SBC Conferences

It is a series of speeches given throughout the country, a program meant to inform, motivate, and equip Catholics to be better laborers in the project of converting our Republic to the one true faith. The core of each CAT event is Brother André Marie’s talk, “Toward a Catholic America: History, Goals, and Methods.”

In addition to hearing the presentation, those in attendance can browse books and audio products we will bring along. As part of the event, Brother André Marie will also field questions pertinent to Saint Benedict Center’s apostolate, or various topics of a Catholic interest.

No. The Catholic America Tour and the SBC Conference are two distinct realities.

The Catholic America Tour is planning a road trip, a big one. And we need your help to make it successful.

We will cut a CAT path from New Hampshire to Saint Louis, down to Texas, over to Florida, and up the East Coast back to New England. The tour will take three weeks, leaving New Hampshire on February 10, and getting back home on March 3. Since the tour is “on the road” in the most literal sense, we can arrange stops anywhere along the way.

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The map above (which you can “grab” and move around with our mouse to see the whole route), is not complete. We will make side trips off this route if there is a demand. Please let me stress: Any place on this route is a potential speaking engagement — and we will speak to small groups in private homes, if invited. Read the rest of this entry »

Purchase the Catholic America Tour Talk No.1 at the Catholicism.org Store.

The talk was given on Sunday, October 19, in De Pere, Wisconsin. The subject of the talk is “Toward a Catholic America: History, Goals, and Methods.” Brother André Marie spoke for two hours on the history of the Church in America — good and bad — with particular attention to some of the great apostolic workers who wished to make America Catholic, such as Father Arnold Damen, Archbishop Michael Corrigan, Orestes Brownson, and some local Wisconsin figures, the Dutch Dominican Friar, Father Theodore J. Van den Broek (“the apostle of Wisconsin”), and the Italian Dominican, Venerable Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli.

The talk was given at a chapel overlooking the Fox River, which these and many other missionaries used to travel to and from their missions.

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The first two talks of the Catholic America Tour are now over. Speaking in De Pere and Nededah, Wisconsin, Brother André Marie launched the CAT before two very interested audiences. Here are some of his impressions:

“I met some old friends and lots of new ones. Third Order members, SAI Study Circle die-hards, and many other devout and zealous Catholic souls were in the audiences. It was a great feeling to speak about the evangelization of our America surrounded by memorials of the missions that brought the Faith here. Monuments to Father Allouez, Father Marquette, and other missionaries dot the countryside where I visited. I walked along the Fox River and crossed the Wisconsin River, both major thoroughfares for the missionaries like the Jesuits I just mentioned, as well as the Dominicans that came later — Father Mazzuchelli and Father Van Den Broek, “the Apostle of Wisconsin.” It was thrilling to see the same vistas and touch the same ground as these apostles of Jesus Christ, and to do so with the same purpose they had. The faithful who came to hear the talks were most interested in doing their part to Catholicize our land, and I was happy to play the part of a catalyst in motivating them to do more. I am very grateful to Our Lord, and to the trip’s sponsors, for this blessed opportunity.”

 If you would like to organize a CAT event in your area, please learn how.

Details of the two scheduled talks are as follows. Note, the talk on Sunday is in De Pere, not nearby Green Bay, as formerly announced.

De Pere: After the 8:30 AM Mass on Sunday, October 19, Brother André Marie will speak at Saint Michael’s Church (1782 Chappelle Rue, off Lost Dauphin Road, De Pere, WI 54115). For more information, the contact number for this location is 920-336-8852. (Find this location on a map.)

Necedah: At 7:00 PM on Monday, October 20, he will speak at Our Lady of Victory Chapel (N11190 17^th Ave., Necedah, WI 54646). For more information, the contact number for this location is (608) 565-7551. (Find this location on a map.)

In addition to hearing the presentation, those in attendance can browse some books and audio products from Saint Benedict Center. Brother André Marie would also be interested in fielding questions pertinent to Saint Benedict Center’s apostolate.

There is no cost to attend these talks. Please come — and feel free to bring your friends and family, Catholic and non-Catholic alike. We ask that all who come observe the traditional norms of Catholic modesty, especially given the locations of these talks, which are both on church property.

On Sunday, October 19, Brother André Marie will be speaking at Saint Michael’s in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The engagement will be coordinated with another talk, or around that same weekend, in Necedah, WI. Details are forthcoming.

The subject of the two talks will be “Toward a Catholic America: History, Goals, and Methods.” All those in the Green Bay and Necedah areas are encouraged to come and bring your friends.

Below is a list to help local sponsors organize a Catholic America Tour (CAT) presentation in their area.

1. Form a committee to sponsor a speaker. Hold a meeting to determine how you will raise the money to pay for air transportation, lodging, speaker’s meals, and the hall (or large room).  Get firm financial commitments.  Also, talk about how and to whom you will promote the event.

2. Call Russell LaPlume at (603) 239-6485 and reserve date for your event.

3. Send money to cover the anticipated cost of the airline ticket (Russell can help you with this) to St. Benedict Center, PO Box 627, Richmond, NH 03470 (if desired and for your convenience we can charge the amount to your credit/debit card).  Overpayments will be promptly refunded after the event and, of course, you will be billed for any underpayment.  Please be inclined to overpay.  Be sure to discuss suitable “windows of opportunity” for arrival/departure times, and airports.

4. Once the date is confirmed and the money received, basic information promoting your event will be posted to our Web sites such as city/state of talk and contact’s name, telephone number(s), and e-mail address.  Of course, information that is more detailed (time and location of event, directions, etc.) will be posted as you supply us with that information.  Organizers should be aware that publicizing an e-mail address might cause spam, as well as insulting email from opponents of this work (cf. John 15:18).

5. Reserve a location for the event.  Inform Russell so our Web sites can be updated.

6. Make arrangements for speaker’s lodging.  Inform Russell.

7.  Arrange for speaker’s meals and transportation to and from airport.

8. Design, print, and distribute a flyer for your event.  See the attached sample.  You can edit and print this locally.

9.  Hold a second committee meeting to assign people to various positions of responsibilities such as:

a. Hall/room set up including making available two tables -  one for the speaker’s items and one for the sponsoring group’s items, chairs, podium, testing microphone and amplification system, drinking water for speaker, sign-up sheets, Saint Augustine Institute Study Circle information, and First, Second, and Third Order information.

b. Transportation of speaker — to and from airport — and to and from hotel and event locations.

c. Optional:  Printing and sale of ads for CAT Program.  See enclosed sample and link to digital artwork. (Not yet available. Request this if you are interested.)

d. Depending on the setting, it may be appropriate to have a designated person greet and welcome arriving guests.

e. Flyer distribution to promote attendance.

f. Press release.  This might generate newspaper coverage increasing local interest.  See attached sample.

g. Some sponsoring groups advertise their event in the local newspapers.  Some even use radio or local public TV.  For example, the speaker could talk on local radio promoting his speech that evening.

10. First, we will promote your event on our Web sites but you need to inform us of the time and place of your event and directions to get there, names, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers of contact people, and how to purchase CAT Program advertising.  (Of course, the last item may not apply in your situation.)  Second, in some cases, and at our expense, we will send a letter and flyer (supplied by you) to people on our mailing list who live within a reasonable distance from your event.  Third, given enough time we will promote your event in our publications and communications.

11. Some CAT committees might want to combine a banquet with the talk or even expand it to an all day event or two-day mini-conference with a traditional Latin Mass, etc.  However, it is prudent to start modestly especially if this is your first time.

12. Our CAT Coordinator will let you know when and where a box will arrive via UPS/FedEx containing important speaker materials including tapes and CDs.  Please let the coordinator know when this box arrives.  VERY IMPORTANT: This box and its contents must be at your event.

13. In some cases, air transportation costs can be reduced dramatically by coordinating event dates with other sponsoring groups in nearby cities or states.

One part of the Saint Benedict Center Conference can be right in your home town. Brother André Marie will soon be on the road with the “Catholic America Tour” (CAT). Traveling across our land, Brother will lecture on the subject, “Toward a Catholic America: History, Goals, and Methods.”

This tour depends on local sponsorship. If you would like to be a part of the effort by sponsoring a CAT presentation in your area, please call or write for more information.

Help us in our effort to Catholicize America!

Our conference was in July. It’s over, but life goes on. Besides reading the fine articles available on the Saint Benedict Center web site, what do you do for the rest of the year to form your mind in a Catholic way? Here’s an idea: Join the Saint Augustine Institute of Catholic Studies!

The Saint Augustine Institute is the educational division of the Crusade of Saint Benedict Center. Its purpose is to provide a well-rounded and conveniently simple course of instruction in Catholic thought.

The goal of the Institute is the formation of a large and ever growing body of well instructed lay apostles in the Church Militant who will become a mighty force for expelling the modernist heresy from within the Church, and for spreading the True Faith throughout the world, especially here in America.

To get started, consult these resources:

• The Saint Augustine Institute of Catholic Studies Syllabus
• Books for required reading available at Store.Catholicism.org
• Finally, you can find a lot of high quality audios of lectures and courses offered by the Saint Augustine Institute of Catholic studies.

What are you waiting for?