Apostolic Fraternity

The Twelve•Christ built the church on a relationship among twelve men with Peter as the leader of those twelve.

He could have built His Church on a marriage between a man and a woman…

He had a pretty good woman available who was brave enough, smart enough

and holy enough if He wanted her as one of the original apostles…

But he built the Church on twelve men

Was it a terrible accident? An oversight awaiting the wisdom of the

sexual revolution to correct our Lord’s cultural bias?

The Rabbi and His Men

The oral tradition-A man speaking to other men. The word shapes the

group. Speaking as “agon.” The communion and the contest of the

masculine oral tradition.

“All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin. And, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner.“ – John Kennedy, West of the Wall, 1963

Minyan- Jewish public prayer

needed a quorum of ten adult men

Jews praying at Wailing Wall

Our elder brothers at the Wailing Wall

The head man at prayer

Muslim men praying in the Caucasus

Men at Prayer…

Not Just Christians

The right to pray must sometimes be defended with arms

The Fraternal Group as Protectors

The knights: the Christian answer to the male warrior cults

Men will always bond to fight. The purpose of honor codes (like the Samurai) is to harness

the fighting instinct for the good

Roman Phalanx-the military formation which built an empire

Hoplites-the military basis of Greek citizenship

Militia –the citizen protective agreement at the heart of American Democracy

The Founding Fathers

A Sacred Covenant

The Sacrifice That Seals Covenant

Bunker Hill, June, 1775

August 29, 1944: US troops marching into liberated Paris

To dishonor the soldier is to wound the nation

No community can exist without respect for authority and the

willingness of the adult males to die for the group

Men form groups to protect,

provide, and perform

Coach Vince Lombardi

Coach Knute Rockne

Our games tell a primitive story

The Four Hoursemen at Notre Dame’s Field

Knute Rockne Training

“I have fought the good fight”

A tough love for a great mission

Coach Bobby Knight

Athletics teach and celebrate skills,

habits, and virtues necessary to the

development, maintenance, and protection of the

RepublicPat Tillman, 1976-2004

Men must fight in a dangerous world

Men must work in a dangerous world

So we must pray

So we must work

So we must protect

Fallujah - U.S. Marines pray over a fellow Marine killed while fighting insurgent strongholds. (Photo by Murad Sezer, April 8, 2004.)

We must pray as we protect

We must not

just learn to fight but we must

learn why we

fight

This Apostolic Bond is Instituted by

Christ

The Circumcision by Mizzola

God’s covenant with the Jews is sealed with the shedding of every male’s blood

Rembrandt, The Sacrifice of Isaac

Abraham will be spared the

sacrifice of his son; Christ’s

Father will not.

Gustave Dore, The Finding of Moses

When the tyrant fears a

people, he will kill their

males

It happened at the birth of Moses…and at the birth of Jesus

Gustave Dore, The Massacre of the Innocents

At the passover it was the tyrant who paid...God’s people were set free but a male lamb had to be sacrificed in the place of Israel’s

first born.

Grunewald, The Crucifixion

The ultimate sacrifice of the first-born Son

“Love one another as the Father has loved me”-The priesthood as a masculine

public communion of sacrificial love.

A new public bond of men integrated into the bond of the Trinity as a sign for all men that brotherhood is possible in union with Christ

One for all ...

…and all for one

The Trinity

The twelve sent out