Monsignor Reilly, Great Jazz and an Amazing Week

A score of tough days resolved for me on a high note yesterday, thanks to a famous Irish priest from New York, some great jazz and a flurry of Holy Spirit activity.


My sleep has been troubled, lately. The same week I wrote Pushing 'the Pill' leads to loss of Liberty for the Catholic News Agency, I was awakened by nightmares, filled with a sense of how dangerous this world is becoming. 


So, when I heard world-renowned Monsignor Phillip Reilly was visiting Chicago last weekend and giving a talk entitled "Be Not Afraid" at St. Isaac Jogues Church in Hinsdale, I felt drawn to attend. Stations of the Cross, benediction, and Monsignor's powerful message (see below), put everything into perspective. 


At a little reception afterwards, I found myself face to face with this lively, Irish priest from Brooklyn. I mentioned my Pushing 'the Pill' article and how it was the most controversial topic I had ever tackled. Monsignor Reilly took my face in his hands, looked warmly into my eyes, and said, "Marianna, relax!" 

Steve Vining's inspiring album,
featuring "Choose Life."

He told me the "Pill" had brought great evil to the world, and we needed to speak out on this topic, but that we did not do so alone. He gave me the sense of this great cloud of believers standing together for life. 


Monsignor's face shows effects of cancer. His nose appears to have been surgically reconstructed. But he exudes peace and down-to-earth humor and joy that is contagious. He is a great advertisement for embracing life to the fullest.




That night triggered several days' worth of amazing events. Also attending were my friends Vicky and Steve Vining and their young daughters. As we chatted, Steve mentioned he had produced a CD and was soon to release another. Before we parted, Steve dug around in his car and handed me Telling Visions, which he produced and wrote with the help of his wife, and performed with the accompaniment of some of the finest jazz musicians in Chicago.

Chicago area musician Steve Vining

I popped in the CD and listened to it all the way home, volume cranked. Now, I knew Steve was a musician who played and sang in bands, but he also worked full-time at DePaul University, so I thought his musical "hobby" involved a casual garage band. 


To say I was pleasantly surprised by his music would be an understatement. My family and I listened to the CD for the next several days, returning again and again to the amazing vocals, harmonies and soaring jazz riffs.



One of my favorite songs is Choose Life. This truly epic arrangement uplifts the spirit, inviting it to soar to an appreciation of life's beauty, and how only one "choice" leads to fulfillment:


"The answers are laid out before you
yet the questions are all that you see, 
You curse at the lock and you kick at the door 
not admitting that you hold the key..."


 and: "You're making your decisions constantly, 
with each thought and each passing breath, 
Gliding on the cutting edge of life, 
on the cutting edge of death."




Bravo, Steve and Vicky. Especially moving, is that this CD evolved after the couple experienced a full-term pregnancy loss. They were later blessed by the birth of their now 12-year-old daughter, and have a five-year-old girl they adopted from Guatemala. Their life is that wonderful jumble of not-always-controlled joié de vivre and chaos found in any home with little ones. I could picture the scene perfectly when Vicky described their family "exercise" time, when they all walked "laps" and romped in the basement.




Never would I have guessed that this busy mom had written songs and vocalized, and her husband also wrote songs, sang, played guitar in and produced, an album reminiscent of "Sting" and "Steely Dan," but with its own irresistible sound. 


By Monday, I could not settle to anything until I shared this music with Deacon Tom and Dee Fox, who produce Catholic Vitamins podcasts, affiliated with the Star Quest Production Network (SQPN). I have been contributing little Missionary Moments to these podcasts for several months, ever since being interviewed for Catholic Vitamin W -- Witness, about living our faith daily. 


I knew Deacon Tom was interviewing the star of the soon to be released movie October Baby that afternoon. He was preparing a special podcast with a pro-life theme, and I could not get the thought out of my mind that Steve's song, Choose Life, would be a perfect addition to the show. 


Deacon Tom and Dee are amazing in their flexibility. By bedtime last night, the special October Baby podcast was posted, featuring Deacon Tom's exclusive interview with leading lady Rachel Hendrix and musical interludes and the entire Choose Life song by Steve Vining! I can't resist saying it -- modern technology rocks. Jesuit Father John Hardon would be so pleased. This renowned Servant of God, theologian, friend and spiritual director of the Vinings, had often encouraged Steve to put his musical talents to use for spreading truths of the Faith. So:


* If you have never heard of Monsignor Phillip Reilly or his groups, Helpers of God's Precious Infants, then do a search and learn more. His loving, compassionate approach has been saving babies and mothers across the world for 50 years.


* Go see October Baby when it is released in theaters March 23. You are sure to be inspired by this gripping film produced by the creators of Fireproof and Courageous.


* Check out Steve Vining's CD Telling Visions, especially his song Choose Life. The CD is available through various online suppliers, including Catholicmusic.com.


* Listen to Deacon Tom and Dee's special J -- for Justice Catholic Vitamins broadcast featuring October Baby's leading lady, Rachel Hendrix, and Steve's song.


* Pray for Father Hardon's cause for beatification to move forward.


* Finally, pray daily that life might be cherished and freedom honored everywhere.

A Message from Monsignor Phillip Reilly's March 9, 2012 talk, Be Not Afraid:


When planes crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, Monsignor Reilly was praying at an abortion clinic a few blocks from New York Harbor, across from the twin towers. A black cloud enveloped the area, but babies continued to be killed at the abortion center, so Monsignor stayed to pray, only reaching Ground Zero around midnight. 

At the site, he closed his eyes to pray a rosary and had a vision. He saw workers within the building at 9 AM, getting coffee and water, preparing for their day, secure within their familiar work environment. When planes slashed through the building, these workers had nowhere to flee, no way to save themselves. Monsignor then "saw" in his vision a mother's womb, invaded by weapons of terrorism, the abortionist's tools. Ground Zero, said Monsignor, is all around us.

Go to the abortion mills to pray, he urged, to be witness to this tragic taking of human life. Do not be afraid of "Golgotha." Accompany these little souls in spirit as they are so brutally evicted from their earthly home by their own mother's choice. Monsignor reminded us that these babies are safe with God. These women are "mothers forever," who emerge from abortion centers wounded and needing unconditional love and forgiveness.


On a final note, Monsignor told how a priest friend was on the scene with the firefighters, before they went into the World Trade Center. They asked the priest for general absolution, saying, "Father, you know we're not coming out alive." 


Who were these firefighters? Many were family men -- fathers with little ones at home, said Msgr. Reilly. They turned and went up into the burning towers, saving literally thousands of workers, "doing the right thing" step by step, fulfilling their vocations, until the very end.

Study Freedom and Stay Free

Early morning in Yellowstone, by E.G. Bartholomew

Study, work and pray to stop America's liberties from disappearing as swiftly as morning mists from sea to shining sea...

"I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." -- Written by Thomas Jefferson in a private letter

Digging into primary sources is an exciting way to learn. Interested in Civil War medicine? Then browse teaching manuals and letters written by patients, doctors and nurses of that era. Want an in-depth retelling of an event such as the St. Louis Expedition or the Chicago Fire? Then find eye-witness accounts. I cherish my first-edition "Barriers Burned Away," written by Edward Payton Roe. This Civil War correspondent and New York minister traveled to Chicago in 1871 while the city burned to gather material for a powerful novel. His book describes terrified residents ducking into Lake Michigan to escape embers and victims seeking aid at hastily-established soup kitchens. 

Barriers Burned Away
By E.P. Roe

Tracking down primary sources turns anyone into Sherlock Holmes and the lure of uncovering topical tidbits becomes irresistible. My daughter, a Junior in high school, became fired up about Dante Alighieri this winter. After reading a mention of Dante's lesser-known La Vita Nuova, a work inspired by Dante's courtly love for pure Beatrice, my daughter ranged over town to the college library on a wintry day to find an obscure copy. That kind of interest fuels real learning.


Americans need to re-ignite a like passion for liberty. What is "freedom," rightly used? How is it maintained? How was it won for America? If we cherish our liberty, we should be brushing off and reading our copies of the Constitution. Many public schools are dropping mandatory requirements to learn cursive, but children should master this art, so they, too, can study copies of original documents like the Declaration of Independence. In our home, we have a facsimile of that document on a parchment scroll, that we bring out for patriotic holidays. 

Portrait of Thomas
Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale, 
courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Image in public domain

What did early founders of America say about liberty? Snatching just a phrase or two out of context -- usually all we get in textbooks or articles --  is like eating the cherry, but leaving the hot fudge sundae. Digesting speeches, letters and other documents in their entirety helps us see famous quotes in context and better savor our nation's unique flavor of liberty. My son, a Freshman in high school, is reading original American documents from a book called Words Aptly Spoken, compiled by Jen Greenholt. Included is Patrick Henry's famous March 23, 1775 speech to Virginia Congressional delegates in which he exclaims, "Give me liberty or give me death!"


Taking five minutes to read this entire speech fleshes out Henry's ideas.  Fellow patriots like Alexander Hamilton and James Madison also have much more to offer than faces on currency, or a pithy phrase or two. Sacrificing everything for the cause of liberty, these men's' reflections on the topic are not only still timely, but prophetic, and worth investigating. 


A friend shared powerful Thomas Jefferson quotes with me this week, spurring my resolve to put these quotes into context, and explore more of this statesman's speeches and writings:


"When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe...




"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not...


"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which, if acted on, would save one-half the wars of the world...


"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.

"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical..." -- Thomas Jefferson

"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government."


In 1802, Thomas Jefferson said, "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property -- until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."


Jefferson took his liberty seriously and so must we, voting along lines of freedom and in the light of truth. The most important primary document -- Scripture -- informs our consciences and illuminates our minds about true liberty. We can access the leading of the Church each day through Scripture readings and the homily at Mass. Or, we can meditate on Scripture, and reflections of current theologians and early Church fathers, in our Magnificats or on online sources such as Universalis. Never has the Church wavered in teaching that we must cherish and protect inalienable rights of every person, from conception through death. 


May God save America's liberty and bless her current and future generations. May we do our part -- studying, working and praying to further the noble cause of human freedom.

"America, you are beautiful and blessed. The ultimate test of your greatness is the way you treat every human being, but especially the weakest and most defenseless. If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life." -- From another prophetic hero who loved human freedom, Pope John Paul II 

To see a great reflection on the United States Catholic Bishops' remarks about Americans being given one year to violate their consciences, see Marge Fenelon's article, "Literally Unconscionable," from the Catholic News Agency's Catholic Womanhood blog.

Illustration by Erin Bartholomew