In short, they were disappointed that the Catholic newspaper of the Archdiocese refused to print an anti-Catholic ad.

The main page is here.

St. Francis de Sales Oratory is here.

To the newest Saint Louis Catholic!

Name withheld to shield her from embarrassment by association with her father, we’ll call her “Isabel”– born yesterday.  Mom and baby are well and, well, beautiful.

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Thank you so much to all of you who have sent congratulations and have offered prayers.  You are all very kind and we appreciate it!  Back to normal (whatever that is in this space) blogging by tomorrow.

God bless you all.

I have often tried to explain to people I know why I am so partial to the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest. I credit the Institute with a deep conversion experience in my life, for one thing. The beauty of the liturgy, well-celebrated, corresponds to the truth of the Catholic faith. The Salesian approach to creating an island of charity, faith and culture is yet another important factor.

I received an email from a member of the Institute’s apostolate in Oakland, CA (our new rector’s previous apostolate), that expresses this well. With permission, here is the article from that newsletter:

Restoration of a different kind?

Over the past three years I have thought quite a bit about what it is I like about the Institute of Christ the King and its effect on an ordinary Catholic like me. This restoration project sparked a few thoughts I hope you won?t mind my sharing.

In the video I refer to above [SLC: the video of the Shrine of Christ the King on their website], Msgr. Schmitz says about the Shrine, “We will restore the church, bring it back to life and to its former glory.” I thought this statement was very true in more ways than one, especially in view of what we have been experiencing here in St. Margaret Mary.

We have not been given an architectural shrine to restore, but the Institute has brought the beauty and reverence of the classical liturgy to the hearts of the people, many for the very first time. I have observed, in myself and others, a more profound understanding of the Sacrifice of the Mass; an increased love for Our Lord, the Faith, the Church and the saints; a greater respect for the priesthood; a greater appreciation for the use of visual beauty and musical eloquence in the liturgy; and a rekindled love for a Catholic cultural mindset. These are not the restoration of a brick-and-mortar edifice, but the restoration of something of perhaps a greater permanence: a Catholic heart and soul. It is restoration of a different kind.

How does the Institute do this? Locally here in the Bay Area, it is done through the tireless teaching and preaching about the Blessed Sacrament, about the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and about the role of the liturgy in relation to these. It is done by stressing an unwavering adherence to the teachings of the Church, loyalty to the Pope, maintenance of a high standard of excellence, and a personal example of fervent love for God and Church.

Our experience here in the Bay Area is not unique. Throughout the Institute’s network of apostolates in the world, one sees the same dedication to the worship of God– beauty executed for God alone, the same centrality of Jesus Christ Sovereign Priest in the life of a priest and the life of the laity, the same focus on the primary purpose of liturgy, and the same joy reflected in the community life of each apostolate.

I know what the Institute does is no more than what the Roman Catholic Church teaches and has always taught; however, as a Catholic lay person, I find it very refreshing to have the wealth and the richness of the Church presented to us in a totally positive way and without the usual polemics. Through its spirituality based on the whole tradition of the Church, the Institute has found a voice to convey the ageless beauty of the Church.

Clearly the Institute is not just about celebrating the old Mass. This architectural restoration project in Chicago is only one facet of the Institute’s work, but when I saw the video I thought the restoration project symbolized the spirituality of the Institute in several ways. This lovely old church building stands out as an architectural gem in the midst of modern urban structures, yet it holds its own without competing with its surroundings. The Shrine exists not as a reaction to its modern counterparts; it had been there all along, and through the restoration, it will radiate its forgotten glory and classical beauty all over again. The Institute goes about the restoration quietly and in perfect harmony with the neighbourhood. Yet even as the restoration is taking place, it is already having a positive influence on its surroundings. One can’t help wonder what effect it will have when it is finished.

I like the word “restoration.” Restoration is not imitation nor replication; restoration is not remaking something nor is it updating something to make it more suited to modern taste. And restoration is not reinventing something. Restoration implies rediscovering and unveiling the original beauty, rebuilding and sometimes repairing with faithfulness to the original design and purpose. To faithfully restore something which has fallen to disrepair or neglect requires a deep understanding of the intended design and purpose of that thing in the first place.

Whether it’s restoring an old Church or presenting the classical liturgy, the Institute seeks to understand the foundational structure first.

What I have learned from the Institute is that the Extraordinary Rite is not merely about following a rigid set of rules and regulations, but that it has to begin with a clear understanding of what the Mass is about first. I have learned from the Institute that everything done at the Altar– the prayers and the beauty — is first and foremost done for the love of God, and not for the human audience. Attending the Traditional Latin Mass for me has been about worshipping God in the most divinely inspired way possible, accepting liturgy as a gift from God, and not as a self-expression of personal piety. I have learned that the “old Mass” is not about what was done in the past, but what has to be done in the future. The old Church being restored in Chicago is not to be treated as a museum piece from the past, but to reflect the glory of God for us now, and for our children in the future. I am only one of many people who are beginning to appreciate these things, even though we are not a full-fledged oratory as elsewhere.

Here in Oakland, we’ve not had a church to restore, but I think there’s been a quiet restoration of a different kind. In the same quiet sort of way it has the same rippling effect on the Catholic consciousness as the Shrine is already having in the Woodlawn neighbourhood in Chicago.

STLToday has a story about a man who was shot to death for failing to correctly make a fast food order. Though not in the STLToday story itself, Fox 2 reported that when the victim came back with two burgers for three people, there was a heated exchange, and the burger-deprived person came back later and shot the offender at point-blank range. Truly a pathetic story.

This is beside the point, of course, but the story linked above contains one of those ubiquitous ads that are embedded in most online stories. They pop up on a random basis, but the weird thing here, though, is that when I accessed the story it was an ad for McDonald’s.