Happy feast of the Chair of St. Peter! Today is a patronal feast of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter and a first class feast for us! Confraternity members receive a plenary indulgence per the usual conditions on this day.

The Fraternity is grateful to the Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid, Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh, who is visiting North American District Headquarters today in order to bless our new chapel and offer a Pontifical Mass at the Faldstool to commemorate our patronal feast.

Et ego dico tibi, quia tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram ædificábo Ecclésiam meam, et portæ ínferi non prævalébunt advérsus eam. Et tibi dabo claves regni cœlórum. Et quodcúmque ligáveris super terram, erit ligátum et in cœlis: et quodcúmque sólveris super terram, erit solútum et in cœlis.

And I say to thee: that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it; and to thee I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.

– Matthew 16:18-19 (from the Gospel for today)

Today (Wednesday), Friday and Saturday of this week constitute the Ember Days, which occur four times a year at the outset of the four seasons: the week following St. Lucy’s feast in December, the week after Ash Wednesday in spring, the week after Pentecost in summer and the week after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in September.

The intention of the Ember Days is to thank God for the gifts of nature, to ask His help in using them in moderation and to assist the needy. These days are traditionally observed by means of fasting on all days and partial abstinence (meat only at the main meal) on Wednesday and Saturday, in addition to the required full Lenten abstinence on Friday.

Bénedic, ánima mea, Dómino, et noli oblivísci omnes retributiónes ejus: et renovábitur, sicut áquilæ, juvéntus tua.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and never forget all He hath done for thee: and thy youth shall be renewed like the eagle’s.
– the Offertory for Ember Friday in Lent (Psalm 102:2,5)

On Saturday, February 10, 2018, His Excellency Bishop Peter Libasci, Bishop of Manchester, New Hampshire, celebrated a Solemn Pontifical Mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton, Nebraska, and conferred the subdiaconate upon five seminarians. Please pray for these men as they advance towards the holy priesthood.

One of the attendees of the ceremonies recorded the new subdeacons chanting the Salve Regina before the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the chapel. It is soul-moving!

On Sunday, February 11th, 2018, Quinquagesima Sunday, St. Stephen of Hungary Parish, our apostolate in Allentown, PA, was blessed to welcome His Excellency Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan. Bishop Schneider celebrated a Pontifical Mass at the Throne, assisted by pastor Fr. Gregory Pendergraft, with Fr. Zachary Akers and Fr. Joseph Favole-Mihm serving as deacon and subdeacon, respectively. Many voices contributed to the beautiful music of the Mass.

The church was overflowing with faithful, many of whom traveled great distances to attend the Mass, from northern Virginia, Philadelphia and other Fraternity apostolates. The parish arranged a wonderful brunch with the Bishop after Mass, and he gave a talk that you can listen to here!

Fr. Daniel Nolan, FSSP, is skiing for a different kind of gold – the kind of gold needed in order to make a new parish church a reality. Fr. Nolan is currently assistant pastor at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, our apostolate in Denver, but he was previously assigned to St. Joan of Arc, our apostolate in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. To raise funds for St. Joan of Arc’s building project, he invented a possible new Olympic sport: skiing and bagpiping…at the same time. (Editor’s Note: Potential names include Ski Piping, Alpine Piping, Alpiping and, when done on a snowboard, the Fullpipe).

If you would like to contribute to this worthwhile endeavor, or you are simply impressed with Father’s ability to play the bagpipes while skiing, click here to donate to St. Joan of Arc’s fundraising project!

A blessed Ash Wednesday to all! Today marks the beginning of Lent, the fasting and abstinence of the day preparing us for the penitential season ahead, the ashes a visible reminder of our mortality and a sign of our repentance from our sins.

May this Lent be a fruitful one as we strive to draw closer to Our Lord through prayer and penance in anticipation of the coming commemoration of His Passion, Death and Resurrection.

Meménto, homo, quia pulvis es, et in púlverem revertéris.

Remember, man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.

Incredible interview with Fr. James Mawdsley, one of our priests stationed in the U.K. He recounts his road to the priesthood, speaking of his imprisonment in Burma, the extraordinary graces he received in prison that brought him to Christ, and how he was called to be a priest. A truly amazing story.

Every year near the end of January, thousands and thousands of pro-lifers from across the country participate in the big March for Life in D.C., the West Coast March for Life in San Francisco, and various local marches at state capitals across the country. Here’s a bird’s eye view of some of the marches and rallies that FSSP parishes were involved in.

D.C. March for Life

FSSP Allentown – St. Stephen of Hungary Parish

FSSP Richmond – St. Joseph Parish

And a few more shots of the action…

West Coast Walk for Life, San Francisco, CA

FSSP Sacramento – St. Stephen the First Martyr Parish

Dallas March for Life and Rally

FSSP Dallas – Mater Dei Parish
FSSP Dallas took 3 buses to the March – about 150 parishioners!

Georgia March for Life

FSSP Atlanta – St. Francis de Sales Parish

Kansas Rally for Life

FSSP Maple Hill – St. John Vianney Chapel
The Kansas state capitol building, where the Rally took place.

Much like the Church itself rising like an oasis out of the desert of this life, Mater Misericordiæ Parish stands as an outpost of Heaven in the midst of the sandy landscapes of Phoenix, Arizona. And if some of the most vibrant and colorful flowers grow in the desert, certainly the music of Mater Misericordiæ is a veritable garden, the parish’s talented choirs offering sung praise that is a fit offering for the King Who chose to dwell in the desert while on earth. We had the privilege of talking with organist and choir director Mr. Patrick Williams, who told us more about the programs in place at the parish and his own extensive musical background, and shared his advice for parishes starting their own choirs.

How long has the choir program been active and running in Phoenix?

There was a mixed choir (men’s and women’s voices) in the past, but it was disbanded in favor of having only Gregorian chant. The men’s schola has been chanting ever since High Masses started being offered by FSSP priests in Phoenix in 2005.

What kind of attendance do you have in each choir?

At present, we have twelve in the mixed choir. They practice an hour and a half each week and usually sing two or three Sundays per month plus holy days. The schola has seven men. I count myself too because I do sing along with them as a rule. Since there are so many chants to work on for anywhere from five to ten Masses per month, we rehearse up to two and a half hours a week, not including the warm-up immediately before each Mass. We have only one man who sings in both choirs. I don’t know what I’d do without him!

The children’s choir has eleven members ranging in age from 7 to 15. They sing once or twice a month. The combined choirs sing for the High Mass at least once every couple of months. That’s always something I look forward to, and it’s often when we receive the most compliments from the congregation.

How long have you been in the role of director, and what is your background?

I began at Mater in March of 2016. My last position was at the Cathedral of St. John Berchmans in Shreveport, Louisiana. After that, I went to Chicago to discern a vocation with the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius. I left on good terms and then went back to school for three semesters – one of them in Germany, which was a wonderful opportunity I never had in my earlier student days!

I have sung in choirs my whole life. Perhaps the most valuable musical training I had was singing in a boys’ choir in fourth and fifth grade. I learned rehearsal techniques then that I regularly use with my choirs today. As a member of the concert choir at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, I had the opportunity to perform in Carnegie Hall and Notre-Dame (Paris), and to participate in two international competitions under a director who later won first prize in another international competition. I still enjoy singing under someone else’s direction and have recently joined the Phoenix Symphony Chorus. It’s also a good way to find extra singers for the church occasionally when some of my regulars are away!

Sometimes Latin Mass parishes/communities have difficulty getting music programs started, often due to lack of singers, or maybe lack of a choir/schola director. What is your advice for those who are trying to get something started? Is there a way to “start small,” then go from there?

Perhaps the biggest challenge facing most Latin Mass music programs is that many people live so far away from the church. At one time when I was a full-time student and not playing the organ anywhere, I was singing in a choir that rehearsed an hour before Mass and then, after Mass and a light lunch, another hour or so to prepare for the following Sunday. Cramming everything into one day is taxing on the voice and hardly makes Sunday a day of rest, but it was the best solution for that parish because we had people coming from 70 miles away. Even though our church is centrally located in downtown Phoenix, few parishioners live or work nearby. We try to schedule things to avoid rush hour traffic, which can get pretty bad in all directions in the evening.

As I mentioned already, the choirs don’t sing every week, only the men’s schola. When I was at St. John Cantius, even though the music program wasn’t in full swing during the summer, I found it interesting that they have multiple choirs that only sing once or twice a month. I’ve tried to implement that model here, albeit on a much more modest scale. Here on Sundays we have a 7:00 Low Mass without music, a 9:00 Low Mass with congregational hymns and organ music, and the High Mass at 11:00. It seems to work well.

Bulletin announcements were run several weeks in a row advertising the new choir and giving the date and time for the placement audition. Although we started working on a full polyphonic Mass almost immediately, I didn’t plan for the choir to sing it until months later. It all came together and they were ready much sooner than expected. I had aimed for a Gregorian chant Mass and one motet every other week, but they surprised me!

We have a large parish by FSSP standards, so I realize that other apostolates may not have the same resources in terms of singers, but there are a ton of free chant and choral resources available online now that one had to pay dearly for even a decade ago. It might not always seem like it, but we live in a great time to be a Catholic musician. We have access to so much wonderful music, the scholarship to understand how to perform it in an authentic manner, and the traditional liturgy to teach us how to do it prayerfully and with devotion.

If you walk into RB’s Barbershop in Marysville, Pennsylvania, you’ll probably meet Jack, the shop dog. You’ll also meet Robert “RB” Walker, Jr., the owner/sole barber at RB’s and a parishioner at Mater Dei, the FSSP’s apostolate in Harrisburg. In fact, if you mention Mater Dei during your cut, RB has pledged to give the cost of your haircut right back to the parish.

RB’s journey to Mater Dei, and indeed, to the Catholic Faith, is a compelling story. Raised in a family that was not committed to a particular religion, he practiced Buddhism and eastern schools of thought from the age of 13, and explored various religions, even Freemasonry, for years. It was then, he says, that “Our Lady came and found me.” He began to say the Holy Rosary, to attend Mass with his Catholic wife and to spend time in Adoration. He describes a devotion to Our Lady that seemed to come out of nowhere. “I have no doubt that she brought me to Our Lord,” he says. So, he began to attend RCIA and was received into the Church in 2017.

Regarding the Latin Mass, RB says: “I was really attracted to Mater Dei, because I wanted to live a fully Catholic life. It occurred to me that I would find tradition with the Latin Mass, and the parishioners there.” RB started off by attending Monday morning Mass at Mater Dei, and not long afterwards he and his wife began attending there on Sundays.

The barbershop itself, which opened in September 2017, follows a route that almost seems to mirror RB’s journey to the Faith. RB was a dialysis technician who was unhappy in his job and with his life in general. A friend suggested jokingly that he go to barber college, and RB decided it wasn’t the worst idea in the world. He went to barber college, loved it, and now, he says, he doesn’t want to be anywhere else but the barbershop. When he began to cut hair he adopted the appellation “RB,” the nickname of his grandfather, Ronald Bell, and so the name of the shop honors his grandfather as well.

RB says that the best part of running a barbershop in Marysville, where he has lived almost all his life, is getting to know the people. “It is absolutely the coolest part of this gig,” he says. And as regards the donations to Mater Dei, the offer runs for the life of the shop. “It’s such a tiny little bit that I can do for the parish,” he continues.

A little bit, perhaps, but the smallest things done for God are monuments in His eyes. If you find yourself within distance of the Pennsylvania capital, do pay a visit to Mater Dei at St. Lawrence Chapel for Mass or some time in prayer with Our Lord. Then, if you travel just a little ways northward to a small town perched on the western bank of the Susquehanna River, you’ll find a friendly barbershop that stands as a towering testament to the power of Providence.