HE IS RISEN!!! Gloria In Excelsis Deo!

Happy Easter!

Litany Of The Saints ---Ora Pro Nobis!

I love it when our Cathedral thunders with the sounds of the faithful (choir included) singing the Litany of the Saints as we did at Easter Vigil a few hours ago...

To hear the Latin version (so beautiful), see below!

Happy Easter Vigil!

I've timed this post so that it appears while I'm in Philadelphia at the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul watching Archbishop Chaput celebrate the Easter Vigil Mass.  Enjoy!

THIS...WILL...NOT...STAND!!!

This video needs to go viral.  All the bishops in the US are standing firm on this issue, even the liberal progressive ones, many of whom likely voted for Obama.

Fr. Leo "Miniflips"-Off President Obama (Video)

...And in the process throws President Obama's own words back at him.  One by one Fr. Leo goes through several broken promises President Obama made regarding conscience clauses, birth control, and First Amendment rights.  Enjoy!

"Number One Killer" VIDEO

Today in church we had a Mass in Celebration of African American and African Catholic Faith and Culture in honor of Black History Month as well as Saint Josephine Bakhita, whose Feast Day was Wednesday.  It was a celebration of black culture as we listened to the Choir (visiting) from Saint Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church in Baltimore, MD, the oldest black church in the US, established in 1864.  And they were wonderful and inspiring.  The Sanctus was performed with  abundant reverence, IMHO.

So it seems fitting to shed light on the video above that was released in July of last year, but which has not gotten enough viewing...  Consider it my additional celebration of a black organization that refuses to remain silent about abortion and about Planned Parenthood's seeming attempt to decrease the black population.  I've mentioned them before:  The National Black Pro-life Coalition.

When Wishful Thinking Becomes Dangerous Demagoguery

This is frightening.  I heard some grumbling about it earlier last year, but paid it no heed, figuring it had no real basis.  But a blogger has put it all together, and you can read about it by clicking HERE.

When a president shows a long pattern of thinking out loud about ruling as a dictator, the once forbidden notion becomes "cutting edge" and argued among elites as though it were a reasonable notion.  See also HERE.

Hat tip:  MommyLife.

The Rebellion!

Just when we've convinced ourselves that the minds of our nation's children were sliding downward into oblivion, these kids have given us HOPE for the future.  This video of the March, made by a young fellow named Marc Barnes is terrific and lifts my spirits.  And I think I saw the Whoville girls in there!

Hat tips to The Thin Veil via OSV.

"Open Wide The Doors..."

2012 March For Life in Washington DC....Cold and Wet, But Determined!

In spite of the rain, in spite of the cold, the turnout for the 39th Annual March For Life looked as strong as last year.  People came from all over the country to celebrate life and to protest once again the unfortunate decision by the Supreme Court in the case of Roe Vs. Wade, legalizing abortion-on-demand.

I expected a lower turnout this year because of the rain, and also because most major cities are doing their own marching or walking (out west).  The fact that the crowd is every bit as large as before in DC tells me the pro-life movement is GROWING.

But because of the rain there were fewer banners and signs, and therefore fewer pictures for me to take.  Also, my camera is not waterproof!  But I met some fantastic people, including a barefoot Franciscan and four girls pictured below with interesting, Whoville hairdo's.

The marchers holding the banner this year are from Front Royal, VA, more specifically Christendom College  (See their video below).  They marched boldly, chanted loudly and did a wonderful job.  It's unfortunate, though,  that the police, in their effort to clear the streets of people so the marchers could pass through, waved a large portion of the crowd forward rather than sideways causing them to march ahead of the banner again this year.  Next year this will have to be stopped.

The resistance to the March was futile as usual, with only 25-30 so-called "pro-choice" people waiting for us at the Supreme Court building, taunting us with chants and occasional obscene gestures (typical liberal petulance).  Our numbers were in the low hundreds of thousands, perhaps 250,000 by my estimates.  The vast throng of humanity seemed to go on forever....

St. Blogustine welcomes readers from New Advent, Shameless Popery, Danielle Bean, OSV Daily Take, Fr. Longenecker from Standing On My Head, Faith On The High Wire, Little Catholic Bubble, Catholic Exchange, Adrienne's Corner. Jill Stanek, Stepping Out of The Boat (ArchDofNY), Filipino Families of Skokie, Unshakeable Hope, Get Religion, Dymphna's Road, The Oogedy Boogedy Blog, and The Anchoress.  St. Blogustine also wishes to welcome the foreign press, Forum Libertas (using Google Translator.).  Thanks so much for the links!  And if I've missed any links, please email me at StBlogustine@aol.com. 

Also, check out these posts from The Crescat, Mommy Life, Catholic Beat on Facebook, and Nice Deb who were also there.

Just in:  excellent Picasa photo collections (some of the best I've seen yet) from Niall O'Donnell and Tom McFadden.   You did great work on your video, too.  See bottom.

ALSO... Sister Lisa Marie at Nunspeak has a nice photo collection of the Walk For Life that occurred in San Francisco on Saturday.

Kids from Academy of the Holy Cross in Kensington, MD.  What great smiles!

"A person is a person, no matter how small!"

Baby feet hats.

Tough looking brothers

All for the Immaculate!

Fox News was there covering

Cold and wet, but spirits high

Not easy climbing Capital Hill while holding a banner in the rain

He's an annual fixture and great motivator

Kids from St. John Cantius in Chicago, always enthusiastic!

Takes guts to admit this.  These ladies got lots of hugs along the way.

Vulgar, obscene, loud-mouthed, pro-abortion occupiers.

40 degree weather and he's in bare feet!  One of Bishop Rhoades's radical Franciscans

VIDEO: "Why I Love Religion, And Love Jesus"

This one, although only just arriving on the scene (better late than never), seems to be the best response so far to Jefferson Bethke's video, Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus, which seems to have sold out to commerical advertising!

But this video above, filmed at Queen Of All Saints Basilica in Chicago, IL, (my own pics, HERE), features Fr. Pontifex and made by Spirit Juice Studios.  Looking forward to seeing more from these talented people.

Hat tip to CatholicVote.org

The Hate-Religion Video Everyone's Talking About...And The Video Response That Wins.

The top video is one that has been going viral on the internet, attacking religion for its hypocrisy while claiming to love Jesus without a church.  Both atheists and non-denominational protestants have latched onto it, while Catholics and most church-going Protestants have responded unfavorably for the most part.

The bottom video is a clever response from a priest whom I've never seen before, but hope to again, soon.  His rap is clever, relevant, and best of all....TRUE.  

Personally, I can identify with the young man in the top video.  It's where I was many years ago when I went to Catholic Mass out of curiosity, and found Catholics to be dead people who practiced a dead religion.  I'd look around at the expensive looking chalices, statues, paintings, and marbled alters, and wonder why the money wasn't spent on food for the poor.  I was young, foolish, and didn't understand.  I did not feel the need to dig deeper and see clearly.  The young man in the top video claims to have been among the double-minded who cleansed the outside of himself but was impure inside.  Does he not have himself to blame for his myopic vision?  Not all in the Church are as blind as he was.

Churches were built huge and beautiful to inspire man to aspire God.  Feed a hungry, uninspired man and you feed him for a day.  But tomorrow he is hungry again and every bit as uninspired as yesterday.  Those inspired by God will aspire to help those who cannot help themselves to become productive and fulfilled.  Such good works feed upon themselves and spread.

Here's another one just found...