Comments on: Book Review: We Were One: Shoulder to Shoulder with the Marines Who Took Fallujah http://www.cornellsociety.org/2007/05/book-review-we-were-one-shoulder-to-shoulder-with-the-marines-who-took-fallujah/ Unity in charity, diversity in truth Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:32:19 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: A Simple Priest http://www.cornellsociety.org/2007/05/book-review-we-were-one-shoulder-to-shoulder-with-the-marines-who-took-fallujah/#comment-15563 A Simple Priest Fri, 25 May 2007 19:24:01 +0000 http://www.cornellsociety.org/2007/05/book-review-we-were-one-shoulder-to-shoulder-with-the-marines-who-took-fallujah/#comment-15563 Dear JSP, Thank you for your thoughtful and kind reply. It is true that there is no limit to what can be achieved through prayer and grace--as the story you relate, as well as that related of the Emperor Trajan, reveals. And it's true that there's a great deal of truth to the little axiom to "bloom where you're planted." One serious difficulty at present in the Navy Chaplain Corps (which supplies chaplains to the Marines and the Coast Guard as well) is the move away from chapels, so that priests are in effect deprived of the stable "base of operations" so necessary for instruction in the Faith, etc. However, who knows but that this can, and will, be overcome by prayer. Thank you again for your kind regard, A Simple Priest Dear JSP,
Thank you for your thoughtful and kind reply. It is true that there is no limit to what can be achieved through prayer and grace–as the story you relate, as well as that related of the Emperor Trajan, reveals. And it’s true that there’s a great deal of truth to the little axiom to “bloom where you’re planted.” One serious difficulty at present in the Navy Chaplain Corps (which supplies chaplains to the Marines and the Coast Guard as well) is the move away from chapels, so that priests are in effect deprived of the stable “base of operations” so necessary for instruction in the Faith, etc. However, who knows but that this can, and will, be overcome by prayer. Thank you again for your kind regard, A Simple Priest

]]> By: JSP http://www.cornellsociety.org/2007/05/book-review-we-were-one-shoulder-to-shoulder-with-the-marines-who-took-fallujah/#comment-15548 JSP Fri, 25 May 2007 02:31:46 +0000 http://www.cornellsociety.org/2007/05/book-review-we-were-one-shoulder-to-shoulder-with-the-marines-who-took-fallujah/#comment-15548 "Pray, pray, a great deal, and make sacrifices for sinners, for many souls go to Hell because they have no one to make sacrifices and pray for them." Our Lady of Fatima “Pray, pray, a great deal, and make sacrifices for sinners, for many souls go to Hell because they have no one to make sacrifices and pray for them.” Our Lady of Fatima

]]> By: JSP http://www.cornellsociety.org/2007/05/book-review-we-were-one-shoulder-to-shoulder-with-the-marines-who-took-fallujah/#comment-15547 JSP Fri, 25 May 2007 02:29:22 +0000 http://www.cornellsociety.org/2007/05/book-review-we-were-one-shoulder-to-shoulder-with-the-marines-who-took-fallujah/#comment-15547 I see that Fr. Augustine's story can be found on some webpages.. However, some of the interesting facts about his conversion are left out, also I haven't seen anything on the web about his mother. I have the sermon on CD, but in the past I've had trouble emailing them because of the size.. I see that Fr. Augustine’s story can be found on some webpages.. However, some of the interesting facts about his conversion are left out, also I haven’t seen anything on the web about his mother. I have the sermon on CD, but in the past I’ve had trouble emailing them because of the size..

]]> By: Tobias Petrus http://www.cornellsociety.org/2007/05/book-review-we-were-one-shoulder-to-shoulder-with-the-marines-who-took-fallujah/#comment-15542 Tobias Petrus Thu, 24 May 2007 17:40:38 +0000 http://www.cornellsociety.org/2007/05/book-review-we-were-one-shoulder-to-shoulder-with-the-marines-who-took-fallujah/#comment-15542 Wow, JSP, that's a great story. Do you know where I could find it written up? Wow, JSP, that’s a great story. Do you know where I could find it written up?

]]> By: JSP http://www.cornellsociety.org/2007/05/book-review-we-were-one-shoulder-to-shoulder-with-the-marines-who-took-fallujah/#comment-15535 JSP Thu, 24 May 2007 02:49:51 +0000 http://www.cornellsociety.org/2007/05/book-review-we-were-one-shoulder-to-shoulder-with-the-marines-who-took-fallujah/#comment-15535 A Simple Priest, I hope you stay in the chaplaincy. Being a parish priest may prove no more fulfilling. It may seem that your efforts in the military are not paying off, but perhaps this is not really the case. Just your presence may make a difference. Your prayers before God and to the Blessed Virgin Mary for men who otherwise may never have had a man, especially a priest, pray for them may make a difference. Your offering of the TLM and respectful Novus Ordos, and the extra graces this brings may make a difference. Being a parish priest of a run of the mill diocesan parish I personally think would be much worse. Most of the parishioners are just as superficial about their faith. Many of them will get down right angry with you and will persecute you for mentioning sin from the pulpit. "A Simple Priest is not as nice as Fr. Bob was." Be prepared to hear this a lot. And, worst of all - be prepared for the legions and legions of busy body women, under the curse of Eve, who will be contacting you and bothering you all hours of the day trying to take on a greater "ministry" within the parish. Being in the military gives you more access to men and women, Catholics and non-Catholics. More access in the sense that you are with these people at their most vulnerable times in their lives. And hopefully, you'll move up the ranks and be able to influence policy within the chaplaincy and within the Military Ordinariate someday.. I was listening to a sermon by a priest last week about a convert from anti-Catholic Judaism to Roman Catholicism, named Fr. Augustine Marie of the Most Blessed Sacrament. His conversion story is very interesting. But his mother never converted. She cursed God and publicly cursed the monks of his order when Fr. Augustine Marie refused to leave his monastery when she came to "rescue him." She died an anti-Catholic Jewess. However, the Cure of Ars relates that a very holy women once asked Our Lord why He said that He would listen to our prayers, yet seemingly did not listen to the prayers of a very holy and devoted priest like Fr. Augustine for the conversion of his mother. Our Lord revealed to this women who in turn told the Cure of Ars that at the moments before Fr. Augustine Marie's mother's death, Mary went before Our Lord and told him that she claimed the mother's soul for herself and requested she be saved. Fr. Augustine had prayed for his mother his entire life and "had commended her soul to me countless times"-the Mother of God told her Divine Son. So Jesus Christ of course acquiesced to his Mother's request and sent the necessary grace down into the old Jewess' heart, and in her last moments, unbeknownst to the world, she cried out to heaven "God of the Christians, have mercy on me. Give me another chance. Allow me to live and to be baptized a Catholic." She died but with the sanctifying grace. I just bring it up to say there are no hopeless causes. And the work you're doing could be paying off dividends which none of us will be aware of until the end of time. A Simple Priest,

I hope you stay in the chaplaincy.

Being a parish priest may prove no more fulfilling.

It may seem that your efforts in the military are not paying off, but perhaps this is not really the case.

Just your presence may make a difference.

Your prayers before God and to the Blessed Virgin Mary for men who otherwise may never have had a man, especially a priest, pray for them may make a difference.

Your offering of the TLM and respectful Novus Ordos, and the extra graces this brings may make a difference.

Being a parish priest of a run of the mill diocesan parish I personally think would be much worse. Most of the parishioners are just as superficial about their faith. Many of them will get down right angry with you and will persecute you for mentioning sin from the pulpit. “A Simple Priest is not as nice as Fr. Bob was.” Be prepared to hear this a lot. And, worst of all - be prepared for the legions and legions of busy body women, under the curse of Eve, who will be contacting you and bothering you all hours of the day trying to take on a greater “ministry” within the parish.

Being in the military gives you more access to men and women, Catholics and non-Catholics. More access in the sense that you are with these people at their most vulnerable times in their lives.

And hopefully, you’ll move up the ranks and be able to influence policy within the chaplaincy and within the Military Ordinariate someday..

I was listening to a sermon by a priest last week about a convert from anti-Catholic Judaism to Roman Catholicism, named Fr. Augustine Marie of the Most Blessed Sacrament. His conversion story is very interesting. But his mother never converted. She cursed God and publicly cursed the monks of his order when Fr. Augustine Marie refused to leave his monastery when she came to “rescue him.” She died an anti-Catholic Jewess.

However, the Cure of Ars relates that a very holy women once asked Our Lord why He said that He would listen to our prayers, yet seemingly did not listen to the prayers of a very holy and devoted priest like Fr. Augustine for the conversion of his mother. Our Lord revealed to this women who in turn told the Cure of Ars that at the moments before Fr. Augustine Marie’s mother’s death, Mary went before Our Lord and told him that she claimed the mother’s soul for herself and requested she be saved. Fr. Augustine had prayed for his mother his entire life and “had commended her soul to me countless times”-the Mother of God told her Divine Son. So Jesus Christ of course acquiesced to his Mother’s request and sent the necessary grace down into the old Jewess’ heart, and in her last moments, unbeknownst to the world, she cried out to heaven “God of the Christians, have mercy on me. Give me another chance. Allow me to live and to be baptized a Catholic.” She died but with the sanctifying grace.

I just bring it up to say there are no hopeless causes.

And the work you’re doing could be paying off dividends which none of us will be aware of until the end of time.

]]> By: A Simple Priest http://www.cornellsociety.org/2007/05/book-review-we-were-one-shoulder-to-shoulder-with-the-marines-who-took-fallujah/#comment-15529 A Simple Priest Wed, 23 May 2007 16:11:22 +0000 http://www.cornellsociety.org/2007/05/book-review-we-were-one-shoulder-to-shoulder-with-the-marines-who-took-fallujah/#comment-15529 Josephus, I found your review very thoughtful and provocative (in the good sense). I haven't submitted any comments for a while precisely because I have been engaged as a Catholic chaplain with the Marines. I can certainly confirm your intuition that few of the younger Marines make any kind of serious preparation for death. Partly, I think, this is due--especially on the part of Catholics--to a poor or nonexistent education in the Faith. Attendance at Sunday Mass is low proportionate to the number of Catholics; attendance at daily Mass, in the Navy or the Marine Corps, comprises one or two faithful souls, at best. I, too, feel that insofar as I can judge the salvation of those who are killed in combat is not assured: they have many grave sins on their consciences (oftentimes), and they seemingly make no serious purpose of amendment even when the danger of death is quite immediate. On a happier note, I am quite free at my command to offer Requiem Masses for the fallen Catholics instead of the ubiquitous "memorial services," that--as I have mentioned to others--simply reinforce that one's comrades are dead; any mention of the resurrection of the dead, let alone prayers for the poor souls, appears at such services only fortuitously. Finally, I would say that it is possible to be a faithful and traditional priest in the military but at a certain cost. There is an entrenched group of priests in the higher ranks that are very much products of the 1970's; happily they are all on the verge of retirement. My main reservation with serving in the military is that, given the great need for faithful priests elsewhere, and given the indifference of so many Catholics in the military, it seems almost like a squandering of the gifts Christ gives us priests if twenty or more years are spent in such an environment. "To other towns and villages I must go," says the Master, and I'm beginning to think that these words apply to any priest interested in serving the good of souls the best he can. However, at the same time, there is an incalculable value to being able to give the Last Rites (even once) to a Marine or soldier who otherwise would have had no hope of receiving the Sacraments. God bless all of you at the Cornell Society, A Simple Priest Josephus, I found your review very thoughtful and provocative (in the good sense). I haven’t submitted any comments for a while precisely because I have been engaged as a Catholic chaplain with the Marines. I can certainly confirm your intuition that few of the younger Marines make any kind of serious preparation for death. Partly, I think, this is due–especially on the part of Catholics–to a poor or nonexistent education in the Faith. Attendance at Sunday Mass is low proportionate to the number of Catholics; attendance at daily Mass, in the Navy or the Marine Corps, comprises one or two faithful souls, at best. I, too, feel that insofar as I can judge the salvation of those who are killed in combat is not assured: they have many grave sins on their consciences (oftentimes), and they seemingly make no serious purpose of amendment even when the danger of death is quite immediate. On a happier note, I am quite free at my command to offer Requiem Masses for the fallen Catholics instead of the ubiquitous “memorial services,” that–as I have mentioned to others–simply reinforce that one’s comrades are dead; any mention of the resurrection of the dead, let alone prayers for the poor souls, appears at such services only fortuitously.
Finally, I would say that it is possible to be a faithful and traditional priest in the military but at a certain cost. There is an entrenched group of priests in the higher ranks that are very much products of the 1970’s; happily they are all on the verge of retirement. My main reservation with serving in the military is that, given the great need for faithful priests elsewhere, and given the indifference of so many Catholics in the military, it seems almost like a squandering of the gifts Christ gives us priests if twenty or more years are spent in such an environment. “To other towns and villages I must go,” says the Master, and I’m beginning to think that these words apply to any priest interested in serving the good of souls the best he can. However, at the same time, there is an incalculable value to being able to give the Last Rites (even once) to a Marine or soldier who otherwise would have had no hope of receiving the Sacraments. God bless all of you at the Cornell Society,
A Simple Priest

]]> By: Iosephus http://www.cornellsociety.org/2007/05/book-review-we-were-one-shoulder-to-shoulder-with-the-marines-who-took-fallujah/#comment-15515 Iosephus Tue, 22 May 2007 17:48:26 +0000 http://www.cornellsociety.org/2007/05/book-review-we-were-one-shoulder-to-shoulder-with-the-marines-who-took-fallujah/#comment-15515 Yes. I guess what I meant was that the possession of natural virtue, though it does not imply the possesion of supernatural virtue, is consistent with it. Or, everyone who has superhatural virtue will also have natural virtue. So not being better acquainted with these men, I was hoping that theirs was not a case of natural virtue on its own. Yes.

I guess what I meant was that the possession of natural virtue, though it does not imply the possesion of supernatural virtue, is consistent with it. Or, everyone who has superhatural virtue will also have natural virtue. So not being better acquainted with these men, I was hoping that theirs was not a case of natural virtue on its own.

]]> By: Tobias Petrus http://www.cornellsociety.org/2007/05/book-review-we-were-one-shoulder-to-shoulder-with-the-marines-who-took-fallujah/#comment-15514 Tobias Petrus Tue, 22 May 2007 16:42:10 +0000 http://www.cornellsociety.org/2007/05/book-review-we-were-one-shoulder-to-shoulder-with-the-marines-who-took-fallujah/#comment-15514 "I don’t have any reason to think this is the case beyond the often great natural virtue which these men displayed in their last days" Well, if we're specifically calling the virtue "natural" (which is a judgment call), it is no reason at all to think that these men are in heaven, which requires supernatural virtue. “I don’t have any reason to think this is the case beyond the often great natural virtue which these men displayed in their last days”

Well, if we’re specifically calling the virtue “natural” (which is a judgment call), it is no reason at all to think that these men are in heaven, which requires supernatural virtue.

]]>