James Likoudis, president emeritus of Catholics United for the Faith, reviews Marthe Robin and the Foyers of Charity, by Martin Blake, (Theotokos Books, 156 pages, 2010, £7.95. $11.95)
This is a very readable volume about one of the most remarkable French mystics and a true daughter of the Church who lived in our own time (she was born in 1902 and reposed in the Lord in 1981, aged 78). Author Martin Blake succeeds to make her better known to English-speaking Catholics since as Msgr. Keith Barltrop noted in the Foreword, “Marthe Robin was one of the most extraordinary and influential figures, not just of the twentieth century Church, but of all time.”
For full review, please click here ...
Joanna Bogle reviews Marthe Robin and the Foyers of Charity, by Martin Blake, in the July-August 2010 edition of Faith Magazine
[This] is an unsentimental and interesting book, which sets out the facts of this unusual story very well. Marthe Robin was a young Frenchwoman, born in 1902, who contracted an illness while in her late teens, and eventually became an invalid, living in a darkened room because any light caused her intense pain, but writing and speaking in an ordinary way and revealing extraordinary wisdom, faith, and knowledge of spiritual things all conveyed with kindness and affection to her many visitors.
For full review, please click here ...
Roads to Rome: A Guide to Notable Converts from Britain and Ireland from the Reformation to the Present Day, by John Beaumont
Preface by Marcus Grodi; Foreword by Joseph Pearce; Appendices by Stanley Jaki
The aim of this book is to summarize the lives of notable converts from Britain and Ireland and explain (by reference to quotations from their writings) why they entered the Catholic Church. These reasons were many. Some looked chiefly at history and saw the apostolic Church in their day to be residing in the Catholic communion.
For more information, please click here ...
Our Lady of the Assumption parish Fatima Pilgrimage with Pax Travel
Via: Easyjet to Lisbon from Luton
From: Thurs 7th - Thurs 14th October 2010
Cost: £569 per person sharing
This 7 day pilgrimage promises to be a truly spiritual experience, which will help pilgrims to deepen their love and knowledge of Christ, Mary and the Church. There will be a full programme of events, including a coach excursion to the coast.
Includes:
- EasyJet return scheduled flights: Luton – Lisbon - Luton
- 7-nights accommodation in shared twin-bedded rooms with private facilities at the Casa Das Irmas Dominicanas or Virgem Maria hotels
- Half-board (breakfast and dinner); Private air-conditioned coach Transfers between airport and hotel in Fatima
- Daily Mass and nightly candlelit Rosary procession
- ATOL and AITO financial protection
Extras:
- Travel insurance at £28.50 per person
- Single room supplement at £126 per person for 7 nights (limited availability)
- Food and drink on board the aircraft
- Lunches, drinks and souvenirs; U.K. transfers
Led by Fr Ephraim Nwachukwu, parish priest, & Donal Foley, author of several Marian books, and has also led several pilgrimages to Fatima in recent years.
More info available from the Church of the Assumption Beeston, Nottingham, Parish office – email via: 
Flight times:
Luton to Lisbon
Thursday 7 October
Depart Luton 16:45
Arrive Lisbon 19:30
|
|
Lisbon to Luton
Thursday 14 October
Depart 11:55
Arrive 14:35
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For more details, please click here ...
Review of Marthe Robin and the Foyers of Charity, by Martin Blake, (Theotokos Books, 156 pages, 2010, £7.95)
Thanks to our National Association of Catholic Families friends at Theotokos Books, we have the opportunity to review and discuss this recently published book on the life and work of Marthe Robin.
Many people in the English-speaking world have not heard of this 20th century mystic who is reported to have subsisted only on weekly Holy Communion for 53 years.
For full review, please click here ...
Book Review: Understanding Medjugorje, by Kevin J. Symonds, MA
In 2006, British author Donal Anthony Foley published a book entitled, Understanding Medjugorje: Heavenly Visions or Religious Illusion? (UM) I purchased a copy and read it shortly after it was released and re-read it again this past month. I would like to share some of my thoughts and reflections with readers of Desiderium in a book review format.
In UM, Foley approaches Medjugorje as one who believes in the importance of private revelation, particularly the series of approved revelations in the era dubbed "The Age of Mary" (c.a. 1830-present). He discusses Medjugorje in the light of approved revelations, giving a special prominence to Fatima as Foley holds it to be the most important private revelation of our time.
Over the course of this discussion, Foley points out discrepancies on Medjugorje with Fatima that give pause to the popular claim of Medjugorje being the "continuation and fulfillment of Fatima." The most significant discrepancy, in this writer's opinion, comes at the very end of the book.
For full review, please click here ...
Theotokos Books has just published a new book entitled, Marthe Robin and the Foyers of Charity, by Martin Blake (ISBN 9780955074622).
This book looks at the life of Marthe Robin, the French mystic, who, with Fr Georges Finet, co-founded the Foyer of Charity community at Châteauneuf-de-Galaure in southeastern France in 1936. There are now 75 Foyer communities throughout the world, and their work involves a priest, the Father of the Foyer, giving 5 day retreats in silence, during which the members of the community look after the needs of the retreatants and pray for them.
For more information, including extracts, and how to order the book, please click here ...
For a review by Jeffrey Mirus of catholicculture.org please click here ...
Francis Phillips reviews more Spiritual Books for June 2010
Francis Phillips reviews Spiritual Books for June 2010
Louis Bélanger has set up a new blog on Medjugorje entitled Medjupedia. This has some very interesting resources, and can be found at:
http://en.louisbelanger.com/
Donal Anthony Foley reviews Abortion and Mental Health by Dr Pravin Thevathasan, MRCPsych, (LIFE, Leamington Spa, 2010, £1.95)
"This slim but well-written and cogent booklet on the effects of abortion on mental health, comes out of the author’s experiences as a practising psychiatrist who has had to deal with patients who have suffered from the after-effects of an abortion. Thus it is very much a practical booklet based both on this and on the available psychiatric research."
Donal Anthony Foley reviews Fatima: A Heart for the World, by Barry Pearlman
"Barry Pearlman has produced a well-written overview of Fatima in this book, one which is full of interesting details and theological insights. In 250 pages, and twelve chapters, he details what happened at Fatima and its significance for the world."
Francis Phillips reviews The Roman Catholic Church, By Edward Norman
"Dr Edward Norman, Fellow and former Dean of Peterhouse, is an ecclesiastic historian. He lectured at Cambridge for many years, following this with the chancellorship of York Minster. Currently he is a licensed curate in a London city parish. In less than 200 pages he has provided a scholarly, sympathetic and concise account of the Church in the last 2000 years. This alone is a formidable achievement. The fact that it is “An illustrated history”, replete with lavish illustrations of the kind that the publishers, free to rummage in the Church’s rich artistic patrimony, have known well how to deploy for an intellectual coffee-table readership (is this an oxymoron?), does not in any way detract from its intrinsic merits."
To see the new review, by Roger Buck, of Marian Apparitions, the Bible, the Modern World, on the Cor Jesu Sacratissimum website, please click here ...
"I wonder …Do I simply call this a book? Or would it be more accurate to call it an unexpected trove of treasure I have discovered by the Grace of God?
"But to be prosaic for a moment, this is of course, a book – which functions like an overarching compendium on three distinct themes.
"First and most obviously, there is the theme of nine great Vatican approved modern Marian Apparitions beginning with Guadalupe in 1531 and continuing through France and Belgium, Ireland and of course, Fatima … (As the book dates from 2002, the most recent approved apparition – that of Saint-Étienne-le-Laus again in France – is not treated here).
"Secondly the book delves into the rise of modernity, exploring the Reformation, the Enlightenment and the further revolutions in their wake.
"The third theme is a linkage between the apparitions and the Bible, where Foley sees that the appearances of Our Lady invoke such parallels with Biblical themes and images as to suggest a typology at work."
Francis Phillips reviews Incapacity and Care: Controversies in Healthcare and Research, ed. Helen Watt
"Almost all the papers in this book flow from the Linacre Centre Conference of 2007. They treat many different aspects of the care of “the least of our brethren” and together they provide a properly human and Christian response to concrete medical dilemmas which the popular press loves to highlight."
Francis Phillips reviews From Granny with Love, by Nicole Hall, £10 inc. p+p
For details of how to order, please email:
"When one studies 20th century Russian history, it is often the babushkas, the grandmothers, who emerge as the real heroines, raising their grandchildren and, crucially, teaching them their Orthodox faith which had been outlawed by the Communists. The situation here is not (yet) so stark, but grandmothers often provide the vital link between their grandchildren and religious faith. In this book about Confession and first Holy Communion, Nicole Hall shares her own deep love and understanding of Catholicism with her grandchildren and 'all children who might enjoy a Granny’s view of our Faith.' "
Francis Phillips reviews Vita Communis, by Jerome Bertram, Gracewing, £15.99
"This scholarly book, subtitled “The Common Life of the Secular Clergy”, deals with a subject close to the author’s heart. Fr Jerome Bertram is an Oratorian, the order founded by St Philip Neri in the sixteenth century so that clergy might live a communal life while serving the needs of the local laity. Quite distinct from monastic life – the Oratorians do not take vows - this model has proved very durable: 32 new Oratories have been founded since 1965, making a total in 2009 of 81 autonomous houses around the world. Yet what has spurred the author to his task is not so much his own Order’s success as his conviction of the need for diocesan bishops to re-think the whole way they look after and deploy their priests."
Two members of the Kolbe Center for the Study of Creation, which is based in the United States, are coming to Britain, hopefully during the Easter season, to organize a series of Catholic creation seminars in England, Scotland, and Wales.
In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in examining the arguments in favour of Creation rather than evolution, so this is an excellent opportunity to hear up-to-date information about the solidity of the Catholic case for Creation.
These seminars will be presented by Hugh Owen, the director of the Kolbe Center, who will present the theological side of the arguments, along with one of the Kolbe Center's scientific advisors who will join him to give the scientific side of the arguments.
Two hour, all-day, and one and a half day seminars can be arranged.
For details of these Creation seminar programs, please click here ...
For a testimonial from a parish following a Creation seminar, please click here ...
The following pdf documents compare some of the texts from versions of the transcripts of the tape recordings of the Medjugorje Visionaries as transcribed by Fr Ivo Sivric and Daria Klanac. They show how the two versions are essentially the same and thus that even the pro-Medjugorje Klanac could not avoid showing that the transcripts reveal definite problems in accepting Medjugorje as genuine:
This English-French text includes a translation from French into English from Daria Klanac's Aux Sources de Medjugorje.
This French text is a comparison between interview texts as found in Daria Klanac's Aux Sources de Medjugorje and Fr Ivo Sivric's La face cachée de Medjugorje.
Some very useful Medjugorje resources can be found at:
http://te-deum.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/TeDeumBlog
http://medjugorjedocuments.blogspot.com
Francis Phillips reviews: Chosen, edited by Donna Steichen
'One never tires of reading conversion stories. This has nothing to do with triumphalism or “poaching”, which aggrieved Anglicans have accused Pope Benedict of doing recently, and everything to do with God’s unfailing patience towards his lost sheep. The book constantly reminds one that faith is a gift. We Catholics often trundle along complacently, secure in our supposed merits; reading the stories of these “23 surprised converts” is a humbling, if also exhilarating experience. They searched long and hard for the truth which we so often take for granted and remind us that following it requires sacrifice. Some are famous names; others unknown; all have a distinctive lesson to teach.'
The new edition of Kevin Rowles booklet on Blessed Alexandrina Maria da Costa is now available from New Hope Publications, USA. This edition contains pictures. For sales and further information, please visit the New Hope website:
http://www.newhope-ky.org
Blessed Alexandrina Maria da Costa of Portugal (1904-1955), one of the great mystics of modern times, was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2004. A ‘victim soul’, chosen by Christ to suffer in atonement for the sins of humanity, she was bedridden for life from the age of twenty after sustaining injuries while escaping from an attacker.
For more info please click here ...
There is some new information about Maria Radna basilica in Romania at this beautiful site - well worth checking it out! www.en.mariaradna.com
A Foyer of Charity Retreat in English, at Tressaint in Brittany, France
took place from 20-26 September 2009, and was preached by Fr David Hartley from Oxford
The theme of the retreat was “The Light shines in the darkness,” and it was based on St John’s Gospel
Here are some video excerpts from the retreat ...
Further details from Donal Foley at:
Francis Phillips reviews English Catholic Heroines
"This book is the companion volume to English Catholic Heroes, edited by John Jolliffe and published last year. It is particularly welcome in the present climate when women in general seem to have forgotten the “feminine genius” so beautifully articulated by John Paul II, and when some women are in confusion and anger over the Catholic Church’s response to the question of women’s ordination. Only recently I listened to a radio programme on my car radio that talked yet again about how tolerant the Church of England is towards the many strange bedfellows that slumber under its benign coverlet – including those women now wanting to be bishops."
Francis Phillips reviews Born to Love, by Fr John R. Waiss
"This book is a thoughtful, insightful and compassionate response to the question of homosexual orientation, from a Christian perspective. It is very timely. It needs hardly be stated that the wider society takes a confused and contradictory stance over this subject, both wanting to be genuinely caring instead of merely condemnatory (as in the past), yet labelling the Christian viewpoint, when people have the courage to state it, as “homophobic” and prejudiced. Thus the author, an American priest of more than twenty years’ pastoral experience, fulfils a very real need with his wise counsel. Father Benedict Groeschel, CFR, who has worked with Fr John Harvey, the founder of “Courage” which helps those with this orientation to lead holy lives, has written the foreword."
Francis Phillips reviews:The Cross and the Third Reich, by John Frain
"John Frain subtitles this book, “Catholic Resistance in the Nazi Era” and at first glance it might seem a well-trodden path, adding little to what is already known. For instance, negative publicity given to the alleged ‘silence’ of Pope Pius XII during the War has led to a succession of scholarly studies of his attitude and behaviour towards Jewish victims of Nazi persecution. But Frain’s terms of reference are wider than this; he examines every level of Catholic opposition to Hitler, particularly in Germany: the electorate, the bishops, courageous individuals, as well as Vatican diplomatic initiatives."
Francis Phillips reviews The Centurion’s Gift, by Frances Buchanan
Available from the author at: http://thecenturionsgift.blogspot.com/
"The author of this book writes that it is “aimed at children from 10 upwards and is designed to present a fast-paced page-turner to help today’s youngsters turn towards more wholesome literature.” She adds, “I also wanted it to be historically accurate but not bogged down with detail.” Having read the book I can vouch both for its exciting plot and its historical veracity. I would add that the author herself is 18 and currently following a classical curriculum at a Dominican convent school in France. She is thinking of studying medicine at university and sales of this first novel are intended to help pay the cost of her studies."
Two new reviews of Understanding Medjugorje from Dr Mitchell Kalpakgian in the Wanderer and Msgr. Arthur B. Calkins in Miles Immaculatae
Review by by Dr Mitchell Kalpakgian, which appeared in the 20 August 2009 edition of The Wanderer: www.thewandererpress.com
"As John Paul II reiterated in Fides et Ratio, Christian belief demands both a life of the mind and a life of faith for the fullness of the truth. Just as reason without faith degenerates into cold, skeptical rationalism, faith without reason easily declines to gullibility, naiveté, and illusion. Foley’s book on Medjugorje defends the rational basis of faith, the realm of sound common sense, and the traditional wisdom of the Church in his argument that Medjugorje has created “a misguided quest for ‘signs and wonders’” and developed into “a vast, if captivating religious illusion.”
"Examining the entire phenomenon of the apparitions from their inception in 1981 to the present, Foley mounts compelling evidence that questions the authenticity of the visions of the seers. The most cogent aspect of his argument contrasts the approved miracles at Fatima and Lourdes with the alleged appearances of the Holy Mother at Medjugorje."
For full review click here ...
Review by Msgr. Arthur B. Calkins, which appeared in the January-June 2009 issue of Miles Immaculatae
"For many years, when asked my private opinion about the alleged apparitions of Our Lady (the Gospa) in Medjugorje, I have responded with the Latin word nescio – I don’t know. It has long seemed to me that a balanced and authoritative response would require a team of experts fluent in Croatian in order to untangle the complex phenomenon of Medjugorje: the enormous mass of seemingly contradictory statements by the visionaries, the propaganda generated by its devotees, the favorable writings of well-known mariologists and commentators, the personal testimonies of those who claim to have had “conversion experiences” there and those of priests who claim to have heard there the best and most sincere confessions of their lives, the statements of the former Yugloslav Episcopal Conference as well as those of the past and present Bishops of Mostar-Duvno, the Diocese in which Medjugorje is located. I am now fairly convinced that Donal Foley has done a great deal of that necessary work in assembling, untangling and sorting out the studies already carried out by experts and then weighing and evaluating them."
For full review click here ...
Donal Anthony Foley reviews Medjugorje: What’s Happening, by Fr James Mulligan - an earlier version of this review appeared in the 25 June 2009 edition of the Wanderer: www.thewandererpress.com
"The recent news that Fr Tomislav Vlasic - one of the Franciscans most involved in the early promotion of Medjugorje - has left the priesthood after being placed under investigation by the Vatican, means that an analysis of this book on Medjugorje is all the more pertinent.
"One recent reviewer of this book described it “fascinating,” but like many of the claims made about Medjugorje, this is something of an exaggeration. Rather it is little more than the usual pro-Medjugorje propaganda which has been served up to a largely unsuspecting public for nearly 28 years now, since the visions began in June 1981."
For full review click here ...
Maria Radna Basilica
This an ancient Marian Shrine in Romania, which as can be seen from the photo is very beautiful. It is actually a papal basilica, and probably Romania's most important Catholic pilgrimage destination. The pilgrimage church of Maria Radna dates back to the 18th century. The focal point of the pilgrimage church is the image of Our Lady, a 17th century print which was brought to Radna in 1668. Between 1769 and 1771 the image was provided with a frame made from 30 kg of silver. In 1820 two golden crowns for the Virgin and the infant Jesus were affixed to the image. Information about it and its restoration can be seen at the following links:
New: www.en.mariaradna.com
Maria Radna Resortation
Maria_Radna history
More historical info on Dicoesan youth site
20th Century Persecution of the Romanian Church
Fatima.co.uk is new website on everything concerning the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima. It also has a selection of information explaining Fatima, The Rosary and Our Lady of Fatima. Please visit www.fatima.co.uk/ for more details.
Francis Phillips reviews A Pure Heart Create for Me, ed. Robert Colquhoun
"This volume was inspired by a series of lectures at St Patrick’s, Soho Square, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical, Humanae Vitae. This excellent initiative by the parish priest, Fr Alexander Sherbrooke, has resulted in a collection of essays of enduring value. They should be read and re-read by Catholics who are concerned about the moral disorder of our society but who are not always confident of the beauty and truth of Church teaching on the “theology of the body”. Fear of sounding “homophobic” or puritanical keeps us silent when we should, in charity, speak out."
Retreat Information - flying from England to France
Foyer of Charity Retreat in English, at Tressaint in Brittany, France
from 20-26 September 2009
Flights from East Midlands and Stansted Airports to Dinard Airport in Brittany, via Ryanair
Preached by Fr David Hartley from Oxford
The theme of the retreat is “The Light shines in the darkness,” and it is based on St John’s Gospel
Foyers of Charity are Catholic Communities of men and women led by a priest, the Father of the Foyer, who gives the retreats, which are held in silence. Most days there will be two addresses, and the chance to join the community in prayer, adoration, and the rosary, as well as the celebration of the Eucharist. There is plenty of free time to enjoy the beautiful surroundings.
This is an excellent chance to experience the wonderful spirituality (and hospitality) of the Foyers at first hand. The retreat will begin with dinner at 7:30 pm on Sunday 20 September and finish with lunch at 2pm on Saturday 26 September.
There is no set price for retreats but the community relies on donations, and a donation of 40 euros per day, (£34), would be appreciated if you can afford it. Members of the Foyer will come to meet retreatants at the airport, and drop them off for the return flight. If you find that booking becomes busy and you needed to stay on an extra night this would be possible.
There are several ways to travel to Dinan, including by car and ferry on one of the many routes to northern France. The village of Tressaint is about 3 km south of Dinan. Retreatants can be met from it by car from the Foyer. There are regular flights scheduled for 2009 to Dinard by Ryanair, from Stansted and East Midlands airports. FlyBe have a route to Rennes from Southampton which is also cheap and convenient.
To see an article about the Foyer retreat in English at Tressaint, and Marthe Robin, click here ...
Further details from Donal Foley at:
For more details about the Foyers please visit: www.foyers.org.uk
The Tressaint Foyer website can be found at: www.tressaint.com
The Foyer Portal site is at: www.foyer-de-charite.com
The Irish Monstance: Ireland's Magnificent Gift to Fatima
This is a beautiful new book on this wonderful Monstrance, a gift from the people of Ireland to the Shrine of Fatima in 1949. It has 104 pages, and 160 colour and b&w photographs
$19.95, including shipping & handling - click here to purchase
Lauri Duffy's article on the Monstrance in the IRISH CATHOLIC of Thursday, October 26th, 1989
Some Pictures and Images from the Irish Monstrance
More Pictures (2) from the Irish Monstrance
Faithful Magazine is a free magazine for Catholic teenage girls. It aims to encourage girls in their faith as well as being an interesting read. This magazine is meant for any teenage girl from anywhere in the world who wants to read it. Help is needed, though, on writing stories/articles for the magazine so please submit them on the "Your Stories" page!
St Rita's Centre in Honiton, Devon, promotes devotion to St Rita of Cascia. She has become known as the Advocate of the Helpless, even the Saint of Hopeless Cases. Her feast day is 22nd May
www.stritascentre.org.uk/
This link to two early pictures of the Medjugorje Visionaries, taken while they were allegedly seeing the Blessed Virgin, quite clearly reveal that were not all looking at the same point in space, a fact which indicates that their claims are not genuine.
Francis Phillips reviews Joan of Arc, by Mark Twain
'If you ask after Mark Twain at a public library, they will mention many editions of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn but have no knowledge of this work. Yet Twain himself believed that Joan of Arc was his best book; it took him twelve years to research and two to write, while his other writings “needed no research and got none.” In his self-taught, roving youth he had stumbled across some random pages of Joan’s trial and had been struck by the power of the personality that thus revealed itself: the only story of a human life “that has come to us under oath.”'
The World Apostolate of Fatima National Pilgrimage, 10-17 July 2009
At the Mass in St. Peter's on 13th May 2006, Pope Benedict XVI expressed the hope that the message of Fatima will be "increasingly accepted, understood and lived in every community".
This pilgrimage will be led spiritually by: Rt. Rev Mgr T Fallon, parish priest of St Francis, Birmingham, and the Spiritual Director of the World Apostolate of Fatima in England.
The dates are: Friday 10th to Friday 17th July 2009 - Cost, £559 per person sharing (sterling). The pilgrimage includes:
- Fully inclusive Return Flights from London Heathrow - Lisbon
- Half Board accommodation at Domus Pacis
- Coach tours in Fatima
- Taxes and Travel Insurance
Fatima is one of the most important Marian pilgrimage centres in the world, and its message has assumed even more prominence since the beatification of Francisco and Jacinta in May 2000.
The week consists of a full programme of events centered in Fatima.
Please email: for full details and Booking Forms.
(Pilgrims in Clifton diocese, England, or surroundings, can obtain booking forms or further information from Mike Daley, the Pilgrimage leader, via the above email address.)
Eucharistic Renewal Books
The Mystery of Faith - Meditations on the Eucharist
by Fr Tadeusz Dajczer
The book originally appeared in Polish in autumn 2007 and went through 6 editions.
It contains a foreword by Pope John Paul II's former secretary, Stanislaw Dziwisz, now Cardinal of Krakow, Poland
Published 2008 by Eucharistic Renewal Books
For more details see:
http://eucharisticrenewal.org/
For a review by Francis Phillips, click here ...
The Saint Martin Apostolate in Dublin is at: www.stmartin.ie/
St Bernadette and Suffering by Donal Anthony Foley
"On 8 December 1933, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, exactly seventy-five years ago this week, Pope Pius XI declared Bernadette Soubirous a saint. The choice on this date to canonize Bernadette was not coincidental since this feast represents the name that Our Lady gave herself at Lourdes when she said: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”"
To read the rest of the article, please click here ...
The International Crusade for Moral Reform
http://internationalcmr.bravehost.com/
The International Crusade for Moral Reform was founded by Father Bryan Storey of Tintagel, Cornwall,UK in 1986, and has since grown to have followers all over the world. I.C.M.R. is dedicated to promoting chastity,which is basic to the integrity of the human person. It is through inner strength,peace and true love that real harmony is established in human life and relationships. Members,individuals and groups, engage themselves in prayer, fasting and self-denial, education and action.
Popes' Quotes provides a bi-weekly selection of three thought-provoking quotes on a variety of topics from St Peter the Apostle to Benedict XVI. These quotes are stored online at
www.keysofpeter.org/quotes.htm
Francis Phillips reviews A Life with Karol: My Forty-Year friendship with the Man who became Pope, by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, Doubleday, Distributed by Family Publications. £11.95
"In a recent Telegraph newspaper poll Margaret Thatcher was named the greatest post-war prime minister of Great Britain. Despite the contempt with which she was (and is) held by Left-wingers, the poll pays tribute to her many achievements; she would undoubtedly join a roll-call of the significant world leaders of the twentieth century. Yet if one is looking at such a roll-call to select one single person who did most to uphold the dignity of man during the latter part of the last century (though he was to die in 2005), the answer of many people from around the world, Christian or not, would be the name of John Paul II."
Dubbing in the the Knights of Our Lady
This is the name given to the venerable rite used in the Middle Ages and in our own day (by, for instance, the Knights of Our Lady) by which knighthood is conferred on a suitable candidate. The connection between the order of chivalry and the service of God has always been close, and the correct name for the ritual is the Blessing of the New Knight (‘Benedictio Novi Militis‘).
Click here for more details and photos ....
“Signs and Wonders:” Peter Costello reviews Understanding Medjugorje by Donal Anthony Foley, (Irish Catholic, 19 October 2008)
"For more than two decades the “phenomenon of Medjugorje” has aroused impassioned debate. The recent news that Fr Vlasic, the initial promoter of the seers, has been disciplined by the Congregation for Doctrine and Faith may give many, especially here in Ireland, reason to pause for thought.
"Enthusiasts for the shrine have been quick to claim that Fr Vlasic has been living in Italy for many years and has had no contact with the seers. But all would have to admit that he was instrumental in establishing the international interest in what has been happening in Medjugorje.
"This book by Donal Anthony Foley makes its position clear by its subtitle: he believes that the affair is one of “religious illusion”. This will displease or dismay many."
For full review, click here ...
