"Matthew contra Saskatoon Cathedral"

ODDLY ENOUGH, this is a time of cathedral-building in North America! But the cathedrals being built, or recently built, are rather disappointing, if not downright heretical. See the article Matthew contra Saskatoon Cathedral, which is about

the unfortunate new proposal for Holy Family Cathedral in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, a $28 million (Canadian) project that resembles nothing so much as a 1960s Pan-Am terminal, despite a sincere and much-appreciated desire among the designers and planners for noble beauty and local materials.

Be sure to see Matthew's awesome counter-proposal.

Lost Time

I WAS PLAYING a game of Solitaire when I was suddenly reminded of a prayer of St. Teresa of Ávila:

A Prayer to Redeem Lost Time

O my God! Source of all mercy! I acknowledge Your sovereign power. While recalling the wasted years that are past, I believe that You, Lord, can in an instant turn this loss to gain. Miserable as I am, yet I firmly believe that You can do all things. Please restore to me the time lost, giving me Your grace, both now and in the future, that I may appear before You in "wedding garments." Amen.

Wasted time!  Playing Solitaire only makes you good at playing Solitaire, and as its name suggests, it isn't even good for the pleasant companionship of friends, as are other card games like Poker.

Actually, when I was playing that solitary game, I was mulling over my singlehood.  Now, I don't like talking about myself, especially when it comes to dating and relationships (Dawn Eden is much better at that), but lost time is particularly relevant here, for I am no longer a young man.  Dare I say that most every woman I've ever dated was well-suited to be my wife? Although friends and family may disagree in more than a few instances, usually that is true. In nearly all cases, the persons involved, me and her, were not the problem, rather it was the course of the relationship between us that was wrong.  Anyone who has experienced modern dating life knows what I'm talking about, and for those who haven't, you don't want to know!

Blame is easy to assign.  We all know what the problem is.

So where do I go from here?  How, with God's grace, can this lost time be restored?

A Thought Experiment

A CORRESPONDENT lately upbraided me for transcribing the text of a Confederate monument, this giving the appearance of me supporting the dreadful practice of slavery. That was not my intent. But we now often assume that anyone who fought for the Confederacy must have supported its 'peculiar institution' and therefore must be evil.

But please indulge me for proposing a modest "thought experiment".  Perhaps this will shed some light on the above matter.

Imagine, if you will, that the United States today has an abhorrent, evil institution, so widespread that the news media, entertainers, educators, politicians, businessmen, and even religious leaders thoroughly support it. Imagine also that nearly every town has a group of prominent citizens who actively promote this evil. This evil institution is so ingrained in our culture that it is a cornerstone of the economy.  But you don't have to imagine this:  this institution is legalized abortion.  Our economy is so dependent on abortion, that if it were eliminated, our workforce would decline by at least 25%, and it would have a greater economic effect than even the elimination of slavery in the Old South.  But the widespread support for this peculiar institution is practical and ingrained, and only its most hardcore supporters could be said to be truly demonic.

Now imagine that the United Nations, due to the Islamization of many of its most powerful member-nations, decrees that abortion is a scourge on humanity.  I would go along with that. In reaction, the United States, in protest, leaves the U.N.  No longer having a seat on the Security Council, the other nations on that Council, being Muslim, then authorizes war against the U.S., for the specific purpose of restoring unity to the brotherhood of nations, and also for eliminating the evil institution of abortion. Having inherited the militaries of Europe, Canada, and much of Asia, the Islamic countries of the United Nations are a formidable military power and immediately launch air and naval attacks on the U.S., while building up a vast invasion army. Unfortunately, increased social spending in the United States has led to a large reduction in its armed forces, and the regular forces, although valiant, prove inadequate to repel the invasion.

Now, what would I do, being anti-abortion?  Obviously I support the sentiment of this imaginary U.N. in wanting to outlaw abortion.  Would I join forces with the invading army, and help to finally get rid of this great evil?

So what would I do?  I would take my 12-gauge shotgun and kill any foreign invader I'd find.  I would organize with my friends and neighbors to set up militias, guerilla groups, spy rings, and underground saboteur cells to kill enemy soldiers, harass their supply lines, and disrupt the foreign command and control.  We would be patriots and gladly live and die for America and her freedoms.  As we are greatly outnumbered, our cause is doomed to failure.  But we "displayed a courage so superb that it gave a new and brighter luster to the annals of valor."  As the United States is Islamized following the war, prominent supporters of abortion are executed and the scourge of abortion is finally wiped from the face of the earth, and American fighters are to be forever demonized as supporters of that great evil.  But the true American patriots, few in number, will remember that it was noble to defend one's beloved homeland, despite its faults.

I hope this little mental exercise proves its point.  Defending one's own homeland is no vice, despite the evils that may exist there.  Moral theology recognizes that self-defense is a legitimate use of lethal force, and that cowardice is a vice.

Photo of Saint Clare Catholic School Chapel, in O'Fallon, Illinois

In Memory of the Vendée

IN MEMORY OF the thousands of Catholic peasants, nobility, priests, women, children, and elderly of the Vendée who were slaughtered for resisting the French Revolution.

Long live King Louis XX!

Forest Park at Sunset

FOREST PARK in Saint Louis, Missouri, is one of the nation's greatest municipal parks, and at 1,293 acres, is one of the largest.

When founded in 1876 at what was the outskirts of the city, many citizens found this park too remote for practical use; its name comes from the fact that it was a dense forest, in contrast to the prairie that originally made up much of the original city. Most of the park was cleared for the Universal Exposition-Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904, better known as the World's Fair.  Since that time, Forest Park has remained a popular attraction.

Due to neglect, the Park went into great decline starting in the late 1960s, but has recently been magnificently restored to glory.

The Grand Basin and Art Hill, topped by the Saint Louis Art Museum. Other institutions in the park include the Zoological Garden, History Museum, Science Museum, and Municipal Opera, as well as golf courses.

The sun was shining while it was raining.

The above photos were all taken within a few yards of each other.

A relative of mine came to Saint Louis to build the German Pavilion at the World's Fair.  This particular pavilion was constructed with proceeds from the fair.

Book Cat

Email newsletter - Oratory of St. Francis de Sales

 

Saint Francis de Sales Oratory

2653 Ohio Avenue

Saint Louis, Missouri 63118

www.institute-christ-king.org

314-771-3100

 

12 July 2008                                                                                                                                                                                                     

 

 

Email newsletter contains information about:

 

FIRST MASS-FATHER HENRIQUE FRAGELLI

MOZART MASS-“SPATZEN MESSE”

GOLDEN BRICK AWARD

3^RD ANNIVERSAY OF FOUNDATION- ORATORY OF ST FRANCIS DE SALES

ARCHBISHOP BURKE-APPOINTMENT-PREFECT SUPREME TRIBUNAL OF THE APOSTOLIC SIGNATURA

 

Dear faithful and friends of St. Francis de Sales Oratory,

 

This Sunday, July 13, Fr. Henrique Fragelli, a newly-ordained priest of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, will celebrate his first Solemn High Mass at St. Francis de Sales Oratory here in St. Louis. Fr. Fragelli was recently ordained at the church of St. Michael and St. Cajetan,  the Institute’s church in Florence, Italy, by our former Archbishop, His Grace, the Most Rev. Raymond L. Burke, now Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.

 

Our choir, under its director, Nick Botkins, will perform Mozart’s “Spatzen-Messe”. A reception in the church hall will follow the Mass, and all family and friends of Fr. Fragelli as well as all Oratory members and guests are invited to this reception.

 

Last Wednesday evening, July 9, Fr. Karl Lenhardt, Rector of St. Francis de Sales Oratory, was presented with the “Golden Brick Award” by Mr. Tom Pickel, Executive Director of the DeSales Community Housing Corporation, an organization which helps rescue and restore properties in the area around the Oratory. The award was given for the restoration of the Church, in particular for the outstanding architectural and decorative work done on the vesting sacristy, work masterminded by Abbe Alexander Willwebber of the Institute and for which he had already merited the Papal “Bene Merenti” award.

 

St. Francis de Sales Church, once known as “the Cathedral of South St. Louis,” serves as the anchor of the Fox Park neighborhood, an old residential area once blighted but now gradually being restored, house by house, primarily through the efforts of the DeSales Community Housing Corporation. During the ceremony that culminated in the presentation of the Golden Brick Award, Fr. Lenhardt graciously invited all members of both the DeSales Community Housing Corporation and the Fox Park Neighborhood Association to attend the Knights of Columbus annual barbecue in August, on Saturday the 23^rd and Sunday the 24^th.

 

This is truly a success story, considering that just a few years ago the Church had been recommended for closing and destruction. Archbishop Burke decided instead to transform the church into an oratory for the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite and to bring members of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest to administer this apostolate both in the oratory and in the Archdiocese as a whole.

 

Tuesday, July 1, 2008 marked the third anniversary of the foundation of St. Francis de Sales Oratory by our beloved former Archbishop, His Grace, the Most rev. Raymond L. Burke. Almost at the same time it is a year since the publication of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum. At the Oratory we have all reason to thank divine providence, the Holy Father, His Grace, the superiors of our Institute, our confreres and candidates, and everyone who has helped us so much over the last three years.

 

The new appointment of his Grace, the Most Reverend Raymond L. Burke, as Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura fills us with great joy and profound thankfulness toward our Holy Father because this appointment expresses, once again, the important contribution of Archbishop Burke to the good of the universal Church. Although, we cannot but feel a certain sadness over the loss of Archbishop Burke here in St. Louis, we are profoundly convinced that his work at the Holy See will even multiply the good fruits we have seen in our archdiocese for the whole Mystical Body of Christ.

 

We give thanks to Divine Providence that we at St. Francis de Sales Oratory in St. Louis, the congregation  at St. Mary’s Oratory in Wasau, Wisconsin, and the many priests of our Institute, are among the fruits that the work of Archbishop Burke has brought forth. It seems to be very providential that the new appointment of Archbishop Burke was published on the Feast of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, as he has also been very instrumental in the restoration of the Archconfraternity of Our Mother of Perpetual Help at St. Francis de Sales Oratory. We will continue to gratefully remember Archbishop Burke’s intentions in our prayers. After all Masses we pray three Hail Mary and the Memorare at the Altar of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in the intention of a new Archbishop of St. Louis.

 

We also pray for His Excellency, the Most Rev. Robert Hermann, Archdiocesan Administrator, who has frequently visited our Oratory and is most supportive of our work and mission. The change in the administration of the archdiocese will not affect in any way the operation of St. Francis de Sales Oratory or the presence or the work of the priests of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. We are very grateful to the offices and institutions of the Archdiocese of St. Louis for the trustful cooperation and helpful assistance the Oratory has received.

Please, continue to help and to support our Oratory and the work of our Institute in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Since the foundation of St. Francis de Sales Oratory we had 56 baptisms and only 16 funerals of our congregation. This reflects the enormous vitality and attraction of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite and its contribution to the life of our whole society. It also reminds us of our mission to preserve what we have received for future generations.

 

With my best regards and the assurance of our prayers in your intentions

 

Fr. Karl W. Lenhardt

Episcopal Delegate/Rector/Vice Provincial

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Jon R. T. Rochê

Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest

St. Francis de Sales Oratory

2653 Ohio Avenue

Saint Louis, Missouri 63118

p. 314. 771. 3100

f. 314. 771. 3295

www.institute-christ-king.org

 

Feast of Saint Benedict

IN THE NEW calendar, today is the feast of Saint Benedict (ca. 480 - ca. 547), founder of western monasticism and patron of Europe.

From the Rule of Saint Benedict:

If we do not venture to approach men who are in power, except with humility and reverence, when we wish to ask a favor, how much must we beseech the Lord God of all things with all humility and purity of devotion? And let us be assured that it is not in many words, but in the purity of heart and tears of compunction that we are heard. For this reason prayer ought to be short and pure, unless, perhaps it is lengthened by the inspiration of divine grace. At the community exercises, however, let the prayer always be short, and the sign having been given by the Superior, let all rise together...

If a brother is found stubborn or disobedient or proud or murmuring, or opposed to anything in the Holy Rule and a contemner of the commandments of his Superiors, let him be admonished by his Superiors once and again in secret, according to the command of our Lord (cf Mt 18:15-16). If he doth not amend let him be taken to task publicly before all. But if he doth not reform even then, and he understandeth what a penalty it is, let him be placed under excommunication; but if even then he remaineth obstinate let him undergo corporal punishment...

If there be skilled workmen in the monastery, let them work at their art in all humility, if the Abbot giveth his permission. But if anyone of them should grow proud by reason of his art, in that he seemeth to confer a benefit on the monastery, let him be removed from that work and not return to it, unless after he hath humbled himself, the Abbot again ordereth him to do so. But if any of the work of the artists is to be sold, let them, through whose hands the transaction must pass, see to it, that they do not presume to practice any fraud on the monastery. Let them always be mindful of Ananias and Saphira, lest, perhaps, the death which these suffered in the body (cf Acts 5:1-11), they and all who practice any fraud in things belonging to the monastery suffer in the soul. On the other hand, as regards the prices of these things, let not the vice of avarice creep in, but let it always be given a little cheaper than it can be given by seculars, That God May Be Glorified in All Things (1 Pt 4:11)...

History Mystery

THE MISSOURI HISTORICAL SOCIETY is seeking the whereabouts of a painting of Gen. William Clark (1770-1838), famed soldier, explorer, Indian agent, and territorial governor, best known for his co-leadership of the Lewis and Clark expedition (1804-1806) in the Louisiana Purchase.



The painting was last known to be in the Saint Louis area in 1954, when the Society took this photo. According to the record: "William Clark painting owned by Mrs. William Bryce, purchased from the estate of Eleanor Glasgow Voorhis."  Also, the Voorhis family apparently had two copies of this painting.

If anyone knows the whereabouts of this portrait, please contact the Missouri Historical Society.

Thanks to Kira Gale.