Still any man who spends much time before the Blessed Sacrament will be issued the instruction by the Son of Man, himself, as HE repairs what is lacking in our hearts – “Be a Man.”

Your article has brought so many contemplations together. It is perhaps this great attack on manhood that led my wife, Lindy, and I to homeschool our children. (which is where we came across Fr. Mason) It is inspiring men like Fr. Mason and Fr Todd who remind us fathers-of-families, while we raise the next generation of this great responsibility; that is, parenting. We are not raising boys we are raising men. Thank you for reminding us just WHY it is that men of all ages need to be challenged with daunting tasks, holy quests and that we maintain purity of heart. A priest friend has recently instructed me – we have lost a generation and a half of Catholics – now what are you going to do about it. Another young hero for Catholicism, Fr. Don Calloway MIC, reminds us of the blue print, the 2000 year old answer to these questions – Mary. He explains, “The foundation of the Priesthood is manhood, and that, to be a priest after the heart of Christ, a man needs a beauty to love, to defend, and to die for, a man who has no relationship with Mary frankly has no vocation. The key to the renewal of the priesthood is to restore the Marian element, priests who are devoted to Our Lady become Warriors of God, Knights of the Queen, and Soldiers of Truth.”

Thank you and God bless you Fr. Todd, Fr. Jim Mason and all the valiant young men who have answered the heroic call to bear the brightly-burning-torch-of-truth in these dark times.

John P Fitzsimmons

My special memory of Father Todd is from a telephone call he and I had in Rome, Italy when he was going to seminary in Rome. We had about a 45 minute conversation about the wonderful education he was getting, Rome, the Italian people, and many other things. I could have talked with Father Todd for hours. He volunteered to take my husband and I and the couple we came with on a private tour of St. Peters. I had to turn him down and he never knew how hard that was for me to do because he was so knowledgable and, being a convert to the faith, I was so interested in learning everything.

The other couple had made arrangements for a tour guide at St Peters and I was not brave enough to suggest a change (they are of a different religion). Unfortunately, the tour guide they hired was not very well informed or very interested in the tour and it was a great disappointment.

Then, another time, I contacted Father Todd by email to congratulate him on his ordination. In passing I told him of my son’s new job as an Austin policeman and of my concern for his welfare. Father Todd mailed me a St.Michael medal to give to my son who told me after Father Todd died that he still has the medal.

May God bless Father Todd and may God bless this wonderful family.