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Polish Parishes Renew Consecration on Today Feast of Our Lady of CzestochowaThe Stories of Our Lady of Czestochowa [Catholic Caucus]Our Lady of Czestochowa [Catholic Caucus]Catholic Word of the Day: CZESTOCHOWA, 06-02-103,000 Priests Pilgrimage in Czestochowa (Recall Clergy Killed During Wars, Communist Regime)The Siege of CzestochowaWhat a glorious trip! – Pilgrimage to Czestochowa (they have just arrived!)

Heather Mac Donald is a very good journalist, and conservatives are in her debt for her work dealing with immigration, crime, and the realities of urban life. But Mac Donald, an atheist, is puzzled by religion. Last Sunday, this puzzlement took the form of a short piece at the Secular Right website, where Mac Donald expressed her shock at seeing a flyer for “one of those creepy painted sculptures of Mary with oversized, tear-encrusted eyes and an undersized mouth” in her apartment building in Manhattan. The flyer was for a visit of a statue of Our Lady of Fatima at...

Martin Luther's Devotion to Mary by Dave Armstrong .. Despite the radicalism of early Protestantism toward many ancient Catholic "distinctives," such as the Communion of the Saints, Penance, Purgatory, Infused Justification, the Papacy, the priesthood, sacramental marriage, etc., it may surprise many to discover that Martin Luther was rather conservative in some of his doctrinal views, such as on baptismal regeneration, the Eucharist, and particularly the Blessed Virgin Mary. Luther indeed was quite devoted to Our Lady, and retained most of the traditional Marian doctrines which were held then and now by the Catholic Church. This is often not well-documented...

(English-language translation) The bishops of the Catholic Church [in Puerto Rico] once again disapproved any devotion related to the Virgen del Rosario del Pozo (“Virgin of the Rosary of the Well”) movement, to whose structure they attributed “dehumanizing” and “denigrating” practices contrary to that religion’s doctrine. Through its President, San Juan Archbishop Roberto González, the Puerto Rican Bishops Conference ([known by its Spanish acronym] CEP) ordered its faithful not to promote devotion to the Virgin of the Rosary of the Well and instructed the leaders of this movement to desist in their practices. González presented a letter that will be...

LEBANON Marian month in Lebanon: a glimmer of hope in tough times by Youssef Hourany Next Sunday is the feast of Our Lady of Lebanon – the event comes at a time when confidence in politics is low. But Patriarch Sfeir said: "Our situation is still better than that of other countries in the region." Beirut (AsiaNews) – The month of May in the country of the Cedars has a special aura about it, owing to the devotion to Our Lady permeating the life of the Lebanese people. Tens of thousands of people, even non Christians, go every year to...

Fundamentals of Catholicism by Father Robert Altier Lesson 8: Mary (Part 2) At the end of the previous lesson, we were asking the questions about the brothers and sisters of Jesus, Jesus being Our Lady’s firstborn son, and Joseph not having any relations with Our Lady until she had borne a son, and so on. There are a couple of things to understand here. First of all, in Aramaic, which is the spoken form of Hebrew, there are no words for “cousin.” Even today in the Middle East, brothers and sisters are anyone who is a close family relation. You...

Fundamentals of Catholicism by Father Robert Altier Lesson 7: Mary (Part 1) [Class begins with a greeting by Father and the recitation of the Hail Mary.] Now we get to talk about one of my favorite of all topics, and that is the Blessed Virgin Mary, the most wonderful lady to ever have lived. It is certainly well known to most people that Catholics foster a deep devotion to our Blessed Lady, but most people do not really understand that devotion very well. To have at least some Marian devotion is part and parcel of every single Catholic. In the...

London, Nov. 10, 2005 (CNA) - Devotion to Mary is growing among Anglicans, Fr. Noel Wynn told the New York Times. Fr. Wynn is the director of the Roman Catholic Marian shrine in Walsingham, known as “England’s Nazareth.”Walsingham is home to two Marian shrines—one Catholic and the other Anglican—located at opposite sides of the town.Tradition says the first shrine was founded in 1061, when Richeldis de Faverches, a Saxon noblewoman, had a vision of the Virgin Mary, who showed her the house in Nazareth where the Angel Gabriel announced the birth of Jesus. Mary then instructed the lady to build...