Life Updates2021-12-06T17:31:59+00:00
2606, 2023

Balancing Meekness and Boldness

By |June 26th, 2023|

Earlier today, some conservative non-traditional Catholics on Twitter got mad at me for pointing out that what Pope John Paul II did in Assisi in 1986 was just as bad (or almost as bad) as the Pachamama event of 2019.  If you doubt the evil of Assisi '86, read this OnePeterFive article.  One paragraph in that article explains one of the most horrendous things that happened in Assisi in 1986: At this meeting, under [Pope John Paul II's] presidency, representatives of many Christian churches, together with an assortment of Hindus, Tibetan lamas, Japanese bonzes, tribal snake worshippers, and animists of all sorts performed their respective rites, some of the less mainstream officiants showing a little embarrassment at having to exhibit their customs outside the privacy of their native groves. For a day, the town of St. Francis was given over [...]

306, 2023

A Life in Pilgrimage

By |June 3rd, 2023|

If I met me, the question I would ask me is:  What do you do all day?  As I said on a recent podcast, the hermit-thing isn't a total farce or lurk.  I keep mornings entirely for prayer and exercise.  Doing the old Divine Office means a few hours of Psalms in Latin every day.  Perhaps because I didn't learn the old Roman Breviary in seminary (for we did the Liturgy of the Hours—something we traditionalists now call the Liturgy of the Minutes—since it is so short!) I didn't carve enough time out of my day at the beginning of my religious life for both several hours of prayer and daily exercise.  Or perhaps I just get cabin fever in my condo-hermitage. Either way, I go walking and praying as one event most days.  A large part of my day [...]

2105, 2023

Where Does Donor-Money Go?

By |May 21st, 2023|

Peregrino Hermitage Limited (PHL) is the charity I run.  PHL is approved by the Catholic Church, the Federal Government and the State of Colorado as a 501(c)(3.) We have a board of directors.  My diocese provides me with health insurance and dental insurance.  However, as I am not in parish life, I must raise my own salary for room, board and ministry expenses.  "Ministry expenses" include that which is necessary to teach the Catholic faith online to tens of thousands of Catholics (and non-Catholics) every month.  Except Zelle donations (which go to my personal account) all your donations to PHL on my Donate Page (whether online or via snail-mail checks) go to my charity and are tax-deductible.  A certain percentage of those donations obviously goes into savings for PHL.  But as far as annual expenses, the following (coordinated to the above pie-chart) [...]

2005, 2023

What’s In a Habit?

By |May 20th, 2023|

When I left diocesan life, but obviously remained a priest, it was time to design a habit. One question I got a few times was "Why don't you just model your habit after one religious order or another?" It's a pretty innocent question, but I would have to explain to people that it would be the equivalent of "stolen valor" in the military. The Franciscan habit is not just a way to look pious or homeless. The Dominican habit is not just a way to look clean or erudite in learning. The Carmelite habit is not just a way to look deep or quiet. All of these habits carry the spirituality of the founders, much as a Green Beret uniform carries a different code than the Navy SEAL uniforms. A uniform describes what you sacrifice for, what you believe, and [...]

2904, 2023

New Orleans Flashback

By |April 29th, 2023|

In the Spring of 2017, I was on loan to a TLM-parish in the diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, Louisiana. Gibson is in the bayou and I often point out I had alligators as closer geographic neighbors than humans. But I often spent time in New Orleans when I got lonely in the swamp. One day, I was walking near the horse track in New Orleans before Mardi Gras. I think it was the Monday before Mardi Gras, but you have to understand that "Mardi Gras season" in NOLA begins in January, and lasts for months. Now, even the homeless (and the street-people with homes) get tired of seeing certain costumes among tourists, especially tourists who dress up like priests or nuns. That's the background to where this story begins. I re-discovered it on Facebook from what I posted on 27 Feb [...]

2304, 2023

Production Update

By |April 23rd, 2023|

Happy Easter, Christ is Risen!  Christ is Truly Risen!As you know, I was taking care of my mother medically and sacramentally before she fell asleep in the Lord.  I thank you all so much for the prayers for the repose of my mother's soul.   To keep up my normal life of prayer this Spring of 2023, I could only keep up on my website, not the videos or podcasts, at least while helping my family and others locally.  However, most of my productions are coming back this Spring.  The following items are quite boring and long-winded, so I put the following topics in order of importance, starting with the most important on my production schedule: Thank you to all who support me spiritually and materially. As you know, I receive health-insurance from my Archdiocese as a priest in good [...]

1704, 2023

Interview with Polish Catholic Newspaper

By |April 17th, 2023|

I was interviewed by Nasz Dziennik, a large Catholic production in Poland.  A writer named Beata asked me political and religious questions regarding my recent article called Good Catholics Need to Tackle the Hard Topics More.  Here were her questions and my answers: Beata: Were Catholics too easily persuaded that they meddle too much in politics? Who and how is working on it so that we would think so? Me: The Catholic Church in the United States was exploding with baptisms and vocations before Vatican II.  Since the Council, we lose four Catholics for every Protestant convert that comes to us.  Our clergy are afraid to lose more people, so usually they go for the lowest-common denominator in spirituality.  It usually becomes something like, "Jesus is your friend and doesn’t care what your political beliefs are." Ironically, many evangelical Protestant pastors [...]

504, 2023

Divine Providence Acting Upon Two Births

By |April 5th, 2023|

My mother, Claire Nix, got sick just before Christmas 2022.  Before offering my own low-Mass on Christmas day, I remember attending a sung midnight Mass at another traditional Church near me.  Before Mass, I was kneeling on the prie-Dieu in the sanctuary as I listened to a Christmas carol called Lully, Lulla, Lullay.  It's a silly name, but it was one of the most beautiful carols.  I had never heard it before.  Although dark before that midnight Mass, I hid my face because I was crying.  Deep inside, I knew my mother would not beat this illness, even though she was admitted to the hospital with rather mild symptoms.  She then went unresponsive in the hospital and I gave her extreme unction. She recovered a bit.  Then, she ended up in the hospital again.  I asked her pastor to hear [...]

404, 2023

The Maniturgium On the Mother of a Priest

By |April 4th, 2023|

My mother died yesterday.  Her name is Claire Nix and her maiden name is Donnelly.  She was 100% Irish but born and raised on the South Side of Chicago.  I'm going to write more about her death later this week. When referring to death, the Apostle Paul says someone "fell asleep in the Lord."  That might sound like overly-pious language to most Catholics today, but it is more theologically accurate if we really believe Christ has conquered death, as we know He did on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.  We especially are reminded that "Christ has trampled down death by death" during Holy Week, as the Eastern Rite Liturgies exclaim.  In fact, the Eastern Rite Liturgies (both Catholic and Orthodox) refer to their deceased as those who "fell asleep in the Lord." The Western response to that might be:  "But [...]

2203, 2023

Lenten Outreach 2023

By |March 22nd, 2023|

The second-lesson in the TLM today is: Thus says the Lord God: Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before My eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow. Come now, let us set things right, says the Lord: though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool. If you are willing, and obey, you shall eat the good things of the land, says the Lord almighty.—Isaiah 1:16-19. Wednesdays at the third largest Planned Parenthood in the world is mostly a time of prayer for me. On my pro-life team is some of the best sidewalk counselors I have ever met, including Kevin Williams. Kevin bounced back from cancer surgery the [...]

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