THE CHAIR OF ST. PETER

The inspiration to create this website came to me while attending a 9 a.m. weekday Mass at Blessed Sacrament Church on Staten Island. 

The second-graders at Blessed Sacrament School were at Mass that day as part of their preparation for First Communion. I was deeply moved by the confidence and enthusiasm with which they proclaimed the various liturgical responses. 

Blessed Sacrament’s athletes—all of the students, really—are known as the “Titans.” So, as these future communicants were joyfully participating in Mass that day, I was thinking to myself, “Blessed Sacrament’s Titans are on fire this morning!”

Then, we came to that part of the Mass where the celebrant, Monsignor Ferdinando Berardi, said, “The Mystery of Faith”. And the children boldly replied, “We proclaim your death, O Lord, and profess your resurrection until you come again.”

As they were speaking, I gazed at the crucifix above the altar and was profoundly moved. At that moment, these children weren’t just Blessed Sacrament’s Titans; they were Titans of the Spirit, consumed by the fire of the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. They were the living embodiment of God’s children. 

That impelled me to offer my communion for them that day—that they’d always be those very same children of God. 

I knew, you see, the obstacles that they’d face in today’s increasingly secular society. I knew the alarming statistics. I knew that by the time they reached the eighth grade, and often well before, most would no longer be attending Sunday Mass. And by not giving God even one hour of a 168-hour week, they would be on their way toward relegating their Catholic faith to the farthest of back burners. 

Yes, these children would, in all likelihood, receive their confirmation. But, here too, the statistics foretold a worrisome reality. For most Catholic kids today, the Sacrament of Confirmation has become not so much a reaffirmation of their faith, as a license to walk away from it; a sort of imprimatur to join the ranks of the so-called "Cafeteria Catholics" who pick and choose what to believe, and when, if ever, to worship God, in or out of church. 

Recently, I was a sponsor for a boy about to receive his confirmation in another state. While seated with the other sponsors before the beginning of the service, I heard one man say to another, “I hope we don’t have to sit through a Mass”. 

Think about that for a minute! This man was sponsoring a boy for his confirmation, and yet he treated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as if it were some disagreeable encumbrance on his time. What do you suppose are the chances that he attends Mass on Sunday? Or that the boy he was sponsoring does? 

Multiple societal factors contribute to these attitudes. Public education has become a bastion of secularism; the entertainment industry routinely mocks God and denigrates religion; so, too, do large segments of the mainstream media. Attacks on Catholicism in particular are pervasive, insidious, and unrelenting.

It’s thus with the highest urgency that faithful Catholics of all ages are called upon to practice, defend, and extol their faith by becoming Titans of the Spirit. Clearly, the battle for our faith can only be won with the power of the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit’s power is boundless. 

Hopefully, this website will be of assistance in this challenging, but critically necessary undertaking.