Start By Saying "No"
Volume XXV, Number 22 – December 14, 2021
Friends in Christ,
After sharing a few ways to help, I have a beautiful prayer, a Catholic quote for the ages, plus my outlandish insider's view on running this joint (Hint: I was a coward as a boy).
To mail your donation, please send it to:
The Mary Foundation
PO Box 26101
Fairview Park, OH 44126
Make checks payable to The Mary Foundation.
(If you live in the UK, Canada, Asia, Europe, or Australia, we need you! Please donate online and don't be shy.)
Start By Saying "No"
I have a crazy suggestion. Ask yourself, "Should I help keep the Mary Foundation open for another year?"
Please pray one slow Hail Mary, and then, take the answer "No" out for a test drive.
How does that "No" sit inside your heart?
My longtime readers know I'm always telling you how "You guys are the best!" and that Our Lady herself personally sent you to us. Three decades of getting to know so many of you personally has proved this to me, so I trust your judgment more than I trust my own.
So it really is better if you decide if Our Heavenly Father wants us to keep going. All of us together possess what theologians call the sensus fidelium, or Sense of the Faithful, defined as "the capacity of the whole body of believers to recognize the truth."
So start with No to test the truth. Should you help keep the Mary Foundation alive? Say, "No way. Not me." Then click delete or click donate. Either way, I trust you, and here's why...
I'm at Peace with Your NoThis is not some kind of reverse psychology. I've been serene about shutting down this apostolate at Our Lady's discretion for decades. Every year, Mary gets a veto through your Yes or No.
I have lived with this spiritual jiu jitsu since 1991, when Our Lady showed me an image along with an infusion of the principles to run this little project of hers. It's an amazing story, and it begins with my parents taking a $19 flight to see Niagara Falls forty years ago.
I actually closed the Mary Foundation's doors for a couple months in the early 1990s when the money dried up. I waited. Then, money came in. I believe Jesus was testing my willingness to obey Mary's principles.
Close friends and even other Catholic leaders have asked me some version of the following question (you guys are too polite to ask): "Hey Bud, how come you give the impression every year that your apostolate is on the edge of financial collapse?"
In other words, "What kind of circus are you running, anyway?"
You are the Safety NetAnd I usually answer, "Well, first of all, we are on a financial precipice, usually with just enough money to order inventory, pay the utilities, wages, and shipping costs. That's how Mary showed me how to run it. I'm just a worker bee."
"Besides, our benefactors are the net." (But only if my emails get through, ha!)
That's How Uncle Max Did ItAnd sometimes I reply along these lines, "I love God's tightrope! That financial cliff motivates us to be one of the most innovative Catholic evangelical organizations ever. We're creative. We waste nothing. We spend everything. We are extremely passionate about combining technology and the one true holy Catholic faith while treating everyone with personal dignity, just like our patron father, Saint Maximilian Kolbe."
"Innovation, kindness, and extreme efficiency is how we reach millions for a tiny fraction of the cost. We have to trust in God. We have to trust in our benefactors' love for souls, which is humbling. They do all the work and we get to witness miracles and conversions!"
After All, It's Named After MaryAs just one example, our recording is featured in the #1 Rosary YouTube video in the world with over 11,000,000 views, because a faithful little woman in the Philippines posted it. That cost absolutely zero dollars. We believe Jesus when He said, "Give freely what has been given to you." Nobody owns the Rosary.
Together we've distributed more Rosary recordings than any apostolate in human history, which has led to tens of millions of Rosaries being offered to heaven. That is just what you would expect from an organization designed by the Mother of God and named the Mary Foundation!
And I could go with more examples for hours. It all just works, which blows my mind, and that is why every morning I practically sprint to our low-rent, innocuous, perfectly organized, wired up, and otherwise dilapidated shipping center just west of little ole' Cleveland, Ohio!
Obviously, we are one of the hardiest little Catholic organizations in the world, reaching tens of millions in virtual anonymity. We don't waste money on advertising. We never, ever compromise on infallible Catholic teaching. We copy the best, and the best is Saint Maximilian Kolbe, the ultimate Marian apostle of modern times.
From our very first day, we designed and continually improve our world-class computer, engineering, training, and production systems and feature an inspired, unique array of life-changing materials. People generally find out about us when another real person gives them our free materials or through our amazing search engine placement.
Action Over ArgumentsNo other apostolate says what we say, to so many, so well. While being blunt about the big picture, we generally avoid the insider-Catholic "arguments of the day," while accepting the state of the Church, our bishops, and godless world as they are, while passionately focusing on making it easier and ridiculously inexpensive for our benefactors to reach our fallen-away family and friends.
In all of our communications, we tell the truth, directly and simply. Against the dehumanizing trend of modern companies, we use technology to treat people as individuals, that is, with more respect and more personal kindness.
Action to Change HistoryWhen our perilous times call for action, led by the Holy Spirit, we act, including through prayer movements like our Mantle of Mary Project, led by Father John Anthony Boughton, Vicar General of the CFRs. We started it with no fanfare or publicity.
All we do is "go second," following Our Lady. We pray and fast. We invite good Catholics to pray and fast with us. This is how God changes history; this is the teaching of Sacred Tradition and the saints.
We are not afraid to engage in spiritual warfare. It's where the souls are!
Friendship is FreeWe are innovative, and that means not being committed to any particular medium—just look at our new Colebrook Society initiative to reach young adult Catholics all over America.
Our bishops do not even understand how to do this, but almost all of them will be grateful for it when we show up in a diocese, if our pilot program in Cleveland is any measure. All our extra money will be invested in this next generation of young Catholics!
If you send us the resources to hire just a handful of young workers, we'll have a "start up" presence in over one hundred large and small cities by the end of 2023.
For these young Catholic adults, the harvest is great but the workers are few. We're ready to reach out to tens of thousands in the next generation who need real ways to practice traditional piety, find true Catholic life-long friends, find a faithful spouse, start having babies, and then, evangelize their fallen-away and lukewarm friends and relatives.
How Bud Spends His TimeWe have always embraced our low profile. We might as well be set up in a manger. Most directors of non-profits spend up to half their time raising money. Me? I can count the days on one hand: I write a few emails and letters. In fact, I have never asked anyone for money in person in over thirty years because Our Lady made it clear that was off-limits.
I spend almost all my time writing, praying, training my wonderful coworkers, setting up systems, producing new materials, goofing around, and being the first one "through the door" in the spiritual warfare. For me, that's efficient; that's because Our Lady set it up that way.
The Braveheart LessonAnd I read and think. I need to do a lot of thinking because I'm kind of dense. I'll think through the same problem for years and sometimes decades.
I'm reminded of the scene in the movie Braveheart where we see William Wallace as a little boy, all serious and brandishing a sword. He wants to go off with his uncle to avenge his father's death. His wise uncle takes the sword, saying, "First, learn to use this," tapping William's forehead. "Then I'll teach you to use this," holding up the sword.
After he grows up, William Wallace spends the rest of his life outsmarting his enemies. I Was a CowardBud is my family nickname, which means friendly. My full Christian baptismal name is William Noble Macfarlane II. William means "resolute protector," "strong-willed warrior," or simply, "conquerer." My forebears on my father's side are from Scotland. I'm bemused that my tiny Macfarlane highlander clan was so reckless, warlike, criminal, and wild that the bigger surrounding clans outlawed them for long stretches (which probably explains why there are so few of us).
Knowing nothing but kindness in my family before grammar school, I was a coward as a child, confused and disoriented by the cruelty of bullies. I do not like conflict one bit. Naturally quiet and quite introverted, I became very observant, which ultimately helped me become a fiction writer, because I see and hear things others don't notice. It drives me nuts when I see the vulnerable abused.
Yet I had to learn how to fight. Playing every sport under the sun gave me a taste for battle. Eventually, I became reckless, which burned me many times as a young man. Living with the aftermath cured me. Nowadays, I try to use that high tolerance for risk while guiding this apostolate.
My HeroesAt Notre Dame, God introduced me to Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas--effectively, to what I termed the "Mind of the Church." This was like being released from my prison of ignorance. Hopefully, the infallible teachings of the Church and the example of the saints undergird every prudential decision I make.
In college, Immaculate Mary also showed me the only Good worth fighting for: the salvation of souls. I've been pondering how to bring as many souls to the Holy Trinity as possible for over forty years, William Wallace style, "With this," (pointing to my noggin').
Because I was a lazy-assed not-very-holy person, it became obvious to me that I would not convince many souls to turn the Father, go to Confession, receive Holy Communion, and so on.
This is especially true in our era of deep corruption among certain human elements within our beloved Holy Catholic Church. This decay was already clear to me and my little group of fellow Catholic resistance fighters in the 1980s.
Given all this, the only way to convert millions of souls was to use my limited time on this mortal coil to help many, many other people influence those millions. This is how Saint Maximilian Kolbe did it, so I copied his methods, beginning with total consecration to Immaculate Mary.
The Next Catherine of SienaTherefore, I do not need to convert the world. Jesus has begun that and will do that. I just have to act, and play my little part in becoming one human cause for grace to enter into another person's life. That person, in turn, brings the Holy Spirit to others. Eventually, somebody has a baby who becomes the next Catherine of Siena (or Patrick of Ireland), and literally hundreds of millions of souls will be affected until Jesus returns.
The Catherines and Patricks are coming, but only if we act now. That's cool. That is the lesson of salvation history. Why doesn't everybody see this? I don't know. But you do, don't you?
Don't get me wrong: with all this talk about millions, I truly care about each soul. Jesus loves individuals. If you think about it, nobody can really love "a group" of people.
Endless Spiritual WarfareWhen I was a little boy, I did not have any weapons. Now, after decades of the endless spiritual warfare and certain crosses this little project of Mary requires of me, I have learned to set aside the fears of that cowardly little boy (which never leave me), and enter the battle with a certain warrior's delight if it means more souls will receive the grace to choose heaven.
We have all the weapons we need. The Holy Rosary. The Eucharist. The Holy Spirit. The Guardian Angel of the United States. The Power of an All-Powerful God. The blood of the North American martyrs. Self-denial. The grace to know God's will for us each day. Zeal for souls. And a contrite, willing spirit.
Just yesterday we got a letter from a 54-year-old drug addict prisoner in Florida. He is considering becoming a Catholic because one of you gave him one of my novels. "Is there any hope for me?" he asked me in despair, not really expecting the author to write back to him.
I did write back. I yearn for this man's soul. I told him I would fast and pray for him, and we put him in touch with his local Catholic pastor. More free books are on the way to him this very day!
His name is Thomas Smith, which happens to be the name of the lead character in my next novel, which hit me hard. I sense things will be touch and go for Thomas. Please pray for him and the tens of thousands of prisoners who have received our materials over the years.
Then there is Sonja in Michigan, who just sent me this:
I wanted to tell you why I donate from time to time. Your books helped when I was a new Catholic. You give things away for free. You pray for me. You apologized during the election year. You live like a prophet or an apostle. You're the real deal. I feel happy when ...you reply to my emails. I hope tons of people sent in money to keep CatholiCity thriving.So you know the secret. It feels good to support this apostolate. Why?
Money? Pffffttt! Only God can take something as dull as dollars and turn it into something which gives a soul the opportunity to ask for grace, like Thomas Smith.
We did not reach tens of millions here because we're perfect Catholics. We're effective because we're lousy Catholics, yet willing to charge into the greatest Spiritual War in human history instead of cowering on the sidelines.
We're effective because our hearts are breaking for our fallen-away and lukewarm friends and relatives.
Yet in the parable of the talents, Jesus makes the sweetest promise. "Well done, good and faithful servant... enter into the joy of your Lord."
Our Lady wants you to "enter into the joy of the Lord."
That's why it feels good to support the Mary Foundation. It is a serenity only God can give.
Thank you for reading my words today. Up next is the promised Catholic quote that always goes right to my heart:
"Zeal for the salvation of souls is so great a merit before God that to give up all our goods to the poor or to spend our whole life in the exercises of all sorts of austerities cannot equal the merit of it. There is no service more agreeable to God than this one. To employ life in this blessed labor is more pleasing to the Divine Majesty than to suffer martyrdom."
-Saint John Chrysostom
Here is a "bonus quote" from Our Lord:
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be."
-Jesus the Messiah
Please join me in a prayer based upon my favorite lines from the love song to the Eucharist written by Saint Thomas Aquinas, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit...
O Precious Blood of Christ, Humbly let us bow before Thee, For so great a sacrament! What our senses fail to fathom, Let us grasp by faith's consent. Amen.
I'll meet you in the Eucharist, my friends.
With Mary,
William "Bud" Macfarlane
Founder
