To Help Make A Movie, Part Deux!

Ian Higgins writes,

Hi Frank,

I just wanted to personally thank you and all your readers who have so kindly donated and shown their support for our movie “All That Remains”. It has been overwhelming to witness such support in such a short space of time.

Because I Asked, I Prayed, And You Helped This Pro-Life Cause

Dr. Nagai and his children praying. 

Thank you YIMCatholic Readers! On the last day of this past August, I shared a post about helping to make the movie All That Remains. When completed, it will be a docu-drama about the life of Dr. Takashi Nagai, survivor of the aftermath of the atomic bombing of the city of Nagasaki. I called it "rattling the tin cup" for a good cause, and I shared the post with you all. I threw a few shekels in myself and prayed that others would respond too.

Because the Church is Paradoxically Intolerant and Tolerant

This isn't the first post I've written on paradoxes of the Catholic faith, nor will it be the last. Remember the one on the Church being paradoxically consistent (and vice versa)? Or how about the one on the "Master of Paradoxes," St. John of the Cross? Like a bull through a china shop, I've again let the cat out of the bag with a title that says everything that I'm about to share with you on the modern "virtue" of tolerance.

Welcome to the Ever Persecuted Church!

Of the many reasons that my (former) partners and I have written of answering the title of this blog, this is one that I've never mentioned but I do so now. Persecution. You would have to have your head solidly buried in the sand to miss the fact that of all the great religions the world over, only Christianity, and her members, is constantly bashed, battered, and attacked.

To Pray for the Christians in the Middle East-UPDATED

Thanks to having low friends in high places, I can share this with you. You used to have to be an operative of the CIA, or MI-5, to be able to pull up stuff like this on your computer screen. Nowadays, you can do so from your investment house's Bloomberg machines. By doing so, you can even pretend that having this kind of knowledge at your finger tips will give you an investing edge. It won't, but that is another story.

For the Faith and Courage of St. Justin Martyr

It's the first day of a new month on the calendar. Summer breezes are blowing, and the grass is green. In my neck of the woods, school is out and the pools are open. Some folks have already made trips to the beach to enjoy the sun and the sand. You know, to get away from it all.

Juxtaposed against the fantasy of a relaxing vacation to the sound track of the rolling surf, I present you with the trial of the Samaritan named Justin Martyr. What you are about to read took place in the year 165 AD. Let me do a little math in my head, hmm. Yes, about 132 years after Christ died.

To Invest for the Long Run (Can You Say, Eternity?)

There was a brutal bear market in the Spring of the year 33 AD. Not in wheat or lamb futures, nor in cloth, or precious metals. This was a bear market of the human soul, and it was experienced acutely by the Disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Graphically, it looked a lot like what Sir Isaac Newton experienced in the great South Sea Bubble.

To Pray for the Martyrs of Korea

Today while I was having my nails done, I struck up a conversation with the shop owner, who was sitting beside me. Another customer and I commented on the beautifully ornate palm weaving that hung from the shop wall; turns out a Catholic customer from the Dominican Republic had given it to her after Palm Sunday. Then, as the conversation proceeded, I discovered the Korean-born shop owner is Catholic and that she and I are parishioners at the same church. She prefers the 8 a.m. Sunday Mass, while my family tends to go at 11 a.m.

Because Christ Sacrificed Himself So That We May Live

-Feast of St. Alphege 

Here we are on Tuesday of what we call Holy Week. During this week, way back in the year 33 AD, the forces of human justice, lobbied aggressively by the interested parties of the Pharisees and Sadducees, convinced the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate, to sentence Jesus to death on a cross. And though the whole mess was a tragic setup, it was all done officially and lawfully.

To Pray a Litany for Japan

I was moved this morning at my home parish when we all raised our voices at the end of Mass to pray this Litany for Japan.

Our Lady of Akita, pray for them

For All the Saints: Perpetua and Felicitas

I ended my last post by saying I would take a break from blogging until Ash Wednesday. And so I will, but not until I post this for todays' Feast of Sts. Perpetua and Felicitas.

So just consider this a transmission, via antenna, from periscope depth while still cruising submerged. The account below is related by Doctor of the Church St. Alfonso Maria de' Liguori, from his book, Victories of the Martyrs.

For Lessons on Lying from "The Catechism Made Easy" (with a Little Help from the Rolling Stones)

The subject of "lying for Jesus," as Mark Shea puts it, has been rolling through the Catholic blog-o-sphere in light of the tactics used by the Pro-Life group Live Action. 

I even posted a little piece comparing many of the commentators to characters from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. I dubbed Mark Shea as "Faramir" because that character said, "I would not snare even an orc with a falsehood." Mark states his case based on what the Catechism says about lying.

For All the Saints: Joseph of Leonissa

Today is the feast day of St. Joseph of Leonissa (Feb. 4, 1612). He was from a small town in Italy that, at the time, lay within the borders of the Papal States. At the age of seventeen, he became a Capuchin friar. I hadn't planned on posting on this saintly fellow, but I found something that I believe I am supposed to share with you. I can't explain it really, I just feel drawn to share an account that involves Joseph.

But first, a little background. He is best known for heading to Constantinople to minister to the Christian galley slaves of the Sultan there. He didn't do that on a lark, either. He studied the Turks, and Islam, before heading on this mission.

For His Majesty's Secret Service: Henry Morse, SJ

—Feast of St. Henry Morse, SJ 

Last October, I wrote of the martyrs of Douai College. The graduates of that institution were sent on one way missions to minister to the faithful of England, where Catholicism had been outlawed. The tip for that story came to me from the good folks over at Universalis, where I go to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. And that is where I bumped into the fascinating story of a Jesuit martyr named Henry Morse.

Thanks to Hundreds of Thousands Who Answered the Cries of the Christians in Iraq

Call it the email read 'round the world.

In November, a friend of a friend, Maria Teresa Landi, came up with an extraordinary idea: she e-mailed her friends, proposing they send letters of encouragement to the Christians of Iraq, who are being tortured and persecuted and murdered for their faith. Tere, who is active in the Communion and Liberation movement, asked that her idea be distributed as widely as possible. We posted her proposal, which was picked up by our blogging friends, such as the Anchoress and Father Robert Barron and many, many others. 

For Poems Like This For Childermas

-Feast of the Holy Innocents 

Have you ever heard of Emily Hickey? Me either, at least not until just now. Born in 1845, she is a child of the Emerald Isle, an Irish lass born in 1845 into a family fathered by a Protestant Minister of the Church of Ireland.

But somehow she decided to swim the Tiber and she was received into the Catholic Church in 1901. Prior to doing so, her literary talents were well known in her day, her poems being published in literary journals and such.

For All The Saints: Clement I

Feast of Pope St. Clement I

Today is the feast day of the third (or fourth?) pope of The Church. Clement left one of the first patristric writings when he wrote letters from his office in Rome to the church in Corinth. But what else is known about him?

The first source I saw, from the good folks over at Universalis, said that nothing certain is known of his life. Looking for a little bit more than the terse paragraph they had on him, I turned to the handy YIMCatholic Bookshelf.

To Pray the Rosary for Persecuted Christians in Iraq

Join Catholics worldwide on Tuesday, Nov. 23 as we pray the Rosary for the persecuted Christians in Iraq. This is yet another effort to strengthen our Iraqi brothers and sisters in Christ. My friend Dan told me about this proposal and referred me to a website promoting it.

How fitting these prayers will happen Tuesday, when we pray the Sorrowful Mysteries. Christians have been praying the Rosary for 800 years. They are powerful prayers.

To Send Supplies to the Christians in Iraq

Sending letters to the Nuncio was a great idea to let our embattled brothers and sisters in Iraq know we care. And with a little help from our friends (like the Anchoress and Father Robert Barron and many other bloggers—thanks!), the letter post  "read 'round the world" was shared by 384 people on Facebook and resulted in 2400+ people reading the post. We're not sure how many e-mails the Nuncio received, but we will let you know what we find out.

But many asked us about how to send relief in the form of food and supplies. Sending donations that can be turned into food, clothing, and shelter is an idea that many of us would like to put into action now.

For Thoughts Like These On Martyrdom By Archbishop Sheen

—Feast of the Dedication of the Basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul

Martyrdom has been on our minds here at YIMCatholic lately. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen once wrote that "death is the affirmation of the purpose of life in an otherwise meaningless existence."

Our Lord led by example, was killed, and buried, by the well meaning and peace-keeping Proconsul named Pilate.