While we were watching fireworks on TV, or in the backyard, or, this July 4th, groaning at the onslaught of nonstop mortars and fireworks in our local cities, the beloved statue of Saint Junipero Serra was being torn down at California’s state capitol; a state that in large measure was uniquely formed by his hand,…
A Spanish bishop recently celebrated Mass in the church where St. Junipero Serra was baptized, defending the saint’s legacy against those who have accused him of racism. Bishop Sebastià Taltavull of Mallorca, Spain, recently visited Petra, on the Mediterranean island of Majorca, the hometown of St. Junipero Serra. A great injustice He said the saint…
Newsweek—(reporting includes a video that will make your heart cry—CBJ ed.) A California city council voted unanimously to remove a statue of a Spanish priest who Pope Francis had canonized. The Ventura City Council cast a 6–0 vote during its meeting Wednesday night to remove a statue of Father Junipero Serra from outside its city…
July 13, 2020—In the early morning hours Saturday, firefighters responded to a fire at the San Gabriel Mission where they found a massive blaze engulfing the roof and front entrance of the church, San Gabriel Fire Department fire captain Antonio Negrete told CNN. The church sits about 11 miles northeast of Los Angeles. When firefighters…
Personally, I am not a fan of “Executive Orders,” regardless of which U.S. President issues them. However, when our national historic heritage is at stake and when local police and city officials do NOTHING to stop mad mob destruction of our historic monuments, maybe I’ll make an exception, especially if a bill is also introduced…
Patheos—[As my colleague] Philip wrote last Friday, “With all the unavoidable news right now about disease and epidemics, it’s an obvious temptation to look back to past eras to see how they coped with such things, culturally as well as medically.” Indeed, as I get more and more emails from my employer, our kids’ school,…
It was perhaps the final insult for German statesman Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck and Duke of Lauenburg—who was known as Otto von Bismarck (view image to right, below). Ultimately this statesman is credited with masterminded the unification of Germany in 1871. He served as its first chancellor until 1890, in which capacity he…
On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of the German republic, but how could such a man gain such power? Hitler’s message of social justice appealed to workers and the lower middle class. Since Hitler knew what it was to struggle to make a living, they thought they had found in him a…
Napoleon’s victories and his defeat at Leipzig came as distant rumors to Pope Pius VII at Fontainebleau. Because the pope was undergoing a bitter struggle of his own, he had cared little for such news. In January 1813, nine months before the Battle of Leipzig, the pope had received a sudden visit from Napoleon. The…
November 27, 2019
The Pilgrims who sailed to this country aboard the Mayflower were originally members of the English Separatist Church (a Puritan sect). They had earlier fled their home in England and sailed to Holland (The Netherlands) to escape religious persecution. There, they enjoyed more religious tolerance, but they eventually became disenchanted with the Dutch way of…
OK, I might get some heat for this one, but it seems to me — before all the secularist, anti-Christian, anti-Judeo-Christian history revisionists rooted themselves in the re-writing of school history textbooks, in mainstream newsrooms, and as college professors and Google algorythm coders — that Christopher Columbus was a good guy, a respected leader and…
Kaunas, Lithuania, CNA – One of the newest cardinals of the Church says he drew strength from the Mass and the Blessed Virgin during the decade he spent in a Soviet prison camp in Siberia. Sigitas Tamkevicius, archbishop emeritus of Kaunas, Lithuania, was elevated to the rank of cardinal in the Oct. 5 consistory. As…
Pro-active Catholic business professionals in California, some of them connected with The Year of Prayer, partnered with seasoned Catholic organizations—Knights of Columbus, Blue Army, Knights of Columbus of California, Catholic Action for Faith and Family, to name a few— to jointly sponsor and coordinate and promote not only a year of prayer but more immediately…
CNA—A university in California removed a bell last week after a Native American group claimed the historic piece was disrespectful to their heritage. Catholic Business Journal wonders what this or that group’s “offense” and “disrespect” have to do with objective historic fact and feat at all. History is, well, just that, history — an objective…
You and I grew up learning that Istanbul as the capital of Turkey. We don’t give it a second thought. But Istanbul used to be called Constantinople, once a fortress of Christianity thanks to the remarkable and radical faith conversion of the Emperor Constantine the Great. Famed for its massive and complex defenses, including a…
CNA—A Bible once carried by a World War II prisoner of war is the center of a legal fight at a veterans’ medical center in New Hampshire. The Bible was part of a “Missing Man” table display, honoring prisoners of war and missing soldiers, placed at the entrance of the Manchester Veterans’ Administration Medical Center.…
Congratulations to Prince Harry and Meghan on the birth of their first child, now named Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, as congratulations are in order for any couple welcoming a child into the world! What we found especially delightful amid our current deadly age of abortion “rights” and legalized infanticide is the utter joy of Prince Harry…
In April 18, 1506, Pope Julius II laid the cornerstone for a new basilica church over the burial place of St. Peter the Apostle in the Vatican. A great lover of the arts and a patron of artists, Pope Julius hoped to accomplish what Pope Nicholas V had begun fifty years before; namely, to replace…
Conditions did not improve when George IV became king in 1820. As regent for his insane father, George III, since 1811, George IV had long supported the repression of radicals. Though a clever man (he was a student of the classics and fluent in French, Italian, and German), George IV was not a particularly good…
September 21, 2012
Catholic business owners and Catholic business professionals at all levels—including the Catholic Medical Association, Legatus International, Catholics@Work (Oakland), Catholic business owners and Catholic business professionals at all levels—including the members of Catholics@Work (Oakland), Catholics at Work OC (Orange County), Catholic Professional & Business Club (Reno, NV), many Catholic lawyers and judges nationwide at St. Thomas…
