John B. Manos

Can the Bishops even do as Peter tells them?

For the lengthy and flowery flourishes appropriate of a Papal Nuncio’s address to a pack of Bishops, there is one phrase in there that I wish would have been the only phrase: [Pope Francis’s] own deepest hope today for the pastors of the Church in America, as well as for all the pastors of the…

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Fire From Heaven and St. Michael’s Tears

Somewhere in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty there is claimed to have been placed a plaque inscribed with a passage from the sonnet The New Colossus written by Emma Lazarus.  The passage compares the two bronze statues for purpose: Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land…

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In case you missed the Good Fight

Last Saturday, I was the first hour guest on Barbara McGuigan’s The Good Fight. We spoke about St. Nicholas, the HHS Mandate, punching Arias, and what the saints have done when the state uses its power to oppress and suppress the faithful. I enjoyed chatting with Barbara and discussing these things, and I think I’m getting…

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The Tragic Comedy of Dehellenized Vocabulary

Or, how classical Platonists and modern neoplatonists interpret Theology of the Body topics. In his Regensberg lecture, Pope Benedict complained that we are now encountering the dehellenization of society. That one word has so much import that we could fill books speaking of the ramifications, but in my amateur capacity, I like to summarize what…

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FOLLOW UP: Architectural Office reports Weeping Icon not Tampered

LALYSSOS, Greece, a small village outside Rhodes, is home to the weeping icon of St. Michael we reported on earlier this week. Yesterday, Rhodosreports.gr posted a letter from the Greek Architectural bureau that reports the results of their investigation of the wood, veneer, and paint of the icon made because of a request by the…

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“Ask her out” was what they said before the ToB Movement

I can remember the shock as I heard the answer to a question I put to Fr. John N. Felton, SJ. Fr. Felton, may God grant his soul to rest with a just repose, was a classics professor at Xavier University who used to say noon Mass at my old parish… In Latin, when he…

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Dark Night Arrives

Finally, today, I had a box in my mailbox — I was hoping, and it turned out to be the box for which I have been waiting. The Fall catalog of Roman Catholic Books advertised this saucy title from Dr. Alice von Hildebrand: It is precisely what it says:  a critique of the Theology of the…

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Saint Michael is Weeping

An icon of St. Michael the Archangel located in Rhodes, Greece began weeping this past week. The Metropolitan was called to investigate, and on his investigation, he had the icon removed from its place where it was hung in order to check whether there was a device or moisture was getting into the icon. Upon…

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Spring a Friend — the All Souls Day way

“Not by weeping,” says St. John Chrysostom, “but by prayer and almsgiving are the dead relieved.”  Know anybody that passed away this past year? Time to visit their grave and pray for them, because you can get a soul out of purgatory today due to that wrinkle which permits a plenary indulgence to be gained for…

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BOUNTY: We Need a Copy of the Interview Everyone Else read

I’ve become convinced that America Magazine is playing a dirty trick on us. I’ve been reading this interview. From that, I wrote these articles: last Friday about tribalism, and this past Monday on Pope-a-mania. Apparently, our guest author Major Frey and Mr. DeJak were given the same interview as I saw, so America Magazine was able…

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