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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. Web
templates
Last update:
Tuesday, 25-Nov-2008 21:41:17 MST
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