Friday night, Fr. Boniface hosted a couple of his friends from Philadelphia. They gave a talk to a bunch of the guys at 8:00 in Campus Ministry. All that we knew was that there was a talk called "All the King's Men." When we got there though, we were surprised and excited to meet two men who, four years ago, founded the organization, The King's Men, to help encourage men to live Christian manhood.

The principles of the group are based off of Christian virtue and John Eldredge's book, "Wild at Heart." The basic issue is the crisis that masculinity is in in our world today. The group has a four-fold mission--education, formation, action, and healing. A lot of focus is put on formation in the meetings and going out as brothers in action. The biggest battles that The King's Men fight are against abortion and pornography. We were blessed to see a little bit of that battle in action this afternoon.

If you've ever been to St. Vincent, you know that only 100 yards down Route 30, there is a store of ill repute. Niceties aside, it is a rather sleazy-looking porn shop with prostitutes. The St. Vincent Monastery has been unable to shut it down fiscally, so we've resorted to the one real weapon, prayer. With The King's Men here though, we took more prayerful action that is usually seen.

At two o'clock, a group of twenty students and monks met in front of the Basilica and then marched down to the shop. I was late joining them because of a study session, but when I did arrive, the group was spread along the construction barriers, holding signs such as "Pornography Hurts Children," "Pornography Destroys Marriages," "Adult?," and others. I picked up one in my right hand and joined others in the rosary with my left hand.

We were insulted in various ways while we were there. We were also affirmed by many of the people driving by who very much appreciated what we were doing. My good friend John commented to me that we were like John the Baptist, proclaiming purity. Like John the Baptist, we'll probably be crucified for our actions. A lot of our classmates drove by while we were out there and not all of them thought that we were doing a good thing. But, as Mark, one of The King's Men, told us, "If you want to follow Christ, you'd better look good on wood."

If you're interested, you can check out The King's Men at www.thekingsmen.us. If you'd like to join us in prayer, please do.

Well, a couple of my friends are waiting to watch "Life is Beautiful" right now, so I'd better get going. If you haven't seen this one yet, it's a classic.