Saturday, March 7, 2015

A New Holy League for Catholic Men



For the convenience of those who don’t have the Internet bandwith to watch videos, I’ve transcribed the text of the video (embedded at the bottom of this post). If you’d like to share my transcription on your own blog, website, FB page (etc.), kindly link back to this post.
My transcription now follows:

[OPENING]

“Hi, I'm Doug Barry, founder and director of Radix and Battle Ready.

“March 7, 2015 is the 440th anniversary of the formation of the Holy League, called for by Pope St. Pius V. This movement of prayer and solidarity united Catholics throughout Europe in defense of Christendom. On this anniversary, we announce to you the launching of a new Holy League.

“And now, a very important message from the spiritual head of the Holy League, His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke.”

[CARDINAL BURKE NEXT SPEAKS]

I want to commend to you in a very particular way a spiritual activity of the Holy League. It draws its name from the historic Holy League which was an activity of intense activity and prayer during the time of the threat and the overtaking of Europe by Islam, and through prayer and especially through Eucharistic adoration and through the praying of the Holy Rosary, a great victory was won at the Battle of Lepanto, a victory that we recall every year on October 7, the Feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary.

“The Holy League is a very simple and tremendously powerful movement in the Church, founded in 2014—last year—and it is basically one thrust, and that is that WE AS MEN to be in the state of grace, being the state of friendship with God, through the confessions of our sins and the even greater welcoming of those graces which God gave to us by our Baptism and Confirmation, and the actual graces that He gives us every day to live faithfully as Christians, and, out of the Holy League, propose to help us to be in the state of grace and to remain in the state of grace so we can be a source of strength for the Church in these very troubled times. It is by way of the Holy Hour, a monthly Holy Hour, during which the Sacrament of Confession is available, a Holy Hour concentrating on our relationship with Our Lord, Jesus Christ, growing in our closeness to Him so that He can help us to be strong and holy men for our time.

“And so I want, in my message today, to say how important you are to the Church and to the world in our time. The Church and our world has always depended upon strong Catholic men.

I want to encourage you in all that you are doing to be strong Catholic men of our time, for the transformation of our culture, for the building up of the Body of Christ, to be that leaven in the world which transforms it and prepares the world for Our Lord’s final coming—for that Final Consummation of His saving work.

So please be of good courage. I ask you in a very particular way to consider becoming a part of the Holy League-giving your time once a month to the Holy Hour and time also for a very sincere and humble celebration of the Sacrament of Confession and a time to be reinforced in your daily prayers and devotions.

May God bless you all and, in blessing you, may He make you a blessing for the Church today and for our work." 

[MR. DOUGLAS BARRY speaks again, below]

“What more needs to be said? Every Catholic man can be a part of this work. There is a great need in our world today for unity and support of this movement.

“The goal of the Holy League is nothing short of establishing a network of monthly Holy Hours for men with Confession and fraternity in every parish throughout the world.

“This is building on the call of Pope St. John Paul II to establish Eucharistic Adoration in every parish, as well as the call of Pope Francis who called for 24 hours of Eucharistic Adoration with Confession for March 13-14.

“This is a call to all men, to all Catholic apostolates, to every man involved in Catholic ministry of any kind, to join this alliance, this Holy League.”

“For more information, visit Holy League.com

“You [will] need to join the Holy League Information Network by texting the word EPIC to 84576.

Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities of darkness.

“We need to remember the words of St. Paul: ‘Put on the armor of God.’

Gentlemen, the Holy League needs you. God bless and strengthen you.”