Catholic Fire

Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. Katharine Drexel, a Philadelphia heiress who abandoned her family’s fortune to found an order of sisters dedicated to serving the impoverished African American and American Indian populations of the United States. Katharine, the second daughter of Francis Anthony and Hannah Drexel, was born in Philadelphia in 1858. Hannah died about a month after Katherine's birth. A few years later, Katharine’s father, a wealthy and prominent banker and philanthropist, married Emma Bouvier – a distant aunt to Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onasis. Emma was a deeply religious woman. Three years later, Emma gave birth to her own child, a third daughter whom they named Louise. The deeply religious couple taught their children that wealth was meant to be shared with others, particularly the poor. The three siblings – Elizabeth, Katharine and Louise -- were inseparable. They traveled out west together where they encountered native American Indians who liv...

Speaking to a packed crowd in the Paul VI Audience Hall, Benedict XVI delivered his general audience speaking about Saint Francis de Sales. A seventeenth century bishop who worked to convert the many Protestants of Geneva at the time back to Catholicism. The Pope called him a revolutionary in his call for lay people to be saints.

Fr Robert Barron's keynote address at an Archdiocesan Congress in Vancouver in 2010. In this talk, Fr Barron illustrates and comprehensively addresses some of the common misconceptions about (the existence of) God and the authenticity of the Catholic faith.

Larry D. from the Acts of the Apostasy blog is sponsoring a great project which you may want to get involved with this Lent. He has launched a new project at Acts of the Apostasy, called "Adopt-A-Priestess" Project, inspired by Norma Jean Coon's recent renunciation of the Roman Catholic Women Priests and her alleged ordination. He believes that if individuals could 'adopt' other women "priests" and actively pray for their conversion and return in full communion to the Church, this would help strengthen the body of Christ and heal the wounds caused by this movement. It sounds like a worthwhile project to me. Here is the link to his project.

ST PETERSBURG, FL, March 1, 2011 -- Baby Joseph Maraachli's family has rejected an offer from the London Health Sciences Centre to transfer the young infant boy home and remove the breathing machine there. The family continues to plea with the hospital to give their son a tracheotomy and to let them care for him at home. Bobby Schindler and Brother Paul O'Donnell, representatives for the Terri Schiavo Life and Hope Network, will be traveling to Canada to advocate for Baby Joseph and his family. They will be joined by Pat Mahoney of Christian Defense Coalition along with human and disability rights groups and faith organizations from Canada and the United States. The following events are planned in support of the family's cause to bring Joseph home to care for him: Saturday, March 5th - 12:00-2:00 pm Prayer Gathering, London Health Sciences Centre's Children's Hospital in London, Ontario Saturday, March 5th - 4:00-6:00 pm Rally, location to be announced Sun...

Filipino born Cherrie Anderson is a singer and song writer who is now among one of the most popular artists on the World Youth Day website . Her song 'Faith in You' has been selected by a jury of ten young people to represent the UK in the contest 'Tuned into Madrid'. The top five will be played for the millions of youth that are expected to travel to Madrid for the event next August. Her video features the town of Walsingham and many of its holy sites, considered to be the most important Catholic site in the United Kingdom. She is also part of the band Ooberfuse, which was selected to sing for the youth who gathered for Benedict XVI's visit to the UK in 2010. Submissions for the contest have come from all over the world that includes everything from rock to techno music. Right now the three most popular songs have come from Colombia, Peru, and France. The lyrics of all the songs are based on the theme chosen by the Pope for World Youth Day “Planted and bu...

The saint of the day is St. Agnes of Bohemia , Foundress of the Institute of the Sisters of the Company of the Cross. Born on 30 January 1846 in Seville, Spain, and given the baptismal name "Maria of the Angels" Guerrero Gonzalez, the future saint was affectionately known as "Angelita". Her father worked as a cook in the convent of the Trinitarian Fathers, where her mother also worked in the laundry. They had 14 children, with only six reaching adulthood. Angelita was greatly influenced by the teaching and example of her pious parents, and was taught from an early age how to pray the Rosary. She could often be found in the parish church praying before the image of "Our Lady of Good Health", while her mother prepared a nearby altar. In their own home, a simple altar was erected in honour of the Virgin Mary during the month of May, where the family would recite the Rosary and give special honour to Our Lady. Angelita made her First Communion when she ...

Forty Days for Life will be starting on March 9th in Wichita, Kansas . While all aspects of 40 Days for Life are crucial in our effort to end abortion in our nation, the most visible component is the peaceful prayer vigil outside our local Planned Parenthood facility. You can help make a life-saving impact by joining our local vigil at: Planned Parenthood 2226 E. Central Wichita, Ks. 67214 To schedule your vigil hour and find out more information, go here. There will also be a Prayer Assembly on March 7th starting at 7:00pm at 135 S. Millwood in the parish hall at St. Joseph Church.

Dr. Mila Means has been training at a Kansas City, Kansas, abortion mill over the past several months so that she can begin her own abortion business in Wichita. Here is a letter that David Gittrich, State Development Director of Kansans for Life , wrote to her today (I received this in my email): Dear Dr. Means: I understand that you want to help women in need. So do we. Both of us are concerned about women dealing with an untimely pregnancy. Both of us want to help these women. So, what do we have to offer? I’ll go first. To the woman who is pregnant, and doesn’t want to be pregnant, and doesn’t know where to turn; we, that is the pro-life community, have much to offer. Let me tell you about some of what is offered to the woman. We offer free counseling from those who have been there and done that. These counselors are well trained and understand the multitude of problems a woman might be dealing with. They understand family pressures, pressure from the boyfriend...

While optimistic about the opportunities that the Internet provides, the pope encourages Catholics to consider how the web is transforming culture and daily life. Benedict XVI warned that because more and more people are communicating through computers or mobile phones, true dialogue is being decreased as well as a responsibility for what said.

Pope Benedict's general prayer intention for March is: "That the nations of Latin America may walk in fidelity to the Gospel and progress in justice and peace". His mission intention is: "That the Holy Spirit may give light and strength to those in many regions of the world who are persecuted and discriminated against because of the Gospel".

The Canadian hospital under fire for ordering parents to remove their young son from life support because he is reportedly *  in a vegetative state has backed down and agreed to one of the family's requests: to let the boy die at home. London Health Sciences Centre in London, Ontario, issued a statement Monday afternoon saying that it will bring 13-month-old Joseph Maraachli to his family's home, but it then insists that staff members remove the boy from a respirator, possibly giving him only minutes more to live, the London Free Press reported. Read more. * Update: Since posting this news article, we have learned that Baby Joseph is not in a vegetative state at all. See the video posted here. Watch the latest video at <a href="http://video.foxnews.com/">video.foxnews.com</a>

The saint of the day is St. David of Wales . St. David is the patron saint of Wales and perhaps the most famous of British saints. Ironically, we have little reliable information about him. It is known that he became a priest, engaged in missionary work and founded many monasteries, including his principal abbey in southwestern Wales. Many stories and legends sprang up about David and his Welsh monks. Their austerity was extreme. They worked in silence without the help of animals to till the soil and their food was limited to bread, vegetables and water. In about the year 550, David attended a synod where his eloquence impressed his fellow monks to such a degree that he was elected primate of the region. The Episcopal See was moved to Mynyw, where he had his monastery (now called St. David's). He ruled his diocese until he had reached a very old age. His last words to his monks and subjects were: "Be joyful, brothers and sisters. Keep your faith, and do the little things...

The Pope has asked doctors not to propose abortion as a solution to family, economic, and social problems or for health reasons of the child because he says abortion "does not solve anything" and causes even more serious damage.

Another great hymn from the great St. Thomas Aquinas . This version of the hymn does not include the 3rd or 4th verses. The art is "The temptation of St. Thomas Aquinas" by Diego Velazquez; "Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas over the heretics" by Filippino Lippi; "The Apotheosis of Thomas Aquinas" by Francisco de Zurbaran. The Latin lyrics and English translation: Adoro te devote, latens Deitas, Quæ sub his figuris vere latitas; Tibi se cor meum totum subjicit, Quia te contemplans totum deficit. Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur, Sed auditu solo tuto creditur. Credo quidquid dixit Dei Filius; Nil hoc verbo veritátis verius. O memoriale mortis Domini! Panis vivus, vitam præstans homini! Præsta meæ menti de te vívere, Et te illi semper dulce sapere. Pie Pelicane, Jesu Domine, Me immundum munda tuo sanguine: Cujus una stilla salvum facere Totum mundum quit ab omni scelere. Jesu, quem velatum nunc aspicio, Oro, fiat illud quod tam sitio...

Baby Joseph is an 18-month-old baby boy in Canada who is about to be put to death by the Canadian government. Baby Joseph is suffering from a critical condition that requires him to have a breathing tube in order to stay alive. However, the Canadian government has decided that they don't want to spend any more money on Baby Joseph to keep him alive. To everyone's horror, the government won't even let Baby Joseph go home with his parents. His parents need to obtain better health care for Baby Joseph by bringing him to the United States where a hospital -- preferably a Catholic hospital where the baby will NOT be euthanized. To find out more about Baby Joseph and what you can do to help visit Fr. Pavone's website. Fr. Frank Pavone discusses the situation on Fox News:

Contact 13 Crucial Senate Leaders

In today's reflection, Father discusses one of my favorite actors of all time, Catholic convert, Gary Cooper.

The saint of the day for February 28 is Blessed Villana de’Botti, a wife and a Third Order Dominican. The daughter of a Florentine merchant, Villana was born in 1332. When she was thirteen she ran away from home to enter a convent but her attempts were unsuccessful and she was forced to return. To prevent her from running away again, her father gave her in marriage to Rosso di Piero. The rejection at the convent and the marriage seemed to change Villana. She became lazy and worldly, concerned only with pleasure. One day, as she was about to go out for entertainment, dressed in a gorgeous gown adorned with pearls and precious stones, she looked at herself in a mirror. To her dismay, the reflection that met her eyes was that of a hideous demon. A second and a third mirror showed the same ugly form. Thoroughly alarmed and recognizing in the reflection the image of herself as her sinful soul, she tore off her beautiful clothes and put on in the simplest clothes she could find. We...

 Which side has more joy? See Father Z's blog for the full story.