Rev. Edward Looney, a priest in the diocese of Green Bay, will be the featured speaker for the annual retailer luncheon at the 2018 Catholic Marketing Network Trade Show.
Fr. Looney will speak at noon on July 31, 2018, at the Lancaster County Convention Center in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The show runs from July 31 through August 3, 2018. The luncheon is sponsored by Ave Maria Press.
Fr. Looney is a pastor, Marian theologian, writer, and speaker. He is the author of the recently released A Heart Like Mary’s: 31 Daily Meditations to Help You Live and Love as She Does.
“We are so pleased that Fr. Looney will be sharing his message of Marian love and devotion with Catholic retailers,” said Karey Circosta, vice president of sales and marketing at Ave Maria Press. “His passion for Mary is contagious.”
Looney earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 2011 from Conception Seminary College. He also received a bachelor’s degree in sacred theology and a master’s degree in divinity from the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary.
In 2007, Looney received the Sharon Schumer Pro-Life Award. He is a member of the Thomas Merton Society and the Mariological Society of America, where he was elected to be a councilor in 2015. He is the author of seven books. He has contributed to numerous publications, including Catholic Digest, Catholic Exchange, Ignitum Today, Catholic Lane, and Homiletic and Pastoral Review. He also has appeared on EWTN TV and Radio, Relevant Radio, the Catholic Channel on SiriusXM Radio, Spirit Radio, Mater Dei Radio, and Radio Maria.
Holy Cross priest Rev. Patrick Peyton, C.S.C.—"the Rosary priest"—is another step closer to becoming a saint. He was declared venerable by Pope Francis on Monday, December 18, 2017.
Peyton, who founded Family Rosary in 1942 with the goal of building family unity through daily prayer of the Rosary, is well known for his saying, “the family that prays together stays together.” Being named venerable means that the Holy Father has recognized Peyton’s heroic virtues and sanctity of life. The next step in the canonization process is being named “blessed,” which comes once a miracle is attributed to his intercession. After a second miracle is attributed to Peyton’s intercession, the Pope would name him a saint.
"We are filled to overflowing with joy at this news," said Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C., president of Holy Cross Family Ministries. "How exciting and encouraging it is just to write the designation 'venerable!' This designation represents a rare recognition by the universal Church that Fr. Peyton is a person of heroic virtue and a life worthy of veneration by all Christians."
Evidence collected from witnesses and supporting documents on Peyton's life, virtues, and reputation of holiness had previously been approved by a panel of nine theologians and fifteen cardinals and archbishops who voted to recognize his heroic virtues.
Hundreds of testimonies to Peyton's heroic virtue and holiness of life have been recorded. Tens of thousands of prayer cards containing a prayer for a favor through Peyton's intercession are in circulation. Hundreds of favors have been reported. Some of these favors are remarkable healings for which there is no medical explanation.
Peyton also founded Family Theater Productions in Hollywood in 1947. Today both Family Rosary and Family Theater are part of Holy Cross Family Ministries, an apostolate of the Congregation of Holy Cross, United States Province of Priests and Brothers, of which Ave Maria Press also is an apostolate.
Timeline of the Cause of Sainthood for Rev. Patrick Peyton, C.S.C.
Peyton died on June 3, 1992, in San Pedro, California. The cause was transferred from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles (his place of death) to the Diocese of Fall River (where he was buried).
July 1997: First step in the cause process; the Congregation of Holy Cross asked the bishop to open an investigation of Peyton's life.
June 2001: A nihil obstat was granted from Rome and Peyton was given the title, "Servant of God."
October 2003: Diocesan inquiry opened.
November 2005: The review of a possible medical miracle in Africa was closed and the documentation was sent to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome.
November 2008: Due to the significant scope of the study, Peyton's Cause for Sainthood was moved from the Diocese of Fall River to the Archdiocese of Baltimore by the Holy See.
July 2010: The tribunal in Baltimore closed and the 6,000 pages of documentation (known as the "Acts") were sent to Rome to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
November 2010: A tribunal to conduct the diocesan inquiry of the possible medical miracle attributed to Peyton was formed.
December 2014: A summary of the Acts was completed. This document, called a Positio, is a 1,300 page summary of Peyton's life and ministry and the primary source for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to determine if Peyton lived a life of heroic virtue and sanctity of life.
June 2017: The Theological Congress for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints voted to move Peyton's Cause forward.
December 18, 2017: Pope Francis authorized the Congregation to promulgate the decree recognizing the heroic virtues of Peyton, declaring him venerable.
Prayer for the Beatification of Venerable Patrick Peyton
Dear Jesus: Father Peyton devoted his priestly life to strengthening the families of the world by calling them to pray together every day, especially the Rosary. His message is as important for us now as it was during his life on earth. We beg you, therefore, to hasten the day of his beatification so that your faithful people everywhere will remember his message that “The Family That Prays Together Stays Together” will imitate him in his devotion to your Mother and ours, and will be inspired by his holy life to draw ever closer to you with childlike confidence and love. Amen.
Prayer for a Favor through the Intercession of Venerable Patrick Peyton
God, our Father: your wisdom is displayed in all creation and the power of your grace is revealed in the lives of holy people, who inspire us to trust you more fully and to serve others more generously. In a unique way, you blessed the life and work of your servant Father Patrick Peyton, C.S.C., and made him a fervent apostle of Mary, Queen of the Holy Rosary and Mother of us all. Through his intercession, we ask for this favor. . . Please grant it, if it is for your honor and glory, through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
NOTRE DAME, Ind.—Jaymie Stuart Wolfe is joining the staff of Ave Maria Press as senior editor, trade books.
"I am delighted that Jaymie is joining our team,"said Tom Grady, publisher. "She has a broad and informed knowledge of the Church and an appreciation of the richness and diversity of the Catholic publishing landscape."
A Cleveland, Ohio, native, Wolfe worked for a number of years as a faith formation coordinator and music director at a parish in the Boston area. From 2010 to 2016, she was editor at Pauline Books and Media. For the past year she’s served as acquisitions editor at Our Sunday Visitor.
In addition to writing a regular column for The Boston Pilot for the past twenty years, Wolfe also is the author of several books for adults and children. Her first book, The Wonder Within, was published by Ave.
She will acquire trade titles for the Ave Maria Press, Sorin Books, and Christian Classics imprints in the areas of spirituality, history, biography, theology, and marriage and family life. Wolfe will begin her new position on January 3, 2018.
She and her husband, Andrew, are the parents of eight children. They live in the Boston area.
Ave Maria Press author Sr. Marilyn Lacey, RSM, has been awarded a $1 million Opus Prize for her work with Mercy Beyond Borders, which empowers women and girls in the South Sudan and Haiti to escape poverty by providing them with educational and economic opportunities.
Lacey is the author of This Flowing Toward Me: A Story of God Arriving in Strangers, which chronicles her twenty-five years working with refugees and immigrants.
She was given the Opus award on October 11, 2017, at Regis University. Lacey founded Mercy Beyond Borders in 2008. She plans to use the money to expand the program and to endow additional scholarships for her students.
Read more about the award and Lacey’s work in Catholic San Francisco.
Msgr. Francis P. Friedl, who authored Extraordinary Lives: Thirty-Four Priests Tell Their Stories for Ave Maria Press in 1998, died on September 18, 2017, in Dubuque, Iowa.
Friedl, longtime faculty member and president of Loras College in Dubuque, wrote more than a dozen books, including Extraordinary Lives, which he wrote with Rex Reynolds.
Friends may call from 8:30 a.m. until the 11 a.m. Mass of Christian Burial on September 25, 2017, at the St. Columbkille Catholic Church, 1240 Rush St., Dubuque.
You can read more about Friedl in his obituary.
Pope Francis declared Sept. 7 to 13 a week of prayer and action for his Share the Journey campaign to support migrants and refugees.
In conjunction with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Charities US, and Catholic Relief Services, the Holy Father is asking us to:
Pray for migrants and refugees. Use these prayer ideas from the Share the Journey website.
Teach people in your communities, parishes, and schools about the lives of migrants and refugees. Here are some tools to help.
Read and relate to the stories of struggle from migrants and refugees featured on the Share the Journey website.
Share the memes, videos, and post suggestions on social media.Use the hashtag #ShareJourney.
Donate to help change lives and relieve suffering if you are able.
Contact the administration and your representatives in Washington to show your support for the plight of DREAMers, refugees, and other vulnerable families who want to live in the United States.
Organize local community service projects and collect items that will assist migrants and refugee families, including tutoring, shelter, legal services, transportation, and basic needs.
Be a friend to refugees and migrants.
Share the Journey is in collaboration with the annual Respect Life Month. You can find out more about how you can get involved at the Share the Journey website.
Many know Brandon Vogt because of his connection to Bishop Robert Barron and Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, where Vogt serves as content director. But his back story as a convert to the Catholic faith is the foundation of his ministry—to reach out to atheists, agnostics, "nones," and fallen-away Catholics to bring them into the Church.
Ave Maria Press recently released Vogt’s newest book, Why I Am Catholic (and You Should Be Too), which is geared to those not in communion with the Church, as well as to practicing Catholics looking for a way to defend their faith.
Here he offers some insight into the book.
Ave Maria Press: Is there one issue more than any other that is driving people—especially young people—away from the Catholic Church?
Brandon Vogt: We actually have lots of data on this question. From the Pew Research Center, to CARA, to several dioceses, several groups have conducted exit surveys, asking former Catholics why they left. And you know what is the number one reason people give? They "just stopped believing."
That answer encompasses a couple groups. First, many of these people drifted away over time, slowly and unintentionally. There wasn't one issue or experience that jettisoned them from the Church. They just stopped going to Mass every Sunday, then stopped being involved, then eventually, they realized, "Well, I guess I'm not really Catholic anymore."
However, a second (and perhaps larger) subset of those who "just stopped believing" simply don't agree with, or don't ascribe value to, the Church’s teachings. Maybe they reject the Church’s sexual moral teachings (e.g., abortion, contraception, homosexuality), or they think the Church has distorted the basic Christian message, or perhaps they just no longer believe in God.
In my experiences with thousands of young people who have left the Church, there are traces of both of these reactions. However, the most common attitude I see is simply ambivalence. They just don't care about religion, much less the Catholic Church. It’s not on their radar, they don’t think it can improve their lives, and they have zero interest in what it offers. The only time they give consideration to the Church is when it pops up in the news, and those instances are almost always negative.
Ave: Why did you focus on the goodness, truth, and beauty of the Church in Why I Am Catholic?
Vogt: Because those are the three best reasons to be Catholic. And because most people believe the Catholic Church is just the opposite—bad, false, and ugly.
When I began exploring Catholicism in college and gave it a fair shot, I discovered, to my great surprise, that the Church's claims were true—they checked out. And not only that, they were also good and beautiful, which is unsurprising since these three values almost always go together. They are mutually confirmatory. When something is true, it’s usually beautiful and good. Think of how scientists describe the mathematical structure of our universe as "elegant," or the way philosophers describe beauty as "the splendor of truth."
Also, I wanted to provide multiple avenues into the Church. For some people, truth is the preferred path. They gravitate toward intellectual arguments and are more drawn to a purely rational case for Catholicism. But for others, particularly of a more aesthetic bend, beauty is a far more alluring path. The Church’s extraordinary commitment to art, or the beauty of its diversity, are more attractive entryways.
Together, though, these three paths allow anyone to find their way into Catholicism.
Ave: Why should we try to engage fallen-way Catholics and nones, agnostics, and atheists in a discussion about the faith? Where should we start?
Vogt: Some people might answer the first question by saying, "Because if we don't, they may end up in Hell!" That’s true, and I agree that’s a serious worry that gives urgency to the task of sharing the faith. However, I’m very concerned by what people are missing out on now, on this side of heaven.
I’m utterly convinced that a flattened-out secularism does damage to people’s lives. I see it among so many young people. When you get rid of God and religion—when you embrace naturalism—you lose your basis for objective meaning, purpose, morality, and even reason (as I show in the book.) So many young people today are just floating along through life, without direction, without hope, and without purpose. And they’re greatly dissatisfied. Read any survey of millennials and you’ll see shocking levels of discontentment.
Why is this? Because secularism fails to satisfy the human heart. Only God can answer those longings. We’re made for him; we’re wired for him; and the Church offers the best connection to him. God wants to give everyone so many gifts through his Church, from the grace of its sacraments, to the inspiration of its saints, to the wisdom of its Scriptures, and so much more. And it’s through the Church that we receive those treasures.
I want disenchanted nones, atheists, agnostics, and former-Catholics to receive all of those gifts—not only in heaven, but here and now!
Where should we start? I like to begin on the lowest rung. If talking with an atheist, start by discussing whether God exists. Ask them what they think about God, and see if, perhaps, they reject a distorted version of God that you would happily eschew, too. If they’re a former Catholic, ask why they drifted away from the Church and what would possibly draw them back.
Ask questions. Listen. Don’t preach at them, but try to understand their experiences and beliefs before offering your own thoughts. And of course pray for them! The Holy Spirit has worked in human hearts for two thousand years, converting the most unlikely people back to God. He’s still working today.
Ave: If you had just one minute to convince someone to become Catholic, what would you say?
Vogt: There are ten thousand reasons to become Catholic which ultimately boil down to one: because it’s true. How do we know? Because of three facts. First, because God exists. There are several ways to know this, but the strongest is the universe itself. The universe doesn’t have to exist, and it doesn’t explain its own existence. We need an outside explanation, and upon reflection, God is the only plausible option. Second, because Jesus is God. Jesus of Nazareth spoke and acted as God, and then vindicated those claims by rising from the dead. This is a historical fact. Third, because Jesus started the Catholic Church. This is another historical fact. Jesus did not leave a book or a collection of letters, he bequeathed a Church and gave it his authority to teach and act in his name. That Church is the Catholic Church of today, albeit in more developed form.
So if you crave the truth, if you want to follow the evidence wherever it leads, then join me and a billion others in the Catholic Church! You'll experience more beauty, goodness, peace, and purpose than you've ever imagined. (And if you doubt any of those three facts, pick up my book, Why I Am Catholic, for a more thorough defense!)
The late Brian Doyle is among eight people receiving the annual Spirit of Holy Cross Award from the Congregation of Holy Cross, United States Province of Priests and Brothers.
Doyle, who died earlier this year, wrote the award-winning A Book of Uncommon Prayer, released by Ave Marie Press in 2014. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame in 1978, Doyle served as editor of the University of Portland’s Portland magazine. Ave, Notre Dame and Portland are apostolates of the US Province.
The award, which marks the Solemnity of Our Lady of Sorrows (September 15), acknowledges the contribution of lay collaborators to the vision and mission of Holy Cross founder Blessed Basil Moreau to make God known, loved, and served through education, parish, and mission settings. Our Lady of Sorrows is the patroness of the Congregation.
The other 2017 winners of the Spirit of Holy Cross Award include:
Nancy Conroy, Holy Cross House, Notre Dame, Indiana
Paul Fujawa, member of St. Casimir Parish in South Bend, Indiana
James Kramer, associate director of development for the US Province, Notre Dame
Pedro Pablo Miranda, manager of St. George’s College in Chile
Mary Nucciarone, director of financial aid at Notre Dame
Benito Salazar, director of the Celestial Choir at St. Adalbert Parish in South Bend
Lucyann Skvarla, King’s College, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
