Day of Prayer for the Canonization of Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen with a Reflection by Fr. Andrew Apostoli, CFR, on his Cause for Canonization will be held on Sunday, November 18th, at 12:00 noon at the Church of the Holy Innocents in Manhattan (128 W. 37th Street).  The day begins with Mass at 10:00 AM (Missale Romanum1962) celebrated by Fr. Peter Stravinskas.  Admission to Fr. Apostoli’s Reflection in the Church Hall is $10 (including refreshments).  After the Reflection, there will be a Holy Hour with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at 2:00 PM in the Church.  The day concludes with Vespers and Benediction at 3:00 PM.

Fr. John Berg, FSSP, Superior Generalof the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, will celebrate a Solemn Mass for the Feast of St. Frances Cabrini on Tuesday, November 13th at 6 PM at the Church of the Holy Innocents in Manhattan.  After Mass Fr. Berg will make a presentation about the Priestly Fraternity and answer questions in the Church Hall. There will be a reception with refreshments following the presentation.

The St. Cecilia Society of St. Mary Church is pleased to present its annual benefit concert in honor of St. Cecilia on Friday, November 9 at 7:30 pm. The St. Mary Schola Cantorum, under the direction of David Hughes, will sing a program of sacred music entitled the Music of Dedication. This concert is the single annual fundraiser to support the work of the Schola Cantorum, which sings each Sunday at the 9:30 am Solemn Mass. A reception will follow the concert.

Posted by Father Greg Markey in the St. Mary Church Bulletin, October 28, Norwalk, CT

There is a growing epidemic rushing through our country unlike anything we have ever seen in history. Even though it has entered into our homes, our marriages, and even reached our children, leaving havoc in its wake, the media will not mention it. What is it? Pornography.

Today, pornography is a multi-billion dollar industry and it does not seem to be slowing down. Through the internet and our iPhones, Pornography is overwhelming huge numbers, particularly as I see it, Catholic men, and it is hard to underestimate the terrible effect it is having on husbands and their families today. Porn addiction is like any other addictive drug. It is a form of slavery, leaving one feeling empty and guilty, yet searching for more. In his heart man knows that with pornography he has lost his God-given dignity, his freedom, and become a slave to his passions. Thankfully, many regularly come to the Sacraments to receive healing and strength. Trusting in Divine Mercy is always the answer.

Pornography is destructive for various reasons but perhaps most importantly because it strikes at the heart of our interior life and numbs our spiritual senses to the invisible realities that necessarily guide our life. “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). Purity is the necessary condition to seeing the invisible world. One has only to think of the purity of innocent children and their amazing capacity to see God’s presence all around them.

Yet the first effect of impurity is blindness of understanding: one can no longer see spiritual realities and the thought of eternity disappears. As St. Alphonsus Ligouri writes, “When a raven finds a dead body, its first act is to pluck out the eyes; and the first injury that incontinence inflicts on the soul is to take away the light of the things of God.”

Man’s fallen nature is so weak that he must recognize the need for God’s grace to live purity. St. Alphonsus writes, “Man cannot of himself acquire the virtue of chastity: God alone can give it.” Prudence therefore dictates that we must avoid the near occasion of sin and beg the Lord in prayer to receive the grace of chastity. Some of the saints have recommended three Hail Mary’s in the morning and at night in honor of Our Lady’s purity as a proven practice to obtain this grace.

Some suffer from unchastity precisely because they are too self-reliant and proud, and the Lord therefore does not immediately bestow the gift. St. Alphonsus states that humility is as necessary as self-control in the fight for chastity: “It happens, not infrequently, that God chastises the proud by permitting them to fall into some sin against purity.”

The great promise given to us by the Lord is that for those who humbly acknowledge their weakness, prudently avoid near occasions of sin, and ask the Lord for help, the grace is always there to overcome the temptation. “God is faithful, and he will not let you to be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you will be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

In this technological age we live in, I also see a grave mistake being made by far too many parents and I wish I could warn them before it is too late. Parents who allow their children, particularly their teenage boys, to have unsupervised access to the internet are inviting impurity and destruction into their families. I wish more parents understood that boys are learning from the internet that girls are to be the plaything of men, mere objects of pleasure.

Absolutely no teenager should have a computer with internet access in his or her bedroom. A house computer should be in a public space, have internet filters installed, used only when the parents are supervising, and regularly checked for the history of the web searches. Once again, parents are making a grave error when they give their children unhindered access to the internet, in particular with their sons. It is not that they do not trust their boys, but that parents need to have a clear understanding of the effect of Original Sin, traditionally called concupiscence; and the parents who are not attentive to this weakness in their sons will learn to regret it later.

There are a number of good websites out there today to help men with addiction to pornography such as www.integrityrestored.com and www.pornharms.com. I have also left two very good pamphlets in the pamphlet racks called Breaking Free by Stephen Wood and The Pornography Pandemic by Patrick Trueman. I hope this will help create awareness of this epidemic and help for those who have hope of restoring their dignity after having lost their way through impurity. May Our Lady inspire and protect our families from this onslaught in our culture today.

strong>

From Most Holy Redeemer Church, New York

All Saints Day, Thursday November 1

St. Mary Church, Norwalk, CT, Solemn Mass, 5:30 pm

Holy Innocents Church, Manhattan, Low Mass 8:30 am, Solemn Mass 6 pm

Immaculate Conception Church, Sleepy Hollow, NY, Low Mass, 5 pm

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, Ironbound section of Newark, NJ, 7 pm

<
From St. Stephen’s Church, New York

All Souls Day, Friday, November 2

St. Mary Church, Norwalk, CT, Solemn Mass, 5:30 pm

St. Peter’s, Main Street, Hartford, CT. Traditional Requiem Mass at 7 PM followed by rosary, exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, readings and a second Traditional Mass at Midnight.

( NOTE: CANCELLED)St. Catherine of Siena, Manhattan, Missa Cantata in the Dominican Rite according to the 1962 Missal, 7 pm. For more information, see our link

Holy Innocents Church, Manhattan, Solemn Requiem Mass, 6 pm, Vespers and Compline (Office of the Dead), 9 pm

Immaculate Conception Church, Sleepy Hollow, NY, Requiem Mass, 7 pm

Our Lady of Mt Carmel, Newark, NJ, 7 pm

Please let us know about other churches in the area that have scheduled a Traditional Mass for these feast days.

On Thursday, December 13 at 7 PM the Society of St Hugh of Cluny will sponsor sung vespers in Honor of St Lucy at the Church of Our Saviour, East 38th Street and Park Avenue, New York. We thus continue our celebration this year of the heritage of the many peoples making up the Catholic population of New York by commemorating a saint especially revered in the seemingly wildly disparate regions of Scandinavia and Sicily.

Image from Our Lady of Pompeii

On Saturday, November 17th, The Society of Saint Hugh of Cluny invites you to the First Annual Hispanic Heritage Pilgrimage In Honor Of Our Lady of Divine Providence, Patroness of Puerto Rico.

Solemn Mass in the Extraordinary Form at 10 AM
The Church of Saint Catherine of Genoa
Between Amsterdam & Broadway
506 West 153rd Street New York, NY 10031

Followed by a visit to
The Hispanic Society of America
located on Audubon Terrace,
Broadway between 155 and 156 Streets
613 West 155th Street
New York, NY 10032

RSVP IF YOU INTEND TO VISIT THE MUSEUM

El Cid in the courtyard of the Museum complex.

The Museum is one of the greatest collections of Spanish art in the United States.

(Photo courtesy of Rodger Phillips)

From the recent Vigil of Reparation at St. Peter’s Church, Hartford. The photo shows exposition of the Blessed Sacrament that followed the first Traditional Mass. The sermons and readings were read by Fr. Diaz in Spanish and English. Hopefully this will be a monthly event in Hartford.

(Photo courtesy of Joel Pidel)

(Above) From the recent Ordinary Form Mass of the Catholic Artists Society at the Church of Our Saviour, New York. For more photos and music see HERE.