St. Philomenas' Apostolate

Our Mission

Our mission is to work for the glory of God and salvation of souls by helping priests fulfill the dream of the patron saint of parish priests, St. John Vianney:

O my dear parishioners, let us endeavor to get to heaven! There we shall see God. How happy we shall feel! If the parish is converted we shall go there in procession with the parish priest at the head.

What a beautiful dream!

One that may seem almost impossible in today’s culture, but as a priest the only dream worth living for.

The Culture

In today’s culture the Catholic faith has become disordered. Man has put God at his service, rather than being at the service of God. Man only seeks God to make himself happier or to make his life better. While it is true that God and our Catholic faith can help accomplish these, Jesus clearly teaches something greater.

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.” (Mt 22:36-40)

To put it simply, man’s first priority is to love God, and the second to love his fellow man. But what does Jesus say about man’s earthly happiness?

“If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” (Lk 9:23-26)

This mentality that God is at man’s service has infected the culture. It has even seeped into how Catholics treat the greatest of all the sacraments.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

How would typical practicing Catholics answer the following question? “Why does Jesus become present in the Eucharist at Mass?” The most common answer might be something like “so that we can receive Him”, which is a beautiful truth of our faith but incomplete nonetheless. This belief held on its own obscures the true nature of the Mass. Through this lens it appears that God exists to serve man in his desire to receive Christ. Furthermore, it suggests that the main purpose of the Mass is about receiving. This incomplete understanding of the Mass is affecting what Catholics believe, what they expect from their faith, and thus how they live out their faith.

A more complete understanding of the Mass would begin to change everything. The primary reason Jesus becomes present in the Eucharist is to glorify His Heavenly Father. Through the priest we enter into the eternal sacrifice of the cross, and Jesus offers Himself as an unbloody sacrifice to His Heavenly Father. We, as members of the Mystical Body of Christ, are called to offer ourselves and our lives with Jesus to God the Father. The Mass now becomes an offering.

When we correctly order these two truths, we see Jesus perfectly model the great commandment to first love God and then His fellow man. If parishioners model their faith and life through this new lens, they will begin to see their lives as an offering to God and live the great commandment. And, in turn, slowly transform the culture of the parish.

How St. Philomenas’ Apostolate Helps Priests

St. Philomenas’ Apostolate works with priests to change the culture of their parish so they may one day lead their parishioners in procession to heaven.

To do so we focus on helping the priest be the father and leader of the parish, develop truly Catholic men and families capable of passing on the faith for generations, and create authentically Catholic culture in the Parish.

1. Father and Leader

Parishioners need a strong spiritual father to help them navigate the troubles of today’s world. St. Philomenas’ Apostolate helps priests grow in spiritual fatherhood and leadership by focusing on the below attributes.

1. A father loves and cares for his children
2. A father has a vision and communicates it with confidence and clarity
3. A father sets the example
4. A father inspires and challenges his children
5. A father is magnanimous (a greatness of spirit that comes not from man’s belief in himself, but rather his faith in God’s ability to work miracles through him)

To be a successful father and leader one must order his life and his time. St. Philomenas’ Apostolate also works with priests to better organize and prioritize their time to allow God to work through them as priest, prophet and king for their parish.

2. Develop Truly Catholic Men and Families

Families are not equipped to pass the faith to their children, and men are missing in parishes. To transform a parish men must be restored as leaders in their families, parishes, and communities, and begin again to lead their families in the faith, a faith strong enough to be passed down for generations.

Together St. Philomenas’ Apostolate and the St. Joseph Society developed a nine month St. Joseph Boot Camp to help priests build men and fathers into soldiers of Christ by teaching the faith and building habits to turn their hearts and minds to God. After nine months you will have an army of men leading their families in the faith and prepared to go to battle with you to restore Catholic identity and culture to your parishes. Here is a sample of what is discussed and accomplished in the first three months:

September
Topic: Who is Jesus?
Challenge: The First 15 – Morning Offering

October
Topic: Mary, Our Blessed Mother
Challenge: Call Your Mother – Decade of the Rosary
Liturgical: Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

November
Topic: Soldier of Christ (Real Presence)
Challenge: Knights Before the King – Genuflect with Your Eyes, Mind, Heart and Body
Liturgical: Feast of Christ the King

Details and the full schedule can be found at St. Joseph Society.

St. Philomenas’ Apostolate has also developed Families of the Immaculata, to place families under the protection of Mary and build authentic Catholic community.

• Families commit to praying the Rosary for the world, the Church and the family.
• Monthly Holy Hour with Confession followed by fellowship with the families and a brief talk by one of the priests to build the spiritual lives of the families.
• Creates opportunities for community and something to invite families too.
• Optional levels to encourage further prayer and Marian devotions.

3. Create Authentically Catholic Culture in the Parish

To create authentically Catholic culture St. Philomenas’ Apostolate works with priests to understand the culture of their parish. Culture is driven by three elements:

1. What we think (mentality)
2. What we do (habits)
3. What we’re surrounded by (environment)

The more a parish’s mentality is based in truth, their habits in goodness and their environment in beauty, the closer it is to God and the more authentically Catholic the culture.

Questions like ‘Where do I look for happiness?’, ‘Why am I Catholic?’, ‘Who is the parish centered around?’, ‘Why does the Church exist?’, ‘What is the Mass?’, ‘How do I view suffering?’ reveal the current mentality of a parish. We will explore these and different mentalities of the world, such as relativism, consumerism and universalism. These ways of thinking have led to many leaving the Church and prevents others from fully committing to Christ and the Catholic faith. A parish will not be truly Catholic unless it develops a truly Catholic way of thinking.

We learn moral virtue primarily through habit and practice rather than through reasoning and instruction. - Aristotle

St. Philomenas’ Apostolate works with priests to build Catholic habits in parishioners to slowly turn their hearts, minds, and lives towards God. For example, asking parishioners to begin praying a Morning Offering and explaining how this unites us to our Lord’s offering of Himself in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will help them turn regularly to God and center their lives around our Lord and the Mass.

Beauty by its very nature always elicits a response: one simply cannot experience a form or a phenomenon as beautiful without responding, without ascenting. - Fr. Thomas Dubay

Disinterest, distraction and apathy to the faith is common in parishes. St. Philomenas’ Apostolate works with priests to create an environment filled with beauty, truth and goodness to inspire parishioners. Beautiful events centered on the Eucharist and the Blessed Virgin Mary, are ways we infuse devotion within the parish.

Develop a Vision and a Plan of Action

St. Philomenas’ Apostolate then works with priests to develop a vision for the parish and the lives of their parishioners, and from this vision we build a plan with simple steps to get there. At the heart of these will be centering the parish on Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and living the great commandment. These will become the heart and soul of everything in the parish including the office, councils, ministries and parishioners. Below are key items we focus on to help you get there.

- Priest as leader and spiritual father
- Catholic men and families
- Belief in the real presence and devotion to the Eucharist and the Blessed Virgin Mary
- The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
- Sin, Confession and penance
- Prayer and the spiritual life
- Catholic habits (morning offering, rosary, nightly recollection…)
- Shifting the culture

Work with Us to Build Saints and Change History

It is sometimes believed that the history of the Church is marked by structural reforms. I am sure that it is the saints who change history. The structures then follow and only perpetuate the actions of the saints. - Robert Cardinal Sarah

St. Philomenas’ Apostolate is working with priests to build saints and change history. Our mission is to work for the glory of God and salvation of souls by helping priests lead their parishioners to heaven.

If you are interested in working with or learning more about how St. Philomenas’ Apostolate can help you transform your parish, please don’t hesitate to contact us.