Volume XX: August 2017 to July 2018

Father Richard Bradford and the Congregation of Saint Athanasius have published Contra Mundum, our parish paper, monthly since 1998 to provide religious instruction and news of the congregation.

Issue 1. August 2017:

  • “Great Conversion Stories,” an article by John Janaro, Associate Professor Emeritus of Theology in Christendom College
  • “Place Our Hope on the Event of Christ,” an excerpt by Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete, a Puerto Rican theologian, scientist, and a leader of the international Catholic movement, Communion and Liberation.
  • “Two Sides of the Same Coin,” a sermon by Father Richard Bradford
  • “God Does the Most Essential, excerpt from Edith Stein’s Self-portrait in Letters; she was St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, a German philosopher and convert to Catholicism from Judaism, and put to death at Auschwitz in 1942
  • “The Head and Body of Christ” by Saint John Eudes, who gave a firm doctrinal basis for devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
  • “Truth in Advertising,” an excerpt by Reverend Prof. Stephen Noll, an Anglican clergyman who taught for many years at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pa., and in Uganda
  • “Christ Counts for Us,” an excerpt from Images of Hope: Meditations on Major Feasts, by Pope Benedict XVI

Issue 2. September 2017:

  • Notes from the Chaplain: “How It All Began” and “Twentieth Anniversary Events” by Father Bradford
  • “Surrender Everything but Your Faith,” an excerpt from a homily on St. Matthew’s Gospel by Saint John Chrysostom
  • “Divine Freedom,” an excerpt by Fr. George Florovsky, a Russian Orthodox priest and one of the most influential Orthodox theologians of the mid-20th century
  • “Absence Has Consequences,” a sermon by Father Bradford
  • “Our Destiny in God,” a sermon preached at Evensong by Fr. Thomas M. Morris
  • “To Live Out of Deep Conviction,” a message by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

Issue 3. October 2017:

  • Notes from the Chaplain: “The Middle East: A Church in Need,” a sermon by Father Bradford
  • “A Church Fishing for Souls,” an article by the Provost, from The Oratory Parish Magazine, London, England
  • “Building Up Orthodox Belief,” an excerpt from an article by Rod Dreher in the New York Times
  • “Great Conversion Stories,” an article by John Janaro in Magnificat

Issue 4. November 2017:

  • “Latens Deitas” by the Revd. Michael Connolly
  • “The Nature of Salvation by Aidan Nichols, OP, from Epiphany: A Theological Introduction to Catholicism
  • “The Family Constitutes an Irreplaceable Good of Society” by John Paul II
  • “Take a Lesson from Worldly Men,” sermon by Fr. Richard Bradford
  • “On Man’s Mortality” by Saint Cyprian
  • “Introducer to Christ” by Saint John Chrysostam
  • “Humility is Mindful of Our Privilege” by Pope Benedict XVI

Issue 5. December 2017:

  • “The In Between Period,” a sermon preached by Fr. Bradford on the First Sunday of Advent, December 2, 2012
  • “Advent Renews the Memory,” an excerpt from a pastoral letter to his diocese by St Charles Borromeo (1538-1584), cardinal and archbishop.
  • “The Immaculate Conception,” an article from the parish paper of the Church of the Good Shepherd (Anglican) in East Chicago, Indiana
  • “A Home within our Hearts,” an article by the Provost in the parish paper of the Brompton (London) Oratory
  • “The Christmas Communion,” an article from unpublished notes by St Katherine Drexel, S.B.S. (1858-1955)

Issue 6. January 2018:

  • “Nothing but Euphemisms,” an article by Father Richard Bradford
  • “The Baptism of the Lord,” a sermon by Bishop Peter Elliott from The Oratory Parish Magazine
  • “Human Personhood,” an excerpt of an article by Dr Peter Kreeft from “More Featured Writing” on his website
  • “The Damascus Road” by Father Andrew, S.D.C.
  • “Without the Feeling of Grace,” a sermon by Father Richard Bradford
  • “The Island Prison, Cuba, January 1998,” an excerpt from the newly published book, Lessons in Hope: My Unexpected Life with St John Paul II, by George Weigel

Issue 7. February 2918:

  • “Candlemas: a Feast of Light,” an article by by the Provost, which appeared in The Oratory Parish Magazine, a publication of the Brompton (London) Oratory
  • “The Father’s Answer Was Yes,” a sermon preached by Father Bradford in the Saint Gregory the Great Ordinariate Parish, Stoneham, Massachusetts on the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, February 22, 2016
  • “Turning Government into God,” an article by G.K. Chesterton, which first appeared in the New York American on July 9, 1932
  • “The Opportunities of Lent,” an excerpt from one of the 96 sermons of Saint Leo the Great that survive
  • “No Christmas Carols in India,” an excerpt from an article published in the December 25, 2017 edition of The New York Times
  • “Saint Anthony of Egypt” who lived from c.251-356; his feast day is January 17th, a Wednesday this year.

Issue 8. March 2018:

  • “Powers of Three” by the Reverend Deacon Michael J. Connolly who is incardinated as Archdeacon in the Armenian Eparchy of Our Lady of Nareg in the United States and Canada
  • “What It Means To Be With Jesus,” a sermon preached by Father Bradford in St Theresa of Ávila Church
  • “Holy Oils and the Chrism Mass” from A Concord Pastor Comments
  • “A Burning Bush” by Father Wilson, a priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn and long-time friend of our congregation
  • “The Gate of Our Final Loneliness” by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI who reigned as pope from 2005 to 2013.
  • “Glory in the Cross of Christ,” an excerpt from Saint Cyril of Jerusalem’s famous Catechetical Lectures

Issue 9, April 2018:

  • “It Is the Lord,” a sermon preached by Father Bradford
  • “The Fundamental Proclamation of the Christian Faith,” a sermon delivered by Father Romanus Cessario, OP, Professor of Systematic Theology in St John Seminary, Brighton, and Senior Editor of Magnificat magazine.
  • “What You Have to Decide,” an excerpt from In Soft Garments by Monsignor Ronald Knox (1888-1957), a convert and English Catholic priest, author, broadcaster on the BBC, and Chaplain at Oxford University
  • “Saint Mark the Evangelist and Martyr,” an article from Athletes of God by Father Shirley C. Hughson, OHC (1867-1949), Superior of the Anglican Order of the Holy Cross
  • “In the Joy of Meeting Again,” an excerpt from Mark: Meditations for a Community by Adrienne von Speyer, a Swiss Catholic, physician, and theologian
  • “But the Father Favored Him,” a brief meditation by His Holiness Benedict XVI, part of a collection titled Holy Days
  • “The Greatest Amnesty of All,” an excerpt from a lecture Sean Patrick Cardinal O’Malley, our Archbishop, delivered to the School of Theology and Ministry in Boston College titled The Eucharist and Our Formation as the People of the Church
  • “A Table Blessing” attributed to Saint Athanasius
  • “Easter,” a poem by George Herbert (1593-1633), among the finest poets of the Church of England
  • “The Story That Ends Well” by Father Vincent Nagle, F.S.C.B., an author, guest preacher, and contributor to Magnificat magazine

Issue 10, May 2018:

  • “The Window in the Wall,” sermon preached by Fr Bradford on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi
  • “Finding Room in God Forever,” an excerpt from a sermon by His Holiness Benedict XVI
  • “The Church a Living Whole,” an article by The Provost in The Oratory Parish Magazine, a publication of the Brampton (London) Oratory
  • “His Son and Hers,” an excerpt by Fr Henry James Coleridge from The Seven Words of Mary: Derived from St Bernardine of Siena
  • “An Amazing Sacrifice,” an excerpt from a sermon by Saint Peter Chrysologus a Doctor of the Church
  • “Serving the State’s Agenda,” from an article in The Catholic Herald by David Warren, a writer and journalist based in Toronto
  • “Hell Is Church Doctrine,” in response to the reporting of Pope Francis denying the existence of hell, The Boston Herald sought parishioner Peter Kreeft’s opinion on the subject
  • “Patriotism: A Moral Obligation,” an article in the “From the Pastor” column of the Newsletter of St Athanasius Parish, Reading, Mass.; Fr Darin Colarusso is the Pastor

Issue 11, June 2018:

  • “The Most Necessary of All Devotions,” an article from the The Oratory Magazine, the church paper of The Brompton (London) Oratory
  • “What Is an Apology?” explained by Fr Bradford and exemplified by the following two articles
  • “What the Soul Is in a Body …” from The Epistle to Diognetus, the work of a Christian disciple, variously dated AD 130 to the end of the second Century
  • “Constantly Reminding One Another of These Things” by St Justin Martyr (100-165), an early Christian apologist and the best known of the second-Century Church Fathers
  • “State Programs Open to All Citizens?,” an article by Father Bradford, citing The New York Times and “Washington Insider” by William L. Saunders, a regular feature in The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly
  • “Cause for Celebration” by Fr Charles J. Higgins from “The Pastor’s Note” in the church paper of Mary Immaculate of Lourdes Parish in Newton
  • “Nationhood as a Gift from God,” an excerpt by Alexander Solzhenitsyn from Leopold Labedz’s Solzhenitysn: a Documentary
  • “Christian Living,” an excerpt from Practical Piety by Hannah More, an evangelical Anglican, educator, and social reformer
  • “Suffering and Passion Shared by Mary,” a sermon preached by Fr Bradford

Issue 12, July 2018:

  • “The Holy Name of Jesus” by Father Bradford
  • “The Name That Must Be Proclaimed” by St Bernardino of Siena
  • “God Chooses His Agents,” a sermon by Father Bradford
  • “For Our Country,” a prayer by Reverend George Lyman Locke
  • “The Visible Invisible,” an excerpt from Letters to a Young Catholic by George Weigel
  • “The Precept of Courtesy” by Samuel Johnson
  • “Fall from Grace” from a sermon by the Archbishop of Westminster
  • “Thinking the Trinity” from a sermon by Austin Ferrar
  • “A Royal and Priestly Nation” by Alcuin
  • “Summer Vacation” by the Provost of the Brompton (London) Oratory

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