In your charity, please pray for the repose of the soul of:

+ Maria Duff +

(Click card to enlarge)
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Restoration Radio: “Marriage Equality,” Rights and God’s Law

You may have seen the ads on TV or on the internet for the new “marriage equality” movement. What does this movement stand for? Has marriage been “unequal” in our society up to this point? What about the language of rights? Is marriage a “civil right”? What does that mean? How are these issues related to contraception?

His Excellency, Bishop Donald Sanborn, of Most Holy Trinity Seminary, and Fr. Anthony Cekada of St. Gertrude the Great Catholic Church tackle these thorny issues.

Listen here.
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This school year we will be publishing daily sermons from the previous week:

May 10, 2013: St. Antoninus by Bp. Dolan
May 13, 2013: St. John the Silent by Fr. Lehtoranta
May 15, 2013: St. John Baptist de la Salle by Bp. Dolan
May 16, 2013: Confirmands’ Day of Recollection by Bp. Dolan
May 17, 2013: St. Pascal Baylon by Bp. Dolan
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✠ The Bishop’s Corner ✠
Liturgically, Easter’s sunrise has given way to Pentecost’s high noon, and we are meant to bask today in the full sun of the Holy Ghost. The rays of God’s love warm us and cheer us, making our little souls to sprout and grow and produce fruit in God’s good time by the indwelling of His own Spirit in our souls.

This Pentecost Week is the start of the soul’s summer. But that does not mean “kick back and take it easy.” It means growth and progress, the gardener’s hard work, the farmer’s long hours in the field, all in view of an abundant harvest.

Thus we have fasting days again this week, the Summer Ember Days. Soon Corpus Christi calls us to adoration and procession and the innocent joy of First Communion. The fire of God’s love comes again to enkindle our souls for the Sacred Heart and the month of June, which will end in the bonfire of St. John’s night, and the blazing red of Saints Peter and Paul. This is how a Christian lives, a true child of Holy Mother Church, fueled always by the fire of the Holy Ghost.

Mothers Day weekend took us back to Winter, didn’t it? Saturday was wet and cold, a sad overcast day for the dying of a dear child, Maria Duff. But after her soul passed to God, the sun peeked out tentatively, and all was well.

Our church was full for Maria’s funeral on Tuesday, a perfect Spring day. Fr. Thielen, her faithful confessor, celebrated the Mass, and her father and sister sang a part of it, alternating between themselves a very moving Dies Irae. The school children sang the rest of the Requiem, and Maria’s favorite hymn, “Bring Flowers of the Fairest.” A most memorable funeral.

We had hoped to do our May Crowning at our newest shrine in honor of Our Lady of Fatima. We dedicated it on All Saints Day in memory of Ernie Nellenbach, and it stands out beautifully in the field. However, the grass was still too wet to walk over. Eldon explained to me that there is only a little soil to drain the water, and then there is rock. We’ll try to build up the soil a little bit each year in the fall.

Our Lady of Lourdes received the honors instead, at a beautiful and colorful shrine set up in our new cloister garden. Everyone could be near enough to see the touching moment of the crowning. All day long it continued cool, but we were cheered by the sun, even though the winds came up by late morning.

I hope you all had a wonderful Mothers Day. We had a nice visit over the weekend with the Sisters of Our Lady of Reparation, who drove over from south central Illinois. What a grand and necessary work is reparation. We try to do a little, what with our Immaculate Heart of Mary and Sacred Heart devotions, and the monthly Adoration, but how wonderful to dedicate one’s life to this so needed cause of repairing: repairing the damage done to God’s glory and man’s good, by sin.

One of our cherished ways of offering reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and thus of obtaining peace for our weary world (Our Lady Herself makes the connection) is the Fatima Rosary Procession for Peace. Our first procession slowly wound its way along Union Centre Blvd., past the traffic and the geese and their droppings, and the fast food restaurants, praying earnestly for peace. Fr. Lehtoranta led the Rosary, and many of you attended, some coming right from Maria Duff ’s wake. God reward you!

Fr. Lehtoranta will be visiting the Sisters today, after he offers morning Mass in Milwaukee. Fr. McKenna is with us after his missionary travels last weekend, doubtless now resuming his wild animal watch. Maybe he’ll spot a cougar or a panther from his porch. He also plays with the children at recess, and they really miss him when he is gone. Bishop Sanborn and Fr. Cekada did another Restoration Radio show last Tuesday. Tune in. You’ll learn something. Fr. Cekada came back early from Florida for a special Pentecost choir practice. Such beautiful music!

Last Thursday the Confirmation children spent the day with me, preparing for this sacrament, and for the Blessed Sacrament. Now these little tots (and some late recruits) are full-fledged Soldiers of Christ, ready for the attacks their innocence will soon undergo, well armed with the Spirit.

How blessed we are to have Confirmation solemnly administered each year, and always available. How sad for those Catholics who never have it or must make their own arrangements to receive it, traveling to another state or even very far away. Some simply never receive Confirmation. It’s like dropping one of the seven sacraments. How much we and our children need the Holy Ghost! May He truly renew the face of our earth by His coming, making us grateful, and others thoughtful, considering how they might easily procure these same benefits for themselves and their children.

The family aspect of this past week at St. Gertrude the Great was very touching. How many of you went out of your way to help “bury the dead,” a corporal work of mercy, for little Maria Duff. The same was true yesterday, when so many came, as at Holy Week itself, to serve and sing and provide a meal for the great Pentecost Vigil, and the Confirmation of our dear children. It is as if they are your own. This spirit of persevering and forgiving charity, the family spirit, is poured into our hearts by the Holy Ghost, the very Love of God.

May He bless you, and make you burn with love of God and family and neighbor.

–Bishop Dolan

+ Maria Duff +

(Click card to enlarge)

+ Patrick Henry Omlor +

Mr. Omlor was one of the first Catholics to sound the alarm about the consequences of Vatican II, so it was fitting that he died on the Feast of St. Athanasius.

His March 1968 work Questioning the Validity of Masses Using the New, All-English Canon alerted countless Catholics throughout the English-speaking world to the dangers of the liturgical changes, even before the appearance of the Novus Ordo Missae in 1969. The book rightly became a “traditionalist classic.”

Mr. Omlor campaigned tirelessly against the counterfeit translation of “pro multis” as “for all” in the consecration formula, prompting a controversy that Bugnini himself finally had to deal with.

Forty years later, however, the modernist fraud was implicitly acknowledged when the Vatican itself decreed that “pro multis” must henceforth be translated as “for many.” And thus, even by what he rightly called “The Robber Church,” was Patrick Henry Omlor vindicated at last.

May this great defender of the Catholic faith rest in peace!
— Father Anthony Cekada
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Listen to our choir sing Anima Christi during the offertory of last week’s Mass.

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Restoration Radio: The Scapular

Bishop Dolan talks about a widely-used sacramental: the Scapular(s). His Excellency talks about the different scapulars, their histories, and how we can make this a part of our Catholic lives. Listen here.
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This school year we will be publishing daily sermons from the previous week:

May 6, 2013: St. John Before the Latin Gate by Fr. Lehtoranta
May 7, 2013: St. Stanislaus by Bp. Dolan
May 8, 2013: Apparition of St. Michael by Bp. Dolan
May 9, 2013: Stay Low – Jump High (Ascension Thursday by Bp. Dolan
May 10, 2013: St. Antoninus by Bp. Dolan
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✠ The Bishop’s Corner ✠
Today, regardless of weather (our Spring continues cool and wet, with the odd hot humidity thrown in) is one of the most beautiful days of the year. We honor our mothers, both earthly and divine, remember how much they do, and have done for us, and at such a price. What beauty is theirs. Happy Mothers Day!

How happy are we to process today led by our young children, singing the dear old hymns, and to crown our Blessed Mother with the unfading flowers of true devotion. The innocence of the First Communion children touches us and inspires us. It is such an innocence we would regain this year in our practice of the Little Way. Lay this petition with all of your other prayers sincerely at Mother Mary’s feet, and surely she will answer you.

Our church life these days is one petition after another, a veritable litany of them, resounding at Heaven’s door with last week’s Litany of the Saints, and May’s daily Litany of Our Lady. The Holy Ghost both inspires and answers these humble, confident, repeated prayers, especially as we invoke Him with the Veni Creator during His Novena.

Thank you for adopting a priest or two, remembering them in your daily prayers. Please keep all of our priests, in their missionary and teaching travels, in your good prayers. Today Fr. Cekada leaves early for his penultimate seminary week, retuning a little early too for rehearsal for the Pentecost music. Our devoted choir is working very hard for Pentecost and Corpus Christi.

Fr. McGuire is all the way over in Chadwick, Illinois for a wedding and Sunday Mass at our Sts. Joseph and Chad Mission, also known as the “National Shrine.” Fr. McKenna is seeing to Milwaukee, and then the growing young St. Theresa Mission in North Dakota, which now counts 16 souls, counting children (because of course they count!). We’re praying again for a successful trip and no flooding to impede Father’s progress.

I’m looking forward to meeting with our Confirmation/First Communion children on Thursday, for their little retreat day in preparation for Pentecost, and their spiritual “Vitamin Cs,” Confirmation and Holy Communion.

All of our First Communion children, of course, know their Ten Commandments by heart. There is a hilarious, but very sad, video on the Internet (it.gloria.tv/?media=210142) which shows that our children know more than Novus Ordo “priests.” A reporter, standing on the street outside the Vatican, asks eight or more passing priests to recite the Commandments, or one specific one by number. No one can! Not even somebody in a cassock. This comes of not insisting that children learn by heart their catechism, and no longer teaching the basics. Not even “priests” know their Commandments. Very sad. Our teachers and parents do a good job, which makes us very glad indeed.

A beautiful Pontifical Pentecost Vigil is shaping up, with Baptisms before Mass, and Confirmations after. Remember your fast and partial abstinence (dispensed, though, for those who make the sacrifice to assist at the Vigil ceremonies and Sacrifice of the Mass).

A rangy raccoon, rather too familiar with humans, has joined our animal menagerie. He shows up on the porch sometimes at mealtimes, bold as brass. At least he’s not a bobcat, growling in the dusk. Much to the school children’s delight, a ground hog has delivered her litter outside their classroom, over by the factory. They are charmed with these cute little future dahlia eaters, and are interceding for them with “Fr. Exterminator,” aka Fr. McKenna. The baby bunnies in the cloister lawn are still safe, unless Puccini takes to reading the Bishop’s Corner. It may, however, be too long for him as well, as he’s a cat on the go, with a full program this Spring. (Unfortunately, Puccini did indeed intercept this column as it was sent to the printer.—Editor)

We blessed St. Michael’s statue, standing on the cloister parapet, on his feast day. Now the great Archangel looks down upon us, and blesses us with the protection of his mighty sword. May our Lady, Queen of Angels, send him swiftly to our aid. May Our Lady of Fatima accept the two-fold homage of today’s crowning and tomorrow’s Rosary Procession, and grant us peace, as we give Her the unfading flowers of sincere prayer.

A blessed, happy and peaceful Mothers Day to you all today,

–Bishop Dolan

+ Patrick Henry Omlor +

Mr. Omlor was one of the first Catholics to sound the alarm about the consequences of Vatican II, so it was fitting that he died on the Feast of St. Athanasius.

His March 1968 work Questioning the Validity of Masses Using the New, All-English Canon alerted countless Catholics throughout the English-speaking world to the dangers of the liturgical changes, even before the appearance of the Novus Ordo Missae in 1969. The book rightly became a “traditionalist classic.”

Mr. Omlor campaigned tirelessly against the counterfeit translation of “pro multis” as “for all” in the consecration formula, prompting a controversy that Bugnini himself finally had to deal with.

Forty years later, however, the modernist fraud was implicitly acknowledged when the Vatican itself decreed that “pro multis” must henceforth be translated as “for many.” And thus, even by what he rightly called “The Robber Church,” was Patrick Henry Omlor vindicated at last.

May this great defender of the Catholic faith rest in peace!
— Father Anthony Cekada
_________________________

Listen to our choir sing Anima Christi during the offertory of today’s Mass.

_________________________

Restoration Radio: The Scapular

Bishop Dolan talks about a widely-used sacramental: the Scapular(s). His Excellency talks about the different scapulars, their histories, and how we can make this a part of our Catholic lives. Listen here.
_________________________

This school year we will be publishing daily sermons from the previous week:

Apr. 26, 2013: Our Lady of Good Counsel by Fr. Lehtoranta
Apr. 29, 2013: St. Peter Martyr by Fr. Lehtoranta
Apr. 30, 2013: St. Catherine of Siena by Fr. McKenna
May 1, 2013: Saints Philip & James by Bp. Dolan
May 3, 2013: The Finding of the Holy Cross by Bp. Dolan
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✠ The Bishop’s Corner ✠
Last Sunday afternoon was a study in contrasts, with short dark showers giving way to sun, and back again. At Vespers we sang about Our Lord leaving us already “and sadness filled our hearts.” Still we went on bravely to chant Alleluia again and again in the near-empty church, giving Our Lord the full tribute of His day.

Sadness filled my heart Sunday afternoon to see so many people leaving the 5:45 Mass early, seven all told who couldn’t wait. It wasn’t as though we were running late, but still it was not short enough for them. Perhaps they had someplace very important to be, more important than the House of that God with whom, presumably, they hope to pass eternity. Perhaps they were simply bored, and figured enough was enough. Five to eight minutes more, until the end, were just too much. They were mostly visitors, but even they should know better. Five minutes! How many five minutes we waste. What difference would it make to give God His due, and let man wait for five minutes? Well, a difference for eternity, where we will be asked about all of those wasted, or withheld, five minutes.

Fr. Cekada has produced another excellent little film on the New Mass, this time on Teilhard de Chardin and the Novus Ordo offertory, the one with Jewish table blessings. See it, send it on, buy the book. Be an apostle. This newest installment is Video No. 11 at: www.youtube.com/user/WorkofHumanHands.

Last week Spring finally sprang in some days of irresistible beauty, leading into Mary’s month of May. Dale and Eldon are doing the many garden beds. Any helpers out there? Connie and the grandchildren helped with getting the Grotto ready on Monday. Gino is installing 0caps for the cloister; St. Michael should be up for his feast, and the down spouts should be down soon after. Jim reports progress on the altar. We were going over our collection of wood carved symbols which will be gold leafed and incorporated into the new altarpiece.

Poor Puccini, cat emeritus, was bettered by a bunny the other day, done in by his desire for play. Puccini pranced into the garden on Monday afternoon with his prey, but then set it down, and proceeded to play with his new friend. With a squeal it escaped, and finally fled through the hole in the wall. Had the crafty cat simply set himself to the business of butchering the bunny, he would have eviscerated him in no time, but cats are not that way. Half the fun is the play. They won’t be rushed. They would give the extra five minutes.

The word must be out about the bunnies, as a bobcat came by at dusk. He was sighted by Fr. McKenna, who is our official wildlife spotter and all-round animal expert. Father was on watch for a skunk. (Don’t ask.) We were concerned for the cats, but Father assured us that these beasts favored bunnies. Still, Puccini was taking no chances, and willingly retired into the convento, as a cat emeritus should. It’s curious how many wild animals manage to thrive with us as neighbors. I’ll have to ask Fr. McKenna about it.

I close with a ferverino for the week. This is one of those prayer weeks which will enable us to make up for all of the “five minutes” of our wasted and misspent time, as well as to pray, just to pray, and to pray at a price for the priceless graces given free to those who come and stay. The Lesser Litanies are sung for the Rogation Days Monday through Wednesday at 11:00 AM. Masses are offered all day for the Holy Day on Thursday, Our Lord’s Ascension. The next day we begin our annual Pentecost Novena to the Holy Ghost for the Catholic Church. And next Sunday we’ll all meet for the May Crowning procession for Mother’s Day. Keep your processing shoes out for the next day. Monday the 13th of May marks the first of our annual Fatima Rosary Processions for peace. Let us pray.

I send a blessing your way, with every prayer for a blessed month of May, and for all of the fives we mark today.

I close in the marks He bears still for us in His glorified body at the Father’s right hand,
– Bishop Dolan

Melissa Kunkel.

Melissa was 41 and the mother of 13 children.

Please keep her, her husband Tom, and her children in your prayers.

Father Cekada
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Ordination to the Subdiaconate of Rev. Mr. Nkamuke Okechukwu by Bp. Sanborn
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This school year we will be publishing daily sermons from the previous week:

Apr. 18, 2013: St. Joseph by Fr. Hecquard
Apr. 19, 2013: Pope St. Leo the Ninth by Fr. Lehtoranta
Apr. 22, 2013: Saints Soter & Caius by Fr. Lehtoranta
Apr. 23, 2013: St. George by Bp. Dolan
Apr. 26, 2013: Our Lady of Good Counsel by Fr. Lehtoranta
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✠ The Bishop’s Corner ✠
Our quiet joyful April ends on Tuesday, with the great Catherine of Siena, and the Little Jesus, Doctor of the Sick. Already Easter, the feast of feasts, seems to recede, and May with its Marian devotions beckons to us. But first let us keep watch this Friday, First Friday, with our Risen Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, as we honor His glorious and Holy Cross, and dwell in His Sacred Heart.

Devotions, feasts and observances are many in May. Do keep them with us in church as you can, but don’t keep them just “for church.” Remember, each Catholic home is a little or family church, whose heart should be the family altar or shrine. The Sacred Heart should be enthroned here, and Mary reign as Queen here.

This should be especially obvious by means of the May Altar. Remember how St. Thérèse and her family lavishly and lovingly decorated theirs each day. How the fresh flowers and flickering candles invite us to pause and draw near and pray. It is Mary’s month of May.

Remember, too, the story of a non-practicing Catholic man who gave in to despair and cast himself off a bridge. His widow almost despaired for his soul, but was reassured by the Curé of Ars: “He is saved!” And why? Simply because he sometimes joined in the May devotions his wife prayed in front of the family altar. Our Lady obtained for him the grace of contrition before he died. Never despise the little, and you will see real good come of it. Little Flower, pray for us!

Protestants would not like this story, but it shows us the consoling truths of our Faith and inspires us to do the same. The Mother of God! We can never honor her enough. De Maria numquam satis. (Of Mary, there is never enough.) When we go with her, each virtue flourishes, and our many duties and devotions are duly and devoutly done. Religion sinks in and softens our hard hearts, steeling too our wills to accomplish God’s will in family and home, and Church and society.

Fr. Hecquard has returned home to France, where he hopes to dedicate himself to the blessed apostolate of preaching retreats. His will be based on the exercises of St. Gertrude. May our patroness bless and guide him.

Meanwhile, Fr. McGuire is making his mission rounds and praying “the creek don’t rise” so that he may visit the flood-prone faithful of Grand Forks, North Dakota. The rains here have been salutary so far, making the grounds green and the flowers to flourish.

We had a good pilgrimage to St. Joan of Arc Chapel in Milwaukee last weekend, with 38 in attendance. St. Joan teaches us to love our own, our native land, and that Our Lord blesses those who practice the piety of true patriotism, even as He punishes empire builders, scourging them with wars without end. May St. Joan of Arc be our model in our love for our own country. God has blessed our land with great beauty and wealth and power. Now, may God bless our beloved America by bringing her back to God.

The strength of a country is not economic nor military, but rather domestic, and founded on the family. Our country’s leaders, and all of the one-worlders in every land, are working with all of their might and main to destroy the family. Do your part to build it up, to strengthen it with family ties forged at the family altar with prayer. Start with your May altar this week, and daily Rosary right at the supper table.

May the Holy Ghost breathe anew the spirit of devotion for His Immaculate Spouse in our homes and hearts.
–Bishop Dolan

Melissa Kunkel.

Melissa was 41 and the mother of 13 children.

Please keep her, her husband Tom, and her children in your prayers.

Father Cekada
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Ordination to the Subdiaconate of Rev. Mr. Nkamuke Okechukwu by Bp. Sanborn
_________________________

This school year we will be publishing daily sermons from the previous week:

Apr. 15, 2013: Blessed Peter Gonzalez by Fr. Lehtoranta
Apr. 16, 2013: St. Benedict Joseph Labre by Bp. Dolan
Apr. 17, 2013: Solemnity of St. Joseph by Bp. Dolan
Apr. 18, 2013: St. Joseph by Fr. Hecquard
Apr. 19, 2013: Pope St. Leo the Ninth by Fr. Lehtoranta
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✠ The Bishop’s Corner ✠
It was cool and wet on Wednesday, the feast itself of St. Joseph’s Solemnity, with Solemn Mass sung by the still croaky-voiced Fr. Cekada, who has been sick with allergies since last weekend. Today he wings his way south to the seminary, and I hope he’s feeling much better.

Fr. Lehtoranta is celebrating the High Mass and preaching this morning. I am visiting St. Hugh of Lincoln in Milwaukee. We made a little pilgrimage yesterday to St. Joan of Arc chapel at Marquette University, as well as to visit a fine exhibit of Catholic art there, honoring Our Lady. We should do a museum visit here sometime with our young people, and our not so young. Our beautiful Catholic heritage surrounds us. We should celebrate it, and make it known, not just as art, but as the highest homage to God Who is beauty itself. We are created to praise and adore Him.

Fr. Guillaume Hecquard leaves us on Friday to return to his native France, and his active priestly apostolate, after a good stay with us here at St. Gertrude. Last Sunday he enjoyed a visit to Louisiana and the “other French” – the Cajuns, as he offered Mass at Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel. His English has improved, as has our French, “un peu.” The Abbé preached to the children here last Thursday.

Meanwhile, Fr. McKenna is taking Fr. Saavedra’s place for a week in Detroit, thus getting to know the Motor City and the fine faithful at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church in Fraser. Fr. Saavedra’s father is suffering from advanced prostate cancer, and needs the support of our prayers, as does the entire Saavedra family.

God bless captain Darlene and the devoted members of our Rosary Chain, who pray, sometimes daily, for the intentions of our church family. It is good to know that we have some place to go with our worries, petitions and needs. The Fathers remember them at the altar daily, and the faithful pray-ers in their Rosaries.

Our prayers certainly go these days to the Duff family, visited with so many and heavy crosses. Eileen’s father died last Sunday, and her brother has been diagnosed with cancer. John Weisman had a bad fall recently, but is still making it to Sunday Mass. Paulina was back after a long winter, also at the Sunday evening Mass. Let’s keep them, and all of our faithful faithful, faithfully in our prayers. This is one of the most important aspects of our church family life, and something we all can do.

The season of processions opens Thursday, with the Greater Litanies, just after the close of St. Joseph’s Octave. Friday is the feast itself of Our Mother of Good Counsel, who always provides for our needs. Saturday we must not forget Ohio’s own miracle-working Madonna, Our Lady of Consolation, whose little statue is on the Blessed Mother side of the sanctuary. Why not make it a Triduum of prayer for all of our family intentions and needs?

God bless our church family, and yours.
–Bishop Dolan

Melissa Kunkel.

Melissa was 41 and the mother of 13 children.

Please keep her, her husband Tom, and her children in your prayers.

Father Cekada
_________________________
Ordination to the Subdiaconate of Rev. Mr. Nkamuke Okechukwu by Bp. Sanborn
_________________________

This school year we will be publishing daily sermons from the previous week:

Apr. 8, 2013: Accepting God’s Will by Fr. McKenna
Apr. 9, 2013: Angels by Bp. Dolan
Apr. 10, 2013: Angels, Saints & Pirates by Bp. Dolan
Apr. 11, 2013: St. Leo the Great by Bp. Dolan
Apr. 12, 2013: The Holy Cross by Bp. Dolan
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✠ The Bishop’s Corner ✠
Inside church this past week, we were wreathed with lilies, Easter Alleluias ringing in our ears. Thus we sung a Solemn High Mass for Lady Day, the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. A few hours of precious Eucharistic Adoration followed, our school and our priests taking turns before the monstrance. Vespers, the daily closing thanksgiving prayer, concluded our “miniday”, the children chanting the Psalms of David alternately with the clergy, the children the beautiful Ave Maris Stella.

Our mini First Friday also featured two hours of adoration. One member of the Guard of Honor took his post at the kneeler, representing all. Attendance for both Masses and Exposition was not bad, considering that Lent is past, and Spring is pressing itself upon us, drawing us away from weekday Masses.

Balmy winds have blown in the full bloom of Spring in West Chester. The rapidly greening grass is dotted with jubilant yellow from forsythia and daffodil, narcissus and “lions’ teeth” (dandelions). My weeping cherry tree is a magnificent bride’s corsage of white, but only for a little while.

Robins and rabbits rule the roost, warily watched by the cat Caravaggio, eternally biding his time. Coyotes are heard no more, though deer still draw near at dawn or dusk to eat something they shouldn’t. The one remaining groundhog keeps a prudent distance for now.

†Melissa Kunkel died suddenly on First Friday, leaving her husband Tom and a dozen children. Her wake was so sad a gathering as we prayed and offered our condolences to the bereaved family. Please do keep the deceased and her family in your prayers. May God protect and provide for them.

Still, these funerals do provide the occasion to see old friends (and enemies!) and to exchange a friendly word of greeting, under the truce flag of mourning: dear souls who just the other year, or long ago, left us, children now grown up with children of their own. Most seem to have kept the faith, Deo Gratias! May we one day meet under happier circumstances. Meanwhile, a smile, a kind word, a sincere prayer; these mean so much. “God be with you till we meet again.”

Today we honor the Good Shepherd, and pray fervently for lost sheep. Every “leaving” takes a toll in hidden lost souls. Wednesday’s Solemn Mass goes to good St. Joseph, Patron of the Catholic Church. Next Sunday we will all keep his solemnity. We are not alone; Jesus and Joseph are looking out for us. Let us look to them with Mary for every grace we need, and the finding of our dear lost souls.

All morning, as if on cue, a robin has been singing outside my window, accompanying my prayers and writing. Speaking of cues and writing, it is probably time I end this. Fr. Cekada dryly remarked the other day upon the expansion of my Bishop’s Corner, suggesting I provide an Executive Summary at the top.

Well, it is true that the Bishop’s Corner has become the Pontifical Page, but it seems good to stay in touch this way. Thank you for your feedback. I am happy that many read not only this page but the prayers and poetry and meditations as well.

See you Wednesday to honor St. Joseph. The Good Shepherd keep you for one of His own.

–Bishop Dolan

Melissa Kunkel.

Melissa was 41 and the mother of 13 children.

Please keep her, her husband Tom, and her children in your prayers.

Father Cekada
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Our altar as it appeared after Easter Sunday Mass
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This school year we will be publishing daily sermons from the previous week:

Mar. 29, 2013: Darkness (Good Friday) by Bp. Dolan
Mar. 30, 2013: Be Bold! (Easter Vigil) by Bp. Dolan
Apr. 1, 2013: Easter Monday by Bp. Dolan
Apr. 2, 2013: Easter Tuesday by Bp. Dolan
Apr. 5, 2013: Easter Friday by Bp. Dolan
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✠ The Bishop’s Corner ✠
Holy Saturday, fittingly enough, was our first beautiful Spring day. The Sunday’s cold, dark rain gave way to warm Easter sun by Vesper time, and this past week has seen a succession of bright cool days, suffused with Paschal sun and full of holy joy. How delightful it is to return to the lily-decked church, full of light, to sing Christ’s triumph these quiet days of Eastertide.

I pray the fruits of your Lent and Easter are filling the basket of your soul with delights. May God reward your fidelity and goodness. So many did so much! Holy Week is always such a touching time. God bless you all. How could I ever thank you, or we thank Our Lord?

Our Holy Week attendance was a little bit lighter than usual, with the exception of Maundy Thursday. The adoration at the Sepulchre was faithful, and so many faithful, and children, attended the moving Mandatum, or foot washing. (No girls or Moslems, sorry! Just thirteen “poor men” and boys.)

Our Tenebrae this year was especially beautifully sung, with the Lamentations, Responsories, and the return of Allegri’s Miserere. I was happy to see newcomers and families being introduced to its sublime beauties.

The five hours of the very solemn, long watch of the Easter Vigil, which included a baptism, always seem to pass so quickly, don’t they? Before you know it the bells ring, the lights come on, and Christ is risen! Alleluia!

Our meals all went well. The Fathers and Holy Week helpers were well and healthily fed each evening by Becky Uhlenbrock, and Jim and Marge Soli hosted a very generous Easter Buffet on Holy Saturday. Marlys fixed us a fine Easter dinner to mark the occasion.

This year Fr. Lehtoranta volunteered to do some of the fancy singing, and Fr. Cekada remarked on how well balanced were the voices for Good Friday’s Passion, with Fr. Hecquard doing the high part, Synagogue, himself the middle Chronista, and Fr. Lehtoranta the low Christus. The choir did a good strong “mob scene,” adding to the intrinsic drama of St. John’s Passion.

The choir’s repertory for Easter Sunday, very well executed, spanned the ages and was nicely balanced. We’re enjoying the “leftovers” today for Low Sunday’s High Mass.

It was good to see so many visitors and relatives swelling the attendance on Easter. Today, it’s “just family,” and that’s ok too. Low Sunday. May St. Gertrude continue to grow, and grow strong.

Did you see our new church sign on Easter Sunday? This should increase visibility significantly. We thank the Kamphaus family who donated it in memory of Tom Kamphaus.

Bishop Sanborn reports an excellent Holy Week in his new church at the seminary in Florida. This is a wonderful, and very important experience for our seminarians who will one day be our priests. The same may be said for the enthusiastic participation of our children in Holy Week. They are our future Catholic faithful and families – and maybe vocations? They will never forget the proud memories of their participation in these great, but demanding days. They are so young, but so well trained.

Fr. McKenna is back from a very good Holy Week in Milwaukee. On Monday of Holy Week he drove 14 hours (part of it through heavy Illinois snow) to bring Holy Mass to our devout young congregation at St. Teresa Mission in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

This afternoon’s Vespers open the great feast of the Annunciation, transferred from Holy Week. Precious extra hours of Adoration “bookend” our weekend, from First Friday to Annunciation Monday. Come pray for life, and all of our needs. Come to thank God and the Mother of God for the gift of life, eternal life, which began with her humble “fiat” on Annunciation Day so long ago.

Low Sunday. High spirits. Great joy. Thank God, and thank you,
–Bishop Dolan

This school year we will be publishing daily sermons from the previous week:

Mar. 26, 2013: Tuesday in Holy Week by Bp. Dolan
Mar. 28, 2013: Maundy Thursday Mass by Bp. Dolan
Mar. 28, 2013: Washing Each Others Souls (Maundy) by Bp. Dolan
Mar. 29, 2013: Darkness (Good Friday) by Bp. Dolan
Mar. 30, 2013: Be Bold! (Easter Vigil) by Bp. Dolan
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✠ The Bishop’s Corner ✠
Monday, March 25th, we woke up to snow, fitting perhaps for the actual day of the Incarnation, although the celebration of the Annunciation is transferred to April 8th this year. The veil of white anticipated the Easter white we wear today: joy, sincere spiritual joy, in the Resurrection of Our Lord, and in the realization that “adhuc tecum sum” as we sing in the Introit, “I arose and am still with you, Alleluia!”

I am writing these lines on a snowy Monday in Holy Week, remembering with gratitude yesterday’s fine Palm Sunday. Despite the snow, Michael the Donkey attended, and led us all in a meek and humble, yet triumphant procession. We all got cold until the gates of Heaven (the church doors) were opened by the power of the Holy Cross. Thanks, Marlys, for the beautiful palm arrangements. Thanks to our fine servers and singers and the “behind the scene” helpers who are working as I write this. Oh, great thanks to the Infant of Prague and St. Scholastica, as well as Our Lady and St. Thérèse for holding off the snow until after the procession. They say the last ones in felt the first flakes of snow.

Katie told me to pray to my mother for the same intention, so I did. This snowy March 25th is the fourth anniversary of her death, and the 22nd anniversary of the death of Archbishop Lefebvre, who was like a father in so many ways, and so edifying in his personal sanctity. He died on the Monday in Holy Week, March 25, 1991. May they rest in peace!

May you, devout churchgoers and devoted church workers, enjoy some rest as well these Easter Octave Days. But do come back, please, for Monday and Tuesday, great feasts, as well as for First Friday and our “mini adoration.” Let us put into practice some of the little, joyful lessons of the Little Way, helping Jesus to sanctify priests and save souls.

There is so much still to say about the Little Flower that I am tempted to continue the theme. It is hard to exhaust her message for modern man, and I don’t think that we would exhaust you in exploring the riches of her spiritual doctrine. Her teaching is ancient and yet freshly new, easy and demanding, it never discourages but urges us on the Little Way.

The cats seem successfully to avoid exhaustion, pacing themselves by long naps. Our cat emeritus has been visiting his brother cat for breakfast lately. “We are brothers,” they proclaimed! Caravaggio is taking his new position in stride. His installation in the feline ministry was, of course, a simple affair. However, he opted not to suppress the Offertory Procession. A juicy field mouse was presented with suitable ceremony and received with applause. Talk about acculturation. Cats come in handy in so many ways.

Thanks so much to all of you for your devout attendance, generous contribution of time and money, and your unflagging love for our Holy Faith, our church and Mass, for Jesus and Mary – and each other! I marvel with grateful joy at the cooperative, charitable spirit which reigns among us. We’re not perfect (we never were) at this church, we little souls who just try daily to do a little good, the Little Way. For the rest, we’re learning to forgive and be forgiven, which is the best way.

God reward you all with the most blessed of Easters, and a peaceful, joyful, quiet April.

–Bishop Dolan

PS: I just got a look at the beautiful Altar of Repose. “Light and airy,” filled with lillies and angels, it reminds me of our early “reposoirs” at Sharonville. Good job, ladies! Fr. Cekada has been lining up adorers for Holy Thursday afternoon, to be sure that Our Lord is honored with worshippers. Will anyone come this week?

School children sing at the St. Patrick’s day party.
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This school year we will be publishing daily sermons from the previous week:

Mar. 14, 2013: Thursday in the 4th Week of Lent by Bp. Dolan
Mar. 15, 2013: Friday in the 4th Week of Lent by Bp. Dolan
Mar. 19, 2013: St. Joseph by Fr. Lehtoranta
Mar. 20, 2013: Wednesday in Passion Week by Bp. Dolan
Mar. 21, 2013: May Our Sacrifice be Acceptable by Bp. Dolan
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✠ The Bishop’s Corner ✠
You might well wonder, as an active Gertrudian, how you can have such a good time during Lent, and still be keeping it well. This is a characteristic of our Lents at St. Gertrude the Great, it is true, but I think that this Lent it stands out more so in the light of the Little Flower, her joyful self-giving to God.

While only a relatively small group know very much of all that St. Gertrude has to offer, I would like to think that everyone who comes simply for Sunday Mass still tastes something of the joyful devotion of these days of spiritual refreshment and recollection leading to Holy Week and Easter.

St. Patrick’s Day was perfection itself. We couldn’t have fitted any more people in Helfta Hall, nor stretched the spaghetti any further. The school Spring program combined a polished and very professional presentation (the costumes, decorations and keepsake booklet, and many other fine details) with an engaging innocence as the children recited, sang and danced their way into our hearts for St. Patrick’s Day. Thank you to everyone who thought of everything and worked so hard to bring it to us. I thank our school principal and teachers and parents, as well as the entire O’Donnell family for their fine special recipe spaghetti. Oh, and wasn’t the “O Danny Boy” fine, and weren’t the girls grand in their little Irish dance?

But St. Joseph was not to be neglected. After a busy Monday which saw a fine funeral for Bob Duff, a devoted parishioner (and everybody here participates wholeheartedly in the Requiem Mass and ceremonies) we were back at it for Tuesday and St. Joseph.

The altars glowed with gold and flowers over the Passiontide purple as Fr. Hecquard sang his first Solemn High Mass here after his ordination almost three years ago. As with Holy Week and anything else worthwhile, many preparations and much practice time come first. After the Mass, we all (and a good crowd it was) processed together to the St. Joseph’s Table in the Hall, for the traditional blessing of the bread in his honor, always hot cross buns provided by one of the very faithful faithful, our choir director Joan Lotarski.

Afterwards, pizza and salad made for a satisfying lunch for all. The day concluded with Vespers of St. Joseph, the psalms alternated between clergy and children, and finally Benediction. This is the ideal Catholic and liturgical observance of a feast day: Solemn Mass and a meal “family style,” and finally Vespers. Just a few times a year we manage it, and it is wonderful to do so. This Catholic observance gives everyone a taste of the old days, and the true family ways. I love these days dearly.

St. Thérèse herself grew up this way. Even as a little child she went to High Mass, and cried to be taken to Vespers with the others.

Lent is simply a more intense, less distracted living of the Catholic life. Our penances should make it possible, and help produce lasting fruit. This is the Holy Week I wish for you all. May the joy of your Lent linger throughout Eastertide, and its lasting fruits abide.

– Bishop Dolan

PS: After all of the ceremonies of St. Joseph’s Day, two of the Fathers worked preparing converts in the evening, and Fr. Cekada with the choir. The work never stops. The fields are white for the harvest.

Fr. McKenna has departed to St. Hugh to conduct Holy Week there. He is a little nervous as it is his first time. We will miss him because he is our cook. Still, some of the ladies of the parish are taking good care of us for Holy Week and Easter.

For the first time in a number of years, no seminarians or visiting priests will be with us for Holy Week. Bishop Sanborn will be conducting a full Holy Week at his beautiful new seminary “chapel” (a church, really), and blessing the Holy Oils with his priests and seminarians. Fr. Saavedra in Detroit is also offering a full Holy Week, complete with Tenebrae. What would Holy Week be without it? Plan to be with us, as another generation, raised the Catholic way, lifts their voice in beautiful song.

PPS: In a fitting gesture, it was the priests who carried in our old altar (now restored) to the sanctuary. Jim Soli is working on the gradines which will complete this project.

Restoration Radio: The Legacy of Benedict XVI, Part I

This first of 3 shows focuses on the years 1960-2005.

Ratzinger: Theologian and Cardinal (1950–2005) His theological training by professors who advocated the modernist “New Theology” condemned by Pius XII. Ratzinger’s rejection of Thomism. The accusation of modernism against his doctoral thesis. Ratzinger’s hand in writing two Vatican II documents, on the Church and on revelation. Ratinger’s errors (heresies?) as theologian on the resurrection of the body, and as cardinal on the nature of the Church, justification, etc.

Our guests are Bishop Donald Sanborn of Most Holy Trinity Seminary and Fr. Anthony Cekada of St. Gertrude the Great Catholic Church. Both men have studied Benedict XVI and his actions over the years and have much useful commentary to share.

Listen here.
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Restoration Radio: The Legacy of Benedict XVI, Part II

This is the second of a 3-part series on the legacy of Benedict XVI. This show will focus on the years 2006-2013

Our guests are Bishop Donald Sanborn of Most Holy Trinity Seminary and Fr. Anthony Cekada of St. Gertrude the Great Catholic Church. Both men have studied Benedict XVI and his actions over the years and have much useful commentary to share.

Listen here.
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Restoration Radio: The Legacy of Benedict XVI, Part III: Habemus Papam? Francis I

The background of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio and what his actions since his election tell us.
• Attitude toward “liturgical abuses” and the traditional Mass.
• Ecumenism with Jews, Anglicans and Evangelicals.
• Diminishing the papacy.
• A disappointment to the Benedict XVI conservatives.
• “Humility” goes on parade.
• A “Paul VI resurrected”?
• The Ratzinger agenda dumped in favor of a more radical course.
• Will neo-cons engage in a “hermeneutic of denial”?
• The Second Vatican Council is the ultimate root of the problem.

“One balloon says a thousand words!”

Listen here.
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This school year we will be publishing daily sermons from the previous week:

Mar. 11, 2013: Monday in the 4th Week of Lent by Fr. Lehtoranta
Mar. 12, 2013: St. Gregory the Great by Bp. Dolan
Mar. 13, 2013: Wednesday in the 4th Week of Lent by Bp. Dolan
Mar. 14, 2013: Thursday in the 4th Week of Lent by Bp. Dolan
Mar. 15, 2013: Friday in the 4th Week of Lent by Bp. Dolan
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✠ The Bishop’s Corner ✠
Wednesday we woke to white. Winter was still with us. Spring, though, was waiting in the wings, robins and bunnies at the ready, and sincerely surprised at this sneak attack of snow. The struggle for Spring continued.

Wednesday, the world went to bed with white, white smoke and the man in white on the balcony, well satisfied that one of its own now ruled in Rome. The Church’s long Winter continues. Catholic doctrine and worship and life lie frozen beneath the white. The Sede Vacante has yet to melt into a spiritual Spring. If you want the new religion, he’s your man, but don’t look to this Francis to rebuild the Church.

Holy Mother Church is widowed, her winter endures, but how joyful things are in church! We are finishing a joyful Lent with the Little Flower. Her happiness is catching as we see signs of Spring everywhere. Bookcases are up in the school hallway. We can think in terms of a parish library again. The cloister work has been resumed, a most handsome and practical extension of our church.

Today the little ones will entertain us (oh, and one “big” one, Fr. McKenna) and the O’Donnells will provide our annual Spring spaghetti dinner, a little fund raiser and a big fun raiser on St. Patrick’s Day. Please do stay, or plan on coming back. You won’t regret it.

Last Saturday, about 25 servers had a wonderful Altar Boy Day at St. Gertrude the Great, thanks to Rich Vande Ryt, whose creative planning ensured success. The big hit was a “Jeopardy”-style game testing the boys’ knowledge of sanctuary and sacristy. It was so popular they chose to forgo the planned movie! Thank you to everyone who helped, and the parents who brought their boys for an unforgettable day. Meanwhile, I was in Detroit with Fr. Saavedra for a Ladies Day of Recollection. Twenty-six ladies from four different Catholic chapels in southeastern Michigan came for a day of devotion and spiritual refreshment. See how good it is when Catholics dwell in unity!

I was refreshed to see – and hear of – such spiritual enthusiasm and sacrifices on the part of so many eager souls, both in Detroit and Cincinnati. This same sense of pleasant surprise was in the air for St. Thomas Aquinas. We had an excellent attendance for the Solemn High Mass in honor of the Angelic Doctor. What a nice surprise!

I have every confidence that we will be honoring St. Joseph the same way come Tuesday. The enticements (I had almost written “entitlements,” but those are for a far different world) are many. The rewards, however, far exceed dispensations and hot cross buns.

I am sure, finally, that this same spirit will carry us through Palm Sunday and Holy Week, and right up to Easter’s joy. Thank you, St. Thérèse!

Fr. Hecquard is visiting our Milwaukee Catholics this morning. Yesterday, Bishop Sanborn preached a Men’s Day of Recollection in Detroit. He and Fr. Cekada have already recorded a program on Ratzinger’s replacement. Try to listen to it. You will find it of interest. I joined both of them last Wednesday afternoon – amidst all of the election hoopla – to talk about our expulsion from the Pius X Society 30 years ago next month. What a cause of joyful thanksgiving to be a Catholic, just a Catholic, uncompromised by the new teachings (old errors) of this new age. We are safe and sound in Noah’s Ark, the Catholic Church.

May St. Patrick bless you all on his day, and St. Joseph protect the Church in our day.

–Bishop Dolan