Real Catholic Blog

When Jesus sent the Apostles to various regions in pairs to preach the Gospel, it must have been an arduous task: Traveling on foot to numerous people who had not heard of Jesus nor, perhaps, even paid attention to the Old Testament. Looking back at an age well before mass communication could even be contemplated, we might think we have it made.

To the contrary, actually. Today, there are an exponential number of people in the world — to those first fishermen, an unimaginable amount of billions — who are non-Christian and/or have not yet heard the voice of the Lord. We’re here to do our part in a very unapologetic, traditional Catholic way.

We launched, softly, on July 31, 2009, a complementary offshoot of RealCatholic.com, an online Catholic books and gifts store with a national clientele, established by John Bourret in Richmond, Va., in 2000. That, itself, was an outgrowth of Bourret’s two Richmond Ave Marie Books and Gifts stores, the first of which opened on November 1, 1996 — All Saints Day!— in Mary Mother of the Church Benedictine Abbey in Goochland County, just outside Richmond. He started the business as a ministry to share his faith experience — a cradle Catholic who left the Church, who experienced a reconversion — with others. 

As with so much in this changing, electronic, Internet-driven, business age, Ave Marie (Real Catholic) now is strictly an online business. This blog, then, will be a complete Catholic resource for its visitors: Catholics (cradle and new), RCIA candidates, those interested in or curious about Catholicism, lay people, support organizations, clergy, pastoral staff and any and all else seeking to understand the faith or deepen their own. 

In a compelling way, we will enlighten and defend Church teachings, inspire devotion, explain Church traditions, offer insights, highlight our saintly role models, discuss issues pertaining to the Church as well as cultural issues which affect the teachings of God, provide reviews of books and devotional materials, and all else Catholic, and make this site a one-stop Internet shop to access all of it, and keep you coming back.

We will do that as a vehicle that emboldens and strengthens the faith,  supports the doctrines and disciplines of the Church, aids its ancillary groups, defends its Biblical Truth as revealed through the Holy Spirit, wins new souls to the Church, assist those who want to learn about the Church,  helps those in doubt or seeking direction, brings clarity to a world increasingly enticed by a culture ruled by the “dictatorship of relativism,” and creates an engaged online community.

We will be a complete resource of all things Catholic, and share the rich spiritual and faith tradition of Catholicism through which we hope to bring God’s love and mercy to all, and a reciprocal and uncompromising worship to Him.