The family and friends of Col. John Walter Ripley said their final goodbyes during a moving funeral ceremony on November 7, 2008 at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He was laid to rest with full military honors in a ceremony that left most attendees either teary-eyed or speechless. Among the … Read more
It was the most memorable Veterans Day of my life. As many recognized the sacrifices made by the living I paid my respects to someone who sacrificed it all. His name was Sgt. Daniel Shaw of West Seneca N.Y. I was doing home visits with the pilgrim statue of our Lady of … Read more
It is not every day that one meets a veteran of World War II much less one who was present during the historic battle for Iwo Jima. But I knew something was different about Norbert Arnold as he approached me during a presentation about Fatima at his cousin’s home in St. Mary’s, … Read more
During the month of May – the month of Mary – we feel a special protection of Our Lady that extends to all the faithful; we feel a special joy that shines and illuminates our hearts expressing the universal certainty of Catholics that the indispensable patronage of our heavenly mother becomes even … Read more
In the center of West Point’s historic campus in upstate New York stands a statue of Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Below him is a plaque bearing the words of wisdom he once spoke. “On the fields of friendly strife are sewn the seeds that upon other fields, on other days, shall bear the fruits … Read more
American soldiers face the prospect of serious injury and death with unflinching courage. Their existence within a nation dominated by a self centered “me culture” is yet another paradox which can be found “only in America.” When Todd Beamer boarded Flight 93 on September 11, he never dreamed that terrorists intended to … Read more
The golden age of Chivalry began with the Crusades to rescue the holy places of Palestine from Moslem domination and to defend the pilgrims enroute to the Holy Land. Léon Gautier in his book Chivalry (La Chevalerie, first published in 1883) summarized the “ancient code of chivalry” of the Middle Ages into … Read more
During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Our Lady of Good Success appeared in Quito, Ecuador to a Spanish nun whose little-known but extraordinary life has a direct connection with our days. The Pope’s “infallibility will be declared a dogma of Faith by the same Pope chosen to proclaim the dogma of the … Read more