My trip to the RBTE

Go on over to my "Daily Donna-Marie" blog to "hear" about my recent trip to the RBTE!

Review: "Catholic Saints Prayer Book"

Catholic Saints Prayer Book. Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle. Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor, 2008. 80 pp.



“[W]e hope not just to make it to heaven one day, but rather to bring countless souls with us because of our life and how we have loved,” says Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle in her new book, Catholic Saints Prayer Book. And there is no better way to do just that than by learning from those that did it best – the saints.



This handy compilation is packed with far more than its compact design would suggest. I was pleased with how much quality information it contained about the lives of over 30 of the Catholic Church’s great saints.



For each saint featured in the book, Donna-Marie provides a glimpse of the wisdom of each of these historic individuals along with a brief synopsis of their life. It even contains an insightfully crafted intercessory prayer for each saint.



If you are looking to learn more about these heroic examples of our faith, this book is for you. It’s to the point, packed with facts, and inspiring at every page turn - making it great for all ages. It’s useful whether reading it all at once, or even just a few pages at a time. It makes a great reference book, too.



The author proclaims, as the Church does, that “we should indeed seek out the saints, who will surely help lead us to God, assisting us all along the way.” This book is a great place to let your seeking begin.



Matt Warner

Owner/Operator of Catholic Outpost

www.CatholicOutpost.com

***

Thank you very much Matt!

Interview with Teresa Tomeo about my new book!

Check here for my interview with Teresa Tomeo about my Catholic Saints Prayer Book . You can listen right from your computer!

Okay, running to Chicago now and then down to EWTN!!

Thank you for your prayers!

God bless and hugs,

Donna-Marie

RBTE and EWTN in one week!

Dear Friends,

I will be leaving for Chicago tomorrow (Tuesday) morning to go to the RBTE, Religious Booksellers Trade Exhibit to do a book signing of my newest book, Catholic Saints Prayer Book and then I will be going to Birmingham, Alabama later in the week to tape some episodes on EWTN. I'll let you know when they will be aired as soon as I know.

I most-likely will not be able to post messages for a few days. If it is possible, I will. I would appreciate prayers for safety if you would be so kind. Thank you in advance for the prayers! I will keep you all in mine.

God bless you!

Donna-Marie

Crossroad's Magazine Television profile of me

You can now view (from your computer) the profile of me regarding the Vatican congress that I attended recently in Rome for women and about my books by ORTV's Crossroad's Magazine Television show. Just click here to see it Crossroad's Magazine Television show. Then scroll dpwn a little and click on May 10th which is the day the show aired, the Saturday before Mother's day! I hope you enjoy the show. I am in the second segment.

God bless!

Donna-Marie

Book Review from the Irish Family Press (out of Ireland)

Catholic Saints Prayer Book

By Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle

Review by Gary Brady

When my family and I visit the various heritage centres around Ireland there is invariably some kind of book outlet at the site. This excellent little hardback book by Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle looks exactly like the books one finds in such outlets. However, whilst the sort of books one usually discovers in such shops paint St Patrick as some kind of New Age superhero and St Bridget as Ireland’s first Catholic feminist, this book gives an orthodox view of Saints from which we can all learn.

Mrs O’Boyle is the author of three other books and writes for numerous websites and newspapers usually concentrating on the sanctification of the home and the family - including the Irish Family Press. She has received awards from both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.

Each chapter is indeed a ‘flash’ account of the lives of each Saint, detailing thirty two Saints in just eighty pages, which also include a prayer to each particular one, their feast day and a famous quote. However, there is enough information to ignite an interest for any reader who may wish to learn more.

The book is a nice mix of the various Saints such as Peregrine, Thomas More, Patrick, Maximilian Kolbe etc and it was nice to see St John Neumann, the first American Bishop to be canonised, included. His love for the Irish people is little mentioned these days, yet the fact that he learned the Irish language himself in order to minister to Irish emigrants says everything.

‘Let us invoke the Saints often, asking for their holy assistance, even praying along with them, striving to imitate their virtues while praying to become saints ourselves. In doing so, we hope not just to make it to heaven one day, but rather to bring countless souls with us because of our life and how we have loved.’

(From the introduction to Catholic Saints Prayer Book)

Available from all good Catholic Bookshops

Pease pray for this family

Updated on THURSDAY

UPDATED AGAIN
NEW MILFORD -- Sorrow and shock about the violent murder of a Northeastern University student found in her off-campus apartment Tuesday morning swept from her Boston campus to her hometown Wednesday.

Rebecca Payne, a 22-year-old athletic training major and campus leader, was a 2004 New Milford High graduate and yearbook editor.

On hearing the news, NMHS social studies teacher Brock Putnam described her as "a shaft of sunlight penetrating the gloom of the darkest day."

"She was a wonderful, bright, vivacious girl -- an outstanding student," said John Lee, high school vice principal. "This is a real tragedy. Everyone who has heard has been really saddened by the news."

Her parents, Nicholas and Virginia Payne of New MIlford, released a public statement through the Boston police late Wednesday afternoon.

"We would like to remember Rebecca as someone always smiling, never worrying about things not worth worrying about," the couple said of their only child, a senior in the university's Bouvé College of Health and Sciences... (SEE NEWS TIMES STORY HERE)

MORE HERE

A volley of gunshots left a 22-year-old college student dead in her Boston apartment early Tuesday.
A black van was seen driving away about the same time.

But as of late Wednesday, Boston police weren't sure, or weren't saying, whether the vehicle one witness saw leaving the quiet residential neighborhood where Rebecca Payne, of New Milford, had lived since August was connected to the death of the Northeastern University senior.

"We can't say whether it's related, but it's a piece of information, and every piece helps," police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said.

Payne, described by one neighbor as "a really sweet young lady," was found dead in her two-bedroom apartment shortly before 7 a.m. Tuesday, hours after several other residents in the 40-unit complex remember hearing gunshots.

None, however, called 911, police said.... (Continued here)



Updated on THURSDAY BY MATT O'ROURKE REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
A 22-year-old New Milford woman was found shot dead Tuesday in her Boston apartment.

Rebecca Payne, a Northeastern University student, was discovered lying on the floor in her off-campus apartment shortly before 7 a.m. A building manager called 911 after finding her apartment door slightly ajar and noticing blood inside, a law enforcement source said.

Although police had not released the woman's identity, Nicholas Payne, Rebecca's father, confirmed in an interview with The Boston Globe on Tuesday that the body was his daughter's.

He could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Rebecca Payne was shot twice in the legs and once in the chest, according to police.

"A tragedy like this, suddenly and without explanation, that takes the life of one of our brightest young lights brings us unfathomable grief," said Joseph E. Aoun, president of Northeastern University, in a statement posted on the university's Web site Wednesday morning... continued here with this news story.

UPDATED NOW WITH THIS NEWS STORY FROM THE BOSTON GLOBE

ORIGINAL BLOG POST IS HERE. UPDATES WERE ADDED ABOVE AS THEY CAME IN


Please dear friends, pray for parents I know who just lost their only child - a beautiful, talented, God-loving twenty two year old daughter. We just heard that she was murdered last night in Boston near where she went to college. She was staying in an off campus dorm temporarily for a week or so to do a part time job and someone got into the dorm and shot her three times. I can't even explain the devastation here. She was my daughter's dear friend.

Thank you for your prayers for her parents and friends and for her soul.

God bless,
Donna-Marie

Good Saint Anthony!

You know that poor St. Anthony is constantly invoked for finding lost items. Actually, I really don't think he minds all of our requests. I call upon him myself quite often. I'll share a little experience we just had yesterday - it's entirely up to you whether you believe it or not. I'm just sharing. This is the kind of thing I usually would keep to myself, however I feel it may help to inspire someone so I will tell you.

My son, Joseph was looking for his car keys. He was absolutely "positive" that he had put them in the same place that he usually puts them whenever he walks in the door. Of course, he also thought that maybe I had moved them while I was tidying up. I assured him that I had not moved them, however I'd be very happy to help him find them. And at that particular time, it was essential that Joseph leave soon or he would be late for a very important appointment.

"Okay, Joseph, say a prayer to Saint Anthony," I said and then I started looking around the general area for the keys and Joseph started looking too.

"Saint Anthony! Saint Anthony!" I called out loud (actually pretty loud), "Could you please help us find Joseph's car keys?"

I distinctly and immediately heard in my head, "They are in the pocket of his jacket."

For a second, I thought, "What jacket and where?"

Immediately, I walked to the closet and said, "Oh! Okay" because I knew exactly what I was to do. I then said to Jesus, "Wow, this would be so great if they are really here."

I opened the door of the closet and put my hand into the pocket of a sweatshirt type jacket that was hanging there amongst the fifteen or more other various jackets in the family closet in our foyer. I grabbed the keys right out of the pocket and yelled to Joseph!

"Joseph! I found them! St. Anthony answered our prayers!"

Blessed Mother Teresa

"For me, life is the most beautiful gift of God to mankind, therefore people and nations who destroy life by abortion and euthanasia are the poorest. I do not say legal or illegal, but I think that no human hand should be raised to kill life, since life is God's life in us, even in an unborn child. "

(excerpt from The Joy in Loving Mother Teresa Compiled by Jaya Chalika and Edward Le Joly)

The attraction to Padre Pio's remains

May 8, 2008 / 01:37 am (CNA).- An Italian business magazine is claiming that the shrine dedicated to St. Padre Pio has become a bigger attraction than Lourdes, now that the saint’s body has been put on display.

ANSA reports that Economy magazine says the number of annual visitors to the southern town of San Giovanni Rotondo will increase to nine million. The projected total will make the town the world’s second most popular destination for religious tourists, behind only the Vatican.

Pilgrims to the shrine at Lourdes usually number eight million per year.

Economy magazine calculates that Padre Pio’s shrine will bring $185 million in revenue from sales of souvenirs, two periodicals, a satellite TV station, and pilgrims’ offerings to the otherwise impoverished region.

Padre Pio, a Capuchin friar, was credited by his fellow friars with more than 1,000 miraculous cures and interventions. In 1910 St. Pio began to bear the stigmata, the wounds that Jesus received from his crucifixion. Church authorities were skeptical of the reputed miracle worker until his death in 1968. He was canonized in 2002 by Pope John Paul II.

The saint’s body was exhumed by Capuchin friars in March and was considered to be in surprisingly good condition. The body, whose face is now covered by a lifelike silicon mask, was to be displayed for just a few months.

However, due to demands from millions of devotees, the body will be on display until September 2009. It will then be returned to the crypt of the Santa Maria delle Grazie church in San Giovanni Rotondo, next to the friary where Padre Pio lived for most of his life.

I will be on ORTV this Saturday, May 10th on "Crossroad's Magazine" TV show

I just heard from ORTV, the Office of Radio & Television of the Archdiocese of Hartford, CT and was told, that the televsion show that they profiled me on will air on Mothers' Day week end! It will recount some of my recent Vatican experience, talk about women and their mission and vocation and also about my books and vocation as a mother.

They said it will be "On Saturday May 10th. It will air on WTXX-CW20 at 10:30 am, and then again at 10:30 pm on channel WCTX My-TV 9."

I inquired of the reporter as to which channel to watch it on and she said, "Every cable company is different. Most likely it will be on channel 9, but I would check your local listing. And regarding channel 20, again that is different everywhere, where I live its channel 7. But rest assured, these channels are available on every cable company in the state. If you’ve ever seen the TV Mass, that is channel 20."

So, for everyone who can view this who lives in Connecticut, there is your information. For those of you in another location, I will link the episode to my website and blogs when it becomes available to do so.

Review from Sarah at "Just Another Day of Catholic Pondering"

Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle’s latest book is proof that the lives of the saints are anything but boring.

The book fits in the side pocket of my going-somewhere-without-the-diaper-bag purse. I tuck it in my diaper bag or in my coat pocket. Sometimes I stow it with my prayer books, in a nook above my microwave.

But it’s not just the handy size that makes this book the perfect gift for just about anyone, and I am even thinking about giving it to a few young non-Catholics in my life - who doesn’t love a hero?

That’s what this book is about. It’s about heroes. It’s about the saints of yesterday (and some of the yesterdays aren’t so long ago!) who lived their faith.

What you’ll find in Catholic Saints Prayer Book: Moments of Inspiration from Your Favorite Saints is not a tome of dusty stories (though those have their place). You’ll find just enough information about each of the 32 saints to whet your appetite and feed your prayer life. Using Donna’s format, you get catechesis AND prayer.

This isn’t a book with exhaustive facts about every saint. Instead, it’s a collection of snapshots to encourage you as you trundle along from one daily task to another.

It’s also worth checking out Donna’s new book-inspired blog, Moments of Inspiration with Your Favorite Saints.

UPDATED TO ADD:
Donna just alerted me that she will be on the air with Teresa Tomeo on Monday, May 12th at 9:15 AM Eastern Standard Time to talk about this book. Listen live!

UPDATED AGAIN:
Donna sent me a link to her post about the show. So, if you're interested in hearing about it straight from her, go check out what she has to say and plan to listen!

***

Thanks so much, dear Sarah!

Check out Sarah's beautiful blog here. Be sure to check out her baby pics!

St. Padre Pio

People waiting to go inside the Church to see the remains of Saint Padre Pio who was a sought after soul in life and in now in death.

Saint Padre Pio is displayed in the Madonna delle Grazie Church in San Giovanni Rotondo, Foggia province, in southern Italy (this photo taken on 24 April 2008). Tens of thousands of pilgrims pilgramaged to San Giovanni on April 24th to witness the first public display of Saint Padre Pio's exhumed remains. Saint Padre Pio who died 40 years ago spent most of his days in the Confessional, hearing confessions from pilgrims traveling from all parts of the world to seek his counsel. One of his gifts was to be able to read hearts. He is also famous for his stigmata. Saint Padre Pio continues to be widely venerated by many Catholics worldwide.

(A special thanks to Mary Catherine in Kansas for pointing me to the photos)

St Padre Pio Exhumed

Vatican confirms a Hawaiian woman's cure from cancer is linked to Blessed Father Damien

Honolulu, May 1, 2008 / 08:02 pm (CNA).- The Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints has ruled that a Hawaiian woman’s cure from cancer was a miracle linked to her prayers to Blessed Father Damien De Veuster. The missionary priest, who was renowned for working with leprosy patients, is now one step closer to being declared a saint.

Audrey Toguchi, a 79-year-old retired schoolteacher who lives in Aiea, became ill in 1997 with a lump on her left thigh that was discovered to be cancerous. She asked her sisters to accompany her to Kalaupapa to pray at Father Damien’s grave.

“I prayed that he would ask God to heal me,” Toguchi told the Honolulu Star Bulletin.

After surgery in January 1998, Dr. Walter Chang told her that her rare form of cancer, liposarcoma, had spread to both lungs.

"He said, 'I cannot do anything for you. No surgery is possible.'," she said.

"I went back to Kalaupapa,” Toguchi continued. “I went to Mass and received Communion and then I went to Damien's grave. I said, 'Please, ask God to cure this cancer.'

"Doctor Chang took pictures of my lungs and every month, it was less and less until after four months, the cancer was gone. He was flabbergasted."

According to the Star Bulletin, Toguchi told no one besides her family about her cure. Instead, she wrote to Pope John Paul II... (Continued here)

New review of my "Catholic Saints Prayer Book"

I just found this over at Amazon.Com

Inspiring!
By Patrice Fagnant "www.spiritualwoman.net" (Springfield, MA)


The "Catholic Saints Prayer Book" is a wonderful little book, perfect for carrying in your purse or briefcase so that you can pull it out whenever you need some heavenly intervention. Cooper O'Boyle profiles 32 well-known saints and includes a prayer to each one. There is a remarkable amount of information packed into this book's 80 pages. It is like having a collection of holy cards that you can easily carry with you.

In the introduction, Cooper O'Boyle writes:

"Ultimately, we should see the saints as models of sanctity for us to imitate, as well as tremendous intercessors, helping us when we invoke them. . . Let us invoke the saints often, asking for their holy assistance, even praying along with them, striving to imitate their virtues while praying to become saints ourselves. In doing so, we hope not just to make it to heaven one day, but rather to bring countless souls with us because of our life and how we have loved."

"The Catholic Saints Prayer Book" can certainly help us on our journey to holiness.

***

Thank you, Patrice! :)