Download the St Gregory Hymnal

It's free, as the copyright has expired, and you can find it here in .pdf and here in MS Word format.
Your family rosary time will come alive when you add a song from the St Gregory Hymnal at the end. This is the old time music that our grandparents grew up with and know so well, solidly orthodox, and never dull. Enjoy, and drop a quick note in the comments box below if this is interesting to you.
Mac Users may not be able to unzip files, so just go here.
Thanks and happy singing.

Visit to Clear Creek

I recently took my family to Clear Creek Monastery for the first time, and I'd like to narrate a little bit of our experience there. Before I start, I'd like to say the obvious: if you can get there, do it!
We input the address of the monastery into our Tom-Tom device and drove from Illinois to Oklahoma over about three days. We attended a TLM in Des Moines in the crypt of St Anthony church, which felt like a church basement (in fairness, it is a church basement), where Msgr Chiodo said Mass and gave a very good homily on Charity. The church (upstairs) is pretty although a little barn-like. It would be nice to see the Latin Mass in the main church.
From Des Moines we headed to Kansas and visited some friends. After a night there we continued to Tulsa, which has an amazing number of large, old churches in about three square blocks downtown! Mass (OF) was about halfway through at the Catholic church, while the other churches were generally empty and locked (it was Monday).
Well, from there we found our way to the monastery, which we found through the help of St. Christopher and (likely) St. Benedict, as our Tom-Tom's coordinates were not quite right. There are signs posted which I initially ignored, but we found our way there. Clear Creek is in the middle of nowhere. I say that as a compliment, of course, because this is a monastery removed from the world, geographically and spiritually.
Everyone here is very friendly and welcoming. If you are used to a small town atmosphere it will be familiar. We talked to one or two monks initially who pointed us to the guest house where we could freshen up and unpack (contact them via mail before visiting if possible). The guest house is run by a family that lives on the property. They are warm, welcoming people and we felt right at home with them.

Part II will continue soon...

Thank you Archbishop Nienstedt

The Archbishop visited St Augustine's church in South Saint Paul this Sunday and was present at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form. He also gave a sermon.

There is more at Father Z's blog, including pictures.

I hope the Archbishop returns soon to celebrate Mass. He was offered a spiritual bouquet which included quite a few prayers and Masses to be said for him. Pray for our bishops!

Discussions of Distributivism

The following continues a discussion regarding the Pope’s actions and abilities in regards to economics. My reply to the last comment is as follows:

Maybe I was a bit unclear, so I hope I can be clearer this time. I'll address your discussion with Christians momentarily.

Informing Catholics on how to make moral choices is a job of parish priests, bishops, cardinals and popes. The popes do issue plenty of statements, formally and informally, regarding things like economic theory. Papal encyclicals, for instance, have addressed everything from Communism to Birth Control to Economics and everything in between.

These encyclicals are not necessarily considered "infallible", but pastoral in nature as teaching from the Pope. These are to be taken seriously by Catholics although many of the rank and file do not read the encyclicals.

Past popes have discussed the benefits of private property. Look at John Paul II's Centesimus Annus, which discusses the benefits of free markets. If my copy of The Church and the Market, by Thomas Woods, was handy I'd quote some more, but I can't find it. Check out that book if you want to learn more.

As for infallibility, the last time a Pope has declared anything EX CATHEDRA (from the Chair of Peter, as the rabbis who used to sit before teaching did in OT times) was Pope Pius XII, defining the Assumption of Mary.

Jesus Christ did not create the papacy to be a magic eight ball to answer intellectual questions to us: he did so as a physical head of His Church. The Pope is the ultimate arbiter of difficult questions arising from Scripture as well as modern issues that may not have been addressed during Christ’s time on earth (like in vitro fertilization). And being a physical head is a full time job, as so many of Her members are in active or passive resistance of him.

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As far as the Christians you know who support horrible things or turn a blind eye to injustices, keep in mind that their actions do not support the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are all imperfect. The teachings, however, remain the same. The Bible has remained intact for almost 1600 years throughout the fall of the Roman Empire, and while some disciplinary things have changed in the Church, the dogmas taught have always remained the same.

If you want to find some Catholic teachers in the past that have used logic and reason, you will find more than you can ever count. However, as a primer I suggest St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas.

New Year's Resolutions

My wife and I donated some money to Ron Paul this fall and decided if we could tighten our budget enough for him, we sure could do it for some Catholic charities this year. Here's a list of some we've looked at so far:

Clear Creek Monastery. This traditional Benedictine monastery sent us a cd of Gregorian Chant as an advertisement. The monks here live a life of contemplation, work and prayer. There is no school. This looks to be a wonderful place to visit and get away from the world. I hope to take my boys here someday to teach them about this vocation. They're still building and need money.

Transalpine Redemptorists. I was amused to find that the famed monks from Papa Stronsay had a blog. On it, I found them to be making newspapers, and an email to their webmaster (you'll get anti spam reply that takes a moment to fill out) will get you a subscription to their quarterly newspaper for $20 U.S. I'm sure a little extra cash for Mass intentions wouldn't be turned down either.

FSSP. The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter is growing as numbers of young men flock to the orthodox teachings of the Faith. Our future parish priests will be studying here and they need all the support we can offer.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all who view this website. It is my wish you will find hope in celebrating the birth of our Lord this year. May God bless you and your family this Christmas season.

Wanted

A Traditional Latin Mass in Yokosuka, Japan. If you are interested, please let me know via a comment or email and I will send along a couple of parish addresses that I'll be sending letters to shortly requesting the Mass.

Site Accuracy

Because this site deals with affairs of the Church as well as personal thoughts and attitudes towards that, there is the danger I could publish something that is incorrect or even at odds with Church teaching.
I don't want that, and I will try very hard to avoid it, as I see false witness as very damaging.
Regardless, no one is perfect. I'm asking you to add a comment if you see me write anything that is against Church teaching or incorrect and I'll fix my post.
The same goes for any other topics. Thanks.