Living and Dying for the Truth

Last month, I traveled to the UK with a couple of priest friends, Fr Daniel Rayer and Fr. Harlan Waskowiak. The primary reason for the trip was to visit the shrines and places where the English Martyrs died for Jesus Christ and His Universal Church during the 16th and 17th centuries and to see the National Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. Secondly, it was an opportunity to relax while on ‘holiday’ as the Brits say.

I am grateful to our hosts, Dr. Dermot Kearny and his wife Mary. Their hospitality was the best. They taught me how to properly make a pot of tea. I will be forever grateful for their love and kindness. Oh, the homemade bread!

In York, we had the privilege of visiting and offering a Mass at the Shrine of St. Margaret Clitherow. She was a convert to the Catholic faith and was arrested and imprisoned numerous times for refusing to attend the Church of England Sunday services. She was finally pressed to death for harboring Catholic priests. It was believed that she was pregnant at the time. She truly loved God more than all else. Her daughter became a nun and her son went abroad and entered the seminary.

We also were able to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass twice in the Crypt Chapel of the Tyburn Martyrs in London where just blocks away 105 individuals, including Edmund Campion and Oliver Plunkett, gave their lives for the Catholic faith. On the wall of the chapel are found many relics of these illustrious saints.

In addition, we were able to visit the Tower of London Castle, where many were tortured and some put to death. Outside the wall there is a small memorial marking the spot called Tower Hill where most of them gave their lives for Jesus.

In the year 1061, a woman named Richeldis de Faverches received a series of visions in which she was inspired to build a replica of the humble house of the Virgin Mary, where the Annunciation occurred. This became the National Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. It was to be a place of pilgrimage. After its construction, all the kings of England visited this shrine until and including King Henry VIII. It was unfortunately destroyed in the Protestant Revolt. Centuries later, it was restored. We were able to offer Mass in the Slipper Chapel near the Basilica.

While in London, we had dinner with Dr. Kearny, the immediate past president of the CMA UK and the current president, Dr. Michael Delaney. Dr. Kearney has fought the good fight and won in the battle of keeping the abortion pill reversal available. They are doing wonderful things, including holding a one-day version of the Boot Camp for medical students and young physicians.

They too have many challenges. I had the good fortune to also meet a young doctor who has a warning on the medical license for mentioning the pro-life option to a pregnant woman contemplating having an abortion. I told this courageous physician, this will be a badge of honor in eternal life.

Yes, the English Martyrs paid a heavy price. Their intercessory prayers for persecuted Catholic health care professionals are and will continue to be invaluable. Our Lady of Walsingham and the Martyrs of England, pray for CMA members and their families!

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