaries—how endangered must our souls be now when only a shell of the great Catholic fortress remains standing? Who among us is fool enough to presume, therefore, that salvation is easily within his grasp when the bulwarks of the old Faith that stood strong for almost two thousand years have fallen into ruin and the Church has been invaded by her ancient enemy?

We’re no heroes; we remain paralyzed with fear, our arms wrapped around Tradition like Mary’s around the Cross.

What else can we do?

We look at the crisis within our Church and we see therein the passion of the Mystical Body of Christ unfolding before our eyes. And in the darkness that is falling again, we plead as Mary might have: Dear Jesus, we are not strong enough to be without You; we are afraid of the Romans. Permit us to remain here with You a while longer. We are sinners whose only hope for salvation lies in lashing our leaky lifeboats to the old ways, the traditional Mass and the pre-Vatican II teachings that safely ushered a million saints and more souls than we can count through this vale of tears.

Thomas Aquinas may have reasoned his way to the Cross; St. Teresa prayed her way there; St. Joan of Arc obeyed even unto death; the Cure of Ars and St. John of the Cross rode there on the backs of their great virtue. But sinners like us can only hope to find our way as Mary did… through Divine mercy and forgiveness.

Our prayer can only be that He will see our pitiful weakness, pick us up and ask His mother to take our hands and lead us to the Cross. In the end, Mary was so alone in the wilderness that she had to receive Communion from an Angel.

She lived in a cave and was cut off from her home by a vast sea. How many abandoned Catholics today cannot return to their parishes because of the vast sea of modernism that lies between them and their beloved home? How many know not whence their next Holy Communion will come and so pray that Angels will be at their side in the stifling darkness of the cave that is the modern world. Again, Mary knows what it’s like to be us.

Here, then, is a short account of Mary’s life. May she be with us always, and may her story remind us forever of the boundless mercy of God, without which we sinners have no chance of seeing God in paradise.

St. Mary Magdalene

St. Mary Magdalene is called "the Penitent". She was given the name ‘Magdalene’ because, though a Jewish girl, she lived in a Gentile town called Magdalene, in northern Galilee, and her culture and manners were those of a Gentile.

St. Luke records that she was a notorious sinner, and had seven devils removed from her. She was present at Our Lord’s Crucifixion, and with Joanna and Mary, the mother of James and Salome, she was the first at Jesus’ empty tomb.

Fourteen years after Our Lord’s death, St. Mary was put in a boat by the Jews without sails or oars – along with Sts.

Lazarus and Martha, Maximin (who baptized her), Sidonius ("the man born blind"), her maid Sera, and the body

Continued Next Page

St. Mary Magdalene

Continued from Page 8

of St. Anne, the mother of the Blessed Virgin. They were sent drifting out to sea and landed on the shores of Southern France, where St. Mary spent the rest of her life as a contemplative in a cave known as Sainte-Baume. I have taken several groups of American pilgrims to this otherworldly place in the South of France. Remnant Tours chaplains have restored the Traditional Latin Mass to the cave where Magdalene spent her last days.

She was given the Holy Eucharist daily by angels as her only food, and died when she was 72. She was transported miraculously, just before she died, to the chapel of St. Maximin, where she received the last sacraments. I have looked into the skeletal face of St.

Mary Magdalene at that holy place of pilgrimage in France. The pilgrim can approach within two feet of the saint’s incorrupt skull. The experience is almost overwhelming, as one looks into the hollow eye sockets of Magdalene—the woman who walked with Our Lord, stood strong at the foot of His cross, and was the first to encounter His glorified and risen body.

St. Mary Magdalene was well known as a sinner when she first saw Our Lord. She was very beautiful and very proud, but after she met Jesus, she felt great sorrow for her evil life. When Jesus went to supper at the home of a rich man named Simon, Mary came to weep at His feet.

Then with her long beautiful hair, she wiped His feet dry and anointed them with expensive oils.

The Pharisees were shocked that Jesus let such a sinner touch Him, but Our Lord could see into Mary’s heart, and He said: "Her sins, many as they are, shall be forgiven her, because she has loved much. But he to whom little if forgiven, loves little." Then to Mary He said kindly, "Thy faith has saved thee; go in peace."

From then on, with the other holy women, Mary humbly served Jesus and His Apostles. When Our Lord was crucified, she was there at the foot of His cross, unafraid for herself, and thinking only of His sufferings. No wonder Jesus said of her: "she has loved much." After Jesus’ body had been placed in the tomb, Mary went to anoint it with spices early Easter Sunday morning. Not finding the Body, she began to weep, and seeing someone whom she thought was the gardener, she asked him if he knew where the Body of her beloved Master had been taken.

When she had said this she turned round and beheld Jesus standing there, and she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why art thou weeping?

Whom dost thou seek?" She, thinking that he was the gardener, said to him, "Sir, if thou has removed him, tell me where thou hast laid him and I will take him away."

Jesus said to her, "Mary!" Turning, she said to him, "Rabboni!" Jesus said to her, "Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’" Mary Magdalene came, and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord and these things he said to me."

John, 20: 15-18 The Gospels show that Mary, the repentant one, was chosen by Our Lord himself to announce the Good News of the Resurrection to Peter and the apostles. Hers was an honor so great that in the early centuries of the Church, Mary Magdalene’s feast was celebrated with the Mass of an Apostle.

We can ask St. Mary Magdalene to give us grateful and repentant hearts. If we love Jesus as she did, nothing good will be denied us and even the greatest sins will be overcome.

St. Mary Magdalene, Pray for us!

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A Tribute to John Vennari ...

A Man for Our Season

by Brian McCall

The Traditionalist movement, the Catholic Church, and our World have suffered a loss. The Church Triumphant’s gain (either now or after a stay in Purgatory) is the Church Militant’s loss. It is hard to find words to express the contribution John made to our Church and world.

Those who knew him better than I, can recount more accurately than I the details of his life. I was privileged to know him for about the last decade of his life (even though we discovered we both were Philly boys (separated by a generation) who had attended rival Catholic high schools.

Certainly, he had a brilliant mind and was a voracious reader. I was always amazed by how well read he was on almost any subject. Yet, what made John so unique was his ability to explain the most complex and detailed points in such a simple and comprehensible manner.

God, the most perfect of all beings, is perfectly simple. Our Lord urged us to have the Faith of children because although God contains all knowledge and all being, He does not do so in a complex, complicated way. Usually only children can perceive the beautiful simplicity of God. John understood with the Faith of a child this fundamental truth and it permeated his writing and his lecturing.

This was the reason he could see through the smoke and mirrors of Modernism and immediately gravitate to the simple Truth. He could explain doctrines of the Faith, complicated interwoven history, and even convoluted Post-Conciliar documents in a simple, straightforward way that anyone no matter their educational level could easily grasp. John was just as comfortable talking to a PhD holder, a child, or an 80-year-old lady who never completed 8th grade. I think John survived the crisis in the Church because of this incredible ability to cut through complexity and see reality for what it is. He was not lost in the maze of Neo-Modernist labyrinths.

Beyond this ability to see the essence of things, John’s other endearing quality was his sense of humor. One could easily become downcast in a Church in perpetual civil war and civil society degenerating by the minute. John never gave into the temptation to become a white sepulcher of grief or to bitter zeal. He hated error and Modernism but he loved the Faith, his family, and life in general. He loved a good joke or funny story. His conferences, even on the most serious of topics, always wove a thread of humor or satire throughout them to keep a smile on the lips of his audience. He loved music. My fondest memories of John are enjoying the sight and sounds of him playing an eclectic collection of music with his children at the end of a long day at a Catholic Family News conference. His face beamed with a vitality and a spiritual joy. It always brightened my day to receive an email from him busting his vest buttons to share a picture of his daughter performing in a prominent concert or simply reporting on one of the children’s academic successes.

His life is a most needed reminder to those who fight this Traditionalist fight of how to marry staunch opposition to error with peace and joy. Being firm in the Faith and fighting error doesn’t mean we have to be like Puritanical preachers breathing fire and denouncing the joys of food, laughter, and song.

As we live so we shall die. This is an old adage that proved so true with John.

I don’t think I have known anyone who accepted the death God had prepared with such resignation and peace. The last telephone conversation I had with him and the last email correspondences all let me witness a man joyfully happy to fight the good fight until his very last breadth and with vitality in his heart.

His was an exemplary final year of life for all. I secretly wonder if his ability to endure suffering with joy is the cause of the medical profession’s failure to diagnose his condition for so many months. I don’t know for sure (since he was so understated about his condition) but I would bet that this time last year he was enduring suffering that would drive weaker souls to throw themselves at the feet of a doctor writhing with unbearable pain. John simply took all of it in stride, the uncertainty as to the diagnosis, the unlikelihood (naturally speaking) of a cure, and the final battle. He maintained a lively hope in a supernatural cure while he continued his work from his hospital bed until the end. His hope for a cure was not a desperate or frantic pleading.

He seemed truly to accept God’s Will, whether that would be to give glory to St.

Philomena by allowing a cure or to call him out of this life. I can only pray I will accept my own death as he did.

I write these few lines on the day of his Requiem and interment. Commitments at my work on Friday (and pathetic airline schedules) prevented me being where my heart longs to be today, praying for John’s soul in the presence of Our Lord and John’s mortal remains. All I can do is offer these few thoughts and unite my prayer and communion at Mass in our little chapel here to the Sacrifice that is present here and at his Requiem, as it is one and the same Sacrifice.

Farewell, true and faithful friend. When you reach your eternal reward, cast your gaze sometime in the Beatific vision on those of us who remain here below and intercede for our perseverance to follow you on the sure road.

We mourn your loss and wonder how we will carry on the fight without you but we know you will bring a unique spark of life and a smile to the Blessed Virgin in whose service you labored so long. The light of your life which you placed on such a high hill will be our beacon until, God willing, we meet again. ■

John Vennari, RIP

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The Church and I:

By Frank Sheed

Reviewed for The Remnant By Vincent Chiarello

No other Catholic publishing house in the U. S. achieved the reputation and success in promoting Catholic books as did Sheed and Ward, the surnames of its founders: Frank Sheed and Maisie Ward. Created in London in 1926, its " stable" of authors included not only Belloc and Chesterton, but the Dominican theologian, Fr. Vincent McNabb; Fr. Ronald Knox; the Thomist philosopher, Etienne Gilson, and the " philosopher of history," Christopher Dawson. In 1933, while keeping an office in London, the firm moved its headquarters to New York City, which was to prove a wise move in more ways than one, and where its reputation grew rapidly. Sadly, post- Vatican II Catholics saw little reason to buy Catholic books, and riven by serious financial problems, the venerable publishing house was sold: in 1985, to the National Catholic Reporter, then the Priests of the Sacred Heart, and, finally, in 2002, the name of the publishing house of Sheed and Ward was sold to Rowman and Littlefield, a publisher whose offerings, to put it mildly, do not emphasize Church teachings.

The origins of the now defunct Sheed and Ward (hereafter: S& W) are intriguing, and there is no better person to describe that beginning and its subsequent role in Catholic life than Frank Sheed, whose memoir,

The Church and I, recounts those events and the players who created and developed the publishing house in a world that that has long since disappeared.

Author Sheed emphasizes at the outset of his quasi-auto-biographical book that he endeavors to relate those events which, "...have some bearing on my growth of knowledge of the Church." By book’s end, clearly the reader will agree that his knowledge, and, I might add, his love, of the Church were boundless.

When Francis Joseph "Frank" Sheed was born "into religious conflict" in Sydney, Australia, on March 20, 1897, the British Empire was at its zenith, surpassing in size even that of Ancient Rome. Across five continents, "the sun never set on the British Empire." His "religious conflict" came about when his Presbyterian father, originally from Scotland, along with his Presbyterian grandparents, would take him and his brother to Methodist Sunday services – which was nearest the Sheed house - but neither he nor his brother participated in it. It was his mother, Mary Maloney, born in Ireland, who saw to it that, despite the urging of her husband and his family, Frank and his brother would be raised in a Catholic household.

To be Catholic in Australia in the early 20th century was not an easy task, for embedded in the Australian way of life were many of the institutional prejudices levied against Catholics carried over from England. For example, there were requirements that prevented the poor from entering the university, which was one way of preventing Irish Catholics from admission. That was to change in 1910, and in so doing change the life of Frank Sheed in ways that he could never have imagined. Sheed: "The State was our residence, we lived there. But the Church was our homeland, and about the Church we had a "siege mentality."

If there was one aspect of Catholic Australian life in this period that was rarely addressed, it was the mindset of Catholics living in the British Empire during its height, for, as explained by Wilfrid Ward, who later became Sheed’s father-in-law, the religious wars in the century following the English break with Rome witnessed the Church "adapting" to a new way of life, a life that was often under siege. "In a siege the one virtue is discipline, and the one consideration is the defense of the walls." The Church responded to the immediate threats that jeopardized its existence, but the fundamental tenets of the Church did not receive the usual degree of attention.

Sheed would recognize this deficiency in a short time.

That statement was also applicable to the Australian Catholic Church at that time, separated from Rome by thousands of miles of ocean, and not directly tethered to the events in Europe. Sheed: "...we did not know much about what went on in the Vatican. The one extra-Australian Catholic fact known to all of us was the conversion of Newman in the previous century."

But if distant Rome was separated from Sydney by geography, and a sense of a "siege mentality" existed among young Australian Catholics, there were still models to be followed. The two literary figures that best brought the Church’s message from Europe to Australia, in ways that no others did, were: "Belloc, born in the Church, and Chesterton, not yet a Catholic, but as good as..." A Jesuit friend added Tertulian and Origen, but Sheed, seeking to fill in the gaps of his Catholic education, made a fateful decision: suspend his study after two years at Sydney University’s law school, and go to England. That trip was to be a momentous change in his life, and that of countless others as well.

Arriving in England on November 5, 1920, he traveled to London in the midst of the annual celebration of the Guy Fawkes Day, and the failure to blow up the British Parliament. Sheed notes that Belloc insisted that it was a plot, engineered by Minister Robert Cecil, to destroy the last remnants of the Catholic Church in England. His visit put him in contact with an organization that would change the course of his life: the Catholic Evidence Guild, founded in the Westminster Diocese of London in 1918, near the end of the First World War. By 1930, there would be more than 25 Guild branches throughout England, and in one year, there were 13,000 conversions.

As Fate (Providence?) would have it, having nothing better to do one evening, Sheed attended a concert whose purpose was to raise money for an organization, "I had never heard of." (In that regard he was, and is, not alone: neither had I.) With no thought of joining them, Sheed attended one of the Guild’s "training classes," where Jack Jonas, "one of the best outdoor speakers I have ever heard" called on the members in the audience to answer the questions that were put to Jonas at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park. Sheed volunteered, and Jonas, "...

cut me to pieces." But in so doing, Jonas had "hooked" Sheed, for the Australian recognized that, "It was a superb demonstration, to me wholly convincing, of my ignorance of the Faith." Unknown to him at the time, his new life and future had begun.

Sheed was hounded by his nescience in Church matters: "I came back for more. I attended the classes, I became a speaker...In those four years, I read practically nothing that had not a bearing on the Faith. I lived, breathe, ate, slept, theology." All of this was also hard work: "At my first Guild class my ignorance of the Faith was stripped bare for me to see. In the next months I was to have four other firsts – my first outdoor effort, my first lost crowd, my first retreat, my first defeat by a heckler. All very educational." But this was Spring Training for Sheed; his next level of achievement would put him in the major leagues, at least in theory.

After several months of attending classes and reading intensely, Sheed appeared before two priests, who listened to a lecture given by the newly minted Guild speaker, and heckled him "hard." At the conclusion, these clerics gave their imprimatur for him to be classified as "an experienced" speaker. Still, he could not foresee all of the complications and varieties of questioners who would show up. At Hyde Park one Sunday, in a fifteen minute speech discussing the Incarnation (the rest of the hour was usually allotted to answering questions from an often very hostile audience), Sheed recognized that both he and his main heckler, "were out of our depth."

In the crowd he spied a Catholic priest, and after Sheed had come down from the speakers’ platform, he asked the cleric: "Didn’t I make a mess of it?" The cleric responded with the monosyllabic, "Yes." The taciturn cleric was Cardinal Merry del Val, Papal Secretary of State.

Fortunately, His Eminence had also heard other speakers, and was instrumental in helping grant to the Guild the canonical status of catechists.

Although Sheed insists that, "conversions were not our immediate concern," one incident is notable: "From our lunch hour meeting on Tower Hill, a few yards from the spot where Thomas More was beheaded, two hecklers later joined the Church and went on to become Cistercians." He is neither immodest nor inaccurate when he claims the members of the Guild, "...were the best instructed body of laymen in the Church’s history."

To pay his bills – Guild speakers were not paid – he got a job as Organizing Secretary of the Catholic Truth Society, but aside from living frugally, outdoor speaking could be dangerous, too: years later, while speaking in Hyde Park, Sheed fell off a platform and was carried unconscious to a hospital. He survived. But his perseverance would pay high rewards: "All that I have done in the fifty-three years since (1920) bears the mark of the Catholic Evidence Guild: some of it would be incomprehensible without the refashioning my whole self underwent in it."

In 1926, after returning to Australia to finish his law degree two years earlier, but proposing marriage before he left, Frank Sheed married Maisie Ward in a ceremony on the Isle of Wight presided over by Bishop Cotter, a fervent Irish Republican. Most of Ward’s family, although noted Catholics, were staunch Unionists...except Maisie Ward. Once again, the wheels of history began to turn, for it was in that year that "the curious life" of S& W began.

Originally, the publishing house would have borne only the name of Ward, for such an enterprise was first conceived by Maisie’s brother, Leo, but he then sought, and failed, to adopt to Jesuit rigors, and had a nervous breakdown in the process. Would Leo Ward then seek to renew his interest in a Catholic publishing house? He did not, for when he recovered his strength, he once again sought the life of a priest, and this time was accepted as a parish or secular priest.

(More about Leo Ward later.) With Leo no longer interested, the marriage of Frank Sheed and Maisie Ward sealed the agreement: henceforth, the publishing house of S& W came into existence. I am puzzled, though, by the order of words on the masthead, since the Wards were

Continued Next Page

V. Chiarello/

Continued from Page 10

The Catholic Intellectual Revival,

well-established Catholics in England: her grandfather had been given the title of Doctor of Philosophy by the Vatican; her father, who had popularized the phrase "siege mentality" regarding the Church’s mindset, had supported the "blazing light" Cardinal Newman displayed in seeking more effective ways of doctrinal teaching.

On the other hand, Frank Sheed was, relatively speaking, "the new boy on the block." Fortunately for the publishers, one of England’s best known literary figures was eager to join the "stable" of the new firm from the outset: Hilaire Belloc.

That wish was both fortunate and important to the newly found publishing house. Sheed: "Belloc’s fighting rendered the Catholic body great service in the early years of the century – forcing the outside world to listen, nerving Catholics to stand up and declare themselves." But the timing of the establishing of the company was also fortunate: the "Catholic Intellectual Revival" was now showing signs of great promise.

Both Joseph Pearce and Patrick Allit, of Emory University, have written about the English "literary converts" who moved over to Rome during the period the 1920s.

Sheed emphasizes this point: It is easily demonstrated that conversions, "...in numbers which could not be matched in any previous century and have not been matched in in the half century since."

And this: "Converts, one imagines, can be hardly ten per cent of the Catholic body: that eighty per cent of the first-rate writers should come from this ten per cent, seems to argue either a monstrous articulateness in the converts, or a monstrous inarticulateness in the born Catholics."

Sheed was to continue to make that claim long after the establishment of S& W, something confirmed in a message to me by Fr. Peter Milward, S.J., resident in Japan. He wrote: "...many years ago, I helped to show Frank Sheed and Maisie Ward round Tokyo, following in the footsteps of her brother Leo Ward, who had come as a missionary to Japan but died on the way home. Then I took the opportunity of asking Frank why there were so fewer Catholic authors nowadays, and he replied it was because there were fewer converts." Need I mention that author Joseph Pearce is a convert? Sheed’s chapter on Catholic converts,

is one of the most interesting and informative sections of the book.

The chapter, "Publishing in America," describes how the relatively new organization of S& W was to find a patron without whom the entire operation would have folded: John Moody, the founder of Moody Investment Services, without whom Sheed insists, "...we could not have survived our first year." S& W’s founders had decided that they would discard the axiom, "...that a Catholic publisher could not exist without selling Church goods, those being statues, altarpieces or vestments, or even textbooks. We wanted to get Christ’s revelation out of the classroom into the living room..." But a major problem loomed: Sheed readily admits that his business skills were non-existent: "...at Sydney High School in 1913, if we had had to choose the boy least likely to succeed in business, I’d have every vote, including my own." But problems also existed for S& W across the sea, too. War in Europe had started, and their London office would not be spared. In late December, 1940, the first aerial bombardment (the Blitz) of London by German bombers, "...

destroyed our offices, and I doubt if a sheet of paper survived." But the organization did, for following the war, S& W vaulted into unrivaled prominence in the Catholic publishing world.

Yet with that prominence came problems that the publishers had never imagined, including, among other thorny issues, how to deal with "the demand of priests and nuns for discounts from booksellers."

Sheed found his earlier conclusion that, "publishing is a simple proposition," to be totally untrue. What likely saved the house’s viability from early bankruptcy was, in addition to the authors previously mentioned, and the financial guidance from John Moody, the inclusion of "trans-Atlantic writers," such as Francois Mauriac, of

God and Mammon

fame, and the French priest/writer, Fr. Leo Trese.

Today, the names of many of those who wrote for S& W no longer bring a response from Catholic readers, but for those of a certain age – mine – the name S& W is, and will continue to be, the

primus inter pares

of Catholic publishing house.

One author and admirer, who referred to them as "Soapbox Catholics," wrote of the couple: "Long before Vatican II, Frank Sheed and his wife, Maisie Ward, were hard at work building the church.

They did it in ways that many may have found unconventional, but which we today might call pioneering. As street-corner evangelists, theological commentators, and successful publishers, Sheed and Ward blazed new trails and opened new opportunities for everyday people to give witness to their faith and proclaim to the world that God matters."

Sheed is a very good story-teller, but a reader may claim that, by Traditional standards, today he would be called a Church "Progressive." Yet, he notes that the 1960s saw the end of the Catholic "euphoria begun in the 1920s," and that he and others were incensed at the talk of an Anglican reunion with Rome.

One strong reaction against the proposed "rapprochement" included an English monk who, seeing an Anglican saying Mass at the Grotto in Lourdes, literally threw him off the altar. It is simply impossible to separate that change from the baleful effects of Vatican II.

This is a very readable book. ■

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Fri, 14 Apr 2017 | Cover | Page 12

Trump Foreign Policy Agenda Subverted?

(And what will happen to Christians in Syria, if so?)

By Dr. Boyd D. Cathey

Last November 8, millions of American citizens, including a majority of Catholics, voted for change—they voted to begin what they hoped would be an effort to challenge, perhaps overturn, the political and managerial Establishment that has dominated the massive government apparatus that increasingly controls the destiny of this nation. President Trump’s agenda promised that, in no uncertain terms, he would "drain the swamp" and "make America great again." Implicit in that promise was, also, a pledge to protect America’s religious institutions from the incursions of a powerful, secularist Federal government.

And, indeed, since his inauguration the president has issued a number of Executive Orders to do just that...on trade, on jobs, on building a border wall, on immigration, on lobbying.

On these issues he has attempted to fulfill his campaign promises, despite fierce opposition not only from most Democrats (who accuse him of being an illegitimate president), but also from many Establishment Republicans and Neoconservative publicists. The Deep State elites have been enraged, and they have done their best to derail those much-needed changes.

Significantly, the naming of conservative Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Unites States Supreme Court (far from perfect but a significant improvement over the radically liberal activist a President Hillary Clinton would have had in mind) was greeted by those deeply concerned by government overreach in religious matters with relief and hope. Might this signal the beginning of a real recovery?

But just as President Trump has done these things, there have been some troubling signs, as well. Only three days after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson stated [March 31], unequivocally, that "

regime change in Syria is not the policy of the United States government," it appears that the foundational position that Donald Trump repeated numerous times during his campaign has been reversed. Due to what? – a chemical attack in a terrorist Islamist rebel-held village in a remote part of Syria, an attack whose responsibility has yet to be confirmed by independent observers on the ground. The Syrian government has pleaded for an international investigation—which is opposed by the rebels who control the site.

Last year Donald Trump repeatedly stated that the United States could not solve every political—and "human rights"—crisis in the world. The United States should not be sending its young men to fight in every jungle or over every desert oasis for the (decadent) concept of "democracy." We should only get involved if a particular crisis involved us directly. Indeed, the new global threat was—and is—Islamic (and vicious anti-Christian) terrorism; and here in the United States, the threat to national and internal security is undoubtedly illegal immigration.

The president argued strenuously and eloquently against the use of American arms to solve the world’s problems. His motto was "America First"—that we had enough serious problems here to occupy us, and that only in the case of direct attacks upon us and our interests should we be involved in placing our troops in harm’s way.

But now comes the attack on Syria. Let’s take a brief look at the factions involved in Syria. The parties in the Syrian civil war include: (1) the established Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad, supported by the totality of the large Catholic and Orthodox Christian minority and Assad’s own more moderate Alawite Muslims; (2) the Al-Qaida Islamists (mostly Sunni Muslims) and their Syrian allies, the extremist al-Nusra Front; (3) the ISIS Islamists, who wish to establish a universal Islamic caliphate by terror and violence; (4) the Kurdish separatists in Eastern Syria who want a Kurdish state; (5) Turkey, which opposes Assad and the separatist Kurds, who also are at war with them; (6) Shia Muslim Iran, which supports Assad and opposes the Sunni Muslims; (7) Israel, which fears the Hezbollah Muslims, who have some connections with Iran; (8) Saudi Arabia, tacitly allied to al-Nusra and who have supplied weapons and poison gas to rebel groups; (9) Russia, allied with Syria for forty years; and, alas, now, (10) the United States, which has sent about 700 troops into Eastern Syria to support the Kurds in an attempt to take the ISIS capital, Raqqa...and has also launched cruise missiles against Assad’s air force.

I did not mention the so-called "moderate" Syrians, the Free Syrian Army, because it has been more or less absorbed by al-Nusra and has now ceased to exist, and it never was very "moderate" (despite the claims of John McCain).

The simple fact on the ground—up until last week—is that President Assad was winning his civil war, had retaken the major cities in his country, and that, importantly, he enjoys the support of a majority of the Syrian people. In fact, given the intractable mix of violent factions in Syria, Assad’s government is the only force able to in any way keep any kind of order in that war-torn country.

As the acknowledged father of American "conservatism" and my mentor, Russell Kirk, repeated more than once, you cannot have liberty unless you have order first. The United States has had a long history of, by necessity, supporting and being allied to leaders who are "dictators," including Mubarak in Egypt, the Saudi leaders, Saddam back when he was engaged in a war with Iran, and in the past, even "Uncle Joe" Stalin (in the effort to defeat Hitler). Recall the dictum: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." It may not always apply smoothly or allay our moral concerns, and it may be just temporary, but it does indicate a realistic consideration in international politics.

Remember what Franklin Roosevelt replied when an advisor complained about American support for the dictatorial leader of the Dominican Republic, Trujillo: "He may be a SOB, but he’s our SOB!" Such a template does not please those who entertain zealously unchained dreams of a global "liberal democratic" utopia. Their nostrums nearly always mean that such views must be enforced by the sharp bayonets held by American boys (many of whom will perish in the effort): funny how many peoples across the globe just don’t want to have foreign ideas imposed on them!

Look at our recent history of attempted "regime change": 1) American efforts in Egypt with the overthrow of our "friend" Mubarak, with American connivance, produced the rise of the extremist Muslim Brotherhood (and now we are back with a military dictatorship); 2) the overthrow of Gaddafi in Egypt, again with American involvement, resulted in total anarchy and the Benghazi attack; 3) sending troops to Bosnia under Bill Clinton, which only insured the breakup of the Serbian state, civil war, and the establishment of an Islamist state, Kosovo, protected by American arms, in the heart of Europe; 4) the deposition of the brutal Saddam Hussein who was certainly a dictator, but again a zealous protector of Iraq’s historic Christian population, who was replaced by an Islamist Shia government in league with Iran!

Even going back to our strategically disastrous support for the assassination of the Catholic President Diem in Vietnam, the policy of attempting to "police the world" and impose democracy and equal rights on countries that may not desire those "fruits" of the modern West has been singularly unsuccessful and, indeed, has had generally disastrous consequences.

It is even more so now since world Communism as an opposing force has collapsed. Just maybe regional nationalism and religious fervor are much stronger factors than all the enticements of "liberal democracy," American-exported feminism, and samesex marriage!

My hope and prayer is that the attack on Syria was only a momentary aberration and that the oft-stated Trump agenda of realism in foreign policy will get back on track. Yet, the signs do not augur well; indeed, since his election, many of those former #NeverTrumpers—the frenzied globalist Neoconservatives— have been clambering back toward the president, attempting to surround him, and, if possible, subvert his agenda.

The Syrian attack indicates that they have had some success. And that should be worrying for both patriotic Americans and Christians concerned about our co-religionists in Syria, for whom President Assad has been a stouthearted protector. His departure would mean that the various Islamist factions would no longer have an obstruction to their efforts to "cleanse" Syria of its ancient Christian population. And that, indeed, would be a "crime against humanity" greater than anything a fevered mind of a Neoconservative pundit could imagine.■

Who will save our Christian brothers and sisters in Syria?

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Fri, 14 Apr 2017 | Cover | Page 13

Seraphia: The Real Veronica

(Based on the Visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich)

By Jean McGill Meyer

Introductory Note: The real life of the woman called St. Veronica is virtually unknown. Some writers just guess about who she really was. But in the four volumes of Anne Catherine Emmerick’s Life of Jesus Christ, she is mentioned many times.

Sometimes Anne Catherine calls her Seraphia, her real name, and sometimes Veronica, the woman of the veil. I have gathered from these four books tidbits of information about her life and wrote this little narrative about her. I felt her story of true dedication to Jesus all His life should be known. It was my hope that you would publish this article in The Remnant so others will know who this saintly person really was. She was, according to Anne Catherine Emmerich, the keeper of the Holy Grail until Christ requested it for the Last Supper. That is another story in itself.

J. Meyer

HER NAME WAS SERAPHIA, TAKEN FROM THE SERAPHIM, the angels on fire with love. It suited her well. She was the niece of the old Temple prophet, Simeon. She was cousin of John the Baptist through his father Zachary. Yet she is known to the world only as Veronica, the woman of the veil She was tall and stately, a woman of about fifty, still showing the beauty she was once known for in her youth. She stood, waiting on the steps leading to her house, listening to the cursing, jeering, and yelling of the crowd as the slow pitiful procession approached.

Frightened, yet deep in sorrow, Seraphia waited, her veil wrapped about her head, holding the hand of her little adopted daughter. Then she saw Him coming, the One she knew was the Messiah, bloodied from the terrible scourging, a crown of sharp thorns upon His head, barely able to walk while carrying the cross of His crucifixion. How had it come to this? Only a few days ago people stood cheering Him on the roadway leading into Jerusalem, as Jesus entered the city on a donkey. They laid their coats and palm branches before Him crying, "Hosanna, Hosanna."

She had been there. She had removed the long veil from her head and spread it out before Him as He rode by, giving her a loving, and knowing glance.

Now everything was turned upside down.

The slow procession was just before her.

Taking all the courage she could gather, Seraphia forced her way through the jeering crowd and ran in front of Jesus, causing the long line of boisterous soldiers carrying chains and whips, executioners, and Pharisees on horseback to halt. She knelt on one knee, quickly removed her veil, and handed it to Jesus.

"Master, wipe your face so that you may better see your way."

Jesus gratefully took the scarf and wiped the blood, sweat, and spit from His face and eyes.

Stunned, then enraged, Caiaphas and the other Pharisees, already impatient with the slow pace, screamed, "Get that woman out of here! How dare she interfere and give homage to a criminal!"

One of the soldiers roughly pulled her away. Clutching her veil to her, she pushed through the crowd and rushed up the steps to her house. She flung the veil onto a table and collapsed onto the floor. A few minutes later a friend burst into the room, saw her and roused her, exclaiming "Seraphia, that was such a brave thing you did."

Looking at the veil lying on the table her friend cried, "Look at your veil". Looking at the veil, Seraphia saw the bloody imprint of the face of Jesus. She was filled with both grief and consolation. On her knees before the image she declared, "Now will I leave all, for the Lord has given me a memento."

She held the veil to her heart and followed Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary Klopas, her niece, Johanna, and the other holy women to the place of the crucifixion.

After Joseph of Arimathea and the others had taken Jesus down from the cross, they all formed a small procession to the tomb where Jesus was laid.

In a few days, word of Seraphia’s miraculous veil spread all over the little community of the faithful.

Everyone flocked to her to see and marvel at the wonderful cloth. Soon they were calling her Veronica, from veri icon, the "true image." This remained her name ever after.

The news of the image of the veil spread even to the Emperor Tiberius. He was very angry when he heard of the crucifixion of Jesus, the wonder-worker, the healer of many. He had thought that Jesus could have cured him of the terrible disease he had suffered from for so long. Greatly angered at Pilate for having Jesus executed, Tiberius sent him off to the wilds of Gaul in disgrace. Then Tiberius heard of the woman Veronica and her wondrous veil. He immediately sent his consul to Jerusalem to bring her and the veil to Rome.

Obediently, she went, accompanied by Nicodemus and a young servant from the Temple.

Tiberius was propped up with pillows on his couch when Veronica was ushered into his room. He was greatly impressed when Veronica, with regal bearing, walked in carrying her miraculous gift over her arm.

"So you are the woman of the veil, the one they call Veronica. Show me this veil with the wondrous image of the Man." She opened up her veil all the way so he could see it. Tiberius stared but said nothing.

Finally he said, "Tell me all about this Jesus and how you got this wondrous image."

"Jesus is our Messiah. It had been predicted for centuries that he would come to save us.

My uncle Simeon, whom I lived with since early youth, was a holy prophet. He spent many hours in the Temple praying that the Messiah would come and that he would live to see the Messiah and hold him in his arms. When he saw the bright star shining in the east he knew that was the sign that the Messiah was born and that He would soon be brought to the Temple. I saw Simeon with much great joy as he held the Holy Babe in his arms. Since that day I have dedicated myself to Him.

"I watched Him as He grew whenever Mary and Joseph brought Him to the Temple. When He was twelve and alone in Jerusalem, I sent baskets of food to Him.

When He grew to manhood and started His teachings I again sent baskets of food to Him. Later I followed Him and with His mother, Mary, and others helped to see that He and the disciples had food and other comforts. My husband, Sirach, often forbade me to do this, thinking Jesus was just a troublemaker. Still I would try to be with Jesus and the other women to listen to His teachings. Sirach several times actually had me imprisoned for long stretches to keep me from following Jesus. But later our friends Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea convinced Sirach that He was wrong, that they too believed in Jesus."

Veronica went on to tell how Jesus had healed many people of blindness, deafness, leprosy. She told how He had fed thousands with just a few fishes and loaves of bread.

She then told how the Pharisees came to hate Jesus and wanted Him killed, how they had threatened Pilate with riots and reports to Tiberius if he did not have Jesus crucified. Pilate had Jesus scourged; the soldiers crowned Him with thorns. Jesus then had to carry a heavy cross to the place of execution. It was then, she told Tiberius, that she ran out to let Jesus wipe His face with her veil so that He could see better.

Later it was discovered that He had left His image upon the veil.

She spoke with such eloquence and love that Tiberius felt the warm glow of her words burning inside him. Then he realized he had been cured. Tiberius was so grateful to Veronica that he wanted her to stay in Rome. He would give her a large house, with servants, and she would never want for anything. Veronica refused, saying she had to go back to Jerusalem. "I want to die where my Lord Jesus died." Feeling she didn’t have much more time, she went back to Jerusalem. Fearing for the veil, she sent it on to Mary, the mother of Jesus for safe keeping.

Back in Jerusalem, she found the Pharisees were putting many of Christ’s followers into prison. When they heard that Veronica, a follower of Jesus, the woman with the veil, had found great favor with Tiberius, the Emperor, they were enraged. Veronica and some of the other women tried to leave Jerusalem and go to a safer place, but the Temple guards were sent after them.

Veronica could not escape. The guards caught her and took her back to Jerusalem to the Pharisees. She was put into prison to die. She was given no food. She who had been so generous with food for others was now to be deprived of this life sustenance.

Her last days were undoubtedly spent in much pain and prayer. She must have prayed much until her strength gave out.

Jesus would never forget this woman who had showed such kindness and devotion to Him all His life. When she closed her eyes in death, Jesus was surely there to take her by the hand and say to her, "Come, dear Seraphia. Well have you lived up to your name, fire of love, burning one. Come, I have prepared a place for you." ■

Veronica Shows Her Veil to Our Lady

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Blessed Karl and the Resurgence of Christian Hungary

By Suzanne Pearson

Padre Pio once prophesied about Hungary, then suffering under the yoke of Communism: "Hungary is like a cage, out of which someday a beautiful bird will take flight. Much suffering still lies ahead for them, but in all of Europe their part will be of unparalleled glory. I envy the Hungarians, because through them a great joy will someday flood over the human race. ..."

Could we be seeing today the beginning of this resurgence? The recent steps taken by Hungary to proclaim its Christian identity and to honor God’s plan for life, marriage, and the family were the focus of a conference following the Mass celebrated on April first at St. Titus Church in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania.

Aliquippa, the once thriving steel town on the banks of the Ohio River, which last year was consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the Catholic pastors and the mayor of the city, is fast becoming a center for veneration of Blessed Karl of Austria. Like the entire Pittsburgh metropolitan statistical area of which it forms a part, Aliquippa can be seen almost as a microcosm of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, over which Blessed Karl once ruled. Austrians, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks, Slovenians, Croatians, Ruthenians, Ukrainians, Poles, and Italians are heavily represented among the European immigrants who found a new home in the rolling hills and river gorges of Western Pennsylvania. This diverse community, which still cherishes family memories of the old country, offers a fertile ground for planting devotion to the holy man who once ruled over their many nations as Emperor and King.

On Saturday, April 1, 2017, the 95th anniversary of Blessed Karl’s death, Aliquippa’s St. Titus Church, for the fifth time, honored the holy ruler with a Traditional Latin Mass, luncheon, and conference. These celebrations of Blessed Karl form part of a larger program of Traditional Masses at St.

Titus Church, sponsored by the Knights of Columbus Woodlawn Council 2161 Traditional Latin Mass Guild. Since 2007, these Masses have highlighted pinnacles of our Catholic faith and history, like the Battle of Lepanto and Our Lady of Fatima.

It is a rare treat to celebrate Blessed Karl on the actual anniversary of his holy death, since April first so often falls during Holy Week or Easter Week. This partly explains why, at his beatification, he received the feast day of October 21, the anniversary of his 1911 marriage to Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma.

Still, April first remains precious for all those who appreciate that day as the culmination of a staggering Way of the Cross, which he so generously and lovingly offered for "his people."

Since all the days of Lent this year fell exactly as they did in 1922, when Blessed Karl died on the vigil of Passion Sunday, the Mass offered at St. Titus was the same Mass that his sorrowing family heard as he suffered his last agony. "All you that thirst, come to the waters, saith the Lord; and you that have no money, come and drink with joy" (Introit, Isaiah 55:1) must have seemed to be spoken directly to the poor, rejected emperor, who had lost everything, was penniless, and was at that moment tortured with thirst. The words of the Communion prayer were like a foretaste of the relief God was preparing for him that day in Heaven: "The Lord ruleth me, and I shall want nothing: He hath set me in a place of pasture: He hath brought me up on the water of refreshment." (Ps. 22) The traditional Latin Missa cantata for Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent was celebrated by Canon Matthew Talarico, Provincial Superior of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. Priests from the Institute of Christ the King often celebrate Masses sponsored by the Knights of Columbus at St. Titus, but Canon Talarico is special as a native son of Pittsburgh, whose journey through the seminary the Woodlawn Council had helped to sponsor. His parents, Louis and Judith Talarico, who were present at the Mass and conference, and regularly attend Latin Mass events at St. Titus, each have a grandfather who lived in Blessed Karl’s empire---Lou’s grandfather in Austria, Judy’s in Croatia.

Gábor and Teréz László, the featured speakers at the luncheon after Mass.

presented an overview of Christianity in Hungary today, followed by a look at how Hungarians remember their last king, Karl IV. Gábor László began his presentation this way: Teréz and I... are both products of a Christian Hungary. Our formative years were spent there under communist rule, yet Holy Mother Church, severely restricted, seriously wounded, completely emptied of its infrastructure, could still in a mysterious way raise us to know and understand the articles of our faith and succeed in planting in us the sense of the ultimate reality of our destiny.... Many people fervently prayed for us that we, however imperfectly, might know this truth, keep the faith and raise our children in it. The last apostolic king of Hungarians, Blessed Karl, also prayed for us and offered his sufferings to God for his peoples and the flourishing of Christianity in Hungary, his kingdom."

Mr. László then turned to his survey of Christianity in Hungary today, covering such subtopics as historical consciousness, law and politics, education, the arts, the media, Christian institutions, and spirituality among the people.

Christianity in the national consciousness goes back to the fourth century, when St. Martin of Tours was born in the Roman province of Pannonia. The route of the newly established pilgrimage dedicated to St. Martin connects his birthplace in present-day Hungary to his tomb in Tours, France.

The father of Saint Stephen was Geza, who ruled the Hungarian tribal federation from 972 to 997. While still a pagan, he encouraged Christian missionary activity, and in 996 established the Benedictine monastery dedicated to St. Martin at Pannonhalma.

In July 2011, the heart of Blessed Karl’s son, Otto von Habsburg, who had been Crown Prince of Austria and Hungary, was entombed in Pannonhalma Archabbey.

St. Stephen (975-1038) was crowned Apostolic King of Hungary on January 1, 1001. The ten dioceses he set up in 1038 still form the geographical structure of the Church in Hungary. His Basilica in Budapest, as well as many institutions, schools, and street names throughout Hungary bear his name.

Every year he is honored by a solemn procession carrying his incorrupt right hand. The rock opera King Stephen, composed in 1983, plays almost continuously. His Admonition to his son, St. Imre, is well-known in Hungary: "My dearest son, if you desire to honor the royal crown, I advise, I counsel, I urge you above all things to maintain the Catholic and Apostolic faith with such diligence and care that you may be an example for all those placed under you by God, and that all the clergy may rightly call you a man of true Christian profession. ..."

The Crusades continue to spark the collective imagination of the nation. In the often played, most famous national opera "Bank Ban" by Ferenc Erkel, King Andrew II is off to the Holy Land as the story begins, and becomes the wise judge in the tragic situation when he returns home.

Hungary’s role in defending Europe against the aggressive Ottoman Empire is much appreciated by the entire nation. János Hunyadi’s most famous victory against the Turks at Belgrade in 1456 is internationally commemorated by the practice of Noon Bell, which is broadcast by radio every day in Hungary.

Eventually in 1541 the Ottoman Turks took Buda by deceit and ruled the middle section of Hungary for 150 years. They had arrived as visitors, but after securing strategic positions on Castle Hill in Buda they drew their swords and unfurled their flags… Every Hungarian school child learns this from the most popular novel, "The Stars of Eger," by Geza Gardonyi. Small wonder that Hungarians overwhelmingly reject the demand of the European Union to take in Muslim refugees.

Mr. László then turned to the steps taken by the government of Hungary to reaffirm the country’s Christian identity.

On August 15, 2001, the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, the ancient Holy Crown of Hungary was placed in the very center of the parliament building.

The new Constitution of Hungary published in 2011 contains the following salient declarations: - We are proud ... that our King Stephen, the saintly patron of the Hungarian State for a thousand years, built a secure foundation and placed our fatherland in the line of Christian Europe.

- We recognize the role of Christianity in preserving nationhood.

- We commit to promoting and safeguarding our heritage, our unique language, Hungarian culture, and the languages and cultures of nationalities living in Hungary.

- We are proud that our people defended Europe for a thousand years and that Europe’s common values were enriched by their talents and their

Continued Next Page

Emperor Karl taking the Oath to uphold the laws of Hungary, 1916

S. Pearson/

Continued from Page 14

Accingere gladio...".

- We hold that the family and the nation constitute the principal framework of our common existence, and that our fundamental cohesive values are fidelity, faith and love.

- Hungary shall protect the institution of marriage as the union of a man and a woman established by voluntary decision, and the family as the basis of the survival of the nation.

- Family ties shall be based on marriage and/or the relationship between parents and children.

- Hungary shall encourage the commitment to have children.

- The protection of families shall be regulated by a cardinal Act: Human dignity shall be inviolable. Every human being shall have the right to life and human dignity; the life of the fetus shall be protected from the moment of conception.

Christian symbolism is featured on state insignia and emblems. Under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Hungary has waged an ongoing resistance to the demands of the EU, which continues to move in a secular, even anti-Christian direction.

The Hungarian government in September 2016 became the first in the world to establish a department dedicated to helping persecuted Christians, to which it allocated three million euros to assist Christians facing violence and oppression around the world.

The Hungarian government donated hundreds of thousands of euros to restore a church heavily damaged by a 6.6 magnitude earthquake that struck central Italy on October 30, 2016.

Andrea Carradori, pastor of the Church of the Sacred Heart in Tolentino, Italy, appealed to Prime Minister Orbán for aid, considering all that Orbán had done "to safeguard Christian roots."

Hungary’s ambassador to the Holy See, Eduard Habsburg-Lothringen, who is related to Blessed Karl, traveled to Tolentino on December 14 to personally survey the damage from the earthquake, and was surprised and moved to discover a relic of Blessed Karl venerated there.

After receiving approval from his ministers on December 19 to donate "a considerable sum" to restore the church, Prime Minister Orbán sent a handwritten letter to Pastor Carradori, expressing the solidarity of the Hungarians "toward our fellow Italian Christians hit by natural disasters." He added that Europe’s future can only be helped by "rediscovering Christian values, which still represent the most important force of communion for a city and a whole country."

In education and the arts, Hungary can boast a Catholic University, rapid expansion of Christian primary and secondary education, as well as the introduction of Christian moral teaching in all schools at the primary and secondary level. Christian churches have taken bold initiatives to cultivate the talents of the gypsy minority.

Hungary is engaged in restoring neglected historical churches, restoring Christian symbols in public squares and buildings, reviving religious music, and building new churches.

In the media, Christian programs air on state-owned radio and television.

Catholic radio stations have been established, such as Magyar Katolikus Radio, Szent István Radio, and Maria Radio, while on the Internet is broadcast Bonum TV, and there are several Internet portals, such as http://kereszteny.

mandiner.hu/tag/media/ There is a proliferation of Christian publishers of books, journals and papers.

Historical churches operate with state grants and without restrictions.

Christian lay movements (Regnum Marianum, Marriage Encounter, Focolare, Community of Sant’Egidio, Order of Malta, etc.) are thriving, as are the Scout movement, the Jesuit House of Dialogue, and similar entities.

As to Christian spirituality in Hungary today, there is ample choice of attending Holy Mass in larger cities; the situation in the villages is more problematic. The Catholic hierarchy is not much interested in the traditional Latin Mass, but many charismatic clerics have emerged, and there is richness in the various retreat houses, huge popularity of pilgrimages both within Hungary and abroad, and general optimism when the state of Christianity is assessed.

In the second part of his presentation, Mr. László turned to Blessed Karl and a review of Habsburg rule, which began in Hungary in 1526, when a Habsburg inherited the throne upon the death of the last Hungarian king.

The relationship of the Kingdom of Hungary with its Habsburg rulers was historically troubled, because although legally Hungary was ruled as a separate kingdom, it had in fact often been treated like an Austrian province.

Blessed Karl reigned in Hungary as King Karl IV. Today there is still living memory in Hungary that he was their last king. After the fall of communism, Karl became better known because of his spirituality. Although Hungary did little to bring about his beatification, it was mostly welcome among Catholics, leading to increased interest among the people and by historians. A bust of King Karl IV is now installed in Saint Stephen’s Basilica in Budapest. The 100th anniversary of King Karl’s 1916 coronation was properly celebrated at Mattyas Templom, the site of his coronation, with representatives of the government in attendance. The centennial was commemorated by a grand exhibition in the National Museum of Hungary.

Concluding their presentation on a note of prayerful meditation, Teréz László read, with great feeling, a passage by the renowned Hungarian writer and journalist Gyula Krúdy (1878-1933), who attended the Coronation and left us this description of the experience: "The King is kneeling on the steps of the altar. Even the most imperturbable souls must have felt rare shivers at this moment. The soul of the King is in the company of God. It is soaring up into the heavens, like a white dove, rising ever higher on shining wings, beyond the Earth, beyond the clouds, ... now, it is tiny like a bright little star... and now, with an exuberant surrender it throws itself on the footstool of the Lord. This was the second time during the ceremony that the King was kneeling on the steps of the altar, now, as he was being anointed with oil. From this point on, coming and going, following the ritual of the ceremony, into the sacristy, back to his place, then again back to the altar, it was as if his soul were, in fact, far away, with God. This is something wonderful and superhuman, my dear non-believing reader, now, in the 1916th year of the Lord, when we had almost forgotten that there is Someone above us.

"This must have been the state of mind of saints working miracles for their fellow men, a vision of the glorified, beyond the limits of bitter sobriety and suffocating justice, where the human soul is fettered by pedestrian wisdoms: Between his anointing and the coronation, the King was in an exalted, other-worldly state. He seems to be our Prince Imre, vying with missionary priests in the adoration of God. O History, at times you tell the truth!

Kings are kin of God. Now, at this moment, the congregation raises a dull murmur while the King is kneeling again in his antique-golden mantle in front of the priests with their red Scriptures.

There is tension on every countenance, flags dither in trembling hands, it is so quiet in the church that one can almost hear the voice of Cardinal Csernoch: "

"The young King, his sword drawn, turns back from the altar, and just like a young medieval knight, he strikes three times with the blade. On Holy Trinity Square, the soldiers fire their salvo. Now, just now, the white and red bishops, standing erect around the altar are raising their hands. Their right arms are all in the air. The dark, somber figure of István Tisza ascends the altar.

Up there, from the left, he stretches out his hand toward the crown, which lies on a golden tray on the altar. From the right, Cardinal Csernoch does the same.

"The King is kneeling high up on the stairs, his head bent down. At this moment, the crown starts to levitate.

It swings in the air, like a miraculous sacrament, quietly, like a heavenly breath; glowing like the virtue of Hungarians. A few seconds pass.

Maybe, even a full minute. The crown is still levitating in the holding hands, between heaven and earth, approaching with a barely perceptible, slow movement the brown curls of the King.

Then, it halts above his head. The eyes of the astounded Hungarian noblemen are bulging so much that one can see the veins in them. Breaths are held, mouths fall open. The long, slim figure of Tisza bends over the King with fatherly care.

The crown reaches the royal head. It settles there firmly, although the hands of the King are clasped. Thus, the relic of our ancient holy kings receives, once again, a role in the history of our homeland.

"The King stands at his throne and looks proudly around. A hoarse, but resounding voice, the voice of Tisza, shouts: "Long live the King!" Now, the King looks around with wonderment, seeing the people again. The white dove has returned from Heaven. Karl IV smiles. He sees humble priests and humble people around him."

Since Blessed Karl’s beatification on October 3, 2004, Masses in his honor have been proliferating around the world on his feast day, October 21. Among the most magnificent of these is the Solemn Pontifical Mass at Saint Mary Mother of God Church in Washington DC, with the participation of the chivalric orders of the Church in their colorful regalia, the presence of royalty, and a soaring musical program befitting a king. A reception and program about Blessed Karl follow the Mass.

But honoring Blessed Karl on April first is also catching on. While the holy ruler was being celebrated in Aliquippa, back in Washington DC, Fr. Richard Mullins, Pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Church and a Knight of Malta, added to his celebration of the Mass for Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent, as a commemoration, the Collect, Secret, and Postcommunion approved by the Church for the Knights of Malta in their Masses honoring Blessed Karl, to whom Fr. Mullins also devoted his sermon.

Blessed Karl, emperor, king, husband and father, man of perpetual prayer, hero in suffering, has a powerful message for the world today. As nations rediscover the glories of their Christian heritage, perhaps he will eventually join the handful of saints who are remembered and celebrated twice each calendar year.

For more information about Blessed Karl, please visit the website of the Emperor Karl League of Prayer for Peace Among the Nations (www.

emperorcharles.org). The League of Prayer is the organization appointed by the Church as "actor" for the Cause of Blessed Karl. Members promise to pray for his canonization, and endeavor to make him known and loved in ever wider circles. My own contact information can be found on the website, as I am always happy to respond personally to inquiries about Blessed Karl. ■

A man stops to greet Emperor Karl.

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The Last Word…

"Rise Up, Lazy Complainer!" Uncle Jorge vs. St. John Chrysostom

By Father Celatus

One of the biggest buffoons in modern American politics is former Vice President Joseph Biden. So common were his gaffes that he earned the nickname, Uncle Joe, referring to goofy uncles that many of us have who are an embarrassment to have around at family gatherings. One of his early faux pas occurred in his initial run for Vice President in 2008, when the then-candidate urged Missouri State Senator Chuck Graham, a paraplegic, to stand up at a campaign rally. Spotting the senator in the crowd Uncle Joe called out, "Stand up, Chuck, let ‘em see ya!" To his credit, once Biden realized his blunder he said, "Oh, God love you. What am I talking about? I’ll tell you what, you’re making everybody else stand up, though, pal," Good ole Uncle Joe then led the crowd in a standing round of applause for the cripple in the chair.

.

Perhaps we should give a pass to poor ole Uncle Joe for his gaffe, especially in light of his quick recovery—though he gets no pass for his phony Catholicism and perverse politics. But in the case of another individual who insulted a cripple, Uncle Jorge, The Last Word is unwilling to give him a pass. As reported by Vatican Radio, Uncle Jorge Bergoglio preached the following Lenten weekday sermon:

The Gospel story at the heart of Pope Francis’ reflection tells of a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years. He was lying at the side of a pool called Bethesda with a large number of ill, blind, lame and crippled who believed that when an angel came down and stirred up the waters the first to bathe in the pool would be healed. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him: "Do you want to be well?" "It’s what Jesus repeatedly says to us as well; do you want to be well? Do you want to be happy? Do you want to improve your life? Do you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit?" When Jesus asked that strange man if he wanted to be well, instead of saying "yes" he complained there was no one to put him in the pool while the water is stirred up and that someone else always got there before him. His answer, Francis said, was a complaint; he was implying that life had been unjust with him. "This man, the Pope noted, was like the tree planted along the bank of the rivers, mentioned in the first Reading, but it had arid roots, roots that did not reach the water, could not take nourishment from the water". The Pope said this is clear from his attitude of always complaining and trying to blame the other. "This is an ugly sin: the sin of sloth" he said. Pope Francis said this man’s disease was not so much his paralysis but sloth, which is worse than having a lukewarm heart. It causes one to live without the desire to move forward, to do something in life, it causes one to lose the memory of joy. "Sloth, he said, is a sin that paralyzes us, stops us from walking."

Thank goodness it was Christ who came upon the crippled man and not

the current Vicar of Christ, who no doubt would have said, "Stand up, you lazy complainer. It is your sloth that has paralyzed you!" Now I am not opposed to allegorical interpretations, an interpretive approach employed even by some of the Church Fathers. But in the hands of a Modernist like Uncle Jorge, allegory is typically twisted into pure fiction.

As a corrective to the misinterpretation of Uncle Jorge, read what St John Chrysostom wrote on this text:

Great is the profit of the divine Scriptures, and all-sufficient is the aid which comes from them…For the divine oracles are a treasury of all manner of medicines, so that whether it be needful to quench pride, to lull desire to sleep, to tread underfoot the love of money, to despise pain, to inspire confidence, to gain patience, from them one may find abundant resource. For what man of those who struggle with long poverty or who are nailed to a grievous disease, will not, when he reads the passage before us, receive much comfort? Since this man who had been paralytic for thirty and eight years, and who saw each year others delivered, and himself bound by his disease, not even so fell back and despaired, though in truth not merely despondency for the past, but also hopelessness for the future, was sufficient to over-strain him.

Hear now what he says, and learn the greatness of his sufferings. For when Christ had said, Will you be made whole? Yea, Lord, he says, but I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool. What can be more pitiable than these words? What is sadder than these circumstances?

Do you see a heart crushed through long sickness? Do you see all violence subdued? He uttered no blasphemous word, nor such as we hear the many use in reverses, he cursed not his day, he was not angry at the question, nor did he say, Have You come to make a mock and a jest of us, that Thou asks whether I desire to be made whole?

but replied gently, and with great mildness, Yea, Lord; yet he knew not who it was that asked him, nor that He would heal him, but still he mildly relates all the circumstances and asks nothing further, as though he were speaking to a physician, and desired merely to tell the story of his sufferings. Perhaps he hoped that Christ might be so far useful to him as to put him into the water, and desired to attract Him by these words.

So, was the crippled man beside the pool a lazy complainer who represents the deadly sin of sloth or was he a helpless man to be pitied for his terrible plight who spoke to the Lord as to a physician? In a choice between Uncle Jorge and Saint John, the Church Father wins, hands down. And for those who have been insulted over the years by Uncle Jorge, consider that not even a poor paralytic is immune from his abuse. ■

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