May 28 Bl Thomas Ford, John Shert, Robert Johnson d. 1582 beat 1886

Thommy and John

good morning
i love you

Memorial Day 2007
and we also have three martyrs of the Reformation, killed for their priesthood....
you, too, are priests forever in your baptism.....
you may avoid, even deny your priesthood, your Catholicism [lilke Peter's three time?]
another reason why we memorialize our fallen soldiers and our martyrs -
who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their faith, for their loyalty, to God-Family-Country....

John Shert, converted to Catholicism at Oxford [even at Oxford, so too maybe a reconversion at Greensboro College?].... he went to Douai to study for the priesthood [yes, you're likely to have to leave the home at 2502, the isle at GC, to find the education and incubator for your faith, to best fulfill your vocation, whatever that calling is - to learn to better discern, to leverage the grace to do God's will....].... John Shert was ordained in 1576 and returned to the English Mission [well, maybe you can go home again.... be converted, discern your vocation, and bring that renewed faith back to 2502, to gds, to gc].... and in 1582 he was arrested, tortured, and martyred because, just because, he was a priest [so you too beware, being a Catholic in the midst of antiCatholicism, even in your home places, risks similar tho hopefully only metaphorical arrest, torture, and martyrdom]


Thomas Ford, converted to Catholicism at Oxford. [he was a fellow, maybe even president of Trinity College, Oxford].... in 1570 he left to study for the priesthood at Douai, where he was ordained in 1573.... Thomas Ford returned to Oxfordshire and Berkshire in 1576 and labored in the mission field until his arrest six years later.... He was brought to Tyburn where he ws hung, drawn, and quartered.... Thomas Ford was a companion of, and was arrested with, st Edmund Campion on July 17, 1781. [yes it does matter with whom we hang out... we draw from our companions their strengths for good (as well as evil).... the charges against Thomas Ford were conspiracy at Rheims and Rome - on dates he was in England. the charges were irrelevant, of course. the faith is what frightened the english enough to put priests to death simply because they dared to be priests.... do you dare? i hope so - a priest from your baptism and confrimation; priestly in your vocation....


Robert Johnson also was an Englishman at Douai to study for the priesthood. He spent his first four years as a priest on the continent before returning for the English mission.... beginning in London in 1580 - and ending at Tyburn in 1582....


i love you
dad