Notre Dame's President, Rev. John Jenkins, travels in style

Did you know that Notre Dame has a private jet? We posted yesterday that Fr. Jenkins was having an unannounced meeting at the White House...for what purpose isn't clear yet. But he went "first class" in his own private airplane, a Cessna 560 Citation V (sample of which shown above). Also, we discovered that you can track the flights of any private plane. Here's Notre Dame's recent flight schedule - showing a flight from South Bend to Washington Dulles yesterday morning. We're still waiting to see if anything is announced concerning the content of whatever meeting Fr. Jenkins was having there. Well, with 42 Bishops already on record decrying the Notre Dame Shame, Father Jenkins may not be traveling so elegantly in the coming months.

Notre Dame President is visiting the White House for an unannounced meeting

It's just a rumor. But according to Catholic World News, it is from a reliable source.

One can easily speculate...and earnestly pray...that Father Jenkins has come to his senses and journeyed to Washington to withdraw his invitation to Barak Obama to speak at the university's commencement and receive an honorary doctorate.

Bishop Finn fervently requested that outcome in his thoughts posted on this blog yesterday afternoon.

If this meeting is for this purpose, we'll probably hear about it soon. Stay tuned.

Archbishop of St. Louis Appointment

Robert Carlson is the new Archbishop St. Louis

Bishop Robert J. Hermann, Archdiocesan Administrator for St. Louis, called Archbishop-elect Carlson “a very energetic, articulate, warm and gifted pastor and administrator. He thinks and works with the Church he loves, and will continue to build upon the legacy of his predecessors here in St. Louis.”

Archbishop–elect Carlson was installed as the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Saginaw on February 24, 2005 at the direction of Pope John Paul II. A native of Minneapolis, MN, he was ordained to the priesthood on May 23, 1970 for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. He was later ordained as an auxiliary bishop for his home archdiocese on January 11, 1984 and went on to serve as Bishop of Sioux Falls, SD, from 1994 to 2005.

There will be a press conference at 10:30 this morning.

You can watch it live on the Archdiocese's website.

Update: From the Catholic Key Blog are remarks from Bishop Finn. “In the name of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph I sent a message of Congratulations and prayerful best wishes to the Archbishop-Elect early this morning. He is a wonderful and holy bishop who has served the Church in so many significant ways. He is very well suited to this new assignment from the Holy Father. As I extend to him my sentiments of welcome to Missouri, I look forward to working closely with him.” You may also read Bishop Finn's column regarding the appointment in the upcoming issue of the Catholic Key newspaper.

Another Update: St. Louis Catholic blog publishes a very informational and readable letter from a priest who knows Archbishop Carlson quite well. 

Our beloved Bishop Finn speaks about the Notre Dame debacle

(Excerpt from the Catholic Key Blog). "In my first U.S. Bishops’ Conference meeting – June of 2004 – the bishops passed what seemed to me to be a compromise statement as a result of our lengthy debate on politicians and Communion. There we stated that pro-choice leaders (and specifically, Catholic leaders were mentioned) should not be given public platforms or honors. As we all know the eminent American Catholic University, Notre Dame, is poised to bestow such an opportunity and honor on President Obama, who is, of course, not Catholic. But it doesn’t take another Bishops’ Conference statement to know this is wrong: scandalous, discouraging and confusing to many Catholics.

"God knows what all motivates such a decision. I suspect that, since Notre Dame will need a scapegoat for this debacle, and Fr. Jenkins will probably lose his job, at this point perhaps he ought to determine to lose it for doing something right instead of something wrong. He ought to disinvite the President, who I believe would graciously accept the decision. Notre Dame, instead, ought to give the honorary degree to Bishop John D’Arcy of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, who has supported and tried to guide the University, despite their too frequent waywardness, faithfully for 25 years." (Photo from blog's file of Bishop Finn's Pontifical Low Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception).

Related Story:  Bishop Thomas Wenski of Orlando will offer a Mass of Reparation in response to the University of Notre Dame’s decision to award President Barack Obama an honorary degree. “As Catholics we are aware of the many shortcomings and transgressions committed against the dignity and sacredness of human life in our world,” according to a diocesan notice.

"That is why it is inconceivable that Notre Dame University, a Catholic institution of higher learning, should receive and honor anyone who promotes policies that are contradictory to who we are as a people of faith. As our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI stated in his visit to the U.S. last year in reference to Catholic university presidents, to justify positions that contradict the faith and teaching of the church would obstruct or even betray the university's identity and mission.” 

Our thanks to those who have visited this blog

We began this blog in late September of last year. Although it doesn't compare to some of the powerhouse Catholic blogs that really get big readership, still we have had readers review posts over 25,000 times in five and a half months. To us, that's amazing! Plus, the pace of readership is growing all the time. According to the recent level of readership, we may hit 100,000 page views by the end of our first year. Not bad for a little community of about 100 or so households.

We pray in the end that all these people reading about Old St. Patrick will help result in steady growth in attendance and membership.

Bake sale a success!

It was announced this morning that the parish bake sale was quite successful. It raised almost $1,000 for the fund to purchase new cassock and surplices for the altar servers.

This is just another demonstration of the generosity of time and treasure by Old St. Patrick people. Whether it's for this purpose,  for special requests from Bishop Finn to support diocesan projects, help for the poor and needy and other worthy causes, our parishioners know how to "dig deep". It never ceases to amaze how such a modest size community can get so much done.

Next week, Good Shepherd Sunday, the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest will be asking for special generosity for the purpose of helping the education of priests at the seminary in Italy.

The Sunday of many names...

The Sunday after Easter has many titles: Low Sunday, The Octave of Easter, Quasimodo Sunday, White Sunday and most recently it has become known as Divine Mercy Sunday.

Observing the spirit of Divine Mercy Sunday, after 8:00 a.m. Mass, Canon Avis led the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and a short Novena to the Infant King. The Gospel of today's Mass showed us how Christ, appearing twice in the Cenacle, overcame the unbelief of St. Thomas (as dramatically shown in the beautiful painting above), praising those who, not having seen, should yet believe.

Good grief!!

Over the last couple of days some comments on a couple of posts on this blog got a little out of hand. Some commentators wrote some things that probably shouldn't have been written and other commentators wrote responses that probably shouldn't have been written either. This blog was even accused of encouraging some of these comments. This was an incorrect assertion.

The com-boxes of these two posts have been closed and all the comments removed permanently.

This blog's mission is the encouragement of the growth of Old St. Patrick Oratory, and its members, its friends and also people who attend occasionally. We've learned a lesson here. We allowed comments to be posted on both sides of a contentious strand of opinion in a spirit of "freedom of speech". This, perhaps, was a mistake.

No chocolate cake in Heaven

This little sound clip from Patrick Madrid's radio show will be a nice way to start your Saturday. If you're a little grumpy, this smart little 11-year old's questions will charm you into a very good mood. Click here.

OK. OK. We know this doesn't have anything to do with Old St. Patrick

...but we really love beautiful photography. And this is a stunner! Can anyone identify this skyline...that is, the city.

Question about communion rail cloth

We had an email this morning questioning what the correct posture should be in using the new communion rail cloth. Since this is a practice that is not followed in very many Catholic churches and only recently introduced at ours, we thought that others might have this or similar questions too. So we did a little research. The following is a quote from the Catholic Encyclopedia.

"The "Rituale Romanum" (tit. iv, cap. ii, n. I) prescribes that a clean white cloth be extended before those who receive Holy Communion. This cloth is to be of fine linen, as it is solely intended as a sort of corporal to receive the particles which may by chance fall from the hands of the priest. It is usually fastened on the sanctuary side and when in use is drawn over the top of the rail. It should extend the full length of the rail, and be about two feet wide, so that the communicant, taking it in both hands, may hold it under his chin. Its very purpose suggests that it is not to be made of lace or netting, although there is nothing to forbid its having a border of fine lace or embroidery."

We hope this bit of information is helpful to anyone who might have been unsure what to do when approaching the communion rail. And we especially thank the reader who asked the question. 

Update: (04/19/2009) Although we didn't hear it, some readers have informed us that Canon Avis made it clear in pulpit announcements that hands should be placed under the linen so as to catch a dropped host if it occurred, but not as far as the chin. 

(We thank St. John Cantius church in Chicago, IL for the use of the picture of the communion rail linen).

Dr. Thomas Dillon, President of Thomas Aquinas College is dead

We were devastated to learn this afternoon that Tom Dillon was killed in an automobile accident while in Ireland this morning. His wife Terri, who was also injured, is expected to recover swiftly.

We knew Dr. Dillon personally, having spent a week-end as a guest in the Dillon's home on the campus of Thomas Aquinas College. Dr. Dillon was the spark-plug of the success of TAC. He was president of the college for nearly 20 years and directed it into one of the most formidable, TRULY CATHOLIC colleges in America. There are numerous persons, current or former members of Old St. Patrick,  the Latin Mass Community at Our Lady of Sorrows, Blessed Sacrament in Kansas City, Kansas, Good Counsel in Kansas City, MO and others, who are graduates of the school. 

His influence will be felt for many, many decades to come. God bless his soul and our prayers for him will be many. May he rest in peace.

Old St. Patrick showing excellent growth

It has been evident that attendance at Old St. Patrick has been growing steadily since the the end of October of last year.

Although we don't have access to the parish membership records, we can do a simple analysis of the donations that are received weekly to make some reasonable assumptions. We simply added the contributions of envelope and cash donations figures that are published in the weekly bulletin. During the past seven weeks of Lent, contributions in 2009 vs. contributions in 2008 for the same period was up 184.67%. By observation we see somewhat the same in the attendance.

Speculating as to the reasons for this growth, we postulate that:

1) Just being in our own church and being our own self-contained parish has been very attractive to many of the new attendees and new registrants, and

2) Canon Avis has truly been the spark-plug that our membership had needed. Since he arrived in September of last year he has shown just the right level of friendliness and personality in addition to his formidable gifts as a priest. Also he has shown great expertise in managing the community so everyone feels fully part of it.

It looks very bright for the future. As an example, here is reprint of a comment previously posted on this blog by a new member. We think that the sentiments expressed are pretty universal. 

"Since I made my move to OSP, I can not tell you how often I thank God for leading me to this community. Events such as the bake sale, and the St. Joseph table are truly moments when we know God has blessed us all. Love abounds in our little community. Deo Gratias."

After Mass Bake Sale was well received

The purpose of the Easter Morning Bake Sale was to raise some money for purchasing new cassocks and surplices in the new Institute of Christ the King style for our altar servers. Judging from the two glass containers on the bake sale tables that seemed packed with cash, the sale was effective. It was also a lot of fun.

The items on the sale tables appeared to be mostly home baked and some were especially creative including this tray of cookies which were baked in the shape of crosses and decorated with Easter-color icings of little flowers. Purchased by this member, we can attest to the taste also. They were delicious. We're eating a few and are taking the remainder to our elderly parents who are house-bound. They'll love them. Our special thanks to the person who baked these cookies. They are a very special Easter treat!!! And thanks to all of those who participated in this fund-raiser...bakers and buyers both!

Our Beautiful Altar dressed for the celebration of the Masses of the Risen Christ!

The dramatic and beautifully designed candle holder was prepared last night during the Easter Vigil as the Paschal Candle was symbolically decorated with the five blessed grains of incense in the form of a cross and then blessed to the chanting of the Exsultet. 

"Let the angelic choirs of heaven now rejoice: let the divine mysteries be celebrated with joy: and let the trumpet of salvation resound for the victory of so great a King."

The altar was stunningly embellished with Easter Flowers.

Holy Thursday at the Oratory

The pews were mostly full. And a beautiful High Mass was sung by a small but disciplined choir. The choir did a particularly fine job singing Psalm 21 during the distribution at Communion. The Holy Thursday liturgy was concluded with a solemn procession transferring the Holy Eucharist from the main altar to the altar of repose to spend the night and through today's "Mass of the Presanctified".

After the procession, the Holy Eucharist was reposed in the tabernacle at the Epistle side altar.

The ceremony of stripping the main altar and the south side altar was conducted with great dignity by the servers, and as this work was being done, the singing of Psalm 21 was repeated in a "recto tono" form. It was very moving. The altar of repose was beautifully decorated with stair-stepped candles, flowers and gold fabric filling the spaces.
The church was to be open for adoration until Midnight. Those who had to get home, found themselves running through a small downpour. 

Stations of the Cross will be today (Friday) at 12:00 Noon. And Mass of the Presanctified will be at 6:30 p.m. this evening.

Visits from around the country and around the globe

Since we started this community blog last September, we have been surprised at the depth of interest in Old St. Patrick Oratory. Of course, most of the readers are from the Greater Kansas City area, but we get many readers from all over the place. For example: the list below is of some of the readers from outside our area during the last two days.

United Kingdom Edinburgh, Edinburgh, City of
Sunnyvale, California
United Kingdom Salisbury, Wiltshire
Pittsburg, Kansas
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Chicago, Illinois
Palos Verdes Peninsula, California
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Rolla, Missouri
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Winter Park, Florida
Phoenix, Arizona
Canada Toronto, Ontario
Wilmington, Delaware
Conception, Missouri
Wheeler, Wisconsin
Waterford, Pennsylvania
Apex, North Carolina
Saint Louis, Missouri
Baltimore, Maryland
Toms River, New Jersey
Denver, Colorado
Mountain View, California
Germany Traunstein, Bayern
United Kingdom Abingdon, Oxfordshire
Philippines Manila
Miami, Florida
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Haven, Missouri
San Francisco, California
Brazil Marlia, Sao Paulo
Wichita, Kansas
West Palm Beach, Florida
Clarence, New York
Fort Collins, Colorado
North Bergen, New Jersey
Brooklyn, New York
Australia Melbourne, Victoria
United Kingdom Leicester

Photos shared by Christoper Murad

Parishioner Christopher Murad is an avid photographer with a splendid sense of artistic composition. He has kindly offered his collection of photos of OSP during various activities of the parish to all members and friends of the Oratory. Click here.

In just a decade, the Benedictines of Clear Creek have made great progress at their monestery in Clear Creek, OK

Our Lady of the Annunciation of Clear Creek is a monastic foundation of the French Abbey Notre Dame de Fontgombault, itself a foundation of Saint Pierre de Solesmes.

Over the years Solesmes started new monasteries, one of which was the Abbey of Fontgombault in France. Fontgombault in turn, after having sent monks to three monasteries in France, in 1999 started one in Oklahoma on a 1,000 acre chunk of Oklahoma countryside.

On March 20, 21 & 22 several Old St. Patrick parishioners, Paul Villotti and Joe Farris visited the monestary for a private retreat. Paul had been there before on several occasions along with members of his family to help clear brush and fabricate some out-buildings for the farm. It was a very peaceful and prayerful weekend. The monastery is so remote and isolated that there is no shortage of "quiet space." Assisting the monks at Holy Mass and attending the hours of the office with them is a very moving experience. The several photos below show the progress that has been made over the years. It is considerable.

The photo above is a shot of the Crypt - the lower level of the eventual church. This is where the monks now celebrate Holy Mass and chant the the office until the church is built which will be the next phase of the construction project. The crypt has enough altars to allow perhaps twelve monks to celebrate Holy Mass at the same time which is what they do during the Low Mass that is being celebrated at the main altar. 

The second picture is a shot of the walk-way along the court yard side of the monastery building. Eventually the court yard will be fully enclosed by four buildings including the church and three wings of the monastery. Note the ceiling above the walkway is beautiful cedar wood.

The third picture is of the courtyard itself. In the center is a well which is over 300 feet deep. This well supplies the water for the monastery and the farm operation.

The last picture shows a side view of the crypt. The tall brick tower to the left is on the end of the monastery wing and houses the water tower that stores the water from the well mentioned earlier. The wing on the right side of the picture is the Gate Keepers office. This is where the monk who is designated as "Porter" receives guest and visitors. It also is the location of the book store.

The 34 monks of Clear Creek, some of whom are from nearby states, raise sheep, cattle and have a milk herd. They also have a saw mill where they cut timber and cure it in one of three drying houses from one to three years depending on the thickness of the cut.

You are encouraged to visit their website or better yet make a trip to Clear Creek monastery. Be sure to call or email ahead of time for a reservation. You can get more information from the website about visits and accommodations.

Holy Week Schedule Reminder

Special Events for Easter:

April 9th - Holy Thursday

7:00 p.m. - High Mass, Procession and

Adoration until midnight

April 10th - Good Friday

Noon - Stations of the Cross

6:30 p.m. - Liturgy of the Lord's Passion

April 11th - Holy Saturday

8:30 p.m. - Easter Vigil

April 12th - Easter Sunday

8:00 a.m. - Low Mass

10:15 a.m. - High Mass

Naughty Boys

Reader David Remley sent in this story from OSP's colorful past. We know that no Old St. Patrick young fellow would be engaged in such rough activity these days. This article from the paper - Kansas City Journal from April 5, 1909 will no doubt tickle your funny bone and possibly cause you to keep closer tabs on your kids.

CRAPS GAME IN CHURCHYARD.

Boys Who Gambled There Over Priest's Protest

Caught by Police.

Disregarding the admonitions of a priest, a crowd of boys between the ages of 12 and 18 years are congregating in the yard of St. Patrick's Catholic church, Eighth and Cherry streets, Sunday afternoons and shooting craps. Neighbors were disturbed by the riotous boys' loud talking to the dice.

While fourteen were indulging in a big game yesterday afternoon four policemen scaled the fence and suddenly dropped into the midst of the "gang." A wild scramble to escape followed by the "bluecoats" corralled all of them and the boys enjoyed a free ride to the police station where they were charged with gambling.

Parents of the youngsters began arriving a few minutes after the culprits had landed behind the bars. Each parent insisted that his boys were not "shooting craps" but the police demanded the $5 appearance bond nevertheless.

Photo: courtesy of the New York City museum (circa 1900). Not our boys, but no doubt it gives a clear concept of what the gathering might have looked like.

Recitation of the Rosary before Mass

Our great thanks to Craig Koppe who leads the Rosary before the first Sunday Mass of the day. It starts at 7:30 a.m. Our thanks also to Daniel Soukup who leads the Rosary at the 10:15 a.m. Sunday Mass.

Our First Palm Sunday at the Oratory

It was a cold, gray day in downtown Kansas City...and a light drizzle was falling, but that didn't phase the OSP faithful. They just bundled up and gave praise to the Lord in the traditional blessing of palms, distribution of palms and solemn outside processional ceremony to remember Our Lord's solemn entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. The palm branches borne by the Jews on Palm Sunday were symbols of victory - the victory that Christ was to gain over the devil by His death.

Canon Avis blessed the palms.

After distribution of the palms, all participants began the ceremonial procession out of the church which continued around the entire church property.

There was light rain and it was cold, but none were daunted.

The procession paused at the church entrance for the singing of the Gloria Laus, "Glory, praise and honor to Thee, O King Christ, the Redeemer, to who children poured their glad and sweet hosanna's song." Many parishioners were heard joining in on the repetitions of the response to the antiphon verses.

After the priest and the procession pause at the door to the church for the completion of the singing of the processional antiphons, the server knocks three times at the door of the church with the processional cross, then it is opened to show that only through trials and tribulation can we enter the gate of Heaven and be admitted to the realms of bliss.

New style cassock and surplice coming for altar servers

Servers will soon be dressing in cassock/surplice along the style that is being used in ICKSP apostolates in Europe. The server will wear the Institute blue cassock, white surplice and Institute blue capes. The bake sale next week is being dedicated to raising funds to purchase these new outfits for the boys.

A Picture is really worth a thousand words

You've no doubt been following the story of the outrageous invitation from Notre Dame (Our Lady) University to Obama to speak at Commencement. We can't add much more. But, this drawing from www.catholiccartoonblog.blogspot.com expresses the dishonor of this Catholic institution and its leadership in an instant.

For the cat lovers at Old St. Patrick

Don't you just love it when they climb on the sink?

Old Fashioned Bake Sale

Our thanks to a reader who informs us that some of the ladies of Old St. Patrick Oratory are planning to hold a bake sale after the Masses on Easter Sunday.

"Why? To help pay for new cassock/surplice for the servers.

"When? EASTER SUNDAY! Yes, you need to take something to someones house for Easter Dinner, you know a shut-in that misses the dinner, you have a sweet tooth yourself! In the narthex of the Church.

"Cost? Fair donation for baked goods. We also will take your monetary donation if you do not wish to purchase items. Nothing will have a set price."

So don't forget to stop by the tables on the vestibule after Mass on Easter Sunday, April 12th.

Father Frank Kriski update

Our Latin Mass chaplain at Our Lady of Sorrows for three years, Father Frank Kriski, CssR had prostate surgery yesterday. A spokesperson at his parish rectory at Our Lady of Peace tells us that he may be going home Thursday or Friday.

Please keep Father's recovery from surgery and from the effects of the cancer in your prayers. Father stands out in our memories as one of the best chaplains our little group had over the years. He is a very good man and a holy priest.

Update: (Thursday - 04/02/09) We hear through the grapevine that Father will be featured in the Catholic Key that publishes next week.

One of God's Creatures

Really ugly! Yet...truly beautiful. 

Mostly showing off for the camera, we think!

(Anyone want to contribute a caption for this pix?)

Ave Maria, Florida - A pizza billionaire's stunning investment in traditional Catholic education, culture and way of life

We vacationed in the Naples, Florida area this week and as part of this time we had the opportunity to tour and discover one of the most remarkable religious and civic enterprises it has been our pleasure to experience...Ave Maria, FL and Ave Maria University.

Our visit to Ave Maria began with Mass in the Extraordinary Form at 7:30 a.m in the town's Oratory. The photo below shows a the morning's sunrise over the entrance to the town of Ave Maria on a beautiful day that eventually was about 80 degrees with perpetual breeze that carried the almost overpowering smell of orange blossoms and honeysuckle. The town of Ave Maria is in the countryside about 30 miles from central Naples, FL.

As one drives up the 2.5 mile winding sumptously landscaped road from the highway entrance toward the town, you see in the distance the 100' Ave Maria Oratory. It is the central point of the town and the University in both physical and spiritual orientation.
The Oratory is surrounded by a semi-circular piazza of commercial/residential buildings in an Italian architectural style which feature condominium homes on the second and third floors of the buildings. The "downtown" features a number of restaurants, clothing stores, gathering places, supermarket and other commercial buildings located on the 5,000 acre property.

The interior of the oratory is superb! Although the architecture is of a modern style, the surprising overall feel is sacral and inspirational with soaring steel beams that interlock and overlap forming arches from front to rear of the nave. The Oratory seats over 1,000 persons. A huge 30' crucifix is the central icon and the beautiful tabernacle of gilded bronze and enamel will soon be completed surrounded by reredos installed on each side of the tabernacle and flanking a baldacchino over the tabernacle of ornamental woods. The reredos will be made of wood with a basket woven effect and will feature statues of 26 Marian saints and the 12 Apostles in nooks on each side of the tabernacle.The photo below shows the organ and choir loft looking up into a partially translucent ceiling of glass and stainless steel.
Along each side of the nave are beautiful carved wood confessionals topped by Stations of the Cross. There are EIGHT CONFESSIONALS! We haven't seen anything like this since the Redemptorists were building churches a hundred years ago.
The Stations of the Cross were donated by a Michigan diocese and are exquisitely carved in marble.
Flanking each side of the Sanctuary are 12 FOOT statues of the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph. They are carved in a traditional style that will impress any Catholic that appreciates the art of the centuries.
The exterior of the Oratory is not quite finished. A huge 35' carving of marble is being done by an on-site sculptor. The 7-foot prototype of the 14 huge panels is shown below showing what the finished work will be like showing a tableau of the Angel Gabriel visiting the Blessed Virgin with his announcement of her becoming the mother of God (The Annunciation). The following picture shows the progress of one of the panels. It is estimated that the carving of this central panel plus two huge side panels on either side of the Oratory of adoring angels will take several years.

We have the explicit pleasure of visiting Ave Maria on the Feast of the Annunciation. It was a special day for the Oratory. It was consecrated exactly one year earlier on the Feast of the Annunciation in 2008. There were many events scheduled for the day, including the dedication of the new 1.8 million dollar organ. Five university students played 7 pieces of beauty and difficulty on the new 4-rank virtual pipe organ.

The university, which is situated facing the Oratory is composed of about 6 completed buildings with several buildings under construction. There are currently about 500 students. Other buildings are contemplated for construction in the coming years. In addition to the university there is a K-12 preparatory school which has an enrollment of about 165 students and growing quickly. The ultimate plan is for an expanded school with 450 students. Several of the university buildings designed by inspirations of Frank Lloyd Wright are shown below.

Ave Maria, FL is not for everyone...but for those whom this type of small-town, country living surround by one's Catholic faith, it is worth the move and the expense.

About 400 families have moved to Ave Maria and are living in beautiful developments on the property developed by national companies. Featured are the condos in the central piazza, single family homes by Pulte Homes. A golf-course community of single-family and carriage home condominiums by Del Webb developers. There are other sub-divisions of homes by DiVosta Homes. In the wake of the country's financial difficulties, Florida has seen amazing drops in real estate values and this could be a very good time for those who might be interested in investing in a Florida first/second home. For example: homes that were selling at Ave Maria in 2007 and 2008 are now selling at about 40% off those prices. Something to think about.

The photo shows a sunset taken on the beach looking toward the Gulf of Mexico. At about 7:45 p.m. thousands of Naples residents and visitors line the miles of beaches to view the beauty created by our God.
There's a lot more to tell about Ave Maria, Florida. In some future posts we'll give you some more information about the university and town life. Perhaps it sounds like we're selling this community for gain...but our interest is simply to share our experience with those of like-minds.

Calendar of Events through Easter

Special Events for Easter:

April 4th - Lenten Retreat (Saturday)

8:30 a.m. - Confessions

9:00 a.m. - Holy Mass

10:30 a.m. - First Conference

11:10 a.m. - Rosary

11:30 a.m. - Second Conference

12:00 Noon - Adoration of the Most Blessed

Sacrament and Confessions

12:45 p.m. - Benediction of the Blessed

Sacrament

April 9th - Holy Thursday

7:00 p.m. - High Mass, Procession and

Adoration until midnight

April 10th - Good Friday

Noon - Stations of the Cross

6:30 p.m. - Liturgy of the Lord's Passion

April 11th - Holy Saturday

8:30 p.m. - Easter Vigil

April 12th - Easter Sunday

8:00 a.m. - Low Mass

10:15 a.m. - High Mass

Palm Sunday - Change of Schedule

A change of schedule for next Sunday was announced at Mass this morning.

The Sunday Low Mass will be held as usual at 8:00 a.m. Blessing of Palms ceremonies and Procession has been scheduled for 9:30 a.m. which will be followed by High Mass.

A pretty sucessful prognostigator predicts the naming of St. Louis Archbishop in a couple of days

Rocco Palmo who writes the Whispers in the Loggia blog and who has a good track-record of correctly predicting appointments of bishops and other Roman news, is suggesting in a recent post that a successor to Archbishop Burke is imminent...perhaps in just a couple of days. In the meantime he reports on the appointment of orthodox bishop, Salvatore Cordileone of San Diego as the new Bishop of Oakland.

Masonic "agitation and propaganda" in France

According to a recent poll as published by Rorate-Caeli, 43% of French Catholics want Pope Benedict out. There are other equally disturbing statistics published in this posting which we suggest that you take a look at.

According to the survey they also want the Church to change its discourse and its positions on homosexuality (69%), remarriage for the divorced (77%), and contraception (85%). France and the rest of Europe is now reaping the fruits of its four decades of ultra-liberalism along with four decades of the Church losing its influence because of failure to educate and form Catholic minds in truly Catholic theology and philosophy.

We truly have a beautiful church!!!

“Let the earth also rejoice, illumined with such resplendent rays; and enlightened with the brightness of the eternal King, let it feel that the darkness of the whole world is dispersed."

...from prayers of the Easter Vigil

Reader, Kevin Koster, sent this image shot on his cellphone right before 8:00 a.m. Mass this morning. What is so remarkable is how the rising sun shoots in from the various stained glass windows and lights up the altar and entire sanctuary in a splendid manner. As the sun moves higher in the east, its light illuminates new parts of the church. At about 8:10 a.m., the sun lingers like a spotlight on the tabernacle and the crucifix above it. It is a remarkable experience on a bright clear morning. It is not only beautiful but also inspirational. Most surprising is the fact that one usually associates the downtown urban canyons as dark, windy and turbulent. Not so at Old St. Patrick. The morning sun is visually bright and calm. No surburban church could compete in setting and effect.

If you're a reader that hasn't visited our church yet, please make a point to try it soon.

Polish Easter Baskets - A Holy Saturday Tradition

Reader, Martha Wisniewski, sent us this most interesting run-down on a Polish Easter tradition...preparation of and the blessing of baskets.

In Poland and perhaps other Eastern European countries they prepare a special Easter Basket to be blessed by the Priest on Holy Saturday. The people work all week on the food for Easter, but until after Holy Saturday none can be eaten.

I asked Canon Avis if he would bless a basket if I brought one. He will. It is a wonderful tradition for a family to assemble and discuss what is put into the basket.

Items for the basket:

Colored eggs. In Poland they can be painted and carved wooden eggs, but most times it is the Pisanki eggs. These are the ones dipped in a succession of color and then the color covered in wax, then the next color, then more wax until the egg is completely covered in wax. Then the wax is removed to reveal the designs. The designs also have various symbolic meanings. There are also Skrobanki eggs where a design was scratched on to them. Oklejanki eggs are ones with a succession of papers glued and sealed.

You would have sausage, ham, bread, butter, salt and horseradish. Flowers from your garden, perhaps a bottle of wine if your basket is large enough.

Eggs: symbolize life, spring and the Resurrection.

Bread: Christ, who is the bread of Life

Sausage/Ham: the abundance and God's generosity.

Horseradish: the passion of Christ

Salt: prosperity

Butter: good will. It usually pressed into a mold to make a lamb. As Jesus is the Lamb of God

Flowers: Joy (whatever you have blooming, pussy willows are good too)

You line your basket with fine small linens (large napkin size), stitched with flowers or religious symbols. Keep covered until they are ready to be blessed.

At home after your basket has been blessed, boiled eggs in the shells are cut into wedges. The head of the family carries a plate to each member of the family to take a piece of the egg and wish a Happy Easter.

Easter Monday is known as Smigus Dyngus or Wet Monday where people will sprinkle or completely douse each other with water. Why? Because Prince Mieszko was married and baptized on Easter Monday in 966 and the whole nation was baptized along with him.

In Poland Easter is celebrated all week long. Not just on Sunday.

Since Poland does not have palm trees they use straw to fashion flowers, dye them and weave wheat as well. Those are blessed and used on Palm Sunday and can also be placed in your basket.