Palm Sunday

Torch of The Faith News on Sunday 29 March 2015 - 10:03:24 | by admin

Image from Traditional Latin Mass in Philadelphia Blog (2013)

The week which opens today is called the Great or Holy Week. It is devoted entirely to the commemoration of the Passion and Death of Our Lord: no saints' feasts are celebrated and the Gospels at Mass present the accounts of the Passion.

The blessing of Palms was observed in Jerusalem as early as the 4th-Century and it spread from there throughout Europe.

In the Traditional Liturgy, this blessing is the most solemn blessing and contains a Collect, Epistle, Gospel, Preface and other elements after the manner of a Mass, and preserves an ancient form of the liturgy observed at solemn assemblies of the faithful which were separated in time or place from the solemn celebration of the Eucharist.

After the Blessing of Palms, a procession takes place to commemorate the triumphal entry of Our Lord into Jerusalem. On returning to the church, the procession halts at the door, and the chants of the two choirs, within and outside, signify the singing of the divine praises by the Church Triumphant in Heaven and the Church Militant on earth.

The Holy Mass which follows marks a change from joy to sorrow, for the Church now turns to mourn the humiliation and suffering of the Redeemer. 

In order to fix the attention of the faithful on the sufferings of Our Lord, the Church authorized the chanting of the account of the Passion in dramatic form. One deacon sings the narrative passages; another sings in solemn modulation the words uttered by Our Lord; a third, the words of other speakers, and the choir reproduces the cries of the Jews.

The chief phases of the sacred drama are: the celebration of the Last Supper, the Agony and Betrayal in the Garden, the trial before the Sanhedrin, the denial of Peter, the trial before Pilate and Herod, the scourging and Condemnation, the Crucifixion, Death and Burial.

Matthew 21, Gospel from the Blessing of the Palms: Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. O King of Israel: Hosanna in the highest.

We wish all of our readers a blessed Palm Sunday. 

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Evangelization - Some Helps and Hindrances - (Part 4 of 4)

Torch of The Faith News on Saturday 28 March 2015 - 17:37:02 | by admin

Personal Sin

In the previous article in this short series on evangelization, attention was drawn to the fact that potential converts need to be given the full truth in order to help them to convert. Dr. Barbara Morgan, foundress of the Office of Catechetics at Franciscan University of Steubenville, taught her students to help catechumens to recognize that they have a 'sin problem' and then to assist them in finding it's remedy in Jesus Christ and the Sacraments of His Church.

Knowledge of the objective content of the Faith is essential to this endeavour. Nevertheless, something more is needed. Because the theological virtue of Faith is a supernatural gift, and because sin both darkens the intellect and weakens the will, we also need grace. Therefore, Dr. Morgan taught her students to pray for their catechumens to receive - and become open to - the graces necessary for them to hear, accept and act on Catholic Truth.

A few years ago, at the Catechetics Conference in Rome, we listened to lectures on prayer given by Fr. Pierre de Cointet of the Notre Dame de Vie catechetical community from France.

Fr. de Cointet likened the catechist to little St. Bernadette of Lourdes, who humbly removed the dirt and stones to allow the pure waters to issue forth at the Massabielle Grotto. In a similar way, priests and catechists need to help clear away the stones and debris from the hearts of their catechumens, in order for the life-giving waters of Christ to bubble up. This is a work of prayer. Fr. de Cointet explained that the catechist, the catechumens and the content and exercise of catechesis all need to be 'saturated' in prayer if they are to bear fruit. A few years back, the Notre Dame de Vie community were in England to give catechetical training and we were able to enter into this 'saturation' first-hand.

The Sins of Others

So much for overcoming the obstacles caused by personal sin. But what of the sins of others? This article will now face the obstacles caused to potential converts when Catholics give scandal by their lifestyles, actions or words - and briefly considers ways in which these might be overcome.

When I was in primary school on Merseyside, my older siblings and I one day found ourselves surrounded by a gang of tough Catholic kids; who demanded to know if we were 'Cat-Licks' like them, or 'Proddie-Dogs'. At the time, our family were very committed Protestants, of the 'Born-Again' variety, and these kids seemed irked by us. This encounter - and it's sequel when the 'Cat-Licks' sent me over the handlebars of my bicycle - left me with the faulty impression that, whilst my family aspired to be wholesome Christians, Catholics must be cruel ruffians to be avoided. This experience of scandalous behaviour formed a negative subjective response towards Catholics in my young soul. The impression would only be deepened in my high-school years, when gangs of Salesian students would surround and invade the grounds of our school looking for fights.

Around the time of the 'Cat-Lick' incident, I nevertheless remember forming a deep interior respect for Catholic priesthood and the Mass through a purely fictional - and pretty low-rent - action movie on the TV; grace can use all things!

In the film Mosquito Squadron, the villainous German officer Lt. Schack, played by Vladek Sheybal, enters a prisoner-of-war-camp chapel and orders the Catholic priest to cease offering the Holy Mass. When the priest - of course facing East - ignores this unholy demand, Schack draws out his Luger and shoots the priest in the back, killing him at the altar. Even though this was a work of fiction, the violent scene impressed my youthful self with its portrayal of a man so wrapt in serving God's mysteries that he would die rather than desist.

Around the age of 20, I was on the road to conversion to the Catholic Faith. I went with my, then recently converted, parents to a parish for Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. In light of my romantic notions inspired by the scene just described, I was horrified when the young priest suddenly set down the Monstrance, charged to the back of the church to apprehend a teenaged intruder, and pummelled him against the back wall of the church porch. When some parishioners praised this action, I was even more unhappy and decided to put off my conversion. Almost another year would pass before I was received into the Church at Easter 1993.

Helping Potential Converts to Overcome Scandal

In a sense, we don't do this at all, because it is primarily a work of grace. As Fr. de Cointet and Dr. Morgan teach their students, praying for catechumens and potential converts is an essential element in effective catechesis. There are also a few other practical things which some readers might find helpful.

One of these is to recall with catechumens that all of us are sinners in need of God's grace and mercy. Sometimes, often without intending it, we ourselves give scandal to others by our actions, words or manner. Msgr. Ronald Knox once reminded those interested in the Faith that sometimes people might actually be rather holy, but that this may often be hidden beneath a seemingly gruff exterior. He noted that this could be down to something as simple as poor digestion!

Another thing is the fact that we can often see more with a broader perspective. For example, I now realize that those Catholic boys looking for trouble were likely to have been among the first generations after the Council to suffer from the effects of the collapse in evangelization and catechesis in Catholic education. Also, a man who knew the young priest mentioned above, explained to me that he was known for his great love for the Blessed Sacrament; whilst his actions were certainly questionable, the motive behind them was likely related to that. 

Another important thing is to call to mind the many saints that have become holy through receiving divine life in the Church. It was the realization of this that brought the renowned philosopher Dietrich Von Hildebrand into the Catholic Church. We could also recall the countless charitable enterprises and works that the Catholic Church has engaged in throughout its 2,000 year history. As we noted recently, one of its tangible truth claims is the fact that no other institution in human history has helped so many elderly, infirm, poor, or pre-born people as the Catholic Church has, in so many places, or over such a long period of time. Anyone who has stayed for a few nights at a presbytery will become quickly aware of the many addicted, homeless or troubled people who come looking for help that they will not find elsewhere.

Recalling the practical good the Church does brings us to the theme of effective apologetics. For example, not a few potential converts waver at the door of conversion when they consider the dark episodes associated, at least in the popular culture, with such things as Bad Popes, the Crusades or the Spanish Inquisition.

Apologetics can help us here by explaining the fact that papal infallibility is not the same as impeccability; popes are sinners like the rest of us, but they are protected from teaching error when teaching Ex Cathedra on faith and morals, in a way which is to be held as binding by the whole Church.

Apologetics can demonstrate from history that there has indeed been a small number of popes that might be viewed as bad. However, the thing to truly marvel at is the fact that, in two millennia there have only been a handful of such. And even the bad ones did not teach error in a way that would undermine Papal Infallibility. In any case, far more numerous are those popes who have contributed a great deal to the Church and to the flourishing of human civilization. Then there have been other popes that were genuinely great men and indeed others who were actually saints.

Apologetics can draw from historical evidence the fact that, whilst having admittedly negative aspects, the Crusades were not launched to spread Western hegemony or to gain plunder. Rather, were they launched to recover the profaned Holy Sepulchre, defend Christian pilgrims from the kind of barbaric slaughter now being visited on innocent people by ISIS in our own days, and to save and protect Christendom itself.

Apologetics helps catechumens and others to learn that the motives, methods, areas covered and numbers killed in relation to the Inquisitions are much different than those portrayed in the negative caricatures of popular culture.

The apologist, like the catechist, can help to remove stony obstacles. Nevertheless, we do not - and can not - deny that there were certainly problems and excesses in each of the areas discussed and in relation to the more recent cases like the dreadful sex-abuse scandals or the scandal given by pro-abortion or pro-same-sex 'marriage' politicians being received into the Church, or given Holy Communion, without prior, public repentance.

Overcome the Finite with the Infinite 

A few years before he converted to the Catholic Faith, the famous journalist and media figure Malcolm Muggeridge was hesitating in light of the very issues of the Crusades, the Inquisition, the scandalous popes and other such problems. A few things eventually helped him overcome these seeming obstacles.

One was Hilaire Belloc's witty remark that the Church must be in God's hands if It has kept on going so well in spite of some of the people who have been in charge! This reflection can be helpful to Catholics and potential converts at this time of confusion, dissent and major upheaval.

Another which readers will likely find encouraging, and that the Synod and our present English Cardinal would benefit from heeding, is that the Catholic Church's firm stand against contraception and abortion helped Muggeridge to convert. He saw that the evils of contraception had made havoc for the young and the old, caused precocious sexual practices in children, led to debauchery in the universities and generally violated the natural order of things. He saw the Church's opposition as a very gallant effort to prevent moral disaster.   

The other, more personal, thing that helped Muggeridge to eventually convert to the Catholic Faith was a letter he received from Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She wrote:-

'The personal love Christ has for you is infinite - the small difficulty you have regarding the Church is finite. Overcome the finite with the infinite. Christ has created you because He wanted you. I know what you feel - terrible longing, with dark emptiness - and yet He is the one in love with you. I do not know if you have seen these few lines before, but they fill and empty me: My God, my God, what is a heart, that Thou should'st so eye and woo, pouring upon it all Thy heart, as if Thou had'st nothing else to do?'

Dear readers, catechumens and potential converts, let us allow Christ to overcome the finite in our lives with the infinite. When we are scandalized by the hurts, betrayals or other sins and behaviours of Catholics, let us recall that it is Jesus Who loves us, and that all that really matters is that we let Him love us and love Him back with all our hearts. We do this by being in communion with Him through the Catholic Church.

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Dr. Edward Peters - At a Loss to Understand Why Cardinal Nichols Seems to Chastise Priests Who Signed the Support Marriage Letter

Torch of The Faith News on Friday 27 March 2015 - 22:07:16 | by admin

Dr. Edward Peters holds a Chair at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. He has written a balanced article about the rights of British priests to express their opinions on matters pertaining to the good of the Church. He writes:-

'British Priests Have Canonical Rights, Too

There isn't a word - not one single word - in the short, open letter signed by hundreds of British Catholic priests to the Catholic Herald (London) defending Church teaching on marriage and sacraments that any Catholic could not, and should not be proud to, personally profess and publicly proclaim. The priests' letter is a model of accuracy, balance, brevity, and pastoral respect for persons. It fortifies the soul to know it exists. It gladdens the heart to actually read it.

I am at a loss, therefore, to understand why Vincent Cardinal Nichols seems to chastise priests who signed the letter for their allegedly ''conducting a dialogue, between a priest and his bishop... through the press.'' The priests' letter is a statement of Catholic belief, not an opening gambit in a negotiation; it is addressed to a journal editor, and through him to lay and clerical public, not to a particular prelate. Moreover, the letter is a text-book example of clergy exercising a canonical right guaranteed to all the Christian faithful, namely, ''to manifest to sacred pastors (Code for 'bishops') their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church and to make their opinion known to the rest of the Christian faithful, without prejudice to the integrity of faith and morals, with reverence toward their pastors, and attentive to common advantage and the dignity of persons.'' Canon 212 (3), my emphasis.

The Cardinal, of course, need not have said anything about the letter; frankly, his responding via the press is what might turn the event into a dialogue in the press. But, if a response was to be made, anything less than ''I am delighted to know that so many priests love our Church, her teachings, and the people served by both'' makes the direction of that dialogue suddenly worrisome.'

(From the blog of Dr. Edward Peters). 

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Cardinal Gaudenico Rosales - Even if 99% Favour Divorce, What is Wrong is Wrong

Torch of The Faith News on Friday 27 March 2015 - 20:20:13 | by admin

Zenit News reports that Cardinal Gaudenico Rosales, Archbishop Emeritus of Manila in the Philippines, has given a strong public defence of the indissolubility of marriage.

His Eminence was responding to surveys which suggest that the majority of people in the Philippines now favour the legalization of divorce. According to a survey by Social Weather Stations, 60% of the 1,800 respondents agreed that couples in 'irreparable marriages' should be allowed to divorce, so that they can legally get married again to someone else. Only 29% of respondents disagreed.

Cardinal Rosales responded: ''Even if it is 99% surveyed favour divorce, what is wrong is wrong.''

Reading His Eminence's words reminded us of the clear teaching found in Evangelium Vitae, which recalls the fact that democracy must not be idolized to the point of making it a substitute for morality or even a panacea for immorality. 

EV 70 explains that the basis of authentic values, 'cannot be provisional and changeable ''majority'' opinions, but only the acknowledgement of an objective moral law which, as the ''natural law'' written in the human heart, is the obligatory point of reference for civil law itself.' 

In his defence of marriage, Cardinal Rosales has also pointed out that those who argue that the Church should somehow change its teaching on divorce and 're-marriage' are ignoring the Sacred Scriptures and attempting to get the institution to overrule God.

These teachings are a helpful corrective to some of those involved in the Synod, who have given the false impression that doctrine is something that can be manufactured, or tailored to the tenor of the times, by majority vote. In reality the dogmas and doctrines of the Church are expressions of the divine revelation to us.

Let us conclude with a short quote from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

'There is an organic connection between our spiritual life and the dogmas. Dogmas are lights along the path of faith; they illuminate it and make it secure. Conversely, if our life is upright, our intellect and heart will be open to welcome the light shed by the dogmas of faith' (John 8:31-32/ CCC 89).

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The Priests' Support Marriage Letter and The Cardinal's Rebuke - Our Thoughts As a Married Couple

Torch of The Faith News on Thursday 26 March 2015 - 12:57:40 | by admin

In light of the manipulations and resultant global confusion which has emanated from the Synod, we were greatly encouraged to read of the Support Marriage Letter. This letter, signed by 461 priests based in England and Wales, urges the Vatican Synod to make a clear and firm proclamation of the Church's unchanging moral teaching, so that confusion may be removed, and faith confirmed.

There is a sense in which this should not even be news. After all, it could be argued that, in signing this letter, these priests have merely done their job. They have publicly upheld the sanctity of marriage, handed on the teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and faithfully transmitted 2,000 years of Sacred Tradition. Isn't this the bare minimum that lay people have a right to expect from their pastors?

But these are not ordinary times. It was George Orwell who said that, in an age of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

As such, we salute every single one of the priests who had the courage to sign this public letter in defence of Christ's Truth. As a Catholic married couple, we are greatly encouraged by this witness. It demonstrates that many priests in England and Wales will not go along with the revolutionary assault being made on the Divine and Natural Law; on the nature of the Church; on Christ's own explicit teachings; on two-millennia of Sacred Tradition; on the Blessed Sacrament; on the Sacrament of Penance and on the Sacrament of Marriage.

May God bless all of these priests.

At the same time, we need to avoid falling into the trap of thinking that these are the only priests, in these isles, who are prepared to resist the present evil; or even that others lacked courage to sign. For example, we know of at least two more orthodox priests, whose names have not appeared on this letter, but who are nevertheless determined not to go along with the proposed new order. Fr. Tim Finigan has also acknowledged that he knows of other priests who had missed the invitation to sign up and desired for their names to be added.

Intimidation from Some Senior Churchmen

That the signing of this letter involved an element of courage, was confirmed by the press statement that accompanied the Support Marriage Letter. This made public the fact that there ''has been a certain amount of pressure not to sign the letter and indeed a degree of intimidation from some senior Churchmen''.

It is lamentable that senior churchmen would try to intimidate their priests. This is even more the case when those priests were only wishing to affirm and defend Christ and His Truth.

As disgraceful as such intimidation is, it comes as little surprise. We suggest that this is all of a piece. It calls to mind the account we published a few days ago about the persecution and blocking of orthodox candidates to the priesthood in seminaries. There is continuity, too, with the pressure put on orthodox bishops and parish priests throughout the last five decades to conform to the liberal zeitgeist. There is a link to the negative experiences of dissent, that we've recounted here before, in relation to the marriage 'preparation' that we were forced to endure in order to marry in the Archdiocese of Liverpool. It all accords too, with the enforced deconstruction of Catholic liturgy and of education in the doctrines, prayers, morals and virtues of the Catholic Faith. None of this has been happening by accident.

The Cardinal's Rebuke

There is a real sense in which Cardinal Nichols has overplayed his hand by revealing publicly his displeasure with the priests who signed this letter. It will be read by observers in relation to the priests' earlier statement about intimidation from senior churchmen.

We agree entirely with John Smeaton's question at the SPUC blog: ''How can any Catholic bishop object to priests using the media to express their loyalty to the teaching of Christ and their desire to give true pastoral care to all who need it?'' 

How indeed? But then, this too is all of a piece. There is a common thread between the attendance of Fr. Charles Curran - the infamous dissenter from Humanae Vitae - to speak at Upholland Seminary, when His Eminence was then the young Liverpool priest in charge, and this latest news.

Between these key events in the Cardinal's ecclesiastical career, can be traced a long trajectory: the backing of Oonagh Stannard at the CES; the CES allowing children as young as nine to look at computer-generated images of adult nudes; the All that I Am programme in primary schools; the ''Who knows what's down the road?'' and ''I don't know'' comments in relation to Church teaching on same-sex pairings; the troubling issues relating to Ed Balls and the Labour Government's attempted Children, Schools and Families Bill in 2010; the 'Soho Gay-Masses'; the suggestion on Radio 4 that the faithful pro-life/pro-family Catholics who regularly witnessed outside of these should ''learn to hold their tongue''; Lord Knight's suggestion in the House of Lords that he had been having ''very good conversations'' with Cardinal Nichols about compulsory sex-education in Catholic schools; the self-professed deepening and developing of the Cardinal's thinking 'on the question of second marriages'; his expression of disappointment on Radio 4 that the Synod's final report omitted the notorious phrases of the manipulated mid-term report; bringing the homosexuality-promoting dissenter, Fr. Timothy Radcliffe OP, to speak to 8,000 high-school students at the recent Flame 2 event; and now the public rebuke of faithful priests for their clear defence of the Church's Magisterial teaching on marriage.

No, there is no surprise here: the Cardinal's statements and actions in relation to Catholic sexual ethics are consistently all of a piece.

The Truth Will Make You Free

As a Catholic married couple, we testify here that we have found the Catholic Church's true and orthodox teachings on marriage and family to be a source of great peace, healing and practical support. We know a number of other Catholic married couples and families with the same experience. 

Catholic teaching on human sexuality, set as it is within the whole context of the Decalogue, Creation, Fall, Redemption, Nature, Reason, Grace, the Sacraments and 2,000 years of dedicated pastoral care, lifts human dignity and personhood from the mire into which Original Sin, Concupiscence and secularization have thrust them, and sets them as a light on a hill-top. This is because the author, source and constant help in the living out of the true Catholic teachings on marriage, family and sexuality is none other than Jesus Christ, the God-Man.

The orthodox Catholic teaching and the grace of the Saraments have helped us to find healing for our own sins and brokenness and to grow toward truly human and self-sacrificial love.

As a married couple, we have consistently offered bishops, priests and lay-groups to help them in helping others to discover and live out this life-giving teaching. 

We have been ignored by some people and attacked by others. However, since Torch of The Faith was founded in 2008, a dozen priests have taken us up on the offer and we have given pre-marriage catechesis to some 40+ engaged couples and catechesis on chastity and marriage to several RCIA groups, a few Confirmation candidates and a small number of university students.

We thank the priests who publicly signed this letter, encourage them and others not to give way to intimidation and humbly call the Cardinal, Bishops and all priests to defend and promote the true teachings of the Church.

Only by rooting pastoral practice in Christ's doctrine will lasting help be given to the Church, to souls, to vocations, to families and to society.  

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The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Torch of The Faith News on Wednesday 25 March 2015 - 09:17:06 | by admin

This Festival, in memory of the announcement made by the Angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary, of the Incarnation of the Son of God, is among the most ancient and most celebrated of the Christian year. It is noticed as early as the 5th Century.

At the High Mass, in the Traditional Liturgy for this day, as on Christmas Day, the celebrant and his ministers, rising from their seats, kneel on the Altar-steps during the singing of the Et incarnatus est, in the Nicene Creed.

Collect, Traditional Liturgy: O God, Who didst will that Thy Word, at the message of an angel, should take flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary: grant unto us Thy suppliants that we, who believe Her to be truly the Mother of God, may be helped by Her intercession with Thee. Through the same Lord.

Homily of St. Bernard of Clairvaux: ''On your word depends comfort for the wretched, ransom for the captive, freedom for the condemned, indeed, salvation for all the sons of Adam, the whole of your race.'' 

Luke 1:38: And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to Thy word.

We wish all our readers a blessed Feast of the Annunciation!

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Another Marian Shrine Pastor Murdered - This Time in Colombia

Torch of The Faith News on Wednesday 25 March 2015 - 09:00:51 | by admin

ICN News Photo

Please pray for Fr. Fernando Meza Luna, pastor of the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Sincelejo, north of Bogota.

Fr. Meza Luna was shot dead during a violent attempted robbery on Saturday night. Some parishioners came and took the wounded priest to Santa Maria Clinic, where he sadly died of his injuries. The shrine pastor had already been the victim of a robbery two months earlier.

Bishop-emeritus of Sincelajo, His Exc Msgr. Orlando Corrales announced: ''With pain and sadness at the death of Fr. Fernando, I ask all priests to pray for him and for his family. I am deeply saddened by his death, and I hope it can be a source of greater unity among priests. Now that we are close to Easter, I invite everyone to raise their voices, asking for respect for life. I express my spiritual closeness in prayer.''

The funeral of Fr. Meza Luna took place in the diocesan Cathedral yesterday.

This is the second brutal murder of a priest at a shrine of Our Lady in as many weeks; only last week we asked readers to pray for Fr. Adolfo Enriquez, who had been murdered at the Shrine of the Virgen del Cristal in Spain - and the shrine's holy image of Our Lady stolen.

The spiritual war being waged by the infernal enemy on the Church, on Our Lady, on the sacred priesthood and on the sacrament of marriage, is being increasingly punctuated by violent manifestations in the temporal sphere. To those who have ears to listen: Stay awake and Pray!

Holy Michael the Archangel - Pray for us!

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Some Good News About Some Good American Catholic Men

Torch of The Faith News on Tuesday 24 March 2015 - 16:56:33 | by admin

It can be hard settling into a new country and cultural situation. We found this out in July 2004, when we arrived for 2 years at Franciscan University of Steubenville in America. The blessing of friends is an enormous help at such times of transition.

December 2004: Craig Dyke, Alan and Joe Roderique at the Office of Catechetics in Steubenville.

Going back to 'school' in a foreign country, at the age of 32, was made much easier for me by the friendship of some good-hearted Catholic guys in Steubenville. Craig Dyke and Joe Roderique made us feel especially welcome from the first time we met them Stateside. 

I went with Craig to see my first ever game of American Football and Angie and I spent our first Thanksgiving with him, his wife, young children and friends. Craig was in the year above us and graduated in 2005. Soon afterwards, he was hired by the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, to give catechesis on the sacrament of marriage. After eventually heading up the Office of Catechetics and Evangelization there, he is now Director of Family Life in the Archdiocese of Boston. Craig and his wife are raising their 5 children in the Faith.

Joe Roderique also made me feel right at home from the first time I met him waiting outside a catechetics classroom. From that day, he always made me feel welcome and valued in class, around campus and 'on the hill' where Angie and I, like many other students, rented duplex apartments.

Joe introduced Angie and I to the concept of 'brunch' and to maple-syrup on hash-browns! At the time, Joe and I were both running somewhat sporty Toyota Camrys.

Joe's was white with a potent V6, while mine had an eager 2.5 engine, 6-spoke polished alloys on low-profile tyres (tires over there!), and a paint-job that I insisted was British Racing Green! 

I had planned to buy this chrome-laden Cadillac coupe at the same price, but Angie thought it would be a gas-guzzler. She was probably right!

Anyway, I digress...

I always knew that Joe was going places; he was as eloquent talking about Christology as he was about Quantum Science. Although he came from a large, strongly Catholic family, he had come through a powerful conversion experience himself and was on fire for the Faith. 

Joe had such a clear love for Our Lord and the Church, combined with such obvious gifts of leadership and pastoral care, that I asked him in those early days if he had ever considered a call to the priesthood. He laughed and said, ''Yeah, just before I met you I was in pre-seminary!''

Not long after this conversation, Joe met a holy young lady called Monica, who also came from a large and strong Catholic family. They got married to each other a couple of years later in the Christ the King Chapel on campus.

Here are Joe and I with Bill Unanue before the campus statue of St. Francis, on the day we all graduated from the MA course in 2006. I met Bill in my second year in America. He was another good, young Catholic man and is now a Director with the major Hispanic food supplier Goya Foods in Madrid; a company his devout-Catholic grandfather established.

Graduation Day, June 2006: Bill Unanue, Alan and Joe Roderique.

(I'd clearly eaten too many Mrs. Freshley's Honey Buns during revision for the Comprehensive Exams!).

Minutes before this photo was taken, all the graduates had been commissioned by Fr. Terence Henry (TOR), in the Christ the King Chapel, to take the Catholic Faith out to a wounded and lost, post-modern culture.  

Fr. Terence Henry (TOR): One of the key figures whose priesthood and words have helped to inspire Torch of The Faith.

Arriving back in England was a bit of an anti-climax after the orthodox, catechetical formation and community in Steubenville. We very soon had to leave a parish we moved into; after confronting the priest for announcing, from the pulpit during Sunday Mass, that same-sex civil partnerships were here to stay, suggesting it was OK to attend same-sex ceremonies and arguing that the divorced-'remarried' should be ''allowed to have their fling!'' The same man would later welcome Cardinal Walter Kasper to a study-event in England... 

Meanwhile Joe and Monica wrote to tell us that they had gone on to Medical School in Virginia. After a couple of house moves in England and Wales, we gradually lost track of our American friends as they too moved around the States for further study and work. 

Imagine our delight then to find out recently that Joe Roderique is now Lieutenant Joseph Roderique (Medical Doctor) with the US Navy Medical Corps!

Lt. Joseph Roderique M.D. (Viriginia Commonwealth University).

Not only that, he was recently awarded the prize for Best Young Investigator by the Military Health System Research Symposium (MHSRS) for his ground-breaking work on an Injectable Antidote for Carbon Monoxide Poisoning.

Viriginia Commonwealth University (VCU) did a feature on Joe's research recently. As Dr. Joe was an alumnus of the School of Medicine there, they were highlighting his research and determination to succeed in finding such an injectionable antidote.

It seems that, in his first year at the school, Joe had started knocking on the doors of lab-directors on the 10th Floor to pitch his idea and preliminary research. Everyone turned him down. Undeterred, Joe kept knocking on doors until he reached the sub-basement level, where he knocked on the door of Bruce Spiess M.D., professor of anesthetics.

Dr. Spiess saw the value in Joe's project and offered to help with the securing of sponsorship for his research. This helped Joe to take a year out from clinical medical training to work in anesthesiology laboratories and experiment with a unique form of Vitamin B12, to show that it could be an effective treatment for experimental carbon monoxide poisoning.

Since then, Joe's research has flourished. He is now a surgery resident with the US Navy Medical Corps and Dr. Spiess believes that Dr. Joe's research could now have far-reaching and exciting benefits.

Carbon monoxide is an odourless, colourless gas that can cause sudden illness and death. It is the No. 1 cause of lethal poisoning worldwide. In the US alone, it causes 15,000 emergency room visits, 5,000 neurologic injuries and up to 500 deaths per annum.

Dr. Joe is now 5 years into his research and he is planning to publish major medical manuscripts in the near future. Intellectual property and patent claims have been filed. Joe told VCU that his work represents a paradigm shift in the way carbon monoxide poisoning is treated.

A while back, Joe and Monica did an article in Franciscan Way magazine, in which they explained how they met and married on campus at Steubenville and are now raising up children of their own to love Christ.

This is all beautiful news from America. We congratulate Joe, Monica and their family on this breakthrough, which has the potential to save countless lives.

I'd also like to thank Joe for looking after the 'Limey' in Steuby! God bless you Joe and well done - I knew you were going places mate and I'm proud of you!

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How Few There Are Who Love Our Lord Jesus Christ Today

Torch of The Faith News on Monday 23 March 2015 - 10:04:54 | by admin

Including the priest, there were just 28 people at yesterday's Traditional Latin Mass for Passion Sunday on the outskirts of the city-centre.

It was match-day, there was an artistic event on and the sun was shining. The shops and bookies were busy, the streets were heaving and a group of drinkers were getting rowdy next to the church. 

All around the church building was traffic chaos. Within minutes of leaving the murmured quiet of the Low Mass, I'd narrowly avoided two near misses from frustrated drivers, who were driving aggressively in an attempt to beat the rapidly building queues. At that point I was being prevented from following a green light by a line of cars that had mistakenly entered a blocked cross-junction. Cars behind me were sounding their horns in frustration and packs of jay walkers were swarming around our suddenly, grid-locked vehicles.

Sitting prone on the edge of the chaotic junction, I began to reflect again on the mysteries of grace and conversion. How few there are in our day who profess to love Jesus Christ. The churches are empty whilst the markets and stadia are full. Still fewer are those who both love Christ and transform that love from mere sentiment to life-changing action.

In Britain, as in much of Western culture, all sense of the Sabbath has been lost. There are few in contemporary Britain who even know of Our Lord Jesus Christ, let alone love Him. Men have forgotten God.

Ephesians 5:16 teaches us that we may live in a wicked age, but our lives should redeem it. We have now entered into Passiontide. The Church prepares us to go with Christ through the events leading to His trial and death. In the Traditional Liturgy throughout this week, the Scripture readings show forth the enmity of those who hate Jesus. They also allude to those who would follow Him, but are afraid to because of His enemies. At the same time, they reveal God's mercy to the contrite and express the feelings with which the persecuted just-man turns to God for help and vindication. On Friday, the martyrdom of those who suffer with, and for, Christ is highlighted in relation to St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr.

There are only two weeks of Lent left to us. Let us make good use of this remaining time to love Christ; not only with our feelings, but with our actions of prayer, penance, fasting and almsgiving. Let us set aside our own comfort in order to compassionate our Divine Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ.

There are few today who love Him. May we console Him in His Passion.

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Passiontide Begins

Torch of The Faith News on Sunday 22 March 2015 - 08:19:32 | by admin

During this last fortnight of Lent the preparation of catechumens and penitents ceases to occupy the principle interest of the traditional liturgy: the thoughts of the Church become concentrated on the Person of Our Lord and on the events leading to His trial and death. 

The statues and crosses in the churches are veiled, a special Preface is said, and the Collect against the persecutors of the Church or for the Pope is added each day. The Gospels during the next week show the growing hatred and enmity of the Sanhedrin towards Jesus.

The Traditional Latin Mass today is full of the thought of the Passion. The Introit is the cry of the Innocent One who is unjustly persecuted: in the Epistle, the redemption obtained by Christ's death is contrasted with the figures of the Old Law. The Gospel describes how Jesus calmly, but firmly, proclaimed His superhuman origin, power and life against the jeers and insults of the Jews.

Gradual. Psalm 142: Deliver me from mine enemies, O Lord: teach me to do Thy will. Ps.17: Thou art my deliverer, O Lord, from the angry nations: Thou wilt lift me up above them that rise up against me: from the unjust man Thou wilt deliver me.  

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