Reflections on Faith, Feasts, and Film

By Father Scott Archer, 1999 Uploaded to this blog on April 14, 2020 The  Titanic  has become a part of the collective consciousness of America and has been the subject of numerous books, movies, and even a hit Broadway musical. If the story of the  Titanic  had happened in former times it might have been the subject of Greek mythology, the story of man attempting to defy the gods and Poseidon lifting this great Leviathan out of the sea, breaking it in two, and plunging it and its' passengers to the ocean's floor. The sinking of the  Titanic  is not myth, however, but the tragic story of how over 1500 people lost their lives on a ship everyone believed to be unsinkable. This article concerns just one passenger aboard the  Titanic  on that fateful voyage; one which Saint Pius X would call a martyr for the Church. His name was Father Thomas Byles. Father Byles was born at Headingley, Leeds, Yorkshire on February 26, 1870, the eldest of ...

By Father Scott Archer April 12, 2020 “He is risen” (Mark 16:6 Douay-Rheims Version). On this day of joy and hope, which saw Christ rise from the dead, many of the faithful are filled with grief and despair. As the world shakes under the weight of a pandemic, a pandemic which has led even to the faithful being denied participation in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and catechumens the sacraments, Easter reminds us of the One who suffered and died to restore the relationship between God and man. Christ’s bodily resurrection gives hope to those even in the most grievous torments. We are never entirely free from suffering in this world; however, if we unite ourselves spiritually with Our Lady, we see that joy follows sorrow. The sufferings of Mary at the foot of the cross were real and agonizing as she gazed upon what men had done to her Son. It was an agony we cannot imagine, and this transpiercing of her soul—what Simeon at the Presentation had described as a sword that w...