St. Katherine Drexel and the Future of Catholic Philanthopy in America

Today we celebrate an extraordinary American Saint of the Catholic Church, Katherine Drexel of Pennsylvania. Her story raises some interesting questions about America's new pattern of imposing on the religious freedoms of its most philanthropic allies.
Mother Katharine founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People. The American government had turned their back on these people in the late 19th century so a private rich person, a true 1% er, worth over $200,000,000 by today's standards, spent her own money to come to their aid. The title of the community she founded summed up the two great driving forces in her life—devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, and love for the most deprived people in her country.
She didn't stop there. She went on to found approximately 60 schools, Sixty!!!!  The most famous foundation was made in 1915; Xavier University, New Orleans, the first such institution for Black people in the United States. The First!
Today, during his homily, Father Larry asked us to pray for the next generation of millionaires and billionaires to be so generous with the world's forgotten. Then he bravely posed this question:  "With the anti-Catholic policies of the current administration, imposing more and more limits on religious freedom and individual liberties, would God allow the next Katherine Drexel to use her fortune to create institutions that would be forced to participate in procedures that violate the conscience of the Church? Probably not. Probably not.

Waking The Sleeping Giant That Is The Catholic Church

The Catholic League has issued a call to action over President Obama's mandate that Catholic Hospitals must act against their faith in connection with providing birth control options to patients. Will this work? Is this the age of martyrs some are predicting?  It just may be.

It has been said that there was no "Evangelical Right Wing" voting block in this country until Roe V. Wade was handed down by the Supreme Court 39 years ago. That woke up a sleeping giant and they have been a voting force ever since. If the U.S. Catholics voted as one block we could accomplish amazing things for the entire world.

I read recently the claim that "98% of Catholics use birth control." I don't believe that. Most Catholics probably have used various birth control methods forbidden by the Church at one point in their lives. I did, and I regret it. I confessed it, was forgiven by God's infinite mercy' and I moved on. Sad that enemies of the Church are now picking apart our religion and making new rules for us because not enough of us are good Catholics....according to our enemies.

The support for Obama among Catholics in 2008 was shocking to me. I recoiled from him when he claimed that he went to this high profile church for 22 years but didn't know what they preached. Today Hugh Hewitt called Obama's the most anti-Catholic administration since the Blaine Amendment era. It's hard to be a good Catholic, but it's easy to refrain from voting for Barack Obama. We can all do at least that. It doesn't mean you have to vote for a Republican.  Vote for someone who will at least not work against the Church.  It's not a sin to ignore the major candidates and write in someone who shares your values. However,  according to Archbishop Cardinal Raymond Burke, one can not "in good conscience" vote for Obama if one knows his positions on life issues. Now you know them.

The sleeping giant might truly be awakening. Recently, major Catholic Obama supporter and  Ambassador to Malta Doug Kmiec  announced he's rethinking his fantasy that the most pro-abortion senator could morph into a president that would protect religious liberties.  I knew this would never work, you knew it. Why didn't they? I'll admit that if you offer me an Ambassadorship to Malta, I would be tempted. So let's give this guy the benefit of the doubt and welcome him to the Catholic Army that is poised to be the deciding factor in picking the next president.


As Father  Ed Broom, OMV says, "Martyrdom? No better way to go."

The Catholic Podcast You've Been Waiting For

The Catholic Ignatian Marian Spirituality podcast is not for Cafeteria Catholics, or anyone looking for a shortcut to Heaven. However, any Christian could benefit from them. You don't have to be Catholic to get something out of St. Ignatius and his Spiritual Exercises. It always amazes me how far people will go to seek out some kind of exotic spirituality to sate their inner desire for answers. In Hollywood it's very popular (and unoriginal) to seek this out in Buddhism, or Kabbala, or anything that is more "hip" than the bible.

I've got news for the Russel Brands of the world. You're over thinkking it. You don't need to find the coolest "yogi" in the Far East to get what you are looking for. The Catholics have it. Why wouldn't they? We're talking over two thousand years of  refinement. Do you think Pope John Paul The Great, or his brilliant successor Benedict XVI are pretenders? What do these master theologians and learned scholars know that you don't know? Wouldn't you want to find out?

You may have heard me interview Father Edward Broom, OMV on EWTN Radio's St. Joseph Radio Presents. He's always the most popular guest I have, and he is on fire over at Radio Guadalupe as well. If you can make it to Hawaiian Gardens, California for his valuable and popular Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Program, you are very blessed. This important program teaches you Catholic meditation through St. Ignatius' inspired materials from the 16th century. The Beatles, Richard Geer, Madonna, and others have traveled far and wide in a search for spiritual answers. As is often true about many questions, the answers were right at home all the time. You just have to be humble enough to accept that this may be true.

For those that can't make it to the Exercises in a formal setting, at least you can learn serious Catholic doctrine in line with the official magisterium of Rome right here in these podcasts. Suggested reading to accompany these talks would include The Autobiography Of St. Ignatius and Meditation and Contemplation by Timothy Gallagher.

Viva Cristo Rey: Back For 1 Day By Popular Demand

We saw this and it was very moving. Every Catholic, every Mexican, every American should see it. You all have one last chance. Don't blow it.

This is a great commercial highlighting why it's important to take the Catholic church seriously. If you haven't been attending mass, you can surely find something in here that can inspire you to get back and help carry on the good works of this holy organization. Do you have something more noble to do with your short life here on earth?

Soylent Pepsi Is People?

Several pro-life groups have called for a boycott of all Pepsico products in light of the company's refusal to follow Cambell Soup's lead and  sever ties with Senomix, a San Diego based company that allegedly uses aborted fetal tissue to develop flavor enhancers used by Pepsi in an attempt to make their soda taste as good as Coke, I'm assuming.

Pepsico makes so many products that it would be pretty hard (for me anyway) to sustain a full boycott of all their stuff, but everyone could at least write a letter and ask them to consider other techniques for flavor enhancing that don't rely on aborted fetuses. If they don't use aborted fetuses, maybe they could clear up the controversy by saying so, and denouncing such practices. It's just gross. I thought these things were going to be used to fight diseases?
Last time I checked, suffering through a bowl of less than perfect Captain Crunch was not a disease.  Let them know what you think:

Jamie Caulfield, Sr. VP
PepsiCo, Inc.
700 Anderson Hill Road
Purchase, NY 10577
(914) 253-2000
Email form.

Lucky You! Exceptional Catholic Theology, Now Available On Youtube

I've often prayed that the whole world could get a taste of the great talks we are always getting at St. Peter Chanel in Hawaiian Gardens, CA. Now you can. Fr. Edward Broom, OMV has just started a Youtube Channel you should subscribe to right away.
What's it like to go to belong to a parish with 5 extremely holy priests at your service? With confessions during every mass? (When I say every mass, I mean during the 6 daily masses and 9 sunday masses.) With thousands of parishioners who have been formed in the Spritual Excercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola? With classes almost every day going on somewhere on the campus?
If you watch Fr. Broom, and keep with him as he navigates through the technical world of video making and uploading (something extremely foreign to him until now),  you will find out what it's like, and the blessings in your life will increase exponentially. This is the real deal, Catholics. It's not whitewashed, it's not modern. It's 2000 year old theology, as it was meant to be disseminated.