The Lewis Crusade is an apostolate dedicated to promoting the dignity of the human person and fighting to build a culture of life from the perspective of a person with a genetic disorder. I particularly focus on life issues from the perspective of eugenics and medical issues, though I deal with other issues and with questions of religion, as well. I believe that the surest way to win the Culture Wars is by prayer and fasting.
John C. Hathaway has an MA in English from Valdosta State University and a BA in philosophy from South Carolina Honors College. He is an aspirant member of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, and has taken three graduate courses in religious studies. His main research specialty so far has been C. S. Lewis, including undergraduate and graduate theses, a presentation at the 1998 Seattle C. S. Lewis Institute, an a forthcoming scholarly article. Other published articles deal with living with Marfan syndrome, finding a Catholic spouse and the personal side of the embryonic stem cell debate.
The Banner:
(First Row)
1 Brown Scapular, representing Carmelite Spirituality, devotion to Our Lady, sacramentals and spiritual warfare
2 A sonogram of our children (I think Gianna)
3 One of our children as a newborn
4 Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, representing the same as Scapular above.
5 A Seven Week Old Fetus, representing Lewis Stephen, our baby miscarried at 7 weeks.
6 St. Louis de Montfort, one of this site’s patrons, a great preacher and spreader of Marian devotion and the Rosary
7 Clara Agnes
8 Our Lady of Guadalupe: Patroness of the Unborn; Patroness of Pro-Life and Patroness of the Americas; my wife had a vision of the Virgin of Guadalupe during her miscarriage.
9 Pope John Paul II, holding the Monstrance: the Eucharist is the source and summit of Catholic life; the Eucharist is the greatest weapon we have against the Devil and the Culture of Death
10 Jesus, the Divine Mercy: Nuff Said
11 Gianna Teresa
12 St. Louis the King: one of this site’s patrons, Patron of all Third Orders, Crusader, Never committed a single mortal sin, strong devotee of the Eucharist
13 The DNA Helix, symbolizing the issues of genetics and medical ethics
14 Our Lady of Victories/Our Lady of the Smile: the statue that “smiled” at St. Therese in her only miraculous vision experience; also the statue that spoke to St. Catherine Laboure, giving her the Miraculous Medal
15 Our daughter Alexandra, holding our daughter Gianna as a baby: this picture highlights how tall and elongaged Allie’s body was around age 2, illustrating Marfan syndrome
16 St. Raphael window at the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament in Alabama: St. Raphael is patron of healing and medicine and exorcism; here represents all the archangels; represents spiritual warfare
17 The Byzantine Style Cross, representing my interest in the Eastern “Lung” of the Church, traditional liturgies, etc.
(Bottom Row)
1 Gregorian Chant, in Latin: representing liturgical themes
2 St. Peter’s Cathedral in Erie, PA, the church I attended as a child,representing the Church, liturgy, etc.
3 Our children Josef and Clara
Mary at a pro-life rally when she was in college
4 Allie holding a little angel she made; picture also shows exaggerated Marfan features
5 Bl. Lous Martin, father of St. Therese, patron of Catholic families, and one of our patrons.
6 The Rosary, on top of an open Bible: representing prayer, spirituality, spiritual warfare, etc.
7 Pope Benedict XVI, aka Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger: My Hero
8 A picture from our honeymoon: my wife’s hand and mine, displaying our wedding rings and holding a rose we were given on the set of _Mother Angelica Live_ the night before.
9 C. S. Lewis: a patron of this site, one of my heroes, apologist, social critic, philosopher, critic of modern culture.
10 My son Josef, displaying a look of consternation at the whole screwed up situation
11 Me talking with Thomas Howard at the 1998 C. S. Lewis Institute in Seattle
12 Mary holding one of our babies as a newborn
13 Mary’s Uncle Lewis Maitland Allen Barrett, one of the patrons of our site
15 A chart of a heart effected with Marfan syndrome.
On the term “Catholic Site”
This is not a “Catholic site” in the sense that I do not presume to speak “for the Church.” This is a site *about* Catholicism, about spiritual warfare, about culture wars, and about pro-life issues, from the perspectives of my views and experiences.
Although I may occasionally touch on such issues, my concern here is not with apologetics or even necessarily evangelization.
One of the reasons I started this blog, after years of message boards and other online communication methods, is that I realized it was little use trying to argue with the Culture of Death, or trying to win others over to the faith, if my fellow Catholics weren’t taking a firmer stand.
Like many Catholic writers before me, including many saints, I do not presume to speak “for” the Church but rather to express a critical or prophetic viewpoint from within: calling for a deeper expression of the faith and practice of Catholicism.
The Lewis Crusade 
Dear Mr. Hathaway, I would enjoy reading your article when it is complete.
Ordered your CD and was looking forward to it, but had to ask for a replacement. You may wish to know it is being mailed in a flimsy envelope – the CD jewell box is cracked from the inside out and of course the CD itself is ruined. To add insult to injury, the Post Office has stamped the enevelope “damaged in transist” – rather obvious. I know that you have hired these people to do this work but to most people it seems that this is coming via a semi-Amazon.com enity so they expect a more professional job for the fee they pay.
Blessings,
Fr Craig Young, SSC
Columbia, SC
I recently had ocassion to read an excellent post by you entitled, “The Performer, the Politician and the Priest: Funerals, Fanfare and Felonies.” I thought you made some excellent points. You may be interested in reading a post by Fr. Gordon MacRae entitled, “The Whoopie Cushion” at http://www.TheseStoneWalls.com.
Fr. MacRae made a very similiar point to yours regarding Michael Jackson. This blog is worth reviewing in my humble opinion. All the best.
RAM
To Ryan A. MacDonald: No, Gordon MacRae did NOT make a point similar to Mr. Hathaway’s concerning Michael Jackson. MacRae believes in Jackson’s innocence. MacRae personally wrote to me as follows:
No one cheered more than I when Michael Jackson was acquitted at trial. I have no doubt, and never had a doubt, that this was all about money. You may even be aware that “Law and Order” did a segment in its drama series on a Michael Jackson character and portrayed the so-called molestation as something actually arranged by the parents for 20 million dollars. […] The standard that has been applied to me and other accused priests is that ancient claims are made credible simply because someone–not us–has offered a settlement to make them go away. It is money, and only money, that renders these claims credible. To date 2.6 billion dollars has changed hands in the United States because of accusations against Catholic priests. Thanks for your interest, and your support of Michael Jackson’s good name.
Ditty,
You’re replying to the wrong thread. Read “The Performer, the Priest and the Politician.” The post you’ve been arguing with me about concerned whether Michael Jackson was worthy of public admiration.
In the post Mr. MacDonald refers to, I discuss the adoration given to Michael Jackson and Ted Kennedy, in contrast to faithful Catholic priests who have been sent off to “limbo” for completely groundless–and even unspecified–accusations.
Again, one of my major points is not whether the accusations against Michael Jackson are true, but that the accusations against him did not destroy his reputation among the public, and that he had the money to fight the accusations–so, whether they were true or not, he got off simply because the legal system favors those who can pay high-priced attorneys.
Meanwhile, as Fr. MacRae points out, Catholic priests get automatically found guilty when their dioceses or Orders settle out of court rather than facing accusations.
So it is a similar point, in fact.
Your Anne Plavcan Hathaway is a cousin of my mother, Mary Varhola Welton, her mother is Anna Plavcan, b 1887
Hi, Did you come here from one of my genealogy posts?
Interesting. Are you sure? I don’t know much about the Plavcans. All I know is my great-grandfather was an immigrant.
Brother John, why is your blog named, “The Lewis Crusade?” My blog is named, “Karmalight” because I wanted to attract the attention of non-Christians by its very title.
Because it has long been my intention to form an official pro-life apostolate by that name.
I have a genetic disorder called Marfan syndrome, so on that grounds the pro-life cause has always been very personal to me. Then, in 2003, my wife and I lost a baby to miscarriage. Around the time the baby was conceived, we kept seeing the name “Louis” or “Louise” popping up. For example, we needed to stop on our way home from our Christmas vacation and ended up at a little church called St. Louis Church (I’ve always had a devotion to him).
I’m a C. S. Lewis scholar, and I’m also a devotee of St. Therese, whose father was Bl. Louis Martin. Again, I have a great admiration for St. Louis the King, who, with St. Catherine of Siena, is co-patron of all members of third orders (he was a third order Franciscan). Then of course there’s St. Louis de Montfort.
My wife’s Uncle Lewis had died in the previous year, so seeing “Louis,” “Lewis” or “Louise” numerous times over Christmas vacation, we thought, “We must have a baby, and the baby must be named Lewis or Louise.”
Well, we lost the baby just before Ash Wednesday that year, March 3, 2003. We decided to name the baby “Louis Stephen,” since the baby was probably conceived on the feast of Stephen, and then if the baby was actually a girl, it would have been Louise Stephanie. Interestingly enough, the lady from Canada who founded Morning Light Ministries named her miscarried baby Stephanie Louise for similar reasons.
Anyway, we decided to start a cause called the “Lewis Crusade” to focus on the humanity of the unborn, how abortion hurts everyone by such things as a) denying parents the right to mourn miscarried babies, b) people taking for granted that people with genetic disorders should contracept, abort or use in vitro fertilization, and c) the implications of embryonic stem cell research. Our eldest daughter inherited my Marfan syndrome, and around the same time, I learned that there is a “stem cell bank,” where parents who carry known genetic mutations will use IVF and “donate” embryos positively identified with the genetic disorder to stem cell research.
As time has gone on, of course, it’s widened into a more general blog, but still focusing on the ideas of the Culture Wars and spiritual warfare.
It’s nice to get some attention from non-Christians, but my primary audience is other Catholics, trying to get them to be more committed to these issues.
Looks like an interesting site. Keep promoting the “culture of life.”
Please keep me updated on your upcoming article re TWHF. I have read about 17 of Lewis’ books and was profoundly and positively affected by them. Though Lewis used fantasy in a number of his books, there were definite uses of sanctified imagination, an emphasis on becoming more Christ-like, and holding to cardinal virtues despite temptations and trials. There was always an emphasis on facing reality through Christ. There were times while I was reading particular sections that it felt as if a knife had just cut into my heart – Lewis had got a point spot-on and it had come home to me in a rather life-changing way.
John, just wanted you to know that I have enjoyed reading through your site and to mention that I included one of your pictures on a recent post a made on my blog. You will find full credit and link back to your site, should you like me to change or add anything please let me know. In the future if you would like me to re-post any of your articles/posts on my blog please let me know. As a Catholic, Conservative, we must all work together to insure that we protect our religious freedoms and protect the life of the unborn. God Bless. http://www.liberalmediawatchdog.com (aka http://www.theworstnamesinnews.com)
Hey, John! Thanks for your comment defending me on my last post. It was spot-on! I am a huge Lewis fan, and one of our contributors is devoted to Saint Thérèse. I am adding you to our blogroll, because you are just that awesome. Thank you again!
I found my name mentioned, Fr. Tom Bartolomeo, in the discourse between
GodsGadfly and Bill Bannon and side with GodsGadfly whose argument is more God-centered. Takes me back five years ago. For me, however, the evils of contraception have corroded much of our faithful and I continue to preach and teach on the matter. If interested, you may find my recent homily and article posted on RenewAmerica.com useful. http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/bartolomeo/141130
God bless,
Fr. Tom bartolomeo