Dear Margaret Galitzin,

I thought you would be interested in an update on Fr. Wang, who led the Underground Church in the Neze Diocese (Shangong). He was condemned August 25, 2011, to three years of "re-education through labor" for refusing to join the Chinese government's Catholic Patriotic Association. "Re-education through labor" is a sentence imposed by the Communist Public Security offices which aims to reform political and religious dissidents, and minor offences. It is a system without a trial or means of appeal. Other priests were detained with Fr. Wang on August 3, but have been released.

The Catholics of Neze are urgently asking members of the universal Church and the Holy See to pray for Fr Wang and work for his release. We pray the Vatican will put pressure on the CPA and praise the resistance of these heroic priests of the Underground Church. It would help clarify the confused situation in China.

Thank you for the reports you [here and here] and Marian Horvat [here and here] have made on the Underground Church in China.

     T.L.

Hi,

I'm wondering if you can recommend a catechism program for children.

I home-school our children, and wonder what you would recommend in this regard. It sometimes seems as though programs based on the Baltimore Catechism are a bit tainted by Modernism, but perhaps my perspective has been biased. Please advise.

Thank you very much for all of the work you are doing.

     E.S.



TIA responds:

Hello E.S.,

We are not very updated on this topic, but we did check with a home-schooling mother who is a good friend. She has very high standards, and she made this suggestion:

-I would like to add the following Catechism as very good to use, for the home-schooling mother you wrote about earlier.

-It is the St. John Neumann's Catechism published by the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary - (330) 856-9837, published March 19, 2008. It has beautiful pictures and is geared more for the younger child and is similar to the Baltimore in layout.

I hope this is of some help.

     Cordially,

     TIA correspondence desk

Hi TIA,

Thank you so very much for this recommendation [above].

I don't have sufficient time right now, but I just wanted to tell you how deeply I appreciate your help and guidance, as well as the website you are managing.

I don't know very much about our faith, regrettably, having been born into a liberal home as a child: no catechism, hardly any prayer, no emphasis on reconciliation (that's the Church's attempt to get into your personal affairs, didn't you know?), disdain for the rosary, and "you gotta respect other religions."

Yours is the only website that provides information and materials that seem to provide some sense of consolation amidst all of the terrible, terrible confusion in our time.

I'll leave anything else for another time because I become emotional in the face of all of this, and deeply saddened by the state of the leadership in our Church.

Thank you very, very much, and may our Blessed Mother continue to guide you as you guide so many others,

     E.S.

Dear Tradition in Action,

I am an orthodox Catholic who was driven from full communion with the Church, by Vatican 2. I stopped going to Mass on the Second Sunday of Advent, 1976 and returned to full communion when I discovered the Traditional Latin Mass, offered by the FSSP, in Omaha, Nebraska, in 2006.

The FSSP was given our own parish, by Archbishop Curtus, in 2007, following the Moto Proprio Summorum Pontificum. Our parish has continued to grow exponentially since receiving the parish. We have two excellent FSSP Priests and the close proximity to the North American FSSP seminary in Denton, Nebraska, has been a blessing for both our parish and the seminary.

We follow the traditional Liturgical Calendar of 1962. I post the Saint of the Day on my Facebook page. This morning, I was doing a Goodsearch on St. Joachim and came across your URL. It is hard to find Catholic places that follow tradition and I am blest to have found your page. Thank you so very much.

I am retired and can't donate at this time, but I will soon. God bless you for your work in keeping Holy Tradition alive. I am hoping my posting from your website will bring more people and more donations to your apostolate.

     In His Holy Name,

     J.L.H.

TIA,

I thought these thoughts, penned by Fr. William Conway (of the Joliet Diocese) sounded thought(less) provoking: he explains the problem with the Tridentine Mass (as he calls it) and why the "New" is so much better for our spiritual health.

This is the same priest who sings the praises of Allah and Islam. You can read his bulletin here, and I also suggest reading the week previous:

I'll also mention that his favorite theologians are of course Congar, De Chardin and he uses material freely so as to teach his dumb flock. You can know a priest by what he reads, as we certainly have found out in recent years...the hard way!

Yes, it is guys like him who remain in "good standing" in the Church of today.

     Fr. R.B.

Hello,

I am wondering if you can recommend a history of the French Revolution written from a traditional Catholic perspective. Thank you for your invaluable website.

J.S.



TIA responds:

Hello J.S.,

Thank you for your amiable words.

Here are some books that could give you the objective facts from a counter-revolutionary perspective or at least anti-French Revolution view:

• The French Revolution by Pierre Gaxotte, translated by Walter A. Philips, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1932;
  
  
• The Cleaving of Christendom, vol. 4 of A History of Christendom - Warren H. Carroll, Christendom Press, 2000;
  
  
• A French Genocide: The Vendée, by Reynald Secher and translated by George Holoch, University of Notre Dame, 2003
  
  
• The Second Vendée by Gwynne Lewis, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1978;
  
  
• The French Revolution by Nesta H. Webster, Christian Book Club of America 1919, reprinted 1969
  
  
• The French Revolution: A Document Collection by Laura Mason and Tracey Rizzo, Wadworth Publishing, 1998) - This book provides good primary source documents to read and analyze.

We invite our readers who have an interest in this topic to suggest other works that could be of interest.

     Cordially,

     TIA correspondence desk

Dear Sir/Madam,

Have you heard of a priest called Father Isaac Relyea? He has started an order in Wisconsin, called the Franciscan Friars of Our Lady of Good Success and as this is a devotion that you promote, I was wondering if you know of him. He is a very powerful preacher.

     God bless,

     S.M.S, England



TIA responds:

Dear S.M.S.,

Thank you for your information. Yes, we have heard about Fr. Isaac Relyea and established some contact with him.

     Cordially,

     TIA correspondence desk

TIA,

I would ask if it is possible for your web designer to incorporate a link on your graphic images for a larger size to view. Many of the small sized pictures might better be utilized and admired if available to see in a larger and more accessible form. Beautiful and inspiring art should then be more appreciated yes?

     Thank you,

     M.C.



TIA responds:

M.C.,

Thank you for your suggestion. Although our work schedule is very full and this suggestion implies making an extra link to each enlarged photo, we will study its feasibility with our webmaster.

     Cordially,

     TIA correspondence desk

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