Issue 22 - February /March 2022
Mary, The Cause of Our Joy!
Pennsylvania Travels
In the Poconos Mountains
Joe and Ramona enjoying the fresh snowfall with their grandson, Micah. They have been with the Catholic Resistance since 2013. Joe and Ramona have been married for 48 years!
Joe and Ramona's granddaughter, little Sarah, smiles sweetly in front of their home's Nativity crèche.
Visiting the Shrines of Pittsburgh
Old St. Patrick's Church
One of the Shrines Father Hewko had the opportunity to visit was in downtown Pittsburgh at
Old St. Patrick's Church.

This Shrine is famous for a number of reasons ...
As soon as you enter the front doors of the church you are met with a sign reading, “Holy Stairs, ascend on knees only.”  

The Holy Stairs or “Scala Sancta” located here in Pittsburgh consists of 28 stars which are a replica of the originals at St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome.  These are one of only three sets in the United States, the other two sets are located in Michigan.  According to Roman Catholic tradition, the Holy Stairs were the steps leading up to where Jesus was judged by Pontius Pilate during the Passion. The original stairs were reportedly brought to Rome by St. Helena in the fourth century after her conversion to Christianity.  

Pittsburgh’s set of Holy Stairs were built in 1936 after the rebuilding of St. Patrick Church and were commissioned by Father James Cox. The white marble steps are meant to be ascended on the knees (which is not meant to be at all comfortable) and in prayer, with a prayer for each step.
"Fr. Cox was easily St. Patrick’s most famous pastor, and one of the most notable in the whole history of Pittsburgh.

In 1925, he began to broadcast on a local radio station daily Mass–a practice that lasted for 33 years.

During the Depression, St. Patrick’s became a relief center for the poor, distributing over two million free meals, 500,000 baskets of food, clothing and fuel under Fr. Cox’s direction."
 - Taken from here.
St. Anthony's Chapel
Saint Anthony Chapel, located on Troy Hill, which overlooks the Allegheny River on Pittsburgh's North Side, is home to the largest collection of relics in the world outside of the Vatican.

Construction began on the chapel in 1880 under the direction of Father Suitbert G. Mollinger son of a wealthy Belgian family, and the first pastor of Most Holy Name of Jesus Parish. Father Mollinger personally financed the building of the tiny devotional chapel to house his collection of relics. Dedication of the chapel took place on the Feast of St. Anthony, June 13, 1883.

An inscription is written in Latin on the central arch of the chapel reads, “Here Lie the Saints in Peace.” Over 5,000 relics of the saints have reposed peacefully in the chapel for more than 130 years. The impressive collection is displayed in beautifully wrought reliquaries, arranged in altars and side cases constructed of hand-carved solid walnut. Many of the reliquaries contain multiple relics. - Adapted from here.
The relics housed in the chapel currently number over 5,000 and are housed in over 800 relic cases (reliquaries) of various sizes. Located in the left transept of the chapel is a reliquary containing approximately 700 relics. A large cross in the center holds a splinter of the True Cross, a thorn from the Crown of Thorns, and a piece of the stone from the Holy Sepulcher.
A sculpture of St. George holds his relic.
Relics of St. Theodore - his skull in the larger reliquary and a portion of his bone in the smaller reliquary.
In addition to the collection of relics of the saints, Father Mollinger also acquired a set of life-size Stations of the Cross for the chapel while on a visit to Europe, These priceless Stations were carved of wood by artists of the Royal Ecclesiastical Art Establishment of Mayer and Company in Munich, Germany.

The chapel’s stained glass windows, all imported from Europe, attest to his wishes for exquisite workmanship. The fourteen stained glass windows above the Stations of the Cross portray the apostles, along with Sts. Paul, Stephen, and Lawrence. The center window above the entrance depicts the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Mother of God and Queen of Heaven, and also St. Joseph. To the left and right are windows honoring St. Anthony and St. Catherine of Siena.
Southwest Mass Circuit Adventures
Pictures from the scenic but lonely road towards a House Blessing in New Mexico.
To get to the house, one must travel 45 min on unpaved roads.
The cows on the roadside gaze lazily at the rare image of a passing car!
Snow is not the first thing that comes to mind in New Mexico!
A First Communion
This is young Xavier, who made his First Holy Communion
during Father Hewko's visit to Clovis, New Mexico.

Clovis is in the vicinity of where Bl. Mary of Agreda bi-located from her convent in Spain to instruct and teach the Indians about the Faith from 1620-1623.

Below the whole family celebrates Xavier's special day!
Phoenix, Arizona
The lovely altar in Phoenix where Our Lady of Guadalupe
overlooks the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass!

Below, some of the Phoenix Chapel members gather around
a banner of the Most Sacred Heart.
More on the US Mass Circuits
Hubbardston, Massachusetts
A side view of the Nativity crèche in the Our Lady of Fatima Chapel.
The crèche humbly rests near Our Lord in the Tabernacle,
where He patiently awaits visits from His friends!



Following the mind of the Church as She keeps vigil during the liturgical year in closely following the life of Her Founder as She prepares the faithful for Lent and the Passion of Our Lord, the statue of the Scourging reminds everyone of the immense suffering of Christ during the Scourging at the Pillar!
A Winter Wedding in Idaho
Congratulations to Rusell and Jimena, recently married in Pocatello on January 29, 2022, whose wedding venue was a far cry from the cold winter weather,
the Jungle Jim's Ice Cream Parlor!
A Baptism in Wisconsin
Little Melania, surrounded by her loving family, was recently baptized on Father Hewko's Green Bay Mass circuit!
Three First Communions in Minnesota!
May God bless Mary, Joseph, and David Buschmann on such a happy day!
The Chenal Wedding
Congratulations to Leopold and Randi Chenal married February 26, 2022!
Father Hewko performed the wedding for Leopold's brother, John on June 5, 2021.

Both Leopold and John are on the University of Wisconsin football team
with great potential to advance to the NFL! Pray they always hold strong in the Faith!
Father Visits Some Tough Texans
Some of you may recall hearing about a devastating fire last year that destroyed the home of the Doss family outside of San Antonio, Texas. Here, Mrs. Doss looks on at her once warm living room of her family's home.
Charred remains from the fire that have yet to be rebuilt. As we all know, lumber and construction prices have risen dramatically last year, causing significant delays in the house reconstruction.
Father Hewko with some of the Doss family stopping for some Texan steak. Father recently reminded us that during Lent, in addition to increasing our prayers and penances, we are encouraged to help out those in need. Please consider sending any assistance you can to the Doss family at the following address:

Louis & Mary Doss
346 Lakeview Drive
Lake Hills, TX 78063
Letter from Father Hewko
 
February/March 2022


Dear Friends of the Sorrowful Heart of Mary,

When this Valley of Tears of our earthly pilgrimage starts being overrun by thorns and toxic gases of immorality and Liberalism, it’s not such a bad thing! It’s not such a bad thing, that is, when viewed from the angle of eternity! It’s not such a bad thing
when this “passing hotel,” as St. Teresa of Avila called this time on earth, becomes more uncomfortable, unpredictable and even painful. Do not the sufferings of this time prompt our hearts to desire more intensely the glories to come, in Heaven? Do not the thorns and bruises of the Passion make us long for the joy and happiness of the Resurrection? Even Our Lord first blazed this trail, when Sacred Scripture says of Him, “Jesus, ... having joy set before Him, endured the Cross, despising the shame, and now sitteth on the right hand of the throne of God!” (Hebrews 12:2 ).

Faced with immoral v******, whose vials contain human cells and DNA which were
inhumanely carved-out from hundreds of aborted babies, while still alive and kicking to survive (!), and are now being Stalin-istically mandated by governments on their people, when the price for those refusing is the threat of losing their jobs, losing their insurance or even bank accounts!

Nevertheless, in spite of all this, we must trust in God and never cave in to these evils!
Why don’t we ever hear the Holy Father, the Bishops (and especially our traditional bishops!), repeating the words of Pope Pius XI, in his Encyclical On Christian Marriage, Casti Connubii, (December 31, 1930), where he clearly condemned all forms of sterilization and birth control and, antecedently, condemned the mandatory vaccines? Why the silence, and even approval for these vaccines, surprisingly even by the Conciliar-SSPX? Pius XI says:

Public magistrates [ i.e. the State ] have no direct power over the bodies of their subjects; therefore, where no crime has taken place and there is no cause present for grave punishment, they can never directly harm, or tamper with the integrity of the body, either for the reasons of eugenics or for any other reason! St. Thomas teaches this when, inquiring whether human judges for the sake of preventing future evils can inflict punishment, he admits that the power indeed exists as regards certain other forms of evil, but justly and properly denies it as regards the maiming of the body. ‘No one who is guiltless may be punished by a human tribunal either by flogging to death, or mutilation, or by beating” (Summa Theologiae, 2a 2ae q.108, a 4 ad 2um).

Furthermore, Christian doctrine establishes, and the light of human reason makes it most clear, that private individuals have no power over the members of their bodies than that which pertains to their natural ends: and they are not free to destroy or mutilate their members, or in any other way render themselves unfit for their natural functions, except when no other provision can be made for the good of the whole body.”

There it is! The State has no right, whatsoever, to mandate these vac********* which kill, maim the body by causing blood clots, heart myocarditis, and sterilize both men and women. The Church’s Traditional Magisterium settles the whole question!

Furthermore, as the Protocols of the L****** Elders of Z*** reveal, the goal of the satanic J****-Masons, who are behind the “Great Reset,” is to cause enormous, worldwide political and economic upheaval so that the nations will accept any “savior” to alleviate their fears, panic and desperation. This “savior”, in time, will be the Anti-Christ, who will come on the scene when God permits. [N.B. It would be foolish to laugh at this as “more conspiracy theories,” since it was already well disclosed in the great works of Fr. Denis Fahey, whose books were systematically removed from the SSPX bookshelves in 2009. Instead, they promote the works of Fr. Paul Robinson, which support Evolutionary lies and foolishly scoff at the so-called “conspiracy theories” exposed in the Protocols!].

Above the current political picture, which looms with the possibility of World War III, we have the sad scene of the state of our Holy Catholic Church! She languishes and suffers under the oppression of Modernists suffocating her! This phony counter-Church called Conciliar Rome, rejoices in crushing Catholic Tradition and in successfully deceiving most Traditional groups to compromise with Vatican II and eventually “abandon their rigid positions,” as ex-Pope Benedict XVI put it.

Now, since 2012, they have succeeded in persuading the leaders of the Society of St. Pius X, by continuous dialogue (beginning with GREC in the mid-1990’s), to finally accept the “inoculation of Liberalism” being injected directly into their arms! This has caused enormous “blood clots” of compromise with Vatican II and the New Mass, reduction to silence, and a “slow death” by accepting “approved jurisdiction” for their sacraments, while falling, more and more, under the influence of the Modernist Popes and bishops! (See the book, “As We Are? 101 Compromises, Changes, and Contradictions of an SSPX in Pursuit of a Practical Accord With Modernist Rome,” by Sean Johnson).

How suitably the cry of the Psalmist applies to our present crisis. expressed in the words of Holy Mother Church, “The groans of death surround me, the sorrows of Hell encompassed me: and in my affliction I called upon the Lord, and He heard my voice, from His holy temple” (Psalm 17:5-7, Introit of the Mass for Septuagesima Sunday). Indeed, the insecurities and sufferings of this life should move us to raise our minds and our hearts to the Sacred Heart of Jesus! These tragedies should force us to desire Heaven more and more, where, after this Valley of Tears, we shall see the Vision of the Most Holy Trinity and enjoy the happy society of the saints and angels forever and ever!

Let us strive to console and make reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary this Lent, knowing the power of Her Rosary and Brown Scapular, Heaven’s true weapons to overcome the darkness of our times!

In Christ the King,

Fr. David Hewko
                                       
Contacts and Resources

  • Correspondence mailing address and Mass Requests and Stipends: Rev. Fr. David Hewko, 16 Dogwood Road South, Hubbardston, MA 01452

  • Donations: Checks can be made out to Sorrowful Heart of Mary Inc., P.O. Box 366017, Atlanta, GA 30336 or electronic donations can be made via PayPal.

  • To subscribe to Fr. Hewko's newsletters, the Sorrowful Heart of Mary Newsletter, and the Mary, the Cause of Our Joy! Newsletter, contact: sorrowfulheartofmary@gmail.com.