Easter V
SSPX Bishops’ Showdown: Fr. Cekada Radio Interview Live
SSPX head Bp. Bernard Fellay is set to make a historic agreement with Benedict XVI regularizing the Society. But the other three SSPX bishops sent him a letter in April opposing the agreement. And Bp. Fellay fired back. What in the world in going on here?
Former SSPX member Father Anthony Cekada will once again join Restoration Radio and talk about this surprising twist in the ongoing Vatican/SSPX negotiation saga.
• Date: Monday, May 14, 2012
• Time: 8:00 PM EDT, 7:00 CDT, 00:00 GMT
• Link: Restoration Radio: SSPX-Rome: Part II
The show will run approximately one hour and we will start taking calls at the halfway mark. The show will be hosted by Stephen Heiner of True Restoration.
Save these dates for the St. Gertrude the Great Girls’ Camp!
Girls ages 5 – 16+ are welcome to join us on July 11th, 12th and 13th for three days of fun and spiritual activities. We will be joined by three Sisters of St. Thomas Aquinas for days filled with camp favorites such as archery, scrapbooking and of course, the popular Ice Cream Social. We’ll also have our second “annual” canoe trip (age appropriate), overnight camping and bonfire again. New activities for this summer include origami, cake decorating, making a personalized Rosary and some surprises! Come join the fun! The cost of this camp is funded by the generous donations of our sponsors.
Also, Save the Date for Boys’ Camp!
July 24-26
Our school children sing at their spring spaghetti dinner fundraiser.
Bishop’s Corner
Happy Mothers Day! It is is our wonderful tradition at St. Gertrude the Great to honor each year our own mother, and the Blessed Mother of us all, as well, by the beautiful May Crowning led by this year’s First Communicants.
Traditionally, the young lady who crowns Our Lady received the highest mark from Fr. Cekada in the Catechism test, but of late this privileged child has had to be a bit of a rock climber as well. (Multitasking is good!) You see, ever since Phil and Gino built the beautiful Lourdes Grotto (lovingly dedicated in memory of Bernie and Rita Brueggemann, their family, and Bavarian, the family business) we have been processing there on Mothers Day, and crowning Our Lady of Lourdes. The scriptural “cleft in the rock” which holds Our Lady, however, is rather difficult to access, and our skilled Master of Ceremonies, Richard Vande Ryt, has had to safely guide the young lady on the ledge to Our Lady, and back again. This procedure has not been without much interesting and profitable spiritual symbolism, to say nothing of a certain amount of inherent drama, which kept everyone’s attention. Nevertheless, I thought that this year we should direct our attention to another, of late neglected, Marian Shrine on our grounds.
Just a few years ago, Angie Poeppelman had the happy inspiration of planting a Mary Garden in front of the school as part of that year’s Girls’ Camp. She and some of the other ladies also collected money for the beautiful statue of Our Lady which graces it. Some of those ladies are gone now, but Our Lady’s still here, and I know she will bring them back in God’s good time, along with their families.
Meanwhile, I want to thank Eldon and Dale for restoring the garden and for preparing it with Spring plants for today’s ceremony. Thanks, too, to the Misses Patton and all who helped make for a successful Bake Sale last Sunday for this year’s Girls’ Camp. As usual, Fr. McGuire and the fathers tend to be more St. Joseph-like in their quiet ways, but something will be forthcoming one of these days about the Boys’ Camp in July.
Speaking of silent ways, I must conclude with a most edifying cat story. Sometimes of a morning, Caravaggio will join me for a bit of spiritual reading or meditation. Last Wednesday, however, he was the very soul of fraternal charity, at once discreet and considerate. As I sat in my chair reading, the cat came to me quietly and gave me a meaningful look before going to the door. It was unusually early for him to leave of his volition, as he usually tries to get in a cat nap before resuming his feline duties outdoors. Nevertheless, I left St. Gregory Nazianzen to see about Caravaggio. When I opened the door, behold! his brother Puccini, who had been silently waiting, stole in. Feline discretion! Pets, like children and spouses, do require a certain amount of mind reading, but all for a good cause.
I wonder if anyone will come to the second procession this Mothers Day, the Fatima Rosary for peace this evening. Only at St. Gertrude would we dare to ask twice, but the Caravaggio story inspires our confidence, and love always finds a way.
Happy Mothers Day!
–Bishop Dolan