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El asesinato del cardenal Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo fue el 24 de mayo de 1993 en el aeropuerto de Guadalajara

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Fr. Charles Theodore Murr with his Eminence Cardinal Edouard Gagnon before a private meeting in the Vatican with his Holiness [Saint] Pope John Paul II.

This article by Msgr. Foy gives a very good idea of who Edouard Cardinal Gagnon was and of the challenging assignments he accepted and accomplished with unequaled professionalism and faith.   

More about his Eminence: https://msgrfoy.com/2014/04/10/cardinal-edouard-gagnon-1918-2007/

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Don Roberto Robles ("El Padre Saez” in the novel) holding a fresh copy of Y ERA De NOCHE (THE SOCIETY of JUDAS Spanish edition).

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Mother Pascalina kneels to receive Holy Communion from the hands of the young priest in the Chapel of the International Center of the Friends of Newman, Via Aurelia, Rome. [Murr is dressed in vestments once belonging to Pope Pius XII.]  

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The Godmother, Madre Pascalina Lehnert, kneels to receive a first blessing from her Godson, Fr. Charles Theodore Murr [A.K.A. Don Carlo], at his ordination to priesthood in the Basilica of Saints John and Paul, Caelian Hill, Rome, May 13th, 1977.

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Sra. MARIA ABUNDIA HERNANDEZ

On Saturday, December 23, 2017, in the grace of God and the bosom of Holy Mother Church, MARIA ABUNDIA HERNANDEZ de OLIVA returned to her Creator.

The 1982 highway fatality that claimed the lives of her son and daughter-in-law moved Señora Maria to seek the counsel of her parish priest in San Luis Potosi [Mexico]. That same evening, I received a phone call from that priest explaining his parishioner’s serious predicament. [Padre Manuel M. and I studied together in Rome, back in the 70’s. Unlike myself, Padre Manuel was known for his piety and (even more unlike myself) his humility.] Two or three times during our conversation, Padre Manuel referred to Maria Hernandez de Oliva as a “living saint.” I remember taking special note of that descriptive, thinking to myself: “Here’s a saint impressed with another saint. This must be quite a special woman.” I told Padre Manuel to send her to me so that she and I might speak about “the precarious future of her 5 grandchildren.” Two days later, Maria Hernandez de Oliva arrived in town by bus. From downtown Tepatitlan, suitcase in hand, she climbed the steepest, longest hill in town and arrived at the front gate of Francisco Javier Orphanage just before noon.

At that time, the Sisters’ convent was the only “finished” part of the orphanage and housed three nuns, 40 children and myself.    

Though she looked somewhat older than her years, Señora Maria was in her early 50s. She supported her invalid husband in San Luis Potosi working as a maid to an American family in Chicago, Illinois. She explained the fatality that had robbed her of her much beloved son and daughter-in-law; more importantly, the tragedy had robbed five children of their beloved father and mother.    

Almost immediately, I understood Padre Manuel’s appraisal of this good woman. Her humility was palpable. Her shy tender smile was that of a blushing quinceañera. Her demeanor and soft manner of speech came from a soul living in deep communion with God and His holy will. And though I did not possess such graces, I could tell an authentic gem from a hypocritical counterfeit. Maria Hernandez de Oliva was the real thing. Padre Manuel was correct.

At that meeting I agreed to admit 10-year-old Victor, 8-year-old Alan, 6-year-old Grisol, 4-year-old Selene, and 3-year-old Maria Goretti into our unusual family. A week later, Maria Hernandez de Oliva accompanied the five children to the orphanage where they could be “reared, and ruled, and properly schooled” until they could fend for themselves as mature and responsible adults.

For her part, every year, from 1983 to 1999, Maria Hernandez de Oliva arrived at Francisco Javier Orphanage to spend her two months of annual vacation. From early morning to late night, her time was spent cooking, sowing, mending, cleaning and always praying. This was both her way of showing her deep gratitude to the orphanage, and of being a real and contributing part of her grandchildren’s lives. However, not only did she become and remain an integral part of her own grandchildren’s lives, Maria Hernandez de Oliva became everyone’s Grandmother! One hundred and forty-eight orphaned Mexican children, three Italian nuns, eight postulants and one American priest—all of us called her Abuelita, and Maria Hernandez de Oliva wore the title with honour and distinction.  

This is but one segment of a truly altruistic life. Maria Hernandez de Oliva sacrificed everything she had and all that she was for the good of others. Countless were her acts of charity; countless her prayers for others; countless the times we all were receptions of that tender, wonderful smile of our loving Grandmother.

At long last, Maria Abundia Hernandez de Oliva, may you rest in peace from all your many labors. All of us who loved you, and who were loved by you, long for the day when we will see you again in Trinitarian Love.

Adios, amada Abuelita. Hasta pronto.

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PSALM 8

1. Domine Dominus noster quam admirabile est nomen tuum in universa terra quoniam elevata est magnificentia tua super caelos 1. O Lord, our Lord, how admirable is Your name in the whole earth! For Your magnificence is elevated above the heavens.

2. Ex ore infantium et lactantium perfecisti laudem propter inimicos tuos ut destruas inimicum et ultorem 2. Out of the mouth of babes and of infants You have perfected praise because of Your enemies, that You may destroy the enemy and the avenger.

3. Quoniam videbo caelos tuos opera digitorum tuorum lunam et stellas quae tu fundasti 3. When I consider Your heavens, the works of Your fingers: the moon and the stars which You have founded,

4. Quid est homo quod memor es eius aut filius hominis quoniam visitas eum 4. What is man that You are mindful of him? Or the son of man that You visit him?

5. Minuisti eum paulo minus ab angelis gloria et honore coronasti eum 5. You have made him a little less than the angels, You have crowned him with glory and honour:

6. Et constituisti eum super opera manuum tuarum 6. and have set him over the works of Your hands.

7. Omnia subiecisti sub pedibus eius oves et boves universas insuper et pecora campi 7. You have subjected all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen: moreover the beasts also of the fields.

8. Volucres caeli et pisces maris qui perambulant semitas maris 8. The birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea, that pass through the paths of the sea.

9. Domine Dominus noster quam admirabile est nomen tuum in universa terra 9. O Lord, our Lord, how admirable is Your name in all the earth!

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Sister M. Wilberta, O.P., was the co-protagonist in Chapter One of THE GODMOTHER. On the very day of the book's release the author set out to find that extraordinary young woman who had made such a profound and lasting impression on him as a first and second grader [1957-1959] at Saint Augustine Grammar School. Teacher and pupil had not seen or heard from each other in almost 60 years.(Above) Sister Mary Ann Hyde, O.P. (FKA, Sister M. Wilberta, O.P.) displays her copy of THE GODMOTHER, a story especially dedicated to her.   

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Casa Hogar Villa Francisco Javier Nuño y Guerrero, C. 1988. Father Charles Murr surrounded by his kids and the Italian community of The Maestre Pie dell'Addolorata.

Know by many different names, such as: The Orphanage, The Mexican Orphanage, The Orphanage in Tepa, or by its proper name, Casa Hogar Villa Francisco Javier Nuño y Guerrero. The foundation established in 1979, for orphaned children in Tepatitlán, Jalisco, is better known to most, locally, nationally and internationally, as “El Orfanatorio del Padre Charlie.”  In 1981 Father Murr accepted a request from the religious congreagation Maestre Pie dell'Addolorata to send four young Sisters to begin a mission in Mexico.

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No me digan que se olvidaron de W. C. Fields y el Senor Muckel!?

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An audience in Saint Peter’s Basilica with his Holiness Pope Pius XII

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El Gordo y El Flaco: For All My Kids (1979 to 1993)

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At long last, THE GODMOTHER: Madre Pascalina, A Feminine Tour de Force, is here! 

This remarkable book highlights some of the most important people and events of the twentieth century - people and events that have shaped many of today’s realities, both secular and religious.

THE GODMOTHER is told through the lens of a deep spiritual friendship between a young American student “growing up” in Rome and a much wiser, much more “grown up” Bavarian woman, known in certain Roman circles as La Popessa, the most powerful woman ever to have wielded authority in the Vatican. All 34 chapters are engaging, informative, instructive and (hopefully) often humorous. 

This book is the perfect read for anyone interested Vatican diplomacy and intrigues, the papacy and World War II. Above all else, THE GODMOTHER is ideal for those of us interested in the mysteries of ordinary and extraordinary friendship.

for more visit www.charlesmurr.com 

Servus,

C.T.M.

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BUILDINGS IN TEPA

A Collage of all the buildings designed and constructed by Padre Charlie: Capilla Mater Dolorosa,  L'Eau Vive Restaurant and Bakery, Ranch Arcangel Miguel, and Orfanatorio Villa Francisco Javier Nuño y Guerrero.

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The Society of Judas - Book Trailer - Buy on amazon

Charles Theodore Murr asks how betrayal affects the mind of the betrayed. What is it like for a fundamentally good man to be betrayed by people he trusts implicitly? Worse, by those he calls friends? "God help you when a friend sets out to betray you," a mentor tells Charlie Maurer at the beginning of The Society of Judas, "Your enemies can't betray you, Charlie, only a friend can betray – but when friends collaborate for a betrayal…who could emerge victorious against[…]a whole society of Judas'?" Set in Rome, central Mexico, and New York during the 1970's and 80's, The Society of Judas is a web of intrigue. The novel is not for the faint of heart, yet it warrants laughter and tenderness alike. The story of a good but flawed priest working out his salvation with fear and trembling in Mexico, is reminiscent of Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory. In its assemblage of utterly bizarre characters and insane plot twists, it is echoes hints of John Kennedy Toole's The Confederacy of Dunces. It is the story of one man's life, told in the form of a novel. Lacking the artificial unity a fictional account, it displays instead the strange inscrutability of real human life. Charlie Mauer, along with the reader, wonders at the mysteries of God's providence. Like the pilgrim Dante begging Saint Peter Damian for his life's meaning, Charlie Mauer wonders at the reason for all the trying tumult in his life. Like Job at catastrophe's end, he is left, in the end, not with questions about the whys and wherefores of God, but with God's questions to him about himself. Like Job, he comes to see that the questions of God are far more satiating than the answers of men.