Issue 2024-11
18208 Preston Road, Ste D9-552
Dallas TX 75252
Jesus is there in the tabernacle expressly for you – for you alone.
With the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage now in motion and the National Eucharistic Congress coming up in a few weeks, all eyes and hearts in the Church must be focused on the Eucharist. What we have ignored, profaned, and overlooked, is the very hope of the world. It is up to us, as flawed and self-absorbed as we may be, to point the way to the Eucharist, the one path to eternal life. Let us extend the lines for Confession, crowd the Adoration chapels, and present ourselves more frequently for Communion.
God has set us in this time of revival, to make known to others “the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament.”
Opinions expressed in this newsletter, unless otherwise attributed, are my own.
Sheryl Collmer, editor
June 17, 2024
sherylc@coracusa.com
From the cockpit of the Subaru
CORAC founder Charlie Johnston travels from coast to coast in his trusty Outback to speak in person to those now weathering the Storm.
A SIGN OF HOPE
Republicans Must Nationalize the Election
Though I have doubts we will get to election at all this year, Republicans are missing a big bet… more >
NEWS
National Eucharistic Revival
The Revival is on the approach to its peak, at the National Congress on July 17… more >
Editor’s Note
About Russia
In conversation over the last few years, I’ve noticed that many people do not distinguish between… more >
The Chapel at Niewpowkowla
The monastery in Niepokalanów, in southern Poland, was established in 1927 by… more >
Eucharistic Miracles
It is the season to pour ourselves out for the Eucharist. There’s a high level of… more >
10 Hidden Headlines
What the media won’t say… more >
Martyrs Corner
Blessed Carlo has been in the news lately because a second miracle was… more >
We’re On Our Own
The weaponization of the justice system in America is broadening and expanding. While much of the attack on Donald Trump has stalled, kind of like trench warfare in WWI, the depraved sadists who occupy the levers of power are moving on to other targets. The Biden Dept. of Injustice under Merrick Garland has long targeted those who dissent from bonkers leftism in a general threatening sort of way; peaceful J6 protesters, concerned parents at school board meetings, people who pray outside abortion clinics, and traditionalist Catholics, among others. But now Garland and woke prosecutorial allies are branching out, getting substantially more brazen and more aggressive in just the last few weeks.
- Dr. Ethan Heim blew the whistle on Houston’s Texas Children’s Hospital. The hospital declared in 2022 that it would do no more gender mutilation surgeries on minors. Turns out it has secretly continued doing it all along. So what did Garland, the terrorist in chief do? Indicted the doctor, naturally.
- Three teenagers rode their scooters over and left skid marks on a pride flag painted onto a road that is a right-of-way in Washington state. They are each being charged with felony 1 counts, which could land them in prison.
- Peter Navarro is in jail and Steve Bannon is scheduled to report to prison for defying a subpoena of the J6 Committee. They refused based on executive privilege while working for President Trump. Garland’s DOJ dismissed that and prosecuted and convicted them anyway. Congress held Garland in criminal contempt for refusing to turn over the video of Biden’s interview with prosecutor Robert Hur. Garland blew off the contempt charge, claiming executive privilege. Former Speaker Newt Gingrich is calling on the House to repudiate all actions of the “fraudulent and corrupt” J6 Committee, including all subpoenas. This would (or at least should) end Navarro and Bannon’s legal troubles – but who knows with Garland? Most J6ers should have been released long ago. Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna has threatened to force a vote on “inherent contempt,” a rarely used Congressional power that would compel the House Sergeant-at Arms to arrest Garland regardless of what the DOJ does. That, of course, would require GOP House members to show serious spine on our behalf, so don’t count on it.
- The Connecticut Bar Assn. has threatened lawyers in the state not to criticize the farcical trial which railroaded Trump in New York. Throughout the country, lawyers who have worked for or with Trump have been besieged by bar complaints, not for anything they did, but for being Trump supporters. The left is trying to disbar anyone who supports Trump. There will be no practicing law while being conservative in this brave new world.
- For the fourth time in recent memory last week, Biden threatened to use F-15 fighter planes against Americans who dissent from his rule. Biden and the left are desperately spoiling for an open fight. Since lawfare is backfiring, their best shot is to provoke a fight that they can try to blame on the right, then justify cracking down with greater force and emergency power against all threats to their rule.
Who knew that America was so vulnerable to internal assaults? Is there no authority which can and will put a stop to such open and brazen abuses of power? Can the Supreme Court not take emergency action to rein in lower courts which flagrantly trample on basic civil rights? Can the House not forcefully reverse previous political abuses against ordinary citizens? Can not state attorneys general file suit against flagrant, open misjustices carried out in their states or against their citizens? The answer is yes to all these questions and more. We DO have the means to rein in these abuses, but few of our Republican leaders in any branch of government have the will. So we will not get much more than strongly worded statements as Biden, Garland and the left try to strangle liberty permanently.
You need to build ties with your neighbors, cultivate friendships with first responders and those who can build and maintain public utilities. Heaven knows it will be helpful if Trump beats the steal and the violence directed at him. But we need to renew freedom from the ground up, as we are getting little help from the top down. We may very soon need alternate governing authorities in our local communities to thwart first the efforts of petty tyrants to rule us. (If I had my way, almost every county health department in the country would be abolished tonight.) If we can start supplanting and defeating petty tyrants in our backyards by refusing to abide by their unconstitutional edicts – and arresting them if they persist – it will start to grow organically across the whole country, though unevenly depending on the state.
The CORAC Handbook and Manual for Building Functional Communities will be released on July 4. It will help you to do the things you need to do now to secure liberty for you and your posterity. Make no mistake: the left has decided that it will rule or ruin – and it doesn’t care who sees it now. The inmates have taken over the asylum – and we have some very heavy lifting ahead to restore order and liberty. We can and will do it, but this will be perhaps the greatest challenge in American history. Call on Our Lord, call on Our Lady, call on all the Angels and Saints and then act with bold and prudent fortitude. Remember Gideon, who God rejected so long as the man tried to keep his name out of the Lord’s work…and then cloaked with massive power and authority when he acted openly and boldly. This crisis will not be settled to the sound of an uncertain trumpet. Pray up, get up, and saddle up.
If communication goes out for any length of time, meet outside your local Church at 9 a.m. on Saturday mornings. Tell friends at Church now, in case you can’t then. CORAC teams will be out looking for people to gather in and work with.
Charlie’s Latest
The Sound of Distant Thunder
On May 13, 1981, the anniversary of the first apparition at Fatima,...
Offenses
“Woe unto the world because of offenses! For it must needs be that...
Be Not Afraid
A dark pall shrouds the earth these days. People can feel and hear...
NEWS
National Eucharistic Revival
The Revival is on the approach to its peak, at the National Congress on July 17. It is up to us to make this national revival live and breathe. The bishops have put the structure in place, and now we have to make it work! There are parish programs, excellent speakers, the pilgrimage now in progress, the movie Jesus Thirsts back in theaters, the likely canonization of Carlo Acutis, who loved and promoted the Eucharist through his research on Eucharistic miracles. We have the ingredients of revival provided to us… LET’S GO!
Eucharistic Congress on July 17 >
When the bishops do something right, we must support them! The whole National Eucharistic Revival was financed and initiated by the US Bishops’ Conference. It is proof that God is still working through the hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church, even if they otherwise display cowardice and corruption. If we support them when they do something wonderful, maybe they will do more wonderful things!
The Eucharist Goes to the Movies
Jesus Thirsts: The Miracle of the Eucharist did so well at the box office on its first theatrical run that it will return this week, June 18-19. Get tickets here, and invite a friend:
The movie is not yet available for streaming, so go see it on the big screen while you can!
Risk Briefing
Posting from the Crisis Scenarios team. Please contact your regional coordinator to be added to the Signal Alerts. It is being reported that Russia has a small naval force conducting military drills off shore from Cuba as a response to US approval for Ukraine to fire American advanced weaponry within Russia. The AP reports below:
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) – President Vladimir Putin warned Wednesday (June 5th) that Russia could provide long-range weapons to others to strike Western targets in response to NATO allies allowing Ukraine to use their arms to attach Russian territory. Putin also reaffirmed Moscow’s readiness to use nuclear weapons if it sees a threat to its sovereignty. “The recent actions by the West will further undermine international security and could lead to very serious problems,” he said, taking questions from international journalists, something that has become extremely rare since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine. “That would mark their direct involvement in the war against the Russian Federation, and we reserve the right to act the same way” Putin added.
It will be prudent to check food and water supplies, make certain everything is fresh and of sufficient quantity for your household to last at least three months should hostilities worsen. Increase activity to create a local network making certain needed resources will be available. It is advised that you also become more active at this time with your CORAC Region members. Networking now will help you in the future when it becomes very important. Contact your Regional Coordinator for more information.
We live in dangerous times and preparation is key to security.
Editor’s Note About Russia
In conversation over the last few years, I’ve noticed that many people do not distinguish between the old, atheistic Soviet Union, and the modern, highly Othodox Christian Russia. The Russian people suffered greatly under Communism, and once shaken off, they reclaimed their traditional religion and culture. Their devotion to Christ and Mary, their pride in their nation, their determination to defend families against the LGBTQ mess, makes them natural allies of Christians in the West.
Some of civilization’s greatest art, literature and music has come from Russia, yet we are taught to demonize Russians. Dostoyevsky, Pushkin, Tolstoy, Rublev (the iconwriter of the ageless Trinity), Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff, are all part of our cultural heritage. Incidentally, groups within the US attempted to shut down concerts of Russian music in 2022. It’s almost as if… we must not think of Russians as intelligent, gifted human beings, but instead brutish and inhuman. Why is that?
President Putin has revealed in speeches that he knows many American people are deeply opposed to the regime that has been feeding the gruesome war in Ukraine, which could have ended at any time in the last two years had the US government not interfered. If Russia becomes our enemy, it will be because shadowy US agencies have made it so.
This extraordinary Church of the Protection of the Mother of God just outside Moscow, was completed in 2015, primarily by volunteers. Art students planned the mosaics, unskilled helpers completed them, individuals contributed their gold jewelry for the gilding, and all the financing was from small donors. I hate to say that most US parishes have trouble getting volunteers just to teach children their catechism… but in Russia, volunteers build churches.
Do we really feel enmity towards these people?
The Chapel at Niepowkalow
The monastery in Niepokalanów, in southern Poland, was established in 1927 by Franciscan friar Maximilian Kolbe, when the land was gifted to the order. It housed the friars, a seminary, the radio and printing press equipment that St. Kolbe used for evangelization, and became the largest monastery in the world just before World War II.
Kolbe was arrested by the Gestapo, along with four other friars, and put to death in Auschwitz in 1941. All religious activity at the monastery was forbidden, but the remaining friars kept up their daily prayer, and were able to sustain themselves and people around them from their garden, bakery and livestock.
After the war, the printing presses were put back into operation to publish The Knight of the Immaculata. A new church was built and a parish established. Now the monastery is a stop on the Warsaw Academic Pilgrimage, where thousands of pilgrims visit the basilica and museum.
During the lockdowns of 2020, EWTN Poland began livestreaming the adoration chapel at Niepokalanów, which features a beautiful montrance nestled under the heart of Mary. The perpetual streaming Adoration got over a million views per month while people were confined. The parish priest there reports several miracles occurring through even virtual adoration at this chapel.
You can stream live adoration here. It’s so still that sometimes you think you’re looking at a static photo, but then someone onscreen shifts in the pew, or looks up from their book. There’s a counter on the page that lets you know how many others are watching live (406 just now.) It’s not the same as being in the same room with the Eucharistic Jesus, but it is an aide to prayer when you’re at home.
Eucharistic Miracles
It is the season to pour ourselves out for the Eucharist. There’s a high level of ignorance and disbelief concerning the Eucharist; God gives us these miracles to increase our faith, and draw in unbelievers. Blessed Carlo Acutis was a huge promoter of the stories of miracles: traveling to, photographing and researching sites of miracles near his home in Italy. Eventually, he documented over 50 miracles and that research has been turned into a beautiful exhibition for loan to parishes around the world.
Read about the Exhibition here. People who’ve seen it say it is excellent. Since we’re trying to reach those 2/3 of Catholics who don’t believe the Real Presence, here’s a perfect strategy. You can contact the director to see if there’s a copy of the Exhibit housed near you. Contact us: Email: info@carloacutis.com
From the director, we discovered that there’s a copy located near us, in central Texas. With permission from the pastor, we’ll be bringing it to our parish soon. The only cost is to pick it up, staff with volunteers, and return the exhibit to the custodian.
This is a great way to bring the Revival to your local parish.
Carlo Acutis
Blessed Carlo has been in the news lately because a second miracle was confirmed as due to his intercession. So all the boxes for canonization have been checked, and we can look forward to the first “millennial saint.” There’s a lot more to this young man than his computer “geekiness.” He was a kind boy who was friendly toward all, and who spent many hours before the Blessed Sacrament in adoration. You can read more here >
A movie was released last month, Eucharistic Miracles: The Heartbeat of Heaven, which featured Blessed Carlo’s parents, his parish priest and some of the miracles he researched before he died at the age of 15 in 2006. It played well in Europe, but the was unfortunately not widely marketed in the US. So far, it’s not available for streaming, but I’m confident it will be, as soon as the canonization is announced. Keep a watch for it. Here’s the trailer >
Coffee & COVID
When we are all overwhelmed with information, a reliable source who gives it to us in small bites is highly to be valued. The daily digest Coffee & Covid rarely covers more than three items, those that are super-important to people like us. So if you can’t spend hours figuring out what in blazes is really going on in the world, Jeff will do it for you in about 10 minutes. And he does it with humor.
I’ve plugged this website/email before, and I promise, I’m not getting kickbacks from the author. It’s just that good. This Substack was first recommended by Connie Brickner in Region 10 several years ago. Jeff is consistently witty, or as he puts it, “sarcastically optimistic” so you can bear the news with a lighter heart.
Headache Remedies
I’m prone to headaches from jaw-clenching, and during the summer, dehydration. Not wanting to rely much too much on ibuprofen, I went searching for more natural remedies.
Prevention: Always better to prevent a pain than try to chase it away!
Headache salve: My favorite, because I love brewing potions with foraged ingredients! This salve uses pine needles and mint. Massage salve into temples, neck, or in my case, jaw joints, when you first feel a headache coming on. I’m also using it as a preventative before I go to sleep at night, which is when I do my worldclass jaw clenching. Homemade headache salve >
Pressure point massage: Simple massage can be very effective, especially if you catch the headache early. Here’s an article from a physical therapist to help you locate the precise pressure points to do effective massage. The author also gives stretches for the muscles that most typically refer pain that we register as “headache.” Pressure points for headaches >
Homeopathy: A more holistic approach is taken in homeopathy, where the source of the headache is important to suggest the proper remedy. Try DrHomeo.com for help in diagnosing the cause of headache, and appropriate remedies. Is it one-sided? Is their visual disturbance? Is it accompanied by fever? Nausea? Dizziness? Etc. Top 4 homeopathic remedies for headaches >
Eucharist Books
Great reading for this Revival year:
- Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist, by Dr. Brant Pitre
- Eucharistic Miracles, by Joan Carroll Cruz
- A Cardiologist Examines Jesus, by Franco Serafini
- Dominus Est: It is the Lord, by Athanasius Schneider
- Consuming the Word, by Scott Hahn
For kids:
- Heavenly Hosts, by Kathryn Swegart
- Eucharistic Saints, by Meredith Hinds
- Jesus and the Miracle of the Mass, by Gracie Jagla
Martyrs Corner: St. Pedro Maldonado
St. Pedro Maldonado is depicted with a monstrance because of the Eucharistic devotion he spread among his people, and with a palm to signify a martyr’s death. (it was once believed that the palm plant died in order to produce its fruit.)
Father Maldonado was martyred in the aftermath of the Cristero war in Mexico in the late 1920s. When President Plutarco Calles came to power, he was determined to erase all trace of God and the Church from Mexican society. Churches were destroyed and priests executed. Pedro Maldonado was in priestly formation at the time; his seminary was closed and he was transferred to El Paso to complete his studies and be ordained.
He returned to Chihuahua to say his first Mass, and settled there as a parish priest, where he initiated night-time adoration of the Eucharist and restored devotion to the Virgin Mary. During the Cristero wars, he was constantly harassed and beaten, even inside his church. In 1929, the government and the Catholic bishops reached a sort of cease-fire, supposedly ending the rebellion. However, the persecutions continued in Chihuahua. Father Maldonado was deported to El Paso, but he returned in secret and continued to minister in Chihuahua.
He returned to Chihuahua to say his first Mass, and settled there as a parish priest, where he initiated night-time adoration of the Eucharist and restored devotion to the Virgin Mary. During the Cristero wars, he was constantly harassed and beaten, even inside his church. In 1929, the government and the Catholic bishops reached a sort of cease-fire, supposedly ending the rebellion. However, the persecutions continued in Chihuahua. Father Maldonado was deported to El Paso, but he returned in secret and continued to minister in Chihuahua.
On Ash Wednesday, 1937, while distributing ashes, armed men burst into the church to arrest him. Father Pedro seized a pyx with consecrated hosts before he was marched through the streets to the city hall. Before the crowd of people who’d followed, one of the government strong men pistol-whipped Father Maldonado, breaking his skull and dislodging one eye. Then lesser men were free to beat him without restraint. Father held the pyx close to his heart through his travail. When he was close to death, the pyx fell to the ground, scattering the sacred Body. The gang leader picked up the hosts and shoved them into Father’s mouth, mocking it as his “last Communion.” Father Pedro de Jésus Maldonado Lucero was 44 when he died, and was canonized with other martyrs of the Cristiada in 2000. He is a patron of the Knights of Columbus, of which he was a member, and of night-time Eucharistic adoration. His feast is celebrated on May 21, with 24 other Mexican saints of the Revolution.
The Knight-Saints pictured are, from top to bottom and left to right:
- St. Miguel de la Mora
- St. Pedro Maldonado
- St. José Maria Robles
- St. Rodrigo Aguilar
- St. Luis Batis
- St. Mateo Correa Magallanes
You can learn more about Knights of Columbus who stood for Christ in Mexico here >
CORAC WEBSITE
Our greatest asset is our website. If you haven’t yet explored it, start on the home page and go perusing from there.
PRAYER
June Prayer Intentions
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As lawfare corruption becomes more shockingly obvious in the United States and elsewhere, that all CORAC members respond with prayerful deliberation and non-reactive resolve to Acknowledge God, Take the Next Right Step, and Be A Sign of Hope for Those Around You
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For all CORAC members as we study, disseminate, and implement the principles and ideas presented in The CORAC Handbook and Manual on Building Functional Communities
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That many people be healed in body, mind, and spirit through the online Physical Healing Prayer Session via Zoom, on the last Wednesday of each month; and through many other healing prayer ministries in which CORAC members are engaged
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May the Lord draw all people of good will ~ Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and others ~ closer to himself; may he make us holy; and may we live our faith with fidelity, courage, love, and joy as we pray the Prayer of Doing
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For the peaceful repose of the souls of all whom the Lord will call home this day; and for the consolation and strength of their families and friends
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That CORAC members may strongly desire and find the means to participate in financial support for our vital ministries
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For all intentions carried in the hearts of CORA
St. Gabriel, enlighten us.
St. Michael, defend us.
St. Raphael, protect us.
Ave Maria, Stella Maris!
Prayer Hotline
Email prayer requests to the CORAC Prayer Hotline at prayerteams@coracusa.com, and we will post your request (using first names only) on the CORAC Prayer Hotline Signal group.
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