A note of gratitude to my family in Faith

 Dear parishioners and friends,

Change always brings mixed emotions. Change, however, is a sign that we are alive. Our lives are a beautiful and inestimable gift of God's love. At the same time that He is Lord of life, He is also our Savior. One of the signs that we are in His love and sharing His divine life is the virtue of hope.

As all of us look to the changes ahead let us redouble our prayers for hope. It is always the key to joy in the Lord. Hope quickens our steps toward eternity and energizes us each day with grace to face the many challenges that simply come with committing ourselves to Him and to His holy will.

Our paths may be taking different directions in the days ahead, but we will as always be united in the one thing more powerful than the world and anything it may offer: the victory over the world which is our faith.

With heartfelt gratitude and love I thank you for your many kindnesses, your generosity, for the fact that you showed up, and above all for the most loving gift of your prayers. These and many other graces will sustain me in the days ahead.

Thank you also for your kind words, gifts and gestures on the occasion of my retirement party. It was another confirmation of the privilege and blessing to be among you and to serve you and your families.

Because of the wonderful things that the Lord has done among us here, which we were blessed to witness together and the beautiful memories of which we will always share, this parish will always be with me and I will never truly leave it behind though I may not be physically present among you as I was for 16 years.

Please pray for me and for one another. Please encourage each other always in the faith. 

With much affection in the Lord,

Chesty Puller on Catholic military chaplains

“The Catholics pick the very best chaplains - young, virile, active and patriotic. The troops look up to them. I’ve only met one or two Protestant chaplains worth their ration cards.” 

- USMC Lt. General Chesty Puller

In the Pacific Theatre of WW2, a Protestant chaplain approached Col. Puller, complaining that many Marines were converting to Catholicism. 

Later, while the Marines were out on patrol, Puller found that same chaplain at the battalion HQ. He told him, 

“Your place was with the fighting men. You remember our little talk about Protestant boys joining the Catholics? They see those priests doing their duty and see you evading it. I can’t work up much sympathy for you.”

There were so many converts that mothers in the US wrote letters to the front, concerned that their sons would join the Catholic Church. Puller wrote back that if the Protestant chaplains had the guts to go where the Catholic chaplains did, where the bullets were flying, maybe their sons wouldn’t be converting.

Chesty Puller, a lifelong Episcopalian, had great respect for the Catholic chaplains of WW2 and even sent his own children to Catholic school after the war.

How Trump Betrayed the Pro-Life Movement

 

JONATHON VAN MAREN

Trump’s second term has come with many defeats for the pro-life movement. Abortions have increased due to the administration’s refusal to restrict the abortion pill, and Trump’s personal ambivalence on the issue has won out. What accounts for the difference between now and Trump’s first term, when he proudly accepted the title of “most pro-life president in American history”? Jonathon Van Maren writes that it comes down to Mike Pence, who in the first admin was the movement’s man on the inside. “Pro-lifers who spent four years thanking the wrong man are now learning, belatedly, that transactional relationships have a price.” For further reading: Following the 2024 election, Carmel Richardson observed that young women had not treated abortion as the only important electoral issue. Read why in “How Abortion Lost Its Cool” (May 2025). More: https://firstthings.com/how-trump-betrayed-the-pro-life-movement/

‘Transgender’ man arrested for celebrating murder of Catholic politician: ‘Hope it was a painful death’

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Aberdeen University employee ‘Heather’ Herbert has been arrested after posts celebrating the brutal murder of Catholic pro-life MP Ann Widdecombe went viral online.

Reform UK Immigration and Justice spokesperson Ann Widdecombe gives a speech at the Reform Party 2024 Conference at National Exhibition Centre on September 20, 2024 in Birmingham, England.Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

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Calvin Freiburger

Thu Jul 16, 2026 - 11:39 am EDT

ABERDEEN, Scotland (LifeSiteNews) — A transgender-identifying University of Aberdeen employee who publicly celebrated the murder of former British MP Ann Widdecombe has now been charged 

As covered last week by LifeSiteNews, the 78-year-old Widdecombe was found dead in her Devon, England, home on July 9. A suspect is in custody and being questioned, though police have released few details.

A Catholic convert and pro-life politician who served from 1987 to 2010, Widdecombe endeared herself to Britons with her surprisingly popular appearances on television shows Strictly Come Dancing and Celebrity Big Brother. 

As LifeSite covered Monday, in since-deleted BlueSky posts, Aberdeen web developer “Heather” Herbert, a male who identifies as female, wrote, “Some good news for once. I hope it was an extremely painful death” and “I hope she was handcuffed to the bed as she screamed in agony.”

Herbert was unapologetic in subsequent remarks to student newspaper The Gaudie, declaring, “I don’t want to see anyone murdered, but I’m still glad she is dead. I’m not a hypocrite. I posted that before the murder investigation was launched. I’m a nobody. I have no power to do anything. Ann Widdecombe was able to and made the lives of ordinary people hell.”

University officials distanced themselves from the comments, and now GB News reports that police have arrested Herbert in connection to them, reversing their original judgment that the comments were non-criminal. 

“We received reports on Saturday 11 July 2026 relating to a post made online,” a Police Scotland spokesperson said. “Following further assessment, a 50-year-old has been arrested and charged in connection. A report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal.”

More: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/transgender-man-arrested-for-celebrating-murder-of-pro-life-catholic-politician-online/

The Seduction of Simulation

 

R. R. RENO

From the August/September issue: Editor Rusty Reno reflects on Magnifica Humanitas, commending Pope Leo XIV for his consideration of the destabilizing potential of artificial intelligence. As the pope continues to advise on this issue, Rusty suggests that he warn against what is so seductive about AI. “Magnifica Humanitas seems to take for granted a human desire not to be dehumanized. It’s certainly true that most do not wish to be degraded, enslaved, or abused. But as Leo XIV continues to reflect on today’s digital revolution, he should not discount the allure of a moderate but pervasive dehumanization, especially as it is palliated by countless substitutes for the kinds of things necessary for us to live as human beings.” For further reading: Many of our best writers have weighed in on the encyclical. Ned Desmond wrote that it was a missed opportunity, while Robert Sirico praised its defense of the human person. More: https://firstthings.com/the-seduction-of-simulation/

Bishop of Liege encourages native new SSPX priest

Read on Cathobel (official media of the French-speaking Catholic Church in Belgium):

"Vincent Richter, originally from Steffeshausen, in the German-speaking part of the Diocese of Liège, was ordained a priest for the FSSPX on June 29, on the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, at the seminary in Écône. Bishop Jean-Pierre Delville, Bishop of Liège, was informed of this. His public response has nothing of a ban."

"Bishop Delville assures the new priest of his prayers and encourages him to follow Christ in his future mission in Brazil. The Bishop of Liège pronounces neither blame nor excommunication. He chooses a rare tone in this type of situation: that of encouragement addressed to a man he considers a disciple of the Gospel. [...] Father Richter, he writes, is invited to serve Christ 'as an authentic disciple of the Gospel.'

"Where others would first recall the canonical sanction, the Bishop of Liège performs an act of blessing."

https://x.com/fsspxfr/status/2074838774211588604?s=46&t=IydJ-X8H6c0NM044nYKQ0w

ANNIVERSARY OF THE BULL “QUO PRIMUM TEMPORE” OF ST. PIUS V (July 14, 1570)

On July 14, 1570, Pope St. Pius V promulgated the bull Quo primum tempore, on the perpetual use of the Roman Apostolic Mass, stating:

“…so that the priests may know with certainty which prayers they must use, which are the rites and which the ceremonies that they must, under obligation, preserve henceforth in the celebration of the Masses; so that all everywhere may accept and observe what has been transmitted to them by the Roman Church, Mother and Teacher of all the other Churches, and so that, henceforth and for the time to come, perpetually, in all the patriarchal, cathedral, collegiate, and parish churches, etc…

We have decided and declare that the superiors, administrators, canons, chaplains, and other priests or religious of any order whatsoever cannot be obliged to celebrate the Mass in any other manner than as We have prescribed it, and that never shall anyone, whoever it may be, be able to contradict them or force them to change their Missal…”

The codification approved by St. Pius V through this bull could never be abrogated by anyone.