The Dominicans at the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer in New York have announced a series of lectures on theology for the coming months. Those in the area might be interested in the offerings:

T

o believe well, one must first reason well. This is the lesson of St. Thomas Aquinas. Consequently, faith becomes a challenge when reason fails to fulfill its prior duty, which is to separate truth from error. This lecture series is aimed at answering modern challenges to faith by examining the fundamental questions that rise naturally from human experience. When we think through these questions correctly, separating fact from fiction, we discover the rational foundation upon which the act of faith can be confidently made.

• October 6 - God’s Existence and Nature
• October 20 - The Meaning of Creation
• November 3 - The Meaning of Providence

• November 17 - A Being of Matter and Spirit
• December 1 - The Gifts of Intellect and Will
• December 15 - The Gift of Freedom

• January 12, 2009 - Who is He?
• February 9 - The Meaning of the Incarnation
• February 23 - The Meaning of the Paschal Mystery

• March 9 - The Christian Culture of Worship
• March 23 - The Meaning of Sacrifice
• April 6 - The Sacramental Principle

• May 11 - Spiritual Warfare
• June 1 - The Meaning of Law: Eternal and Natural
• June 22 - The New Life of Grace

The Church of St. Vincent Ferrer is located at 869 Lexington Avenue (at E. 66th St.). Each lecture is free and will take place in the Church hall at 7pm. Call 212-744-2080 or visit www.csvf.org or www.csvfblog.org for more information.

Thanks to the First Things‘ blog for making me aware of these lectures.

September 23 marks the Feast Day for the mystic, stigmatist and saint, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina. He was born on May 25, 1887, in the small Italian village of Pietrelcina, and named Francesco in honor of St. Francis of Assisi. It was clear even from early childhood that he was drawn to the priesthood, and at the age of 16, he became a Capuchin novice. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1910. On September 20, 1918, while kneeling in prayer in front of a large crucifix, Padre Pio received the stigmata (the visible marks of the crucifixion), making him the first stigmatized priest in the history of the Church. Medical examinations performed at that time could not attribute the wounds to any disease process or natural cause. While the blood from the stigmata had a sweet odor reminiscent of flowers, the wounds caused him pain and suffering throughout, which he continually offered up to God. As Padre Pio predicted 50 years earlier, the wounds healed on the day of his death.

There are many other mystical events associated with Padre Pio, including the (well documented) gift of bilocation. Padre Pio dutifully heard 10-18 hours of confession per day, and had the ability to read the hearts of the penitents who flocked to him.

Padre Pio worked exhaustingly to establish a hospital at San Giovanni Rotondo to care for the poor of southern Italy. It remains one of the most advanced and busy hospitals to this day. Spiritually, Padre Pio was particularly devoted to the Rosary and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He was well known for his beautiful celebrations of the Mass. During the course of the Mass, he would cry almost continuously. To an inquirer, he said,

I don’t want to shed small tears. I want to shed a flood of tears. Don’t you see the great mystery of the Mass?

Maria Winowska, who wrote the biography Le Vrai Visage du Padre Pio (”The True Face of Padre Pio”), described his Mass in this way:

The Capuchin’s face which a few moments before had seemed to me jovial and affable was literally transfigured… Fear, joy, sorrow, agony or grief… I could follow the mysterious dialogue on (his) features. Now he protests, shakes his head in denial and waits for the reply. His entire body was frozen in mute supplication… Suddenly great tears welled from his eyes, and his shoulders, shaken with sobs, seemed bowed beneath a crushing weight… One Friday I saw him panting, oppressed as a wrestler at bay trying in vain with swift tosses of the head to shake off some obstacle which prevented him from uttering the words of Consecration. It eventually resembled single combat from which he emerged victorious but broken. On other occasions after the Sanctus great drops of sweat poured from his forehead, bathing his face which was distorted with sobs. Here was truly the man of sorrow at grips with the agony… Between himself and Christ there was no distance…

This mystical Mass could last for three hours. During the time of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, Padre Pio was granted permission to continue celebrating the Mass according to the traditional (Tridentine) liturgy.

Padre Pio died on September 23, 1968, at the age of 81. He was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2002.

Learn more about Padre Pio at PadrePio.com, PadrePio.org, PadrePio.net, EWTN and Wikipedia.

In particular, you may enjoy listening to this wonderful audio lecture series by Fr. Andrew Apostoli, who explores the extraordinary life of Padre Pio through the saint’s own writings and through the eyes of his contemporaries. The files are in RealAudio format:

1. The saints — Special friends of God
2. His Franciscan and his priestly vocation
3. The stigmata
4. Padre Pio’s sufferings
5. The later years
6. His Mass
7. My little lady
8. Spiritual son to St. Francis
9. His many struggles
10. Spiritual fatherhood
11. The gifts of the Holy Spirit
12. Padre Pio and the popes
13. Faithfulness to the Catholic Church

ast week, with the Republican National Convention, we saw the end of partisan campaign season. Now, the real work begins: Constructing specific policy proposals, debating the opposing candidate and winning votes.

As Jim Wallis astutely noted in his God’s Politics blog on September 4:

With two months to go, the questions will certainly be raised. The most important one that is emerging is which ticket will be most able to reach out to many people in the middle in both parties, and the all-important political independents. Facts will be important. Whose tax policies will most benefit low-income and middle-class families? Who has a plan to reverse the economic downturn? Who has the smartest strategy for countering the real threats of terrorism? And who has the best and most comprehensive response to the full range of moral issues that are of deep concern to people of faith?

Now, all four of the political figures on their respective party tickets have been shown to have compelling personal stories. All four are “real people,” as the slogan goes. But this election must not just be about personalities, or inspiring personal histories; it must be about the issues, the records, the leadership, and the facts. May God help us to stay focused on that. Last week belonged to the Democrats, this week to the Republicans. Now, after the showy conventions of the past two weeks, the real work of this election can begin.

And more recently:

But now the conventions are over and the fact-checking can begin. There were a lot of very partisan things said at both conventions (that is the reason for conventions), but now all those things should be tested. I hope those who say that this will be an election about “personalities” are wrong. It must instead be about the real issues facing the country and the world. Whose tax policies will benefit whom the most? Who offers the best hopes for poor and middle-class families? And who has the smartest policies to defeat the real threats of terrorism — not whose rhetoric against Islamic fundamentalism is tougher? So let the fact-checking begin, and given the speeches we have just heard from some politicians, we will need full-time fact-checkers.