New York City, N.Y., Sep 11, 2017 / 12:20 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On the clear, sunny morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Fr. Kevin Madigan heard an explosion overhead.
He grabbed oils for anointing, ran out the door of St. Peter’s parish in New York City, and wandered towards the center of the commotion – the World Trade Center only a block away.
Fifty blocks uptown, Fr. Christopher Keenan, OFM watched with the world as the smoke rising from the twin towers darkened the television screen. Looking to help, he went to St. Vincent’s Hospital downtown to tend to those wounded in the attack – but the victims never came.
All the while, he wondered what had happened to a brother friar assigned as chaplain to the firefighters of New York City: Fr. Mychal Judge, OFM, named by some the “Saint of 9/11.”
Sixteen years ago on this day, hijackers flew planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. In a field in southern Pennsylvania, passengers retook control of the cockpit and crashed the plane before it could reach its intended target, presumed to be in Washington, D.C.
The consequences of the attacks have rippled throughout the United States as the attacks spurred a new global war on terror and irreversibly changed the country’s outlook on terror, security, and international engagement.
For Fr. Madigan, Fr. Keenan and Fr. Judge, the day changed their own lives and ministries, as a pastor lost nearly his entire congregation, and a friar put himself in harm’s way to take on a new position – an assignment he only received because another friar gave the ultimate sacrifice as the Twin Towers came down.
“This experience has seared our soul and our spirit and our life, and it has so seared our spirit and our life that it has penetrated our DNA,” Fr. Keenan told CNA.
“It has changed our lives and we will never be the same,” he said.
It was like losing a village
On Sept. 11, 2001, Fr. Kevin Madigan had been assigned to St. Peter’s Church in the financial district of Lower Manhattan. The parish is the oldest Catholic Church in New York State, “half a block literally from the corner of the World Trade Center,” Fr. Madigan explained to CNA.
“Prior to 9/11 it was a parish that basically serviced the people who came to the neighborhood who came to Mass or Confession, devotions and things like that.” The parish had a full and well-attended schedule of liturgies and prayers, with multiple Masses said during the morning and lunch hour. September 11th changed that.
“Immediately after 9/11, that community was no longer there, because it was like losing a village of 40,000 people next door.”
Fr. Madigan was leaving the sanctuary that morning, heading back to the rectory when overhead he heard the first plane hit the towers. Immediately he made his way towards the commotion, looking to minister to anyone who had been hurt by what had happened.
“I took the oils for anointing anyone who was dying – I didn’t know what was going on there,” he said. However, most of those fleeing the building did not need anointing, Fr. Madigan recalled. “Most people either got out alive or were dead. There weren’t that many people who were in that in-between area.”
Then, there was another explosion from the other tower, and an object – the wheel of an airplane, in fact – went whizzing by Fr. Madigan’s head.
“After the second plane hit I went back to the office and made sure all the staff got out of there fast,” evacuating staff who were unaware of the chaos outside.
Fr. Madigan was back on the street when firefighters began to wonder if the towers might fall.
Thinking it ridiculous, Fr. Madigan kept an eye on a nearby subway entrance, which linked to an underground passage north of the towers. Then, a massive cloud of dust swept towards Fr. Madigan and another priest as the towers did collapse; they ducked into the subway station, emerging amidst the thick smoke and dust several blocks away.
After the towers came down, Fr. Madigan made his way first to the hospital for an emergency health screening, then back to check on St. Peter’s. While he was away from his parish, firefighters and other first responders made use of the sanctuary, temporarily laying to rest over 30 bodies recovered from the wreckage.
The death of Father Mychal
In September of 2001, Fr. Christopher Keenan had been assigned to work with a community ministry program near the parish of St. Francis in midtown Manhattan. At St. Francis, he lived in community along with several other Franciscan Friars, including an old friend he had known for years – Fr. Mychal Judge, chaplain for the Fire Department of New York City. Through Fr. Judge, the Friars became especially close with some of their neighbors at a firehouse across the street, who let the friars park their car at the firehouse.
Although the plane flew overhead, Fr. Keenan told CNA that “like everyone else, we found out while watching TV.” As the friars and brothers watched the events unfold on the television, they saw the second plane hit the South Tower; Fr. Keenan decided to go to St. Vincent’s Hospital – one of the closest medical facilities to the Word Trade Center. At the time, he thought there would be injured people who would need to be anointed or would like someone to hear their confession.
However, once he got to St. Vincent’s he found a long line of doctors, nurses and other responders who had come to help: together they “were all waiting for these people to get out who never came.” Victims were either largely able to walk away on their own, or they never made it to the hospital at all.
Instead, Fr. Keenan told CNA, “my responsibility was after people were treated to contact their family members to come and get them.”
As patients began to go home, Fr. Keenan continued to wonder about his brother friar, Fr. Judge, asking firefighters if they knew what had happened to the chaplain. Fr. Keenan left the hospital in the early evening to go hear confessions, but stopped at the firehouse across the street to ask the firemen if they knew where Fr. Judge was: “they told me his body was in the back of the firehouse.”
The mere fact that his body was intact and present at the firehouse that day was in itself a small miracle, Fr. Keenan said. “Mychal’s body that was brought out was one of the only bodies that was intact, recognizable and viewable,” he said. Among those that died in the Twin Towers, he continued, “everyone was vaporized, pulverized and cremated” by the heat of the fire in the towers and the violence of the towers’ collapse. “He was one of the only ones able to be brought out and to be brought home.”
That morning, Fr. Judge had gone along with Battalion 1 to answer a call in a neighborhood close to the Trade Center. Also with the battalion were two French filmmakers filming a documentary on the fire unit. When the towers were hit, the Battalion was one of the first to arrive on the scene. In the film released by the brothers, Fr. Keenan said, “you can see his face and you can tell he knows what’s happening and his lips are moving and you can tell he’s praying his rosary.”
The group entered the lobby of the North Tower and stood in the Mezzanine as the South Tower collapsed – spraying glass, debris and dust throughout the building.
“All the debris roared through the glass mezzanine like a roaring train and his body happened to be blown into the escalators,” Fr. Keenan relayed the experience eyewitnesses told him. In the impact, Fr. Judge hit his head on a piece of debris, killing him almost instantly.
“All of a sudden they feel something at their feet and it was Mychal, but he was gone.“
Members of the fire department, police department and other first responders carried Fr. Judge’s body out of the wreckage, putting his body down first to run as the second tower collapsed, then again to temporarily rest it at St. Peter’s Church. Members of the fire department brought it back to the firehouse where Fr. Keenan saw his friend and prayed over his body.
Fr. Mychal Judge was later listed as Victim 0001 – the first death certificate processed on 9/11.
Despite the sudden and unexpected nature of the attacks, Fr. Keenan told CNA that in the weeks before his friend’s death, Fr. Judge had a sense his death was near.
“He just had a sense that the Lord Jesus was coming.” On several occasions, Fr. Keenan said, Fr. Judge had told him, “You know, Chrissy, the Lord will be coming for me,” and made other references to his death.
“He had a sense that the Lord was coming for him.”
The grueling aftermath
“There was no playbook for how you deal with something in the wake of something like that,” Fr. Madigan said of the aftermath of 9/11. Personally, Fr. Madigan told CNA, he was well-prepared spiritually and mentally for the senseless nature of the attacks.
“I understand that innocent people get killed tragically all the time,” he said, noting that while the scale was larger and hit so close to home, “life goes on.” For many others that he ministered to, however, “it did shake their foundations, their trust and belief in God.”
While the attacks changed the focus of his ministry as a parish priest at the time, they also posed logistical challenges for ministry and aid: St. Peter’s usual congregation of people who worked in and around the World Trade Center vanished nearly overnight. Instead, the whole area was cordoned off for rescue workers and recovery activities as the city began the long task of sorting and removing the debris and rubble.
In addition, a small chapel named St. Joseph’s Chapel, which was cared for and administered by St. Peter’s, was used by FEMA workers as a base for recovery activities during the weeks after the attack. During that time, the sanctuary was damaged and several structures of the chapel, including the pulpit, chairs and interior were rendered unusable. According to Fr. Madigan, FEMA denies that it ever used the space.
Still, the priests at St. Peter’s saw it as their duty to minister to those that were there – whoever they were.
“The parish, the church building itself was open that whole time,” he said, saying that anyone who had clearance to be within the Ground Zero area was welcome at the church. In the weeks after the attacks, the parish acted as sanctuary, as recovery workers who were discovering body parts and other personal effects “would come in there just to sort of try to get away from that space.”
“Myself and one of the other priests would be out there each day just to be able to talk to anyone who wants to talk about what’s going on,” he added. “We’d celebrate Mass in a building nearby.”
Today, Fr. Madigan has been reassigned to another parish in uptown Manhattan, and St. Peter’s now has found a new congregation as new residents have moved into the neighborhoods surrounding the former World Trade Center site.
Only two months after the attack, Fr. Keenan took on the role of his old friend, Fr. Judge: he was installed as chaplain for the 14,000 first responders of the the FDNY.
Immediately, Fr. Keenan joined the firefighters in their task of looking for the remains – even the most minute fragments – of the more than 2,600 people killed at the World Trade Center. “The rest of the recovery process then was for nine months trying to find the remains.”
For the firefighters in particular, there was a drive to find the remains of the 343 firefighters killed at the World Trade Center and help bring closure to the family members. “You always bring your brother home, you never leave them on the battlefield,” Fr. Keenan said.
The resulting amount of work, as well as the “intense” tradition among firefighters to attend all funerals for members killed in the line of duty meant that the job became all-consuming, with all one’s spare time spent at the World Trade Center site. Sometimes, Fr. Keenan said, he would attend as many as four, five, or six funerals or memorials a day – and many families held a second funeral if body parts were recovered from the site.
“Here are the guys, overtime, going to all the funerals, working spare time on the site looking for recovery, and taking care of the families,” he said. “I was 24/7, 365 for 26 months.”
In addition, Fr. Keenan and the rest of the FDNY worked inside “this incredible toxic brew” of smoke, chemicals and fires that burned among the ruins at Ground Zero for months.
“I would be celebrating Mass at 10:00 on a Sunday morning down there,” he recalled, “and just 30 feet from where I’m celebrating Mass at the cross, the cranes are lifting up the steel.”
While both buildings had contained more than 200 floors of offices, there was “not a trace of a computer, telephones, files, nothing. Everything was totally decimated.” Instead, all that was left was steel, dirt and the chemicals feeding the fires that smouldered underground in the footprint of the towers.
“The cranes are lifting up the steel and the air is feeding the fires underneath, and out of that is coming these incredible colors of yellow, black and green smoke, and we all worked in the recovery process.” The experience working the recovery at the World Trade Center site is one that Fr. Keenan considers a “gift” and an “honor.”
“It was an incredible experience really,” he said.
Fr. Keenan recounted a conversation the firefighters had with him a few days after he was commissioned. After pledging to “offer my life to protect the people and property of New York City,” the other firefighters told their new chaplain “we know you’re ours, don’t you forget that every one of us is yours,” promising to stand by their new shepherd. “I’m the most loved and cared for person in the world and who has it better than me?”
While the formal recovery process has ended and a new tower, One World Trade Center, stands just yards from the original site of Ground Zero, the experience – and the chemicals rescue workers came in contact with for months – still affect the firefighters.
In 2016 alone, “we put 17 new names on the wall,” said Fr. Keenan, “who died this past year from of the effects of 9/11.” He explained that in the years following the attack, thousands of rescuers and first responders – including Fr. Keenan himself, have developed different cancers and illnesses linked to their exposure at the World Trade Center site. In fact, at the time of the interview in 2016, Fr. Keenan had just returned from a screening for the more than 20 toxic chemicals the responders were exposed to. He warned that the “different cancers and the lung problems that are emerging are just the tip of the iceberg,” and worried that as time progressed, other cancers and illnesses linked to the attack recovery would emerge.
The first responders are also dealing with the psychological fallout of the attacks among themselves, Fr. Keenan said, though many are dealing with it in their own way, and with one another.
Looking back, Fr. Keenan told CNA he still finds it difficult to express the experience to others or to make sense of what it was like when he would go down into “the pit” to work alongside the firefighters and other first responders. “The only image I had as time went on and I asked ‘how do I make sense of this as a man of faith?’ is that it was like I was descending into hell and I was seeing the face of God on the people that were there.”
The same image had come to his mind to make sense of taking care of patients with AIDS in the 1990s he said, even though nothing can fully make sense of events like these.
“I was like a midwife to people in their birthing process from life to death to new life,” he recalled. “All I can do is be present there, they have to do the work, I can be present there I can pray with them.”
“That’s how in faith I kind of sort of comprehended it.”
This article was originally published on CNA Sept. 11, 2016.
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About Catholic Social Teaching and the market system, Pope St. John Paul II also stressed “the fact that even the decision to invest in one place rather than another, in one productive sector rather than another is always ‘a moral and cultural choice'” (Centesimus Annus, 1991, n. 36).
And then this overview when asked about “capitalism” as a replacement for fallen Soviet Communism:
“The answer is obviously complex. If by ‘capitalism’ is meant an economic system which recognizes the fundamental and positive role of business, the market, private property and the resulting responsibility for the means of production, as well as free human creativity in the economic sector, then the answer is certainly in the affirmative, even though it would perhaps be more appropriate to speak of a ‘business economy,’ ‘market economy’ or simply ‘free economy.’ But if by ‘capitalism’ is meant a system in which freedom in the economic sector is not circumscribed within a ‘strong juridical framework’ which places it at the service of ‘human freedom in its totality,’ and which sees it as a particular aspect of that freedom, the ‘core of which is ethical and religious,’ then the reply is certainly negative” (n. 44).
What, then, about affirming the transcendent dignity of each human life versus the marketing or even subsidizing of mifepristone and IVF?
#1. Catholics should be reminded that J.D. Vance would have been the 3rd Catholic VP if it weren’t for the fact that Catholic Mike Pence left the Catholic faith and became a Protestant.
#2. How long will it take before the usual ones on these pages with terminal cases of TDS weigh in with their vitriol?
#3. If our Catholic Church wants to adhere to Catholic Social Teaching regarding immigration, let our Catholic leaders first honor the principle of obeying the laws of a country with regard to its borders. The fact is that the USA allows more LEGAL immigration to our country than any other country in the world. We just don’t want foreigners coming here whose first act on our soil is to break our laws. Secondly, if the Vatican want free movement of peoples into other countries, the Vatican needs to remove all the walls around Vatican City.
#4. The Catholic Church is missioned for charity to the poor. That’s good and proper. But the Catholic Church should never use other people’s money for the Church’s charity work without their explicit permission.
#5. J.D. Vance is a lot smarter and in many cases more ethical than so many of our bishops – none of whom were elected to their offices by huge majorities of the Catholic constituency.
Love everything you said!The Vatican has walls to protect– so USA should not bend either….come in legally- no problem, remember 9/11
Diogenes, #5 “huge “80% “ or more?
First off, ‘Diogenes’, you’re no Mankowski; your posts are especially lacking in his biting wit.
Second, is it TDS to point out Vance’s gung-ho support IVF and his touting access to mifepristone under a Trump presidency or are these inconvenient truths that you want memory-holed?
Vince, a bit prickly I see.
Two great points!
Two great points — IVF and mifepristone.
More ethical? “Haitians are eating dogs in Springfield, Ohio”. Governor Mike DeWine, “FALSE”. John Donald Vance still insists on this obvious lie.
All citizens can now release their dogs. That might expose cats and chickens.
That story was actually found to be true, which you wouldn’t know from your MSNBC talking points. The citizens of Springfield didn’t lie.
First Principles matter in both Faith and Morals. Since Christ Is The King of Kings , we can know through both Faith and Reason, that there is nothing in our Catholic Faith that precludes us from being Good Citizens in Heaven and on Earth. As Citizens of The United States, we recognize that God, with the capital G, The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity, In The Unity Of The Holy Ghost, Is The Author of our inherent unalienable Right to Life, to Liberty, and to The Pursuit of Happiness, the purpose of which can only be, what God intended. Thus we can know through both our Catholic Faith and reason, that The Catholic Faith can only serve to enhance our understanding of the spirit of our Constitution because it is grounded in The Spirit Of Divine Law, which is grounded in The Spirit Of Perfect Divine Eternal Love, Who Proceeds From The Father And His Only Begotten Son, and thus it is this Love that Gives us Life, The Love Of Perfect Divine Eternal Love , Who Has The Ability To Bring us from death, to Life Everlasting , Eternal Joy And Happiness With The Blessed Trinity, The Author Of Love, Of Life, And Of Marriage, And Thus The Truth Of Love That Is Necessary For Human Flourishing For All. Only The Creator Of All that is, seen and unseen, knows what will bring us Eternal Joy Happiness, And Human Flourishing. America cannot be great if it does not affirm that God Is The Author Of Love, Of Life, And Of Marriage, And Render Onto God, That Which Belongs To God.
The cardinals who were giving Mr. Vance a hard time about his “hard-line views on immigration enforcement” have blood on their hands.
They share in the responsibility for the deaths of more than a hundred thousand Americans killed by fentanyl smuggled in over the non-existent border.
And I cannot believe how deficient the Catholic hierarchy is on economics.
But then leftists have never understood the genius of capitalism.
They view work in a capitalistic system as nothing more than a burden, an occasion for the exploitation and predation of workers.
It somehow escapes them that the reason the standard of living goes up in a country is that workers are producing products and services — the good things that make people’s lives better and make societies thrive.
The fact is, leftists always focus on money. But, quite obviously, money produces nothing. It’s people spending their days working their jobs who bring the good life.
At its core, leftism is unfair. In a financial system of distributive equity, everyone receives “the resources they need” — which always sounds wonderful. After all, who wants to see people in poverty?
But when everyone receives “enough,” it means that the lazy, unproductive, unreliable workers get the same pay as the dedicated, diligent, hard-working workers.
And psychologists will tell you that in a system that does not recognize and reward outstanding performance, the best participants come to understand that their extra efforts are wasted. And they will inevitably begin reverting to the mean — lackadaisical, subpar performance.
Which is why socialist countries always end up as varying degrees of gray, depressing and impoverished.
It’s inevitable.
Think about it. In Venezuela, all the workers — and the layabouts, for that matter — have “enough” money for “the resources they need.”
Just one problem. There aren’t enough of those “resources.”
The fact that everyone gets “enough” money, whether they work or not, ensures that many don’t work. And so there are severe shortages of products — including food — throughout the country. All the time.
And so what is your money worth when there’s nothing to buy, Mr. Leftist?
Leftists have no concept that capitalism’s genius is to align the interests of the individual with the interests of society.
People are rewarded for their hard work and productivity. And society benefits accordingly.
And people are also rewarded for their good ideas for new products or services — personal computers, online shopping, iPhones, whatever — according to the value that others place on them.
Finally, while leftists are obsessed with money, they have no idea of what money really is.
Money is a societally recognized abstraction for value produced. When a worker completes a job, he has delivered something that is of value to someone. That value created is reflected in the pay he receives.
When many workers create much value — producing food, fixing cars, replacing roofs, whatever — wealth is created. There’s lots of money to spread around, leading to more economic growth and cultivating a robust and prosperous economy.
When you hold a $100 bill in your hand, you’re in a very real sense touching the time and imagination and lives of countless individuals who contributed to all of the value which that bill has delivered since it was first created.
Leftists understand none of this.
Which is why socialist societies always, always, *always* end up oppressing their citizens.
For socialism to succeed, people must be forced to act in ways that are against their best interests. Whereas, under capitalism, people are free to pursue their best interests, wherever they perceive those interests leading them.
So what about the unfortunate individuals who for whatever reason are left behind in poverty within capitalist economies?
That’s where charity comes in. Virtue. Compassion.
Or, if you prefer, Christianity.
It’s worth noting that charity is also ennobling to those on both ends of the transaction, both the giver and the receiver. The giver feels good about helping someone, and the receiver feels worthwhile because he’s being blessed by a personal gesture of fellowship by another.
Charity is a virtue and is, therefore, of God.
Whereas government entitlements tend to rob an individual of his sense of accomplishment, of self-respect, of satisfaction. In fact, government handouts can prompt people to feel like victims and sullenly resent those who have more. In this way, they’re able to justify to themselves their dependency.
The sad fact is, distributive equity’s real effect is to make sure that everyone has “enough” of the scarcity, the poverty, and the starvation it inevitably produces.
Remember that Jesus never compelled anyone to act virtuously. He respected the dignity of each individual, realizing that coercion is the absolute end of virtue.
Perhaps it’s time to expect governments, which are definitively *not* divine, to act with at least the same level of restraint shown by the Savior of the universe.
You’d think Catholic cardinals would understand these very simple concepts. Because when societies get politics and economics wrong, terrible things happen to people.
Dear Briny. I am uncomfortable with labels. Generally, they are too inclusive. Daming all and championing the “saved”.
I sorta agree with you, but the use of “LEFT”, (Dems?), exclusively causes me to reflect on the “RIGHT”, (GOP), the anointed ones.
Most of us want to see our elected officials succeed. If they do not we lose. However, in a democracy, it is imperative that we hold them to account. VP Vance seems to be duplicitous as he adheres more to the Trump ideology when that ideology reeks with sin. Vance made a fool of himself when he said, “Haitians were eating dogs in Springfield, Ohio.
Trump calls Un, Xi and Putin, the war criminal who continues to slaughter Ukrainian babies, “Brilliant leaders.” His VP remains silent.
Thank you.
God save the Union.
The problem with capitalism is its extremes. Our society was better off when money had more value.
Vatican Promises Stiff Penalties for Illegal Aliens Crossing its Border
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2025/01/16/vatican-promises-stiff-penalties-for-illegal-aliens-crossing-its-border/
And I would add, since it is True, That The Holy Ghost, The Lord And Giver Of Life Who Proceeds From the Father And The Son, Is Of The Same Essence of The Father And His Only Begotten Son, That Essence Being, In Essence Perfect Divine Eternal Love, all Faithful Catholics can know through both Faith and reason that The Holy Ghost , would never Bless a sinful relationship in any way, shape, or form because , “We have been ransomed for a cost, The Cost being our Salvation.
The Christ.
“A New Commandment I Give unto you : that you Love one another as I Have Loved you, that you also Love one another.”
https://biblehub.com/drb/john/13.htm
What possible reason could a Faithful Catholic have for not desiring to share The Good News, unless it is that they are simply not Faithful?
We cannot transform Jesus The Christ, The Word Of Perfect Divine Eternal Love Incarnate; Christ Transforms us through Salvational Love, God’s Gift Of Grace And Mercy, available to all those who desire to repent and accept God’s Salvational Love, God’s Gift Of Grace And Mercy.
At the heart of Liberty Is Christ, “4For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated, have tasted also the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5Have moreover tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come…”, to not believe that Christ’s Sacrifice On The Cross will lead us to Salvation, but we must desire forgiveness for our sins, and accept Salvational Love, God’s Gift Of Grace And Mercy; believe in The Power And The Glory Of Salvation Love, and rejoice in the fact that No Greater Love Is There Than This, To Desire Salvation For One’s Beloved.
“Hail The Cross, Our Only Hope.”
“Blessed are they who are Called to The Marriage Supper Of The Lamb.”
“For where your treasure is there will your heart be also.”
And that my friends is the way you can discern a True Vicar of Christ who has both the ability and desire to accept The Office of The MUNUS and thus The Ministerial Office, and an apostate that belongs to the counterfeit church with its counterfeit magisterium, that for sometime now has been attempting to subsist within The One Body of Christ, while denying The Unity Of The Holy Ghost, The Spirit Of Perfect Divine Eternal Love Between The Father And His Only Begotten Son, Who Proceeds From Both The Father And His Only Begotten Son, In The Ordered Communion Of Perfect Complementary Divine Eternal Love, The Most Holy Blessed Trinity.
“They went out from us but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have remained with us: but that they may be manifest, that they are not all of us.” (1 John 2.19)
Now that it is crystal clear that a counterfeit church with a counterfeit magisterium that denies The Holy Blessed Trinity Is The Author Of Love, Of Life, And Of Marriage, let us Pray that Pope Leo XIV, is a True Vicar Of Christ, And With The Grace Of The Holy Ghost, will charitably Anathema the counterfeit church, for The Salvation of Souls.
Some have noted that Vice President Vance may have missed the deeper point about kissing the Fisherman’s Ring. It’s not a diplomatic ritual, nor mere protocol—it is a liturgical gesture, older than nations, and richer than etiquette. One does not bow to a man, but to a mystery: the authority of Christ entrusted to frail human hands.
As St. Augustine put it, “He who falls not humbly before the rock shall be crushed by it” (In Psalmum 140). The gesture of kissing the ring is not about subservience to a foreign leader; it is about receiving a blessing through humility, and recognizing that Christ works even through clay.
As Chesterton quipped, “Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors.” The ring kiss is one of those inherited votes—not for a pope’s personality or policies, but for the office he didn’t give himself.
And as C.S. Lewis wisely observed, “A proud man is always looking down on things and people… and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” Sometimes, reverence reveals more strength than resistance.
https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2025/05/89045
Glad for this CWR article about JDV’s Catholicism. He’s also a new convert yet living the Faith promoting family life, and adherence to our nation’s immigration laws (unlike some USCCB members!) Unsure if he has learned the powerful aid for fertility awareness and reproductive help Catholic NFP provides, but I cut him slack on the IVF issue (though morally conflicted), as it appeared to be Pres. T’s uncatechized notion of IVF as a means to procure children if barren.
Yes, streamers, Patriotism is a virtue. Liked DR comments; lol about “Vatican walls”. ND,appreciate the doctrinal review. Brineyman, impressive and necessary deep dive into the Left’s Elitism, exploitation of the masses, outright deceptions, (aka Communism)- reminiscent of Orwell’s Animal Farm elites’ saying, ‘Some comrades are more equal than others.’ Recognizing our souls’ 21st century’s enemies is obvious: the world, the flesh, & the devil.
Thanks be to God for Christ’s Body on earth- the Holy Catholic Church, whose Magisterium is blessed with the wisdom of the Holy Ghost. Blessed it is also by our greatest Intercessor for these times, as Padre Pio claimed, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary.