Summary: Today I have two complimentary interviews. The first is with David Hartline, author of The Catholic Tide Continues to Turn. David and I will talk about the new interest of Catholic leaders to get out into the public square and proclaim Catholic teaching, especially in light of the HHS abortion and contraception mandate. Then I'll be speaking with Gary Zimak, Catholic apologist and author of The Worrier's Guide to the Bible. In every election season anxiety levels go up but they seem especially high this year. Gary's book has some reassuring words for all of us who get caught up in the worries of today instead of trusting in the eternal help of Christ. Today, October 6th is the feast of St. Bruno of Cologne. St. Bruno was born around 1030 in Cologne but went to Rheims for school He was appointed chancellor of the diocese of Rheims in 1074 but was forced to flee the city two years later when he denounced his bishop as unfit for the office of Papal Legate. He returned to Rheims in 1080 but again left the city when the citizens wanted to make him the archbishop St. Bruno started a community of hermits in 1084 under the supervision of Bishop St. Hugh of Grenoble which was the beginning of the Carthusian order. If you want to learn more about the Carthusians, you should watch the movie Into Great Silence. Don't expect action sequences or witty dialogue – you will be disappointed. In 1090 Pope Urban II forced St. Bruno to come to Rome to be a papal adviser and assist in a reformation of the clergy. Eventually St. Bruno convinced the pope to let him return to his solitary life. He moved to Sicily where he died on October 6th, 1101. -St. Bruno was never officially canonized at the request of the Carthusian order which didn't want the public honor. Pope Leo X gave permission to the order to celebrate his feast in 1514 and he was added to the Roman calendar in 1623. St. Bruno is usually pictured holding a skull or a cross and book. Sometimes he has a halo of seven stars. Upcoming feasts include: St. Pelagia 10/8 St. Francis Borgia 10/10 St. Damien of Molokai 10/11 St. Wilfrid 10/12 St. Edward the Confessor 10/13 October 1st marked the 10th anniversary of Aquinas and More. I originally opened the store in a 144 sq ft office and then moved to our current location a year later. Bishop Sheridan of Colorado Springs also became the bishop the same year and blessed both our original and new locations. In spite of naming the store after St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Thomas More, we have always had a special devotion to St. Therese since we opened on her feast. When we were looking for a new location for the store we prayed a novena to her and part way through that novena a Catholic Realtor came in to our store and asked us if we were looking for a new location. Even though we have a physical location which is the largest Catholic store in Colorado Springs, we do most of our business on the internet. We've shipped to every state and every continent except Antarctica. Yes, we've even shipped to Africa. From the start we have had two guiding principles: Only carry authentically Catholic products that help people learn more about the Catholic Faith and back that up with a guarantee of Fidelity that we call our “Good Faith Guarantee”. And don't carry any products from China as long as China continues its forced abortion policies and regularly imprisons Catholic bishops and priests. These positions have cost us sales opportunities, especially at Christmas time because we don't carry most nativity sets but I believe that it is better to stick by our principles than sacrifice them for sales numbers. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and give your honest rating over on iTunes.
