Thursday July 31 marks the feast day of St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order. The Jesuits are well-known for, among many other things, education of young people, running many schools from grade schools to colleges. It is important to them that people learn the Catholic faith and are able to defend it, so ideally this is a focus for their teaching. Not everyone is able to receive a solid education in Catholicism, however. Some people are forced to learn the faith on their own, which can seem more overwhelming than it’s worth. Others are misled in the educational institutions where they learn, and without any other source of reference these people might continue on in ignorance of the truth of their faith. It is imperative, therefore, that Catholic parents take seriously this role of teacher for their children when it comes to learning about Catholicism, no matter what other education their children receive.

Having gone to public school from fifth grade through high school, my own knowledge of the faith was not necessarily where it could or should have been. It would have been much worse, however, had it not been for my parents. A parent’s example can make an incredibly important impression on children, who watch what their parents do and listen to what they’re saying even when it’s not directed at the kids. What children learn within the family and from their parents is often either the foundation for a solid knowledge in the faith, or the cause of children disregarding their faith beyond Mass on Sunday (if even that), not realizing that it’s something they should be living all the time.

By the time children go out on their own, the foundation they received at home will either show its strengths or its cracks. This is especially true when people head off to college or move out of the house. For many, it is the first time in their lives that they won’t have a parent pressuring them to go to church regularly, or to keep up with anything religion-related in their lives. Lots of people fall away from their faith during this time, enjoying the new-found freedom without parents around.

The role of parents in their children’s catechetical foundation should not be downplayed in its importance. Parents are the first introduction children have to faith and religion, whether good or bad. It is the duty of Christian parents to pass that on to their children and raise them in the faith even if the children get religious education elsewhere. Once those kids do head off to college, parents should also help guide their children to colleges that will be a right fit as well as continue to help them grow in the faith. It may be possible to increase and strengthen knowledge of Catholicism no matter what college a person goes to, but my own experience has taught me that being at a school that encourages and fosters further education in the faith can be very beneficial. While I doubt that I would have fallen away from my faith during college, having the example of others there who did more than just go to Mass on Sunday (similar to the example my parents set for me when I was younger) brought me into a fuller and deeper understanding of Catholicism that only continues to grow today. My parents had some suggestions for me when I was deciding between colleges, and they encouraged me to go to a school where my faith would be enhanced and nurtured rather than hindered. Obviously picking a Catholic university doesn’t guarantee that a student’s faith will be strengthened, but if there is a strong Catholic culture it can be much easier than at a school where students have to go looking for anything Catholic. The same is true at home - it’s normally easier to live one’s faith when the home environment stimulates instead of stifles learning about and experiencing Catholicism.

The new school year will be starting soon. Kids will be going back to school - public schools, private schools, home schools, colleges. Parents shouldn’t forget to help them grow in their faith while they grow in their education. Books like the Didache series, parent resources found in our Catholic Home School section, and books on helping high schoolers pick the right college such as Choosing the Right College and Preparing Your Faith for College are great for parents to help keep their kids on the right path when it comes to their faith.

We have a few 2008 Sunday Missal and Hymnal books leftover but we still need to clear them out so we are offering the following special:

Whoever purchases the last copy we have in stock will get their entire order that included the missal, up to $200 value for free. We will refund you after the order ships.

The missals are only $2.50 (50% off retail). $2.50 isn’t much to pay for a chance to win $200 in free merchandise, especially when you get a missal that you can use every Sunday at Mass for the rest of the year.

The number we currently have on hand does not match what our system thinks are in inventory so don’t bother trying to get our system to tell you what’s left.

This week’s new items include an important forthcoming book by Pope Benedict XVI, a new line of leather corded jewelry which we think will have special appeal for younger Catholics, the entire selection of John Michael Talbot’s CDs, a new and important part of the acclaimed Great Adventure Bible Study and, finally, a wonderful reproduction of the most beloved painting ever made of Saint Paul - ideal for the Year of St. Paul!

This new book by Pope Benedict XVI, part of his ongoing catechesis on the Early Church, is now available for pre-order:

We’re carrying a new line of leather-corded Catholic jewelry, perfect for the younger Catholic. To see the whole selection, go here.

Most of John Michael Talbot’s CDs are available again now that his religious community, the Little Brothers and Sister of the Poor, are distributing them. To view the entire selection, including his new CD Living Water, which is his 50th, go here.

A new part of the Great Adventure Bible Study has recently come out, the First Corinthians study. We highly recommend this series, for both personal and group study.

Finally, we found some wonderful reproductions (on canvas even!) of the famous and beloved painting of St. Paul the Apostle by the great Italian painter, Pompeo Batoni.

As always, we hope that you have a wonderful week. God bless.

The Briarhurst is considered a jewel of fine dining in the Colorado Springs area:

Only a few minutes drive west of Colorado Springs, The Briarhurst Manor is located in the tiny valley of Manitou Springs. The stately Victorian Manor House was built in 1876 by the founder of Manitou Springs, Dr. William Bell, of London England.

The finely grained pink sandstone Tudor Manor displays the architecture and landscaping of an English Country House, complete with the bubbling Fountain Creek passing through the estate and offers an unrivaled view of Pikes Peak. The Briarhurst Manor is listed on the National Historic Registry in Washington, D.C. Today you can visit a true glimpse of the old west at this beautifully preserved fairytale mansion.

We always get buy one, get one coupons for our anniversary and birthday’s and this year we decided to take advantage of the offer for my birthday.

The food is always a superb selection of Colorado native dishes and they include a small sampler of some unique creation before the meal to whet your appetite and include a small serving of sherbet between the salad and main course. If you want to spend your life savings on a bottle of wine, this is the place to do it.

On this visit we noticed a couple of little things that took the restaurant down a notch in our eyes.

• The black table cloth they put over the white table cloth had a couple of food spots on it. Whoever cleared the table had brushed off the crumbs instead of changing the cloth.
• Our server had a few too many piercings (tongue, nose, multiple ear). If this was McDonald’s, I could understand this laxity in the dress code but at one of the finest restaurants you should expect that your servers will be clean-cut, normal people who don’t distract from your meal with their tongue studs.
• The  bread came with three different butters, one of which had edible flowers in it. My wife asked the server what kind of flowers they were and the server promised to check but never gave us the answer.

These really aren’t show-stopping complaints and if we had been at a lower quality restaurant, I wouldn’t have even noticed. But we were at one of the premier restaurants in the city and our expectations were higher.

Keep this in mind as you improve your business. You want to be the best in your niche but if being the best includes an implied guarantee of quality, your whole operation has to be on board with the level you set. Having varying levels of quality in your business creates uncertainty for your customers which results in discomfort and wariness. They will start thinking “If they are cutting corners here, where else are they cutting corners?”. You have to have consistency or you will disappoint and disappointed customers will find other places to do business.

Yep, we’re expecting baby number nine! Everything is going fine so far. Baby Lilac is due in early February.

The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules!

From the start the Joker pulls back the curtain on true evil, showing the world to be horrifying place when morality is thrown out the window and replaced with chaos, lawlessness and an ends-justify-the means mentality.

Other villains have come and gone, but the Joker should remain imprinted on people because he is evil with all the glamor and ambiguity stripped away. He lies about everything, he relishes in goading good people to break rules, he destroys things and people for fun and he does it all for evil’s sake.

See, I’m not a monster…I’m just ahead of the curve.

“What is truth?” “What is good?” “Why do the good guys have to play by the rules?” are all questions that flesh out this movie into something far more serious than your typical action movie.

If there was an essay entitled “How to watch a movie,” this  would be the first one under the category of “Yes, it may be entertaining, but what’s the message?” There are plenty of entertaining movies out there but you always have to be asking yourself “What’s the movie trying to say?” If the message is corrupt, no entertainment value can redeem it. Think about how many movies glamorize crime. As entertaining Gone in Sixty Seconds was, there really isn’t any redeeming value to the film. On the other hand, movies with good messages that lack good directing and acting are almost worse since they can turn people off to the message.

The Dark Knight manages to address the big issues of morality AND entertain. I hope that those who see it will talk more about what was said than about a semi-truck flipping end over end.

Because he’s the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now…and so we’ll hunt him, because he can take it. Because he’s not a hero. He’s a silent guardian, a watchful protector…a dark knight.

So, what is good? How should people live? The movie looks at three different answers. The first, is the Joker’s option - “a world without rules” where power is all that matters and civilization is only a veneer over the general evil at the heart of everyone. The Joker relishes in corrupting people and there are echoes of Christ’s temptation in the desert as the Joker tries to at different times goad Batman into running over him with a motorcycle, pummel him to death or drop him off a building. The Joker is so repulsive that his answer to the question is easily dismissed.

You thought we could be decent men in an indecent world. But you were wrong; the world is cruel, and the only morality in a cruel world is chance.

I took Gotham’s white knight, and lowered him to our level. It wasn’t hard. Y’see, madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it takes is a little…push.

The second possible answer is given by Harvey Dent after he becomes Two-Face. He is broken by the death of his future fiance and the Joker taunts him into taking “justice” into his own hands by murdering the people who may or may not have been involved. He actually takes his justice one step further by flipping a coin to see who lives and dies, so you can’t even say that he is a vigilante dealing out justice in a corrupt city. This view of the world is the godless, everything is chance view where there is no fixed morality, only random chance that determines people’s fate. Again, this view of the world is dismissed as unacceptable because there ARE rules and there IS a fixed notion of good and evil.

You truly are incorruptible aren’t you? You won’t kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness, and I won’t kill you, because you’re just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever.

The final view of the world is Batman’s view - right and wrong, good and evil are real things that can be bench marked. The Joker spends the whole movie trying to tempt Batman and others into violating morals and doesn’t seem to understand why anyone wouldn’t rather play by “the ends justify the means.” Batman refuses to kill the Joker, or anyone else for that matter, because criminals deserve to have a trial and go to jail. True justice isn’t killing those you think are guilty, true justice, even in a city where the justice system is corrupt, is to give criminals their day in court.

Another point made near the end of the movie is that you can’t kill others in cold blood, even criminals, to save your own life.

Sometimes, truth isn’t good enough, sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.

The final point that the movie makes that reminds of a line from Secondhand Lions is “Some things are worth believing in even when they aren’t true.” Some may object that this is tantamount to lying but what it really is is charity. Batman takes the fall at the end of the movie for Two-Face’s rampage in order to preserve Harvey Dent’s image as Gotham’s “white knight.” There isn’t any good served by destroying the character of Harvey since he is dead. In a similar way, the recent attempts at deconstructing the Founding Fathers serves no purpose except to destroy the character of men who don’t deserve to have their character destroyed.

All in all, The Dark Knight is one of the best morality plays to hit the screen in years. Hopefully the special effects won’t overshadow the message of the movie.

Today, July 24, is the feast day of St. Charbel Makhluf of Lebanon.

Today the Church celebrates the holy memory St. Charbel Makhlouf, a Maronite Catholic monk from Lebanon, known for his piety, and called by many the hermit of Lebanon and the Wonder Worker of the East. Charbel was born Youssef Antoun Makhlouf in 1828, in North Lebanon. His father died when he was only a child, and the boy was raised by his uncle, who opposed Makhlouf’s piety. He sneaked away at the age of 23 to join the Baladite monastery of St. Maron at Annaya. This is where he took on the name Charbel (sometimes also spelled Sharbel) in memory of a convert who was martyred during the persecutions of Emperor Trajan in the early 2nd century.

For a time, Charbel was sent to a monastery in Kiffan to study philosophy and theology in preparation for his ordination, which took place in 1853. He then returned to the St. Maron monastery, where for 16 years he performed his ministry and monastic duties with an undivided heart. After 16 years of this, he was granted permission to live as a hermit on a nearby hillside. He lived there in solitude, in total abandonment to the Lord, for the next 23 years, until his death. Many  miracles have been attributed to St. Charbel since his death, including a bloody sweat that flowed from his body several times between 1927 and 1950 and the healing of many pilgrims who had visited Charbel’s grave or had seen the saint in visions. St. Charbel was canonized in 1977 by Pope Paul VI. His tomb remains a popular destination for pilgrims, both Lebanese and non-Lebanese, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox. St. Charbel is one of the Incorruptibles, saints whose earthly bodies have not decomposed after death - from the time of the early Church, this has been considered a sign of very great sanctity.

St. Charbel belonged to the Maronite Church of Lebanon and the Near East, comprising one of the largest groups of Arab Christians in the world. This sui juris church is one of the Eastern Catholic churches in communion with Rome. Fore more information on the Eastern Catholic churches, please visit our Eastern Catholicism specialty store. We also recommend this book:

A Prayer for the Intercession of St. Charbel

O Merciful Father, through the Holy Spirit, you chose Saint Charbel as a voice crying in the wilderness. His monastic life is an example to Your Church. In the Scriptures he discovered Your Holiness as Word Made Flesh, and darkness gave way to light. In the Eucharist he encountered Your Divinity as Bread of Life, and the poverty of this world gave way to the treasures of Your Kingdom. In prayer he experienced Your Silence as Mystery Present, and lonelieness gave way to communion. Through the Virgin Mother he embraced Your Son as Lover of Mankind, and hostility gave way to hospitality. We now beseech You, through his intercession, to change our hearts of stone to hearts of flesh, and to grant our special request …. We give praise to You, Your Only Begotten Son, and to Your Holy Spirit. Amen.

St. Charbel, pray for us and for the persecuted Church in the Middle East.

July 25, 2008 marks the 40^th anniversary of the encyclical Humanae Vitae, written by Pope Paul VI. In the encyclical, the unitive and procreative aspects of sex are explained and emphasized as equally important, to the point where neither can be denied, ignored, or interfered with. It affirmed that contraception is an intrinsic evil and cannot be accepted.

Humanae Vitae is often regarded by people on both sides of the argument as a very controversial and divisive teaching. Some people believe that it is a wonderful and prophetic encyclical, which the Church was right to put forth and reaffirm the teachings on contraception which had been in place for the whole history of the Church. Others, however, believe that it represented a true separation of the Church from the “real world,” and that the Church was wrong not to change its stance on contraception as many believed it would. It was the release of Humanae Vitae that caused large numbers of people to begin publicly dissenting from the Church, especially about matters of sexuality.

Pope Paul VI believed that if contraceptive use became common practice, it would lead to some very negative consequences for society. He predicted greater infidelity in marriages, a widespread lowering of morality, men objectifying women and using them as objects of pleasure instead of beloved partners, and even governments taking this contraceptive mentality and turning it into a requirement for their citizens - as the encyclical asks, “Who will blame a government which in its attempt to resolve the problems affecting an entire country resorts to the same measures as are regarded as lawful by married people in the solution of a particular family difficulty?” The Pope also believed that by using contraception, humans would come to think they have complete dominion over their bodies, which can be seen today in immoral practices such as in-vitro fertilization, euthanasia, and others that show how unwilling humans today are to accept our bodies the imperfect way they are - even abortion can be seen as a result that stems from this.

As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, we are able to step back and see that the consequences of contraceptive use predicted by Pope Paul VI were not very far off. Contraceptive use has not helped to strengthen marriages - the divorce rate has been continually increasing since contraception became common practice. With the perceived “threat” of children supposedly eliminated, there is no need for personal responsibility when it comes to sex. Premarital sex is more prevalent than ever, and divorce and infidelity are all too common. In addition, seeing children as this threat almost inevitably leads to a mindset that considers it permissible, and in some cases even preferable, to end unexpected and unwanted pregnancies in abortion rather than accept responsibility.

For many Catholics today who are trying to stay faithful to the Church’s teaching on chastity and sexuality, it’s easy to get disheartened when many surveys of the population - Catholic and non-Catholic alike - seem to indicate that we are fighting a losing battle. There is hope, though. Increasing numbers of people are beginning to accept what the encyclical says, or at least are becoming aware of it and further investigating the reasoning behind the teaching. More and more young Catholics are realizing the benefits of Humanae Vitae and are becoming strong advocates for it. As people stop dismissing it as outdated and unimportant without even bothering to read the encyclical, perhaps more will begin to see the wisdom it contains and start to follow it.

Couples can greatly benefit from the truths found in Humanae Vitae, and it is a wonderful resource to have. All Catholics should read this encyclical at least once. Buy a copy as an inexpensive gift for any couples you know - married, engaged, or even just people wanting to know more about the Church’s teaching on contraception. Visit the Theology of the Body store to check out all our great books on Pope John Paul II’s deep and beautiful talks as well, which go into more explanation on the topics found in Humanae Vitae as well as other relevant topics that explore the nature of the human person. For an easy introduction to the talks, a book such as Theology of the Body for Beginners is a great resource.

To read more about forty years with Humanae Vitae, read Janet Smith’s essay on the topic here.

Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. Mary Magdalene.

Known as the “Greatest Penitent,” St. Mary Magdalene was among the earliest disciples of Our Lord. She was “at the foot of the cross” with the Mother of Our Lord. It was to St. Mary Magdalene that the Risen Lord first appeared. In the early Church, she was often known as “the apostle to the Apostles.”

Writings from the early Church tell us that she was the companion of the Mother of Jesus during the last years of the Blessed Mother’s earthly life and that she accompanied St. John, the Beloved Disciple, and the Blessed Mother when they left Palestine.

Read the fascinating book about St. Mary Magdalene by the German mystic, Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, to learn more about the remarkable life of this holy woman whose life exemplifies the great love, mercy and forgiveness that Our Lord offers:

We also recommend reading Amy Welborn’s wonderful book, debunking all the outrageous myths concerning this great saint and her relationship to Our Lord:

No one has offered a greater prayer in honor of St. Mary Magdalene than St. Anselm, who lived in the 12th century. To read the prayer he composed in her honor, go here.

O St. Mary Magdalene, now with the Lord in His heavenly kingdom, pray for us that we may have the certain faith and the humble repentance that you had. Amen.

This week we have some especially exciting new items to tell you about!

As you probably know, the cause for the canonization of Cardinal Newman is progressing rapidly. This is particularly timely due to the rapid disintegration of the Anglican churches. Cardinal Newman, himself a convert from the Anglican church, has much to say to those who might consider becoming Catholic. Many publishers have brought books by Cardinal Newman back into print. We added all of them that we could find and you can see them all by going here.

We recently added CDs by award-winning Canadian singer/composer Mark Mallett. If you haven’t heard Mark sing before, you are in for a pleasant surprise - he has a beautiful voice. Marks’ Divine Mercy CD, which includes the Stations of the Cross, is the most beautiful audio presentation of the Divine Mercy Chaplet that any of us have heard. On the CD Mark is joined by Fr. Don Calloway, who prays the Stations.

This year is the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady at Lourdes to the young St. Bernadette. In honor of this event, we have created an Our Lady of Lourdes specialty store and we have added some very beautiful new Lourdes items.

In October of this year, a new book from Mother Angelica will be released. We’re certain this one will be an instant bestseller! You may preorder your copy now and we will ship it out to you as soon as it arrives. Like her previous bestseller, this one also is edited and introduced by Raymond Arroyo.

We’ve had many requests for these unique and beautiful Christmas items, known as the Gifts of the Three Kings. The sets of gold, frankincense and myrrh come in a couple different sizes. We think this is a wonderful way to honor and remember the gifts of the Magi during the holy season of Christmas.

Finally, a wonderful newly published (yet very old book) by St. Alphonsus Liguori on a topic very near and dear to all of us. We recommend everyone read this book and benefit from the inspired words of one of the greatest spiritual directors of all time.

As always, we hope that you have a wonderful week. God bless.