Where hope takes root

The boys are not being prepared for a world that no longer exists; they are being prepared to rebuild the one that does;

Greg Maresca ——Bio and Archives--April 5, 2026

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During the chaos of COVID19, with churches shuttered and sanctuaries silenced, I made the trek to the now former Carmelite Monastery in Elysburg, Pennsylvania a sanctuary soaked in generations of prayer, where Mass was still being celebrated but in the Latin Rite.

In the midst of the pandemic, the Latin Mass rekindled an unexpected and renewed encounter with tradition, proving that even in confusion turmoil and pandemics, grace finds a way

In my youth, the tides of Vatican II swept through the Church, ushering in the Novus Ordo Mass spoken in the languages of the people and exiling the Latin that decreed the liturgy for centuries. The shift left many adrift in a liturgical landscape suddenly unfamiliar in a Church eager to seek ecumenism.

In the midst of the pandemic, the Latin Mass rekindled an unexpected and renewed encounter with tradition, proving that even in confusion turmoil and pandemics, grace finds a way.

However, that wasn’t its only revelation.

On that fateful day, what entered the chapel were boys, young men, really, all dressed in a jacket and tie whose bearing instantly set them apart as their posture, precision and demeanor was reverent without pretension.

It was as if someone had opened a........

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