Faith of the Fathers

Monday, October 15, 2012

The following excerpts are from National Catholic Register:

WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia looks around the packed room in the Catholic Information Center (CIC) as if to estimate its temper.
He begins his address quoting a Frenchman: “‘France is a country …’” A faint anticipatory chuckle ripples over the crowd, spilling out into the doorway where the late-comers stand.
The justice corrects himself and adopts the appropriate accent. “‘Frahhhnce eez a cohhntry with two religions and three hondred cheeses. The United States eez a country with three hondred religions and two cheeses.’” He pauses for a moment and resumes his native inflection. “I always have trouble remembering the second cheese.”
The crowd laughs — neither for the first nor for the last time that evening.
Justice Scalia knows how to amuse his audience, even from behind the intimidating height of the Supreme Court bench. The atmosphere at the CIC on a Wednesday night in October is more relaxed and intimate than that of the court (despite the wire-eared security terriers present for Scalia’s protection), but the subject is as serious as any the court rules on: the separation of church and state.

O Most Holy Virgin Mary,

Queen of the most holy Rosary,

you were pleased to appear to the children of Fatima

and reveal a glorious message.

We implore you,

inspire in our hearts a fervent love

for the recitation of the Rosary.

By meditating on the mysteries of the redemption

that are recalled therein

may we obtain the graces and virtues that we ask,

through the merits of Jesus Christ,

our Lord and Redeemer.

Amen

The following excerpt is from ACLJ:

The Iranian lawyer who successfully represented Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani in court, leading to his eventual release and acquittal of apostasy, has been detained and ordered to serve a lengthy prison sentence in one of Iran’s most dangerous prisons.

The following excerpts are from The National Catholic Register, the article is written by my good friend Father Juan R. Vélez:

On Oct. 11, the Church begins the Year of Faith called for by Pope Benedict XVI to encourage the faithful to seek spiritual renewal and a deeper understanding of the Catholic faith in response to the grave crisis of faith in the contemporary world.
One tried-and-true way to learn more about our faith and progress with spiritual renewal is to read the lives of the saints, teachers of the faith who, through their example and word, nourished both their contemporaries and Christians of future generations.
Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890), an Anglican convert to Catholicism and later a cardinal, is one of the great modern teachers of the faith. Through a diligent study of the Scriptures and the Fathers of the Church, Cardinal Newman pursued the truth wherever it led him. His intellectual honesty and courage led him to give up the prestige he enjoyed at Oxford University in order to convert to the Roman Catholic Church in 1845.

Read more by clicking below:
Blessed John Henry Newman, a Great Teacher of the Faith | Daily News | NCRegister.com

Opus Dei Father Juan Vélez is the author of Passion for Truth, the Life of John Henry Newman (TAN/St. Benedict’s 2012).

Formerly a board-certified internist, Father Vélez writes from San Francisco.