Posts

Good Shepherd Sunday (1962 Missal)

Image
By Fr. Scott Archer April 14, 2024 “The good Shepherd giveth His life for His sheep” (Jn. 10:11). 112 years ago today, the Titanic struck an iceberg in the north Atlantic. One passenger aboard that fateful ship, one which Pope St. Pius X would call a martyr for the Church, was Father Thomas Byles. He was raised in a Protestant family in Yorkshire, England. Like his brother William, he eventually converted to the Catholic faith. He attended the Beda College in Rome and was ordained to the priesthood on June 15, 1902. His trip to America on the Titanic was prompted by the upcoming wedding of his brother William, at which he was asked to officiate. William had moved to New York to run a rubber business and fallen in love with Katherine Russell of Brooklyn. He was able to make arrangements with Captain Smith to offer Mass for the passengers since he had brought a portable altar stone and all accessories. On Sunday morning, April 14, 1912, Father Byles offered what would be his last...
Read more

Cabrini

Image
Review by Fr. Scott Archer March 8, 2024 Cabrini is an amazing addition to Catholic filmography. In the capable hands of director Alejandro Monteverde, who cowrote the screenplay with Rod Barr, it takes us on the journey of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini from her convent in Lombardy, where she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to her first foundations in New York. It is the story of how she overcame opposition from both ecclesiastical and civic authorities to establish her empire of hope. The stunning cinematography by Gorka Gómez Andreu brings the viewer into 19 th century New York in a way few cinematographers have done. Every frame is a work of art, inviting the audience into the dismal world of Catholic Italian immigrants. The tragedy of their plight, as well as the work of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, is underscored with authentic set decoration by Stephanie Q. Bown. The brilliant original score by Gene Back adds emotion to the urgency of her mission, p...
Read more

Quinquagesima Sunday

Image
By Father Scott Archer February 11, 2024 “And they understood none of those things…” (Lk 18:24). On February 11, 1858, Bernadette Soubirous, the eldest child of François and Louise Soubirous of Lourdes, France, was sent to gather firewood with her sister Toinette and their friend, Jean Abadie. Toinette and Jean had crossed the canal in front of the grotto of Massabielle, which connects to the river Gave, while Bernadette started removing her shoes and stockings to do the same. It was then that she heard a blast like a gust of wind. She looked toward the Gave and noticed the poplar trees were quite still. Hearing the sound again, she looked up to a dark niche in the grotto, where a light suddenly emanated and, in the light, stood a beautiful young Lady in a white dress, the bottom of which covered most of her bare feet, save for the tips, which were adorned with gold roses. She wore a long white veil, a blue sash was about her waist, and she held a rosary. The Lady smiled in welcome. Th...
Read more

3rd Sunday after Epiphany

Image
By Father Scott Archer January 22, 2023 “Be not overcome by evil” (Rom. 12:21). Christ came to our world that we might not be overcome by evil but freed from our slavery to sin. By His Cross He destroyed the power the devil, the flesh, and the world have over us because sanctifying grace makes us holy and pleasing to God. Of the many evils we face in the world, perhaps the gravest is the unjust killing of the most innocent; that is, the unborn. Many speak of the rights of individuals or groups of people; however, if we are to have any genuine rights at all, the fundamental human right to life must be upheld by society. The life of infants in the womb is central to an authentic respect for human dignity because these innocents have no voice but those who seek to protect them. Those advocating the opposite position will raise objections and argue about when life begins, the circumstances of conception, and the life of the mother. First, science is quite clear when life begins. A ne...
Read more

22nd Sunday after Pentecost

Image
By Father Scott Archer November 6, 2022 “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mt. 22:21). Father John Hunwicke recently wrote about the spirit of the age and the attempt to to set up a rival to Christ the King. One of the greatest threats to our living as authentic Christians is the temptation to conform to the spirit of the age, the spirit of the world, and it has deceived many Christians into thinking life would be better and the world more accepting of them if they compromised with sin. This has been a temptation since the very beginning. Christians were once required to worship the Roman emperor as a god and to offer a pinch of incense before his image. If they did so, they would live, if not, they would be killed. How easy it seemed, and many compromised. St. Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, did not. He said, “Eighty and six years I have served Him and He has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King and Sa...
Read more

9th Sunday after Pentecost

Image
By Father Scott Archer August 7, 2022 "Let no temptation take hold on you” (1 Cor. 10:13). Faith in God and the truths of our Catholic religion are the foundation of a life of virtue. Without relying on God, man increasingly depends on himself, which is the surest path to spiritual ruin. In J.K. Rowling’s novel, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire , one of the professors tells the students they need to know of the dangers in the world and the evil which awaits them outside the walls of the school so they will be prepared. “Constant vigilance!” he exhorts them. The same is true for our spiritual lives. If we realize the dangers posed by the world, the devil, and the flesh, we will defend ourselves with reliance on faith and the grace of God to make acts of the will for the good of our souls and guard against anything which poses a threat to eternal salvation. An example of an individual who is not assiduous is one who is confident in their own ability to avoid sin based on ...
Read more

Sister Mary Aquinas Freehill, V.H.M.

Image
Pictured (left to right): Sr. M. Loretto, Sr. M. Aquinas, and Mother M. Pauline. By Father Scott Archer May 12, 2022 Eulalia Rose Freehill was born in Strawn, Illinois on March 7, 1906, the daughter of James Francis Freehill and Mary Ryan. She was Baptized by Father James Francis at the rectory of St. John the Baptist Parish in Fairbury, Illinois on March 10, 1906. Her sponsors were Austin and Mary McGreal. She received her first Communion at St. Rose in Strawn, 1913, and was Confirmed at St. Rose on September 23, 1917, by Bishop Edmund Dunne, Bishop of Peoria. Eulalia spent her youth on the family farm in Strawn with her parents, brothers, and sisters. She brought many happy memories with her when she journeyed off to attend the boarding school run by the Visitation nuns in Rock Island, Illinois. While still a high school junior at the monastery school, she entered the postulancy of the Congregation of the Visitation of Holy Mary at the Villa de Chantal in Rock Island on June 8, 1...
Read more