In tribute to the famous Fr. Z...

Today yours truly saw the famous Fr. Z, and I guess it was a bit like an apparition!

This morning while kneeling in an old Irish parish in the city called for the Apostle of the Gentiles there was suddenly a tap on my arm and when I looked up it was the smiling Fr. Z (see and link here: http://wdtprs.com/blog/)!

Fr. Z has bequeathed so much to the Catholic of today through his magnificent labors on the Internet and his Catholic blog has proven to be a priceless ornament of our Holy Religion - an engine of apostolic zeal for the glory of Christ's kingdom. In this age of disaster he guides as a faithful and steady guide in teaching people something very important: the way it is and the way it is meant to be.

The City of St. Paul has been rightly styled the "Gateway of the West" and this is not only because J.J. Hill built the railway from St. Paul which opened and developed the long stretches of territory between the Middle West and the Pacific Slope, but also because, from its foundation, this city communicated to the Far West an indomitable spirit of enterprise and progress and instilled into its dwellers a habit of original thought. God bless all inhabitants of this noble city, named after the Apostle to the Gentiles!

And as for the sister village to St. Paul, first named for St. Anthony and now part of the City of Minneapolis, it had its origin in a settlement near the falls on the mighty Mississippi River discovered by a French missioner, Fr. Hennepin in 1680. Yes, it was in 1680 when the Recollect Franciscan, Fr. Louis Hennepin, at the suggestion of the Catholic explorer, La Salle, risked his life in order to find the source of the Mississippi River; but especially to carry the light of the Gospel to the fierce tribe of Indians known as the Sioux, known to other tribes emphatically as "the enemy." The influx of settlers came, the Irish and German. They remain and we are their progeny, begotten of their prayers and sacrifices for the salvation of the world.

Our Lord has pledged so much grace and hope in this modern era and the Holy Ghost is at work. Thanks be to God for faithful warriors!