Fr. Edward Looney: Secrets to Family Holiness from the Ratzinger Family

Experts Map Out US Bishops’ ‘Social Networks’ That Helped Cover-Up Ex-Cardinal McCarrick’s Sex Abuse
July 20, 2020
Black Lives Matter: What’s a Parent to Do? by Janet E. Smith
July 20, 2020

By Fr. Edward Looney, Catholic Exchange, July 17, 2020

Fr. Edward Looney was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Green Bay in June 2015, and is an internationally recognized Marian theologian, writer, speaker, and radio personality. …

Fr. Edward LooneyHoly families produce vocations and saints. Take the example of Sts. Louis and Zellie Martin. Five girls entered the religious life. One of them became a saint—St. Therese of Lisieux. There are countless stories of families where two or three siblings take up a vocation in the Church. This past week Bishop Parkes congratulated his brother Fr. Parkes on his appointment as the bishop of Savannah, Georgia. And just a few weeks ago, we saw the reunion of Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger) with his ailing brother, Georg Ratzinger, days before his death. Another family that produced a pope and a monsignor. What is the secret?  Family prayer.

With the news of Georg Ratzinger’s passing, I decided it was time to pull a book off my shelf and give it a read, Ignatius Press’s My Brother, The Pope, an interview type book which recounts the memories and experiences of Pope Benedict’s brother. Chapter two of the book recounts Georg’s memories of family life and prayer. Perhaps today, we all can look at this family, and see how their practices might inspire family prayer once again and with that hopefully the grace of vocations in the Church. Let’s discover the secrets to family holiness through the memory of Pope Benedict’s brother, Georg Ratzinger. ….