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Welcome to my
homepage! I
maintain this website with my own time and resources (although donations are
gratefully
accepted!) as a
means of communication with parishioners, friends and family. The
material on this website (and linked-to from this website) has
NOT been reviewed or endorsed by the Bishop of Rapid City or any
other church official. In my writing, preaching and teaching, I
always strive to be obedient to my bishop, and to remain faithful
to the teachings of Christ, the authentic Magisterium of His holy
Catholic Church, and the dogmatic statements of the Holy See.
Nevertheless, all opinions expressed herein are solely my own and
do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Bishop of Rapid
City or any other official of the Catholic
Church.
Having gotten the disclaimers
out of the way, enjoy
your visit!
--Fr.
Timothy Castor
Mysterium
Fidei
Jesus said to them, "I
am the
bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. Truly, truly, I
say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his
blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my
blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my
flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my
flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living
Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me
will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven,
not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live
for ever." (St. John 6:35, 53-58)
Since Christ himself
has
declared the bread to be his body, who can have any further doubt?
Since he himself has said quite categorically, This is my blood, who
would dare to question it and say that it is not his blood? . . . You
have been taught and you are firmly convinced that what looks and
tastes like bread and wine is not bread and wine but the Body and the
Blood of Christ. You know also how David referred to this long ago when
he sang: Bread gives strength to mans heart and makes his face shine
with the oil of gladness. Strengthen your heart, then, by receiving
this bread as spiritual bread, and bring joy to the face of your soul. The
Jerusalem Mystagogy of St. Cyril (c. 313-386)
Who
is Father Castor?
The Rev. Timothy W. Castor, born 1961, is a priest
of the
Diocese of Rapid City, assigned as Pastor for the parishes of Christ
the King, Presho; St. Martin of Tours, Murdo and St. Anthony of Padua,
Draper. A brief curriculum vitae follows:
After graduating from Central Bucks High School West in
Doylestown, Pa., I took a year off and worked in a factory. Then I
entered Philadelphia College of Bible in Langhorne, Pa. where I earned
a B.S. in Bible. I did my Junior year in Israel. After college, I
worked for the American Missionary Fellowship in Villanova, Pa. In
1986, however, I was received into the Roman Catholic Church and had to
leave my job with the (Protestant) AMF. For the next three years I
worked in public relations and banking, in and around Philadelphia. In
1989, I entered St.
Mary's Monastery, a small Benedictine community in Petersham,
Mass. I was there for a total of five years, six months of which were
spent at our motherhouse, Pluscarden
Abbey, a 13th Century monastery in Scotland. Part way through
my monastic career, I left for about a year, during which I did
volunteer missionary work in Thailand for four months. Shortly before
my temporary vows expired in 1995, I left the monastery, having
discerned that this was not my calling. Next, I went to South Dakota
where I applied to study for the priesthood for the Diocese of Rapid
City.
In May of 2001, I graduated from Mount Saint Mary's
Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md. with the M. Div. degree. On June
8, 2001, I had the great joy of being ordained to the Priesthood of
Jesus Christ by his Excellency, Bishop Blase Cupich here in Rapid City.
My first assignment as a priest was to the Cathedral of Our
Lady of Perpetual Help where I served as Parochial Vicar for three
years. Next, I served for one year as Associate Pastor for the nine
Catholic parishes of the Cheyenne
River Lakota Nation. I am happy now to be serving Christ's
faithful in the "I-90 Catholic Communities" of Murdo, Draper and Presho.
Check out
these links!
Here's some favorite links (I do not
endorse
everything on these links, nor do I receive remuneration from any
commercial sites):
The Tablet - England's
premiere Catholic weekly. Updated every Friday. Usually, a good source
of Church news, but, as an abbot I knew once said, "The Tablet's
alright, as long as they keep off religion."
L'Osservatore Romano -
English weekly edition of the official Vatican newspaper. Online
version is updated every Wednesday and includes several front page
articles from the current print edition.
Ave Maria Singles - This is
an outstanding site dedicated to helping single Catholics who are
serious about their faith find a life partner in Holy Matrimony. Highly
recommended!
Pax House - A great source
for traditional liturgical goods (vestments, vessels, statuary, etc.).
I purchased my Mass vestments from this company, and they are
stunningly beautiful.
The
Chair of Unity Octave - Before there was a "Week
of Prayer for Christian Unity", there was the "Chair of Unity Octave"
-- a much more robust and realistic form of prayer for authentic
Christian unity (the "chair" is a reference to the Chair of Saint Peter
at Rome). This page is copied from a leaflet originally printed by the
Friars of the Atonement, Graymoor, NY. Please note that this
is no longer authorized for use as public prayer and is offered here as
a historical reference.
Novena
of Mercy (Original Version) - The Divine Mercy
Novena begins on Good Friday and ends on Mercy Sunday (the Second
Sunday of Easter). As a historical reference, I offer the original
version of the Novena in English translation. This is somewhat rare and
difficult to find. The text here is scanned from photocopies of an old
brochure published before this devotion was given approval by Church
authority. It is distinguished from the current
version by its traditional usages (Thee, Thou and Thy, for
example) and by language which might be called "politically incorrect".
Those who appreciate traditional prayers might enjoy using this
version. But please note: these devotions are not
authorized for public prayer. (This file is in Portable
Document Format and requires Adobe Reader, already instaled on most
systems.)
The Spirit of the Liturgy by
Romano Guardini (translated by Ada Lane) - This was written by the
great German theologian and philosopher around 1930, and contains some
wonderful insights from an era of liturgical sanity. A plain
text version of this treatise is available on the EWTN site.
This is the text version cleaned up and formatted in HTML.
Ceremonial
for Lay People - I prepared this guide for young
people and those who are new to the Catholic Faith. It's a quick and
basic overview of all the gestures and ceremony required for the
Faithful to participate fully in the Eucharistic Liturgy. I didn't make
these up! They're all from official and contemporary Church documents.
Guide
to attitudes, postures and gestures at Mass - An
outline of liturgical instruction given at Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
Notes on
the
Apocalypse - Here are class notes for the
four-part series on Revelation (Apocalypse) given in July 2002 at the
Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
Sequence
Analysis -
A useful outline from New Testament Reading Guide: The Book
of the Apocalypse, Fr. William G. Heidt, O.S.B.
Class
1 - Introduction and Background
Class
2 - The Lord's Messages to the
Seven Churches
Class
3 - Revelation 4-22
Class
4 - The End of the World in
Catholic Teaching - plus:
a bibliography of recommended reading
Notes for Family Program: Pentecost and
Confirmation -
Here is the outline of my presentation on November 2, 2003.
Saint
Augustine's teaching on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit
- This is the text to which I referred in my presentation.
Notes for Family Program: The Most Holy
Eucharist -
Here is my presentation given on January 11, 2004.
HOMILIES
Sometimes folks have expressed
an interest in obtaining copies of my homilies. I hope you will find
them helpful. If there is any good here -- thanks be to God!
You can find my homilies in my weblog.
Use the calendar in the sidebar to navigate to the day on which the
homily you desire should be posted (this is still in development, so,
as of April 1, 2005, the archive is quite incomplete).
The
Homily Archive - Read
and listen to homilies preached in previous years.
Photos
Here you will find links to thumbnail
pages. To see
the
original photo, click on the thumbnail. The originals are rather
large, so be patient downloading them!
Family
Photos - Group
photos taken at
our last complete family gathering on August 8, 2004 at 291 Creek
Road. (Please note: The full size photos are over 2 MB each. Be
patient when downloading.)
Gregorian Chant
Jubilate Deo
-
An ongoing project to scan and record all the music found in the
Vatican publication subtitled: A collection of the simpler
Gregorian Chants which the People of God should learn in conformity
with Vatican II's "Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy" Updated 7/3/03
Here are some Gregorian Chants I've recorded as an
aid to
learning. These are definitely not studio quality!
You can help Father
maintain
his website (it's not cheap) by sending a donation via PayPal -- it's
secure, easy and much appreciated! Unfortunately, the IRS considers
this a personal gift, so it's not tax-deductible. But all gifts will be
acknowledged and gratefully accepted. God bless you!
Click
on this button
to make a
donation:
This site is © Copyright Rev. Timothy W.
Castor 2001-2008, All Rights Reserved.
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Last update:
Thursday, 06-Mar-2008 21:41:17 MST
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