The iPadre Catholic Podcast

Today we turn to one of the most extraordinary saints in the history of the Church: St. Catherine of Siena.

She was not a priest, not a bishop, not a theologian by degree. She was a young laywoman—third order Dominican, mystic, and fearless prophet—raised up by God in one of the darkest hours of the Church.

And she reminds us today: God does not always call the powerful. He calls the faithful.

“Be who God meant you to be, and you will set the world on fire.”
—St. Catherine of Siena

Courage Rooted in Love

In the 14th century, the Church was bleeding from within. The papacy had relocated to Avignon. Scandals and divisions spread like wildfire. Many turned away. Catherine stepped in.

She famously traveled to Avignon and looked Pope Gregory XI in the eye—not with anger, but with burning charity. She loved the Church too much to remain silent.

“Sweet Christ on earth, I speak to you in the name of Christ crucified… Be manly in your decisions, and not fearful or timid!”
—Letter to Pope Gregory XI

She didn’t attack the Pope; she called him higher. Catherine called him to be not just a ruler, but a shepherd. Not just a politician, but a saint.

Prayer, Not Protest

Her strength didn’t come from popular movements or political power. It was born in the Eucharist, in silence, in tears.

She spent countless hours before the Blessed Sacrament, weeping for the sins of the Church, offering herself as a victim for both clergy and lay faithful.

“Cry out with a hundred thousand tongues. I see that the world is rotten because of silence.”
—St. Catherine of Siena

She did not leave the Church. She did not rebel. She remained radically obedient—even during the chaos of the Great Schism.

“Even if the Pope were Satan incarnate, we ought not to raise our heads against him, but calmly lie down to rest on his bosom.”
—Letter 28, to Brother Raimondo

This wasn’t blind submission—it was faith in Christ’s promise to never abandon His Bride.

What She Teaches Us

Catherine’s legacy speaks powerfully to us today, especially as we approach a new papal conclave. She teaches us to:

1. Speak the truth with courage—but always with love.
2. Intercede for the Church through prayer and sacrifice.
3. Remain in the Church, faithful to Christ and to Peter.

“The Devil fears hearts on fire with love of God.”

We live in a time of trial. But so did she. And she shows us how to walk through it—with clarity, conviction, and total trust in Christ.

Let us pray as Catherine did. Let us love the Church as she did.
And as Cardinals prepare for one of the most important conclaves in modern history, let us offer our own prayer and sacrifice, that the will of God be done and that the Church may once again shine with the glory of holiness.

“Proclaim the truth and do not be silent through fear.”
—St. Catherine of Siena

No, I didn’t make a mistake. I’m not Artificial Intelligence. I’m Italian American. St. Francis Xavier Cabrini is well known among Italian Americans. We live in New England and the St. Cabrini Shrine is only a few hours away. So when I heard about the new movie Cabrini, I ware really excited and couldn’t wait to see it. Then there was the flurry of negative press on Facebook. Many people, including priests gave it really poor reviews.

Today, my mother and I finally had the chance to see it for ourselves. I think the movie was really, really good. The acting was superb. I think Cristiana Dell’Anna played the part really well. When she wanted to do something, she could put on that faccia brutea. Literally it means ugly face, but I was say a really tough face, like I’m not going to put up with this BS.

The movie got to the heart of what Mother Cabrini was all about. She was a woman impelled by the Holy Spirt and nothing or no-one was going to stop her without good reason. What she suffered is what many of our ancestors suffered. I even remember being called guinea and dago. None of that really bothers me. But it was only a sign of the great suffering and persecution that my grandparents and great-grandparents went through.

But back to the movie. After seeing Cabrini, I really can’t figure out what some people have against it. Did they expect to see her on her knees in the chapel? Was it really necessary for Mother Cabrini to be praying the Divine Office and saying her Rosary to make the movie acceptable? I really didn’t need that for it to be a good movie. However, she was seen saying grace before a meal and her breviary was lying on her desk.

We all know that Mother Cabrini was a woman of prayer or she would not have had the fortitude to do what she did. I also didn’t see it as having a feminist agenda. If you didn’t know, Mother Cabrini was a woman. It wasn’t a story about a male saint. And the reality is, the men all did fight her. The Archbishop of NY was pretty nasty to her. And, he may have been intolerant of Italians. It is known that some bishops did hold prejudice against Italians. If he didn’t, he might have gone to the aid of the Italian immigrants, who did enter this country legally, by the way.

I know first hand the suffering my family and other Italian families encountered in this county. Yet, they became Americans who loved this nation and contributed a lot to it.

The Cabrini Movie is top rate and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to see a great Religious woman (in habit) who had the courage to make a difference even in the face of danger. So don’t let someone else tell you it’s a bad movie, decide for yourself!

I’m an Italian American!

Here is a newspaper article about my web design in the early days. The newspaper is from 1996. I spent many late nights, early mornings, typing all kinds of information not websites and using html. I started with a personal website, parish website, and the original diocesan website. So much has changed. Now I do it all the lazy way with WordPress. I like some of the changes but really dislike a lot of them. In those days there were few of us and only personal pages. No business had a website and when I stated building the diocesan website they thought I was crazy. “This is only a fad.” “In a few years the won’t be a World Wide Web.” They were all wrong. I’m are still here today with about a dozen websites. As I thought then, I still think now. We have to embrace technology for the spread of the Gospel. Unfortunately, liberals, heretics and perverts have also embraced it and now they control it. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…”