..... this missal is hereafter to be followed absolutely, without any scruple of conscience or fear of incurring any penalty, judgment or censure, and may freely and lawfully be used ..... Nor are superiors, administrators, canons, chaplains, and other secular priests, or religious, of whatever title designated, obliged to celebrate the Mass otherwise than as enjoined by Us. ..... Accordingly, no one whatsoever is permitted to infringe or rashly contravene this notice of Our permission, statute, ordinance, command, precept, grant, direction, will, decree and prohibition. Should any person venture to do so, let him understand he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.

Pope St. Pius V, Papal Bull, QUO PRIMUM,

Tridentine Codification of the traditional Roman Rite of the Mass.

Easter Sunday

April 21, 2019

Paschaltide, beginning on Holy Saturday and ending on the Saturday after Pentecost, forms one single feast day in which are celebrated the mysteries of our Lord’s Resurrection and Ascension and the descent of the Holy Ghost on the Church.

Easter Sunday, the greatest feast of the year, the station is kept, as on Christmas, at Saint Mary Major. The Church never separates Jesus and Mary, and today, in one and the same triumph, she honors the Mother and the Son. Before all else, the Risen Christ offers the homage of His gratitude to His Father in Heaven (Introit). In her turn the Church gives thanks to God inasmuch as by the victory of His Son, He has reopened the way to Heaven, and implores Him to assist us that we may attain this, our final goal (Collect). For this, Saint Paul tells us, just as the Jews eat the Paschal Lamb with unleavened bread, so we must feast on the Lamb of God, with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (Epistle and Communion), that is free from the leaven of sin. In the Gospel and the Offertory we read of the coming of the holy women to the sepulcher to embalm our Lord. They find an empty tomb but an angel proclaims to them the great mystery of the Resurrection. Let us joyfully keep this day on which our Lord has restored life to us in His own rising from the dead (Easter Preface), and affirm with the Church that “the Lord is risen indeed,” and like Him, make our Easter a passing to an entirely new way of life.

INTROIT:

Ps.138. I arose, and am still with Thee, alleluia: Thou hast laid Thy hand upon me, alleluia : Thy knowledge is become wonderful, alleluia, alleluia.

Ps. Lord, Thou hast proved me and known me: Thou hast known my sitting down and my rising up. Glory be, etc. I arose, etc.

COLLECT:

O God, who through Thine only-begotten Son hast on this day overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life, as by Thy helpful grace Thou dost prosper our good desires, so do Thou accompany them with Thy continual help. Through our Lord, etc.

EPISTLE: 1 Cor. 5, 7-8

Brethren, purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened: for Christ our Pasch is sacrificed. Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Explanation The Apostles selected the leaven as a type of the moral depravity from which the Christian community and every individual Christian should be free. Let us, therefore, purge out the old leaven of sin by true penance, that we may receive our Paschal Lamb, Jesus, in the Most Holy Eucharist with a pure heart.

GRADUAL:

Ps. 117. This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be glad and rejoice therein. Give praise to the Lord, for He is good : for His mercy endureth forever. Alleluia, alleluia.

1 Cor. 5. Christ our Pasch is sacrificed.

SEQUENCE:

Forth to the Paschal Victim, Christians, bring; Your sacrifice of praise:

The Lamb redeems the sheep; And Christ the sinless one,

Hath to the Father sinners reconciled.

Together, death and life; In a strange conflict strove.

The Prince of life, who died,

Now lives and reigns.

What thou sawest, Mary, say; As thou wentest on the way.

I saw the tomb wherein the living one had lain; I saw His glory as He rose again;

Napkin and linen clothes, and angels twain: Yea, Christ is risen, my hope, and he

Will go before you into Galilee.

We know that Christ indeed has risen from the grave:

Hail, Thou King of Victory, Have mercy, Lord, and save. Amen. Alleluia.

GOSPEL: Mark 16, 1-7

At that time, Mary Magdalen, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought sweet spices, that coming they might anoint Jesus. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came to the sepulcher, the sun being now risen. And they said one to another: Who shall roll us back the stone from the door of the sepulcher? And looking, they saw the stone rolled back. For it was very great. And entering into the sepulcher, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed with a white robe, and they were astonished. Who saith to them, Be not affrighted; ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: He is risen, He is not here; behold the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples, and Peter, that He goeth before you into Galilee; there you shall see Him, as He told you.

Why did the holy women desire to anoint the body of Jesus with sweet spices?
Out of love for Jesus. This love God rewarded by sending to them an angel, who rolled back the great stone from before the mouth of the sepulcher, comforted them, and convinced them that Christ was really risen from the dead. From this we learn that God always consoles those who seek Him. The angel sent the holy women to the disciples to console them for Christ’s death, and in order that they might make known His resurrection to the world. St. Peter was specially named not only because he was the head of the apostles, but also because he was sadder and more dispirited than the others on account of his denial of Our Savior.

How did Our Savior prove that He was really risen from the dead?
By showing Himself first to the holy women, then to His disciples, and finally to five hundred persons at once. His disciples not only saw Him, but also ate and drank with Him, not once only, but repeatedly, and for forty days.
It was through combat and inexpressible sufferings that Our Savior gained victory. So it is also with us. Only by labor, combat, and sufferings shall we win the crown of eternal life; though redeemed by Christ from the servitude of Satan and sin, we shall not be able to enter the kingdom of Christ unless, after His example and by His grace, we fight till the end against the flesh, the devil, and the world; for only he that perseveres to the end shall receive the crown (2 Tim. 2, 5).

Why did the angel send the women to the disciples, and especially to Peter?

Because the disciples were to announce the Resurrection of Christ to the whole world, and they were now much saddened, and disturbed because of His death. Peter was the head of the apostles, and on account of having three times denied our Lord, he was greatly dejected and faint of heart, and was, therefore, above all to be comforted.

What encouragement does the Resurrection of Christ give us?

It encourages us to rise spiritually with Him, and live henceforth a new life (Rom. 4, 4), which we do if we not only renounce sin, but also flee from all its occasions, lay aside our bad habits, subdue our corrupt inclinations, and aim after virtue and heavenly things.

ASPIRATION I rejoice, O my Jesus, that Thou hast victoriously risen from death. By Thy triumph over death, hell and the devil, grant us the grace to subdue our evil inclinations, walk in a new life, and die to all earthly things. Amen.

INSTRUCTION It is certainly true that Christ, by His death on the cross and by His resurrection, has rendered perfect satisfaction; and effected man’s redemption (Heb. 9, 12); but we must not imagine that there is no further need of doing penance, or of working out our salvation. For, as the children of Israel, though freed from Pharao’s bondage, had to fight long and against many enemies in order to gain the Promised Land, so also must we, though freed by Christ from the servitude of the devil, battle against our enemies to the end of our lives to obtain the promised, heavenly land, for no one is crowned unless he has properly fought (II Tim. 2, 5). We must apply the merits of the redemption and satisfaction of Christ to our soul by the frequent reception of the holy sacraments; by imitating His virtues; by patiently bearing our trials and sufferings, and by a penitential life.

OFFERTORY:

Ps. 75. The earth trembled and was still, when God arose in judgment, alleluia.

SECRET:

Receive, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the prayers of Thy people along with the offerings of victims, that the way opened by these paschal mysteries may lead us by Thy aid to the consolations of eternity. Through our Lord, etc.

PREFACE FOR EASTER:

It is truly meet and just, right and profitable unto salvation, that we should at all times extol Thy glory, O Lord, but more especially on this day when Christ our Pasch was sacrificed. For He is the true Lamb that hath taken away the sins of the world; who by dying hath overcome our death, and by rising again hath restored our life. And therefore with the angels and archangels, the thrones and dominions, and the whole host of heavenly army we sing a hymn of Thy glory, saying again and again: Holy, holy, holy, etc.

COMMUNION:

1 Cor. 5. Christ our Pasch is sacrificed, alleluia; therefore let us feast in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, alleluia, alleluia.

POSTCOMMUNION:

Pour forth upon us, O Lord, the spirit of Thy charity, and be Thy loving kindness make to be of one mind those whom Thou hast fed with these paschal sacraments. Through our Lord, etc.

DISMISSAL:

Go, the Mass is ended, alleluia, alleluia.

Thanks be to God, alleluia, alleluia.

Be not affrighted; ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: He is risen, He is not here; behold the place where they laid Him.

PROPER OF THE SAINTS FOR THE WEEK OF APRIL 21^st:

21	Sun	Easter Sunday	d1cl	W		9:00 AM; Members Ss. Peter & Paul; Rosary of Reparation 8:30 AM; Confessions 7:00 AM
22	Mon	Easter Monday	d1cl	W		Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
23	Tue	Easter Tuesday	d1cl	W		Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
24	Wed	Easter Wednesday	sd	W		Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
25	Thu	Easter Thursday	sd	W		Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
26	Fri	Easter Friday	sd	W	A	Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
27	Sat	Easter Saturday	sd	W		Mass 9:00 AM; Confessions & Rosary of Reparation 8:30 AM
28	Sun	Low Sunday	dm	W		9:00 AM; Members Ss. Peter & Paul; Rosary of Reparation 8:30 AM; Confessions 8:00 AM

So, then, the Mystery of Easter is to be ever visible on this earth; our risen Jesus ascends to heaven, but he leaves upon us the impress of his Resurrection, and we must retain it within us until he again visits us. And how could it be that we should not retain this divine impress within us? Are not all the mysteries of our divine Master ours also? From his very first coming in the Flesh, he has made us sharers in everything he has done. He was born in Bethlehem: we were born together with him. He was crucified: our ‘old man was crucified with him.’ He was buried; ‘we were buried with him.’ And therefore, when he rose from the grave, we also received the grace that we should ‘walk in the newness of life.’ Such is the teaching of the Apostle, who thus says: ‘We know that Christ rising again from the dead, dieth now no more; death shall no more have dominion over him; for in that he died to sin, (that is, for sin,) he died once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.’

Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year

That they might know that by what things a man sinneth, by the same also he is tormented.

Wisdom 11:17

I will send forth famine into the land, not a famine of bread . . . but of hearing the word of the Lord, . . . they shall go about seeking the word of the Lord and shall not find it.

Amos 8:11

Faithfully do what God expects of you each moment, and leave the rest up to Him.

I assure you that living in this manner will bring you great peace.

St. Jane Francis de Chantal

Invincible ignorance is a punishment for sin.

St. Thomas Aquinas (De Infid. q. x., art. 1.)

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

“A new commandment I give unto you : ‘that you love one another’ as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (Jn. 13). Jesus revealed to us the perfection of fraternal charity on the same evening that He instituted the Eucharist, as if to indicate that such perfection should be both the fruit of the Sacrament of the Eucharist and our response to this great gift.

Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, Divine Intimacy

“Whom seekest thou?” It is to each one of us, as to Mary Magdalen, that Jesus addresses this question. Can we reply that we are seeking Him alone? Jesus appeared to Mary who “loved Him much” before appearing to the other holy women. If we wish to find the Lord quickly we must love Him much and seek Him with great love.

Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, Divine Intimacy

There is one that humbleth himself wickedly, and his interior is full of deceit.

Ecclus. 19:23

The foundation of this power and dignity of Our Lord is rightly indicated by Cyril of Alexandria. “Christ,” he says, “has dominion over all creatures, a dominion not seized by violence nor usurped, but his by essence and by nature.” His kingship is founded upon the ineffable hypostatic union. From this it follows not only that Christ is to be adored by angels and men, but that to him as man angels and men are subject, and must recognize his empire; by reason of the hypostatic union Christ has power over all creatures. But a thought that must give us even greater joy and consolation is this that Christ is our King by acquired, as well as by natural right, for he is our Redeemer. Would that they who forget what they have cost their Savior might recall the words: “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled.” We are no longer our own property, for Christ has purchased us “with a great price”; our very bodies are the “members of Christ.”

Pope Pius XI, Quas Primas, December 11, 1925

...the great movement of apostasy being organized in every country for the establishment of a One-World Church which shall have neither dogmas, nor hierarchy, neither discipline for the mind, nor curb for the passions, and which, under the pretext of freedom and human dignity, would bring back to the world (if such a Church could overcome) the reign of legalized cunning and force, and the oppression of the weak, and of all those who toil and suffer. ...Indeed, the true friends of the people are neither revolutionaries, nor innovators: they are traditionalists.

St. Pius X, Notre Charge Apostolique , 1910

Grant, O good Jesus, that my soul may always fly toward You, that my entire life may be one continual act of love. Make me understand that any work which is not done in Your honor is a dead work. Grant that my piety may not become just a habit, but a continual elevation of my heart!

O my Jesus, supreme Goodness, I ask of you a heart so enraptured with You that nothing can distract it. I wish to become indifferent to everything that goes on in the world, and to want You alone, to love everything that refers to You, but You above everything else, O my God! And my spirit, O Lord, my spirit - grant that it may be zealous in seeking You and may succeed in finding You, O sovereign Wisdom!

St. Thomas Aquinas

The word “heliotropium” is the Latin name for an ancient plant which had the unique habit of turning to face the sun at all times. The plant’s name is derived from two Greek words: helio, meaning “sun,” and tropos, meaning “turn.” The Roman writer Pliny wrote of this plant, “I have often spoken of the wonderful property of the heliotrope, which turns itself round with the sun, even on a cloudy day, so great is its love of that luminary. But at night it closes its azure flower, as if from missing its rays.”

Thus the heliotrope excellently represents the attitude of the faithful soul toward the Will of God, which is represented by the sun. This sun must ever be gazed upon by us with fixed and unshrinking eye, in whatever direction its course may bend; and this one thing must we ever resolve in our mind: “As it pleases God, so does it please me. The Will of God alone is to me the rule of life and death. As it hath pleased the Lord so shall it be done. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.”

Fr. Jeremias Drexelius, Heliotropium, Conformity of the Human Will to the Divine

All who have not believed that Jesus Christ was really the Son of God are doomed. Also, all who see the Sacrament of the Body of Christ and do not believe it is really the most holy Body and Blood of the Lord . . . these also are doomed!

St. Francis of Assisi

INSTRUCTION ON EASTER

What is the festival of Easter?

Easter, in Latin Pascha, signifies passing over, and has the following historical origin: Under Pharao, King of Egypt, the Jews in that country groaned under intolerable bondage. God had mercy on His people, and the hour of deliverance came. By His command the first-born of all the Egyptians was killed by an angel. The Jews had been ordered by God to be ready for emigration, but first to kill a lamb, eat it in their houses in common, and sprinkle the doorposts with its blood. And the angel of death, by order of God, passed the doors sprinkled with the blood of the lamb, and did no harm to any child of the Israelites, whilst he slew all the first-born sons of the Egyptians. In grateful memory of this passing their doors, the Jews observed the festival of Easter, the Pasch, or Passover. After the death of Jesus, the apostles introduced the same festival into the Church in grateful remembrance of the day on which Jesus, the true Easter Lamb, took away our sins by His blood, freed us from the angel of eternal death, and passed us over to the freedom of the children of God.

Where, during this time, was Christ’s holy soul?

In Limbo, that is, the place where the souls of the just who died before Christ, and were yet in original sin, were awaiting their redemption.

What have we to expect from the resurrection of Christ?

That our bodies will rise again from death. (Rom. 7, 2) For if Christ our head is alive, then we His members must also become reanimated, because a living head cannot exist without living members.

What is meant by the Alleluia sung at Easter time?

In English Alleluia means Praise the Lord, and expresses the joy of the Church at the Resurrection of Christ, and the hope of eternal happiness which He has obtained for us.

Why does the Church on this day bless eggs, bread, and meat?

To remind the faithful that although the time of fasting is now ended, they should not indulge in gluttony, but thank God, and use their food simply for the necessary preservation of physical strength.

God is a Lamb that avails you not, my Christian,
If you become not also a lamb of God.
The cross on Golgotha redeems not from evil,
If it is not also erected in thee;
The dear Christ’s death aids you not, my Christian,
Until in Him and for Him you also have died.

Angelus Silesius

Rights Are Derived From Duties and Every Catholic Has A Duty to Profess His Faith

The “External Profession of Faith” is Manifested Through Our Ecclesiastical Traditions

Both God and the Church command the external profession of faith. The Divine precept to profess one’s faith externally is easily gathered from the words of St. Paul: “The heart has only to believe, if we are to be justified; the lips have only to make confession, if we are to be saved” Rom (10, 9-10), and it follows from the very nature of man himself who must worship God not only with his mind but also with his body…. According to St. Thomas the divine precept obliges man to make an external profession of his faith when failure to do so would detract from the honour due to God or cause injury to the spiritual welfare of one’s neighbour.

Rev. Dominic Prummer, Handbook of Moral Theology

He wrought herein the greatest work that He had ever wrought, whether in miracles or in mighty works, during the whole of His life, either upon earth or in Heaven, which was the reconciliation and union of mankind, through grace, with God. And this, as I say, was at the moment and the time when this Lord was completely annihilated in everything. Annihilated, that is to say, with respect to human reputation; since, when men saw Him die, they mocked Him rather than esteemed Him; and also with respect to nature, since His nature was annihilated when He died; and further with respect to the spiritual consolation and protection of the Father, since at that time He forsook Him… Let the truly spiritual man understand the mystery of the gate and of the way of Christ, and so become united with God, and let him know that, the more completely he is annihilated for God’s sake, according to these two parts, the sensual and the spiritual, the more completely he is united to God and the greater is the work which he accomplishes.

St. John of the Cross, Ascent of Mt. Carmel

They shall look on him whom they pierced (John 19, 37).

Who shall render account to him, who is ready to judge the living and the dead (1 Peter 4, 5).

   “There was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. . . And from the throne proceeded lightnings, and voices, and thunders; and there were seven lamps burning before the throne” (Apoc. 4, 3-5).
    Such are the images whereby Holy Scripture portrays the judgment-seat of Jesus Christ. Who of all mankind can venture to raise his eyes to this fiery throne? Will it not be more dazzlingly bright than the lightnings and fiery flashes of a tempest?
    The Divine Judge will seat Himself upon this throne and His grave countenance will be visible to men and Angels. All created beings will tremble with awestruck reverence. St. John declares this in the Apocalypse: “I saw a great white throne, and One sitting upon it, from whose face the earth and Heaven fled away, and there was no place found for them” (Apoc. 20, 11). In these words the prophet of the New Testament appears to indicate that the Heavens and the earth will not be able to bear to meet the eye of their Judge; that all rational beings, both Angels and men, will quake at the sight of His stern countenance.
    That the Angels also will fear and tremble, is asserted by St. Augustine, in the following passage from his writings: “When Our Lord says that the powers of Heaven shall be moved, He alludes to the Angels; for so terrible will the judgment be, that the Angels will not be exempt from fear; they too will tremble and be afraid. For just as when a judge sits in judgment his grave countenance not only strikes terror into the culprits before him, but over-awes the officials standing around, so when all mankind are brought to judgment the celestial ministers will share the universal horror and alarm.”

St. John Chrysostom corroborates this statement, when he says: “Every one will then be filled with astonishment, with apprehension, with terror, for even the Angels will be sore afraid.”
Many other Fathers of the Church and commentators upon Holy Scripture express a similar opinion.

Rev. Martin Von Cochem, OSFC, The Four Last Things – Death, Judgment, Hell and Heaven

THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD EASTER SUNDAY

PRESENCE OF GOD ‑ O risen Jesus, make me worthy to share in the joy of Your Resurrection.

MEDITATION:

I. “This is the day which the Lord hath made; let us be glad and rejoice therein” (RB). This is the most excellent day, the happiest day in the whole year, because it is the day when “Christ, our Pasch, has been sacrificed.” Christmas, too, is a joyous feast, but whereas Christmas vibrates with a characteristic note of sweetness, the Paschal solemnity resounds with an unmistakable note of triumph; it is joy for the triumph of Christ, for His victory. The liturgy of the Mass shows us this Paschal joy under two aspects: joy in truth (Epistle: I Cor. 5, 7-8) and joy in charity (Postcommunion).

Joy in truth: According to the vibrant admonition of St. Paul, “Let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven . . . but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” In this world there are many ephemeral joys, based on fragile, insecure foundations; but the Paschal joy is solidly grounded on the knowledge that we are in the truth, the truth which Christ brought to the world and which He confirmed by His Resurrection. The Resurrection tells us that our faith is not in vain, that our hope is not founded on a dead man, but on a living one, the Living One par excellence, whose life is so strong that it vivifies, in time as in eternity, all those who believe in Him. “I am the Resurrection and the Life; he that believeth in Me, although he be dead, shall live” (Jn 11, 25). Joy in truth: for only sincere and upright souls who seek the truth lovingly and, still more, “do the truth” can fully rejoice in the Resurrection. We are sincere when we recognize ourselves for what we are, with all our faults, deficiencies, and need for conversion. From this knowledge of our miseries springs the sincere resolve to purify ourselves of the old leaven of the passions in order to be renewed completely in the risen Christ.

Truth, however, must be accomplished in charity‑veritatem facientes in caritatem, doing the truth in charity (Eph 4, 15); therefore the Postcommunion prayer that is placed on our lips is more timely than ever: “Pour forth upon us, O Lord, the spirit of Thy love, to make us of one heart.” Without unity and mutual charity there can be no real Paschal, joy.

2. The Gospel (Mk 16, 1‑7) places before our eyes the faithful holy women who, at the first rays of the Sunday dawn, run to the sepulcher, and on the way, wonder: “Who will roll back the stone from the door of the sepulcher for us?” This preoccupation, although it is well justified on account of the size and weight of the stone, does not deter them from proceeding with their plans; they are too much taken up with the desire of finding Jesus! And behold! hardly have they arrived when they see “the stone rolled back.” They enter the tomb and find an Angel who greets them with the glad announcement : “He is risen; He is not here.” At this time, Jesus does not let Himself be found or seen; but a little later when, in obedience to the command of the Angel, the women leave the tomb to bring the news to the disciples, He will appear before them saying, “All hail!” (Mt 28, 9), and their joy will be overwhelming.

We, too, have a keen desire to find the Lord; perhaps we have been seeking Him for many long years. Further, this desire may have been accompanied by serious preoccupation with the question of how we might rid ourselves of the obstacles and roll away from our souls the stone which has prevented us thus far from finding the Lord, from giving ourselves entirely to Him, and from letting Him triumph in us. Precisely because we want to find the Lords we have already overcome many obstacles, sustained by His grace; divine Providence has helped us roll away many stones, overcome many difficulties. Nevertheless, the search for God is progressive, and must be maintained during our whole life. For this reason, following the example of the holy women, we must always have a holy preoccupation about finding the Lord, a preoccupation which will make us industrious and diligent in seeking Him, and at the same time confident of the divine aid, since the Lord will certainly take care that we arrive where our own strength could never bring us, because He will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

Every year Easter marks a time of renewal in our spiritual life, in our search for God; every year we reascend the path toward Him in novitate vitae, in newness of life (Rom 6, 4).

COLLOQUY:

“Lord Jesus, good and gentle Jesus, who deigned to die for our sins and to rise for our justification, I beg You, by Your glorious Resurrection, to bring me out of the sepulcher of my vices and sins, so that I may merit to have a real share in Your Resurrection. O most kind Lord, who ascended to Heaven in the triumph of Your glory and are seated at the right hand of the Father, You who are all-powerful, raise me up to You, so that I may run in the odor of Your ointments, run without slackening, while You call and guide me. My soul thirsts; draw me to the divine spring of eternal satiety; lift me out of the abyss toward this living spring, so that I may drink as much as I can of it, and live on it forever, O my God, my Life.

“I pray You, Lord, give my soul the wings of an eagle, that I may fly without weakening, fly, until I reach the splendor of Your glory. There, You will feed me on Your secrets at the table of the heavenly citizens, in the place of Your Pasch, near the celestial fount of eternal satiety. Let my heart rest in You, my heart which resembles a great ocean, agitated by tumultuous waves.

“When shall I see You, O precious, long‑desired, amiable Lord? When shall I appear before Your face? When shall I be satiated with Your beauty? When will You take me out of this dark prison, that I may confess Your Name, without being confused any longer? What shall I do, a wretch loaded down with the chains of my human condition? What shall I do? As long as we are in the body, we are journeying toward the Lord. We have not here a lasting dwelling, but we seek a future city, for our homeland is in heaven.

“As long as I carry about with me these fragile members, give me the grace, O Lord, to cling to You, for he who adheres to the Lord is one spirit with Him” (St. Augustine).

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity… the Masonic slogan of the French Revolution,

Religious Freedom, Collegiality, and Ecumenism, slogan of Neo-modernist Revolution

(In the twentieth century) the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of customs, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times…. depraved priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will incite the hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church to fall upon all priests. This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings upon the good pastors of the Church.

Our Lady of Good Success, to Mother Marianna, 1582

I give You thanks, who illumine me and deliver me, for You have enlightened me and I have known You. Late have I known You, O ancient Truth; late have I known You, O eternal Truth! You were in the light and I was in darkness, and I did not know You, for I had no light without You, and without You, there is no light!

St. Augustine, Confessions

Regina Coeli - ANTHEM TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN

There is a venerable tradition connected with this joyous anthem. It is related that a fearful pestilence raged in Rome, during one of the Easters of the pontificate of St. Gregory the Great. In order to propitiate the anger of God, the holy Pope prescribed a public procession of both people and clergy, in which was to be carried the portrait of our blessed Lady painted by St. Luke. The procession was advancing in the direction of St Peter’s; and as the holy picture, followed by the Pontiff, was carried along, the atmosphere became pure and free from pestilence. Having reached the bridge which joins the city with the Vatican, a choir of angels was heard singing above the picture, and saying: ‘Rejoice, O Queen of heaven, alleluia! for He whom thou didst deserve to bear, alleluia! hath, as he said risen from the grave, alleluia!’ As soon as the heavenly music ceased, the saintly Pontiff took courage, and added these words to those of the angels: ‘Pray to God for us, alleluia!’ Thus was composed the Paschal anthem to our Lady. Raising his eyes to heaven, Gregory saw the destroying angel standing on the top of the Mole of Hadrian, and sheathing his sword. In memory of this apparition the Mole was called the Castle of Sant’ Angelo, and on the dome was placed an immense statue representing an angel holding his sword in the scabbard. Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, Easter

Bright Queen of Heaven! thy joy declare; Alleluia. For He, whom thou deserved to bear; Alleluia.

Hath, as He said, rose from the grave; Alleluia. Petition God our souls to save; Alleluia.

V. Rejoice and be glad O Virgin Mary. Alleluia.

R. For He is truly risen. Alleluia.

Let Us Pray

O God, Who by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, hast vouchsafed to rejoice the world, grant, we beseech Thee, that by the intercession of His Virgin Mother, Mary, we may receive the joys of eternal life, through the same Christ, our Lord. Amen

Dogma is the End of Theological Speculation

But according to a long-standing usage a dogma is now understood to be a truth appertaining to faith or morals, revealed by God, transmitted from the Apostles in the Scriptures or by tradition, and proposed by the Church for the acceptance of the faithful. It might be described briefly as a revealed truth defined by the Church.

Catholic Encyclopedia

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ Is A Dogma

    “The dogmas of the faith are to be held only according to a practical sense, that is, as preceptive norms for action, but not as norms for believing.” Condemned, St. Pius X, Lamentabili
    This condemned proposition distinguishes between “preceptive norms for action” and “norms for believing.”
    All commands, laws, injunctions, admonitions, counsels, and other “perceptive norms for action,” are hierarchical, must be reasonable, must be directed toward the common good, do not bind in cases of necessity or impossibility, do not bind in cases of invincible ignorance, and must be properly promulgated by competent authority. The science of moral theology guides us in the formation of correct consciences to fulfill these “preceptive norms for action.”
    Dogmas are primarily “norms for believing” and only secondarily and indirectly, “preceptive norms for action” in the sense that our actions must be conformable to truth. A dogma is a specific kind of Divine Revelation and is the formal object of Divine and Catholic Faith. Dogma expresses a truth that is universally true, that is, true for all times, places, persons and circumstances. Dogma in itself is sufficient for the faith. Dogma does not forbid elucidation but the elucidation is not necessary to the faith. A child can profess the Catholic Faith in the Trinity in a more perfect manner that best theologian. We as Catholics are required to believe in the Trinity for our salvation, no one has to understand any theology about it. St. Augustine said, “Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand”. We begin with the dogma, which is simple; the understanding is not necessary but may be very beneficial since we are rational creatures. Understanding is the Gift of the Holy Ghost related to the virtue of Faith and can be of great support to the faith. Still, St. Teresa of Avila said regarding the dogma of the Holy Trinity that she more gloried in dogmas of the faith where she understood very little because the exercise of the faith was then far more meritorious.
    St. Pius X, in Lamentabili has condemned the limiting of dogmatic truth with the moral restrictions that apply to commands, laws, injunctions, admonitions, counsels, etc.

The Words and Deeds of Christ, by Joe Sobran - “Evangelizing... begins with transmitting Catholic teaching to children.”

When I was a much younger man, I almost worshipped Shakespeare. He seemed to me almost literally “inspired,” the most eloquent man who ever lived. And he nearly filled the place in my life that Catholicism had briefly occupied after my teenage conversion.
    When I returned to the Catholic Church in my early thirties, I began to see him differently. As a professional writer myself, I still admired him immensely, realizing how impossible it was that I should ever emulate him. But I no longer regarded him as a god. I had another god - namely, God.
    I began to marvel at the words that were truly the most inspired ever uttered: those of Christ. As a writer I felt honored when anyone quoted me or remembered anything I’d written. But Christ is still quoted after 2,000 years. An obscure man, he wrote nothing; we have only a few of the many words he spoke during his life, not in the Hebrew or Aramaic he spoke them in, but translated into Greek and thence into English.
    His words have a unique power that sets them off from all merely human words. Even two removes from their original language, they still penetrate us and rule our consciences. They have changed the world profoundly. He didn’t just perform miracles; he spoke miracles. The words we read from his mouth are miracles. They have a supernatural effect on anyone who is receptive to them.
    One proof of their power is that we also resist them. Sometimes they are unbearable. Like some of the early disciples who fell away, we are tempted to say: “This is hard stuff. Who can accept it?” It’s the natural reaction of the natural man, fallen man.
    Great as Shakespeare is, I never lose sleep over anything he said. He leaves my conscience alone. He is a tremendous virtuoso of language, but much of his beauty is bound to be lost in translation. (I apologize if this offends our German readers; Germans believe that Shakespeare in English was really just raw material for Schiller’s great translations.)
    By the same token, nobody ever feels guilty about anything Plato or Aristotle said. They spoke important and lasting truths often enough, but never anything that disturbs us inwardly. We are never afraid to read them. We aren’t tempted to resist them as we are tempted to resist Christ. The sayings of Confucius and Mohammed haven’t carried over into alien cultures with anything like the force of Christ’s words. They may be very wise at times, or they wouldn’t have endured for many centuries; but still, they are only human.
    But all this raises a question (and here I apologize for offending our Protestant readers). If the Bible is to be our sole guide, why didn’t Christ himself write it? Why didn’t he even expressly tell the Apostles to write it, as far as we know? Why did he leave so much to chance? Yet he said: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” And so far this certainly appears true, though we know of no measures on his part to see to it that his words would be preserved. He seems to have trusted that they would somehow have their effect by their sheer intrinsic power, just as he trusted that his enduring the humiliation, agony, and death of a common criminal would confound every human expectation and fulfill his tremendous mission.
    St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that the Redemption was an even greater miracle than the Creation. I’ve often wondered just what he meant by that, and I think I’m starting to see. The human imagination can readily conceive of God creating the world. The human race has many creation stories and myths; every culture seems to have its own. But nobody imagined, no human being could ever imagine, God becoming a human being and redeeming the human race by submitting to utter disgrace, unspeakable physical pain, and death, ending his life in what appeared even to his disciples to be total futility.

The greatest genius who ever lived could never have foreseen or supposed such a story. It was absolutely contrary to human common sense. It came as a total shock even to the devout and learned Jews who were intimate with the Scriptures and prayed for the coming of the Messiah. The Apostles who had repeatedly heard Christ himself predict his Passion, his destiny on the Cross, failed to comprehend it when it actually came to pass. When his words were fulfilled to the letter, instead of recognizing what seems to us so obvious, they fled in terror. (As we would have done in their place.)

    The New Testament Epistles were written by men who had seen Christ after the Resurrection. A skeptic might dismiss St. Paul’s vision as a hallucination, but Peter, John, and James had seen Christ’s Passion and afterward met him, conversed with him, dined with him, touched him. They didn’t deny their own desertion and loss of faith at the time of his death, just as the ancient Israelites didn’t play down, in their own scriptures, their many defections from the true God; it was an essential part of the story.
    Nor did the authors of the Epistles keep reiterating that the Resurrection was a fact, as if it were in doubt. They simply treated it as something too well known to their hearers to need further proof. They were prepared to die as martyrs in imitation of Christ; Christian suffering, not writing, was to be the chief medium of the Good News for the rest of the world.
    Christ’s words, in their minds, were inseparable from his deeds. He had founded an organization, which we call the Church, and he had told and shown the Apostles how to go about their mission when he was no longer visibly present. It seems to me fatally anachronistic to suppose that distributing literature, in the form of what we now call the Bible, was to be a prominent part of this mission; that was impossible before the printing press, surely a great technological advance but one that had no role in the life of the Church before the fifteenth century. The Apostles had - and could have - no conception of books as we know them, easily mass-produced and cheaply purchased. Before Gutenberg, every book had to be copied by hand, carefully preserved, awkwardly used. Reading itself was a special skill.
    The life of the Church, as prescribed by Christ, was sacramental. He never told the Apostles to write books; he told them to baptize, to preach the Gospel, to forgive sins, and to commemorate the climactic moment of his ministry before the Passion, the Last Supper. He delegated his own authority to them and left much to their discretion, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. That is why Catholics give so much weight to tradition; we aren’t privy to all his instructions to the Apostles, but we trust that they knew what they were doing when they formed the Church in her infancy.
    In one respect Catholics are more fundamentalist than the fundamentalists. We take the words “This is my body” and “This is my blood” very literally. So did the first hearers who rejected the “hard saying” that eating his flesh and drinking his blood was necessary to salvation; he didn’t correct the impression that he meant exactly what he seemed to be saying. Even a current writer, the professedly Catholic Garry Wills, rejects the traditional Catholic doctrine that the priest who consecrates bread and wine converts them into the very body and blood of Christ. Christ’s words, as I say, still provoke resistance. And this is why I believe them.
    What greater proof of his divinity could there be than the fact that he is still resisted, even hated, after 2,000 years? Nobody hates Julius Caesar anymore; it’s pretty hard even to hate Attila the Hun, who left a lot of hard feelings in his day. But the world still hates Christ and his Church.
    The usual form of this hatred is interesting in itself. For every outright persecutor, there are countless people who pretend not to hate Christ, but subtly demote him to the rank of a “great moral teacher,” or say they have nothing against Christianity as long as the “separation of church and state” is observed, or, under the guise of scholarship, affect to winnow out his “authentic” utterances from those falsely ascribed to him - as if the Apostles would have dared to put words in his mouth! And as if such fabricated words would have proved as durable as “authentic” ones! (Try writing a single sentence that anyone could mistake for a saying of Christ for even a century.)

    Most secular-minded people would find it distasteful to nail a Christian to a cross, though there have been exceptions. They prefer to create a certain distance between themselves (or “society”) and Christ, to insulate worldly life from the unbearable Good News, so that they feel no obligation to respond to God’s self-revelation. An especially horrifying concrete application of this insulation of society from Christianity is the reduction of the act of killing unborn children to an abstract political “issue,” a matter about which we can civilly “disagree.”
    Pretending to leave the ultimate questions moot, they actually live in denial of and opposition to the truth we have been given at so much cost. What was formerly Christendom - a civilization built around that central revelation of God to man - has now fallen into a condition of amnesia and indifference.
    Even much of the visible Catholic Church itself has defected from its duty of evangelizing, which begins with transmitting Catholic teaching to children. Ignorance of Catholic doctrine in the “American Church” is now both a scandal and a terrible tragedy.
    The Vatican recently offended its Protestant and Jewish partners in ecumenical “dialogue” by reiterating the most basic claim of the Catholic Church: that it’s the One True Church, the only sure way to salvation. Apparently the tacit precondition of “dialogue” was that the Church stand prepared to renounce her identity. And we can well understand why some people might get the mistaken impression, even from certain papal statements and gestures, that this was a live possibility. But it was a misunderstanding that had to be unequivocally cleared up before any honest conversation could occur.
    Christ always has been, still is, and always will be too much for the human race at large to accept or assimilate. Exactly as he said he would be. The world keeps proving the truth of his words.

The Reactionary Utopian by Joe Sobran is copyright (c) 2010 by the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation, http://www.fgfbooks.com. All rights reserved. It may be forwarded or reprinted if this copyright information is included.

The Church Teaches:

The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and teaches that the matter pertaining to the law of the Old Testament, the Mosaic law, which are divided into ceremonies, sacred rites, sacrifices, and sacraments, because they were established to signify something in the future, although they were suited to the divine worship at that time, after our Lord’s coming had been signified by them, ceased, and the sacraments of the New Testament began; and that whoever, even after the Passion, placed hope in these matters of the law and submitted himself to them as necessary for salvation, as if faith in Christ could not save without them, sinned mortally. Yet it does not deny that after the Passion of Christ up to the promulgation of the Gospel they could have been observed until they were believed to be in no way necessary for salvation; but after the promulgation of the Gospel it asserts that they cannot be observed without the loss of eternal salvation. All, therefore, who after that time [the promulgation of the Gospel] observe circumcision and the Sabbath and the other requirements of the law, the holy Roman Church declares alien to the Christian faith and not in the least fit to participate in eternal salvation.

Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, 1441

The first consideration is that the ceremonies of the Mosaic Law were abrogated by the coming of Christ and that they can no longer be observed without sin after the promulgation of the Gospel.

Pope Benedict XIV, Ex Quo Primum, 1756

And first of all, by the death of our Redeemer, the New Testament took the place of the Old Law which had been abolished… on the gibbet of His death Jesus made void the Law with its decrees [Eph. 2:15]… establishing the New Testament in His blood shed for the whole human race. “To such an extent, then,” says St. Leo the Great, speaking of the Cross of our Lord, “was there effected a transfer from the Law to the Gospel, from the Synagogue to the Church, from many sacrifices to one Victim, that, as our Lord expired, that mystical veil which shut off the innermost part of the temple and its sacred secret was rent violently from top to bottom.” On the Cross then the Old Law died, soon to be buried and to be a bearer of death….

Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis

"[Modernism is the] synthesis of all heresies [whose] system means the destruction not of the Catholic religion alone, but of all religion....

[Modernists] partisans of error are to be sought not only among the Church’s open enemies; but what is to be most dreaded and deplored, in her very bosom, and are all the more mischievous the less they keep in the open.... They put themselves forward as reformers of the Church [though they are] thoroughly imbued with the poisonous doctrines taught by the enemies of the Church.... They assail all that is most sacred in the work of Christ.... [They are] the most pernicious of all the adversaries of the Church... They lay the axe not to the branches and shoots, but to the very root, that is, to the Faith and its deepest fibers.... The most absurd tenet of the Modernists, that every religion according to the different aspect under which it is viewed, must be considered as both natural and supernatural. It is thus that they make consciousness and revelation synonymous. From this they derive the law laid down as the universal standard, according to which religious consciousness is to be put on an equal footing with revelation, and that to it all must submit, even the supreme authority of the Church."

St. Pius X, Pascendi

Therefore: In the Novus Ordo Church of Sweet Dreams where harshness is always frowned upon harshly!

· Religious Liberty is the doctrinal validation of “Religious Consciousness.”

· Ecumenism is the collectivization and synthesis through dialogue of the individual’s “Religious Consciousness.”

· “Faith” is the affirmation of the subjective “Religiousness Consciousness” on the authority of the believer.

· “Dogma” is the historical and transitory expression of “Religiousness Consciousness” for a particular age.

· “Tradition” is the historical experience from which the present “Religious Consciousness” has evolved.

We have a lesson to learn here: it is, that there are some people who believe, but their faith is so weak that the slightest shock would endanger it; they say they have faith, but it is of the most superficial kind. And yet, without a lively and vigorous faith, what can we do in the battle we have to be incessantly waging against the devil, the world, and our own selves? He who wrestles with an enemy is desirous to have a sure footing; if he stand on slippery ground, he is sure to be thrown. Nothing is so common nowadays as unstable faith, which believes as long as there is nothing to try it: but let it be put to the test and it gives way. One principal cause of this weakness of faith is that subtle naturalism, which now fills the atmosphere in which we live, and which it is so difficult not to imbibe. Let us earnestly pray for an invincible and supernatural faith, which may be the ruling principle of our conduct, which may never flinch, and may triumph over both our internal and external enemies. Thus shall we be able to apply to ourselves those words of the Apostle St John: ‘This is the victory which overcometh the world, our faith.’

Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, Easter

The Old Evangelization

Father Isaac Jogues was truly a martyr before God, rendering witness to Heaven and earth that he valued the Faith and the propagation of the gospel more highly than his own life, and losing it in the dangers into which, with full consciousness, he cast himself for Jesus Christ…

Fr. Jérôme Lalemant, S.J., written in 1647, head of the Jesuit Mission in New France. He was the brother of fellow missionary, Fr. Charles Lalemant, and uncle to the Fr. Gabriel Lalemant. St. Gabriel Lalemant was martyred with St. Jean de Brébeuf.

Then he said to them: O foolish, and slow of heart to believe in all things which the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures, the things that were concerning him…... And they said one to the other: Was not our heart burning within us, whilst he spoke in this way, and opened to us the scriptures? Luke 24:25-27, 32

‘Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the root of David hath conquered!’

Nor does the mystery of the Lamb end here. Isaias besought God to ‘send the Lamb’ who was to be ‘the ruler of the earth.’ He comes, therefore, not only that he may be sacrificed, not only that he may feed us with his sacred Flesh, but likewise that he may command the earth and be King. Here, again, is our Pasch. The Pasch is the announcement of the reign of the Lamb. The citizens of heaven thus proclaim it: ‘Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the root of David hath conquered!’ But, if he be the Lion, how is he the Lamb? Let us be attentive to the mystery. Out of love for man, who needed redemption, and a heavenly food that would invigorate, Jesus deigned to be as a lamb: but he had, moreover, to triumph over his own and our enemies; he had to reign, for ‘all power was given to him in heaven and in earth.’ In this his triumph and power, he is a lion; nothing can resist him; his victory is celebrated this day throughout the whole world. Listen to the great deacon of Edessa, St Ephrem: ‘At the twelfth hour, he was taken down from the Cross as a lion that slept.’ ‘Yea, verily, our Lion slept; for his rest in the sepulchre was more like sleep than death,’ as St Leo remarks. Was not this the fulfilment of Jacob’s dying prophecy? This patriarch, speaking of the Messias that was to be born of his race, said: ‘Juda is a lion’s whelp. To the prey, my son, thou art gone up! Resting thou hast couched as a lion. Who shall rouse him’. He has roused himself by his own power. He has risen; a lamb for us, a lion for his enemies; thus uniting, in his Person, gentleness and power. This completes the mystery of our Pasch: a Lamb, triumphant, obeyed, adored. Let us pay him the homage so justly due. Until we be permitted to join, in heaven, with the millions of angels and the four-and-twenty elders, let us repeat, here on earth, the hymn they are forever singing: ‘The Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive power, and divinity, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and benediction!’

Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, Easter

Regardless of what any Synod does - The damage is done!

Most certainly, it is. I hear it myself: I hear it from Catholics, I hear it from bishops. People are claiming now, for instance, that the Church has changed her teaching with regard to sexual relations outside of marriage, with regard to the intrinsic evil of homosexual acts. Or people who are within irregular matrimonial unions are demanding to receive Holy Communion, claiming that this is the will of the Holy Father. And we have astounding situations, like the declarations of the bishop of Antwerp with regard to homosexual acts, which go undisciplined, and so we can see that this confusion is spreading, really, in an alarming way.

Cardinal Raymond Burke

Ecumenical Talking Points with Lutherans

“And the fifth Angel sounded the trumpet; and I saw a star fall from Heaven upon the earth, and to him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit: and the smoke of the pit ascended as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun was darkened, and the air with the smoke of the pit: And from the smoke of the pit, there came out locusts upon the earth, and power was given to them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.” (Apoc: 9:1-3)

Luther did truly open the pit and let loose against the Church all the fury of hell. Therefore modern interpreters almost universally see in this fallen star, Luther.

The whole description of the locusts fits down to the last detail the kings and princes who established by force the heresy of the 16th Century. When Luther propounded his heretical and immoral doctrine, the sky became as it were obscured by smoke. It spread very rapidly over some regions of the earth, and it brought forth princes and kings who were eager to despoil the Church of her possessions. They compelled the people of their domains and in the territories robbed from the Church to accept the doctrines of Luther. The proponents of Protestantism made false translations of the Bible and misled the people into their errors by apparently proving from the ‘Bible’ (their own translations) the correctness of their doctrines. It was all deceit, lying and hypocrisy. Bad and weak, lax and lukewarm, indifferent and non-practicing Catholics and those who had neglected to get thorough instruction were thus misled; and these, seeing the Catholic Church now through this smoke of error from the abyss and beholding a distorted caricature of the true Church, began both to fear and hate her.

Luther did everything to instill hatred of the [Catholic] Church into the hearts of his followers. The princes of Germany eagerly took up Lutheranism to become the spiritual heads of the churches in their domains and to plunder the Church. Their assumed jurisdiction in spiritual matters was usurpation ... In Denmark, Norway and Sweden the Kings imposed Lutheranism upon the people by the power of the sword and by lying, deceit and hypocrisy. They left the altars in the churches and had apostate priests use vestments and external trappings of the Catholic Church to mislead the people. They crushed out the Catholic faith by terrorism, by making it a felony and treason to remain a Catholic. Each monarch made himself the spiritual head of the church in his kingdom. They had so-called historians falsify history to arouse hatred against the Church in the hearts of the people. They pretended to prove the truth of Lutheranism by false translations of the Bible made by Luther and by others and by still falser interpretations of it. Those princes and kings were the locusts appearing in the vision of St. John. They had the teeth of lions to terrify lukewarm Catholics into submission.

Rev. Fr. Herman Bernard Kramer, The Book of Destiny

As we have already said, the heresy will end conservative Catholicism!

“The document will mark the start of the greatest revolution experienced by the Church in 1500 years.”

Cardinal Walter Kasper, comment on the final document of the Synod on the Family

A Historical Indictment

“Yet you, Holy Father, who are always cold and detached regarding the dogma of the Church, have uncritically wed yourself to absurd ecological dogmas … making a granitic profession of faith in that absurd climatist ideology… [I]t is improper and ridiculous that a Pope makes the climate and the environment (to which he dedicated the first encyclical he penned) the heart of his preaching… The Lord did not say: ‘Convert and believe in global warming,’ but rather: “Convert and believe in the Gospel.” And He never commanded: ‘Separate your refuse’ but rather ‘Go and baptize all peoples’“ (p. 134)..... “But above all, Father Bergoglio [a reference to the Pope’s penchant for introducing himself thus], how is it possible that you do not notice and do not indicate other emergencies than those of the climate, or at least with equal insistence? The apostasy of entire peoples from the faith of the true God is not a drama that merits your most ardent appeals? The war against the family and against life? The neglect of Christ and the massacre of Christian communities? It seems that only the environment and other themes of the religion of political correctness merit your passion.
“A great French intellectual, Alain Finkielkraut, has described you as “Supreme Pontiff of the world journalistic ideology.” Is he wrong? Does he exaggerate?
“In effect, in ‘your’ Church it seems that the themes of separating refuse and recycling take precedence over the tragedy of entire peoples who, in the turn of a few years, have abandoned the faith. You sound the alarm over “global warming” while the Church for two millennia has sounded it concerning the fire of Hell” (p. 142).

“Before the spiritual catastrophe of the eternal perdition of multitudes, which induced the mother of God to come earnestly to Earth, I find it frankly incomprehensible that you preoccupy yourself for the most part—as you did in your encyclical Laudato si —with biodiversity, the fate of worms and little reptiles, the lakes, and the abuse of plastic bottles and air-conditioning” (p. 148).

“I invite you, reread attentively these words because they describe dramatically what is occurring during your pontificate. In fact, it is precisely you personally, Holy Father, who accuse of ‘fundamentalism’ those who have a clear and certain faith and bear witness to their fidelity to Catholic doctrine….
“You, curiously, are convinced that the danger for the Church of today is Christians fervent in their faith and those pastors who defend the Catholic creed. In your Evangelii gaudium you attack “some who dream of a monolithic doctrine” and those who “use a language completely orthodox.”
“Should we then prefer those who are carried here and there by every ideology and use heretical language? Evidently yes, seeing that they are never attacked by you.
“If one chooses any day, one will almost always find that you, in your discourse, attack those you call ‘rigorists,’ ‘rigid,’ that is, men with fervent faith, whom you identify with ‘Scribes and Pharisees’“ (p. 153-155).
“(You)should overcome your personal resentment toward those who have studied; you should know that, in the Christian horizon, it is completely absurd to oppose mercy to Truth, because both are incarnated in the same Jesus Christ. Thus it is false to oppose doctrine to the pastoral, because that would be to oppose the Logos (doctrine) to the Good Shepherd (the Truth made flesh): Jesus is the Logos (the Truth made flesh) and, at the same time, the Good Shepherd” (p. 159).

“… closed hearts that often hide even behind the teaching of the Church, or behind good intentions, to sit in the chair of Moses and judge, sometimes with superficiality and superiority, to judge difficult cases and wounded families….
“The true defenders of doctrine are not those who defend the letter but the spirit; not the idea but the man; not the formula, but the gratuitous love of God and of his pardon.”
“So doing, do you not think that you have disqualified your predecessors and all the Magisterium of the Church, in order to affirm your strictly personal concept of mercy different from the doctrine of the Church?...
“Evidently, even Jesus would have been, according to you, doctrinaire, a rigorist, one who defends the idea instead of the man.
“In effect—applying your criterion—we would have to say that Jesus would not have been accepted to a seminary during your pontificate because he was the most fundamentalist of all; in fact, not only was he certain of the truth, but he proclaimed himself the Truth made flesh (‘I am the way, the truth, and the life.’ Jn 14, 6).”

Antonio Socci’s La Profezia Finale

Benedict/Ratzinger breaks his silence or rather, he just can't shut-up!

COMMENT: Benedict/Ratzinger muses, "What I could contribute to a new beginning?" How about to stop blaming everything but yourself. Repentance begins with acknowledging guilt. And that is just the beginning. Even Judas did that. Benedict/Ratzinger nowhere comes close in this self-serving attempt to clear his own name even when he admits to having been in a "position of responsibility as shepherd of the Church at the time of the public outbreak of the crisis, and during the run-up to it."

Indeed! Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller offering his trademark insipid two-cent comment said, “He (Benedict/Ratzinger) made an excellent analysis of this issue. It was better than other explanations and it was very deep because it comes from someone with great experience, who has been in Church government for over 50 years.”

"In Church government for over 50 years." Benedict/Ratzinger's culpability for the current collapse in Catholic faith and morals is evident to every faithful Catholic who has defended tradition, but apparently lost on himself as well as his former CDF shill, Müller.

He will never figure out that the Church was established to convert the world, not the other way around. The "egregious event" that occurred in the 1960s on a scale unprecedented in history" was Vatican II that reconciled the Church to the Revolution of 1792. The destruction of Catholic dogma and Catholic morality only striped the faithful of their defense against the "collapse" of the "normative standards regarding sexuality." This public letter is like Judas at the Pharisees' feet casting down his thirty pieces of silver. Just a worthless gesture. "What I could contribute to a new beginning"? Well, since you asked, nothing. You have nothing to contribute whatsoever. You are not the solution, you are the problem. Please just get out the way and tend to your own spiritual problems because at 92 years of age you haven't much time left before a strict accounting must be made before your Creator and Judge. If you haven't time for that, then you might as well go hang yourself with a halter. Benedict/Ratzinger did not "run from the wolves," he runs with them.

Since I myself had served in a position of responsibility as shepherd of the Church at the time of the public outbreak of the crisis, and during the run-up to it, I had to ask myself - even though, as emeritus, I am no longer directly responsible - what I could contribute to a new beginning......

My work is divided into three parts.

In the first part, I aim to present briefly the wider social context of the question, without which the problem cannot be understood. I try to show that in the 1960s an egregious event occurred, on a scale unprecedented in history. It could be said that in the 20 years from 1960 to 1980, the previously normative standards regarding sexuality collapsed entirely, and a new normalcy arose that has by now been the subject of laborious attempts at disruption.

In the second part, I aim to point out the effects of this situation on the formation of priests and on the lives of priests.

Finally, in the third part, I would like to develop some perspectives for a proper response on the part of the Church......

(1) Among the freedoms that the Revolution of 1968 sought to fight for was this all-out sexual freedom, one which no longer conceded any norms....

Part of the physiognomy of the Revolution of ’68 was that pedophilia was then also diagnosed as allowed and appropriate.....

(2) At the same time, independently of this development, Catholic moral theology suffered a collapse that rendered the Church defenseless against these changes in society. I will try to outline briefly the trajectory of this development.....

In the end, it was chiefly the hypothesis that morality was to be exclusively determined by the purposes of human action that prevailed. While the old phrase “the end justifies the means” was not confirmed in this crude form, its way of thinking had become definitive. Consequently, there could no longer be anything that constituted an absolute good, any more than anything fundamentally evil; [there could be] only relative value judgments. There no longer was the [absolute] good, but only the relatively better, contingent on the moment and on circumstances. [....]

All this makes apparent just how fundamentally the authority of the Church in matters of morality is called into question. Those who deny the Church a final teaching competence in this area force her to remain silent precisely where the boundary between truth and lies is at stake. [.....]

Initial Ecclesial Reactions

(1) The long-prepared and ongoing process of dissolution of the Christian concept of morality was, as I have tried to show, marked by an unprecedented radicalism in the 1960s. This dissolution of the moral teaching authority of the Church necessarily had to have an effect on the diverse areas of the Church. In the context of the meeting of the presidents of the episcopal conferences from all over the world with Pope Francis, the question of priestly life, as well as that of seminaries, is of particular interest. As regards the problem of preparation for priestly ministry in seminaries, there is in fact a far-reaching breakdown of the previous form of this preparation.

In various seminaries homosexual cliques were established, which acted more or less openly and significantly changed the climate in the seminaries. In one seminary in southern Germany, candidates for the priesthood and candidates for the lay ministry of the pastoral specialist [Pastoral referent] lived together. At the common meals, seminarians and pastoral specialists ate together, the married among the laymen sometimes accompanied by their wives and children, and on occasion by their girlfriends. The climate in this seminary could not provide support for preparation to the priestly vocation. The Holy See knew of such problems, without being informed precisely. As a first step, an Apostolic Visitation was arranged of seminaries in the United States. [.....]

Benedict/Ratzinger, Op/Ed Musings

And now, the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris goes down in flames!

Vandals, arsonists target French Catholic churches

CatholicNewsService | Simon Caldwell | March 28, 2019

Vandals and arsonists have targeted French churches in a wave of attacks that has lasted nearly two months.

More than 10 churches have been hit since the beginning of February, with some set on fire while others were severely desecrated or damaged.

St. Sulpice, the second-largest church in Paris, after Notre Dame Cathedral, had the large wooden door on its southern transept set ablaze March 17.

Vandals, arsonists target French Catholic churches Investigators confirmed March 18 that the fire was started deliberately, according to the website of the Vienna-based Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe, an independent organization founded with the help of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences.

In early February, in the Church of Notre-Dame-des-Enfants in Nimes, near the Spanish border, intruders drew a cross on a wall with excrement then stuck consecrated hosts to it.

The tabernacle was broken and other consecrated hosts were destroyed, prompting Bishop Robert Wattebled of Nimes to issue a statement Feb. 8 to say that the desecration was so severe that the church building could not be used until penitential rites of purification had been carried out.

Carmelites, Cistercians and Poor Clares of the diocese offered fasting and prayer to atone for the desecration, and the rite of penance and purification occurred Feb. 13.

In a statement posted on the diocesan website to mark the occasion, Wattebled said purification was necessary because “the deepest meaning of the church … has been for a moment abused, scorned and profaned,” adding that the penitential rite did not absolve the perpetrators of their culpability....

The Church of St Nicholas in Houilles, in north-central France, was targeted by intruders who destroyed a statue of Mary and threw the altar cross to the floor, according to La Croix International, a Catholic daily.

Statues of saints were broken and an altar cloth set on fire in Saint-Alain Cathedral in Lavaur, in south-central France, while hosts were stolen from the Church of Notre-Dame in Dijon, in eastern France, and scattered on the ground.

Five of the attacks took place in just one week, leading French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe to denounce them on Twitter.

“In our secular republic we respect the places of worship,” he tweeted. “Such acts shock me and must be unanimously condemned.”

French media reported a 35-year-old man has confessed to police to carrying out the attack in Houilles, but the mystery surrounding the identities of other culprits has fueled speculation that the offenses might have been carried out by Islamic extremists, secularists or radical feminists....

Major fire ravages Paris’s iconic Cathedral of Notre Dame

CRUX | Inés San Martín | Rome Bureau Chief | April 15, 2019

Major fire ravages Paris’s iconic Cathedral of Notre Dame ROME - A massive fire engulfed Notre Dame, Paris’s famed cathedral, Monday evening Paris time, with firefighters struggling to control the flames and the mayor of the city going to Twitter to ask people to stay away from the area.

Mayor Ann Hidalgo also said that the city was working on the spot “in close connection” with the archdiocese of Paris. A dramatic video, live-streamed on social media, showed the cathedral’s main spire collapse from the blaze.

Over four hours after the fire began, firefighters said they might be able to save the structure.

The blaze collapsed the cathedral’s famous spire and spread to one of its landmark rectangular towers. A spokesman said the entire wooden frame of the cathedral would likely come down, and that the vault of the edifice could be threatened too.

“Everything is burning, nothing will remain from the frame,” Notre Dame spokesman Andre Finot told French media.

It was not immediately clear what caused the fire, but local media are citing police sources calling it an accident, “potentially linked” to the renovation works. [.....]

There is one that humbleth himself wickedly, and his interior is full of deceit: And there is one that submitteth himself exceedingly with a great lowliness: and there is one that casteth down his countenance, and maketh as if he did not see that which is unknown: And if he be hindered from sinning for want of power, if he shall find opportunity to do evil, he will do it. A man is known by his look, and a wise man, when thou meetest him, is known by his countenance. The attire of the body, and the laughter of the teeth, and the gait of the man, shew what he is.

Ecclesiasticus 19: 23-27

Standing_before_Blessed_Sacrament_1.tif

Pope Francis standing before the Blessed Sacrament!

Pope Francis kneeling and kissing the feet of the political emissaries from South Sudan!

Ring_2.tif

Pope Francis kissing the hand of a Jewish rabbi!

Ring_3.tif

Pope Francis refusing his hand to faithful Catholics!

Pope Francis offering his hand to circus performers!

The virtue of fortitude protects a person from loving his life so much that he loses it.

Josef Pieper, A Brief Reader on the Virtues of the Human Heart

Prayer draws its merits from charity; but its imperative efficacy comes from faith and confidence.

St. Thomas

“Only take heed to yourself and guard your soul diligently” (Deut 4:9)

It is a sin to believe there is salvation outside the Catholic Church!

Blessed Pope Pius IX

PREVIOUS BULLETIN POSTS BELOW THAT REMAIN TIMELY:

Remember in your charity the following pray requests:

Please remember our expectant mothers: Vanessa LoStrocco, Kelly Boyle, and Andrea Ebert,

For the health of Dale Kinsey and his brother, Colin,

Gene Peters ask our prayers for the health of David Keithley, and for the welfare of Linda Stapp, Lori Kerr and Sara McStockard,

For the health and recovery of Karen Fergel who is gravely ill,

The conversion and grace of a holy death, Carol Reichwein, and a good death for, Ricardo DaSilva,

For Kay Levitt, who is ill,

Fr. John Murphy, for his spiritual and physical welfare, and Fr. Joseph Collins, who is gravely ill,

Charles Muldowney, who is terminally ill,

Luis Rafael Zelaya, for his conversion,

For the health of Kim Cochran, the daughter-in-law of Joseph and Brenda Cochran, the wife of their son Joshua,

Louie Verrecchio, Catholic apologist, who has a health problem,

John Minidis, Jr. family, for help in their spiritual trial,

John and Joann DeMarco, for their health and spiritual welfare,

Regina (Manidis) Miller, her spiritual welfare and health,

Melissa Elena Levitt, her health and conversion, and welfare of her children,

For the spiritual and temporal welfare of Irwin Kwiat,

Fr. Waters asks our prayers for Elvira Donahy, who is recovering from a stroke,

Kimberly Ann, the daughter of John and Joann DeMarco, for her health and spiritual welfare,

Mufide Rende, a traditional Catholic from India has asked our prayers for her welfare,

Mary and Bill Glatz, the welfare of their family,

Barbara Harmon, who is gravely ill, and still cares for her ailing parents,

For the health and welfare of Kolinsky and Sorace families,

Fr. Waters asks our prayers for the health and spiritual welfare of Brian Abramowitz,

Thomas Schiltz family, in grateful appreciation for their contribution to the beauty of our chapel,

Welfare of Bishop Richard Williamson, for strength and courage in the greater battles to come,

Angelina Montesano family & Helen Snyder, for their health and spiritual welfare,

Michael J. Brigg & his family, who have helped with the needs of the Mission,

The conversion of David Keithley and the welfare of the Nathaniel Miller family, are the petitions of Gene Peters,

For the conversion of Ben & Tina Boettcher family, Karin Fraessdorf, Eckhard Ebert, and Fahnauer family,

Fr. Waters requests our prayers for Br. Rene, SSPX who has been ill, and for Fr. Thomas Blute,

For the health and welfare of Kathryn Lederhos, the aunt of David Drew,

For the welfare of Fr. Paul DaDamio and Fr. William T. Welsh,

The Drews ask our prayers for the welfare of Joe & Tracy Sentmanat family, Keith & Robert Drew, Christy Koziol & her children, Fred Nesbit and Michael Nesbit families, and Gene Peters Family, the John Manidis Jr. Family, the Sal Messinio Family, Michael Proctor Family,

Ryan Boyle grandmother, Jane Boyle, who is failing health,

Eberts request our prayers for the Andreas & Jenna Ortner Family,

Joyce Paglia has asked prayers for George Richard Moore Sr. & his children, and her brother, George Panell,

For the welfare of Anthony & Joyce Paglia, who are responsible for the beautiful statuary in our chapel,

Philip Thees asks our prayers for his family, for McLaughlin Family, the conversion of Bruce Heller, &, the welfare and conversion of Dan & Polly Weand, the conversion of Sophia Herman, Tony Rosky, the welfare Nancy Erdeck, the wife of the late Deacon Erdeck, and the health of his brother, Thomas Thees, John Calasanctis, Tony Rosky, Anthony, and Stephanie Mest.

Pray for the Repose of the Souls:

Leslie Matatics, the wife of Gerry Matatics, who died wearing the scapular of our Lady of Mt. Carmel, March 24,

Carla Whitmire, the niece of Dale Kinsey, died,

Kay Levitt, friend of Claudia Drew, who died January 17,

Nancy Balenasse, wife of Anthony, married 73 years, died December 22,

Alfred de Prospero, the brother of Fr. Nicholas de Prospero, died November 29,

Adeline Nardi, died November 13,

Janet Gardner, died March 2017, and Carl Ropeter who died in 2017, Stephen Cagorski, died 2014, John Bogda, died who 2017,

Rev. Paul Petko, who helped with our Mission in the past, died October 21,

Auxiliadora de Gomez, died July 4, the Godmother and aunt of Claudia Drew, and her husband, Eduardo Gomez Lopez, February 28,

Lawrence Hartzer, died June 11,

Sandra Peters, the wife of Gene Peters, who died June 10 receiving the sacraments and wearing our Ladys scapular,

Rev. Francis Slupski, a priest who kept the Catholic faith and its immemorial traditions, died May 14,

John and Marlin Manidis, died July 2017,

Joseph and Constance Brown, died 2017,

Martha Mochan, the sister of Philip Thees, died April 8,

Elena Popadenic, for the blessed repose of her soul,

George Kirsch, our good friend and supporter of this Mission, died February 15,

For Fr. Paul J. Theisz, died October 17, is the petition of Fr. Waters,

Fr. Mecurio Fregapane, died Jan 17, was not a traditional priest but always charitable,

Fr. Casimir Peterson, a priest who often offered the Mass in our chapel and provided us with sound advice, died December 4,

Fr. Constantine Bellasarius, a faithful and always charitable Eastern Rite Catholic Melkite priest, who left the Roman rite, died November 27,

Christian Villegas, a motor vehicle accident, his brother, Michael, requests our prayers,

John Vennari, the former editor of Catholic Family News, and for his familys welfare,

Mary Butler, the aunt of Fr. Samuel Waters, died October 17,

Joseph DeMarco, the nephew of John DeMarco, died October 3,

John Fergale, died September 25 after receiving the traditional sacramental rites of the Church wearing the brown scapular,

John Gabor, the brother of Donna Marbach, died September 9,

Fr. Eugene Dougherty, a faithful priest, fittingly died on the Nativity of the BVM after receiving the traditional Catholic sacraments,

Phyllis Schlafly, died September 5,

Helen Mackewicz, died August 14,

Mark A. Wonderlin, who died August 2,

Fr. Carl Cebollero, a faithful priest to tradition who was a friend of Fr. Waters and Fr. DeMaio,

Jessica Cortes, a young mother of ten who died June 12,

Frances Toriello, a life-long Catholic faithful to tradition, died June3, the feast of the Sacred Heart, and her husband Dan, died in 1985,

John McLaughlin, a friend of the Drews, died May 22,

Angela Montesano, who died April 30, and her husband, Salvatore, who died in July 3, 2013,

Charles Schultz, died April 5, left behind nine children and many grandchildren, all traditional Catholics,

Esperanza Lopez de Callejas, the aunt of Claudia Drew, died March 15,

Fr. Edgardo Suelo, a faithful priest defending our traditions who was working with Fr. Francois Chazal in the Philippines, died February 19,

Conde McGinley, a long time laborer for the traditional faith, died February 12, at 96 years,

The Drew family requests your prayers for Ida Fernandez and Rita Kelley, parishioners at St. Jude,

Fr. Stephen Somerville, a traditional priest who repented from his work with the Novus Ordo English translation, died December 12,

Fr. Arturo DeMaio, a priest that helped this Mission with the sacraments and his invaluable advice, died December 2,

J. Paul Carswell, died October 15, 2015,

Solange Hertz, a great defender of our Catholic faith, died October 3, the First Saturday of the month,

Paula Haigh, died October 21, a great defender of our Catholic faith in philosophy and natural science,

Gabriella Whalin, the mother of Gabriella Schiltz, who died August 25,

Mary Catherine Sick, 14 year old from a large traditional Catholic family, died August 25,

Fr. Paul Trinchard, a traditional Catholic priest, died August 25,

Stephen J. Melnick, Jr., died on August 21, a long-time faithful traditional Catholic husband and father, from Philadelphia,

Patricia Estrada, died July 29, her son Alex petitions our prayers for her soul,

Fr. Nicholas Gruner, a devoted priest & faithful defender of Blessed Virgin Mary and her Fatima message, died April 29,

Sarah E. Shindle, the grandmother of Richard Shindle, died April 26,

Madeline Vennari, the mother of John Vennari, died December 19,

Salvador Baca Callejas, the uncle of Claudia Drew, died December 13,

Robert Gomez, who died in a motor vehicle accident November 29,

Catherine Dunn, died September 15,

Anthony Fraser, the son of Hamish Fraser, died August 28,

Jeannette Rhoad, the grandmother of Devin Rhoad, who died August 24,

John Thees, the uncle of Philip Thees, died August 9,

Sarah Harkins, 32 year-old mother of four children, died July 28,

Anita Lopez, the aunt of Claudia Drew,

Fr. Kenneth Walker, a young traditional priest of the FSSP who was murdered in Phoenix June 11,

Fr. Waters petitions our prayers for Gilberte Violette, the mother of Fr. Violette, who died May 6,

Pete Hays petitions our prayers for his brothers, Michael, died May 9, and James, died October 20, his sister, Rebecca, died March17, and his mother, Lorraine Hayes who died May 4,

Philip Marbach, the father of Paul Marbach who was the coordinator at St. Jude in Philadelphia, died April 21,

Richard Slaughtery, the elderly sacristan for the SSPX chapel in Kansas City, died April 13,

Bernedette Marie Evans nee Toriello, the daughter of Daniel Toriello , died March 31, a faithful Catholic who suffered many years with MS,

Natalie Cagorski, died march 23,

Anita Lopez de Lacayo, the aunt of Claudia Drew, who died March 21,

Mario Palmaro, Catholic lawyer, bioethicist and professor, apologist, died March 9, welfare of his widow and children,

Daniel Boyle, the uncle of Ryan Boyle, died March 4,

Jeanne DeRuyscher, who died on January 25,

Arthur Harmon, died January 18,

Fr. Waters petitions our prayers for the soul of Jeanne DeRuyscher, who died January 17,

Joseph Proctor, died January 10,

Susan Scott, a devote traditional Catholic who made the vestments for our Infant of Prague statue, died January 8,

Brother Leonard Mary, M.I.C.M., (Fred Farrell), an early supporter and friend of Fr. Leonard Feeney, died November 23,

John Fergale, requests our prayers for his sister Connie, who died December 19,

Jim Capaldi, died December 15,

Brinton Creager, the son of Elizabeth Carpenter, died December 10,

Christopher Lussos, age 27, the father of one child with an expecting wife, died November 15,

Jarett Ebeyer, 16 year old who died in his sleep, November 17, at the request of the Kolinskys,

Catherine Nienaber, the mother of nine children, the youngest three years of age, killed in MVA after Mass, 10-29,

Nancy Aldera, the sister of Frances Toriello, died October 11, 2013 at 105 years of age,

Mary Rita Schiltz, the mother of Thomas Schiltz, who died August 27,

William H. (Teddy) Kennedy, Catholic author of Lucifers Lodge, died August 14, age 49, cause of death unknown,

Alfred Mercier, the father of David Mercier, who died August 12,

The Robert Kolinsky asks our prayers for his friend, George Curilla, who died August 23,

John Cuono, who had attended Mass at our Mission in the past, died August 11,

Raymond Peterson, died July 28, and Paul Peterson, died February 19, the brothers of Fr. Casimir Peterson,

Margaret Brillhart, who died July 20,

Msgr. Joseph J. McDonnell, a priest from the diocese of Des Moines, who died June 8,

Patrick Henry Omlor, who wrote Questioning The Validity of the Masses using the New, All English Canon, and for a series of newsletters which were published as The Robber Church, died May 2, the feast of St Athanasius,

Bishop Joseph McFadden, died unexpectedly May 2,

Timothy Foley, the brother-in-law of Michelle Marbach Folley, who died in April,

William Sanders, the uncle of Don Rhoad, who died April 2,

Gene Peters ask our prayers for the repose of the soul of Mark Polaschek, who died March 22,

Cecelia Thees, died February 24,

Elizabeth Marie Gerads, a nineteen year old, the oldest of twelve children, who died February 6,

Michael Schwartz, the co-author with Fr. Enrique Rueda of Gays, Aids, and You, died February 3,

Stanley W. Moore, passed away in December 16, and Gerard (Jerry) R. Pitman, who died January 19, who attended this Mission in the past,

Louis Fragale, who died December 25,

Fr. Luigi Villa, Th.D. author of Vatican II About Face! detailing the heresies of Vatican II, died November 18 at the age of 95,

Rev. Michael Jarecki, a faithful traditional Catholic priest who died October 22,and Rev. Hector Bolduc, who died September 10,

Jennie Salaneck, died September 19 at 95 years of age, a devout and faithful Catholic all her life,

Dorothy Sabo, who died September 26,

Cynthia (Cindy) Montesano Reinhert, the mother of nine children, four who are still at home, died August 19,

Regina Spahalsky, who died June 24, and for the soul of Francis Lester, her son,

Julia Atkinson, who died April 30,

Antonio P. Garcia, who died January 6, 2012 and the welfare of his teenage children, Andriana and Quentin,

Helen Crane, the aunt of David Drew who died February 27,

Fr. Timothy A. Hopkins, of the National Shrine of St. Philomena, in Miami, November 2,

Frank Smith, who died February 7, and the welfare of his wife, Delores,

Eduardo Cepeda, who died January 26,

Larry Young, the 47 year old father of twelve who died December 10 and the welfare of his wife Katherine and their family,

Sister Mary Bernadette, M.I.C.M., a founding member of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, died December 16,

Joeseph Elias, who died on September 28,

William, the brother of Fr. Waters, who died September 7,

Donald Tonelli, died August 1,

Rev. Fr. Gregory Hesse, of Austria, a great defender of Catholic Truth, died January 25, 2006,

Emma Colasanti, who died May 29,

Mary Dullesse, who died April 12, a Catholic convert who died wearing our Ladys scapular,

Ruth Jantsch, the grandmother of Andre Ebert, who died April 7, Derrick and Denise Palengat, his godparents,

Philip D. Barr, died March 5, and the welfare of his family,

Judith Irene Kenealy, the mother of Joyce Paglia, who died February 23, and her son, George Richard Moore, who died May 14,

For Joe Sobran who died September 30,

Fr. Hector Bolduc, a great and faithful priest, died, September 10, 2012,

John Vennari asks our prayers for Dr. Raphael Waters who died August 26,

Stanley Bodalsky, the father of Mary Ann Boyle who died June 25,

Mary Isabel Kilfoyle Humphreys, a former York resident and friend of the Drews, who died June 6th,

Rev. John Campion, who offered the traditional Mass for us every first Friday until forbidden to do so by Bishop Dattilo, died May 1,

Joseph Montagne, who died May 5,

For Margaret Vagedes, the aunt of Charles Zepeda, who died January 6,

Fr. James Francis Wather, died November 7, 2006, author of The Great Sacrilege and Who Shall Ascend?, a great defender of dogma and liturgical purity,

Fr. Enrique Rueda, who died December 14, 2009, to whom our Mission is indebted,

Fr. Peterson asks to remember, Leonard Edward Peterson, his cousin, Wanda, Angelica Franquelli, and the six priests ordained with him.

Philip Thees petitions our prayers for Beverly Romanick, Deacon Michael Erdeck, Henry J. Phillips, Grace Prestano, Connie DiMaggio, Elizabeth Thorhas, Elizabeth Thees, Theresa Feraker, Hellen Pestrock, and James & Rose Gomata, and Kathleen Heinbach,

Fr. Didier Bonneterre, the author of The Liturgical Movement, and Fr. John Peek, both were traditional priests,

Brother Francis, MICM, the superior of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Richmond, NH, who died September 5,

Rodolfo Zelaya Montealegre, the father of Claudia Drew, who died May 24,

Rev. Francis Clifford, a devout and humble traditional priest, who died on March 7, priest, who died on March 7,

Benjamin Sorace, the uncle of Sonya Kolinsky.

High Treason: “Betrayal of your sovereign by acts of aid and comfort to the monarch’s ‘enemies.’”

On the one hand, therefore, it is necessary that the mission of teaching whatever Christ had taught should remain perpetual and immutable, and on the other that the duty of accepting and professing all their doctrine should likewise be perpetual and immutable. “Our Lord Jesus Christ, when in His Gospel He testifies that those who not are with Him are His enemies, does not designate any special form of heresy, but declares that all heretics who are not with Him and do not gather with Him, scatter His flock and are His adversaries: He that is not with Me is against Me, and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth” (S. Cyprianus, Ep. lxix., ad Magnum, n. I).

The Church, founded on these principles and mindful of her office, has done nothing with greater zeal and endeavour than she has displayed in guarding the integrity of the faith. Hence she regarded as rebels and expelled from the ranks of her children all who held beliefs on any point of doctrine different from her own. The Arians, the Montanists, the Novatians, the Quartodecimans, the Eutychians, did not certainly reject all Catholic doctrine: they abandoned only a certian portion of it. Still who does not know that they were declared heretics and banished from the bosom of the Church? In like manner were condemned all authors of heretical tenets who followed them in subsequent ages. “There can be nothing more dangerous than those heretics who admit nearly the whole cycle of doctrine, and yet by one word, as with a drop of poison, infect the real and simple faith taught by our Lord and handed down by Apostolic tradition” (Auctor Tract. de Fide Orthodoxa contra Arianos). Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum, On the Unity of the Church

Now it can be said briefly that those who defend blindly and indiscriminately any judgment whatsoever of the Supreme Pontiff concerning every matter weaken the authority of the Apostolic See. They do not support it; they subvert it. They do not fortify it. Peter has no need of our lies; he has no need of our adulation.

Fr. Melchoir Cano, O.P., First Chair of Theology at the University of Salamanca, Theologian at the Council of Trent

Religious Liberty: The belief that the dignity of the creature voids the First Commandment

The great achievement of the Second Vatican Council and those who deny it Fabrizio Mastrofini, Rome 3-21-13

The Austrian theologian Jan-Heiner Tück, born in 1967 and professor of Dogmatic Theology in Vienna, has cut short the debate on whether the Council has brought continuity to the Church or not.…. What is the Council’s fundamental achievement? The clear, precise and irrefutable affirmation of religious freedom and freedom of conscience as basic human rights. Tück insisted: “Above all the Council explicitly recognized the right to freedom of religion and conscience, that not even 100 years before had been listed as one of ‘the errors of our time’ by Pius IX”. The Austrian theologian explained further: “One of the greatest achievements of the Council is to recognize freedom of religion and conscience as human rights.” This is what is at stake in the negotiations with the Lefebvrians and in the relations with all ultra-conservative Catholic groups. However the achievement of the Second Vatican Council cannot be doubted and this ought to be the starting point for the Church to look to the future and to stop looking backwards to the past.

Neo-Modernism of the Novus Ordo shares a common end with Modernism!

The opening of Vatican II John XXIII declared that there existed a disjunction between dogma and its "external formula or terminology"!

Modernism is condemned because it virtually destroys Christian dogma by denying that the dogmas of faith are contained in the revelation made by the Holy Spirit to the Catholic Church and subsequently defined through the supreme authority of the same Ecclesia docens^{1}. Once the Holy Spirit, speaking through the supreme magisterium^{2} of the Church, defines a doctrine as de fide^{3} the dogma in question remains, both in se^{4} and in its external formula or terminology, unchanged and unchangeable, like God, Whose voice it communicates to us, in the shape of definite truth. Modernism tells us quite the reverse.

{1} Ecclesia docens -- i.e., 'the teaching Church.'

{2} Magisterium = 'teaching authority.'

{3} De fide = 'what is of faith.'

{4} In se = 'in itself.'

Rev. Father Norbert Jones, C.R.L., Old Truths, Not Modernist Errors, Exposure of Modernism and Vindication of its Condemnation by the Pope, 1908

True Doctrinal Development

If you sow wheat, you get an increase in wheat; if you sow lies, you get an increase in lies.

The growth of religion in the soul must be analogous to the growth of the body, which, though in process of years it is developed and attains its full size, yet remains still the same. There is a wide difference between the flower of youth and the maturity of age; yet they who were once young are still the same now that they have become old, insomuch that though the stature and outward form of the individual are changed, yet his nature is one and the same, his person is one and the same. An infants limbs are small, a young mans large, yet the infant and the young man are the same. Men when full grown have the same number of joints that they had when children; and if there be any to which maturer age has given birth these were already present in embryo, so that nothing new is produced in them when old which was not already latent in them when children.

This, then, is undoubtedly the true and legitimate rule of progress, this the established and most beautiful order of growth, that mature age ever develops in the man those parts and forms which the wisdom of the Creator had already framed beforehand in the infant... In like manner, it behooves Christian doctrine to follow the same laws of progress, so as to be consolidated by years, enlarged by time, refined by age, and yet, withal, to continue uncorrupt and unadulterate, complete and perfect in all the measurement of its parts, and, so to speak, in all its proper members and senses, admitting no change, no waste of its distinctive property, no variation in its limits...

This rather should be the result,--there should be no discrepancy between the first and the last. From doctrine which was sown as wheat, we should reap, in the increase, doctrine of the same kind--wheat also; so that when in process of time any of the original seed is developed, and now flourishes under cultivation, no change may ensue in the character of the plant. There may supervene shape, form, variation in outward appearance, but the nature of each kind must remain the same.

St. Vincent Lerins, Commonitory

St. Paul says, If we judge ourselves we shall not be judged. If we examine and search into our conscience, submitting it to a rigorous trial, and if, when we discover any sins, we wash them away with tears of contrition, we shall not be judged by God; in other words, we shall escape punishment at His awful judgment.

Rev. Cornelius a Lapide, The Great Commentary

The Novus Ordo Church by any other name would smell the same!

Pope John Paul II’s first encyclical, Redemptor Hominis, was addressed primarily to members of the “sons and daughters of the Church.” So, exactly what Church is this that he was addressing? Not once does the word “Roman” appear in the letter. Not once does the word “Catholic” occur. The letter is addressed to the “Church of the New Advent.” This Church is referenced by name four times in the document. The Church of the New Advent traces its roots to Vatican II Council. Pope John Paul II said in the letter that, “I am entering into the rich inheritance of the recent pontificates. This inheritance has struck deep roots in the awareness of the Church in an utterly new way, quite unknown previously, thanks to the Second Vatican Council.” The Church of the New Advent in “an utterly new way, quite unknown previously” has its own worship, doctrines, morality and traditions which are entirely foreign to the Roman Catholic Church. This Church of the New Advent has not “struck deep roots.” In fact, it has no roots at all. We should be thankful to God that Pope Francis, who is entirely divorced from any Catholic teaching and tradition formation that might mask his actions, should make evident to all the “utterly new” moral implications of the Church of the New Advent’s “utterly new” doctrines in a manner in which no faithful Catholic can fail to recognize as utterly foreign to the Church founded by Jesus Christ.

Vatican Confirms what is Common Knowledge!

Pope Francis reveals his thought by his actions, gestures, attitudes, and omissions.

One cannot say that Pope Francis did not actually answer the cardinals Dubia, at least indirectly. His actions, gestures, attitudes and omissions reveal his thought as much as explicit words. And the support he has given to bishops conferences that interpret Amoris Laetitia as a permission, at least in principle, for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive sacramental absolution and Communion makes clear his own interpretation of Chapter 8 of Amoris Laetitia.

Francesco Cardinal Coccopalmerio, president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts

“In time, one faith, one baptism, one Church, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic.”

Around four oclock in the afternoon on January 3^rd 1944, in the convent chapel of Tuy, in front of the Tabernacle, Our Lady urged Sister Lucia to write the text of the Third Secret and Sister Lucia recounts:

I felt my spirit inundated by a mystery of light that is God and in Him I saw and heard the point of a lance like a flame that is detached touch the axis of the earth and it trembles: mountains, cities, towns and villages with their inhabitants are buried. The sea, the rivers and clouds exceed their boundaries, inundating and dragging with them in a vortex, houses and people in a number that cannot be counted; it is the purification of the world from the sin in which it is immersed. Hatred, ambition, provoke the destructive war. After I felt my heart racing and in my spirit a soft voice that said: In time, one faith, one baptism, one Church, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic. In eternity, Heaven! This word Heaven filled my heart with peace and happiness in such a way that, almost without being aware of it, I kept repeating to myself for a long time: Heaven, Heaven!!

A Path Under the Eyes of Mary (Um Caminho sob o olhar de Maria), published in 2013 by the Carmel of Coimbra

COMMENT: Pope Francis repeatedly corrupts the meaning of sacred Scripture in the service of his heretical ideology with novel interpretations foreign to every Church Father and Doctor. In the same vein, he quotes St. Vincent of Lerinsas if this great Father of Church's writings would approve of his novelties. They in fact condemn the man and his every act. Unfortunately for Francis, St. Vincent of Lerins' writings are available on-line which even a casual reading will make Pope Francis look not only vicious, but stupid.

Pope defends changing death penalty teaching, says Church has grown in understanding

LifeSiteNews | ROME | April 2, 2019 “ Pope Francis aroused more controversy this week, making even more explicit his apparent belief that the death penalty is always and everywhere wrong, while frankly acknowledging that the Church has not taught this in the past.

He sought to justify this change by invoking the ancient theologian, St. Vincent of Lerins, and his doctrine of development in the Church.

During the inflight press conference on his return from Morocco on Sunday, March 31, a journalist asked the Pope if he were concerned that Muslims who convert to Christianity thereby risk imprisonment or even death in some Muslim countries.

In Morocco, as in many Muslim countries (such as the United Arab Emirates which the Pope also recently visited), conversion to Christianity is banned.

I can say that in Morocco there is freedom of worship, there is freedom of religion, there is freedom to belong to a religious creed. Then freedom always develops, it grows, the Pope responded. Think about us Christians, 300 years ago, if there was the freedom that we have today. Faith grows in awareness, in the ability to understand itself.

The Pope expounded on the point, invoking the ancient saint whose thought played a pivotal role in Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newmans classic work, On the Development of Christian Doctrine. He told journalists aboard the papal plane:

A fifth-century French monk, Vincent of Lerins, coined a beautiful expression to explain how one can grow in faith, explain things better, and also grow in moral [understanding] but always being faithful to the roots. He said three words but they indicate the road: he said that growth in the explaining [esplicitazione] and awareness of faith and morals must be ut annis consolidetur, dilatetur tempore, sublimetur aetate, that is, growth must be strengthened through the years, expanded over time, but it is the same faith that is exalted over the years.

This is how we understand, for example, that today we have removed the death penalty from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, he said.

Three hundred years ago, heretics were burned alive. Because the Church has grown in moral understanding, and in respect for the person, he added.

This is not the first time Pope Francis has invoked St. Vincent of Lerins.

In an interview with the Jesuit-run La Civilt Cattolica six months into his pontificate (September 2013), the Pope argued on the basis of the aforementioned statement from the fifth-century monk that the thinking of the Church must.....understand how human beings understand themselves today, in order to develop and deepen the Churchs teaching.

In November 2016, he cited the same passage as he questioned why young Catholics would be drawn to the traditional liturgy.

And in his 'God of Suprises' homily, on May 8, 2017, he again had recourse to St. Vincents words, inviting Catholics to pray for the grace of discernment so as not to fall into immobility, rigidity and a closed heart.

Inflight press conferences have no magisterial weight. Nonetheless, LifeSite asked one of leading experts on the Catholic Churchs teaching on the death penalty to weigh in on the Popes latest remarks and invocation of St. Vincent of Lerins.

An expert weighs in

Renowned Catholic philosopher Edward Feser, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Pasadena City College in Pasadena, California, is one of the foremost contemporary writers in the Thomistic tradition, and a leading expert on the Churchs teaching on the death penalty.

He is the author of numerous works, including By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed (with Joseph Bessette) and the forthcoming Aristotles Revenge.

By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed is a study and defense of the perennial Catholic teaching on the death penalty as legitimate in principle and often advisable in practice even in contemporary social conditions.

In comments to LifeSite, Feser said:

It is odd for the pope to cite St. Vincent of Lerinsin defense of the recent change to the Catechism, because St. Vincent was the opposite of sympathetic to innovative and ambiguous theological formulations of the kind represented by the new language. Indeed, his major theme was precisely to condemn, in harsh and unmistakable terms, all novelties in doctrine, by which he meant teachings that were not true developments but reversals of what the Church has taught in the past.

Feser then explained that development is only legitimate if it logically follows what has already been taught in the deposit of faith. It is therefore is a legitimate development if it’s a logical conclusion of what the Church has taught in the past. If a given teaching is not a logical conclusion, it cannot be legitimate.

He said: Suppose, to take an artificial example, that the Church had taught that All men are mortal and Socrates is a man. If she later explicitly taught that Socrates is mortal, then this would not be a novelty in the sense condemned by St. Vincent, because this follows logically from what she had earlier taught.

Even if she had not taught it explicitly, she did teach it implicitly. Simply making this explicit would be a true development of doctrine, he added.

The noted philosopher continued: Suppose instead, however, that the Church later taught that Socrates is not mortal. This would be a novelty, a corruption of doctrine and not a true development at all, because it would contradict what was implicitly taught earlier.

Feser insisted that not only does St. Vincent of Lerinsnot support logical rupture but he is preoccupied with preventing such novelties. He said:

Now, St. Vincent absolutely hammers on the theme that Catholics must avoid novelties or even reinterpretations of past doctrine, and that when some new teaching or reinterpretation seems to conflict with antiquity, we must cling to antiquity. Quite rigidly, you might say. He is very, very insistent on this and very harsh even on people who would try to use ambiguous formulations to smuggle in novelties, let alone those who brazenly propose them.

The author of By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed told LifeSite:

Now, in the case of capital punishment, things are far less ambiguous even than my artificial example, because scripture, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and previous popes have all already explicitly taught, over and over and over again, that capital punishment can be legitimate at least in principle and in some circumstances. They already explicitly considered the suggestion that capital punishment is per se contrary to justice or to the Gospel, and explicitly rejected that claim as heterodox.

So, for the Church now to teach that capital punishment is always and intrinsically immoral would be a crystal-clear example of a novelty in St. Vincents sense, Feser argued.

This is why it is the Popes duty clearly and explicitly to reaffirm the traditional teaching that capital punishment is not always and intrinsically wrong, even if he also wants to recommend against its actual use in modern circumstances, he explained. This is exactly what his predecessor St. John Paul II was careful to do, and there can be no doubt that it would be exactly what St. Vincent would urge.

Sanctuary of truth vs. brothel of error

A Dominican theologian who spoke with LifeSite on condition of anonymity said regarding Pope Franciss recent comments on the death penalty: On capital punishment Pope Francis unfortunately continues to talk as if he can justify putting himself in contradiction with the teaching of the Church by speaking of development.

As Bishop Athanasius Schneider has recently said, Pope Francis is contradicting a bi-millennial doctrine, he added, referring to Schneiders essay on what the Church should do about a heretical pope.

With regard to religious freedom, the theologian continued, the Church has a God-given power of using sanctions against her delinquent members, including punishing crimes such as heresy. As modern canon law still teaches, these sanctions can be either spiritual, like excommunication, or bodily, like confinement to a monastery.

In a Catholic country which officially recognizes the Churchs authority, the Church can call on the civil power to help enforce these sanctions, he said. No pope or council can strip this right from the Church, though they may decide not to use it, he said.

Unfortunately, the Dominican sighed, as often with this pope, his words savor strongly of the heresy of modernism, which denies that the dogmas of the Church keep the same meaning from one generation to the next.

He noted that St Vincents great concern is that we should believe only what has always been believed” as he puts it, that we must in no way depart from those interpretations which it is manifest were notoriously held by our holy ancestors and fathers (Commonitorium Primum, chapter 2).

He insists that development must be in the same doctrine, in the same sense, and in the same meaning, he explained. Otherwise, he says it is like a change from a man to a monster.

The Dominican offered the following example: St. John said, the Word became flesh, and 600 years later a council of the Church defined that Christ had two wills. That is an example of what he means. If 600 years later, another council said that Christ had 3 wills, that would be corruption.

Citing the same work from the ancient saint of Lerins, the theologian concluded:

St. Vincent warns against false development, writing: If what is new begins to be mingled with what is old, foreign with domestic, profane with sacred, the custom will of necessity creep on universally, till at last the Church will have nothing left untampered with, nothing unadulterated, nothing sound, nothing pure; but where formerly there was a sanctuary of chaste and undefiled truth, thenceforward there will be a brothel of impious and base errors. This is the danger today (ch. 58).

Summing up St. Vincent of Lerins

The authentic doctrine of St. Vincent of Lerinsmight best be summed up in the words taken from him with which the First Vatican Council concludes its dogmatic constitution on the Catholic Faith, Dei Filius. The passage reads:

That meaning of the sacred dogmas is ever to be maintained which has once been declared by Holy Mother Church, and there must never be any abandonment of this sense under the pretext or in the name of a more profound understanding. May understanding, knowledge and wisdom increase as ages and centuries roll along, and greatly and vigorously flourish, in each and all, in the individual and the whole Church: but this only in its own proper kind, that is to say, in the same doctrine, the same sense, and the same understanding [Vincent of Lerins, Commonitorium primum 23].

And Jesus said to them: “Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned.” Mark 16: 15-16

Pope Francis warns Moroccan Christians against proselytism

LifeSiteNews | RABAT, Morocco | April 2, 2019

“Pope Francis has asked Christians in Morocco not to actively seek converts to their faith.

In a headline-grabbing homily in Rabats Cathedral of Saint Peter this Sunday, the Bishop of Rome told the congregation that although they found being a minority uncomfortable, he did not see it as a problem, suggesting that Christians are meant to be a minority in the Arab world.

What are Christians like, in these lands? To what can we compare them? he asked. They are like a little yeast that Mother Church wants to mix in with a great quantity of flour until all of it is leavened, he continued.

For Jesus did not choose us and send us forth to become more numerous! He called us to a mission. He put us in the midst of society like a handful of yeast: the yeast of the Beatitudes and the fraternal love by which, as Christians, we can all join in making present his kingdom.

Francis stated that the Christian mission does not consist in baptizing more Christians but in generating change and awakening wonder and compassion. He said that Christians do this by the way they live with their non-Christian neighbours. The pope condemned proselytization” the attempt to bring others into the Christian community” and cited the words of his predecessor.

In other words, the paths of mission are not those of proselytism. Please, these paths are not those of proselytism! Let us recall Benedict XVI: the Church grows not through proselytism, but through attraction, through witness, he said. [....]

De Mattei on the Francis Pontificate: Six Years of Hypocrisy and Lies

Aldo Maria Valli: Professor: De Mattei, not a day passes without this pontificate causing new confusion and doubts for many of the faithful. The declaration about other religions made at Abu Dhabi has provoked a great amount of concern. It seems there is no way of avoiding the fact that it is problematic. How do you interpret it?

Professor Roberto De Mattei: The Abu Dhabi declaration made on February 4, 2019, signed by Pope Francis and the grand imam of Al-Azhar affirms that the pluralism and the diversity of religions, color, sex, race and language are willed by God in His wisdom, through which He created human beings. This affirmation contradicts the teaching of the Church, which says the one true religion is the Catholic religion. In fact, it is only by Faith in Jesus Christ and in His Name that men can attain eternal salvation (cf. Acts 4:12).

On March 1, during the ad limina visit of the bishops of Kazakhstan to Rome, Bishop Athanasius Schneider expressed his perplexity to Pope Francis about the Abu Dhabi declaration. The pope replied to him that the diversity of religions is only the permissive will of God. This answer is deceptive, because it seems to admit that the plurality of religions is an evil permitted by God but not willed by him, but the same is not true of the diversity of sexes and races, which are positively willed by God. When Bishop Schneider expressed his objection to him, Pope Francis admitted that the phrase could be understood erroneously. Yet the pope never corrected or rectified his affirmation, and in fact the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, at the request of the Holy Father, directed all bishops to see to the widespread diffusion of the Abu Dhabi declaration so that it may become an object of research and reflection in all schools, universities and institutes of education and formation.

The interpretation which is thus being spread is that the plurality of religions is a good thing, not an evil that is merely tolerated by God. It seems to me that these deliberate contradictions are a microcosm of the entire pontificate of Pope Bergoglio.

How would you, as a historian of the Church, summarize the past six years?

As years of hypocrisy and lies. Jorge Mario Bergoglio was chosen because he appeared to be a bishop who was humble and profoundly spiritual (thus did Andrea Tornielli salute him in La Stampa), one who would reform and purify the Church. But none of this happened. The pope did not remove the most corrupt prelates either from the Roman Curia or from individual dioceses. He has done so only when, as in the McCarrick case, he was forced to by public opinion. In reality, Francis has revealed himself to be a political pope, the most political pope of the last century. His political persuasion is that of left-wing Peronism, which detests, in principle, every form of inequality and is opposed to Western culture and society. When transferred into the ecclesiastical realm, Peronism joins with liberation theology and leads to an effort to impose synodal democratization on the Church, which strips her of her essential nature.

The summit on sexual abuse seems as though it has already been forgotten. It was full of nice-sounding expressions which the mainstream media trumpeted, but it did not lead to anything new. In general, how do you judge the way in which the Holy See is addressing this crisis?

In a clearly contradictory way. The anti-abuse norms that have just been approved by Pope Francis circumvent the real problem, which is the relationship between the tribunals of the Church and the civil courts, or, seen more broadly, the relationship between the Church and the world. The Church has the right and duty to investigate and judge those accused of crimes that violate not only civil laws but also ecclesiastical laws, established by canon law. In this case, it is necessary to open a regular penal trial in a Church tribunal that respects the fundamental rights of the accused and is not conditioned by the results of any civil trial.

Today, instead, in the case of Cardinal Pell, the Vatican has said it will open a canonical trial, but first it needs to wait for the outcome of the [civil] appeals process. In the case of Cardinal Barbarin of France, condemned to six months in prison with probation and also awaiting an appeals process, there has similarly been no announcement of any canonical trial. When Cardinal Luis Francisco Ladaria, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was called to testify in the Barbarin case by the judges in Lyon, the Vatican invoked diplomatic immunity, but it did not do this for Cardinal Pell. This policy of different standards for different people is part of the climate of ambiguity and duplicity we are living in.

During this pontificate, new norms have been introduced for monastic life, and in particular for the cloister. Some monastic communities are very worried, because they consider these new norms a threat to contemplative life. Do you share this concern?

Yes, it seems as though there is a plan to destroy contemplative life. I very much appreciated the articles you have dedicated to this theme on your blog. The constitution on womens contemplative life Vultum Dei Quaerere of June 29, 2016, and the Instruction Cor Orans of April 1, 2018, suppress every form of juridical autonomy and create federations and new bureaucratic organisms as structures of communion. The obligation to be part of these structures means that monasteries lose, de facto, their autonomy, which is dissolved into an anonymous mass of monasteries that are all moving toward the dissolution of traditional monastic life. The modernist normalization of the few monasteries that still resist the revolution would be an inevitable consequence. The juridical suppression of contemplative life we are moving toward does not, however, signify the end of the contemplative spirit, which is becoming ever stronger in response to the secularization of the Church. I know monasteries that have succeeded in securing juridical indepedence from the Congregation for Religious Life and maintain monastic life, supporting the Church in this crisis with their intercessory prayer. I am convinced that, as it once was said, the prayer of the cloisters rules the world.

The sixth anniversary of the election of Pope Bergoglio has passed, even if it felt a bit subdued. One has the impression that even people who once supported him are beginning to distance themselves from him. Is this impression mistaken?

We know that there are forces that want to destroy the Church. Freemasonry is one of these. Yet an open battle against the Church is never productive, because, as Tertullian wrote, the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians. And this is why, for at least two centuries, a plan was formulated by anti-Christian forces to conquer the Church from within.

We know that in the 1960s, the Soviet Union and communist regimes of Eastern Europe infiltrated many of their men into the seminaries and Catholic universities. Some of these climbed the ladder and became bishops or even cardinals. But such intentional complicity and activity is not necessary to contribute to the self-destruction of the Church. It is also possible to become unknowing instruments of someone who manipulates from the outside. In this case, the manipulators chose the most suitable men, men who displayed doctrinal and moral weakness, influenced them, conditioned them, and at times even blackmailed them. The men of the Church are neither infallible nor impeccable, and the Evil One constantly places before them the temptations which the Lord renounced (Mt 4:1”11).

The election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio was directed by a clerical lobby, behind which may be seen the presence of other lobbies or strong powers. I have the impression that the ecclesiastical powers and powers outside the Church that worked for the election of Pope Bergoglio are not satisfied with the results of his pontificate. From their point of view, there have been many words but few practical results. Those who sponsor Pope Francis are ready to abandon him if radical change does not take place. It seems he is being given one last chance to revolutionize the Church in the Amazon Synod this coming October. It seems to me that they have already sent signals indicating this.

What signals are you referring to?

To what happened after the summit on pedophilia, which was an obvious failure. The large publications of the international press, from Corriere della Sera to El Pas, did not hide their disappointment. It seems to me that the announcement made by the German Bishops Conference by its president, Cardinal Marx, that they will convoke a local synod that will make binding decisions about sexual morality, priestly celibacy, and the reduction of clerical power, should be understood as an ultimatum. It is the first time that the German bishops have expressed themselves with such clarity. They seem to be saying that if the pope does not cross the Rubicon, they will cross it themselves. In both cases we would find ourselves facing a declared schism.

What consequences would such a separation have?

A declared schism, although evil in itself, could be guided by Divine Providence toward the good. The good that could arise is the awakening of so many people who are asleep and the understanding that the crisis did not begin with the pontificate of Pope Francis but has developed for a long time and has deep doctrinal roots. We must have the courage to re-examine what has happened in the last fifty years in the light of the Gospel maxim that a tree is judged by its fruits (Mt 7:16”20). The unity of the Church is a good that should be preserved, but it is not an absolute good. It is not possible to unite what is contradictory, to love truth and falsehood, good and evil, at the same time.

Many Catholics feel discouraged as well as betrayed. Our faith tells us that the forces of evil will not prevail, and yet it is difficult to see a way out of this crisis. Humanly speaking, it seems that everything is collapsing. How will the Church come out of this crisis?

The Church is not afraid of her enemies, and she always wins when Christians fight. On February 4 at Abu Dhabi, Pope Francis said there is a need of demilitarizing the heart of man. I believe, on the contrary, that there is a need of militarizing hearts and transforming them into an Acies Ordinata, like the one who stood in prayerful protest at Piazza San Silvestro in Rome on February 19 and confirmed the existence of a Catholic resistance against the self-destruction of the Church. There are many other voices of resistance that have made and are making themselves heard.

I believe we must overcome the many misunderstandings that often divide the forces of good people. Instead, we must seek a unity of intention and action among these forces, while maintaining our legitimate different identities. Our adversaries are united in their hatred of the good, and so we ought to be united in our love for the good and for the truth. But we must love a perfect good, a good that is whole and without compromise, because He Who sustains us with His love and power is infinitely perfect. We ought to place all our hope in Him and only in Him. This is why the virtue of hope is the one we ought to cultivate the most, because it makes us strong and perseverant in the battle we are fighting.

Professor Roberto De Mattei, President of the Lepanto Foundation, interviewed by Italian journalist Aldo Maria Valli, translated and published by OnePeterFive, April 4, 2019

The IRISH Famine: 1845-1852 “ or tricks of political persecution the English taught Uncle Joe Stalin

FOOD for APOSTASY: What Our Catholics Ancestors Suffered to bring the Holy Faith to Us.

Throughout the entire period of the Famine, Ireland was exporting enormous quantities of food. In Ireland before and after the famine, Cormac OGrada points out, “Although the potato crop failed, the country was still producing and exporting more than enough grain crops to feed the population. But that was a money crop and not a food crop and could not be interfered with.”

In History Ireland magazine, Christine Kinealy, a Great Hunger scholar, lecturer, and Drew University professor, relates her findings: Almost 4,000 vessels carried food from Ireland to the ports of Bristol, Glasgow, Liverpool and London during 1847, when 400,000 Irish men, women and children died of starvation and related diseases. She also writes that Irish exports of calves, livestock (except pigs), bacon and ham actually increased during the Famine. This food was shipped under British military guard from the most famine-stricken parts of Ireland; Ballina, Ballyshannon, Bantry, Dingle, Killala, Kilrush, Limerick, Sligo, Tralee and Westport. A wide variety of commodities left Ireland during 1847, including peas, beans, onions, rabbits, salmon, oysters, herring, lard, honey, tongues, animal skins, rags, shoes, soap, glue and seed. The most shocking export figures concern butter. Butter was shipped in firkins, each one holding 9 imperial gallons; 41 litres. In the first nine months of 1847, 56,557 firkins (509,010 imperial gallons; 2,314,000 litres) were exported from Ireland to Bristol, and 34,852 firkins (313,670 imperial gallons; 1,426,000 litres) were shipped to Liverpool, which correlates with 822,681 imperial gallons (3,739,980 litres) of butter exported to England from Ireland during nine months of the worst year of the Famine. The problem in Ireland was not lack of food, which was plentiful, but the price of it, which was beyond the reach of the poor.

Celil Woodham-Smith, an authority on the Irish Famine, wrote in The Great Hunger: Ireland 1845-1849 that no issue has provoked so much anger and embittered relations between England and Ireland as the indisputable fact that huge quantities of food were exported from Ireland to England throughout the period when the people of Ireland were dying of starvation. [ ..... ..... .]

(Protestant) Landlords were responsible for paying the rates of every tenant whose yearly rent was £4 or less. Landlords whose land was crowded with poorer tenants were now faced with large bills. They began clearing the poor tenants from their small plots, and letting the land in larger plots for over £4 which then reduced their debts. In 1846, there had been some clearances, but the great mass of evictions came in 1847. According to James S. Donnelly Jr, it is impossible to be sure how many people were evicted during the years of the famine and its immediate aftermath. It was only in 1849 that the police began to keep a count, and they recorded a total of almost 250,000 persons as officially evicted between 1849 and 1854.

Donnelly considered this to be an underestimate, and if the figures were to include the number pressured into voluntary surrenders during the whole period (1846-1854) the figure would almost certainly exceed half a million persons. While Helen Litton says there were also thousands of voluntary surrenders, she notes also that there was precious little voluntary about them. In some cases, tenants were persuaded to accept a small sum of money to leave their homes, cheated into believing the workhouse would take them in.

West Clare was one of the worst areas for evictions, where landlords turned thousands of families out and demolished their derisory cabins. Captain Kennedy in April 1848 estimated that 1,000 houses, with an average of six people to each, had been leveled since November. The Mahon family of Strokestown House evicted 3,000 people in 1847, and were still able to dine on lobster soup.

After Clare, the worst area for evictions was County Mayo, accounting for 10% of all evictions between 1849 and 1854. The Earl of Lucan, who owned over 60,000 acres (240 km²) was among the worst evicting landlords. He was quoted as saying he would not breed paupers to pay priests. Having turned out in the parish of Ballinrobe over 2,000 tenants alone, the cleared land he then used as grazing farms. In 1848, the Marquis of Sligo owed £1,650 to Westport Union; he was also an evicting landlord, though he claimed to be selective, saying he was only getting rid of the idle and dishonest. Altogether, he cleared about 25% of his tenants.

[ ..... ..... ] Calcutta is credited with making the first (relief) donation of £14,000. The money was raised by Irish soldiers serving there and Irish people employed by the East India Company. Pope Pius IX sent funds and Queen Victoria (head of the Church of England) donated £2,000..... .. (About one brass farthing for every Irish Catholic who starved to death). Wikipedia

The Jewish question of our time does not differ greatly from the one which affected the Christian peoples of the Middle Ages. In a foolish way it is said to arise from hatred towards the Jewish tribe. Mosaism in itself could not become an object of hate for Christians, since, until the coming of Christ, it was the only true religion, a prefiguration of and preparation for Christianity, which, according to Gods Will, was to be its successor. But the Judaism of the centuries [after Christ] turned its back on the Mosaic law, replacing it with the Talmud, the very quintessence of that Pharisaism which in so many ways has been shattered through its rejection by Christ, the Messiah and Redeemer. And although Talmudism is an important element of the Jewish question, it cannot be said, strictly speaking, to give that question a religious character, because what the Christian nations despise in Talmudism is not so much its virtually non-existent theological element, but rather, its morals, which are at variance with the most elementary principles of natural ethics.

La Civilt Cattolica, The Jewish Question in Europe ; Series XIV, Vol. VII, 23 October 1890

Novena to our Lady of Sorrows in preparation for her feast and the welfare of the Mission and the Church begins this Wednesday and ends on the Thursday in Passion Week on the eve of her feast.

NOVENA TO THE SEVEN SORROWS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

V. Incline unto my aid, O God.

R. O Lord, make haste to help me. Glory be to the Father, etc.

1. O most sorrowful Mary, I compassionate thee, in the grief thy tender heart underwent when the holy old man Simeon prophesied to thee. Dear Mother, through that afflicted heart obtain for me the virtue of humility and the gift of the holy fear of God. Hail Mary, etc.

2. O most sorrowful Mary, I compassionate those afflictions which thy most sensitive heart endured during the flight into Egypt and the dwelling there. O beloved Mother, by that afflicted heart obtain for me the virtue of liberality, specially toward the poor, and the gift of piety. Hail Mary, etc.

3. O most sorrowful Mary, I compassionate that intense distress which thine anxious heart experienced in the loss of thy dearest Jesus. O beloved Mother, by that deeply troubled heart obtain for me the virtue of chastity and the gift of knowledge. Hail Mary, etc.

4. O most sorrowful Mary, I compassionate the consternation which thy maternal heart experienced when thou didst meet Jesus bearing His cross. O beloved Mother, by that deep distress of thy tender heart, obtain for me the virtue of patience and the gift of fortitude. Hail Mary, etc.

5. O most sorrowful Mary, I compassionate that martyrdom which thy generous heart endured in witnessing the last agony of Jesus. O beloved Mother, by that martyred heart obtain for me the virtue of temperance and the gift of counsel. Hail Mary, etc.

6. O most sorrowful Mary, I compassionate that wound which thy mournful heart endured from the lance which tore the side of Jesus and wounded His most lovely Heart. O beloved Mother, by thy heart then pierced through, obtain for me the virtue of fraternal charity and the gift of understanding. Hail Mary, etc.

7. O most sorrowful Mary, I compassionate thee, for the anguish felt by thy loving heart when Jesus body was laid in the sepulcher. Dear Mother, by all the bitterness of desolation thou didst then know, obtain for me the virtue of diligence and the gift of wisdom. Hail Mary, etc.

V. Pray for us, most sorrowful Mother.

R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us Pray

Grant, we beseech Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Thy Mother, may intercede for us before the throne of Thy mercy, now, and at the hour of our death; through whose most holy soul in the hour of Thine own Passion the Sword of sorrow passed. Through Thee, Jesus Christ, Savior of the world, Who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost forever and ever.

Amen

Prayer to Our Lady of Sorrows

Most holy and afflicted Virgin, Queen of Martyrs, thou stood beneath the cross, witnessing the agony of thy dying Son. Look with a mothers tenderness and pity on me, who kneel before thee. I venerate thy sorrows and I place my requests with filial confidence in the sanctuary of thy wounded heart.

Present them, I beseech thee, on my behalf to Jesus Christ, through the merits of His own most sacred passion and death, together with thy sufferings at the foot of the cross. Through the united efficacy of both, obtain the granting of my petition. To whom shall I have recourse in my wants and miseries if not to thee, Mother of Mercy? Thou who have drunk so deeply of the chalice of thy Son, thou can compassionate our sorrows.

Holy Mary, thy soul was pierced by a sword of sorrow at the sight of the passion of thy divine Son. Intercede for me and obtain from Jesus Christ this grace, if it be for His honor and glory and for the good of my soul.

Amen

Against any and all enemies of the Christian name

Truly in these tumultuous times, in this revolutionary upheaval, all good men must join the burdensome struggle against any and all enemies of the Christian name. [ ......] For in fact, when a leader of Gods holy Church, under the name of Priest, turns the very people of Christ away from the path of truth toward the peril of an erroneous belief, and when this occurs in a major city, then clearly the distress is multiplied, and a greater anxiety is in order.

Pope Pius VI, Auctorem Fidei, addressed to all the faithful

Pope Francis “his most gentle manner”!

They (our most holy predecessors) knew the capacity of innovators in the art of deception. In order not to shock the ears of Catholics, the innovators sought to hide the subtleties of their tortuous maneuvers by the use of seemingly innocuous words such as would allow them to insinuate error into souls in the most gentle manner. Once the truth had been compromised, they could, by means of slight changes or additions in phraseology, distort the confession of the faith that is necessary for our salvation, and lead the faithful by subtle errors to their eternal damnation. This manner of dissimulating and lying is vicious, regardless of the circumstances under which it is used. For very good reasons it can never be tolerated in a synod of which the principal glory consists above all in teaching the truth with clarity and excluding all danger of error. Moreover, if all this is sinful, it cannot be excused in the way that one sees it being done, under the erroneous pretext that the seemingly shocking affirmations in one place are further developed along orthodox lines in other places, and even in yet other places corrected; as if allowing for the possibility of either affirming or denying the statement, or of leaving it up the personal inclinations of the individual “ such has always been the fraudulent and daring method used by innovators to establish error. It allows for both the possibility of promoting error and of excusing it. It is a most reprehensible technique for the insinuation of doctrinal errors and one condemned long ago by our predecessor St. Celestine, who found it used in the writings of Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople, and which he exposed in order to condemn it with the greatest possible severity. Once these texts were examined carefully, the impostor was exposed and confounded, for he expressed himself in a plethora of words, mixing true things with others that were obscure; mixing at times one with the other in such a way that he was also able to confess those things which were denied while at the same time possessing a basis for denying those very sentences which he confessed.

Pope Pius VI, Auctorem Fidei, 1794 papal bull addressed to all the faithful condemning 85 propositions from the Council of Pistoia, 1786

True, Jesus has loved us with an immense, infinite love, and He came on earth to suffer and die so that, gathered around Him in justice and love, motivated by the same sentiments of mutual charity, all men might live in peace and happiness.

But for the realization of this temporal and eternal happiness, He has laid down with supreme authority the condition that we must belong to His Flock, that we must accept His doctrine, that we must practice virtue, and that we must accept the teaching and guidance of Peter and his successors.

Further, whilst Jesus was kind to sinners and to those who went astray, He did not respect their false ideas, however sincere they might have appeared. He loved them all, but He instructed them in order to convert them and save them. Whilst He called to Himself in order to comfort them, those who toiled and suffered, it was not to preach to them the jealousy of a chimerical equality. Whilst He lifted up the lowly, it was not to instill in them the sentiment of a dignity independent from, and rebellious against, the duty of obedience. Whilst His heart overflowed with gentleness for the souls of good-will, He could also arm Himself with holy indignation against the profaners of the House of God, against the wretched men who scandalized the little ones, against the authorities who crush the people with the weight of heavy burdens without putting out a hand to lift them.

He was as strong as He was gentle. He reproved, threatened, chastised, knowing, and teaching us that fear is the beginning of wisdom, and that it is sometimes proper for a man to cut off an offending limb to save his body.

Finally, He did not announce for future society the reign of an ideal happiness from which suffering would be banished; but, by His lessons and by His example, He traced the path of the happiness which is possible on earth and of the perfect happiness in heaven: the royal way of the Cross. These are teachings that it would be wrong to apply only to ones personal life in order to win eternal salvation; these are eminently social teachings, and they show in Our Lord Jesus Christ something quite different from an inconsistent and impotent humanitarianism.

Pope St. Pius X, Apostolic Letter, Our Apostolic Mandate

Situation Ethics: PEW POLL: 95% of Jewish Leaders support abortion and same-sex marriage for the U.S. but not for Israel!

The Jewish question of our time does not differ greatly from the one which affected the Christian peoples of the Middle Ages. In a foolish way it is said to arise from hatred towards the Jewish tribe. Mosaism in itself could not become an object of hate for Christians, since, until the coming of Christ, it was the only true religion, a prefiguration of and preparation for Christianity, which, according to Gods Will, was to be its successor. But the Judaism of the centuries [after Christ] turned its back on the Mosaic law, replacing it with the Talmud (ii.), the very quintessence of that Pharisaism which in so many ways has been shattered through its rejection by Christ, the Messiah and Redeemer. And although Talmudism is an important element of the Jewish question, it cannot be said, strictly speaking, to give that question a religious character, because what the Christian nations despise in Talmudism is not so much its virtually non-existent theological element, but rather, its morals, which are at variance with the most elementary principles of natural ethics.

On the Jewish Question in Europe; La Civilt Cattolica, Series XIV, Vol. VII, 23;10; October 1890

That fabled (Judeo-Christian) tradition does not exist, nor does the Judeo-Christian ethic. Though sharing a common origin in the Hebrew Scriptures, the two faiths read the scriptural texts differently. They believe in God, but view Him through different lenses. They each have a story, but they are not the same. They each have a concept of man, but they are not the same. They are both ethical religions, but with separate ideas of mans nature, salvation and destiny.

Raymond Apple, emeritus rabbi of the Great Synagogue, Sydney, Australia. Published in Jerusalem Post

Council of Constance on the Papacy:

Since the Roman Pontiff exercises such great power among mortals, it is right that he be bound all the more by the incontrovertible bonds of the faith and by the rites that are to be observed regarding the Churchs sacraments. We therefore decree and ordain (the following oath):

I, N., elected pope, with both heart and mouth confess and profess to almighty God, that I will firmly believe and hold the Catholic Faith according to the traditions of the Apostles, of the General Councils and of other Holy Fathers. I will preserve this faith unchanged to the last dot and will confirm, defend and preach it to the point of death and the shedding of my blood, and likewise I will follow and observe in every way the rite handed down of the ecclesiastical sacraments of the Catholic Church.

Council of Constance, quoted by Bishop Athanasius Schneider in published article March 20, 2019

Bishop Athanasius Schneider

COMMENT: It is refreshing to hear a Catholic bishop refer to a Catholic dogma, especially, a dogma touching upon the nature of the Divine Liturgy. Bishop Schneider did not quote the Council of Trent that was more direct and explicit:

If anyone says that the received and approved rites customarily used in the solemn administration of the sacraments ..... can be changed into other new rites by any pastor of the churches whomsoever: Let him be, ANATHMA.

This is an excellent article and recommended reading with a serious exception. Bishop Schneider addresses and effectively opposes the opinion of St. Robert Bellarmine that a heretical pope would ipso facto loose his office. But in so doing, he defends a position that no one whomsoever can judge the pope on any matter whatsoever. That is not so. The great John of St. Thomas, who also opposed St. Robert Bellarmine, holds and admirable defends the common opinion of many notable theologians that the Church can judge a pope when it is a question of heresy even quoting Gratian, the father of canon law, from the Decretum, that the First See is judged by no one excepting for heresy.

On earth, no mortal should presume to reproach (redarguere) any faults to the Pontiff, because he who has to judge (judicaturus) others, should not be judged (judicandus) by anyone, unless he is found deviating from the Faith.

Gratian, the Father of Canon Law, Decree of Gratian, (Pars I, D 40, c. 6)

The Judgment of the Church against a Heretical Pope

Further we declare that there are two wills and principles of action, in accordance with what is proper to each of the natures in Christ, in the way that the sixth synod, that at (6) Constantinople, proclaimed, when it also publicly rejected Sergius, Honorius, Cyrus, Pyrrhus, Macarius, those uninterested in true holiness, and their like-minded followers.

To summarize, we declare that we defend free from any innovations all the”written and”unwritten ecclesiastical traditions that have been entrusted to us.

Seventh Ecumenical Council, reaffirming the condemnation of Monothelitism and the monothelite heretics by the Sixth Ecumenical Council, including Pope Honorius

Further, we accept the sixth, holy and universal synod (6 Constantinople III), which shares the same beliefs and is in harmony with the previously mentioned synods in that it wisely laid down that in the two natures of the one Christ there are, as a consequence, two principles of action and the same number of wills. So, we anathematize Theodore who was bishop of Pharan, Sergius, Pyrrhus, Paul and Peter, the unholy prelates of the church of Constantinople, and with these, Honorius of Rome, Cyrus of Alexandria as well as Macarius of Antioch and his disciple Stephen, who followed the false teachings of the unholy heresiarchs Apollinarius, Eutyches and Severus and proclaimed that the flesh of God, while being animated by a rational and intellectual soul, was without a principle of action and without a will, they themselves being impaired in their senses and truly without reason. [ ..... ..... ]

Eight Ecumenical Council, reaffirming the condemnation of Monothelitism and the monothelite heretics by the Sixth Ecumenical Council which included the Councils judgment and condemnation of Pope Honorius

Catholic Churches Are Being Burned Across France And Nobody Knows Why

Shoebat | Andrew Bieszad | March 24, 2019

Once upon a time, the nation of France was referred to as the eldest daughter of the Church. However, this has not been the case for some time, as beginning in the 18th century but after a series of events for centuries before that preceded it the nation has formally rejected God and the Faith as a part of her formation and identity in modern times and for the foreseeable future.

The hatred of God and religion has showed its face again with a rash of Church burnings across the nation which is being reported that nobody knows who has done this according to a report:

France has seen a spate of attacks against Catholic churches since the start of the year, vandalism that has included arson and desecration.

Vandals have smashed statues, knocked down tabernacles, scattered or destroyed the Eucharist and torn down crosses, sparking fears of a rise in anti-Catholic sentiment in the country.

Last Sunday, the historic Church of St. Sulpice in Paris was set on fire just after midday mass on Sunday, Le Parisien reported, although no one was injured. Police are still investigating the attack, which firefighters have confidently attributed to arson.

Built in the 17th century, St. Sulpice houses three works by the Romantic painter Eugene de la Croix, and was used in the movie adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown.

Last month, at the St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Houilles, in north-central France, a statue of the Virgin Mary was found smashed, and the altar cross had been thrown on the ground, according to La Croix International, a Catholic publication.

Also in February, at Saint-Alain Cathedral in Lavaur, in south-central France, an altar cloth was burned and crosses and statues of saints were smashed. The attack prompted Lavaur Mayor Bernard Canyon to say in a statement: God will forgive. Not me.

And in the southern city of Nimes, near the Spanish border, vandals looted the altar of the church of Notre-Dame des Enfants (Our Lady of the Children) and smeared a cross with human excrement.

Consecrated hosts made from unleavened bread, which Catholics believe to be the body of Jesus Christ, were taken and found scattered among rubbish outside the building.

Bishop Robert Wattebled of Nimes said in a statement: This greatly affects our diocesan community. The sign of the cross and the Blessed Sacrament have been the subject of serious injurious actions.

This act of profanation hurts us all in our deepest convictions, he added, according to The Tablet, which reported that in February alone there had been a record 47 documented attacks on churches and religious sites.

The Vienna-based Observatory of Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe, which is linked to the Council of European Bishops Conferences (CCEE), said there had been a 25 percent increase in attacks on Catholic churches in the first two months of the year, compared with the same time last year.

Its executive director, Ellen Fantini, told Newsweek that while in many cases the motive for the attacks was not known, France faced growing problems with anti-Christian violence, especially by anarchist and feminist groups.

I think there is a rising hostility in France against the church and its symbols, but it seems to be more against Christianity and the symbols of Christianity.

These attacks are on symbols that are really sacred to parishioners, to Catholics. Desecration of consecrated hosts is a very personal attack on Catholicism and Christianity, more than spray-painting a slogan on the outside wall of a church.

She said that while France had a long tradition of secularism, it was seen as a culturally Christian country, and so any attack on the church as a symbol of religion was also an attack on authority and patrimony.

The pressure is coming from the radical secularists or anti-religion groups as well as feminist activists who tend to target churches as a symbol of the patriarchy that needs to be dismantled, she added.

On February 9, the altar at the church of Notre-Dame in Dijon, the capital of the Burgundy region, was also broken into. The hosts were taken from the tabernacle, which adorns the altar at the front of the church, and scattered on the ground.

Last month, the Prime Minister Edouard Phillipe met French church leaders and said in a statement: In our secular Republic, places of worship are respected. Such acts shock me and must be unanimously condemned.

Senior Figures within the French Catholic Church expressed their sorrow at the rise in attacks on symbols of their faith.

Last month, the secretary general of the Bishops Conference, Olivier Ribadeau-Dumas, told France Culture that desecration of a church was not the same as a common burglary.

To open the tabernacle, to take the hosts and to profane what for us is the basis of our faith, that is to say the presence of Jesus Christ in the hosts is something that is terrible for us.

Now the immediate answer that many are going to have it that this is Muslims. Indeed, this is a crucial factor that cannot be ignored, for approximately 75% of the attacks against Christians and Christian targets in the world has been done in modern times at the hands of Muslims, and these numbers have generally remained consistent. Given how France is almost ten percent of persons who are of North African/Middle Eastern descent, of which he majority of those people are Muslims, the violence is a natural product of the increasing power of Islam. This is not a surprise at all, but a pattern that is also consistent with historical reality, which is that as Islam rises, Christianity becomes more persecuted. [ ..... ..... ]

The 14 promises revealed to Brother Estanislao by Our Lord for those who pray the Way of the Cross

· I promise Eternal Life to those who pray from time to time, The Way of the Cross.

· I will grant everything that is asked of Me with faith, when making The Way of the Cross.

· I will follow them everywhere in life and help them, especially at the hour of death.

· Even if they have more sins than blades of grass in the fields, and grains of sand in the sea, all of them will be erased by praying The Way of the Cross.

· Those who pray The Way of The Cross often, will have a special glory in Heaven.

· I will deliver them from Purgatory, indeed if they go there at all, the first Tuesday or Friday after their death.

· At the hour of death I will not permit the devil to tempt them; I will lift all power from him in order that they shall repose tranquilly in My Arms.

SS. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Mission

P.O. Box 7352, York, PA, 17408

717-792-2789

SaintsPeterandPaulRCM.com

SaintsPeterandPaulRCM@comcast.net

To Restore and Defend Our Ecclesiastical Traditions of the Latin Rite to the Diocese of Harrisburg

SS. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Chapel

129 South Beaver Street, York PA 17401

Easter Sunday

April 21, 2019

Religious Freedom, Collegiality, and Ecumenism, slogan of Neo-modernist Revolution

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