Mr. Patrick Odou,

My name is S.B. I’m an artist living in New York. I’ve been reading your articles on Eric Gill with interest (here, here and here). They raised questions that for me are fundamental in dealing with art.

I’ve been using Eric Gill’s famous beautiful fonts for years, but without knowing his twisted personal life. I’m not sure if I would have used them if I would have known.

But then again, a lot of artists have been personas who one cannot say followed the idea of good. Carravagio Fex is believed to be both a murderer and a pedophile, while also giving us some of the most haunting biblical images ever known.

My question to you is, can art be good although it’s made by a clearly abusive person?

What is your personal motivation for making the history of Eric Gill known?
Is Distributism still supported by the Catholic Church as an economical system?

Are Eric Gill’s diaries available to the public?

Do you think they should be?

     Best regards

     S.B.



Mr. Odou responds:

S.B.,

Thank you for your interest in my articles.

I believe an artist filled with vices like Eric Gill may have some artistic points that could be categorized as indifferent or even good. I believe a Catholic might use them as long as he is sure that none of the moral defects of Gill are present.

My personal motivation in exposing Eric Gill is to prevent many traditionalists from following a man whose teachings and lifestyle are so gravely opposed to the Church. Until TIA posted my articles, he was being praised by some traditionalist movements as a founder of Distributism, a model and a precursor of the society of the future, which supposedly Catholics should approve. Much of this praise was based on the imaginary success of a Distributist experiment in a small English village called Ditchling.

I hope that my articles shattered these myths. The man is not at all a model for Catholics, and his experiment at Ditchling was above all a socialist experiment, which incidentally did not succeed.

To my knowledge, the Catholic Church as such has never supported Distributism. I am aware of some Catholics who do support Distributism, including some sectors of Catholic Traditionalism in the U.S.. I believe they are completely mistaken.

The diaries of Eric Gill are available at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), which is an institution opened to the public.

I hope these answers will resolve your doubts,

     Cordially,

     Patrick Odou

TIA,

I recently came across this article wherein it is claimed that when Vatican authorities, led by Cardinal Oddi, attempted to exhume the body of Padre Pio in preparation for his canonization, they found that the saint's body was missing from the tomb.

"When the coffin in which his body had been laid to rest after lying in state in the church sanctuary, was opened in the presence of witnesses, it was found to be completely empty, except for three notable items. These items were: his robe, his white cincture and his Franciscan sandals. There was no dust, nor residue of deteriorated remains. Nothing. Only the above mentioned items."

Are you aware of any investigations into these claims? Do you have any knowledge regarding this story?

     Thanks for all your good works.

     T.R.



TIA responds:

T.R.,

No, we are not following investigations regarding these claims and we are not aware if they exist.

Unfortunately, at this moment we do not have the time it would demand to go through the pros and cons about events referring to Padre Pio’s life, death and post- death.

We will ask a good friend and scholar, who is well versed on the topic, to examine the question when he has the opportunity to do so.

     Cordially,

     TIA correspondence desk

TIA,

I heard about Angel's Veil years ago. If I remember correctly, some babies are born with a membrane covering their face which was called an angel veil & had to be removed immediately for the child to breathe.

     T.W.

Dear TIA,

I am sure I must speak for many of your readers, when I say I am indebted to your contributor I.G.R. for the links to The Whole Truth About Fatima. This is a quite extraordinary and beautiful book, giving such detail, much of which is new to me. The wonderful history of Catholic Portugal, the lives of the seers of Fatima, the interventions of Our Lady of Fatima to protect many countries from the scourge of Communism, the martyrdom of so many souls under the evil regimes and, sadly, the collusion of the post conciliar Church with the communist tyrants. …

The 1950s was a time of many dangers for Europe and it was the firm and resolute actions of great leaders such as these, supported by the fervent prayers of a Catholic faithful increasing in devotion to Our Lady of Fatima, which preserved our freedom and our glorious Catholic Faith.

There is so much one could write about this book, but I will simply make one further observation. It is clear that the seers of Fatima were raised in families where prayer and discipline, duty and obedience were the order of the day. The importance of Family Rosary, assistance at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the necessity to learn one's Catechism, devotion to duty, an awareness of the punishments which await unrepentant sinners: this was the truly Catholic environment in which these children were raised. Rebelliousness and laziness were punished with the rod and parental severity was employed at times. These methods produced children worthy of a visit from Our Blessed Mother and worthy to spread her message, although this involved suffering for them all. Nothing has changed in this regard and Catholic parents would do well to copy these methods of parenting.

Once again, my heartfelt thanks to I.G.R for bringing this book to our attention. May God Bless you and may Our Lady of Fatima shower you with graces for increasing devotion to her and enriching our lives.

     Yours faithfully

     C.P., Ireland

Hello,

This link is a Collective Salvation article. I wrote it and placed it on Wikipedia, and then the attacks began. I tried really hard to be accurate and avoided the right wing attacks to be as accurate as possible.

Constructive comments are appreciated.

     John R. Carpenter

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