How Catholic monks saved the day. On one bitter cold day in the year 406 AD, the Rhine River lay thick with ice, solid enough for hundreds of thousands of starving people to cross this icy bridge into a land we now called Europe. The unthinkable had happened. The mighty Roman empire had fallen and … Read moreWho Preserved Western Civilization?
Winter mornings in Maine are dark and bitter cold, hard as ice on the body and soul. I arise before dawn, eager for a steaming mug of hot tea. That must wait. My first task is to start the wood stove. I open the door and check for embers. On this eight below morning, all … Read moreThoughts by the Wood Stove
Radio theater is alive and well in the hands of a talented young man named Alex Dee. Alex first came to my attention through his masterful editing of archival footage in the movie Pray! The Story of Father Patrick Peyton (now Servant of God) who began a Rosary movement that attracted the Faithful from around … Read moreHeadline: Great New Podcast for Kids!
It was to be a quiet Christmas, with our farmhouse deep in snow and a blizzard bearing down, tracked by radar from the Kansas prairie. Treacherous road conditions cut us off from civilization. At noon on the day before Christmas, a dim sun rose, rimmed with a dark circle — an ominous sign. Bitter winds … Read moreChristmas in Maine
December 10 is the memorial to Our Lady of Loreto, a day that honors the the miraculous story of Mary’s house in Nazareth, the place where Jesus, Mary and Joseph lived. Here is the story. In the year 1291 a strange thing happened in the little town of Nazareth. On the morning of May 10th, … Read moreThe Holy House of Mary
Sofia, Bulgaria -Winter winds beat down on the old man. He pulled a threadbare coat tightly around his stooped body and shook snow out of peasant sandals. Despite fierce weather, he held out a tin cup to gratefully accept coins from pedestrians, never taking a penny for himself. Even at age 100, the beggar walked … Read moreThe Beggar of Bulgaria
How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization We are all familiar with the majestic St. Bernard dog, that gentle giant of the canine world. The fascinating origins of this breed go back to the year 1670, to the St. Bernard Hospice, a Benedictine monastery nestled high in the Swiss Alps. Pilgrims often traveled through the … Read moreWhere did the St. Bernard Dog Come From?
Rome, Italy, 1943. World War II rages and Rome is occupied by Nazi Germany. Italy has surrendered. Allied prisoners have been released from Italian prisons but still must elude capture by Nazi forces. Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty masterminds a rescue network to save them. As the sun set over Vatican City, a Catholic priest, tall in … Read more“When he steps over that line, I will torture and kill him!”
On May 22,1958, Doctor Jerome Lejeune leaned into his outdated microscope to study chromosomes taken from the tissue of a child with a genetic anomaly. With a sharp eye, he spotted something strange. Under typical circumstances, a baby is born with 46 chromosomes. This baby had as extra copy of chromosome 21. Lejeune leaned back … Read more“It was like a bomb was dropped!”
How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization Wrong! It was not Orville or Wilbur Wright. It was a Jesuit priest and mathematician named Francesco Lana de Terzi (1631-1687) who first described the physics and geometry of a flying machine. In 1670 he published a book in which he described a flying ship that was lighter … Read moreWho is the Father of Aviation?