FROM
THE POST OFFICE
St. Joan of Arc, Inspiration for America
God's purpose in using St. Joan of Arc to free France from England was that when Henry VIII broke from Rome, France would not follow. Had France broken from Rome, Portugal and Spain would have been geographically cut off from the See of Peter, and the weak kings that followed Phillip II also would have separated from the Vicar of Christ, taking Latin America with them.
St. Joan preserved France, Spain and Latin America for the true faith. God used a teenaged girl to show that it was His arm that accomplished this and not man's supposed wisdom and strength. It was Joan's mission to preserve these lands for true Christianity. She had to be identified with Christ to the point of martyrdom on a tree. Poor girl, but what a saint!
I am happy to report that soon in her sham trial, the Dominicans withdrew in protest, and their records and protestations written at that time were later used to prove that her execution was unjust and a true martyrdom befitting a genuine saint. It was a Dominican who flaunted the bishop and the English and held up the crucifix on a pole before her as she was being burned.
St. Joan of Arc's feastday. May 30, is not in the U.S. liturgical calendar. A most useful accomplishment would be for Les Femmes to inspire the NCCB [National Conference of Catholic Bishops] to put her in, so Americans can have an annual Memorial in her honor and to our needed encouragement.
Fr. Bart de la Torre, O.P.
Chaplain Thomas Aquinas College
Santa Paula, CA
We thank Fr. de la Torre for his excellent teaching on St. Joan and his suggestion to urge her inclusion in the U.S. calendar of saints. We invite our readers to contact their local bishops and Most Reverend Joseph A. Fiorenza, President, National Conference of Catholic Bishops, 3211 4th St. N.E., Washington, DC 20017-1194.
Where's the "prophetic spirit" in clergy?
As an admirer of the late Fulton Sheen, I remember he wrote in later years that the major tragedy in the Church is the "lack of the prophetic spirit in the clergy to speak out, to denounce, to persuade the world of its errors and sins." He referred to our bishops and pastors who want to be popular and loved, whose eyes are on the collection plates so they never challenge the laity, preferring to tell the pew-sitters what they want to hear.
In gratitude, many in the congregation complete this unholy alliance by giving blackmail donations insuring that embarrassing culturally related personal morality and pro-life sermons are rarely, if ever, given. Hence we have seen created this hypocritical Clinton Catholic alliance and culture of today.
Now, after many years of this pathetic lack of moral leadership, our shepherds have awakened to a new liberal clarion call where they want to mobilize the faithful to fight and eliminate capital punishment. In other words, failing miserably to protect the 1.5 million unborn destroyed annually, they now want to muster Catholic resources to save the lives of the 100 or so annually executed mass murderers on death row. Anyone out there want to explain this grotesque lack of fairness and moral priorities?
Albert W. Herz
Fruitland, MD