Monthly Archives: July 2023

The city of Newark, NJ lost two of their bravest last week.

Agusto Acabou and Wayne Brooks, Jr. were veteran firemen who lost their lives battling a blaze on a cargo ship at the Port of Newark. Newark is my hometown and one of my nephews is a fireman there himself.

May I ask that all who read this offer a rosary for the repose of their souls?

I tease my nephew often about his job. It seems lately there haven’t been any major fires to fight. But I know how gut wrenching these deaths are to all who have loved ones in the department and to the brother firefighters of these brave men.

Stay confessed!

Stay confessed!

Stay confessed!

Also, while we’re on the subject of praying for the dead… This past Sunday marked three years since my brother took his life. Please pray for his soul as well.

I am still angry. I’m angry that he did what he did. I’m angry he left his wife to find him like that. I’m angry at every politician and “expert” who locked him up for months due to a “pandemic”. No one will ever convince me that the lockdowns didn’t contribute heavily to his suicide. If I make it to heaven by God’s grace and if my brother happens to have escaped the flames of hell; I intend to clock him over the head for this. If nothing else, what he did has served as the impetus for me to fast more and to offer my prayers than I ever have.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them!

May their souls and all the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen.

First I want to wrap up a post from a couple of days ago. I had included a few pictures of the old cathedral in Dubuque, IA. Below are some pics of the current cathedral.

So as you can see it’s a hodgepodge. My head was actually spinning at the insanity of it. Moving on…

Later in the day I drove to Fenimore, WI and the beautiful countryside church of St. Mary.

Much better.

On Friday I did not get to Mass. this is not to say that the Blessed Mother didn’t make Mass available to me. I just failed to plan better. We could have gotten to Mass in the late afternoon but that would have required me to leave Dubuque by 5AM. My bad on that one.

What we did do instead was to leave around 9 and, after a full day of driving through some of the most beautiful country made by God, we arrived in Rapid City, SD.

This morning, we attended Mass at the FSSP parish in town – Immaculate Conception.

This magnificent yet diminutive church was once its diocesan cathedral. Happily, the altar still witnesses the ancient sacrifice before a sizable crowd for a Saturday morning. In fact, as I entered I nearly tripped over a young lad on his knees in the narthex pulling on a heavy cord dangling from the choir loft above. He was tolling the church bells to announce the start of Mass. yep, this was the right place.

And then…

My family and I spent the day touring Mt. Rushmore and the surrounding Black Hills. I will let the pictures tell the story.

I still haven’t found a TLM anywhere near our next destinations – Billings, MT on Monday, Yellowstone Tuesday and Wednesday, and Salt Lake City on Thursday. If any of you have any ideas please email me. It would be much appreciated.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help, pray for us!

I’d like to offer a big shoutout to the good Trad Folks of the Kansas City area for keeping the faith alive! I had no shortage of options this morning.

Due to the timing I opted for the 7:45 Mass at Old St. Patrick’s Oratory downtown. This parish is run by the Institute of Christ the King. Pictures below.

Later in the morning we headed out of town on our next leg of the journey. We were driving north on I-35 on our way to Dubuque by way of Des Moines. In the distance I saw flashing lights that, despite several miles of roadway traveled, never got much closer. I surmised correctly that it was an honor guard of sorts. We eventually got up close to the convoy. It was six ambulances all bearing the markings of the Buchanan County, Missouri EMS Department. A quick search on my phone revealed that they were carrying the body of their chief medical officer who had died in an ATV accident just yesterday.

We offered a rosary for his soul as we rode alongside his remains for about 45 miles.

It is beautiful how God brings us into contact with people we never knew in order to pray for their souls.

Eternal rest, grant unto him, O Lord!

Tomorrow’s Mass will be in Wisconsin.