The Moynihan Letters

    Dominican Friar and former Master of the Order of Preachers, Father Timothy Peter Joseph Radcliffe, 78 (link). He is leading a spiritual retreat for the participants in the upcoming Synod on Synodality occurring in these days in a religious house outside of Rome. The synod will begin on October 4     "Some hope that the Church [...]

    "In this speech I will not try to give answers, but to pose a question that can no longer be postponed..." —Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, in an address scheduled to be delivered by video link to a Catholic conference meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania yesterday, October 1. However, on his website, Archbishop Viganò writes (link): "This [...]

    The Raising of Lazarus by the Italian painter Duccio, c. 1310-1311. Lazarus was the saint who died, and was buried for four days, before Jesus came to his tomb and spoke those words which have echoed down the centuries: "Lazarus, come forth!" This was the last great miracle Jesus performed, just eight days before he [...]

Bishop Joseph E. Strickland of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas     Letter #129, 2023, Thursday, September 28: Will Pope Francis ask Bishop Strickland to resign?     Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, has been much in the news recently because of reports — which have not yet been confirmed — that Pope Francis may soon [...]

    Above, is the cover of a book by Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson entitled Lord of the World.     Below, is a newer edition of the same book.     Pope Francis on September 23 in a press conference returning from Marseilles, France, to Rome asked that all of us "please" read this book...     Why? See below...     "Before [...]

    Letter #127, Monday, September 25: John Lamont: The Significance of Pope Francis for the Church     We just came across the transcript of a lecture given by Dr. John R.T. Lamont in Greenwich, Connecticut on March 16, 2023, and posted online at StHughofCluny.org on March 23, on “The Significance of Pope Francis for the Church.”     Dr. Lamont [...]

The Last Judgment by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel in Rome     Letter #126, 2023, Monday, September 25: Divine Providence     I write from Beirut, Lebanon. Here, with pilgrims traveling with me, I yesterday visited the tomb of St. Charbel, canonized in 1977 by Pope Paul VI.     Charbel lived from 1828 to 1898, and, since his death, his [...]

The Exaltation of the True Cross by an anonymous Russian Orthodox icon painter (link)     Letter #125, 2023, Thursday, September 14: Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross     I just received this letter from a reader, Joe Cahill. (Thank you, Joe.) I found it fascinating and wished to share it with you, since today is the [...]

    Notre Dame de La Salette, France (this is my own photo of a framed photograph on the wall of the sanctuary)     In La Salette, France, in 1846 — when none of these buildings were here — the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to two French children: Mélanie Calvat, then 15, and Maximin Giraud, [...]

    Garabandal, Spain. In this tiny Spanish village not far from the northern coast of Spain in the 1960s, the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared on numerous occasions to four Spanish girls: Conchita González, her second cousin Jacinta González, and Mari Loli Mazón, all three then 12 years old (in 1961), and Mari Cruz [...]