I listened to a Catholic prison conversion story on CD from Lighthouse Catholic Media: No Escape – From Prison to the Catholic Church. A prisoner (Russell Ford ) converted to Catholicism and has converted quite a large number of Alabama prisoners through his RCIA classes. I believe he said he had 70 God sons.

Next I recieved a DVD I had ordered from Netflix, Road of Hope: The Spiritual Journey of Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan. A beautiful story of hope and love of a Vietnamese bishop wrongfully imprisoned. (This reminded me of your reference to He Leadeth Me, which I have not yet read).

Finally I read in my local Diocesan newspaper about a lay man who visits a local prison and ministers to the prisoners there once each month. I am a mother to eight children. One day I will be able to reach out in a physical way. I also feel called to minister to those in crisis pregnancies. However, I have no doubt what my calling is right now. I need to minister to my little (and big) ones and teach them about the persecuted, the lonely, the frightened and the imprisoned.

Know, Father, that you are in our prayers.

All the programs have something to offer. Another source I like is Spirit Daily, Michael Browns website. His articles are thought provoking And like he says ” For your discernment.” May Jesus Christ King of All Nations breathe on you and bring you peace.
In His Name, Patricia I.O.L.

I did email Raymond A. and will do so again to let him know about this great news.

Despite the evil which exists in our world, God shows us His lovely face each and every day, if we have eyes to see Him. I know you Father MacRae have eyes to see Him.

God bless you and praise be to Our Lord and Savior for His kindness and His mercy.

I am a missionary in Jamaica, in the West-Indies. I stumbled across your blog today. I just read and read. It was a busy day at chancery where I work as the Vicar General but once I saw your site, I could not stop reading..

There are only two canonists in this country, and I am one of them…So, I almost have the job at chancery almost by default. Nor merit of mine. Just a request that I serve there.

I belong to a small missionary diocesan order which operates a number of apostolates in our Diocese. I preach, I teach in a High School, I work with my confreres and try to serve the best I can in this part of the world. I chair a number of committees.

I am a Canadian by birth, but have been here in Jamaica for so many years. I have applied for citizenship. It is a beautiful country. Its people are wonderful. Yet there are many challenges here.

As I read about you, I really had tears in my eyes. And I wished, with every fibre of my being ,that I could do something to help you. I KNOW that you are a holy man. I am not the “pious type” but I know sanctity when I see it.

I just want you to know that you will be in my prayers EVERY DAY, especially at mass. I suppose many people say that to you too.

I guess words cannot express adequately what I felt when I read your story. Yes, I am writing to you, a total stranger. Yet, we are not. Because we a priests and thus share in the same priesthood and are united in the same Sacrifice of the Mass.

Remember in your prayers, if you can, Michael and his co-missionaries in Jamaica. I will pray for you. Every day.

your brother-priest in Jamaica,

In Christ’s Passion,

Msgr. Michael
Vicar general of the Diocese of Mandeville
Mission Society of Mandeville

Sincerely,
Sharon Morris

Your good news prompted me again to look for EWTN on the computer. We are in the middle of gales here in Southern Britain so an ideal day for the Internet! We don’t have a channel like that in Britain. The last time I tried to get EWTN I could only get programmes in German and after this happened a few times I gave up. Probably pushed the wrong buttons as usual.

I’m pleased to say I have found it again in English and shall now try to find the programme listing.

During the Pope’s visit to the US I was able to follow the major ceremonies on EWTN (before it turned German on me!) and greatly enjoyed the commentaries of Raymond Arroyo and Fr Richard Neuhaus. I particularly remember one of them saying ‘Now that was an arrangement I have never heard before’ to one particularly terrible piece of music. A great understatement without being rude! But we all knew what he meant.

The Holy Father is due to visit Britain next year and perhaps you will be able to watch some of the visit on EWTN. I do hope so.

With grateful thanks for your prayers Father.

I was overjoyed! It has been 18 months since I have seen EWTN and even then our cable system had it only from noon until 8 pm. I’m not sure if this is a result of some emails or lots of prayers, but the Concord NH cable system carries EWTN around the clock as of today.

This is wonderful! Of course you can still email Raymond Arroyo at Worldover at EWTN.com and let him know that he is mentioned with high praise in this week’s post.

Thanks and blessings to you all, and thanks again to Charlene for typing this for me and to Suzanne for her wonderful graphics. I do love the clock!
Fr. Gordon

This being the Year of the Priest, I pray daily for each and every one of you. How horrid would my life be without my priest whose hands consecrate and deliver to me the Sacred Body and Blood of Our Lord in Communion.

I am so happy that you once again can offer the Mass even at a late hour in your cell. I live in the Central Time Zone and will keep you in my thoughts at 10 PM here on Sunday nights, and hopefully join you in prayer during this time.

EWTN has been a major part of my life since the Jubilee Year. It has been a source of teaching and affirming me in my faith, as well as a source of consolation in these troubling times. It would be a great loss indeed if I could not have it any longer. I will pray fervently for you Fr. that you will again have this restored to you.

I will email Raymond Arroyo and implore him to do what he can to help this situation. Your faith must be very great as you patiently accept these persecututions which accompany your unfair and very great suffering in prison. How painful it is to read about and to ponder, much less for you to endure.

The lovely prayer of St. Pio is one I will keep in my prayer book. I have never read this one before. Our Deacon was saying this last Sunday in his homily that too many people walk straight out of the Church after receiving Our Lord, without staying to give thanks and wait for the final blessing. Reverence is so lacking in our church.

I am thinking of printing this prayer and copying it and leaving it in the pews so that people can find it and say it. It is worth a try anyway. Thanks for passing it on to us.

I have enjoyed reading your posts Fr. and also the comments following them. I am grateful to be a small part of your Apostolate.

God bless you Fr. and thank you for keeping us in your prayers, as you are in ours.

I also want to thank Ros, Julie, Bernadette (I got your nice card, thank you), Karin, Regina, David, Esther, Jeannie, and Fr. Michael for your wonderful comments. They have been read to me by telephone just now, but they are also being printed and sent to me by Charlene who I also thank.

It’s important for me to be able to hold your comments in my hand and ponder them. I find that you all have profound thoughts, and I find myself re-reading them often and being inspired by them. I am especially moved that you would be joining me in Spiritial Communion at the time I celebrate Mass.

The actual time is about 11:20 pm because there is a final prisoner count of the day at about 11:15 and I wait for that to be completed. Please know that those of you who live in a time zone that places this very early in the morning can join me in Spiritual Communion at any time that you attend Mass. It would bother me greatly to think that you are getting less sleep than I am.

Your comments are life-saving and deeply appreciated. May the Lord bless you and keep you.
Fr. Gordon

As the hardships continued with the Mother Superior continually turning a blind eye many nuns were moved to indignation, including Theresa’s real sister, who was in the convent with her. The Mother Superior said that she was doing this to benefit Theresa and it might seem tough, but it was a kindness.

As Theresa lay dying she said with great sincerity to the Mother Superior that she was very much indebted to her for what she had done. The Mother Superior’s face was a study in love with tears in her eyes as she saw that this ‘little flower’ knew that the suffering was to be offered up to God and that it winnowed out the pride that was the only small blemish in that beautiful soul.

I do suspect that this incarceration is much bigger than you, especially with so many souls in there languishing or susceptible to other pulls on their soul that are spiritually destructive. Outside here it is almost as chaotic and nutty as in there, with our so called ‘leaders’ and ‘public servants’ completely divorced from the concept of inherent dignity of life and inherent purpose for each person. What is more, ’service’ and suffering are utterly alien to their daily routine, so there is no chance to attack and limit their own pride and self-absorption.

Your column is a tremendous help to us out here and it is so very ironic that it takes someone incarcerated unjustly to have such calm and clear vision.