.....
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 “received and approved” traditional Roman Rite of the Mass.
Eighteenth Sunday after
Pentecost
St. Remigius, Bishop &
Confessor
October 1, 2023
The breviary lessons are taken from the
book of Judith, whose story St. Ambrose, in the second nocturn, connects with
this season of penance, since to the fasting and abstinence of this heroic
woman he attributes the wonderful victory that she obtained.
To persevere with our plan of working out
the connection between the missal and breviary, we too may study the Mass of
Ember Saturday, formerly of this Sunday, in the light of Judith’s history.
While Manasses, king of Juda, was in
captivity in Babylon, the Assyrian monarch, Nabuchodonosor, sent his general
Holofernes to complete the conquest of Chanaan.
This officer besieged Bethulia, whose inhabitants, reduced to the last
extremity, decided to surrender the city, unless help came in five days.
But just then Judith, a widow in Israel of
great influence, was living in the place.
“Let us be penitent,” was her advice to the ancients of Israel, “and
with many tears let us beg God’s pardon: let us humble our souls before Him and
ask that He would show His mercy to us…Let us believe that these scourges of
the Lord, with which like servants we are chastised, have happened for our
amendment and not for our destruction.”
Then this holy woman “went into her
oratory, and putting on haircloth, laid ashes on her head and falling down
prostrated before the Lord, she cried to the Lord.”
Having finished her prayer, Judith put on
her best apparel and left the town with her servant, reaching at daybreak the
advanced Chaldean outposts and announced that she had come to surrender herself
and her people to Holofernes. The
soldiers took her before the general who was dazzled by her great beauty, which
almighty God had been pleased to increase, since she made use of it, not from
motives of sensuality but of virtue.
Holofernes believed everything that Judith
told him and made a great feast in her honor, at which, carried away by
enjoyment, he drank to greater excess than usual and overcome by intoxication,
lay down on his bed and sank into a drunken sleep. Upon this everyone withdrew, Judith alone
remaining with him. Then, praying that
God would strengthen her arm for the deliverance of Israel, she took down the
sword which hung over the bed, and with the great courage cut off Holofernes’
head, which she gave to the maid-servant with instructions to hide it in her
wallet. Then they returned the same
night to Bethulia.
When the ancients of the city heard of
Judith’s action they cried: “Blessed be the Lord who hath made heaven and
earth.” And the next day the
bloodstained head of Holofernes was joisted on the walls of the fortress. The Chaldeans complained loudly of Judith’s
treachery, but being pursued by the Israelites, all fled or were put to the
sword. Meanwhile the High Priest came
with the Ancients from Jerusalem, to celebrate the deliverance of the nation
and saluted Judith with cries of: “Thou art the glory of Jerusalem, thou art
the joy of Israel, thou art the honor of our people.”
In the second nocturn for the fourth Sunday
in September, St. Ambrose comments as follows on this portion of the
Scriptures: “It was through the strength given by sobriety that Judith cut off
Holofernes’ head. Fortified by fasting,
she went boldly into the enemy’s camp.
The fasting of a single woman vanquished the countless hordes of Assyrians.”
The Mass for Ember Saturday is full of
similar expressions. The prayers implore
the divine mercy, while relying on fasting and abstinence which make us
stronger than our enemies. “forgive us
our sins, O Lord,” says the first Gradual.
“Help us, O God, our Savior, and for the glory of Thy name, O Lord,
deliver us.” And the second Gradual:
“Behold, O Lord, our protector; and look on Thy servants.” While the third adds: “Return, O Lord, a
little, and be entreated in favor of Thy servants.”
The lessons all allude to the mercy of God
towards His penitent people. “As I
purposed to afflict you, when your fathers had provoked Me to wrath, saith the
Lord, and I had no mercy: so turning again I have thought in these days to do
good to the house of Juda and Jerusalem.”
The story of the deliverance of the people
from Assyrian bondage by Judith (whose name is the feminine of Juda) by prayer
and fasting, is a type of the freeing of God’s people by Jesus, of the race of
Juda, at Easter after the penances of Lent.
Since the Book of Esther is read in the
breviary of the following Sunday, we can easily understand why St. Ambrose
would also find there an illustration well suited to his subject, and in fact
he points out that “it was to the fast of three days, thanks to which almighty
God increased the grace which adorned her mortified soul, that Esther owed her
victory over the wicked Aman and rescued the Jewish people from a cruel
persecution.”
When later on the custom of waiting until
the evening to celebrate the Holy sacrifice of Ember Saturday had ceased, the
Mass composed in the sixth century for the Dedication of the Church of St.
Michael at Rome, and said on the September 29th, was borrowed for
the eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost.
Consequently all the “Proper” of this Mass refers to the consecration of
a church. “I was rejoiced at the things
that were said to me: We shall go into the house of Lord” (Verse of the Introit
and Gradual). “Moses consecrated an
altar to the Lord” (Offertory). “Bring
up sacrifices and come into his courts: adore ye the Lord in His holy court”
(Communion).
We have here a symbol of heaven whither all
nations shall flow at the end of time, referred to on this Sunday and on those
which follow at the end of the cycle.
The Alleluia is the same as that of the Sundays after Epiphany which foretell
the entry of the Gentiles into the kingdom of heaven. The Epistle speaks of those who await the
revelation of our Lord at His second coming.
They will rejoice forever in the Lord’s presence in the peace which,
according to the prophets, He will give to those who await Him (Introit,
Gradual); a peace assured to us by our Lord through His death on the cross,
which is the true evening sacrifice of which that of Moses is only a type.
After he had offered a holocaust, the odor
of which was pleasing to the Lord, the holy Lawgiver obtained the pardon of his
people’s sins, and rejoiced in the vision of God. In the same way men reconciled to God, by Him
who has power to remit sins (Gospel), by their faith in Christ, will share in
the unique and sovereign divinity, by beholding it face to face, a privilege
granted by God Himself, and will thus be made rich in Christ in all utterance
and all knowledge (Epistle).
Already in the Church all enjoy this pardon
and peace, thanks to the power which our Lord has entrusted to His priests, and
indeed in this Mass, coming after Ember Saturday, allusion is made to the
Priesthood. Like our divine Redeemer,
who went about exercising His ministry, curing the soul of the paralytic at the
same time that he healed his body, those who have just been ordained preach the
Word of Christ (Epistle), celebrate the Holy Sacrifice (Offertory), and remit
sins (Gospel).
Thus they prepare men to receive their
divine Judge in a manner beyond reproach.
INTROIT:
Ecclus. 36. Give
peace, O Lord, to them that patiently wait for Thee, that Thy prophets may be
found faithful: hear the prayers of Thy
servant, and of Thy people Israel.
Ps. 121. I rejoice
at the things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of the Lord. Glory be, etc. Give peace etc.
COLLECT:
Direct our hearts, we pray, O
Lord, by the working of Thy mercy; because without Thee we are not able to
please Thee. Through our Lord, etc.
Grant. we pray, almighty God,
that the Holy Festival of blessed Remigius, Thy Confessor and Bishop, may both
increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord, etc.
From all perils of soul and body
defend us, O Lord, we beseech Thee, and by the intercession of the blessed and
glorious Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of blessed Joseph, of Thy blessed Apostles
Peter and Paul, and all the Saints, graciously grant us safety and peace, that
all adversities and errors being overcome, Thy Church may serve Thee in
security and freedom. Through our Lord,
etc.
EPISTLE: I Cor. 1,4-8
Brethren, I give thanks to my God
always for you, for the grace of God that is given you in Christ Jesus, that in
all things you are made rich in him, in all utterance and in all knowledge: as
the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that nothing is wanting to you
in any grace, waiting for the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ who also
will confirm you into the end without crime, in the day of the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
EXPLANATION St. Paul shows in this epistle that he
possesses true love for his neighbor, because he rejoices and thanks God that
he enriched the Corinthians with different graces and gifts, thus confirming
the testimony of Christ in them, so that they could without fear expect His
arrival for judgment. Do thou also
rejoice, with St. Paul, for the graces given to thy neighbor, for this is a
mark of true charity.
GRADUAL:
Ps. 121. I rejoiced
at the things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of the
Lord. Let peace be within Thy walls, and
abundance in Thy towers. Alleluia,
alleluia.
Ps. 101. The
Gentiles shall fear Thy name, O Lord: and all the kings of the earth Thy
glory. Alleluia
GOSPEL: Matt. 9,
1-8
At
that time, Jesus entering into a boat, passed over the water, and came into his
own city. And behold, they brought to him one sick of the palsy lying in a bed.
And Jesus seeing their faith, said to the man sick of the palsy: Be of good
heart, son; thy sins are forgiven thee. And behold, some of the Scribes said
within themselves: He blasphemeth. And Jesus seeing their thoughts, said: Why
do you think evil in your hearts? whether it is easier to say, Thy sins are
forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? But that you may know that the Son
of man hath power on earth to forgive sins (then said he to the man sick of the
palsy): Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house. And he arose, and went
into his house. And the multitude seeing it feared, and glorified God who had
given such power to men.
EXPLANATIONS
I. Those who brought this sick
man to Christ, give us a touching example of how we should take care of the
sick and help them according to our ability. Christ was so well pleased with
their faith and charity, that He cured the man sick of the palsy, and forgave
him his sins. Hence we learn how we might assist many who are diseased in their
soul, if we would lead them to God by confiding prayer, by urgent admonitions,
or by good example.
II. Christ did not heal the
man sick of the palsy until He had forgiven him his sins, by this He wished to
teach us, that sins are often the cause of sicknesses and other evils, by which
we are visited, and which God would remove from us if we were truly repentant.
This doctrine Jesus confirmed, when He said to the man, who had been sick for
thirty-eight years: Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee (John 5,
14). Would that this were considered by those who so often impetuously
demand of God to be freed from their evils, but do not intend to free
themselves from their sins, which are the cause of these evils, by a sincere
repentance.
III. "He
blasphemeth." Thus thought the Jews, in their perverted hearts, of Christ,
because they believed that He in remitting the sins of the sick man, usurped
the rights of God and thus did Him a great injury; for it is blasphemy to
think, say, or do any thing insulting to God or His saints. But these Jews did
not consider that they by their rash judgment calumniated God, since they
blasphemed Christ who by healing the sick man, and by numerous other works had
clearly proved His God-head. If Christ so severely reprimanded the Jews, who
would not recognize Him as God, for a blasphemous thought against Him, what
will He do with those Christians who, though they wish to be adorers of God and
His Son, nevertheless, utter blasphemies, curses, and profanations of the holy
Sacraments?
IV. When Jesus saw their
thoughts, He said: Why do you think evil in your hearts? This may be taken to
heart by those who think that thoughts are free from scrutiny, and who never
think to confess their evil and shameful thoughts. God; the most Holy and most
just, will, nevertheless, not leave a voluntary unchaste, proud, angry,
revengeful, envious thought unpunished, any more than an idle word (Matt. 12,
36). The best remedy against evil thoughts would be the recollection that God
who searches the heart sees them, and will punish them.
PRAYER How
great, O Jesus! is Thy love and mercy towards poor sinners, since Thou not only
forgavest the sins of the man sick of palsy, but calling him son, didst console
and heal him! This Thy love encourages me to beg of Thee the grace, that we may
rise from our bed of sins by true penance, amend our life, and through the ways
of Thy commandments enter the house of eternal happiness.
OFFERTORY:
Ex. 24. Moses
consecrated an altar to the Lord, offering upon it holocausts and sacrificing
victims. He made an evening sacrifice to
the Lord God for an odor of sweetness, in the sight of the children of Israel.
SECRET:
O God, who by the
august fellowship that we have with Thee in this sacrament dost make us
partakers of the one supreme Godhead, grant, we pray, that as we know Thy
truth, so we may live up to it by worthy behavior. Through our Lord, etc.
May Thy
saints, we pray, O Lord, in all places bring us joy, that while we recall their
merits, we may experience their intercession.
Through our Lord, etc.
Hear
us, O God, our salvation, that through the power of this sacrament Thou mayest
defend us from all enemies of soul and body and bestow upon us grace here and
glory hereafter. Through our Lord, etc.
COMMUNION:
Ps. 95. Bring up sacrifices,
and come into His courts: adore ye the Lord in His holy court.
POSTCOMMUNION:
We render Thee thanks, O Lord,
for the life put into us by this sacred gift, and beg Thee of Thy mercy to make
us thorough and worthy partakers thereof.
Through our Lord, etc.
Grant, we
pray Thee, almighty God, that we who offer thanks for the gifts which we have
received, may, through the intercession of blessed Remigius, Thy Confessor and
Bishop, receive yet greater blessings. Through our Lord, etc.
May the offering of this divine
sacrament cleanse and protect us, O Lord, we beseech Thee; and by the
intercession of the blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of blessed Joseph, of
the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and all the saints, may it purify us from
all sin and free us from all adversity.
Through our Lord, etc.
Sir, you and I are not one in
religion, wherefore I pray you content yourself. I bar none of prayer; but I only desire them
that are of the household of faith to pray with me, and in mine agony to say
one creed.
St. Edmund Campion, on the
scaffold to an Anglican clergyman attempting to direct his pray.
“My Saviour
Jesus Christ, by the merits of your Sacred Passion and your most holy Death,
give me the grace of perfect contrition for my sins, so that I may never offend
or displease you again.”
St. Francis de
Sales
“But that you may
know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins (then said he to
the man sick of the palsy): Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house.”
PROPER OF THE SAINTS FOR THE WEEK OF OCTOBER 1st:
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1
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Sun
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18th Sunday after Pentecost
St. Remigius, BpC
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sd
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G
|
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Mass 9:00 AM, Confessions
8:00 AM, Rosary of Reparation 8:30 AM; Mass offered for the members of Ss. P
& P
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2
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Mon
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Holy Guardian Angels
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dm
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W
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Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of
Reparation before Mass
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3
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Tue
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St. Theresa of the Child
Jesus, V
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d
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W
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Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of
Reparation before Mass
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4
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Wed
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St. Francis of Assisi
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dm
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W
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Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of
Reparation before Mass
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5
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Thu
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St. Placidius & Comp.,
Mm
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sp
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R
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Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of
Reparation before Mass
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6
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Fri
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St. Bruno, C
FIRST FRIDAY
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d
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W
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A
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Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of
Reparation before Mass; Holy Hour of Reparation with Benediction
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7
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Sat
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The Most Holy Rosary
St. Mark, PC
St. Sergius & Comp., Mm
FIRST
SATURDAY
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d2cl
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W
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Mass 8:30 AM; Holy Hour of
Reparatoin with Rosary of Reparation and Benediction
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8
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Sun
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19th Sunday after
Pentecost
St. Bridget of Sweden, W
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sd
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G
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Mass 9:00 AM, Confessions 8:00
AM, Rosary of Reparation 8:30 AM; Mass offered for the members of Ss. P &
P
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If we are guilty of pride let
us try and amend and not flatter ourselves that we possess the smallest degree
of humility, until by our good resolutions carefully carried out we have
mortified our evil tendency to speak ill of our neighbor. Let us hearken to the
Holy Ghost: “Where pride is there also shall be reproach, but where humility is
there also is wisdom” (Prov. 11, 2).
Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo, Humility of Heart
To hasten daily progress along
the path of virtue, we wish the pious practice of frequent confession to be
earnestly advocated. Not without the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit was this practice introduced into the Church. By it genuine self-knowledge is increased,
Christian humility grows, bad habits are corrected, spiritual neglect and
tepidity are countered, the conscience is purified, the will strengthened, a
salutary self-control is attained and grace is increased in virtue of the
Sacrament itself.
Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis
How one saint
makes another:
“Henry Walpole, Cambridge wit, minor poet,
satirist, flaneur, a young man of birth, popular, intelligent, slightly
romantic… He was a typical member of the
easy-going majority, on whom the success of the Elizabethan settlement
depended, who would have preferred to live under a Catholic regime but accepted
the change without very serious regret…
He secured a front place at Tyburn; so close that when St. Edmund Campion’s
entrails were torn out by the butcher and thrown into the cauldron of boiling
water, a spot of blood splashed upon his coat.
In that moment he was caught into a new life; he crossed the sea, became
a priest, and, thirteen years later, after very terrible sufferings, died the
same death as Campion’s on the gallows at York.”
Evelyn Waugh, Edmund Campion
“Look,
you should change! Because it’s obvious! Isn’t it?”
The Church is not falling to pieces. It has never been
better. This is a wonderful moment for the Church, you just need to look at its
history. There are
saints that are recognised by non-Catholics as well as Catholics – I’m thinking
of Mother Theresa – but many men and women perform acts of holiness every day
and this gives us hope... Sanctity is stronger than scandal. [.....] I really do feel like a priest. I
feel like a priest, really, a bishop….That’s what I feel like. And I thank the
Lord for this. I would be scared to feel more important, you know? That I am
scared of, because the devil’s cunning eh? He’s cunning and he makes you feel
like you are in power, that you can do this and that …but like St. Peter says,
the devil prowls around like a roaring lion. Thank God I haven’t
lost that yet have I? And if you ever see that I have, please tell me; tell me;
and if you can’t tell me in private, tell me in public, but tell me: “Look, you
should change! Because it’s obvious! Isn’t it?”
Pope Francis addressing the clergy of Rome, 9-16-13, articulating a
first principle of Modernism
The
Protestant Reformation in England
The chief persecutor of the
Catholics was a certain Richard Topcliffe.
The evidence for his atrocities comes not from his enemies or victims
but from his own boasts. “Because the
often exercise of the rack in the Tower was so odious and so much spoken of by
the people, Topcliffe had authority to torment priests in his own house in such
sort as he shall think good,” and he himself boasted that, in comparison with
his private machine, the “official racks were mere child’s play.” After his torturing of St. Robert Southwell,
public opinion was so disgusted that Cecil had to pretend to arrest him for
having exceeded his powers. It was but a
pretense and he was soon out and at work again.
In 1594 he brought against one Fitzherbert an action which throws a
curious light upon the state of public morality among the governing class at
that time. Topcliffe sued Fitzherbert
for five thousand pounds, on the ground that Firzherbert had promised to pay
him that sum if he would get Fitzherbert’s father and uncle and a certain Mr.
Bassett condemned for recusancy and then torture them to death. Both sides admitted the contract. Topcliffe maintained that he had fulfilled
the conditions: Fitzherbert denied it. Mr Bassett, he said, was still alive, and
though the father and uncle had, it is true, been tortured and were now dead,
yet it could not be proved that torture was the cause of death. Fitzherbert maintained that they had died
from goal-fever and not from the torture.
Christopher Hollis, The Monstrous Regiment
“When anyone perceives a dirty
spot on his hand, he washes it away at once; after washing, however, not only
has the spot disappeared, but the whole hand is clean. Thus it happens that if a person commits a
slight offence, but makes an act of contrition, he thus, by humility, becomes
more pleasing to Me. Greater humility,
more interior attachment to God: this is the only conclusion you should draw
from you failings.”
Our Lord to St. Gertrude the
Great
The means to become perfect is
to mortify our predominant passion. As a
Captain in the time of battle, in order to gain the victory, endeavours to
arrange the soldiers at that point where he sees the greatest dangers are to be
overcome, so we should do the same. As long as we strive to overcome our little
passions, we shall not be easily overcome by the strong ones.
What is the means to be used to overcome our passions? It is to meditate on the Passion of our
Lord. A person who is proud, for instance:
if he sees that Jesus Christ is derided, mocked, sent from one place to the
other and keeping silence, he sees a great motive of humility in Our Lord. Another is impatient: he may look to the
Crucifix and he will find a model of patience.
St. Charles of Mt. Argus, C.
P., Sermon
INSTRUCTION ON INDULGENCES
Be of good heart, son, thy sins are forgiven
thee (Matt. 9, 2).
The
same that Christ says to the man sick of the palsy, the priest says to every contrite
sinner in the confessional, and thus remits the crime or the guilt of his sins,
and the eternal punishment, by virtue of the authority given him by God. But
since sins not only bring with them guilt and eternal punishment, but also
temporal and indeed spiritual or supernatural punishment, such as, painful
conditions of the soul, as well in this world as in purgatory, and natural
ones, as: poverty, disease, all sorts of adversities and accidents, we should
endeavor to liberate ourselves from them by means of indulgences.
What
is an indulgence?
It
is a total or partial remission of the temporal punishment which man would have
to suffer either in this or the next life, after the sins have been remitted.
How
do we know that after the remission of the sins there still remains temporal
punishment?
From
holy Scripture; for our first parents after the forgiveness of their sin, were
still afflicted with temporal punishment (Gen. 3). God likewise forgave the
sins of the children of Israel, who murmured so often against Him in the
desert, but not their punishment, for He excluded them from the Promised Land,
and caused them to die in the desert (Num. 14). Moses and Aaron experienced the
same, on account of a slight want of confidence in God (Num. 20, 12, Deut. 32,
51-52). David, indeed, received pardon from God through the Prophet Nathan for
adultery and murder (II Kings 12), still he had to endure heavy temporal
punishment. Finally, faith teaches us, that we are tortured in purgatory for
our sins, until we have paid the last farthing (Matt. 5, 26).
Did
the Church always agree with this doctrine of Scripture?
Yes;
for she always taught, that by the Sacrament of Penance the guilt and eternal
punishment, due to sin, are indeed forgiven for the sake of the infinite merits
of Jesus, but that temporal punishment still remains, for which the sinner must
do penance. Even in the earliest ages she imposed great penances upon sinners
for their sins which were already forgiven. For instance, murder or adultery
was punished by a penance of twenty years; perjury, eleven; fornication, denial
of faith or fortune-telling, by seven years of severe penance with fasting,
etc. During this time it was not allowed to travel, except on foot, to be
present at the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, or to receive the holy Eucharist. If
the penitents showed a great zeal for penance and sincere amendment, or if
distinguished members of the Church, particularly martyrs, interceded for them,
the bishops granted them an indulgence, that is, they remitted the remaining
punishment either totally or partially. In our days, on account of the weakness
of the faithful, the Church is lenient. Besides the ecclesiastical, the
spiritual punishments which would have to be suffered either here or in
purgatory for the taking away of sins, are shortened and mitigated by
indulgences through he treasure of the communion of saints.
Has
the Church the power to remit temporal punishments, or to grant indulgences?
The
Council of Trent expressly states, that the Church has power to grant
indulgences (Sess. 25), and this statement it supports by the words of Christ.
For as Christ protests: Amen, I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon
earth, shall be bound also in heaven; so He also promised, that whatever the
Church looses upon earth, is ratified and loosed in heaven. Whatsoever you
shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven (Matt. 18, 18). Even an
apostle granted an indulgence. In the person and by the power of Christ, that
his spirit might be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (II Cor. 2, 10; I
Cor. 5, 4-5), St. Paul forgave the incestuous Corinthian, upon whom he had
imposed a heavy punishment.
What
is meant by saying, indulgences are granted out of the treasury of the saints
or of the Church?
By
this is meant that God, by the Church, remits the temporal punishment due to
sin for the sake of the merits of Christ and the saints, and supplies, as it
were, by these merits what is still wanting in our satisfaction.
What
kinds of indulgences are there?
Two;
plenary and partial indulgences. A plenary indulgence, if rightly gained,
remits all ecclesiastical and temporal punishment, which we would otherwise
have to expiate by penance. A partial indulgence, however, remits only so many
days or years of the temporal punishment, as, according to the penitential code
of the primitive ages of the Church; the sinner would have been obliged to
spend in severe penance. Hence the name forty day’s indulgence, etc.
What
is a Jubilee?
It
is a plenary indulgence, which the pope grants to the faithful of the entire
world, whereby all the temporal punishments of sin, even in cases reserved to
the pope or the bishops, are remitted, and forgiven in the name of God, if the
sinner confesses contritely and receives the holy Eucharist and has a firm
purpose of doing penance.
What
is required to gain an indulgence?
First,
that we should be in the state of grace, and have already obtained, by true
repentance, forgiveness of those sins, the temporal punishment of which is to
be remitted by the indulgence; and secondly, that we should exactly perform the
good works prescribed for the gaining of the indulgence.
Do
indulgences free us from performing works of penance?
By
no means: for there are few in the proper state to receive a plenary indulgence
in its fullness, since not only purity of soul is necessary but also the
inclination to sin must be rooted out, it therefore cannot be the intention of
the Church to free us from all works of penance by granting us indulgences. She
cannot act contrary to the word of Jesus: Unless you do penance, you shall all
likewise perish Luke 13, 3). She rather wishes to assist our weakness, to
supply our inability to do the required penance, and to contribute what is
wanting in our penance, by applying the satisfaction of Christ and the saints
to us by indulgences. If we, therefore, do not wish to do penance for our own
sins, we shall have no part in the merits of others by indulgences.
Can
indulgences be gained for the souls of the faithful departed?
Yes,
by way of suffrage, so far as we comply with the required conditions, and thus
beg of God, for the merits of His Son and the saints, to release the souls in
purgatory. Whether God receive this petition or not, remains with Him, He will
act only according to the condition of the deceased. We must, therefore, not
depend upon the indulgences and good works which may be performed for us after
death, but rather endeavor, during our life-time, to secure our salvation by
leading a pious life; by our own good works and by the gaining of indulgences.
What
follows from the doctrine of the Church concerning indulgences?
That
an indulgence is no grant or license to commit sin, as the enemies of the
Church falsely assert; that an indulgence grants no forgiveness of sins past or
future, much less is permission given to commit sin; that no Catholic can
believe that by gaming indulgences he is released from penance, or other good
works, free from the fight with his evil inclinations, passions and habits,
from compensating for injuries, repairing scandals, from retrieving neglected
good, and glorifying God by works and sufferings; but that indulgences give
nothing else than partial or total remission of temporal punishment; that they
remind us of our weakness and lukewarmness which is great when compared with
the zeal and fervor of the early Christians; that they impel us to satisfy the
justice of God according to our ability. Finally, they remind us to thank God
continually that He gave the Church a means in the inexhaustible treasure of
the merits of Christ and His saints, to help our weakness and to supply what is
wanting in our penance.
Usury:
Oppression of the poor; a sin that cries to heaven for vengeance!
In the first place, it is obvious
that not only is wealth concentrated in our times but an immense power and
despotic economic dictatorship is consolidated in the hands of a few… This
dictatorship is being most forcibly exercised by those who, since they hold the
money and completely control it, control credit also and rule the lending of
money. Hence they regulate the flow, so
to speak, of the life-blood whereby the entire economic system lives, and have
so firmly in their grasp the soul, as it were, of economic life that no one can
breathe against their will.
Pope Pius XI, Quadragessimo Anno, 1931
EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER
PENTECOST THE POWER AND LOVE OF
JESUS
PRESENCE OF GOD ‑ O Jesus, grant me the
grace to correspond always with the gifts of Your love.
MEDITATION:
I.
A poor paralytic is presented to Our Lord; he probably had himself brought
there to ask for bodily health, but in the presence of the purity and holiness
which emanates from the Person of Jesus, he realizes that he is a sinner and remains
confused and humiliated before Our Lord. Jesus has already read his heart, and
seeing his faith and humility, He does not even wait for him to speak, but
suddenly says to him with infinite kindness: “Be of good heart, son, thy sins
are forgiven thee” (Gosp : Mt 9, I‑8). The first and the greatest miracle
has taken place: the man is no longer a slave of Satan; he is a child of God.
Jesus, who came to save souls, rightfully healed the soul before the body.
This miracle, however, does not please the scribes who, not believing in
the divinity of Jesus, begin immediately in the secret of their hearts to
accuse Him of blasphemy. But the Master, who had read the soul of the
paralytic, also reads theirs. “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” If Jesus
had seen there even a little humility and faith, He would have been as ready to
heal them as He was to heal the heart of the paralytic; but unfortunately, He
found nothing but pride and obstinacy. However, He wishes to use every means to
soften them, so He gives them the strongest proof of His divinity. “But that
you may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins then He
said to the man sick of the palsy –’Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy
house.’ And he arose and went into his house.” The miracle was striking and
instantaneous. The word of Jesus effected immediately what it expressed. The
words of God alone could have such power. But the scribes will not admit that
they are defeated when the heart is proud and obstinate not even factual
evidence is capable of moving it.
Let
us never say our faith is weak because we do not see or touch with our hand the
truth which is proposed for our belief; let us rather admit that it is weak
because our heart is not sufficiently docile to grace, nor entirely free from
pride. If we want to have strong faith, let us be as humble and simple as
children; if we wish to share in the grace of sanctification which was given to
the paralytic, let us offer ourselves to Our Lord with contrite, humble hearts,
thoroughly convinced that we need His help and forgiveness.
2.
The Gospel presents Jesus to us in all the splendor of His divine personality,
possessing all the powers proper to God. The Epistle (I Cor 1, 4‑8) shows
Him in the act of putting His divinity at our service, as it were, to sanctify
us and make us divine. Jesus continues to do for our souls what He did for the
soul of the paralytic, and today’s Epistle is a beautiful synthesis of His
action in us, an action far reaching and complete, embracing our whole being.
Contemplating this action, St. Paul bursts forth in a hymn of gratitude: “I
give thanks to my God always for you, for the grace of God that is given you in
Christ Jesus, that in all things you are made rich in Him, in all utterance,
and in all knowledge ...so that nothing is wanting to you in any grace.” Yes,
every grace, every gift comes to us from Jesus, and through them our person and
our life are sanctified. By means of sanctifying grace, He sanctifies our soul;
through the infused virtues, He sanctifies our faculties; and by actual grace,
He sanctifies our activity, enabling us to act supernaturally. Yet even this
does not satisfy His liberality: He is not content with setting us on the road
to God, supernaturalized by grace and the virtues, but He wishes to substitute
His divine way of acting for our human way; therefore, He enriches us with the
gifts of the Holy Spirit, which make us capable of being moved by God Himself.
All this is the gift of Jesus to us, the fruit of His Passion. The Holy Spirit
is also His gift, the Gift par excellence, which He merited for us by His death
on the Cross, the Gift which He and the Father are continually sending to us
from heaven to enlighten and direct our souls.
It
seems as if Jesus, the true Son of God, is not jealous of His divinity or His
prerogatives, but seeks every possible means to make us share by grace what He
possesses by nature. How true it is that
the characteristic of love is to give oneself and to place those one loves on a
plane of equality with oneself!
Let
our hearts be filled with gratitude; let us correspond to the infinite love of
Jesus and always keep ourselves under its influence, for He wills to “confirm
us unto the end without crime, in the day of His coming” (cf. I Cor 1, 8).
COLLOQUY:
“O
Jesus, You have taken away my death by giving me Your life; You have taken my
flesh to give me Your Spirit; You have charged Yourself with my sins to bestow
grace on me.
“Thus, O my Redeemer, all Your pains are my treasure, and my wealth. You
clothe me with Your purple, You honor me with Your crown, Your sorrows are a
gift to me, Your grief sustains me, Your wounds heal me, Your Blood enriches
me, Your love inebriates me.
“You are the repose, the fire, and the desire of my soul. You are the
Shepherd, and the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. You are the
eternal Pontiff, powerful to appease the wrath of the supreme Father. Who would
not praise You, O Lord? Who would not love You with all his heart? O benign
Jesus, inflame my soul with this love, show me Your beautiful countenance, make
my eyes happy because they see Yours, and refuse not the kiss of peace to one
who loves You. You are the Spouse of my soul; it seeks You and calls You
tearfully. You, O Holy One, have delivered it from death by Your death, and,
wounding it with Your love, You have not despised it. Why does my misery not
feel the sweetness of Your presence? Listen, my God and Savior, give me a heart
that will love You, for there is nothing sweeter than to burn always with Your
love.” (Ven. Louis of Granada).
It is from the lowest of
the nine choirs, the nearest to ourselves, that the Guardian Angels are for the
most part selected. God reserves to the
Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones the honour of forming His own immediate
court. The Dominations, from the steps
of His throne, preside over the government of the universe; the Virtues watch
over the course of nature’s laws, the preservation of species, and the movements
of the heavens; the Powers hold the spirits of wickedness in subjection. The human race in its entirety, as also its
great social bodies, the nations and the churches, are confided to the
Principalities; while the Archangels, who preside over smaller communities,
seem also to have the office of transmitting to the Angels the commands of God,
together with the love and light which come down even to us from the first and
highest hierarchy. Thus, then, the
admirable distribution of offices among the choirs of heavenly spirits
terminates in the function committed to the lowest rank, the guardianship of
man, for whom the universe subsists.
Such is the teaching of the School; and the apostle, in like manner,
says: “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister for them, who
shall receive the inheritance of salvation?”
Dom Gueranger, The
Liturgical Year, Feast of the Guardian Angel
You
do not have enough trust. You have too much fear before the good God. I can
assure you that He is grieved over this. You should not fear Purgatory because of
the suffering there, but should instead ask that you not deserve to go there in
order to please God, Who so reluctantly imposes this punishment. As soon as you
try to please Him in everything and have an unshakable trust He purifies you
every moment in His love and He lets no sin remain. And then you can be sure
that you will not have to go to Purgatory.
St.
Therese of Lisieux to a fellow sister on Purgatory
If
the shoe fits, wear it!
The Saint
Prophesies great Schisms and Tribulations in the Church
A short time before the holy Father’s death, he called together his
Children and warned them of the coming troubles, saying: ‘Act bravely, my
Brethren; take courage, and trust in the Lord. The time is fast approaching in
which there will be great trials and afflictions; perplexities and dissensions,
both spiritual and temporal, will abound; the charity of many will grow cold,
and the malice of the wicked will increase. The devils will have unusual power,
the immaculate purity of our Order, and of others, will be so much obscured
that there will be very few Christians who will obey the true Sovereign Pontiff
and the Roman Church with loyal hearts and perfect charity. At the time of this
tribulation a man, not canonically elected, will be raised to the Pontificate,
who, by his cunning, will endeavour to draw many into error and death. Then
scandals will be multiplied, our Order will be divided, and many others will be
entirely destroyed, because they will consent to error instead of opposing it.
There will be such diversity of opinions and schisms among the people, the
religious and the clergy, that, except those days were shortened, according to
the words of the Gospel, even the elect would be led into error, were they not
specially guided, amid such great confusion, by the immense mercy of God. Then
our Rule and manner of life will be violently opposed by some, and terrible
trials will come upon us. Those who are found faithful will receive the crown
of life; but woe to those who, trusting solely in their Order, shall fall into
tepidity, for they will not be able to support the temptations permitted for
the proving of the elect. Those who preserve their fervour and adhere to virtue
with love and zeal for the truth, will suffer injuries and persecutions as rebels
and schismatics; for their persecutors, urged on by the evil spirits, will say
they are rendering a great service to God by destroying such pestilent men from
the face of the earth. But the Lord will be the refuge of the afflicted, and
will save all who trust in Him. And in order to be like their Head, these, the
elect, will act with confidence, and by their death will purchase for
themselves eternal life; choosing to obey God rather than man, they will fear
nothing, and they will prefer to perish rather than consent to falsehood and
perfidy. Some preachers will keep silence about the truth, and others will
trample it under foot and deny it. Sanctity of life will be held in derision
even by those who outwardly profess it, for in those days Our Lord Jesus Christ
will send them not a true Pastor, but a destroyer.
The Works of the Seraphic Father
- St. Francis of Assisi
Prayer of St. Francis of
Assisi
Lord, make me an instrument
of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O, Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
In an age, when every
effort to arrest the world in its headlong downward career seems vain, has not
man greater need than ever to fall back upon God? The enemy is aware of it; and therefore the
first law he imposes upon his votaries is, to forbid all access to the way of
the counsels, and to stifle all life of adoration, expiation, and prayer. For he well knows that, though a nation may
appear to be on the verge of its doom, there is yet hope for it as long as the
best of its sons are prostrate before the Majesty of God.
Dom Gueranger, The
Liturgical Year on the Feast of St. Bruno, founder of the Carthusian Order
“Only Our Lady of the Rosary
can help you.”
To save them [poor
sinners who are on the road to hell], God wishes to establish in the world
devotion to My Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will
be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end; but if people do not
cease offending God, a worse war will break out during the reign of Pius XI.
When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great
sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by
means of war, famine, and persecutions against the Church and against the Holy
Father.
To prevent this, I
shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, and
the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If My requests are heeded,
Russia will be converted and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her
errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions against the Church.
The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various
nations will be annihilated. In
Portugal, the dogma of faith will always be persevered, etc. [then follows the
third secret yet to be revealed]…. Only Our Lady of the Rosary can
help you.
Blessed Virgin Mary to
the children at Fatima
Soliman II, the
greatest of the Sultans, taking advantage of the confusion caused in the west
by Luther, had filled the sixteenth century with terror by his exploits. His son Seim II was left the prospect of
being able at length to carry out the ambition of his race…The Turkish fleet
had already mastered the greater part of the Mediterranean, and was threatening
Italy, when, on October 7, 1571, it came into action, in the Gulf of Lepanto,
with the pontifical galleys supported by the fleets of Spain and Venice. It was Sunday; throughout the world the
confraternities of the Rosary were engaged in their work of intercession. Supernaturally enlightened, St. Pius V
watched from the Vatican the battle undertaken by the leader he had chosen, Don
John of Austria, against the three hundred vessels of Islam. In honor of the great triumph, St. Pius
perpetuated the memory by the annual commemoration of our Lady of Victory. His successor, Gregory XIII, altered this
title to our Lady of the Rosary.
Dom Gueranger, The
Liturgical Year, Our Lady of the
Rosary
Be of good cheer,
Dominic, the remedy for the evils which you lament will be meditation on the
life, death and glory of My Son, uniting all with the recitation of the angelic
salutation (Hail Mary) by which the mystery of redemption was announced to the
world. This devotion, which you are to inculcate by your preaching, is a
practice most dear to My Son and Me. The faithful will obtain by it innumerable
advantages and shall always find me ready to aid them in their wants. This is
the precious gift which I leave to you and to your spiritual children.
The Blessed Virgin to
St. Dominic while giving him the Rosary
In its present form, the Rosary was made known to the world by St.
Dominic at the time of the struggles against the Albigensian. It was then of more avail than armed forces
against the power of Satan; it is now the Church’s last resort. It would seem that the ancient forms of
social prayer being no longer relished by the people, the Holy Ghost has willed
by this easy and ready summary of the liturgy to maintain, in the isolated
devotion of these unhappy times, the essential of that life of prayer, faith,
and Christian virtue, which the public celebration of the Divine Office
formerly kept up among the nations.
Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, Feast of the Holy Rosary
Fifteen Promises for Praying the Most Holy Rosary
1)
Whoever shall faithfully serve Me by the
recitation of the Rosary shall receive signal graces.
2)
I promise My special protection and the greatest
graces to all who shall recite the Rosary.
3)
The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against
Hell. It will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies. (Actually, were
that the only promise, we should pray it for that reason. Because what have we
in our world today? We are surrounded by, wherever we are in the world, vice,
sin and heresy.)
4)
It will cause virtue and good works to flourish.
It will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God. It will withdraw the hearts
of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the
desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this
means.
5)
The soul which recommends itself to Me by the
recitation of the Rosary shall not perish.
6)
Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly,
applying himself to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries, shall never be
conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not
perish by an unprovided death. If he be just, he shall remain in the grace of
God and become worthy of eternal life.
7)
Whoever
shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments
of the Church.
8)
Those who are faithful in reciting the Rosary
shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the
plenitude of His graces. At the moment of death they shall participate in the
merits of the Saints in Paradise.
9)
I shall deliver from Purgatory those who have
been devoted to the Rosary.
10)
The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit
a high degree of glory in Heaven.
11)
You shall obtain all you ask of Me by the
recitation of the Rosary.
12)
All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be
aided by Me in their necessities.
13)
I have obtained from My Divine Son that all the
advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire Celestial Court
during their life and at the hour of death.
14)
All who recite the Rosary are My sons, and
brothers of My only Son, Jesus Christ.
15)
Devotion to My Rosary is a great sign of
predestination.
How to Pray the Rosary with
True Devotion
Before beginning a decade, pause for a moment
or two----depending upon how much time you have----and contemplate the mystery
that you are about to honor in that decade. Always be sure to ask of Almighty
God, by this mystery and through the intercession of the Blessed Mother, one of
the virtues that shines forth most in this mystery or one of which you stand in
particular need.
Take great care to avoid the two
pitfalls that most people fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger
of not asking for any graces at all, so that if some people were asked their
Rosary intention they would not know what to say. So, whenever you say your
Rosary, be sure to ask for some special grace. Ask God's help in cultivating
one of the great Christian virtues or in overcoming one of your sins.
The second big fault a lot of people
make when saying the Holy Rosary is to have no intention other than that of
getting it over as quickly as possible! This is because so many of us look upon
the Rosary as a burden which is always heavier when we have not said it----especially
if it is weighing on our conscience because we have promised to say it
regularly or have been told to say it as a penance more or less against our
will.
It is really pathetic to see how most
people say the Holy Rosary----they say it astonishingly fast and mumble so that
the words are not properly pronounced at all. We could not possibly expect
anyone, even the most unimportant person, to think that a slipshod address of
this kind was a compliment and yet we expect Jesus and Mary to be pleased with
it! Small wonder then that the most sacred prayers of our holy religion seem to
bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands of Rosaries, we are still no
better than we were before! Dear Confraternity members, I beg of you to temper
the speed which comes all too easily to you and pause briefly several times as
you say the Our Father and Hail Mary. I have placed a cross at each pause, as
you will see:
Our Father Who art in Heaven, 
hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee, blessed art thou among women and blessed is the Fruit of Thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
At first, you may find it difficult
to make these pauses because of your bad habit of saying prayers in a hurry;
but a decade that you say recollectedly in this way will be worth more than
thousands of Rosaries said all in a rush----without any pauses or reflection.
Saint Louis de
Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary
Latin
liturgical language has always been a principal target of the liturgical
heretics
Hatred for the Latin language is inborn in the heart of all the enemies
of Rome. They recognize it as the bond of Catholics throughout the universe, as
the arsenal of orthodoxy against all the subtleties of the sectarian spirit . .
. We must admit it is a master blow of Protestantism to have declared war on
the sacred language. If it should ever succeed in destroying it, it would be
well on the way to victory. Exposed to profane gaze, like a virgin who has been
violated, from that moment on the Liturgy has lost much of its sacred
character, and very soon people find that it is not worthwhile putting aside
one's work or pleasure in order to go and listen to what is being said in the
way one speaks on the marketplace. . . .
Dom Gueranger, Liturgical Institutions
“Remember, the
Lord seeks not only flowers but fruits, that is, not only good desires and
resolutions but also holy works.”
St. Bernard
Hermeneutics
of Continuity/Discontinuity
Pope Benedict
XVI – The novelty of “Religious Liberty” is elevated to a “Church… Demand”
“The Catholic Church firmly
advocates that due recognition be given to the public dimension of religious
adherence. In an overwhelmingly pluralist society, this demand is not
unimportant. Care must be taken to guarantee that others are always treated
with respect. Mutual respect grows only on the basis of agreement on certain
inalienable values that are proper to human nature, in particular the
inviolable dignity of every single person. Such agreement does not limit the
expression of individual religions; on the contrary, it allows each person to
bear witness explicitly to what he believes, not avoiding comparison with
others.”
Pope Benedict XVI to the Muslims
Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre –
Called for a “Wholesale” Revision of the Texts of Vatican II and said that the
text on Religious Liberty is “Contrary to the Magisterium of the Church.”
The necessity of judging the
Second Vatican Council in the light of Tradition and the unchanging Magisterium
of the Church, so as to correct the texts that are either incompatible with
Tradition or equivocal.
Archbishop Lefebvre to Cardinal
Ratzinger, CDF, July 21, 1982
“Considering that the
Declaration of Religious Liberty is contrary to the Magisterium of the Church,
we ask for a wholesale revision of the text.”We consider likewise indispensable
noteworthy revisions of documents like ‘The Church in the Modern World’,
‘Non-Christian Religions’, ‘Ecumenism’, and clarifications of numerous texts
presently tending toward confusion.
“Similarly on several points of prime importance, the new Code of Canon Law is
unacceptable by its opposition to the definitive Magisterium of the Church.”
Archbishop Lefebvre to Cardinal
Ratzinger, CDF, April 17, 1985
Tropologically; by the sick man’s taking up, and carrying his bed is meant,
that by the just judgment of God it cometh to pass that the sinner who
aforetime willingly consented to temptation, after he has repented, feels
temptation against his will. For repentance truly takes away sin, but not
sinful habits and depraved inclinations, which the sinner of his own will
contracted and put on. Thus S. Alary of Egypt, after her conversion, felt for
seventeen years the sharp goads of lust, because for so many years she had
shamefully lived in lust.
But
when the multitudes saw it they marvelled, &c. Instead of marvelled, the
Latin Vulgate has, they feared. S. Mark adds, that the multitude said, We never
saw it after this fashion. S. Luke, We have seen strange things to-day. For
this man’s whole body was paralyzed. S. Mark says that, he was borne of four,
which shows that the palsy had affected every limb. He was a different
paralytic from the one of whom S. John makes mention (5:2), who was healed in
the Sheep-market at Jerusalem. That man had no one carrying him: neither did he
believe, as this one did, to whom it was said, Son, be of good cheer.
Tropologically;
paralysis is any disease of the soul whatsoever, but especially of fleshly
lust, and the carelessness and indifference to spiritual things which it
generates. For it so entirely prostrates the soul, that it is without power to
lift itself up to virtue, to heaven, to God. Wherefore the man that labours
under this disease must be carried by bearers, that is, by pastors, preachers,
confessors, up upon the housetop, that is, to the desire of salvation and
heavenly things; and then must be let down through the roof to the feet of
Christ; and they must ask of Him by earnest prayer to heal him by His grace,
and restore to him the power of motion, and the sense of spiritual things. Then
when he is healed, let him give thanks to Christ his Saviour, and let him not
be slothful, but let him go away to the house of his mind and conscience, and
sweep it clean of vices, and adorn it with all virtuous actions. Thus ought the
soul to trust in the Lord, because He alone is able to supply all her wants.
She ought to arise from the sleep of sin, and the bed of depraved habits, by
calling to mind into what a state she has fallen, which she doth by confession;
for as he who arises, so also does he who confesses, come forth: she ought to
take up her bed, which pertains to satisfaction, for when that is enjoined in
confession, it is a sort of burden to be borne, for the flesh which, as a bed,
gave pleasure, and as it were carried the dead soul, ought, after remission and
satisfaction, to be a burden to a man, as it was to him who cried out, “O
wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” So
Salermon, Jansen, Toletus, and others, expound this passage.
Rev.
Cornelius a Lapide, The Great Commentary, Matthew 9
Dogma - The Formal
Object of Divine and Catholic Faith
In theology some want to reduce
to a minimum the meaning of dogmas; and to free dogma itself from terminology
long established in the Church and from philosophical concepts held by Catholic
teachers, to bring about a return in the explanation of Catholic doctrine to
the way of speaking used in Holy Scripture and by the Fathers of the Church.
They cherish the hope that when dogma is stripped of the elements which they
hold to be extrinsic to divine revelation, it will compare advantageously with
the dogmatic opinions of those who are separated from the unity of the Church
and that in this way they will gradually arrive at a mutual assimilation of
Catholic dogma with the tenets of the dissidents. … Some say they are not bound
by the doctrine, explained in Our Encyclical Letter of a few years ago, and
based on the Sources of Revelation, which teaches that the Mystical Body of
Christ and the Roman Catholic Church are one and the same thing. Some reduce to
a meaningless formula the necessity of belonging to the true Church in order to
gain eternal salvation. Others finally belittle the reasonable character of the
credibility of Christian faith.
These and like errors, it is clear, have crept in among certain of Our sons who
are deceived by imprudent zeal for souls or by false science. To them We are
compelled with grief to repeat once again truths already well known, and to
point out with solicitude clear errors and dangers of error.
Pope Pius XII, Humani Generis
The
Pew poll affirms that 95% of Jewish leaders support the crime of abortion.
Similar numbers support same sex marriages. Just who is this “one god” that
Pope Benedict, Pope Francis and the Jews, in “mutual esteem and friendship,”
adore?
Jews and
Christians, growing in mutual esteem and friendship will be able to witness in
the world the values that spring from adoration of the One God.
Pope Benedict
XVI
It is God Who has created me
and to Him only I must return.... Oh, dear Jesus, enable me to grow increasingly
in Thy love, to advance in it with firm and steady steps: so that my heart may
be inebriated and inundated by it. Ah!
far from fearing to be submerged in it, I long for it with all my might, and my
one wish is to be engulfed in the depths of the abyss.
Blessed Osanna of Mantua, O. P.
Without a “just cause” there is
no fortitude. The decisive element is
not the wound but the cause. “A man does
not expose his life to the danger of death except in order to secure
justice. Therefore praise for bravery is
contingent upon justice,” says St. Thomas Aquinas. And in his book On Duties, St. Ambrose says,
“Courage without justice is a lever of evil.”
Josef Pieper
“Don’t
proselytize; respect others’ beliefs. We can inspire others through witness so
that one grows together in communicating. But the worst thing of all is
religious proselytism, which paralyzes: ‘I am talking with you in order to
persuade you,’ No. Each person dialogues, starting with his and her own
identity. The church grows by attraction, not proselytizing.”
Pope
Francis
Pope
Francis the Destroyer - The Nominalist attacks the created relationship between
the Reality, the Concept (which is formed only in a spiritual soul), and the
Language to symbolize - He denies that truth exists, that it can be known, and
that it can be communicated to spiritual souls - He attacks the created order
at its very foundation.
So often [people ask]: ‘But do you believe?’: ‘Yes! Yes!’; ‘What do you
believe in?’; ‘In God!’; ‘But what is God for you?’; ‘God, God’. But God does
not exist: Do not be shocked! So God does not exist! There is the Father, the
Son and the Holy Spirit, they are persons, they are not some vague idea in the
clouds ... This God pray does not exist! The three persons exist!
Pope Francis, Santa Marta, 10-9-14
What was once
“self-evident” now must be painstakingly explained!
“God has constituted an eternal
and immutable law, which is indispensably obligatory upon all mankind, prior to
any human institution whatever. This is
what is called the law of nature.”
Alexander Hamilton
After
40 Years of Dialogue, Rabbi identifies papal “conundrum.”
The real conundrum that faces
Benedict XVI on his visit to Israel… is should he be loyal to the Gospels which
claim that only acceptance of Christ can bring the messianic age, or should he
endorse Vatican II which acknowledges that Jews… can find the kingdom of God
via a different route? Should he look
inwards, backwards or forwards?
Rabbi Jonathan Romain, The
Pope’s Jewish Dilemma, The Guardian
The
revealed truth of the Gospel are reduced to “opinions”, to “merely human
calculations”.
So many past
controversies between Christians can be overcome when we put aside all
polemical or apologetic approaches, and seek instead to grasp more fully what
unites us, namely, our call to share in the mystery of the Father’s love
revealed to us by the Son through the Holy Spirit. Christian unity – we are
convinced – will not be the fruit of subtle theoretical discussions in which
each party tries to convince the other of the soundness of their opinions. […..…] In the call to
be evangelizers, all the Churches and Ecclesial Communities discover a
privileged setting for closer cooperation. For this to be effective, we need to stop being
self-enclosed, exclusive, and bent on imposing a uniformity based on merely
human calculations. Our shared commitment to proclaiming the Gospel
enables us to overcome proselytism and competition in all their forms.
Pope Francis
St. Joseph’s forgotten
role in Fatima’s ‘Miracle of the Sun’
Voice of the Family | 10-5-2017 – The 13 October 2017 will be the
centenary of the Miracle of Sun and the final apparition of Our Lady of Fatima.
Despite being essential for understanding the period of history that we are now
living through, the details of these remarkable events are far too little
known, including amongst Catholics. In this article, we wish to draw attention
to the much-neglected role of St Joseph during that momentous event.
Following the Miracle of Sun, and at the culmination of Our Lady’s
final apparition, St Joseph also appeared to the three young seers. Father John
de Marchi, in his book The True Story of Fatima, describes it as follows:
To the left of the
sun, Saint Joseph appeared holding in his left arm the Child Jesus. Saint
Joseph emerged from the bright clouds only to his chest, sufficient to allow
him to raise his right hand and make, together with the Child Jesus, the Sign
of the Cross three times over the world. As Saint Joseph did this, Our Lady
stood in all Her brilliancy to the right of the sun, dressed in the blue and
white robes of Our Lady of the Rosary. Meanwhile, Francisco and Jacinta were
bathed in the marvelous colors and signs of the sun, and Lucia was privileged
to gaze upon Our Lord dressed in red as the Divine Redeemer, blessing the
world, as Our Lady had foretold. Like Saint Joseph, He was seen only from His
chest up. Beside Him stood Our Lady, dressed now in the purple robes of
Our Lady of Sorrows, but without the sword. Finally, the Blessed Virgin
appeared again to Lucia in all Her ethereal brightness, clothed in the simple
brown robes of Mount Carmel.
This final apparition at Fatima points us towards three particular
forms of devotion towards Our Lady that we are called to practice during this
“final battle” against Satan. These are devotion to:
· her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart
· the Holy Rosary
· the Brown Scapular.
However, it is of the greatest importance to note that the final
apparition of Fatima also directs us towards the intercession of St Joseph,
whom Our Lord intimately associated with Himself in his blessing of the world.
Father de Marchi wrote:
Our Lord, already
so much offended by the sins of mankind and particularly by the mistreatment of
the children by the officials of the county, could easily have destroyed the
world on that eventful day. However, Our Lord did not come to destroy, but to
save. He saved the world that day through the blessing of good Saint Joseph and
the love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary for Her children on earth. Our Lord
would have stopped the great World War then raging and given peace to the world
through Saint Joseph, Jacinta later declared, if the children had not been
arrested and taken to Ourem.
On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 8 December 1870, Blessed
Pope Pius IX, following appeals received from bishops worldwide, had
declared St Joseph to be Patron of the Universal Church, “in this most
sorrowful time” when “the Church herself is beset by enemies on every side and
oppressed by heavy calamities, so that impious men imagine that the gates of
Hell are at length prevailing against her.”
Pope Leo XIII, to whom it was revealed in 1884 that Satan would be
given, for a time, increased power to work for the destruction the Church,
instituted a new devotion to St Joseph in his encyclical letter Quamquan
pluries, promulgated on the Feast of the Assumption, 15 August 1889. The
Supreme Pontiff wrote:
During periods of
stress and trial – chiefly when every lawlessness of act seems permitted to the
powers of darkness – it has been the custom in the Church to plead with special
fervour and perseverance to God, her author and protector, by recourse to the
intercession of the saints – and chiefly of the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God –
whose patronage has ever been the most efficacious.
He further explained:
We see faith, the
root of all the Christian virtues, lessening in many souls; we see charity
growing cold; the young generation daily growing in depravity of morals and
views; the Church of Jesus Christ attacked on every side by open force or by
craft; a relentless war waged against the Sovereign Pontiff; and the very
foundations of religion undermined with a boldness which waxes daily in
intensity. These things are, indeed, so much a matter of notoriety that it is
needless for Us to expatiate on the depths to which society has sunk in these
days, or on the designs which now agitate the minds of men. In circumstances so
unhappy and troublous, human remedies are insufficient, and it becomes
necessary, as a sole resource, to beg for assistance from the Divine power.
More than a century after the promulgation of this encyclical the evils
identified by Pope Leo XIII have intensified to a degree that would have been
inconceivable to most people in 1889. Thousands of innocent children are
slaughtered every day with the approval of the governments that ought to be
defending them, the sanctity of marriage is defiled by divorce, adultery and
contraception, and the bonds between parents and their children are being
deliberately targeted for destruction by the most powerful states and
institutions in the world. Worst of all, the Pope himself is responsible for
the spread of heresies which are leading the flock away from Christ and towards
eternal damnation.
Pope Leo XIII urged the faithful, just as Our Lady would do
twenty-eight years later at Fatima, to combat these evils through the prayer of
the Holy Rosary:
At this proximity of
the month of October, which We have already consecrated to the Virgin Mary,
under the title of Our Lady of the Rosary, We earnestly exhort the faithful to
perform the exercises of this month with, if possible, even more piety and
constancy than heretofore. We know that there is sure help in the maternal
goodness of the Virgin, and We are very certain that We shall never vainly
place Our trust in her. If, on innumerable occasions, she has displayed her
power in aid of the Christian world, why should We doubt that she will now
renew the assistance of her power and favour, if humble and constant prayers
are offered up on all sides to her? Nay, We rather believe that her
intervention will be the more marvellous as she has permitted Us to pray to
her, for so long a time, with special appeals.
But then, once more anticipating Fatima, he directed the faithful also
towards St Joseph:
But We entertain
another object, which, according to your wont, Venerable Brethren, you will
advance with fervour. That God may be more favourable to Our prayers, and that
He may come with bounty and promptitude to the aid of His Church, We judge it
of deep utility for the Christian people, continually to invoke with great
piety and trust, together with the Virgin-Mother of God, her chaste Spouse, the
Blessed Joseph; and We regard it as most certain that this will be most
pleasing to the Virgin herself.
He further explained:
The divine house
which Joseph ruled with the authority of a father, contained within its limits the
scarce-born Church. From the same fact that the most holy Virgin is the mother
of Jesus Christ is she the mother of all Christians whom she bore on Mount
Calvary amid the supreme throes of the Redemption; Jesus Christ is, in a
manner, the first-born of Christians, who by the adoption and Redemption are
his brothers. And for such reasons the Blessed Patriarch looks upon the
multitude of Christians who make up the Church as confided specially to his
trust – this limitless family spread over the earth, over which, because he is
the spouse of Mary and the Father of Jesus Christ he holds, as it were, a
paternal authority. It is, then, natural and worthy that as the Blessed Joseph
ministered to all the needs of the family at Nazareth and girt it about with his
protection, he should now cover with the cloak of his heavenly patronage and
defend the Church of Jesus Christ.
Therefore the Holy Father instituted a new prayer to said after the
Holy Rosary throughout the month of October. He intended this prayer to be said,
not just in October 1889, but in October every year. As we prepare for the
centenary of the Miracle of Sun, let us learn the lesson of St Joseph’s
apparition at Fatima, and turn to him for help and protection.
St Joseph, terror of demons, pray for us!
It must be observed, however, that if the faith were endangered, a
subject ought to rebuke his prelate even publicly. Hence Paul, who was Peter’s
subject, rebuked him in public, on account of the imminent danger of scandal
concerning faith, and, as the gloss of Augustine says on Galatians 2:11, “Peter
gave an example to superiors, that if at any time they should happen to stray
from the straight path, they should not disdain to be reproved by their
subjects.”
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 33, a. 4, ad 2
A lamentable
spectacle is that presented by the aberrations of human reason when it yields
to the spirit of novelty, when against the warning of the Apostle, it seeks to
know beyond what it is meant to know, and when relying too much on itself it
thinks it can find the truth outside the Catholic Church wherein truth is found
without the slightest shadow of error.
St. Pius X, Pascendi
“And what is
most remarkable is that the enemies of the Church—the movements that rend and
crucify her—are in a sense her own offspring and derive their dynamic force
from her.” This includes her current enemies who attack from within the
household. In the crucible of conflict, saints are forged and crowns won.
Actually,
however, Christianity has never accepted these postulates, and the Christian
ought to be the last person in the world to lose hope in the presence of the
failure of the right and the apparent triumph of evil. For all this forms part
of the Christian view of life, and the Christian discipline is expressly
designed to prepare us to face such a situation.
Christianity,
to a far greater degree than any other religion, is a historical religion and
it is knit up inseparably with the living process of history. Christianity teaches
the existence of a divine progress in history which will be realized through
the Church in the Kingdom of God. But at the same time it recognizes the
essential duality of the historical process—the co-existence of two opposing
principles, each of which works and finds concrete social expression in
history. Thus we have no right to expect that Christian principles will work in
practice in the simple way that a political system may work. The Christian
order is a supernatural order. It has its own principles and its own laws which
are not those of the visible world and which may often seem to contradict them.
Its victories may be found in apparent defeat and its defeats in material
success.
We
see the whole thing manifested clearly and perfectly once and once only, i.e.
in the life of Jesus, which is the pattern of the Christian life and the model
of Christian action. The life of Jesus is profoundly historical; it is the
culminating point of thousands of years of living historical tradition. It is
the fulfillment of a historical purpose, towards which priests and prophets and
even politicians had worked, and in which the hope of a nation and a race was
embodied. Yet, from the worldly point of view, from the standpoint of a
contemporary secular historian, it was not only unimportant, but actually
invisible. Here was a Galilean peasant who for thirty years lived a life so
obscure as to be unknown even to the disciples who accepted his mission. Then
there followed a brief period of public action, which did not lead to any kind
of historical achievement but moved swiftly and irresistibly towards its
catastrophic end, an end that was foreseen and deliberately accepted.
And
out of the heart of this catastrophe there arose something completely new,
which even in its success was a deception to the very people and the very race
that had staked their hopes on it. For after Pentecost—after the outpouring of
the Spirit and the birth of the infant Church—there was an event as unforeseen
and inexplicable as the Incarnation itself, the conversion of a Cilician Jew,
who turned away from his traditions and from his own people so that he seemed a
traitor to his race and his religion. So that ultimately the fulfillment of the
hope of Israel meant the rejection of Israel and the creation of a new
community which was eventually to become the State religion of the Roman Empire
which bad been the enemy of Jew and Christian alike.
If
you look on all this without faith, from the rationalist point of view, it
becomes no easier to understand. On the contrary it becomes even more
inexplicable; credo quia incredibile.
Now
the life of Christ is the life of the Christian and the life of the Church. It
is absurd for a Christian who is a weak human vehicle of this world changing
force to expect a quiet life. A Christian is like a red rag to a bull—to the
force of evil that seeks to be master of the world and which, in a limited
sense, but in a very real sense, is, as St. John says, the Lord of this world.
And not only the individual but the Church as an historic community follows the
same pattern and finds its success and failure not where the politician finds
them, but where Christ found them.
The
Church lives again the life of Christ. It has its period of obscurity and
growth and its period of manifestation, and this is followed by the catastrophe
of the Cross and the new birth that springs from failure. And what is most
remarkable is that the enemies of the Church—the movements that rend and
crucify her—are in a sense her own offspring and derive their dynamic force
from her. Islam, the Protestant Reformation, the liberal Revolution, none of
them would have existed apart from Christianity—they are abortive or partial
manifestations of the spiritual power which Christianity has brought into history.
“I have come to cast fire on the earth and what will I, but that it be
kindled.”
Christopher
Dawson, Dynamics of World History
Kindness is for fools. They want them to be treated with oil, soap, and
caresses but they ought to be beaten with fists! In a duel you don’t count or
measure the blows, you strike as you can. War is not made with charity, it is a
struggle, a duel. If Our Lord were not terrible he would not have given an
example in this too. See how he treated the Philistines, the sowers of error,
the wolves in sheep’s clothing, the traitors in the temple. He scourged them
with whips!
St. Pius X, how Modernists should be treated
But the wicked shall be punished according to their own devices: who
have neglected the just, and have revolted from the Lord. For he that rejecteth
wisdom, and discipline, is unhappy: and their hope is vain, and their labors
without fruit, and their works unprofitable. Their wives are foolish, and their
children wicked. Their offspring is cursed…..
Give ear, you that rule the people, and that please yourselves in
multitudes of nations: for power is given you by the Lord, and strength by the
most High, who will examine your works, and search out your thoughts: because
being ministers of his kingdom, you have not judged rightly, nor kept the law
of justice, not walked according to the will of God. Horribly and speedily will
he appear to you: for a most severe judgment shall be for them that bear rule.
For to him that is little, mercy is granted: but the mighty shall be mightily
tormented.
Wisdom 3:10-13; 6:3-7
Baptism
– the gate to heaven
“This fountain is life; it flows of Christ, and purifies the world.
Dive, O sinner, into this holy stream; it will wash away your sins and
transform old into new. O! if thou seekest innocence thou shalt find it in this
bath, even shouldest thou be burdened with Adam’s sin or thine own. No distance
can afterwards separate those who have been regenerated; henceforth they become
one through the action of one source, one spirit, one faith. Let not the number
and character of thy crimes alarm thee. He who seeks life in this stream shall
be made more holy.
Inscription on the marble architrave to the baptistery at St. John
Lateran placed by Pope Sixtus III in 434 AD
This is the
argument made by every criminal to cover his crime. It has been the modus operandi for the HomoLobby since Vatican II. It is Satan who “counsels” and “commands”
“silence” so that the homosexual perverts may continue “partaking” and
“concealing” the sins of Sodomy to which they have given their “consent” by
claiming, “Who am I to judge.” These are nine ways of being an accessory to
another's sin and this is a sin that “cries to heaven for vengeance”:
·
By counsel.
·
By command.
·
By consent.
·
By
provocation.
·
By praise or
flattery.
·
By
concealment.
·
By partaking.
·
By silence.
·
By defense of
the ill done.
“Woe
to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and
light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.” Isaias 5:20
In these
times, it seems like the Great Accuser has been unchained and is attacking
bishops. True, we are all sinners, we bishops. He tries to uncover the sins, so
they are visible in order to scandalize the people. The Great Accuser, as he
himself says to God in the first chapter of the book of Job, “Roams the earth
looking for someone to accuse.”
A bishop’s
strength against the Great Accuser is prayer, that of Jesus and His own, and
the humility of being chosen and remaining close to the people of God, without
seeking an aristocratic life that removes this unction. Let us pray, today, for
our bishops: For me, for those who are here, and for all the bishops throughout
the world.
Pope Francis,
homily during recent Novus Ordo service, calling those who “uncover the sins”
of homosexual bishops’ perversions of being ‘Satan’.
Explicit
Supernatural Faith in God’s Revealed Truth is Necessary as a Necessity of Means
for Salvation.
If
you do not believe this, you do not possess Supernatural Faith!
Responses of
the Holy Office under Pope Clement XI, 1703:
Q. Whether a minister
is bound, before baptism is conferred on an adult, to explain to him all the
mysteries of our faith, especially if he is at the point of death, because this
might disturb his mind. Or, whether it is sufficient, if the one at the point
of death will promise that when he recovers from the illness, he will take care
to be instructed, so that he may put into practice what has been commanded him.
Resp. A promise is not
sufficient, but a missionary is bound to explain to an adult, even a dying one
who is not entirely incapacitated, the mysteries of faith which are necessary by a necessity of means, as
are especially the mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation.
Q. Whether it is
possible for a crude and uneducated adult, as it might be with a barbarian, to
be baptized, if there were given to him only an understanding of God and some
of His attributes, especially His justice in rewarding and in
punishing, according to this passage of the Apostle "He that
cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder' [Heb . 11:23],
from which it is inferred that a barbarian adult, in a certain case of urgent
necessity, can be baptized although he does not believe explicitly in Jesus Christ.
Resp. A missionary should not baptize
one who does not believe explicitly in the Lord Jesus Christ, but is bound to
instruct him about all those matters which are necessary, by a necessity of
means, according to the capacity of the one to be baptized.”
There is yet a time of
stillness and indifference. Liberalism is a twilight state in which all errors
are softened, in which no persecution for religion will be countenanced. It is
the stillness before the storm. There is a time coming when nothing will be
persecuted but truth, and if you possess the truth, you will share the trial.
Cardinal Henry Edward
Manning, Archbishop of Westminster
It is proper to grace to strive against nature. Therefore, we must
expect that it will frequently, or rather continually, demand of us such things
as are contrary to our vicious or imperfect tendencies, and that consequently nature will offer a
violent resistance, and will not yield until the last moment. The will,
however, must always be on the side of grace. By the word 'will', I do not mean
certain ineffective desires, certain repugnances or aversions which are not
free, but a firm and determined resolution - not I would, but I will,
triumphant equally over likes and dislikes. .... There is a great difference,
said a holy man who spoke from experience, between sacrificing one's life to
God in a transport of fervour, and doing the same thing at the foot of the
gallows. the true disposition of the will is to be judged at the actual moment
of the sacrifice, when the temporary effect of the heavenly warmth is
withdrawn, and the soul has cooled down and returned to a state of ordinary
grace. Therefore we ought not lightly to imagine that we have this good will:
rather we should always fear that we have it not. We are not, indeed, to be
pusillanimous, but we are bound to mistrust ourselves always and rely solely on
help from heaven, confident that it will never fail us in time of need.
Rev. John Nicholas Gou, S.J., Spiritual Maxims
The Great
Commentary on Matthew 1:1-8
And,
behold, certain of the scribes, &c. Within themselves. Syr., in their soul;
because He takes away God’s special prerogative of pardoning sin, and claims it
for Himself, which would be a grave dishonour done to God, and therefore
blasphemy. Thus they thought, supposing Christ was not God, but a mere man.
This was their perpetual and obstinate error, which led them perpetually to
persecute Him, even unto the death of the Cross. Wherefore S. Mark adds, that
they said, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” For sin is an offence against
God, a violation of the Divine Majesty, so that no one can pardon it, except
God Himself.
And
Jesus knowing their thoughts, &c. S. Mark adds that Jesus knew in His
Spirit. This was not because another revealed to Him the thoughts and
blasphemies of the Scribes, as the prophets knew such things, but by Himself
and His own Spirit, pervading and penetrating all things. From this the Fathers
rightly prove the Divinity of Christ against the Arians. For He searches the
hearts, a thing which God alone can do. Thus S. Jerome, who adds, “Even when
keeping silence, He speaks. As though He said, ‘By the same power and majesty
by which I behold your thoughts, I am able also to forgive men their sins.’” So
too S. Chrysostom and others. Whence Chrysologus says, “Receive the tokens of
Christ’s Divinity: behold Him come to the secret hiding-places of thy
thoughts.”
You
may say, the Scribes might have raised the following objection:—“Thou, O Jesus,
indeed knowest and revealest our secret thoughts, but not by Thine own Spirit,
for that Thou in no way makest plain to us, but by the Spirit of God. Therefore
Thou art a prophet and not God, that thou shouldst remit sins.” I reply, if the
Scribes acknowledged Jesus to be a prophet, then surely they ought to have
believed that He was speaking the truth when He said that He had, of Himself,
power to forgive sins, and therefore that He was God. Again, in the Old
Testament, the power of remitting sins was given to none of the prophets, but
it was promised to Messiah alone by the prophets. Therefore, they ought to have
acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah, and consequently God, as is plain from
many passages of Scripture.
Lastly,
Christ by His command alone, and proper authority, both healed the paralytic,
and forgave him his sins, and so in this, as in all His other miracles, He had
this end in view, that He might convince them He was the Messiah—that is, the
Son of God, who had come in the flesh, the Saviour of the world, the Redeemer
of sinners, who had been foretold by Moses and the prophets.
Whether
is easier, &c. You may ask, whether of these two is absolutely the more
difficult? I answer—
1.
It is, per se, more difficult to forgive sins than to heal a paralytic person,
yea, than to create heaven and earth. And there is à priori reason for this:
first, because sin, as an enemy of God, is far further away from God than a
paralytic, yea, than any created thing, forasmuch as these are in themselves
good: yea, further than nothingness, out of which all things were made, itself,
for nothingness is only negatively and privatively opposed to entity and God;
but sin is diametrically opposed and repugnant to God. For there are no contraries
which are so mutually opposed as supreme goodness and supreme badness—that is
to say, God and sin.
2.
Because remission of sins is something of a higher order than the natural
order. It has to do with the supernatural order of grace. Grace is the highest
communion with the Divine Nature: for by grace “we are made partakers of the
divine nature,” as S. Peter says (2 Pet. i. 4).
I
observe, however, secondly: on the contrary, Christ here seems to speak of
remission of sins as being easier than the healing of the paralytic. This was
so, because the latter was more difficult in respect of the Jews, and it was a
more perilous thing besides. For he who saith, I forgive thee thy sins, cannot
be convicted of falsehood, whether he remits them or not. For neither sin, nor
its remission, are things that can be seen. But he who saith to a paralytic,
Arise and walk, exposes both himself and his good name to great peril, if the
sick man does not arise. Such a one will be convicted by all of imposture and
falsehood. Just as we are accustomed to say, It is easier to write a history of
Tartary than a history of Italy: because here a man might be convicted of
falsehood by multitudes; but there by no one.
Lastly,
the healing of paralysis is a physical operation, and, physically speaking,
more difficult than the remission of sins, which is, per se, a moral act, of
like nature with sin itself.
Jansen
adds, With respect to God, both are equally easy and divine, for both are
miraculous, and both require exercise of omnipotent power.
Moreover,
although of itself the healing of the paralytic was a less work than the
remission of sins, yet Christ conclusively proves by it that He had the power
of forgiving sins.
Ver.
6.—But that ye may know, &c. Observe the expression, Son of Man, for Christ
forgave sins, not only as He was God, but in that He was man, authoritatively
and meritoriously. Because His Humanity was hypostatically united to His
Divinity, and subsisted in the Divine Person of the Son of God, therefore He
was able to make full satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.
Rev.
Cornelius a Lapide, The Great Commentary, Matthew 9:1-8
Remember
, O man, that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return.
"An excessive desire for liberty at the expense of everything else
is what undermines democracy and leads to the demand for
tyranny." Plato
In a 2022 lecture at Notre Dame, Alasdair MacIntyre argued that the
claims and conceptions of universal and inalienable human dignity as reflected
in documents such as the 1948 United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and in various post-war European constitutions are puzzling, since this
dignity requires a duty of respect to everyone just for being human, no matter
their behavior or character, so Stalin the mass murderer has as much dignity
and deserves as much respect as Mother Teresa. Aquinas’ view
of dignitas as interpreted by Charles De Koninick is a challenge to
this view, for it assigns human dignity, not to the mere fact of being human,
but to the end to which we are called, which is supernatural, union with God,
which might not be attained due to one’s choices on earth against those common
goods which enable our attainment of the supernatural end, and so human
dignitas could be lost. According to this view, the 20th-century concept of
human dignity is much too individualistic, and because it is not based in
justice and the common good, can only provide negative prescriptions against
the undignified treatment of humans. It is unable to provide positive
prescriptions that enable persons to obtain the common goods and the virtues
they need to attain their supernatural end. For MacIntyre, we need to speak of
human dignity in terms of justice, what we owe to each other for the sake of
enabling persons to attain their personal and common goods and final end, which
is the knowledge and love of God in this life and the next.
Thaddeus Kozinski, PhD, Introduction to Article entitled, From Liberal
Democracy to Global Totalitarianism, September 26, 2023
Remember in
your charity:
Remember the welfare of our expectant mothers: Flavia McDonald, Erika Zepeda, Cecelia Zapeda, and Victoria Dimmel,
Warren Hoffman, a long time member of our
Mission who is in failing health,
Patrick Boyle, for the recovery of his
health and his spiritual welfare,
For the spiritual welfare of the Drew children,
Lamonte White, requests our prayers for
his spiritual and temporal welfare,
Monica Bandlow request our prayers for the welfare of
Ray who is recovering from a
MVA, and his daughter, Sonia,
and Tera Jean Kopczynski, who
is in failing health, and for a good death for Mr. Howald, Kathy
Simons, Regina Quinn, James Mulgrew, Ruth Beaucheane, John Kopczynski, Roger
& Mandy Owen
The health and spiritual welfare of Nate Schaeffer is the petition
of Gene Peters,
Peg Berry requests our prayers for her brother, William Habekost,
Louise McCarthy, who has recently suffered a
stroke,
For the health and welfare of Katherine Wedel,
For the recently widowed, Maike Hickson, and her children,
For the spiritual welfare of the Carmelite nuns in Fairfield, PA,
Geralyn
Zagorski, recovery of her health and spiritual welfare and
the conversion of Randal Pace is the petition of Philip Thees,
For the grandson of
Joe & Liz Agusta,
The health of Joseph
Cox,
Fr. Waters requests our
prayers for the health and spiritual welfare of Elvira Donaghy,
For the health and
conversion of Stephen Henderson,
Fr. Paul DaDamio requests
our prayers for the welfare of Rob Ward, and his sister, Debra
Wagaman,
For the health and
spiritual welfare of Peggy Cummings, the neice of Camila Meiser,
who is gravely ill,
Kaitlyn McDonald, for the recovery of her health and spiritual
welfare,
Roco
Sbardella,
for his health and spiritual welfare,
Mufide Rende requests our prayers for the spiritual
and physical welfare of the Rende
Family,
The welfare of the Sal Massinio family is the petition of the Drew’s,
The Vargas’ request our prayers for the spiritual
welfare of their son, Nicholas,
Family, for the welfare of Lazarus Handley, his mother, Julia, and his brother, Raphael, with Down’s Syndrome,
Fr. Waters requests prayers for the spiritual and
physical welfare of Frank McKee,
Nancy Bennett, for the recovery of her health,
Julia
McDonald,
who is gravely ill,
For the spiritual welfare of Mark Roberts, a Catholic faithful to tradition,
Philip Thees asks our prayers for the recovery of Bridget McGuigan, recent hand
injury,
Joe Sentmanet request prayers for Scott Nettles (who is in need of
conversion) and his father-in-law, Charles
Harmon, who are gravely ill,
Michael Brigg requests our prayers for the health of John Romeo,
The health and welfare of Gene Peters,
Conversion of Anton
Schwartzmueller, is the paryer request of his children,
Stacy Fernandez requests are prayers for the heath of
Terry Patterson, Steven Becerra, and
Roberto Valez,
Christine
Kozin, for
her health and spiritual welfare,
Teresa
Gonyea,
for her conversion and health, is the petition of her grandmother, Patricia
McLaughlin,
Nolan Moran, a three year old diagnosed
with brain tumor, and his family,
For the health of Sonia Kolinsky,
Jackie Dougherty asks our prayers for her brother who
is gravely ill, John Lee,
Rose Bradley asks our prayers for the health and
spiritual welfare of her granddaughter, Meg
Bradley,
Timothy
& Crisara, a couple from Maryland have requested our prayers for their spiritual
welfare,
Celine
Pilegaard, the seven year old daughter of Cynthia Pilegaard, for her recovery from
burn injuries,
Rafaela de Saravia, for her health and welfare,
Mary Mufide, requests our prayers for her family,
Abbe Damien Dutertre, traditional Catholic priest
arrested by Montreal police while offering Mass,
Francis (Frank) X. McLaughlin, for the recovery of his
health,
Nicholas Pell, for his health and spiritual
welfare is the petition of Camilla Meizer,
Mary Kaye Petr, her health and welfare is
petitioned by Camilla Meizer,
The welfare of Excellency Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò,
The welfare of Rev.
Fr. Martin Skierka, who produces the traditional Ordo in the U.S.,
For the health and welfare of Katie Wess, John Gentry, Vincent Bands, Todd Chairs, Susan Healy and
James O’Gentry is the petition of Camilia,
Marieann
Reuter, recovery of her health, Kathy Kepner, for her health, Shane Cox, for his health,
requests of Philip Thees,
Thomas A.
Nelson,
long time faithful traditional Catholic the founder and former owner of TAN
Books & Publishing, suffered a recent stroke,
The Joseph
Cox Family, their spiritual welfare,
The Thomas
Dube Family, for their conversion and spiritual welfare,
Luis Rafael
Zelaya,
the brother of Claudia Drew, spiritual welfare,
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,
Joann
DeMarco, for her health and spiritual
welfare,
Regina
(Manidis) Miller, her spiritual welfare and health,
Melissa
Elena Levitt, her conversion, and welfare of her children,
For the grace of a holy death, Nancy Marie Claycomb,
The health and spiritual welfare of Tom Grow, Amanda Gardner, and Alex
Estrada,
Conversion of Annette
Murowski, and her son Jimmy,
Brent Keith from Indiana has petitioned our prayers
for the Keith Family,
The welfare of the Schmedes Family, and the Mike and Mariana Donohue Family,
The spiritual welfare Robert Holmes Family,
For the spiritual and temporal welfare of Irwin Kwiat,
Fr. Waters asks our prayers for Elvira Donaghy,
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 and he family members, living and
deceased,
Mary and
Bill Glatz,
their health and the welfare of their family,
Barbara
Harmon,
who is ill, and still cares for her
ailing parents,
Jason Green, a father of ten children,
recovery of his health,
For the health and welfare of Sorace family,
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,
John Rhoad, for his health and
spiritual welfare,
Kathy Boyle, requests our prayers for
her welfare,
Joyce
Laughman and Robert Twist, for their conversions,
Michael J.
Brigg & his family, who have helped with the needs of the Mission,
Nancy Deegan, her welfare and conversion
to the Catholic Church,
Francis Paul
Diaz,
who was baptized at Ss. Peter & Paul, asks our prayers for his spiritual
welfare,
The conversion of Rene McFarland, Lori Kerr, Cary Shipman
and family, David Bash, Crystal and family, Larry Reinhart, Costanzo Family,
Kathy Scullen, Marilyn Bryant, Vicki Trahern and Time Roe 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 conversion of Kathryn Lederhos, the aunt of David Drew,
For the welfare of Fr. Paul DaDamio and Fr. William T. Welsh,
The Drew’s 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 Family, the Sal Messinio Family, Michael Proctor Family,
Ryan Boyle grandmother, Jane Boyle, who is failing health,
Mel Gibson
and his family, please remember in our prayers,
Rev. Timothy A. Hopkins requested our prayers for the
welfare of his Fr Jean-Luc Lafitte,
Ebert’s 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,
Philip Thees asks our prayers for his family, for McLaughlin Family, the welfare
of Dan & Polly Weand, the
conversion of Sophia Herman,
Tony Rosky, the welfare Nancy Erdeck, the wife of
the late Deacon Erdeck, John Calasanctis, Tony Rosky, James Parvenski and Kathleen Gorry.
Pray for the
Repose of the Souls:
Fr. Waters requests prayers for Elvira Donaghy, his friend and former secretary a for Bishop
Gerado Zendejas, died September 9,
Robert Hickson, a faithful Catholic
apologist who died Septembber 2,
Monica Bandlow requests prayers for her brother, Richard Bandlow, died August 22,
Fr. Christopher Darby, SSPX, who died March 17, Robert Byrne, Michelle Donofrio McDowell, her cousin, died
March 5, and Patricia Fabyanic,
the Prefect of Our Lady’s Sodality, March 8, John Kinney, died December 21, Willaim Price, Jr., and Robert Arch Ward, died January 10,
and Myra, killed in a MVA
June 6,
John Sharpe, Sr., died July 20,
Maria Paulette Salazar, died
June 6,
Dale Kinsey requests prayers for his wife, Katherine Kinsey, died May 17,
Richard Giles, who died April 29, the
father of Traci Sentmanat who converted to the Catholic faith last All Saints'
Day,
Joseph Sparks, a devout and faithful
Catholic to tradition died February 25,
Joyce Paglia, died
January 21, and Anthony Paglia,
died January 28, who were responsible for the beautiful statuary in our chapel,
Joe Sentmanet request prayers for Richard Giles and Claude Harmon who converted to
the Catholic faith shortly before their deaths,
Rodolfo
Zelaya, the brother of Claudia Drew,
died January 9,
Elizabeth Agosta petitions our prayers for Joseph Napolitano, her brother,
who died January 2,
Michael Dulisse,
died on December 26,
Michael Proctor, a
close friend of the Drews, died November 9,
Richard Anthony Giles, the father-in-law of Joe
Sentmanat converted to the Catholic faith on All Saints Day, died November 5,
Robert Kolinsky, the husband of Sonja, died
September 18,
Gabriel Schiltz, the daughter of Thomas
& Gay Schiltz, died August 21,
Mary Dimmel, the
mother –in-law of Victoria Drew Dimmel, died July 18,
Michael Nesbit, the brother-in-law and dear
friend of the Drew's, died July 14,
Thomas
Thees, the brother of Philip, died
June 19,
Carmen Ragonese,
died June 22,
Juanita
Mohler, a friend of Camella Meiser,
died June 14,
Kathleen
Elias, died February 14,
Hernan Ortiz, the
brother of Fr. Juan Carlos Ortiz, died February 3,
Mary Ann
Boyle,
the mother of a second order Dominican nun, a first order Dominican priest, and
a SSPX priest, died January 24,
John DeMarco, who
attended this Mission in the past, died January23,
Charles
O’Brien, the father of Marlene Cox,
died December 30,
Mufide Rende requests our prayers for the repose of
the souls of her parents, Mehmet
& Nedime,
Kathleen
Donelly,
died December 29 at 91 years of age, ran the CorMariae website,
Matthew
O'Hare,
most faithful Catholic, died at age 40 on November 30,
Rev. Patrick
J. Perez, a Catholic priest faithful to
tradition, pastor Our Lady Help of Christians, Garden Grove, CA, November 19,
Elizabeth
Benedek,
died December 14, requested by her niece, Agnes Vollkommer,
Dolores
Smith and Richard Costello, faithful Catholics, died
November,
Frank D’Agustino, a friend of Philp Thees,
died November 8,
Fr.
Dominique Bourmaud, of the SSPX, Prior of St.
Vincent in Kansas City, died September 4,
Pablo Daniel
Silva, the brother of Elizabeth
Vargas, died August 18,
Rose Bradley, a
member of Ss. Peter & Paul, died July 14,
Patricia
Ellias, died June 1, recently
returned to the Church died with the sacraments and wearing the brown scapular,
Joan Devlin, the sister-in-law of Rose
Bradley, died May 18,
William
Muligan, died April 29, two days after
receiving the last sacraments,
Robert Petti, died
March 19, the day after receiving the last sacraments,
Mark
McDonald, the father of Kyle, who died
December 26,
Perla Otero, died December 2020, Leyla Otero, January 2021,
cousins of Claudia Drew,
Mehmet Rende, died
December 12, who was the father of Mary Mufide,
Joseph
Gravish, died November 26, 100 year
old WWII veteran and daily communicant,
Jerome
McAdams,
the father of, died November 30,
Rev. James
O’Hara, died November 8, requested by
Alex Estrada,
Elizabeth
Batko, the sacristan at St. John the
Baptist in Pottstown for over 40 years, died on First Saturday November 7
wearing the brown scapular,
Fr. Anthony
Cekada, a traditional Catholic
priest, died September 11,
William Cox, the
father of Joseph Cox, who died September 3,
James Larson, Catholic
apologists, author of War Against Being
publication, died July 6, 2020,
Hutton
Gibson, died May 12,
Sr. Regina
Cordis, Immaculate
Heart of Mary religious for sixty-five years, died May 12,
Leslie Joan
Matatics, devoted Catholic wife and
mother of nine children, died March 24,
Victoria
Zelaya, the sister-in-law of Claudia
Drew, died March 20,
Ricardo
DeSilva,
died November 16, our prayers requested by his brother, Henry DeSilva,
Roland H.
Allard,
a friend of the Drew’s, died September 28,
Stephen
Cagorski
and John Bogda, who
both died wearing the brown
scapular,
Cecilia
LeBow, a most faithful Catholic,
Rose Cuono, died Oct 23,
Patrick
Rowen,
died March 25, and his brother, Daniel
Rowen, died May 15,
Sandra
Peters, the
wife of Gene Peters, who died June 10 receiving the sacraments and wearing our
Lady’s scapular,
Rev. Francis
Slupski, a
priest who kept the Catholic faith and its immemorial traditions, died May 14,
Martha
Mochan, the
sister of Philip Thees, died April 8,
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 12, 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 family’s welfare, April 4,
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 Drew’s, 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 P.
Haigh,
died October 22, 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,
Msgr. Donald
Adams, who
offered the Indult Mass, died April 1996,
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
Kolinsky’s,
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 Lucifer’s 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,
Eduardo
Gomez Lopez, the uncle of Claudia Drew, February 28,
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,
Stanley
Spahalski, who died October 20, and his wife, Regina
Spahalski, 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 Lady’s 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 Drew’s, who died June 6,
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. Michael
Shear, a
Byzantine rite Catholic priest, died August 17, 2006,
Fr. James
Francis Wathen, 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,
Benjamin Sorace, the uncle of Sonja Kolinsky.
But a resounding explicit confirmation came from Benedict XVI
himself, who, during an unexpected pilgrimage to Fatima on May 13, 2010,
affirmed: “He
deceives himself who thinks that the prophetic mission of Fatima is concluded.” He added: “there are indicated future
realities of the Church which little by little are manifesting themselves… and
therefore it is the sufferings of the Church which are announced.”
But
could such prophecies be found in that text [of the vision]?
These
two phrases of the Pope in that discourse at Fatima prompt reflection: “Man
has the power to unleash a cycle of death and terror, but he is not able to
stop it.” And then: “The faith in vast regions of the earth risks being
extinguished, like a flame without fuel.”
From
these words of Pope Benedict one discerns, therefore, that there is truly
something else in the Third Secret and that it is dramatic for the world and
the Church. Perhaps it is precisely due to that visit by the Pope that this
book was released, from which another precious little piece of the truth
filters out.
The
volume in fact draws from the letters of Sister Lucia and from the unpublished
diary “My Way.” Impressive, among things previously unpublished, is the account
of how Sister Lucy overcame the terror that prevented her from writing down the
Third Secret.
The Unpublished Account
At
around 4 p.m. on January 3, 1944, in the chapel of the convent, before the
Tabernacle, Lucia asked Jesus to make known His will: “I then felt a friendly
hand, maternal and affectionate, touch my shoulder.”
And
the Mother of God said to her: “be at peace, and write what I have commanded
you, but not, however, that which has been given to you to understand its
meaning,” intending to allude to the meaning of the vision which the Virgin
herself had revealed.
Immediately
afterward, said Sister Lucia, “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,
touches the axis of the earth, and it trembles: mountains, cities, towns and
villages with their inhabitants are buried. The sea, the rivers, the 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 racing heart, in my spirit a soft voice
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.”
From
this came the strength to write the Third Secret.
Antonio
Socci, APOCALYPTIC NEWS FROM FATIMA (THE LATEST MYSTERY: THE SILENCE OF THE SISTERS, BUT WHO IS SILENCING THEM?, August 17, 2014
To this we are
exhorted by the Holy Ghost, saying, by the mouth of David, the royal prophet:
“commit thy way to the Lord, and trust in him, and he will do it” (Psalm 36:5).
And in another place, “Cast thy care upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee”
(Psalm 54:23). And, speaking through St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, He
advises us to cast all our cares and worries upon God, since He watches over
us, “Casting
all your care upon him, for he hath care of you” (1 Peter 5:7). This
is what Our Lord said to St. Catherine of Sienna: “Daughter, forget thyself and
think of me, and I will ever think of thee.” Accept this teaching as if
addressed to you personally and to no one else. Let your chief care be to avoid
everything that displeases Our Lord, trying to serve and love Him perfectly,
and He will turn everything, every your faults, to your advantage.
St. John Eudes, The Life and Kingdom of Jesus in Christian
Souls
Tikkun olam (Hebrew תיקון
עולם, literally, 'repair of the world') is
a concept in Judaism, often interpreted as aspiration to behave and act
constructively and beneficially. Documented use of the term dates back to the
Mishnaic period (ca. 10-220 AD), (that is, the time when the oral traditions of
the Jews were committed to the written form in the Mishna, also called the Oral
Torah). Since medieval times, kabbalistic literature has broadened use of the
term. In the modern era, among the post-Haskalah (Jewish enlightenment,
1770-1880) movements, tikkun olam is the idea that Jews bear responsibility not
only for their own moral, spiritual, and material welfare, but also for the
welfare of society at large. For many contemporary pluralistic rabbis, the term
refers to "Jewish social justice" or "the establishment of Godly
qualities throughout the world". Wikipedia
COMMENT: Jews
repeatedly since the time of Jesus Christ are the passionate creators and
principle instigators of ideological movements conceived as necessary for the
moral and material improvement of political and social order. When one after
the other proves to be a political and social failure, it is simply dropped and
they move on to another. They recognize a ‘fall from grace’ because they
recognize the ‘world needs to be repaired.’ Since they have rejected Jesus
Christ, the incarnate Logos, the eternal Wisdom of the Father, they have
rejected His divine plan for the ‘repair of the world’ and in its place offer
what Fr. Denis Fahey, C.S.Sp. described as “Organized Naturalism” in opposition
to the Supernatural Order of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, the truth of the
matter is that whoever is not working for God is working for the Devil. There
is no middle ground. As Jesus said, “He that is not with me, is against me: and
he that gathereth not with me, scattereth” (Matthew 12:30).
Where
Tikkun Olam can lead
OPINION:
Stalin’s Jews
We mustn't forget that some of greatest murderers of modern times were
Jewish
Israel News |
ynetnews | Sever Plocker
Here's
a particularly forlorn historical date: More than 100 years ago, between the
19th and 20th of December 1917, in the midst of the Bolshevik revolution and
civil war, Lenin signed a decree calling for the establishment of The
All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and
Sabotage, also known as Cheka.
Within a short period of time, Cheka became the largest and cruelest
state security organization. Its organizational structure was changed every few
years, as were its names: From Cheka to GPU, later to NKVD, and later to
KGB.
We cannot know with certainty the number of deaths Cheka was
responsible for in its various manifestations, but the number is surely at
least 20 million, including victims of the forced collectivization, the hunger,
large purges, expulsions, banishments, executions, and mass death at
Gulags.
Whole population strata were eliminated: Independent farmers, ethnic
minorities, members of the bourgeoisie, senior officers, intellectuals,
artists, labor movement activists, "opposition members" who were
defined completely randomly, and countless members of the Communist party
itself.
In his new, highly praised book "The War of the World,"
Historian Niall Ferguson writes that no revolution in the history of mankind
devoured its children with the same unrestrained appetite as did the Soviet
revolution. In his book on the Stalinist purges, Tel Aviv University's Dr. Igal
Halfin writes that Stalinist violence was unique in that it was directed
internally.
Lenin, Stalin, and their successors could not have carried out their
deeds without wide-scale cooperation of disciplined "terror
officials," cruel interrogators, snitches, executioners, guards, judges,
perverts, and many bleeding hearts who were members of the progressive Western
Left and were deceived by the Soviet regime of horror and even provided it with
a kosher certificate.
All these things are well-known to some extent or another, even though
the former Soviet Union's archives have not yet been fully opened to the
public. But who knows about this? Within Russia itself, very few people have
been brought to justice for their crimes in the NKVD's and KGB's service. The
Russian public discourse today completely ignores the question of "How
could it have happened to us?" As opposed to Eastern European nations, the
Russians did not settle the score with their Stalinist past.
And us, the Jews? An Israeli student finishes high school without ever
hearing the name "Genrikh Yagoda," the greatest Jewish murderer of the
20th Century, the GPU's deputy commander and the founder and commander of the
NKVD. Yagoda diligently implemented Stalin's collectivization orders and is
responsible for the deaths of at least 10 million people. His Jewish deputies
established and managed the Gulag system. After Stalin no longer viewed him
favorably, Yagoda was demoted and executed, and was replaced as chief hangman
in 1936 by Yezhov, the "bloodthirsty dwarf."
Yezhov was not Jewish but was blessed with an active Jewish wife. In
his Book "Stalin: Court of the Red Star", Jewish historian Sebag
Montefiore writes that during the darkest period of terror, when the Communist
killing machine worked in full force, Stalin was surrounded by beautiful, young
Jewish women.
Stalin's close associates and loyalists included member of the Central
Committee and Politburo Lazar Kaganovich. Montefiore characterizes him as the
"first Stalinist" and adds that those starving to death in Ukraine,
an unparalleled tragedy in the history of human kind aside from the Nazi
horrors and Mao's terror in China, did not move Kaganovich.
Many Jews sold their soul to the devil of the
Communist revolution and have blood on their hands for eternity. We'll mention
just one more: Leonid Reichman, head of the NKVD's special department and the
organization's chief interrogator, who was a particularly cruel sadist.
In
1934, according to published statistics, 38.5 percent of those holding the most
senior posts in the Soviet security apparatuses were of Jewish origin. They
too, of course, were gradually eliminated in the next purges. In a fascinating
lecture at a Tel Aviv University convention this week, Dr. Halfin described the
waves of soviet terror as a "carnival of mass murder," "fantasy
of purges", and "essianism of evil." Turns out that Jews too,
when they become captivated by messianic ideology, can become great murderers,
among the greatest known by modern history.
The
Jews active in official communist terror apparatuses (In the Soviet Union and
abroad) and who at times led them, did not do this, obviously, as Jews, but
rather, as Stalinists, communists, and "Soviet people." Therefore, we
find it easy to ignore their origin and "play dumb": What do we have
to do with them? But let's not forget them. My own view is different. I find it
unacceptable that a person will be considered a member of the Jewish people
when he does great things, but not considered part of our people when he does
amazingly despicable things.
Even
if we deny it, we cannot escape the Jewishness of "our hangmen," who
served the Red Terror with loyalty and dedication from its establishment. After
all, others will always remind us of their origin.
“Don’t Jews still believe in a Messias to come?” asks
the credulous Christian. “And don’t they believe in the same Biblical Heaven
and Hell that we do?”
The answer to both these
questions is — no. And it is an emphatic “No!” as the subsequent Jewish
testimony will verify.
Concerning the Messias: The Jews of today reject the notion of a
personal redeemer who will be born of them and lead them to the fulfillment of
the Old Testament prophecies. The Jews believe that the whole Jewish race is to
be elevated to a position of prosperity and overlordship and that, when this
happy day arrives (the Messianic Age), they will have achieved all that is
coming to them by way of savior and salvation. In his recent book, The Messianic Idea in Israel, Jewish
theologian Dr. Joseph Klausner explains: “Thus the whole people Israel in the
form of the elect of the nations gradually became the Messiah of the world, the redeemer of
mankind.”
Concerning Heaven and Hell: A succinct summary of Jewish
teaching on “life after death” was given in the May, 1958 issue of B’nai
B’rith’s National Jewish Monthly. Under the caption, “What Can A Modern Jew Believe?” there
appeared: “Judaism insists that ‘heaven’ must be established on this earth. The
reward of the pious is life and happiness in this world, while the punishment
of the wicked is misery on earth and premature death … By hitching its star to
the Messianic future on this earth, Israel became the eternal people.” The
article goes on: “The best Jewish minds have always held that a physical
hereafter is a detraction from mature belief.” And the conclusion: “There is
neither hell nor paradise, God merely sends out the sun in its full strength;
the wicked are consumed by its heat, while the pious find delight and healing
in its rays.”
Fr. Leonard Feeney, MICM, The
Point, October 1958
The study also found that on a variety of issues involving sexual
morality that have roiled other religious groups, Jews are much more liberal
than other Americans. Jews take a less critical view of homosexuality,
abortion, birth control and pornography than do Gentiles,” the study found. In each case, Jewish leaders are even more
tolerant than the Jewish public.
For example, 48 percent of
non-Jews say homosexuality is wrong, compared to 23 percent of Jews and 7
percent of Jewish leaders. And while 56 percent of non-Jews support abortion rights, 88 percent of Jews and 96
percent of Jewish leaders do.
Only 38 percent of Jews support allowing the Ten Commandments to be
displayed in public schools, compared to 65 percent of non-Jews; 39 percent of
Jews would allow the teaching of creationism, compared with 63 percent of non-Jews;
and 22 percent of Jews would support vouchers that could be used at religious
schools, compared with 43 percent of non-Jews.
Pew Charitable Trusts,
examining the contemporary role of religious groups in the United States
“Only take heed to yourself and guard your soul diligently.” (Deut 4:9)
"Only take heed to yourself and guard your soul
diligrntly." (Deut 4:9)
"It is a sin to believe there is salvation outside the
Catholic Church!"
Blessed Pope Pius IX
OLDER
BULLETIN POSTINGS THAT REMAIN TIMELY CONTINIUE BELOW:
Pope Francis
quotes St. Vincent of Lerins in Contradictions to the Vatican Council I, and
for clarification, a "philosophic invention to the human mind" is the
definition of an ideology!
“For,
the doctrine of faith which God revealed has not been handed down as a
philosophic invention to the human mind to be perfected, but has been entrusted
as a divine deposit to the Spouse of Christ, to be faithfully guarded and
infallibly interpreted. Hence, also, that understanding of its sacred dogmas
must be perpetually retained, which Holy Mother Church has once declared; and
there must never be recession from that meaning under the specious name of a
deeper understanding ‘Therefore
[…] let the understanding, the knowledge, and wisdom of individuals as of all,
of one man as of the whole Church, grow and progress strongly with the passage
of the ages and the centuries; but let it be solely in its own genus, namely in
the same dogma, with the same sense and the same understanding.’ (Vincent of Lérins, Commonitorium, 23, 3).”
Vatican
Council I, on doctrinal development quoting St. Vincent of Lerins
Although the article is old, its subject matter is timely. Cardinal
George Pell died unexpectedly January 10, 2023 after undergoing hip surgery in
Rome. What has become his final public statement was his condemnation of the
Synod on Synodality which will conclude with two Synods in Rome beginning next
month. The Synod on Synodality has produced far greater anxiety among
conservative Catholics than those Catholics faithful to tradition because faithful
Catholics who understood the rotten first principles adopted at Vatican II have
been watching and describing the trajectory as this corruption for more than 50
years.
Cardinal George Pell: Synod
on Synodality Has Become ‘Toxic Nightmare’
Breitbart News | Thomas D.
Williams, Ph.D. | Jan 12, 2023
ROME
— Australian Cardinal George Pell has blasted the Catholic Church’s synodal way
as “hostile” to the apostolic tradition in a posthumous essay published
Wednesday in the Spectator.
In
what has become his final public statement, Cardinal Pell, who died
unexpectedly of cardiac arrest Tuesday evening, offers a searing critique of
the 45-page working document meant to guide the “Continental stage” of the
Church’s ongoing “synod on synodality.”
The
Catholic Synod of Bishops has produced “one of the most incoherent documents
ever sent out from Rome,” Pell writes, and what was intended to express “God’s
dream” of synodality “has developed into a toxic nightmare.”
The
synodal document, titled “Enlarge the Space of Your Tent,” focuses primarily on
radical inclusion, listening, participation, and co-responsibility with
believers and nonbelievers, while ignoring central themes of Christian teaching
and practice, Pell observes.
“The
document does not urge even the Catholic participants to make disciples of all
nations (Matthew 28:16-20), much less to preach the Saviour in season and out
of season (2 Timothy 4:2),” he notes, calling the text a “recent update of the
good news.”
In
the text, the Christian message of salvation has been gutted of all content and
“the distinction between believers and unbelievers is rejected,” he writes.
Moreover,
the synodal document proposes that no definitive positions on abortion,
contraception, the ordination of women to the priesthood, homosexual activity,
polygamy, and divorce and remarriage “can be established or proposed,” the
cardinal notes.
Pell
goes on to ask rhetorically what can be made of “this outpouring of New Age
good will,” which far from being a summary of Catholic faith or New Testament
teaching, is “hostile in significant ways to the apostolic tradition and
nowhere acknowledges the New Testament as the Word of God, normative for all
teaching on faith and morals.”
For
its part, the Old Testament “is ignored, patriarchy rejected and the Mosaic
Law, including the Ten Commandments, is not acknowledged,” he adds.
In
his essay, Pell also addresses the thorny subject of the person chosen to
manage the two final synods in Rome in 2023 and 2024, namely the heterodox
Jesuit Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich.
Hollerich,
Pell observes, “has publicly rejected the basic teachings of the Church on
sexuality, on the grounds that they contradict modern science,” something that
in ordinary times would have precluded him from continuing as “Relator” of the
synod.
The
synods will have to decide whether they are “servants and defenders of the
apostolic tradition on faith and morals” or sovereign masters tasked with
reinventing Catholic teaching, Pell proposes.
In
a call to action to his brother bishops, Pell recalls that the bishop is “the
guarantor of continuing fidelity to Christ’s teaching, the apostolic
tradition,” which means they are “governors and sometimes judges, as well as
teachers and sacramental celebrants, and are not just wall flowers or rubber
stamps.”
Therefore,
bishops have true authority and “are not there simply to validate due process
and offer a ‘nihil obstat’ to what they have observed,” he states
“By
an enormous margin, regularly worshipping Catholics everywhere do not endorse
the present synod findings,” Pell declares. “Neither is there much enthusiasm
at senior Church levels.”
Many
Catholics are rightly concerned with “the deepening confusion, the attack on
traditional morals and the insertion into the dialogue of neo-Marxist jargon
about exclusion, alienation, identity, marginalisation, the voiceless, LGBTQ”
in the synodal way, along with “the displacement of Christian notions of
forgiveness, sin, sacrifice, healing, redemption,” he observes.
Additionally,
the synodal way “has neglected, indeed downgraded the Transcendent, covered up
the centrality of Christ with appeals to the Holy Spirit and encouraged
resentment, especially among participants,” he writes.
This
working document needs “radical changes,” Pell concludes, and much work is to
be done, in God’s name, “sooner rather than later.”
Pope Francis
to address pro-abortion Clinton Foundation conference on ‘climate change’
Pope Francis
will kick off the 2023 Clinton Global Initiative two-day conference September
18, by holding a 'special conversation' with former President Clinton.
LifeSiteNews |
Michael Haynes | Sep 14, 2023 Listen to this article
VATICAN
CITY— Pope Francis is to address the Clinton Global Initiative conference via video
link next week in a “special conversation” with President Bill Clinton, in a
discussion including “climate change, the refugee crisis, the welfare of
children.”
Announced by the Vatican September 14, details of the pope’s
involvement with the Clinton family endeavors were revealed. Pope Francis will
kick off the 2023 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) two-day conference September
18, by holding what was described as a “special conversation” with former
President Clinton.
The press bulletin read:
Today, President Bill Clinton, Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, and
Clinton Foundation Vice Chair Chelsea Clinton announced programming and
participants for next week’s Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) 2023 Meeting, to
be held September 18-19 in New York City.
CGI 2023 will begin Monday at 9:15 AM ET with a special conversation
between President Clinton and His Holiness Pope Francis via remote link, on
what it takes to keep going on the most pressing global challenges of our time
like climate change, the refugee crisis, the welfare of children, and the
mission and projects of the Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital.
Pope Francis recently met with Clinton in an un-announced private visit
at the Vatican on July 5, at which the two men reportedly spoke about “peace.”
The 75-year-old Clinton is famous for his adulterous sexual affair with
a young White House intern and subsequent impeachment for perjury and
obstruction of justice, as well as his adamant support of abortion and same-sex
“marriage.”
Greeting the former president warmly, Francis presented him with a
statue made at the Vatican which “symbolizes the work for peace,” according to
the Pontiff.
While the Pope is providing the opening keynote address at the CGI conference,
other speakers and participants include notable left-wing or pro-abortion
politicians and advocates. California Governor Gavin Newsom and Michigan’s
Gretchen Whitmer will be in attendance.
Former U.K. Prime Minister and staunch advocate of globalist policies
Tony Blair will attend, as will the pro-abortion former White House Press
Secretary Jen Psaki.
But other participants previously announced as attending include:
Albert Bourla, Pfizer CEO, who Pope Francis secretly received twice in
2022
Actors Orlando Bloom and Matt Damon
Kathy Hochul: New York’s pro-abortion governor
“Qween Jean” a trans-“rights” activist, and founder and executive
director of Black Trans Liberation
Among the many sponsors of the 2023 CGI conference are the Rockefeller
Foundation and Pfizer Inc. [.....]
But the CGI conference includes – not unexpectedly, given its naming
after the Clintons – strong support for abortion and contraception. Among its
endeavors is the “Clinton Health Access Initiative” (CHAI). This works across the
world, allowing some 125 countries to have access to specially reduced
“medicines, diagnostics, vaccines, devices, or other life-saving health
products and services.”
One of the CHAI’s programs is the “Women and Children’s Health,” which
– employing oft-used contraceptive style language, ensures that “women have
access to the tools they need to safely plan their families to improve health
outcomes and economic well-being.”
CHAI boasts of its work to offer “simple and effective interventions…to
prevent unintended pregnancies, treat pregnancy and labor complications and
save the lives of newborns.” [.....]
“Opinions opposed to reason inevitably produce actions opposed to
nature.”
Louis de Bonald, (1754-1840) French
counter-revolutionary, statesman, philosopher
What
every normal person already knows! Anyone supporting the novelty of Gender
Ideology is de facto guilty of child
abuse!
Gender
Ideology Leads to Child Abuse:
Pediatricians
Susan Yoshihara, Ph.D. | NEW YORK, Center for Family & Human Rights
“Facts – not ideology – determine reality,”
the American College of Pediatricians (ACP) said in a warning to legislators
and educators about the dangers of surgical and medical sex change operations
to children.
“Conditioning children into believing that a lifetime of
chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex is normal and healthful
is child abuse,” the physicians said, “Rates of suicide are twenty times
greater among adults who use cross-sex hormones and undergo sex reassignment
surgery, even in Sweden which is among the most LGBTQ – affirming countries.”
The group, which aims at getting
parents involved in their children’s health and education about health, said,
“Gender (an awareness and sense of oneself as male or female) is a sociological
and psychological concept; not an objective biological one,” and that, “A
person’s belief that he or she is something they are not is, at best, a sign of
confused thinking.”
To the contrary, the group
maintained that human sexuality is a “binary trait” and said the XY and XX
chromosomes that determine female or male sex are “genetic markers of health”
not “genetic markers of a disorder.”
“No one is born with a gender.
Everyone is born with a biological sex,” the statement said.
The American Academy of
Pediatricians, the larger professional society from which the ACP broke away in
2002, has surgical and medical interventions in youth to suppress the hormones
that naturally cause girls to grow into women and boys to men.
The ACP says this change in
position has put American teens at higher risk for physical and mental illness.
”Puberty is not a disease and puberty-blocking hormones can be
dangerous…as many as 98% of gender confused boys and 88% of gender confused
girls eventually accept their biological sex after naturally passing through
puberty,” the ACP pointed out, and noted that children who use puberty blockers
to “impersonate the opposite sex” will require cross-sex hormones in late
adolescence that in turn can cause dangerous health risks such as high blood
pressure, blood clots, stroke and cancer.
One of the statement’s authors is
psychologist Paul McHugh. Drawing upon his clinical work with LGBTQ persons as
chief psychologist at Johns Hopkins hospital and research as distinguished
professor at the university’s medical school, McHugh has criticized what he
sees as the American Psychological Association’s embracing of gender ideology
at the expense of sound medical practice. McHugh authored an amicus brief filed
in the U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned man-woman marriage laws in the
U.S. last year.
Pro-LGBT groups criticized the ACP
statement saying it would incite discrimination; one group called it an “attack
on transgender children”. A public interest law firm labeled the ACP a “hate
group” when it filed an amicus brief with the Alabama Supreme Court which favored
exceptions to the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling knocking down U.S. laws
protecting marriage as between a man and a woman.
Activists similarly criticized
Pope Francis’ recent remarks to Polish bishops where he identified gender
“ideology” as a form of “ideological colonization” and linked it to government
corruption. He said, “Today children – children! – are taught in school
that everyone can choose his or her sex. Why are they teaching this? Because
the books are provided by the persons and institutions that give you money.
These forms of ideological colonization are also supported by influential
countries. And this is terrible!”
TO KNOW THE
FAITH, YOU MUST KNOW THE RULE
The Rule of Faith was given to the Church in the very act of Revelation
and its promulgation by the Apostles. But for this Rule to have an actual and
permanently efficient character, it must be continually promulgated and
enforced by the living Apostolate, which must exact from all members of the
Church a docile Faith in the truths of Revelation authoritatively proposed, and
thus unite the whole body of the Church, teachers and taught, in perfect unity
of Faith. Hence the original promulgation is the remote Rule of Faith, and the
continuous promulgation by the Teaching Body, (i.e.: DOGMA) is the proximate
Rule.
Rev. Scheeben’s Manual of Catholic Theology
Hermeneutics of Continuity/Discontinuity
Tradition: from an Objective Truth Received reduced to a
Subjective Impression of Historical Events
Now I make known unto you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to
you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand; By which also you are saved, if you hold
fast after what manner I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain.
For I delivered unto you first of all, which I also received.
St. Paul, 1 Cor. 15: 1-3
Concluding and summing up, we can therefore say that Tradition is
not the transmission of things or words, a collection of dead things.
Tradition is the living river that links us to the origins, the living river in
which the origins are ever present, the great river that leads us to the gates
of eternity.
Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, April 26, 2006
Both the Catholic and Protestant interpretation of Christianity have
meaning each in its own way; they are true in their historical moment... Truth
becomes a function of time... fidelity to yesterday’s truth consists precisely
in abandoning it, in assimilating it into today’s truth. [.....] The truth is whatever serves
progress, that is, whatever serves the logic of history.
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Principles of Catholic Theology: Building
Stones for a Fundamental Theology
Rights
Are Created from Duties –
In
the conflict of Law - The “Ends” Determine the Law that Must be Followed
Let
us examine these words of Aquinas. First, he says that “since
a precept of law is binding, it is about something to be done.” This is
a truth to which we seldom if ever advert, namely, that although
right and duty are correlatives, duty is ultimately the basis of right - not
vice versa. And this is so because right and duty are grounded upon law. Law,
as we saw, is a directive norm of action which carries with it an obligation.
It binds us to do or avoid something. The Eternal, Natural and Positive Laws
are ordinations, commands of reason. The fundamental notion of law then is
obligation - not the concept of right. We have rights because we have duties. Since
a precept of law is binding it is about something to be done.
Secondly, “that a thing must be done
arises from the necessity of some end.” Whenever a man does
anything, i.e., whenever he acts as a reasonable being, he acts for an end - to
obtain some good; and so the necessity of his doing anything as a man must come
from the end. However, because man is a rational being he is free and
consequently the necessity exercised by any particular end or good cannot be
psychological; it must be
moral. That is, man’s will remains free but he is obliged morally, he has a
duty to seek the end - and that because a precept of law binds him to do so.
Rights, therefore, are founded upon duties, duties are grounded upon
Natural or Positive Law, and because these laws are themselves based upon the
Eternal Law all rights and duties have their ultimate source in the same Eternal Law.
Rev. John A. Driscoll, O.P., S.T.Lr.,
Ph.D., Rights and Duties - Their
Foundation
Archbishop
Viganò Calls for Abolition of the Novus Ordo
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò calls on his fellow bishops
to celebrate in the Traditional Rite.
Archbishop
Carlo Maria Viganò, the former Apostolic Nuncio in the USA and a prominent
critic of the Pope, calls on the bishops to celebrate Holy Mass in the rite of
St. Pius V in an interview he gave to Paix Liturgique.
COMMENT:
Although Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has not yet understood that the
1962 Bugnini transitional reform missal is not the "received and
approved" immemorial Roman rite of Mass but the missal that cleared away
what he considered "gross accretions and evident distortion" of the
immemorial Roman rite of Mass, he does clearly see that Vatican II is heretical
and its ultimate form of worship in the Bugnini missal of 1969 is a gross
parody of true Catholic worship and corruption of the Catholic faith.
It will not take long before Archbishop Viganò understands this and as
he does, more conservative Catholic commentators will become more critical and
distance themselves from his sound guidance.
Pope says some
‘backward’ conservatives in US Catholic Church have replaced faith with
ideology
August 28, 2023
ROME
(AP) — Pope Francis has blasted the “backwardness” of some conservatives in the
U.S. Catholic Church, saying they have replaced faith with ideology and that a
correct understanding of Catholic doctrine allows for change over time.
Francis’ comments were an acknowledgment of the divisions in the U.S.
Catholic Church, which has been split between progressives and conservatives
who long found support in the doctrinaire papacies of St. John Paul II and
Benedict XVI, particularly on issues of abortion and same-sex marriage.
Many conservatives have blasted Francis’ emphasis instead on social
justice issues such as the environment and the poor, while also branding as heretical
his opening to letting divorced and civilly remarried Catholics receive the
sacraments.
Francis made the comments in a private meeting with Portuguese members
of his Jesuit religious order while visiting Lisbon on Aug. 5; the Jesuit
journal La Civilta Cattolica, which is vetted by the Vatican secretariat of
state, published a transcript of the encounter Monday.
During the
meeting, a Portuguese Jesuit told Francis that he had suffered during a recent
sabbatical year in the United States because he came across many Catholics,
including some U.S. bishops, who criticized Francis’ 10-year papacy as well as
today’s Jesuits.
The 86-year-old Argentine acknowledged his point, saying there was “a
very strong, organized, reactionary attitude” in the U.S. church, which he
called “backward.” He warned that such an attitude leads to a climate of
closure, which was erroneous.
“Doing this, you lose the true tradition and you turn to ideologies to
have support. In other words, ideologies replace faith,” he said.
“The vision of the doctrine of the church as a monolith is wrong,” he
added. “When you go backward, you make something closed off, disconnected from
the roots of the church,” which then has devastating effects on morality.
“I want to remind these people that backwardness is useless, and they
must understand that there’s a correct evolution in the understanding of
questions of faith and morals,” that allows for doctrine to progress and
consolidate over time.
Francis has previously acknowledged the criticism directed at him from
some U.S. conservatives, once quipping that it was an “honor” to be attacked by
Americans.
COMMENT:
Conservative Catholics are famous for conserving nothing. There is not a
dime's worth of difference between Francis/Bergoglio and his conciliarists
predecessors on matters of substance. Francis is just more offensive in his
practical application of established heresies introduced from Vatican II. There
is no defending of the faith by offering a less offensive flavor of dung soup. But to set the record straight, the faith is
believing what God has revealed on the authority of God the revealer,
therefore, the faith is, contrary to Francis, a monolith. It is one thing what
God has revealed, and if you reject any part of God's revelation you have
rejected it all for those who reject a single revealed truth reject the
authority of God the revealer. Faithful Catholics are not "backward"
because they never went forward into error. When you go "forward"
into error you are the branch cut off from the vine and can only look forward
to being gathered and burned. Francis is correct in seeing the connection
between doctrine and morality. All morality is derived from doctrine. Francis'
morality is different from Catholic morality and that is the evidence of who is
fact is the ideologue in this argument. Francis' morality is what Catholic
moral theologians have in the past called sin. Francis wants doctrine to
"progress and consolidate over time." That is, he wants the
"progress" of the new doctrine-morality and then he wants his new
doctrine-morality to be "consolidate" in habitual sin. The Catholic
faith already has a consolidated morality. The principles of morality are fixed
only the situations where they must be applied can and do change. From the
beginning God has cursed those who call evil, good and good, evil. From a human
perspective it is impossible that Francis can be saved, but with God anything
is possible. But still, if it is better to have a millstone tied around your
neck and thrown in the depths of the sea than to have scandalized an innocent
soul, what about Francis who has been a festering scab of scandal before the
entire world from the beginning of his papacy? As a general principle, it is a
waste of time to argue doctrine with a heretic. You can save yourself a lot of
trouble by simple finding what sin he habitually commits and refuses to repent.
Any guesses what sin Francis/Bergoglio loves?
And we DO
know them!
"BY THEIR FRUITS YOU WILL KNOW THEM ... A
GOOD TREE CANNOT
BEAR BAD FRUIT, NOR
CAN A BAD TREE BEAR GOOD FRUIT." JESUS
CHRIST, MATTHEW 7:15-18
What
“Religious Submission” to the ‘Ordinary Authentic Magisterium’ Actually Means
Nor must it be thought that what is expounded in Encyclical Letters
does not of itself demand consent just because in writing such Letters the
Popes do not exercise the supreme power [i.e., extra-ordinary magisterium] of
their Teaching Authority. For these matters are taught with the ordinary
Teaching Authority [ordinary and universal magisterium], of which it is
true to say: “He that heareth you, heareth Me.” [Luke 10:16].
Pius XII, Humani Generis,
par. 20.
COMMENT:
This quotation taken from Pope Pius XII is now referenced to support the Novus
Ordo Church’s claim that every Catholic must give unconditional submission of
his “mind and will to the authentic magisterium” of Pope Francis. Pope Pius XII in his encyclical is referring
to the “ordinary and universal magisterium” and this can be clearly seen for
two reasons: The examples provided by Pope Pius XII that follow this statement
in his encyclical refer specifically to modern theological novelties that
reject, for example, the infallible teaching of the Church on the inerrancy of
sacred scripture, the identity of the Church and the Mystical Body of Christ,
and the nature of Original Sin. These
are all examples of the “ordinary and universal” magisterium that Vatican I
dogmatically defined as “infallible.”
The other reason is God cannot bind the authority of His Truth to what
can and have in the past contained errors.
Fr. Joseph Fenton, in an article published in the AER in 1949 entitled,
On the Doctrinal Authority of Papal Encyclicals, documents specific historical
errors published in those documents. Whenever the pope teaches by virtue of his
grace of state from the ‘authentic ordinary magisterium’, his teaching must be
accepted by a religious submission which is always and necessarily a prudent
and conditional submission to the personal teaching authority of the pope. Such conditional acceptance of the word of
God is not possible when the pope teaches infallibly by engaging the
“extra-ordinary magisterium” or the “ordinary and universal magisterium” of the
Church from which alone it can be said without qualification whatsoever, “He
that heareth you, heareth Me.” [Luke 10:16].
The modern encyclical by Pope Francis on global warming/earth worship,
for example, is wholly conscribed within a very narrow and tenuous ideological
framework that has little or nothing to do with Catholic doctrine or morality.
This document has nothing to do with the “ordinary and universal”
magisterium. It is entirely a product of
the personal authentic ordinary magisterium of Pope Francis teaching by his
grace of state. Anyone to whom the
document is addressed is free to toss the document in the trash along with the
junk mail if he, upon mature consideration, finds it to be a novelty and, in
its overall tone, an ideological screed divorced from natural truth.
On the
Necessity of Baptism
"By one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death... so
that in them there may be washed away by regeneration, what they have
contracted by generation, ‘For unless a man is born again of water and the Holy
Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God’ (John 3:5)."
Council of Trent, Session 5, Canon 4 on Original Sin ....
"Particular texts (in sacred Scripture) where the Church has
defined that such is the meaning are few. The following texts have been
dogmatically defined:
·
Romans
5:12 on Original Sin
·
John 3:5
on Baptism
·
Words of institution
on the Holy Eucharist
·
John
20:23 on the remission and retention of sin
·
James
5:14 on the establishment of the sacrament Extreme Unction
·
Matthew
16:16 & John 21:15 on the universal jurisdiction of the St. Peter and the
papacy
....... From John 3:5 there is established the absolute necessity of
baptism and that real and natural water is necessary for baptism (Council of
Trent, Session V, Canon 4 Denz. 791, 858)
Fr. Sixtus Cartechini, De Valore notarum theologicarum et de criteriis
ad eas dignoscendas, 1951, Chap. 7
Liturgical Reform: “Nothing new under the sun!”
If and when Francis can direct the Police State to crush Catholic
worship do not expect any mercy from Francis the Merciful!
The
following episode illustrates the bitter hatred that erupted among the people
as a result of the (Josephism liturgical) reforms. In 1787, on the Feast Day of
St. John, a great disturbance occurred in the church. The new hymnal was being
introduced to replace the Latin choral singing, which heretofore had been the
accepted norm. During High Mass, when the children present were to have
responded to the Gloria in excelsis Deo, intoned by the celebrant, with a
German song, the people started to hiss, and the choir responded with unusual
force and vigor, ‘Et in terra pax hominibus....’ As the disturbance grew in
intensity, the Elector dispatched two companies of infantry, the artillery and
two squads of Hussars. Thirty ringleaders were sentenced to hard labor; and
some among them were never to see their fatherland again.
W. Bamker, The Catholic German Church Hymn;
cited by Msgr. Klaus Gamber who said:
“When
the German state embraced the Enlightenment philosophical ideas (Josephism,
after Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II), the traditional Latin coral Mass was suppressed
and replaced by the so-called ‘German High Mass’ by force of government
arms. During the Age of Enlightenment,
the purpose of worship was seen primarily as that of instilling moral behavior
in the people – which helps to explain why Latin as the language of liturgy was
rejected. The State told the Church to function as the extension of its own
temporal authority – the ill-starred joining of ‘Throne and Altar’ – by making
the people into obedient subjects of the state. That meant that the priest in
the pulpit now had to exercise function s that had nothing to do with his
office as a priest; for example, he had to explain and admonish people to obey
civil laws and police ordinances. There
was no lack of liturgical experimentation then, especially when it came to the
administration of the Sacraments. Yet these reforms did not survive very long.
They are, however, disturbingly similar to today’s experiments, and they, too,
were very much concerned with man and his social problems.”
Can the Blessed Sacrament be Consecrated Without the
Mass? The answer is NO!
The Offertory of the immemorial Roman
rite of Mass offers the "spotless host" (hostiam=victim) and the
"chalice of salvation" because the Mass anticipates in the Offertory
prayers the end which is the
sacrificial offering accomplished in the Canon, just as Jesus Christ
anticipated His passion and death at the Last Supper. The Quam oblationem canonical prayer recited by the priest directly
before the consecration at Mass is addressed to God the Father asking Him to
"consecrate" the bread and wine so that "this offering"
"may become for us the Body and Blood of Thy most beloved Son, our Lord
Jesus Christ." God is the formal
and final cause of the consecration;
the priest is the material and instrumental cause of the consecration;
the Sacrifice of the Cross is the meritorious
cause of the consecration. All causes
must work in unison for the end to be accomplished. With the proper form and matter in the context of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass the priest
declares his intention to do "what the Church does." The Church
"does" what Jesus Christ did on the evening before His passion and
death on the Cross, for the honor and glory of the Father and for the
redemption of mankind, when He offered the First Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
St. Thomas teaches that the blood and water that issued forth from the pierced
side of Jesus Christ represents the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Eucharist.
The sacraments are the fruit of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus
Christ. The Sacrifice then is the meritorious
cause of the True Presence in the Holy Eucharist. The Mass is the representation of this same sacrifice,
and without this sacrifice, there is no Holy Eucharist.
The Novus Ordo offertory offers the
"fruit of the earth and the work of human hands" and the "fruit
of the vine and work of human hands." In anticipation of what? and of
worship to whom? "Cain offered, of the fruits of the earth, gifts to the
Lord.... But to Cain and his offerings he (God) had no respect: and Cain was
exceedingly angry, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said to him: Why art
thou angry? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou do well, shalt thou not
receive? but if ill, shall not sin forthwith be present at the door?" (Gen
4:7) God is the author of True Worship and it is God who required blood
sacrifice which Abel offered as a type
of the sacrificial offering of Jesus Christ. Just as Able was killed by his
brother Cain out of envy, do not be surprised when Novus Ordo Catholics hate
faithful Catholics for the same reason, that is, because God has "no
respect" for their offerings. By their fruit they are known!
"Pope
Francis appears to reject the idea that homosexuals are called to
chastity"
LifeSiteNews | August 29, 2023
"Pope
Francis has again indicated an openness to homosexual activity, as he has
refused to affirm the Catholic teaching on chastity and celibacy for
homosexuals.
Full details of the pontiff’s recent conversation with Portuguese
Jesuits were released August 28. They include Pope Francis’s thoughts on
homosexuality, condemnation of a 'reactionary' attitude amongst American
Catholics, criticism of 'indietrists' and 'clericalism,' and praise of the
Synod on Synodality,
As part of his customary activities while on foreign trips, Pope
Francis met with Jesuits from the Portuguese province while in Lisbon for World
Youth Day at the start of August. The full transcript has been released by
Jesuit-run La Civilta Cattolica in Italian, English and Spanish.
As often is the case in such meetings, Pope Francis fielded questions
on topics pertaining to Catholic morality and doctrine, refusing on this
occasion to issue a clear answer on the topic of homosexuality. One Jesuit
referenced his own work with university students, who are 'very committed to
the Church, to the center, very friendly with the Jesuits, and who identify as
homosexuals.'
The priest stated that such students 'feel that they are an active part
of the Church, but they often do not see in doctrine their way of living
affectivity, and they do not see the call to chastity as a personal call to
celibacy, but rather as an imposition.' He queried whether the practice of
homosexual activity in this instance would be wrong:
Since
they are virtuous in other areas of their lives, and know the doctrine, can we
say that they are all in error, because they do not feel, in conscience, that
their relationships are sinful? And how can we act pastorally so that these
people feel, in their way of life, called by God to a healthy affective life
that produces fruit? Should we recognize that their relationships can open up
and give seeds of true Christian love, such as the good they can accomplish,
the response they can give to the Lord?
Pope Francis refused to directly answer that such activity would be
sinful, instead stating that 'I believe there is no discussion about the call
being addressed to everyone. Jesus is very clear about this: everyone.'
'In other words, the door is open to everyone, everyone has their own
space in the Church,' he continued. 'How will each person live it out? We help
people live so that they can occupy that place with maturity, and this applies
to all kinds of people.'
The Argentinian pontiff criticized what he referred to as examining the
'sins below the waist,' or 'sin of the flesh' with a 'magnifying glass.'
Instead, he appeared to downplay the universal call to practice
chastity, arguing that 'the most appropriate pastoral attitude for each person
must be applied.'
We must not be superficial and naive, forcing people into things and
behaviors for which they are not yet mature, or are not capable. It takes a lot
of sensitivity and creativity to accompany people spiritually and pastorally.
But everyone, everyone, everyone is called to live in the Church: never forget
that.
The Pope also referenced his own regular meetings with so-called
transgender individuals at his weekly audiences in the Vatican, revealing that
he is in regular email contact with them. 'I realized that these people feel
rejected, and it is really hard,' he stated."
Pope says some
‘backward’ conservatives in US Catholic Church have replaced faith with
ideology
August 28, 2023
ROME
(AP) — Pope Francis has blasted the “backwardness” of some conservatives in the
U.S. Catholic Church, saying they have replaced faith with ideology and that a
correct understanding of Catholic doctrine allows for change over time.
Francis’ comments were an acknowledgment of the divisions in the U.S.
Catholic Church, which has been split between progressives and conservatives
who long found support in the doctrinaire papacies of St. John Paul II and
Benedict XVI, particularly on issues of abortion and same-sex marriage.
Many conservatives have blasted Francis’ emphasis instead on social
justice issues such as the environment and the poor, while also branding as
heretical his opening to letting divorced and civilly remarried Catholics receive
the sacraments.
Francis made the comments in a private meeting with Portuguese members
of his Jesuit religious order while visiting Lisbon on Aug. 5; the Jesuit
journal La Civilta Cattolica, which is vetted by the Vatican secretariat of
state, published a transcript of the encounter Monday.
During the
meeting, a Portuguese Jesuit told Francis that he had suffered during a recent
sabbatical year in the United States because he came across many Catholics,
including some U.S. bishops, who criticized Francis’ 10-year papacy as well as
today’s Jesuits.
The 86-year-old Argentine acknowledged his
point, saying there was “a very strong, organized, reactionary attitude” in the
U.S. church, which he called “backward.” He warned that such an attitude leads
to a climate of closure, which was erroneous.
“Doing this, you lose the true tradition and you turn to ideologies to
have support. In other words, ideologies replace faith,” he said.
“The vision of the doctrine of the church as a monolith is wrong,” he
added. “When you go backward, you make something closed off, disconnected from
the roots of the church,” which then has devastating effects on morality.
“I want to remind these people that backwardness is useless, and they
must understand that there’s a correct evolution in the understanding of
questions of faith and morals,” that allows for doctrine to progress and
consolidate over time.
Francis has previously acknowledged the criticism directed at him from
some U.S. conservatives, once quipping that it was an “honor” to be attacked by
Americans.
COMMENT: Conservative
Catholics are famous for conserving nothing. There is not a dime's worth of
difference between Francis/Bergoglio and his conciliarists predecessors on
matters of substance. Francis is just more offensive in his practical
application of established heresies introduced from Vatican II. There is no
defending of the faith by offering a less offensive flavor of dung soup.
But
to set the record straight, the faith is believing what God has revealed on the
authority of God the revealer, therefore, the faith is, contrary to Francis, a
monolith. It is one thing what God has revealed, and if you reject any part of
God's revelation you have rejected it all for those who reject a single
revealed truth reject the authority of God the revealer. Faithful Catholics are
not "backward" because they never went forward into error. When you
go "forward" into error you are the branch cut off from the vine and
can only look forward to being gathered and burned. Francis is correct in
seeing the connection between doctrine and morality. All morality is derived
from doctrine. Francis' morality is different from Catholic morality and that
is the evidence of who is fact is the ideologue in this argument. Francis'
morality is what Catholic moral theologians have in the past called sin.
Francis wants doctrine to "progress and consolidate over time." That
is, he wants the "progress" of the new doctrine-morality and then he
wants his new doctrine-morality to be "consolidate" in habitual sin.
The Catholic faith already has a consolidated morality. The principles of
morality are fixed only the situations where they must be applied can and do
change. From the beginning God has cursed those who call evil, good and good,
evil. From a human perspective it is impossible that Francis can be saved, but
with God anything is possible. But still, if it is better to have a millstone
tied around your neck and thrown in the depths of the sea than to have
scandalized an innocent soul, what about Francis who has been a festering scab
of scandal before the entire world from the beginning of his papacy? As a
general principle, it is a waste of time to argue doctrine with a heretic. You
can save yourself a lot of trouble by simple finding what sin he habitually
commits and refuses to repent. Any guesses what sin Francis/Bergoglio loves?
The
proper understanding of this dogma from the Council of Trent:
Canon 4 on the sacraments in general: If anyone says that the sacraments
of the New Law are not necessary for salvation but are superfluous, and that without
them or without the desire of them men obtain from God through faith alone
the grace of justification, though all are not necessary for each one, let him
be anathema.
The Dogma
defines two revealed doctrinal truths:
1.
If anyone says: that the sacraments of the
New Law are not necessary for salvation but are superfluous, let him be
anathema.
2.
If anyone says: that without the
sacraments or (if anyone says) without the desire of the sacraments
men obtain from God through faith alone the grace of justification, let him be
anathema.
Both
the Sacrament of Baptism and the will to receive the Sacrament
are necessary for salvation!
“But God desired that his
confession should avail for his salvation, since he preserved him in this life until the time of his holy
regeneration.”
St. Fulgentius
“If anyone is not baptized, not only in
ignorance, but even knowingly, he can in no way be saved. For his path to salvation was through the confession,
and salvation itself was in baptism.
At his age, not only was confession
without baptism of no avail: Baptism
itself would be of no avail for salvation if he neither believed nor
confessed.”
St. Fulgentius
Notice, both the CONFESSION AND
THE BAPTISM are necessary for salvation, harkening back to Trent's teaching
that both the laver AND the “votum” are required for justification, and
harkening back to Our Lord's teaching that we must be born again of water AND
the Holy Spirit.
In fact, you see the language of St. Fulgentius reflected in the Council of
Trent. Trent describes the votum (so-called “desire”) as the PATH
TO SALVATION, the disposition to Baptism, and then says that “JUSTIFICATION
ITSELF” (St. Fulgentius says “SALVATION ITSELF”) follows the dispositions in
the Sacrament of Baptism.
Yet another solid argument for why Trent is teaching that BOTH the votum
AND the Sacrament are required for justification.
“Hold most firmly and never
doubt in the least that not only all pagans but also all Jews and all heretics
and schismatics who end this present life outside the Catholic Church are about
to go into the eternal fire that was prepared for the Devil and his angels.”
St. Fulgentius
“The most Holy Roman Church firmly believes,
professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church,
not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share
in life eternal; but that they will go into the ‘eternal fire which was
prepared for the devil and his angels.’”
St. Eugene IV, Cantate Domino
Ladislaus,
CathInfo
Pope Francis praises nun for
opening ‘trans home’ for men claiming to be women, calls them ‘girls’
Pope Francis told the 'nun
of the trans' that 'God who did not go to the seminary or study theology will
repay you abundantly. I pray for you and your girls.'
LifeSiteNews
| NEUQUÉN, Argentina | August 18, 2020 – After a controversial nun opened
in Argentina a residence for ‘trans women’ — men who choose to identify as
women — Pope Francis praised her work, referring to the men as “girls.”
Sister Mónica Astorga Cremona, 53,
known locally in Argentina as the “Nun of the Trans,” cut the ribbon on the new
complex of twelve small apartments dedicated solely to housing men claiming to
be women and their partners.
Upon hearing the news the Pope
responded in a communication, according to the nun, “Dear Monica, God who did
not go to the seminary or study theology will repay you abundantly. I pray for
you and your girls.”
The Supreme Pontiff, according to the
nun, referred to the males, reported to be between 40 and 70 years old, as
“girls.”
“Do not forget to pray for me. May
Jesus blesses (sic) you and may the Holy Virgin take care of you,” he added,
according to a report to Newsflare.
Last year, Cardinal Raymond Burke and
Bishop Athanasius Schneider, joined by other prelates, issued a public
declaration of truths of the faith where they called it a rebellion and “grave
sin” for a man to “attempt to become a woman.”
“The male and female sexes, man and woman,
are biological realities created by the wise will of God (see Gen. 1: 27;
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 369). It is, therefore, a rebellion against
natural and Divine law and a grave sin that a man may attempt to become a woman
by mutilating himself, or even by simply declaring himself to be such, or that
a woman may in like manner attempt to become a man, or to hold that the civil
authority has the duty or the right to act as if such things were or may be
possible and legitimate (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2297),” the
document states.
Pro-LGBT Jesuit priest Fr. James
Martin was delighted with the Pope’s congratulatory words to Sister Monica
Cremona, saying in a Tweet: “Wow. Pope Francis sends his support for a
Catholic sister in Argentina who ministers to transsexual women.” [.....]
How the SSPX
Settled on the 1962 Bugnini Transitional Novus Ordo Missal
Question: Were you a strong supporter of the 1962
liturgy when Archbishop Lefebvre choose that Missal and if so, are you still a strong
supporter of that Missal today?
Bishop Williamson:
There
is no direct question between sedevacantism and the question of the liturgy.
The
reason that Archbishop Lefebvre (ABL) settled on 1962 is because, there were reforms
in 1962, 64, 67 and finally in 69. The Archbishop himself went along with the
reforms on the grounds that the pope is the 'Master of the Liturgy' in the
Latin Rite of the universal Church. That is, (the liturgy) depends upon the
pope. And the pope apparently wanted all those reforms of 64, 67 and 69. When
the ABL himself prayed the liturgy of 67 he realized that his faith was being
diminished. He realized that omitting all those signs of the cross in the Mass
for instance, was just one little instance, and praying all the changes that
were all really pretty far gone in 67, he himself came back to 1964 (missal).
He founded the seminary in 1970 and he began it with his personal experience on
the 1964 (missal). The seminarians a few years later into the 70s made it
clear, one of the seminarians hid one of the lecterns on which the 64 lessons
used to be read. Now the Archbishop did not usually give way to rebels, he was
not, believe it or not, he was not a rebel himself by any stretch of the
imagination. He was obedient absolutely to what he thought was the will of God
coming through the Church. But what was coming through the Church in the 1960s
was not always coming from God. So he himself settled on 1964. The seminarians
gave him to understand that the 1964 was going too far and he must have thought
that the Holy Ghost was speaking to him through the seminarians and came back
to 62. And that is where he settled.
His
principle was if the 1962 is not essentially against the faith, or is not
diminishing the faith, then that is the latest that had the approval from Rome,
therefore (he reasoned) if I combine what I myself realize is against the
faith, that which is unacceptable, with what the pope has approved and that is
the latest is 1962, then combining those two principles, then 62 is where I
will settle. He settled on 62.
But
notice that for the Holy Week he never abandoned the knocking on the door of
Palm Sunday which was eliminated by Bugnini in 55 and the second confession the
Archbishop never eliminated, the confession just before communion. And so even
he was not completely loyal to the 62. But in any case what he was doing
balancing two principles which the Romans were making clash with one another.
By departing from tradition, the Romans were setting up authority to go one way
and truth to go a different way. And that is what essentially happened in 1969
in the revolution in the Church.
Catholic
authority split from Catholic Truth. And ever since all Catholics are more or
less schizophrenic because if truth and authority have separated from one
another then either I follow authority and forget truth or I forget truth and
follow authority or somewhere in between.
So
I might mix it ten to ninety, I might mix it twenty to eighty, I might mix
thirty to seventy, etc. etc. etc. So all Catholics who want to be Catholic are somewhere in between zero and one-hundred
and there is a great variety and great confusion in the Catholic Church because
of that and it will only be settled when Almighty God, nobody else can do it,
will bring these erring human beings in Rome back to tradition and when
authority and truth are reunited then the crisis will be over.
Bishop
Richard Williamson, interview with Restoring the Faith, August 11, 2022, Feast
of St. Philomena, Virgin Martyr
COMMENT:
There are problems with the approach taken by Archbishop Lefebvre and
still followed by the SSPX. Most importantly, the pope is NOT the 'Master of
the Liturgy' but rather its first servant. If he were the "master,"
the liturgy would be a matter of mere discipline open to the free and
independent will of the legislator but that is not the case. Even Pope
Benedict/Ratzinger recognized this fact.
The Master of the Liturgy is God. God without exception throughout all
history has been the author of acceptable divine worship. Divine worship
constructed by man had its first expression with Cain who killed his brother
Abel out of envy because God would not accept his offering that was the
"fruit of the earth and the work of human hands." The Bugnini Novus
Ordo reform which began by establishing its theoretical foundations in 1948 is
just the most recent modern example of man-made worship.
Following from this first error, ABL places himself in an impossible
position to defend true worship. He accepts that the pope can do anything he
wants with the liturgy as long as it does not diminish the personal faith. ABL
has made himself the judge of liturgical innovation based upon his personal
subjective sense of his faith being diminished. Imagine if every Catholic did
the same thing. In principle it holds that the pope can do as he likes with
liturgy but every Catholic has the practical right to accept or reject it based
upon his subjective sense of fidelity to the faith. This is a prescription for
chaos.
Lastly, Bishop Williamson proposal of Truth vs. Authority is a false
dichotomy. It is God, Who is all Truth, and God Who is all Authority. Every
creature is subject to the Truth of God and the Authority of God. The response
to truth is conformity of the intellect and the response to authority is
obedience of the will. Authority exercised by churchmen, even the pope, is a
derived authority from God established to protect and propagate the revealed
Truth of God. Every Catholic, including those in Authority, are subject to
Truth. When Authority separates itself from Truth it separates itself from God.
While every Catholic is morally required to "obey God rather than
man" therefore every Catholic is obligated to oppose any authority that is
opposed to truth. So every Catholic who becomes "schizophrenic"
because he does not adhere 100% to Truth is in fact a confused Catholic. The
remote rule of faith is Scripture and Tradition. The proximate rule of faith is
Dogma. The 100% Catholic is the one who keeps the rule of faith against any
human authority that falls from Truth.
Archbishop Carlo Maria
Viganò: Satanic Freemasonary and
the NWO Doomed to Fail
The consistency of evil
[.....] But as there is
a consistency in good, so also there is a consistency in evil; and those
actions that we apparently judge not particularly serious – if we do not
contextualize them – turn out to be wheels of a gear, perhaps marginal and
small, but which allow it to function, and without which something would jam.
That is why evil – which
ontologically is a non‐being, an absence of Good – tries to creep into
our souls in small steps, obtaining progressive failures, making sure that it
does not arouse in us any concern or any remorse; and then grows and expands
like a cancer. And where good brings more good, so evil calls forth more evil,
getting us used to it, and to all that it attracts.
The infernal plans of
the globalist elite – which we have seen to be inherently evil – are also
consistent with each other, because they are moved by the adversary’s hatred of
Christ. Bill Gates’ project to obscure the sun and vaccinate the world’s
population; Soros’ plan to invade Western countries by hordes of Muslims and
undermine the natural family by financing the woke and LGBT
movements; Klaus Schwab’s plan to force us to eat insects or confine ourselves
to 15‐minute “smart cities”; Harari’s plan to erase the idea of a
transcendent God and compose a “politically correct” Bible; the plan of
the deep state to centralize control of citizens by means of digital ID,
electronic money and the manipulation of the vote;
Bergoglio’s plan to transform the Church into an agency of the U.N. and the
World Economic Forum – none of these are completely separate plans carried out
autonomously and without any relationship between them.
In all that has
happened in recent decades in a more underground form – and more recently in an
obvious way – we can see a mens, an
intelligence capable of organizing in a way that appears both infallible and
unstoppable. Because we have to admit it: whoever built this
infernal machine, in which all the gears seem to fit together perfectly,
demonstrates a superior, angelic, and indeed, a satanic intelligence.
Our observation of the
organizational efficiency of the wicked should not frighten us, nor make
us desist from fighting against their plans. Indeed, I believe that it is
precisely this “perfection” in the enemy camp that will end up constituting its
own condemnation: Simul stabunt, simul cadent, says the Latin adage – they will
either stand or fall together. And it will be exactly so, because the triumph
of evil is a fiction, a simulation, merely the staging of a scene, a scene that
is based – like everything that comes from Satan – on appearance and lies.
[.....], July
29, 2023, Pontmain,
France
Hermeneutics of
Continuity/Discontinuity
Pope Francis
in Evangelii Gaudium Smears Faithful
Catholics as “Neo-pelagians”:
Catholics
faithful in keeping God’s moral law and believing His revealed truth are “self-absorbed promethean
neopelagianism [who] observe
certain rules or remain intransigently faithful to a particular Catholic style
[characterized by a] narcissistic
and authoritarian elitism [which is a] manifestations of an anthropocentric immanentism. It is
impossible to think that a genuine evangelizing thrust could emerge from these
adulterated forms of Christianity.”
94. This worldliness can be fuelled in two
deeply interrelated ways. One is the attraction of gnosticism, a purely
subjective faith whose only interest is a certain experience or a set of ideas
and bits of information which are meant to console and enlighten, but which
ultimately keep one imprisoned in his or her own thoughts and feelings. The
other is the self-absorbed
promethean neopelagianism of those who ultimately trust only in their
own powers and feel superior to others because they observe certain rules or remain intransigently
faithful to a particular Catholic style from the past. A supposed
soundness of doctrine or discipline leads instead to a narcissistic and authoritarian elitism,
whereby instead of evangelizing, one analyzes and classifies others, and
instead of opening the door to grace, one exhausts his or her energies in
inspecting and verifying. In neither case is one really concerned about Jesus
Christ or others. These are manifestations of an anthropocentric immanentism. It is impossible to think
that a genuine evangelizing thrust could emerge from these adulterated forms of
Christianity.
Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium
While in the same document he has this to say
about the possibility of salvation for “Non-Christinas”:
254. Non-Christians, by God’s gracious
initiative, when they are faithful to their own consciences, can live
“justified by the grace of God”, and thus be “associated to the paschal mystery
of Jesus Christ”.
Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, this teaching of Pope Franics references the
teaching of the International Theological Commission.
“By
God’s gracious initiative” is pure invention. God has never revealed this
fable. This is Pelagianism by definition. This is what a Pelagian heretic
affirms that salvation is possible through being “faithful to their own
consciences.” Catholic dogmas, formal objects of divine and Catholic faith,
affirm that supernatural faith, the sacraments, membership in the Church, and
subjection to the Roman Pontiff are necessary as necessities of means to obtain
eternal salvation. Pope Francis is a Pelagian heretic. So where is his source
material for this error? He cites as his
authority the International Theological Commission which teaches:
10. Exclusivist ecclesiocentrism—the fruit of
a specific theological system or of a mistaken understanding of the phrase
extra ecclesiam nulla salus—is no longer defended by Catholic theologians after
the clear statements of Pius XII (sic) and Vatican II the possibility of
salvation for those who do not belong visibly to the Church (cf, e.g., Vatican
II, LG
16; GS
22).
Christocentrism accepts that salvation may
occur in religions, but it denies them any autonomy in salvation on account of
the uniqueness and universality of the salvation that comes from Jesus Christ. This
position is undoubtedly the one most commonly held by Catholic theologians,
even though there are differences among them.
International Theological Commission,
Christianity and the World Religions, 1997
This
is the fundamental doctrine of Neo-Modernism that holds that Dogmas need not be
taken in a literal sense because they are always undergoing evolutionary
development in an effort to achieve a closer approximation of truth. Catholics
believe, as St. Pope Pius X said, dogmas are “truths fallen from heaven.” Pope
Pius XII never denied the dogma that there is no salvation outside the Catholic
Church. Those who claim he did are
simply liars. Vatican II on the other hand did, and Vatican II cites as its
authority for the denial of the dogma that there is no salvation outside the
Catholic Church, the heretical 1949 Holy Office Letter that teaches that the
one and only thing necessary for salvation is the ‘desire to do the will of a
god who rewards and punishes’. This can be known by natural philosophy and is
simply a necessary presupposition to receiving the Gospel message. The 1949
Holy Office Letter and Vatican II are teaching Pelagianism. The very error that Pope Francis attributes
to faithful Catholics who believe the revealed truths of our faith and keep our
immemorial traditions. Is it any wonder that Pope Francis who denies the
necessity of faith, the sacraments, membership in the Church, and submission to
the Roman Pontiff as necessary for salvation as necessities of means would then
thoroughly corrupt the definition of “genuine evangelization”?
Catholics
who “observe certain rules (like keeping the Ten Commandments or believing
Catholic dogma) or remain intransigently faithful to a particular Catholic
style (the “received and approved rites customarily used in the solemn
administration of the sacraments” Trent)” are guilty of “self-absorbed
promethean neopelagianism... narcissistic and authoritarian elitism [that is a]
manifestation of an anthropocentric immanentism... [whereby, it is] impossible to think that a genuine evangelizing
thrust could emerge from these adulterated forms of Christianity.”
Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium
What
is “Genuine
evangelization”? Pope Francis said: “Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it makes no sense.
We need to get to know each other, listen to each other and improve our
knowledge of the world around us. ..... I believe I have already said that our goal is not to proselytize
but to listen to needs, desires and disappointments, despair, hope”
(Interview with Italian journalist and atheist Eugenio Scalfari). He also said
in answer to a question from a Lutheran girl, “It is not licit that you convince them of your faith;
proselytism is the strongest poison against the ecumenical path.” On
another occasion he said, “Proselytism
among Christians, therefore, in itself, is a grave sin.”
How
is this possible? Proselytism means to seek converts. A “proselyte” is a
convert. It was the Great Commission given by Jesus Christ to His Church: “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) The goal of “preaching” is to bring other to
“believe” the revealed truth and become members of the Church through “baptism”
so that they may become a “proselyte,” like one of the first deacons of the
Church, Nicolas in Acts 6:5, and be “saved.”
“Genuine
evangelization” is the act of proselytism and the fruit of evangelization is
proselytes. “By their fruit you shall know them.” In South America alone there
have been more than 40 million Catholics lost to the faith since Vatican II.
This is the fruit of the “new evangelization” of Pope Francis which does not
seek converts at all because he sees no reason to convert.
So
who in end is “self-absorbed promethean neo-pelagian”? Prometheus was eternally
punished for his hubris of defying the gods while Pope Francis does the same
thing by “intransigently” overturning God’s revealed truth. His heresy is the fruit of his own
“narcissistic and authoritarian elitism” to believe that he is better than
God. He proposes an “adulterated form of
Christianity” which explains why he promotes Catholic divorce. Heretics always permit divorce because
marriage is the metaphor used by God to describe His relationship to His Church
and to each of His faithful. The heretic
cannot stand the integrity of the metaphor and always permits divorce. This is the unmistakable sign that Pope
Francis is a heretic.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano,
Interview with Aldo Maria Valli
July 14, 2023
Your Excellency, some say that among these latest cardinals could be
Francis' successor. Do you agree?
I doubt that the College of Cardinals - once the Sacred College - will want to
elect a conservative or even moderately progressive pope; rather, it is clear
that the upcoming Conclave will be a provocation. Almost all the Cardinals were
created "in the image and likeness" of Bergoglio and they will be the
ones to choose his successor-perhaps him alive, given the new fashion for
Renunciation. If the electors had even a modicuм of love for the Church,
they should make themselves docile to the action of the Holy Spirit; but we
know that this congerie of heretics and immoral people - with rare exceptions -
has no intention of letting the Lord do that, for if they did it would mark
their own condemnation. But the good Lord sometimes reserves unexpected
surprises.
What is the logic followed by Bergoglio in his appointments?
Bergoglio's logic is most evident: he wants to create the premises for a
schism, which in words he denies and deplores, but which he has been preparing
for some time. Bergoglio wants to separate, in one way or another, the good
part of the faithful and clerics from the official Church; and to achieve this,
to get them to turn away from the modernist Sanhedrin, he has placed in the key
posts of the Roman Curia those people who guarantee the worst management of the
Dicasteries entrusted to them, with the worst possible result and the greatest
damage to the ecclesial body.
The progressive restrictions on the celebration of the ancient Liturgy serve to
confine conservatives to hunting grounds, only to channel them to the St. Pius
X Fraternity, as soon as the Synod brings to their tragic consequences the
doctrinal, moral and disciplinary changes that are in the pipeline and cause an
exodus of Catholics to what, after the suppression or normalization of the
Ecclesia Dei Institutes, will become the "monopolist" of Tradition.
But at that point-when, that is, traditional Catholics have migrated into the
Fraternity and its leaders believe they have achieved a victory over the
competition of the suppressed Summorum Pontificuм-a new intolerable
provocation will force at least a parade of the St. Pius X Fraternity to
distance itself from Bergoglian Rome, sanctioning the
"excommunication" of traditionalism, no longer represented within the
official Church, assuming it ever was. That is why in my opinion it is
important to preserve a certain parcelization, so as to make the malicious
maneuver of ousting traditional Catholics from the ecclesial body more complex.
Diaconesses, abolition of ecclesiastical celibacy, blessing of ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖ
couples, tolerance for polygamy, gender theory, LGBTQ ideology, ecological
pantheism à la Teilhard de Chardin: these are the points of confrontation that
Begoglio is deliberately opening between the conservative (but not traditional,
already distant or out of touch) wing and the ultra-progressive wing. His aim
is to create the clash, let it grow, encourage with appointments and promotions
the proponents of the most extreme instances, and then witness the predictable
reaction of condemnation of the few remaining good bishops, priests and
religious, who before Bergoglio's pitfall will have two choices: return to
suffer in silence or stand up, denounce the betrayal of Catholic Truth and be
forced to leave their posts and exercise their ministry in hiding or at least
in apparent canonical irregularity.
Once the inconvenient pastors are ostracized and the conservative faithful
removed, the Bergoglian hierarchy will be able to exercise full control over
clergy and people, certain of the obedience of those left behind. And this
sect, which of Catholic will have only the name (and perhaps not even that
anymore), will totally eclipse the Bride of the Lamb, in the paradox of a
treacherous and corrupt Hierarchy abusing Christ's authority to destroy His
Church.
This is what the principals of Bergoglio and his minions would like, but the
sensus fidei of God's Holy People could lead many to reject this fraud and take
part in an action of firm resistance and determined denunciation. The Lord will
allow the Church to appear dead, for the forces of the underworld to believe
they have defeated it, because He wants the Mystical Body to follow the way of
the Cross and Burial, like His divine Head, if He wants to join Him in the
glory of the Resurrection.
The College of Cardinals,
as desired by Francis, is said to represent the universal Church: really?
If we were to submit an anonymous
questionnaire to the eminent members of the College of Cardinals, in which they
have to answer "true" or "false" to a series of
propositions on which the Magisterium has already infallibly expressed itself, we
would discover to our horror that the absolute majority, if not almost all, of
the Cardinals are not Catholics, tout court. And in the number of those I
believe we would also find some conservatives. The notorious heresy of many
Prelates is confirmed by their own statements, before which Bergoglio has been
very careful not to open his mouth, as he knows how to do without too many
scruples in regard to those few Prelates who have remained faithful. The
current College of Cardinals is the quintessence of the Bergoglian Church: its
members represent the capillary spread of modernism and conciliar progressivism
in the world. Certainly, however, they are not an expression of the universal
Church: first, because they are not part of it except only apparently, being
precisely heretics; and second, because by God's grace the faithful and clergy
are learning-after sixty years of horrors, for ten even more obvious ones-to
not take for granted everything that comes out of the mouth of the pope, bishop
or parish priest. Thus these, after preaching disobedience to the true
Magisterium, find themselves suffering the consequences of a disobedience this
time good and rightful, because in obedience to Christ.
We are witnessing the systematic erasure of a whole part of the
Church-identifiable geographically, but also ideologically-still remaining
Catholic: some American bishops, with their dioceses; many African bishops,
faithful especially on moral issues; and an ever-growing number of parish
priests, priests, religious men and women who are realizing that they are the
next victims of the purges of Santa Marta - the case of the Monasteries of
Pienza and Marradi have not gone unnoticed - and are preparing for alternative
forms of ministry, uniting, confronting, organizing. This is the purpose of the
Exsurge Domine association (www.exsurgedomine.org)
that was formed under my patronage and is dedicated to helping and organizing the
resistance of clerics and religious persecuted by the Argentine junta.
Why does Francis continue
to ignore locations like Milan, Turin, Venice, Genoa, Naples?
He does so because he wants to take away the moral prestige of certain
Episcopal Sees, traditionally cardinals, for the benefit of a management of
appointments to the Porpora marked by a blatant ideological nepotism. All of
Bergoglio's friends, and friends of friends, have their careers paved, even at
the cost of stubbornly denying their scandals, their doctrinal errors, their
obvious unworthiness or incompetence. They like "shepherds who reek of the
smell of sheep," even if they are mercenaries and if the sheep have no
desire to be led by them. Which reveals a lack of human virtues even more disheartening
than the total absence of theological virtues. I have to say that not naming
the Archbishop of Milan a Cardinal ends up not being a disgrace after all; but
it is regrettable that the Patriarch of Venice, precisely because of his very
moderate conservatism, is not recognized with the Purple that was all his
predecessors'. The message for aspirants to the Vatican cursus honorum is to
pander to power with courteous servility, under penalty of commissioning,
Apostolic Visitation, transfer or even dismissal without new appointments (see
Burke and Gaenswein, among others).
Tucho Fernández will be a
cardinal. Until recently it seemed like a joke.
It remains a joke, because what has been happening for ten years now pertains
to farce rather than tragedy. All that the Santa Marta sect gives birth to is a
fraud: the supposed "democratization" of the Synod on Synodality, in
which the questions that are submitted to local communities are formulated in
such a way as to obtain the desired answers, always according to a precise
subversive design that starts from Bergoglio himself. The involvement of women
in the governance of the Church is a lie: this is contrary to the will of Our
Lord, and no power, however tyrannical and authoritarian it may be, can change
the matter of the Sacrament of Orders. The scandalous winks of Prelates and
clerics to the vices and lifestyles of the so-called "LGBTQ
community" are a deception: they are using the weaknesses of lay people
led astray by woke ideology to legitimize their personal sins, which sooner or
later emerge in their embarrassing prosaicness. Fernández himself, who has been
courting Bergoglio for years with public attestations of esteem, of confidence
in his reforming capacity, of certainty of the inexorability of his "prophetic"
(in the conciliar neo-language, a synonym for "heretical") action as
the Church's supreme Pastor, is also a constructed character.
Fernández stands to Bergoglio as Zelenskyj stands to Biden: they are puppets in
the hands of puppets. The strings are always pulled by that same subversive
elite that links the White House to the Vatican, Podesta's emails to
Ratzinger's abdication, the deep state to the deep church, Nancy Peℓσѕι
to "Father" James Martin sj.
Surely Fernández was put in charge of the former Holy Office to do nothing of
what the Prefect of this very important, now downgraded Dicastery should be
doing. He will do exactly the opposite: he will encourage the heresies and
moral deviations of the theologians in vogue today, of the bishops eager to
move to the Santa Marta hotel, of the proponents of gender; and instead he will
act with ruthless firmness for the priest who criticizes a heretical statement
by Bergoglio or one of his protégés, for the bishop who denounces the
deviations of the Synod, for the seminary professor who still teaches the
magisterial acts prior to Vatican II. We shall see how far this Fernández's
zeal will go in order to please his sponsor, and how far those who should be
targeted by the Pachamama Taliban will endure these attacks without replying or
even simply ignoring them.
Are the cardinals wanted
by Francis really all yes-men or is there anyone capable of autonomy of
judgment?
In order to be Cardinals today, it is necessary to have what our elders used to
call "hair on the stomach": for sixty years the purges have continued
relentlessly, and even some of the Most Eminent created by Benedict XVI have
proven to fall completely short of the expectations of the conservative
faithful, and not infrequently opportunists or cowards. Of the brave - shall we
say - Dubia's there are not many survivors left, who witnessed things at the
last Conclave that they do not publicly denounce, however. So, yes: they are
all yesmen; which, for those who should defend the Holy Church usque ad effusionem
sanguinis, is inconsistent to say the least.
The present crisis is the punishment with which the Lord punishes the Church
and the world for the unfaithfulness of His ministers and the rulers of
nations. We look upon this scourge as the stern gesture of a Father too long
offended but who still wants to save us. Conversion is the only possible way:
let us return to God, before Mercy yields to Justice.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, July 14, 2023; S. Bonaventuræ
Episcopi Confessoris et Ecclesiæ Doctoris.
COMMENT: Archbishop Carlo
Maria Vigano recognizes that Rome is
working to bring all Traditional and Conservative Catholics under the direct
jurisdiction of the SSPX. This is something that Ss. Peter & Paul Roman
Catholic Mission has been saying for years. We differ from Archbishop Vigano as
to the ends for which Pope Francis/Bergoglio is doing this. Archbishop Vigano
believes that Rome wants all faithful Catholics under one group so that he can
produce a schism by "excommunicating" everyone associated with the
SSPX. We disagree. We believe that Rome is doing this because they know the
SSPX is hopelessly compromised and will be easily lead over time to modernist
practices. The SSPX is Neo-modernist in its principles while traditional only
in its sentiments. Rome wants to use the SSPX as the recognized spokesman for
all the faithful Catholics because the SSPX cannot defend Catholic tradition.
They cannot defend Catholic tradition because they do not hold Dogma as their
proximate rule of faith. They cannot defend the immemorial "received and
approved" rites because they hold these traditions as being merely matters
of Church discipline under the pope. The SSPX will compromise with error
because they have already erred. Although we disagree on the ends we both clearly
see what Rome is doing and fortunately, we both agree on what should be done to
counter this. Archbishop Vigano recommends a diffuse, decentralized loose
confederation of traditional Catholics that are united by the profession of the
true faith and in the practice of the same immemorial "received and
approved" worship of God in the Roman rite of Mass. Such a decentralized
group can only be opposed by directly rejecting Catholic Dogma and purity of
worship.
Pope appoints
longtime ally and ghostwriter of Amoris Laetitia as new Vatican doctrine chief
Pope Francis'
appointment of Argentinian Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández to the Vatican's
top doctrinal position has raised concerns over his support for Communion for
the divorced and 'remarried,' promotion of erotic actions, and downplaying
Church teaching opposing same-sex 'marriage.'
LifeSiteNews
| Michael Haynes | Jul 1, 2023
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has appointed the highly
controversial Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández of La Plata as new Prefect of
the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (now Dicastery), with the new
prefect known for his roles as the Pope’s longtime friend and theologian and
ghostwriter of numerous papal texts including Amoris Laetitia.
Issuing the news July 1, the Holy See Press Office stated that Pope
Francis had called Archbishop Fernández to succeed the outgoing Cardinal Luis
Ladaria Ferrer, S.J., who has come to the “conclusion of his mandate,” having
held the position since 2017.
The 60-year-old Fernández, like Francis, is a fellow native of
Argentina and was raised to become archbishop on May 13, 2013, just two months
into the new pontificate. Their close relationship dates back to Francis’ time
as a prelate in Argentina, with then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio giving Fernandez
advice on his clerical career choices.
This resulted in Bergoglio bringing Fernández to the 2007 Fifth General
Conference of the Latin American Bishops as a peritus, or expert.
He was then nominated by Bergoglio to serve as rector of the Pontifical
Catholic University of Argentina in 2009, but only acceded to the post in 2011
after completing questioning and answering objections from the CDF. The CDF’s
treatment of Fernández reportedly angered Bergoglio at the time. Much
speculation emerged in December and January regarding the possible nomination
of heterodox German Bishop Heiner Wilmer as the new CDF head. Pope Francis had
in fact considered Wilmer’s nomination but was blocked by several cardinals who
intervened with the Vatican not to make the appointment.
Fernández will now assume his new role as head of the Church’s
doctrinal office in mid-September. With Fernández in position at the head of
the CDF, his roster includes, as expanded upon in the article below:
·
Ardent
promotion and defense of Amoris Laetitia opening the door to Communion for the
divorced and “remarried.”
·
Public
promotion of erotic kissing and actions.
·
Downplaying
of need to oppose same-sex marriage.
·
Stating
how he is more progressive than the Pope on certain issues.
Key papal ally and
ghostwriter
Fernández’s career has long been guided by Francis, both before and
after Francis’ ascent to the papal throne. This intimate link has only grown
since March 13, 2013, with Fernández now being widely acknowledged as Francis’
“primary ghostwriter” and “trusted theologian.”
This includes his ghostwriting of Evangelii
Gaudium, Laudato Sí, and the
highly controversial Amoris Laetitia.
His role in writing Amoris
Laetitia should not be unexpected: indeed, Pope Francis had given Fernández
key roles in the running of the 2014 and 2015 Vatican synods, which led to the
controversial apostolic exhortation.
Amoris Laetitia’s now
infamous Chapter 8 opened the door to allowing the divorced and “remarried”
access to receive Holy Communion. Francis soon responded to questions by saying
there is “no other interpretation” of Amoris Laetitia except the one
provided by the bishops of Buenos Aires allowing Communion for the divorced and
remarried.
Francis was subsequently also asked if Amoris Laetitia contained a “change in discipline that governs
access to the sacraments” for Catholics who are divorced and “remarried.” He
replied, “I can say yes, period.” Within months, a group of Catholic scholars issued
a letter to all the cardinals and patriarchs, warning that Amoris Laetitia contained
“dangers to the faith.”
Fernández is believed to be chiefly responsible for the lines that have
led to so much consternation among faithful Catholics. So much so that veteran
Vatican journalist Sandro Magister highlighted how the most controversial
passages of text were in fact very closely mirroring Fernández’s own writings
from his years in Argentina.
In his personal defense of the apostolic exhortation, Fernández argued
that:
It is also licit
to ask if acts of living together more
uxorio [i.e. having sexual relations] should always fall, in its integral
meaning, within the negative precept of ‘fornication’ … there can be a path of
discernment open to the possibility of receiving the food of the Eucharist … I
say, ‘in its integral meaning,’ because one cannot maintain those acts in each
and every case are gravely dishonest in a subjective sense.
Francis’ “great innovation is to allow for a pastoral discernment in
the realm of the internal forum to have practical consequences in the manner of
applying the discipline,” Fernández wrote.
Papal welcome
Issuing a letter of welcome to the incoming CDF prefect, Pope Francis
hailed him as “brother,” writing the CDF’s “central purpose is to guard the
teaching that flows from the faith in order to ‘give a reason for our hope, but
not as enemies who point out and condemn.’”
Pope Francis receives Bill
Clinton and George Soros’ son in private Vatican visit
Pope Francis' private
meeting with Clinton was unannounced by the Holy See Press Office, and was
reportedly about 'peace.'
LifeSiteNews
| Michael Haynes | Jul 6, 2023
VATICAN
CITY–– In an entirely unannounced visit, Pope Francis hosted former U.S.
President Bill Clinton along with George Soros’ son and 
successor
Alexander Soros in a cordial visit at the Vatican.
Late
evening July 5, the Vatican
News social media accounts posted a short video clip of Pope Francis
receiving former President Clinton and his party at the Casa Santa Martha
hotel.
According
to a subsequent report by Vatican
News – which appears to be the only official information released about
the meeting – Clinton and Francis spoke about “peace.”
“At
the end of the meeting, Francis looked out for a brief greeting to the security
men and other friends accompanying the former president on his trip to Rome and
Europe, who had meanwhile been taken on a tour of some of the Vatican sites.”
The 75-year-old Clinton is
famous for his adulterous sexual affair with a young White House intern and
subsequent impeachment for perjury and obstruction of justice, as well as his
adamant support of abortion and same-sex “marriage.”
Greeting
the former president warmly, Francis presented him with a statue made at the
Vatican which “symbolizes the work for peace,” according to the Pontiff.
Though unacknowledged in the
Vatican’s brief report, accompanying Clinton was 37-year-old Alexander Soros –
son and successor to the notorious abortion and population control advocate
George Soros.
Alexander
has been accompanying Clinton on recent travels, with the party having come
straight from Albania the day before, where Clinton had been awarded the Great
Star of Gratitude for Public Achievements.
Alexander
was recently announced to have taken over the reigns of his father’s Open Society
Foundations group, after he was elected chairman of the $25 billion empire. As
LifeSiteNews has reported, Alexander Soros has promised to be more political
than his father, a statement which he has appeared to fulfill.
His
Instagram account has pictures of him alongside U.S. President Joe Biden,
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau, among others. Alexander has reportedly visited the White House more
than 17 times in the last several years, according to Breitbart.
With Soros widely noted as
linked to, and having funded, a wide variety of anti-family, anti-life and
anti-Catholic endeavors, Alexander looks set to now continue his father’s
works. “We think alike,” Alexander told the Wall Street Journal while speaking
about his father’s political views.
His
social media accounts provide evidence of Alexander’s political activism, with
regular international travels and meetings with leading politicians documented,
along with his support for campaigns such as Black Lives Matter and attempts to
have the U.K. rejoin the European Union.
Speaking to the Journal,
Alexander revealed that he would be investing more finances into promoting
abortion.
The
Soros family campaigns have thus not only caused concern for pro-family and
Christian advocates, but have also drawn the ire of Twitter owner and
billionaire Elon Musk, who has said that the elder Soros “hates humanity” and
“wants to erode the very fabric of civilization.”
“You assume they are good intentions. They are
not. He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. [George] Soros hates
humanity,” wrote Musk in May.
The
meeting at the Vatican was not announced to journalists, nor was it included on
the Pope’s calendar. Francis’ private and public meetings have ostensibly been
cancelled for the month of July as part of the regular summer recess the
Vatican traditionally observes, although Francis is known for not
observing as much of a break as his predecessors did.
COMMENT: We are known by our friends
and clearly Pope Francis looks positively giddy shaking the hand of Bill
Clinton. Bill Clinton and the Soros Foundation have worked closely together to
establish a satanic world empire. Pope Francis hopes someday to be spiritual
head of this new one-world religion. We know from Catholic prophecy how this
story is going to end and it will not end well for Clinton or Soros.
The apostasy of the city of Rome from the vicar of Christ and its
destruction by Antichrist may be thoughts very new to many Catholics, that I
think it well to recite the text of theologians of greatest repute. First
Malvenda, who writes expressly on the subject, states as the opinion of Ribera,
Gaspar Melus, Biegas, Suarrez, Bellarmine and Bosius that Rome shall apostatize
from the Faith, drive away the Vicar of Christ and return to its ancient
paganism. Then the Church shall be scattered, driven into the wilderness, and
shall be for a time, as it was in the beginning, invisible; hidden in
catacombs, in dens, in mountains, in lurking places; for a time it shall be
swept, as it were from the face of the earth. Such is the universal testimony
of the Fathers of the early Church.
Henry Edward Cardinal Manning, The
Present Crisis of the Holy See, 1861
Dogma - The Proximate
Rule of Faith, the Formal Object of Divine & Catholic Faith
Now,
first of all, let us see what is dogma. In the mouth of the world it means some
positive, imperious, and overbearing assertion of a human authority, or of a
self-confident mind. But what does it mean in the mouth of the Church? It means
the precise enunciation of a divine truth, of a divine fact, or of a divine
reality fully known, so far as it is the will of God to reveal it, adequately
defined in words chosen and sanctioned by a divine authority.
It
is the precise enunciation of a divine truth or of a divine reality; for
instance, the nature and the personality of God, the Incarnation, the coming of
the Holy Ghost, and suchlike truths and realities of the mind of God, precisely
known, intellectually conceived, as God has revealed or accomplished them.
Every divine truth or reality, so far as God has been pleased to reveal it to
us, casts its perfect outline and image upon the human intelligence. His own
mind, in which dwells all truth in all fulness and in all perfection, so far as
He has revealed of His truth, is cast upon the surface of our mind, in the same
way as the sun casts its own image upon the surface of the water, and the disc
of the sun is perfectly reflected from its surface. So, in the intelligence of
the Apostles, when, by the illumination of the Holy Ghost on the Day of
Pentecost, the revelation of God was cast upon the surface of their intellect,
every divine truth had its perfect outline and image, not confused, nor in a
fragmentary shape, but with a perfect and complete impression. For instance,
that God is One in nature; that in God there are Three Persons, and one only
Person in Jesus Christ. Next, it is not enough that a truth should be
definitely conceived; for if a teacher know the truth, and is not able to
communicate it with accuracy, the learner will be but little the wiser. And
therefore God, who gave His truth, has given also a perpetual assistance,
whereby the Apostles first, and His Church from that day to this, precisely and
without erring declare to mankind the truth which was revealed in the
beginning; and in declaring that truth the Church clothes it in words, in what
we call a terminology: and in the choice of those terms the Church is also
guided. There is an assistance, by which the Church does not err in selecting
the very language in which to express divine truth. For who does not see that,
if the Church were to err in the selection of the words, the declaration of
truth must be obscured? We are conscious every day that we know with perfect
certainty what we desire to say, but, from the difficulty of finding or
choosing our words, we cannot convey our meaning to another. The Church is not
a stammerer as we are. The Church of God has a divine assistance perpetually
guiding it, to clothe in language, that is, in adequate expression, the divine
truth which God has committed to her trust. Therefore a dogma signifies a
correct verbal expression of the truth correctly conceived and known. But,
lastly, it is not sufficient that it be clearly understood in the intellect and
accurately expressed in words, unless the authority by which it is declared
shall be divine; because without a divine authority we cannot have a divine
certainty; without a divine authority we can have no such assurance that the
doctrine which we hear may not be erroneous. The Apostles were such a divine
authority, for they spoke in the Name of their Master. Their successor to this
day is the Church, which, taken as a whole, has been, by the assistance of the
Holy Ghost, promised by our Divine Lord and never absent from it, perpetually
sustained in the path of truth, and preserved from all error in the declaration
of that truth. Therefore ‘He that heareth you heareth Me’ is true to this day.
He that hears the voice of the Church hears the voice of its Divine Head, and
its authority is therefore divine. This, then, is a dogma: a divine truth
clearly understood in the intellect, precisely expressed in words and by a
divine authority. There are many things which follow from this. First, it
proves that the Church of God must be dogmatic: and that any body which is not
dogmatic is not the Church of God. Any body or communion that disclaims a
divine, and therefore infallible, authority cannot be dogmatic, because it is
conscious that it may err. And therefore the- Catholic Church alone, the Church
which is one and undivided throughout the world, united with its centre in the
Holy See,—this, and this alone, is a dogmatic Church (as the world reproachfully
reminds us), and on that I build my proof that it alone is the Church of God. A
teaching authority which is dogmatic and not infallible is a tyranny and a
nuisance: a tyranny, because it binds the consciences of men by human
authority, liable to err; and a nuisance, because as it may err, in the
long-run it certainly will, and ‘if the blind lead the blind, shall they not
both fall into the ditch?’ We see, then, what dogma means. The Holy Catholic
Church always has been and always must be dogmatic. In this, and in no other
sense, is it dogmatic; for it delivers nothing to us to be believed except upon
divine authority, and that which it so delivers was revealed by God.
Cardinal
Henry Edward Manning, Glories of the
Sacred Heart
“The problematic is primarily ecclesiological. I do not see how it is
possible to say that one recognizes the validity of the Council — though it
amazes me that a Catholic might presume not to do so — and at the same time not
accept the liturgical reform born out of Sacrosanctum Concilium, a document
that expresses the reality of the Liturgy intimately joined to the vision of
Church so admirably described in Lumen gentium.” ……
"Let us abandon our polemics to
listen together to what the Spirit is saying to the Church. Let us safeguard
our communion. Let us continue to be astonished at the beauty of the (Novus
Ordo) Liturgy. The Paschal Mystery has been given to us. Let us allow ourselves
to be embraced by the desire that the Lord continues to have to eat His
Passover with us. All this under the gaze of Mary, Mother of the Church."
Pope Francis the Low and Vicious, Desiderio
Desideravi, his apostolic letter on liturgical formation
COMMENT:
Nice to see Pope Francis getting to the meat of the matter: How can “one
recognizes the validity of the Council….
and not accept the liturgical reform.” So let’s “amaze” the deaf and
dumb and repeat again, the Vatican II Council was merely a pastoral council
that has proven to be a pastoral failure by every objective criterion that
measures pastoral success or failure. The Pope can babble all he wants about
“Time is greater than space,” but after 60 years that psychological lollipop
can only pacify the brain dead. Nothing, absolutely nothing, from Vatican II
binds the conscience of the Catholic faithful regarding any matter of doctrine,
morals or worship when that teaching contradicts or contravenes directly or
indirectly the Catholic faith, morals or immemorial traditions. The Council is
the work of churchmen teaching by their grace of state and has nothing to do
with the Magisterium of the Church teaching by virtue of the Church’s
attributes of Infallibility and Authority. If this were not the case, then God
would have failed in His divine promise to preserve His Church from formal
error, for as everyone knows but does not like to say, the Vatican II Council
is clearly heretical in many of its direct pronouncements and their
implications. The most important error of the Council was declared by the Novus
Ordo Saint John XXIII in his opening address where he stated that the purpose
of the Council was to reformulate Catholic truth with new words and new images.
This is the heresy of Neo-modernism which postulates the heretical opinion that
there exists a disjunction between the truth of dogma and the words to express
that truth. The very purpose of Vatican II was heretical and its fruit has
abundantly revealed this ugly fact. Pope Francis in his direct endorsement of
sexual perversion by his active associations with homosexuals and abortion by
his public praising of the likes of Nancy Pelosi, is evidence of this fact. He
hates the immemorial Roman rite of Mass because he hates God and everything
that pertains to His acceptable worship. The immemorial Roman rite of Mass is
the Holy Sacrifice of the Cross. The Novus Ordo is a memorial meal, the
offering of Cain, ‘the fruit of the earth and the work of human hands’.
Francis/Bergoglio
Plan of Action
Catholics
flock to SSPX after Corpus Christi bishop cancels diocesan Latin Mass
LifeSiteNews | Brian Mershon | Jun 27, 2023
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas— Eleven weeks after Bishop William Michael Mulvey
of Corpus Christi, Texas, eliminated the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) at St.
John the Baptist Church, the parish’s collections are down 29 percent as
Catholics flock to the nearby Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) chapel.
“The homeschool co-op and children’s choir are currently in limbo,”
said Libby Ibanez, a former parishioner who attended the TLM faithfully on
Sundays and weekdays, integrated as part of her children’s daily homeschool
routine.
“Youth ministry is in limbo. We
are waiting on the newly-assigned priest who starts July 5 to determine the
fate of these programs due to the lack of funding,” she added.
The figures bear that out. According to bulletins on the parish website
(with two missing in June), the average collection at St. John the Baptist has
dropped 29 percent since the final TLM this Easter Sunday. The first 15 weeks
of the calendar year showed an average weekly collection of $14,357, while the
post-TLM weekly average has just been $10,152 for the nine bulletins showing
since April 9.
The projected parish intake for the year – which was originally
$746,564, based on the first 15 weeks of collections – is on pace to yield only
$527,904 for 2023, a difference of $218,660.
The apparent beneficiary is the nearby SSPX chapel, which was averaging
about 30 Catholics each month and now has swelled to more than 200, with plans
for added weekly Masses beginning in July. “We did have to buy bigger
collection baskets, so that has been very encouraging!” Ibanez said.
Andrew Greenwell, a former St. John the Baptist parishioner, offered
his insights regarding the sudden growth of the SSPX chapel.
“Because of the influx of people that formerly attended the diocesan
Latin Mass at St. John the Baptist, the Society of St. Pius X, starting next
month, will be providing Mass every Sunday except for the first Sunday of the
month, and that is where I will be attending with my family,” said Greenwell.
“Tradition means
giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the
democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to that arrogant oligarchy
who merely happen to be walking around.”
G.K. Chesterton
Pope
Francis the Semanticist- He has unthinkingly internalized the habit of
DoubleSpeak.
Our (i.e.: Pope Francis personal) missionary proclamation is not
proselytism — I emphasize this so much — but sharing a personal encounter that
has changed our lives! Without this, we have nothing to announce, nor a
destination to walk toward together.
I had a bad experience in this, in a youth meeting a few years ago. I
was coming out of the sacristy, and there was a lady, very elegant, you could
also see that she was very rich, with a boy and a girl. And this lady, who
spoke Spanish, says to me, 'Father, I'm happy because I converted these two.
The boy here comes from such and such a place and the girl comes from another
such place.' I got angry, you know, and I said, 'You didn't convert anything,
you failed to respect these persons. You didn't accompany them, you
proselytized, and that is not evangelizing.' She was proud of having converted
them!
Be careful to make a clear distinction between apostolic action and
proselytism. We do not do proselytism. The Lord never did proselytism.
Pope Francis the Apostate, Audience with the Clerics Regular of St.
Paul, 5-29-2023
Vatican releases Synod
document calling for discussion of women, LGBT Catholics, church authority and
more
AMERICA, the Jesuit
Review | Gerald O'Connell | June 20, 2023
The secretariat for the synod has published the working document, known
by its Latin title instrumentum laboris, for the first session of the General
Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality that will be held in the
Vatican, Oct. 4 to Oct. 29. The second session will be held in October 2024.
“A synodal church is founded on the recognition of a common dignity
deriving from baptism, which makes all who receive it sons and daughters of
God, members of the family of God, and therefore brothers and sisters in
Christ, inhabited by the one Spirit and sent to fulfil a common mission,” said
the document.
However, it said, many Catholics around the world report that too many
baptized persons—particularly L.G.B.T. Catholics, the divorced and civilly
remarried, the poor, women and people with disabilities—are excluded from
active participation in the life of the church and, particularly, from its
decision-making structures.
The
50-page text was presented at a press conference in the Vatican on June 20 by
Cardinals Mario Grech and Jean Claude Hollerich S.J., secretary general and
relator general of the upcoming synod, respectively, and Father Giacomo Costa,
S.J., the consultor of the synod’s secretary general.
Cardinal Grech described the working document as “the fruit of a
synodal process” that started on Oct. 10, 2021, and “involved the whole church”
in an exercise of listening to the people of God.
Tweet this
Cardinal Grech described the working document as “the fruit of a
synodal process” that started on Oct. 10, 2021, and “involved the whole church”
in an exercise of listening to the people of God. The first phase was
articulated in three stages: at the local churches with consultation of the
people of God (clergy and laity); at the bishops’ conferences, which engaged in
a discernment process about the input from the local churches; and at the
continental levels, where input from around the world was synthesized.
“Where the bishops started and accompanied the consultation, the
contribution has been very alive and profound,” the cardinal said, and the
bishops were enriched with “a fruitful ministry.”
The document brings together “the fruits” of the synodal journey since
October 2021. Unlike the working documents for past synods, which were intended
to be amended, improved and voted upon, this document is designed as “a
practical aid for the conduct” of the October assembly at which there will be
more than 350 participants (including laymen and around 45 women, both lay and
consecrated), not a text to be amended.
The document states that it “is not a document of the Church’s
Magisterium, nor is it the report of a sociological survey; it does not offer
the formulation of operational indications, goals and objectives, nor a full
elaboration of a theological vision.” It is “part of an unfinished process.” It
draws on but also goes beyond the insights of the first phase and articulates
“some of the priorities that emerged from listening to the People of God, but
avoids presenting them as assertions or stances. Instead, it expresses them as
questions addressed to the synodal assembly,” which “will have the task of
discerning the concrete steps which enable the continued growth of a synodal
church, steps that it will then submit to the Holy Father.”
Significantly, the working document does not offer a theoretical
understanding of synodality but rather presents “a dynamic vision of the ways
in which synodality has been experienced” in different church communities and
cultures worldwide during the almost two-year synodal journey. It articulates
“the insights and tensions that resonated most strongly with the experience of
the church on each continent” and identifies “the priorities to be addressed in
the first session of the synod.”
According to the working document, the synodal journey so far “has made
it possible to identify and share the particular situations experienced by the
church in different regions of the world.” These experiences include “too many
wars,” “the threat represented by climate change,” “an economic system that
produces exploitation, inequality and a throwaway culture” and “cultural
colonialism that crushes minorities.”
It points to “situations of persecution to the point of martyrdom” and
“emigration that progressively hollow out communities.” It mentions the
situation of “Christian communities that represent scattered minorities within
the countries in which they live” and “the aggressive secularization that seems
to consider religious experience irrelevant, but where there remains a thirst
for the Good News of the Gospel.”
In many regions, it says, “the churches are deeply affected by the
crisis caused by various forms of abuse, including sexual abuse and the abuse
of power, conscience and money.” It describes these as “open wounds, the
consequences of which have yet to be fully addressed” and says the church must
be “penitent” and intensify its commitment “to conversion and reform.”
It says the October synod takes place in a context that is “diverse but
with common global features,” and participants will be asked “to listen deeply
to the situations in which the church lives and carries out its mission.”
It says the synodal journey so far has revealed the existence of
“shared questions” and “part of the challenge of synodality is to discern the
level at which it is most appropriate to address each question.” That same
journey also showed there are shared tensions in the church, but, the document
says, “we should not be frightened of them, nor attempt at any cost to resolve
them, but rather engage in ongoing synodal discernment” so that these tensions
can “become sources of energy and not lapse into destructive polarizations.”
At the press conference, Cardinal Grech said “one of the discoveries”
on the synodal journey that started on Oct. 10, 2021, was the method of
“conversation in the Spirit,” which will now be used in the October synod.
Father Costa described this method as “shared prayer in view of a
common discernment, by which participants prepare themselves through personal
reflection and prayer” before the discussion. He said this method “opens
‘spaces’ in which to face together controversial subjects, around which in both
society and in the church there are often clashes and confrontation, in person
or through social media.”
The consultation phase has shown how this method offers “a practical
alternative to polarization in the church,” Father Costa said.
To enable this method to be used at the October 2023 synod, where there
will be hundreds of participants, Father Costa revealed that the assembly will
be held in the Paul VI Audience Hall of the Vatican and its members will be
divided into small groups of 12 people. They will work in these groups, then
gather in plenary sessions and share their input.
Part A of the working document, called “For a synodal church, An
Integral Experience,” highlights “the characteristic signs” of a synodal church
and emphasizes that “conversation in the Spirit” is the way forward for this
kind of church.
Cardinal Hollerich said the working document “leads us to a matter of
discernment, a discernment about the concretization of communion, mission and
participation,” which Part B of the document lists as the three priority issues
for the synodal church.
Cardinal Hollerich explained that “each of these three priorities is
linked to five worksheets. These [are] five approaches [that] take into
consideration the diversity of persons as well as the diversity of the
different social, cultural and religious contexts we have experienced during
the synodal process.”
Each of the worksheets contains many questions for discernment that
cannot all be listed here, but reveal the wide-ranging and even radical nature
of what it means to be a synodal church, a church that includes and is not
judgmental. The many questions raised around the world that are recognized in
the document relate to the role of women in the church (including the women’s
diaconate), the ways of exercising authority in the church at all levels
including the papacy, ecumenical and interreligious relations, the need for a
new language in church communication, the need for renewal of the formation in
the seminary, the question of the ordination of mature married men in some
regions, the approach to the divorced and remarried Catholics and to L.G.B.T.
people, the preferential option for the poor, the preferential option for young
people, the care of our common home and much more.
As the two cardinals and Father Costa made clear at the press conference,
the synod on synodality cannot be reduced to single issues; its mandate is much
broader than any one issue. Indeed, to reduce it to one or other issue would be
to radically distort what the synod is really about. As the working document
states clearly, the synod has three main priorities—communion, participation
and mission—and these require bringing about a profound conversion and cultural
change in the way of being church in the 21st century. It is not about making
another church but a different church, as Pope Francis, quoting Yves Congar
O.P., one of the great theologians of the Second Vatican Council, said in his
speech to the synod in October 2021.
Below are the five main questions for discernment linked to each of the
three priorities. The full list of questions can be found here.
Communion
1. How does the service of charity and commitment to justice and care
for our common home nourish communion in a synodal Church?
2. How can a synodal Church make credible the promise that “love and
truth will meet” (Ps 85:11)?
3. How can a dynamic relationship of gift exchange between the Churches
grow?
4. How can a synodal Church fulfill its mission through a renewed
ecumenical commitment?
5. How can we recognise and gather the richness of cultures and develop
dialogue amongst religions in the light of the Gospel?
Mission
1. How can we walk together towards a shared awareness of the meaning
and content of mission?
2. What should be done so a synodal Church is also an ‘all ministerial’
missionary Church?
3. How can the Church of our time better fulfill its mission through
greater recognition and promotion of the baptismal dignity of women?
4. How can we properly value ordained Ministry in its relationship with
baptismal Ministries in a missionary perspective?
5. How can we renew and promote the Bishop’s ministry from a missionary
synodal perspective?
Participation
1. How can we renew the service of authority and the exercise of
responsibility in a missionary synodal Church?
2. How can we develop discernment practices and decision-making
processes in an authentically synodal manner that respects the protagonism of
the Spirit?
3. What structures can be developed to strengthen a missionary synodal
Church?
4. How can we give structure to instances of synodality and
collegiality that involve groupings of local Churches?
5. How can the institution of the Synod be strengthened so that it is
an expression of episcopal collegiality within an all-synodal Church?
COMMENT:
It's
all in how you frame the question that directs the group to the "correct
answer" the Synodal Church is looking. For example, "Communion" question
#2 refers to Psalm 85:11. In a Catholic bible it is 84:11 and the actual verse
is: "Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have
kissed." The Synodal Church, using a Protestant reference, changes the
tense from past perfect to the future tense and translates the word justice as love. For what end can we guess this perversion is intended? And
what do these questions about "missionary" church possible mean when
proselytism is rejected as the proper end for which Jesus Christ instituted His
Church? The use of the Encounter Group is entirely foreign to the Catholic
spirit because it attacks the freedom of the human will. The American
Psychological Association says:
"Encounter
Group: a group of people who meet, usually with a trained leader, to increase
self-awareness and social sensitivity, and to change behavior through interpersonal confrontation,
self-disclosure, and strong emotional expression." It is a group of
individuals in which constructive insight, sensitivity to others, and personal
growth are promoted through direct interactions on an emotional and social
level. The leader functions as a catalyst and facilitator rather than as a
therapist and focuses on here-and-now feelings and interaction rather than on
theory or individual motivation."
The
entire Synod on Synodality is nothing more employing the experimental
psychological techniques of encounter developed by Jewish psychologists on the
modern Church of the New Advent. It was these same methods that were used on
the Catholic religious orders in the 1960s that brought about their
destruction. Carl Rogers used these same psychological methods on the Jesuits
order at the time Pope Francis/Bergoglio began his novitiate. They are now
being employed by Francis the Destroyer to corrupt what is left of the Catholic
Church and form it in his own image. He claims to head a "listening
church" while he cannot keep his own mouth shut. That is because Francis
only wants to listen to himself. That last thing he wants to listen to is the
voice of of anyone who contradicts his ideology, especially the voice of the
dead, that is, the voice of tradition that constitutes, with sacred Scripture,
the Remote Rule of Faith for all Catholics. It is Francis that is a committed
anti-Catholic Ideologue and every faithful Catholic must recognize this fact.
The proximate Rule of Faith is Dogma. If every faithful Catholic keeps this
Truth as the guide of their faith and actions nothing Francis can do can bring
them any personal harm.
An
assessment of the danger of the Encounter Group published in the New York Times
in 1974!
Encounter
Movement, a Fad Last Decade Finds New Shape
New York Times | Jan 13, 1974 | Robert
Reinhold
BERKELEY, CA—The encounter
group movement, which became something of a national fad in the nineteen‐sixties,
has evolved into a new, more mature and gentler form:
Having largely discarded its
more extreme and coercive aspects, along with extravagant assertions of instant
personal redemption, the encounter concept has quietly found an accepted place
in such established institutions as schools, churches, industry and even the
military and sports.
Meanwhile, persistent doubts
about the effectiveness as well as possible hazards of encounter groups are
being sorted out in the first rigorous appraisals of the groups and their
consequences.
These studies, performed here
in Berkeley and at Stanford University, are finding that, while many people
benefit enormously from the openness and baring of emotions fostered by
encounter, there are dangers to be guarded against.
Tried by Millions
By now millions of Americans
have touched, walked and talked their way through some type of .encounter
session. Encounter is loose term for a variety of group techniques, such as T‐groups,
sensitivity training, sensory awareness, Synanon psychodrama, gestalt therapy
and others, that are used as means of personal growth for ostensibly healthy
persons
The encounter; or “human
potential techniques are so routine today that the pioneers at the Eselen
Institute and elsewhere have already departed for new psychological frontiers.
Amid the dazzling succulents and eucalyptus trees on the broken California
coast at Big Sur, the Esalen leaders are moving into the spiritual orbit of
‘transpersonal’ psychology—oriental meditation, mysticism,
“psychosynthesis"’ and other techniques of achieving new heights of self‐awareness.
Others have been experimenting
with such methods as “rolfing,” “feldenkrais,” “bioenergetics,” in which
massage and physicals are used to increase awareness.
A Variety of Method
Encounter methods vary widely,
but a group typically consists of eight to 18 persons led by a “facilitator.”
The members are urged to express their emotions toward one another openly, both
physically and verbally. Mutual trust, openness, honesty and naturalness, are
the watchwords, and the assumption is that this stripping away of psychological
defenses is healthy and will enhance both interpersonal relationships and self‐awareness.
“A lot of mistakes were made
during the youthful period,” says John Levy, executive officer of the
Association for Humanistic Psychology, the San Francisco‐based
organization to which many of the practitioners of encounter belong.
“The movement suffered from
excess enthusiasm—it made promises that could not hold up. There are still
plenty of encounter groups, but you don't hear about them anymore. They are not
the cutting edge."
Encounter may be passé in the
compulsive California and New York milieus that nurtured it, says William C.
Schutz of Esalen, author of “Joy” and other popular works on encounter, but in
Athens, GA and Rock Island, IL, and for the overwhelming majority of Americans,
encounter is just beginning.
Searing Experience
Whether or not its assumptions
are valid, encounter evidently filled a real need in a depersonalized
technological world. Millions flocked to “growth centers,” like oases in a psychological desert, Where
they could go through the searing but often uplifting experience of spilling
out their doubts and fears.
But as in most fads, the
phonies, fast‐huck artists, incompetents and predators soon moved in.
illequipped and sometimes sadistic leaders started groups, the idea was
exploited in the movies, and on stage. The Concord Hotel offered “encounter
singles weekends,” and a “group therapy” restaurant was opened in New York.
Still, the potential value of
encounter has attracted a growing number of conventionally trained
psychologists and psychiatrists. Carl Rogers, the psychologist who is often
called the father of the movement, has termed encounter “the most rapidly
spreading social invention of the century, and probably the most potent.”
‘A Psychic Whorehouse’
Even such a harsh critic of
encounter as Prof. Sigmund Koch of Boston University agrees that the movement
is “the most visible manifestation of psychology on the American scene:” He has
denounced it as providing “a convenient psychic whorehouse for the purchase of
a gamut of well‐advertised existential ‘goodies’: authenticity, freedom,
wholeness, flexibility, community, love, joy. One enters for such liberating
consummations but settles for psychic strip tease.”
Such complaints
notwithstanding, encounter has had a profound impact upon many facets of
American life. In Louisville, for example, educators credit it with helping
rescue the school system. Faced with, the second‐highest dropout rate in
the country (after Philadelphia), a demoralized staff, and bitter racial
division, the schools obtained a three‐year Federal grant ‘in 1969 to
re-staff 14 schools with 1,000 teachers trained in encounter.
Called Project Transition, the
program involved not only the teachers but also students, parents and community
leaders. Robert Myers, a co‐director, says it was a “terrific impetus for
change in a school system that was sinking.”
Reports of Suicide
Countless individuals,
meanwhile, report that their lives have been improved by group experiences. But
there have also been disturbing reports of breakdowns, divorces and even
suicides precipitated by encounter groups.
What has been lacking until
recently were objective, tightly controlled studies to determine if groups
really change behavior. What do groups do? What are the dangers? What skills
are needed for leaders? Are the effects lasting? Is it worth it?
Some preliminary answers to
these questions are beginning to emerge from ‘a massive study here supported by
$1.25‐million from the National Institute of Mental Health. Directed by
Dr. Jim Bebout of the Wright Institute in Berkeley, the study is evaluating
1,500 persons who participated in 150 groups over a three‐year period at
the University’s Young Men's Christian Association in Berkeley.
The groups, mostly low‐keyed
sessions led by non‐professionals, were observed and analyzed, and each
member was asked to evaluate his attitudes and feeling before, during and after
the experience. The results are still undergoing computer analysis, but some
preliminary findings:
Ø Encounter
groups do work in that they consistently improve self‐satisfaction,
self-reliance and comfort with sexuality, and lessen loneliness, alienation and
social inhibition.
Ø Groups
do little to improve productivity in work or school.
Ø Professional
therapists do not usually do well as leaders. “They could not drop their
professional bag,” Dr. Bebout said.
Two Casualties Found
Of the 1,500 members, Dr.
Bebout said, only two could be considered casualties: an obese woman who was
rejected by the rest of the group and young man who fell in love with the
leader, who rejected him.
Dr. Bebout offers the following
advice to those considering joining a group:
“Pick a leader willing to share
your experience with you and not work on you without telling you what he is
doing. Make sure some proportion of your group is on your side. If the first
two meetings are full of silences, attacks, tensions and obscure methods and general
non-sharing, then pack up and go home.”
A smaller, different kind of
study performed at Stanford University produced somewhat more ‘'negative”
results. Unlike the Berkeley study, the Stanford study used well‐known
professional group leaders who led 210 students in 18 groups designed to
represent a broad range of techniques, including T‐groups, gestalt,
transactional analysis, marathon, basic encounter and others.
Higher Casualty Rate
The results of the study,
performed by Dr. Morton A. Lieberman, Dr. Irvin D. Yalom and Matthew. B. Miles,
were recently published by Basic Books under the title “Encounter Groups: First
Facts.” The study found that one‐third of the participants benefited from
their experiences, while the rest either dropped out or had negative
experiences. This proportion did not compare unfavorably with conventional
psychotherapy.
The study turned up an alarming
10 per cent casualty rate, with a casualty defined as a person who was more
psychologically distressed or maladapted eight months after the group than
before. One girl, for example, dropped out and sought emergency psychiatric aid
after the third meeting, at which she was called “a fat Italian mama with a big
Shiny nose.”
Verdict Is Mixed
All in all, the Stanford study
returned a mixed verdict. “When one strips away the excesses and the frills,
the ability of such groups to provide a meaningful emotional setting in which
individuals can overtly consider previously prohibited issues cannot be ruled
out as an important means for facilitating human progress,” the study said. But
it added, “Encounter groups present a clear and evident danger if they are used
for radical surgery in which the product will be a new man.”
Those who improved, Dr. Yalom
said in an interview, were those who got something intellectual out of the
experience.
Partisans of the encounter
concept have faulted the Stanford study on various grounds, saying that some
distress is a prerequisite to enduring change, and that the attack oriented
techniques used in some of the Stanford groups are no longer in vogue.
More Care Needed
Even so, many of the more
responsible leaders agree that more care needs to be taken to screen out
persons with histories of mental instability, and to train leaders better. Dr.
Julian Silverman, a psychologist who heads Esalen's program at Big Sur, agrees
that much damage has been done in groups and says, “We are very concerned about
getting better training of leaders.”
Dr. Bernard Rappaport, a
psychiatrist at Esalen who has written two survey papers on the movement for
the National Institute of Mental Health, argues that “the benefits far out
shadow the casualties,” but he agrees that reservations and cautions are good.
‘We need an ethic of responsibility,” he says.
“Now the approach is much
gentler,” said Mr. Levy of the Association for Humanistic Psychology. “There is
less encouragement of coercive approaches. Big wild breakthroughs are exciting
to watch for a while, but not all that productive. People are respecting the
dignity of others.”
“This is magisterium: the Council is the magisterium of the Church.
Either you are with the Church and therefore you follow the Council, and if you
do not follow the Council or you interpret it in your own way, as you wish, you
are not with the Church. We must be demanding and strict on this point. The
Council should not be negotiated in order to have more of these... No, the
Council is as it is. And this problem that we are experiencing, of selectivity
with respect to the Council, has been repeated throughout history with other
Councils.” Pope Francis, 1-30-2021
“I dare say that the Council has revolutionized to some extent the
status of theology – the believer’s way of doing and thinking.”
Pope Francis, 9-2-2015
“With the Council, the Church entered a new phase of her history.”
Pope Francis, Misericordiae
Vultus, 4-11-2015
COMMENT: It is true that Councils in the past have been “experiencing
selectivity.” Such as the Council of Trent and its dogmatic definitions
regarding the doctrine of Justification which Pope Francis has repeatedly
“selectively” rejected while professing his belief in the condemned
propositions of the arch-heretic Luther. Those who are “selective” on any
Catholic dogma are by definition, heretics. The word heresy means ‘to choose,’ in
other words, to be “selective” of Catholic dogma. Vatican II was a “pastoral
council” that defined no doctrine and remained purely on the level of the
magisterium of churchmen grounded upon their grace of state. No Catholic is
required to assent to any teaching whenever that ‘teachings’ in any way
possibly contradicts revealed truth. The Magisterium of the Church is a
different matter. It is the infallible teaching of the Church grounded upon its
divine attributes of Authority and Infallibility which is incapable of error
and to which every Catholic conscience is bound to assent on pain of heresy.
Any Council that “revolutionized” a “believer’s way of doing and thinking” is
not Catholic by definition for the task of the Church is to protect, defend and
propagate God’s revealed truth and not to “revolutionize” it. A “believer” can
only be “revolutionized” by revolting against the revealed truth. To claim that
the “(Vatican II) Council is the magisterium of the Church” is an indirect
profession of apostasy, for whatever “Church” that this is the “magisterium”
for, is not the Catholic Church founded by Jesus Christ. Vatican II does
represent a “new phase” in the history of the Church. Every “phase of (the
Church’s) history” is defined by the current errors of that age propagated by
her enemies and the Church’s response to those errors in the defense of truth
with dogmatic councils. Vatican II is not a response to any error but is rather
the error itself propagated by her enemies. Traditional Catholicism is the response
to the modern errors!
Modernism vs.
Neo-Modernism: What is the Difference?
The overarching principle of
post-conciliar theology is not modernism, properly speaking. Let us get our
terms straight.
Modernism is
the idea that there are no eternal truths, that truth is the correspondence of
the mind with one's lifestyle (adaequatio intellectus et vitae), and
that, therefore, old dogmas must be abandoned and new beliefs must arise that
meet 'the needs of modern man'. This is a radical denial of the traditional and
common sense notion of truth: the correspondence of the mind with reality (adaequatio
intellectus et rei), which is the basis of the immutability of Catholic
dogma.
No, the post-conciliar theological
principle is neo-modernism, and the
theology that is based on it is known as the nouvelle theologie.
It is the idea that old dogmas or beliefs must be retained,
yet not the traditional 'formulas': dogmas must be expressed and
interpreted in a new way in every age so as to meet the 'needs of modern man'.
This is still a denial of the traditional and common sense notion of
truth as adaequatio intellectus et rei (insofar as it is still an
attempt to make the terminology that expresses the faith correspond with
our modern lifestyle) and consequently of the immutability of
Catholic dogma, yet it is not as radical as modernism. It is more subtle
and much more deceptive than modernism because it claims that the faith
must be retained; it is only the 'formulas' of faith that must be abandoned--they
use the term 'formula' to distinguish the supposedly mutable words of
our creeds, dogmas, etc. from their admittedly immutable meanings.
Therefore, neo-modernism can effectively slip under the radar of
most pre-conciliar condemnations (except Humani Generis, which condemns it
directly) insofar as its practitioners claim that their new and
unintelligible theological terminology really expresses the same faith of all
times. In other words, neo-modernism is supposed to be 'dynamic orthodoxy':
supposedly orthodox in meaning, yet always changing in expression to adapt to
modern life (cf. Franciscan University of Steubenville's mission
statement).
Take extra ecclesiam nulla salus as
a clear example of a dogma that has received a brutal neo-modernist re-interpretation:
they claim that the old 'formula' that ”there is no salvation outside the
Church” must be abandoned; rather it is more meaningful to modern man to say
that salvation is not in, but through, the
Church; people who are not in the Church may still be saved
through the Church; thus, to them the dogma that “there is no
salvation outside the Church” means that there is salvation outside
the Church. Hence see Ven. Pope Pius XII condemning those “reduce to a
meaningless formula the necessity of belonging to the true Church in order to
gain eternal salvation.” (Humani generis 27).
Yet this mentality of
reinterpreting everything anew in order to 'meet the needs of the times' is
generally tends to be found in different degrees among different post-conciliar
sources:
It tends to be
(1) rampant in men
like De Lubac, Von Balthasar, Congar, etc.: it is the ultimate goal of their
writings, teachings, and activities as churchmen. To achieve this
end, they employ the technique of 'resourcement', the neo-modernist strategy of
fishing for the few dubious, questionable, or idiosyncratic teachings of some
Fathers of the Church and other authoritative writers, and gather them into a
massive, heterodox theological argument against the traditional understanding
of the faith (which they like to relativize by giving it names such as
“Counter-Reformation” Theology, “Tridentine” Theology, or “Scholastic”
Theology, instead of just admitting that it is Catholic Theology
plain and simple). This technique accomplishes three things that go
hand-in-hand: (a) offers a refutation of traditional Catholicism, (b) defends
an interpretation that meets the needs of modern times, and (c) gives it a
semblance of being traditional, because it appears to be based in the Fathers
et al. This type of argument is used, for example, by Von Balthasar in
his nearly heretical book, Dare We Hope that All Men be Saved? to
'prove', not that Hell does not exist (that is a dogma), but that it is empty.
But this technique and its neo-modernistic underpinnings is not only practiced
in almost all of these men's writings; it is also defended in theory by
many of them, particularly in Von Balthasar's daring little book, Razing
the Bastions, where he demonstrates that “Tridentine” theology must be
rejected in our times because it is 'boring'.
It also tends to be (2) present in a more moderate way in the
non-binding statements by post-conciliar popes, since they themselves were
deeply involved in the developing of the nouvelle theologie. Just
to give one of a million possible examples, see Pope Benedict's evolutionistic
re-interpretation of the Resurrection of Our Lord. Nothing here
obviously contradicts the dogma of the Resurrection (it may be
interpreted as a simple analogy, even if a bad one, and nothing more), but it
is a novelty that can be easily understood as claiming that the Resurrection is
part of the natural development of nature (thus giving credence to some of the nouvelle
theologie's pet doctrines, such as De Lubac's heterodox notion of the
supernatural and De Chardin's pantheistic evolutionism). This happens
almost on a daily basis in what comes out of the Vatican, not to mention what
comes from local bishops.
And finally, neo-modernism
tends to be present (3) mostly
implicitly or behind-the-scenes
in the Council, the Catechism, etc., even though it seldom comes out more
explicitly. Things are done at this level under the pretext
of 'aggiornamento', a euphemism for neo-modernism. That is
usually all the justification provided since at this authoritative level, there
is no need to justify things theologically. Hence, Vatican II and the
Catechism are not outright neo-modernistic. Rather, they (like most of
post-conciliar doctrine) tend in that direction and/or are inspired
by that mentality. In other words, most of the time these documents do
not explicitly teach neo-modernist errors (the kind of errors you hear
explicitly from neo-modernist theologians and priests). Rather, they are full
of dangerous ambiguities: statements that in a technical sense could be
interpreted as being in harmony with the traditional faith, but that, in their
natural, non-forced, interpretation are heterodox. One clear example of
this is Dignitatis humanae, par. 2; entire monographs have been written
in order to prove that, despite appearances, this document does not contradict
previous teaching. Maybe in fact it ultimately does not, but it is
obvious that the prima facie meaning does; otherwise there would be no
need to write so many volumes to prove it.
It must be noted that these are
general tendencies, and that in some documents (cf. Gaudium et Spes) and
every now and then in papal and episcopal statements neo-modernist principles
come out more explicitly.
For a more detailed
philosophical and theological critique of neo-modernism, and how it is nothing
but a re-hashing of modernism, see Garrigou-Lagrange's Where is the New
Theology Leading Us? and his The Structure of the Encyclical
Humani Generis.
Francisco J.
Romero Carrasquillo, Ph.D., Professor of Theology and Philosophy
“Vatican II was a pastoral council by its
teachings, that is, its doctrines. In a
word, Vatican II was pastoral by being doctrinal.”
Fr. John O’Malley, Jesuit “historian and theologian,” author of What Happened at Vatican II, speaking at
Caritas International Conference, “Vatican II, Remembering the Future:
Ecumenical, Interfaith and Secular Perspectives on the Council's Impact and
Promise.” The event was co-hosted by Georgetown, Marymount University in
Arlington, Va., and the Washington National Cathedral.
COMMENT: This is a remarkable admission
of the necessary relationship between Catholic doctrine and Catholic
practice. It is a Truth of our Faith
that has been constantly denied by the Modernists since Vatican II because, if
this Truth had been admitted, no one would have accepted the Council’s novel
teachings which were imposed by a corruption of practice. Ss. Peter & Paul Roman Catholic Mission
has affirmed that every Catholic possesses a right to the immemorial traditions
of our Church because we have a duty imposed by God to profess our faith openly
and publicly which these traditions perfectly signify. And thus, these immemorial traditions
constitute necessary attributes of the Faith because without them, the Faith
cannot be known or communicated to others.
And now, those who have foolishly adopted the novel practices
dictatorially imposed after Vatican II are to understand that they in fact do
signify a new doctrine, that “Vatican II was pastoral by being doctrinal.” The
Modernists want the new doctrines to be professed that the new practices
signify. No Catholic is bound by any
novel doctrine, therefore, no Catholic is bound by any novel practice which
signifies these new doctrines. The only reason that Fr. O’Malley is now
admitting this Catholic truth is to impose formally the novel doctrines which
the Novus Ordo practice signifies.
“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..... An
insincere stance of openness to the other, as well as a corporatist attitude,
which reserves salvation exclusively to one’s own creed, is destructive of the
same creed. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus explained this to the
inquiring lawyer. Love lived in any religion pleases God. ‘Through an exchange
of gifts, the Spirit can lead us ever more fully into truth and goodness.’”
Pope
Francis approved Abu Dhabi document
COMMENT: “For all the gods of the Gentiles are
devils” (Ps. 96:5). Pope Francis is affirming that the worship of
idols is “willed
by God in His wisdom.” This is blasphemy but not a surprising
blasphemy from Francis the Blasphemer.
What Pope Francis calls a “corporatist
attitude, which reserves salvation exclusively to one's own creed” is the denial of a revealed truth of God
that has been dogmatically defined by the Catholic Church on three separate occasions. It is a dogma that there is “no salvation outside the Catholic Church.”
The denial of this dogma is heresy by definition and anyone holding this
heresy cannot be saved. Furthermore,
membership in the Catholic Church also dogmatically requires profession of the
true faith and reception of the sacrament of Baptism.
In
the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus may very well have had in mind a
specific Samaritan man who received him as the Messiah through the calling by
the Samaritan Woman at the Well. Be that
as it may, are good works alone sufficient for salvation? Those that affirm this are Pelagian heretics
which is a favorite calumny that Francis mindlessly smears Catholics faithful
to tradition. But unlike Francis, who
accuses traditional Catholics of Pelagianism without a shred of evidence, our
accusations are supported with the bile that flows routinely from Francis'
mouth. The recognition of Logos, “which enlighteneth every man that cometh
into this world” (John 1:9), leads to the regulation of
life according to the natural law and is an essential prerequisite to receiving
the truth of the Gospel and the sacrament of Baptism, but of itself, it with
all the good works in the world, insufficient for salvation. Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan Woman
itself destroys this heretical claim of Francis. According to Francis, the Samaritan Woman
could have been saved in her idolatrous and adulterous state.
What
every faithful Catholic must know is that the faith is the necessary and
sufficient cause of and the sign of unity in the Catholic Church. The pope is only secondarily and accidentally
the cause and sign of unity in the Catholic Church. When the pope falls from the faith he is to
be opposed to his face as St. Paul did to St. Peter (Galatians 2:11). Those who make the pope their proximate rule
of faith will follow Francis in his heresy and eventual apostasy. Those who keep dogma as their proximate rule
of faith will save their souls.
“Certainly there is to be development and on the largest scale. Who can
be so grudging to men, so full of hate for God, as to try to prevent it? But it
must truly be development of the faith, not alteration of the faith.
Development means that each thing expands to be itself, while alteration means
that a thing is changed from one thing into another. The understanding,
knowledge and wisdom of one and all, of individuals as well as of the whole
Church, ought then to make great and vigorous progress with the passing of the
ages and the centuries, but only along its own line of development, that is,
with the same doctrine, the same meaning and the same import.” St. Vincent of
Lèrins
COMMENT: Change can be either accidental (a “development” according to St. Vincent) or substantial (an “alteration” according
to St. Vincent). A boy growing to manhood constitutes a series of accidental changes. A boy changing into
a dog constitutes a substantial change
and this only happens in Hollywood fantasy. A sinner becoming a saint is an accidental change and this is an accidental change that the Neo-modernist
heretics refuse to make. They instead want the Church to substantially change into an institution that will accommodate
their love and complacency in sin. Pope Francis, for example, says that the
morality of capital punishment has evolved to the point that it is now known to
be intrinsically evil in that it is ‘opposed to the dignity of man and contrary
to the spirit of the gospel.’ Capital punishment changing from a morally
permissible to intrinsically evil act constitutes a substantial change and therefore impossible as a legitimate
development. There are many reasons why Neo-modernists, like Pope Francis and
his conciliarists predecessors, deny the reality of substance but this is an important one. Trying to enroll St.
Vincent of Lèrins in their defense is not a misunderstanding but just another
lie.
My heart was utterly filled with pain, all the more because it was of a
most fine and delicate nature; the pain went from my Heart into my nerves, from
my nerves back to my Heart: it kept on increasing so that my death-agony was
prolonged while I was thus immersed in suffering, I opened my eyes and saw my
dearest Mother overcome by a sea of anguish and tears, which pained me more
than my own sufferings; I also saw my friends overwhelmed with sorrow. With
this torture my Heart was actually rent by the force and fury of the pain; and
then it was that my soul went forth from my body…… There are few persons who
can imagine with what pain I remained fastened to the wood of the Cross, my
Heart being broken and shattered by its violence: quando Cor meum crepuit.
Jesus Christ addressing St. Bridget of Sweden, quoted by St. John
Eudes, The Sacred Heart of Jesus
Thy divine Heart was rent and broken in Thy dying, by the excess of Thy
love of me. This made Thee suffer such violent tortures for love of me that Thy
adorable Heart was broken by the force of the pain; so that I may say that Thou
didst die of pain and love for me. This can be repeated by each one of us with
equal truth.
St. Gertrude the Great, her address to our Lord Jesus Christ, quoted by
St. John Eudes, The Sacred Heart of Jesus
Hermeneutics
of Continuity/Discontinuity
For as Pope Benedict taught us, “The Church does not engage in
proselytism. Instead, she grows by ‘attraction’” This attractive and joyful
witness is the goal to which Jesus leads us with His loving gaze and with the
outgoing movement that His Spirit raises up in our hearts.
Pope Francis, weekly audience
Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He
that believeth and is baptized (i.e.: becomes a proselyte), shall be saved: but
he that believeth not shall be condemned (Mark 16: 15-16).
Jesus Christ
It is not only he who teaches heretically who is called a heretic, but
also he who shows his support for heretics and heresy. For he is rightly
reputed to be of the same doctrine who manifestly consents and cooperates with
it through his support.
Fr. Alfonso Muzzarelli, S.J.
When Pope
Francis teaches that Catholics living in a state of adultery can under certain
circumstances receive Holy Communion without repenting of Sin, he overturns the
First Principle of Catholic Moral Theology and thus destroys all Morality
permitting any and every kind of sin.
St. Thomas lists the following as principles or sources of morality: 1)
the moral object, that is, that to which the action tends of its very nature primarily and necessarily; 2) the circumstances of the act; 3) the purpose of the
act.
FIRST PRINCIPLE:
The primary and essential morality of a human act is derived from the object
considered in its moral aspect.
The primary and essential morality of a human act is that which acts as
the invariable basis of any additional morality. Now it is the moral object
which provides such a foundation. This will be clear from an example. The moral
object of adultery is the transgression of another’s marriage rights. This moral object remains the
invariable basis of the moral character of the act, no matter what further
circumstances or motives accompany the act. It cannot be objected that
in human acts the first consideration should be given to the motive rather than
to the object of the act. For this motive is either the objective purpose of
the act itself which is identical with the moral object, or the subjective
purpose (the end of the agent) which presupposes moral goodness or evil in the
object.
Rev. Dominic Prummer, O.P., Handbook
of Moral Theology
How Far Modern
Judaism is identified with Freemasonry
Although the Jewish role in
Freemasonry is for many reasons difficult to deal with, some acquaintance with
that aspect of the subject is essential for an intelligent grasp of the whole. It
is a common belief among Catholics and others that Freemasonry is somehow or
other closely associated with modern Judaism. Our present purpose is to discuss
how far such a belief is well-founded, and what is the nature of the relations
between the two. We may say at once that the available evidence points at least
to the following general conclusions: 1) That much of the external trappings of
Freemasonry, such as its ritual, its terminology, its legends, etc., are of
Jewish origin; 2) that the philosophy or religion of esoteric Freemasonry (that
is of the inner circles and controlling power) is practically identical with
the doctrines of the Jewish Cabala, which is the religion of philosophy of a
certain section of the Jews; 3) that a certain group, probably very few in
number, but of immense influence and power, are leading Freemasons; and 4) that
a somewhat larger group of very influential Jews pursue the same ends as
Freemasons, and use similar means, and are at least in close alliance with
them.
Rev. E. Cahill, S.J.,
Freemasonry and the anti-Christian Movement, 1930.
“Naturalism is more than a heresy: it is pure undiluted
anti-christianism. Heresy denies one or more dogmas; Naturalism denies that
there are any dogmas or that there can be any. Heresy alters more or less what
God has revealed; Naturalism denies the very existence of revelation. It
follows that the inevitable law and the obstinate passion of Naturalism is to
dethrone Our Lord Jesus Christ and to drive Him from the world. This will be
the task of Antichrist and it is Satan's supreme ambition.... The great
obstacle to the salvation of the men of our day, as the Vatican I Council
points out in the first Constitution of Doctrine, what hurls more people into
hell nowadays than at any other epoch, is Rationalism or Naturalism...
Naturalism strives with all its might to exclude Our Lord Jesus Christ, Our One
Master and Saviour, from the minds of men as well as from the daily lives and
habits of peoples, in order to set up the reign of reason or of nature. Now,
wherever the breath of Naturalism has passed, the very source of Christian life
is dried up. Naturalism means complete sterility in regard to salvation and
eternal life.”
Cardinal Pie of Poitiers (1850-1880), considered as principle
theologian of the social Kingship of Jesus Christ, his writing were on the
night stand of St. Pius X.
COMMENT: Politics is concerned with the
organization of life within a community. Liberalism is Naturalism in politics.
It begins by denying Original Sin and presupposes natural goodness. It is then
faced with the reality of fallen human nature and objective sin for which it is
at a loss to comprehend. It consequently is constantly theorizing alternative
causes for sin such as racism, sexism, feminism, etc. and proposing legal and
social solutions such as communism which necessarily lead to ruin. Yet never to
be dismayed, the Liberal always blames the failure of his programs on others
who did not follow their plan of action with enough purity, with enough rigor,
for sufficient time. Current articles from the Jesuit magazine, America, posted
on their web site include: The Devastating Effect of Conversion Therapy on LGBT
Catholics; Should Catholic Schools Teach Critical Race Theory?; Father James
Martin (homosexual advocate) reviews a new little show called 'Friends.'; What
Catholics can do to fight Islamophobia; Is it safe to bring my unvaccinated,
unmasked 10-month-old to Mass? The Jesuits, who are responsible for the spiritual
formation of Pope Francis, are Catholic apostates who have embraced Naturalism.
Baptism should be considered an absolute impediment to joining the Order.
The Love of
Money: The Deep State is directed by the Avaricious and supported by the Avaricious
The bourgeois lives for money, not merely as the peasant or the soldier
or even the artist often does, but in a deeper sense, since money is to him
what arms are to the soldier and land is to the peasant, the tools of his trade
and the medium through which he expresses himself, so that he often takes an
almost disinterested pleasure in his wealth because of the virtuosity he has
displayed in his financial operations. In short the bourgeois is essentially a moneymaker, at once its servant and its master, and the
development of his social ascendancy shows the degree to which civilization,
and human life are dominated by the money power.
Christopher Dawson, Catholic Historian
“Be bold and break with half measures and compromises; with mixing and
matching teachings and compromising principles. If you continue to believe that
you can ‘come to an arrangement’ with Heaven, that the rights of God are not so
pressing, that some words of the Gospel and of the Church can be chosen and
others not; if you believe that the Faith is nothing but a cupboard in which
certain ingredients are stored and occasionally used to appease the conscience,
and that it should not enter into the particulars of everyday life; if you do
not want to take the Faith in its truth and the Gospel in its bareness, if you
are not willing to be a Christian in all places and situations, to be nothing
other than a Christian, integral and absolute, without calculated interests,
you will, in fact, not understand this book — put it down….. Be one, walking on your only path toward your
only destination, without wandering either to the left or to the right. Are you
resolved to be a Christian? To be one completely? To be one exclusively? Come,
I will tell you what it means to be a Christian and how to become one.”
Dom François de Sales Pollien, Carthusian prior and spiritual director,
prologue to Lived Christianity
For the
Christian doctrine of the Incarnation is not simply a theophany—a revelation of
God to Man; it is a new creation—the introduction of a new spiritual principle
which gradually leavens and transforms human nature into something new. The
history of the human race hinges on this unique divine event which gives
meaning to the whole historical process.
Christopher
Dawson, The Christian View of History
“Why, I ask, O
damnable sodomites, do you seek after the height of ecclesiastical dignity with
such burning ambition?”
St. Peter
Damian, Doctor of the Church
“Restorationism
has come to gag the Council. The number of groups of ‘restorers’ – for example,
in the United States there are many – is significant. An Argentine bishop told
me that he had been asked to administer a diocese that had fallen into the
hands of these ‘restorers.” They has never accepted the Council. There are
ideas, behaviors that arise from a restorationism that basically did not accept
the Council. The problem is precisely this: in some contexts, the Council has
not yet been accepted. It is also true that it takes a century for a Council to
take root. We still have 40 years to make it take root, then! [To doubt the
Council is] in the final analysis, to doubt the Holy Spirit himself who guides
the Church.”
Pope Francis the Incredulous, interview from May 19, 2022 published in
La Civiltà Cattolica on June 14
COMMENT: Gee, only 40 more years of mindless
babble? That is hard to believe. Who would have thought that mindless babble
could be sustained for 60 years? Yet there is no shortage of mindless clerical
babblers. What is disturbing is this persistent effort to blame God for the
destruction of the Church since the end of Vatican II. God, as every mindful
person knows, was not invited to Vatican II. It was from the beginning to the
end a purely human endeavor, a work of the personal non-infallible magisterium
of clerics grounded upon their grace of state. To attribute this sinful,
heretical Council of the DoubleSpeak to God may be one of those ‘sins that will
not be forgiven in this world or the next.’ Making the accusation of
“restorationism” is actually an open admission of corruption. Restore is
derived from the Latin restaurare
meaning to renew, to rebuild. Once the punishment promised at Fatima has
cleared the traitors from Rome, the Restorationists will have their work cut
out for them to do what Restorationists do, that is, to “renew, rebuild,” but
fear not, ‘with God, all things are possible.’
On the evil of
Gender Ideology – a twenty fold increase in the suicide rate!
However, there is long-term research on the mental health of adults who
transitioned with Gender Dysphoria. This reveals that despite initial relief of
the dysphoria, one or more
decades after transition, they often present with worse mental health than that
of the general population, including a suicide rate nearly twenty times
greater. This observation raises more questions than it answers, and
should, therefore, give pediatric health professionals great pause — at least
those who value evidence-based medicine and are dedicated to ‘first do no
harm’.
American Academy of Pediatricians, excerpt from public statement that
opposes drug and surgical abuse of children in modern gender reassignment
therapy.
Modernists and Neo-Modernists
are willfully blind to Essence, that
is, they are in the end the most heatless of all!
Here is my secret. It is very simple. It is
only with the heart that one can see rightly; What is essential
is invisible to the eye.
Antoine de
Saint Exupéry, The Little Prince
Pope Francis/Bergoglio
receives award from the B'nai B'rith
In the photo, we see the CEO of B'nai B'rith International Daniel S.
Mariaschin giving Pope Bergoglio a gold chalice with Jewish inscriptions and
symbols. This was a
symbolic award to thank Francis for his constant support for this Jewish
Masonic organization.
This took place during a meeting in the Papal Library when Francis received a
delegation of 27 members of that organization on May 30, 2022.
Commenting on the encounter, Mariachin told the Jerusalem Post: “From his years
as Cardinal in Buenos Aires until today, Pope Francis has expressed a special
interest in furthering Jewish-Catholic relations.” He continued, “Our audience
with him gave us an opportunity to demonstrate our appreciation for this support,
to confirm our shared aspirations for peace and mutual respect.”
In a formal speech, the president of the Jewish organization Seth Riklin asked
for papal support for the Abraham Accords, which is a Jewish initiative to make
Arabs recognize the State of Israel. This was an implicit request for the Holy
See to exercise its influence over the Middle East Arab countries to accept
Israel. This is what B'nai B'rith calls its work for fraternity and peace.
In
his speech, Francis praised B'nai B'rith for its “tireless commitment to
humanitarian causes.” He added: “If the duty to care for others is incumbent
upon every member of our human family, it applies even more to those of us who
are Jews and Christians.”
We see that, after Vatican II and its Nostra aetate Declaration, the conciliar
Popes have set aside any doctrinal discussion with the Jews about the divinity
of Our Lord Jesus Christ and are conducting a policy based on a supposed love
and common collaboration to solve social problems. On the other hand, the Jews
did not change one comma of their false beliefs.
What could be the final end of this policy
except a Judaization of the entire Church?
Tradition In Action
Diocese
of Harrisburg completed its plan for judicial resolution of Chapter 11
bankruptcy. This publication regarding reorganization of the Diocese of
Harrisburg by Bishop Ronald Gainer says nothing about the liquidation of
Catholic assets to pay creditors! What is worse, this plan of reorganization
does NOT identify that the cause of more than
90% of all sexual abuse cases are committed by homosexual clerics using
the clerical collar as cover for predatory abuse of adolescent boys (the crime
of pederasty) or offer any plan to eliminate these predators from the clergy
and religious vocations!
HARRISBURG, Pa. – Today, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg
(RCDH) announced that its Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization has been approved by
the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
With this approval, the RCDH has emerged from bankruptcy, nearly three years
from when this process started. The Most Reverend Ronald W. Gainer, Bishop of
Harrisburg, offered the following statement on the completion of this process:
“Three years ago, I announced that the Roman Catholic Diocese of
Harrisburg was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections. That difficult
decision was made as a means of stabilizing the Diocese’s financial situation,
while at the same time allowing us to make restitution to survivors of clergy
sexual abuse and continue our ministries.[....]
With the plan approved, the RCDH and related entities will establish a
Survivor Compensation Trust and provide funding to the Trust in an amount equal
to $7.5 million. The settling insurers will contribute an additional
$10.75 million, bringing the total Trust amount to $18.25 million. This Trust
will provide financial restitution for survivors of clergy sexual abuse.
According to the plan, the Trust will be established by early March. More
details related to the Trust are included in the Plan, which is on file with
the Bankruptcy Court and on the Diocesan website. Once established, a Trust
administrator, and not the Diocese, will determine compensation amounts and
claim eligibility for abuse survivors.
The RCDH filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the United States
Bankruptcy Code in February 2020. More than 60 timely filed proofs of claim
from clergy abuse survivors were received during the reorganization process.
The move to declare bankruptcy came after years of financial hardship, which
was exacerbated by the Grand Jury investigation and subsequent lawsuits, and
after every attempt to scale back operations, including reducing overhead, were
unsuccessful.
The RCDH has a zero-tolerance policy regarding child abuse and has
passed every audit related to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’
Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People since 2002. In 2019,
the Diocese’s independent Survivor Compensation Program assisted 111 survivors,
for a total financial commitment of $12,784,450.
The
Same Standard applies to Conciliar Heretics!
Before answering the accusation (that Popes Liberius and Honorius were
heretics and formally taught heresy), we must once more remind our opponents
that, in order to overturn our thesis (of papal infallibility), they must prove
not merely that Liberius or Honorius has spoken or written what is contrary to faith,
or denied it, but that he did so as Pope, teaching in matters of faith or
morals, and thereby binding the Universal Church. If they cannot prove this, they prove
nothing, for the fallibility would then be only personal and private, and would
no more affect the infallibility of the Pope as Universal teacher, than the
denial of Peter in the Court of the High Priest injured his infallibility as
Prince of the Apostles. They must, then,
first produce good, historical evidence of the fact; secondly, they must prove
that it was a definition or teaching contrary to truth in matters of faith;
and, thirdly, that the Pope intended, by his teaching, to bind the Universal
Church to believe it.
Rev. F. X. Weninger, S.J., D.D., On
the Apostolical and Infallible Authority of the Pope, when teaching the
faithful, and on his relation to a General Council
The
Authority of the Pope, as it is with every one of the faithful, is subject to
the Faith and not vice versa as the Neo-Modernists would have it!
v “Peter
is called a rock, and the foundations of the Church are planted in his faith.”
St. Gregory of Nazianzen
v “Faith
is the groundwork of the Church, because of the faith, and not of the person of
Peter, it was said, that the gates of death should never prevail against it.”
St. Ambrose
v “He
(Christ) called him Peter, that is, the rock, and praised the foundations of
the Church which was built on the Apostle’s faith. St. Augustine
v “Peter
was made for us a living rock, on which, as on a foundation, the faith of the
Lord rests, and on which the Church is erected.” St. Epiphanius
v “He
(Christ) did not say Petrus, but Petra, because He did not build His
Church upon the man, but upon the faith of Peter.” St. John Chrysostom
v “Peter
so pleased the Lord by the sublimity of his faith, that, after being admitted
to the fruition of bliss, he received the solidity of an immovable rock, on
which the Church was so firmly built, as to bid defiance to the gates of hell
and the laws of death. St. Leo the Great
v “On
this rock, namely, on the unshaken faith, to which thou owest thy name, I will
built my Church.” Caesarius the Cistercian
Quotations taken from Fr. F. X.
Weninger, D.D., On the Apostolical and
Infallible Authority of the Pope when teaching the faithful and on his relation
to a General Council
“Of all divine things, the most godlike is to co-operate with God in
the conversion of sinners.”
St. Denis the Areopagite
God
cannot be offered anything less than everything!
God is Sufficient to Himself
and Does Not Need Any Creature:
Let us consider that the first
reason why we are useless servants arises from the greatness, sufficiency and
plenitude of God, Who calls Himself Sadai,
that is, “sufficient to Himself,” because He is so sufficient to Himself and
replete with good, that He has no need of us nor of any creature of heaven or
earth. Even the God-Man, Jesus Christ our Lord, says: “I have said to the Lord:
Thou art my God, for thou hast no need of my goods” (Ps 15, 2).
The fact that God has no need
of our goods is an infallible mark of His divinity. That is why, when we
offer or give anything to God, we sacrifice it to Him, that is, annihilate it
before Him, to testify thereby that He has no need of anything. If anyone presented
a valuable horse to a governor and were to kill the animal when offering it,
the governor would not be pleased because the gift would be useless to him. But
the greatest service we can render to God is to sacrifice and annihilate our
offerings, to testify thereby that He has no need of them. This why Jesus
Christ sacrificed Himself on the Cross. Now, if Jesus Christ is not necessary
to God, and if all the angels and saints and the Blessed Virgin can
say: “We are unprofitable servants,” with how much greater truth can we
say it?
Let us rejoice that God is so
replete with every conceivable good; let us be glad to be useless because He is
quite sufficient to Himself.
St. John Eudes, Meditations on
Various Subjects: 8th Meditation on Humility
External
Profession of Faith
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, we are to be justified; the lips have only to make
confession, if we are to be saved” (Rom. x, 9-10), and it follows from the very
nature man himself who must worship God not only with his mind but also with
his body. This precept is both affirmative and negative in character. Its
negative aspect forbids man to deny his faith externally, which he may do
either directly—by formal infidelity—or indirectly, by some action which
externally gives a clear indication of denial of faith even though the agent
himself has no intention of denying his faith. Thus, for example, a person
indirectly denies his faith by partaking of the Protestant communion even
though in his own mind he does not believe that Christ is present in that
communion. It is never permissible to deny one’s faith either directly or indirectly,
because every denial of faith is a grave insult to God since it undermines the
authority of God and the reverence due to Him. Hence Christ’s threat: “Whoever
disowns me before men, before my Father in heaven I too will disown him” (Matt.
X, 32). But although it is never lawful to deny one’s faith, occasions do arise
when it is permissible to conceal or dissemble one’s faith, as will be
explained later.
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.
1.
The honour due to God demands an external
profession of faith: a) when a man is questioned by public authority (not by
private persons) about his faith; b) when a person is provoked even by private
individuals through hatred of religion to a denial of his faith in word or
deed.
2.
The spiritual welfare of our neighbour requires
an external profession of faith when grave scandal would ensue from its
omission (v.g., Libellatici amongst
the early Christians).
Dominic Prummer, Handbook Moral
Theology
NOTE: Our immemorial ecclesiastical
traditions are necessary attributes of the Faith because, without them, there
can be no “external profession of the faith.”
“If any one saith, that the received and approved
rites of the Catholic Church, wont to be used in the solemn administration of
the sacraments, may be contemned, or without sin be omitted at pleasure by the
ministers, or be changed, by every pastor of the churches, into other new ones;
let him be anathema.”
Council of Trent, Canon XIII, On the Sacraments
“The favorite comeback of progressives is
that ‘the liturgy kept developing over time, so you can’t say that Catholics
‘always’ worshiped this or that way.’ But that is a superficial response. The
deeper truth is that Catholics have always worshiped according to the liturgy
they have received, and any development occurred within this fundamental
assumption of the continuity of the rituals, chants, and texts. The work of the
Consilium of the 1960s rejected (N.B. actually, rejected by Rev. Annibale
Bugnini in 1948) this assumption in altering almost every aspect of the
liturgy, adding and deleting material according to their own theories.
Therefore what they produced is not and can never be an expression of Catholic
tradition; it will always remain a foreign body.”
Peter Kwasniewski, Ph.D.
“With them that hated peace I was peaceable: when I spake
unto them, they fought against me without cause.” (Ps. cxix) “Forty years long
was I nigh unto that generation, and said: They do always err in their heart;
and they have not known My ways to whom I swore in My wrath that they should
not enter into My rest.” (Ps. xciv)
“In
the later editions of the Talmud the allusions to Christianity are few and
cautious compared with the earlier or unexpurgated copies. The last of these
was published at Amsterdam in 1645. In them our Lord and Saviour is ‘that One,’
‘such a One,’ ‘a fool,’ ‘the leper,’ ‘the deceiver or Israel,’ &c.; efforts
are made to prove that He is the son of Joseph Pandira before his marriage with
Mary. His miracles are attributed to sorcery, the secret of which He brought in
a slit in his flesh out of Egypt. His teacher is said to have been Joshua, the
son of Perachlah. This Joshua is said to have afterwards excommunicated Him to
the sound of 800 rams’ horns, although he must have lived seventy years before
His time. Forty days before the death of Jesus a witness was summoned by public
proclamation to attest his innocence, but none appeared. He is said to have
been first stoned and then hanged on the eve of the Passover. His disciples are
called heretics, and opprobrious names. They are accused of immoral practices;
and the New Testament is called a sinful book. The references to these subjects manifest the most bitter
aversion and hate.”
Dr. Joseph Barclay, LL.D, Rector of
Stapleford, Hertfordshire, London, The
Talmud, 1878, from Introduction, p. 30
“Neither Jewish ethics
nor Jewish tradition can disqualify terrorism as a means of combat. We are very
far from having any moral qualms as far as our national war goes. We have
before us the command of the Torah, whose morality surpasses that of any other
body of laws in the world: ‘Ye shall blot them out to the last man.’”
Yitzhak Shamir,
Israeli Prime Minister 1986-1992, 1943 Quote
taken from “Document: Shamir on Terrorism
(1943)” Middle East Report 152
You must understand. The leading Bolsheviks who took over Russia were
not Russians. They hated Russians. They hated Christians. Driven by ethnic
hatred they tortured and slaughtered millions of Russians without a shred of
human remorse. The October Revolution was not what you call in America the
“Russian Revolution.” It was an invasion
and conquest over the Russian people. More of my countrymen suffered horrific
crimes at their bloodstained hands than any people or nation ever suffered in
the entirety of human history. It cannot be understated. Bolshevism was the greatest human slaughter
of all time. The fact that most of the world is ignorant of this reality is
proof that the global media itself is in the hands of the perpetrators. We cannot state that all Jews are
Bolsheviks. But: without Jews there
would have been no Bolshevism. For a Jew
nothing is more insulting than the truth. The blood maddened Jewish terrorists
murdered sixty-six million in Russia from 1918 to 1957.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), Nobel-Prize winning novelist,
historian and victim of Jewish Bolshevism
The “New Evangelization” and the “New Ecclesial Realities”
The
“new evangelization” identifies “new ecclesial realities” as the “work of the
Holy Spirit” and thus, regards them as the means by which God will bring about
a rebirth of Christian faith since the collapse following Vatican II. These “ecclesial realities” include such
entities as the Neocatechumenal Way, Communion and Liberation, the Focolare
Movement, and the Charismatic Renewal.
They all embody the novel teachings of Vatican II, which the hierarchy
denies as having any causal relationship with the collapse of faith that the “new
ecclesial realities” are expected to restore.
These “ecclesial realities” have developed more in Europe and Latin
America than in the United States. The
most obvious reason for this is that the U. S. is already a religious
pluralistic society that has similar entities as these “ecclesial realities” in
every city. The Masonic brotherhood
religion for world peace has a lot in common with Focolare. The Neocatechumenal Way is comparable to a
Baptist Evangelical church and they have a Lutheran theological conception of
the Holy Eucharist. The common thread
among all these “ecclesiastical realities” is that they seek an encounter with
Christ without the burden of dogma or moral restrictions that dogma imposes. Cardinal Ratzinger nevertheless at the World
Congress of Ecclesial Movements, May 27, 1998, compared these “ecclesial
realities” to St. Anthony of the Desert and the early monastic movement, to St.
Francis and St. Dominic, St. Ignatius and the Jesuits, St. Teresa of Avila and
St. Catherine of Siena. JP II addressed
them on the vigil of Pentecost in 1998 and said:
With the Second Vatican Council, the
Comforter recently gave the Church, which according to the Fathers is the place
“where the Spirit flourishes” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 749),
a renewed Pentecost, instilling a new and unforeseen dynamism. Whenever the
Spirit intervenes, he leaves people astonished. He brings about events of
amazing newness; he radically changes persons and history. This was the
unforgettable experience of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council during which,
under the guidance of the same Spirit, the Church rediscovered the charismatic
dimension as one of her constitutive elements: “It is not only through the
sacraments and the ministrations of the Church that the Holy Spirit makes holy
the people, leads them and enriches them with his virtues. Allotting his gifts
according as he wills (cf. 1 Cor 12:11), he also distributes special graces
among the faithful of every rank.... He makes them fit and ready to undertake
various tasks and offices for the renewal and building up of the Church” (Lumen
gentium, n.12). […….] Today the Church rejoices at the renewed confirmation
of the prophet Joel's words which we have just heard: “I will pour out my
Spirit upon all flesh” (Acts 2:17). You, present here, are the tangible proof
of this “outpouring” of the Spirit. Each movement is different from the others,
but they are all united in the same communion and for the same mission. Some
charisms given by the Spirit burst in like an impetuous wind, which seizes
people and carries them to new ways of missionary commitment to the radical
service of the Gospel, by ceaselessly proclaiming the truths of faith,
accepting the living stream of tradition as a gift and instilling in each person
an ardent desire for holiness.[….] In our world, often dominated by a
secularized culture which encourages and promotes models of life without God,
the faith of many is sorely tested, and is frequently stifled and dies. Thus we
see an urgent need for powerful proclamation and solid, in-depth Christian
formation. There is so much need today for mature Christian personalities,
conscious of their baptismal identity, of their vocation and mission in the
Church and in the world! There is great need for living Christian communities!
And here are the movements and the new ecclesial communities: they are the
response, given by the Holy Spirit, to this critical challenge at the end of
the millennium. You are this providential response.
John Paul II, speech addressing
“ecclesial movements and new communities.” May 30, 1998, Vigil of Pentecost
Now,
Pope Francis, who took credit for introducing the Charismatic movement into
Argentina, addressed these “new ecclesial realities” on the vigil of Pentecost
and looks to them as the hope for the “new evangelization.” Pope Francis, who has knelt before Protestant
evangelical charismatics to receive their “blessing,” cannot possible have a
clue regarding discernment of spirits.
St. Francis and Peter Waldo embraced radical poverty but they were of an
entirely different spirit. One was a
saint, the other a heretic. There is no
encounter with Christ without believing His revealed truth, that is, all dogma
as formal objects of Divine and Catholic faith, and keeping His commandments. None of the saints identified by Cardinal
Ratzinger ever held any of our ecclesiastical traditions in contempt as these
“new ecclesial realities” clearly have done.
And every one of these saints gave evidence of personal holiness and
performed the remarkable miracles as a testimony to the truth of their
mission. The winter of Vatican II will
be getting a colder and darker.
St. John Eudes: “That there is a special contract made between God and
man in Baptism.”
THE name of
contract is given to any agreement entered into by two or more persons, in
which the parties contracting incur mutual obligations. This clearly shows that
a contract. has been entered into by the most Blessed Trinity and you in
Baptism; since you have incurred many obligations towards the Blessed Trinity,
and the Blessed Trinity has also obliged itself in regard to you. What is the
nature of this contract? It is a reciprocal contract of gifts, the highest and
most entire that can “enter into the heart of man to conceive;” for in making
it you are obliged to give yourself entirely and forever to God; you have
renounced all things to be united to Him, and for Him, and God on his part has
given Himself entirely to you. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, come to
you and take up their abode in your soul, in order to confer honors and
benefits on you. They enrich you ‘with spiritual treasures to render you worthy
of their three divine Persons.
It is a contract of
adoption, since God the Father has taken you for his child, and has conferred
on you the right of his inheritance with his only Son, and you have taken God
for your Father, and have promised to entertain for him all the love and
respect which a child owes to a so good a parent. “Consider,” writes St. John
the Evangelist, “what love the Father has testified to you in wishing that you
should be called, and that you should, really, be his children.”
Behold the
admirable effect of the contract which you have made with God in Baptism, from
being the child of wrath and an heir of hell, you have become the child of God
and an heir to heaven! What you should not do to acknowledge the infinite
goodness of God in your regard?
It is a contract of
alliance with the Son of God, since in receiving Baptism you have united
yourself to him as to your head, your master, and your sovereign, and since the
Son has taken you for His servant and one of the members of his body, which is
his Church. How great is the goodness of God, says St. Paul to the newly
converted Christians of Corinth; “By whom you arc called unto the fellowship of
His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.”
What were you
before Baptism but the unhappy slave of Satan, and subject like him to eternal
punishment? But by Baptism you have been delivered from this unhappy
subjection, through the divine alliance which you have contracted with Jesus
Christ, which procures you the enjoyment of eternal happiness, if you observe
all its conditions.
Finally, it is a
contract of alliance with the Person of the Holy Ghost; for faith teaches us,
that the Holy Ghost takes the Christian soul as his spouse, and that the
Christian reciprocally takes the Holy Ghost for his spouse. In consequence of
this sacred alliance, the Holy Ghost calls you “his sister and his spouse,” and
as, of yourself, you are poor indeed, he adorns your soul with all the gifts
necessary to render it worthy of him, and he comes to take up his abode in it,
and to consecrate it as his temple and his sanctuary. […..]
When you had been
presented to the church to receive Baptism, you were treated as a person in the
possession of the devil, for the priest pronounced over you the exorcism of the
church, commanding the wicked spirit to depart from you, and to give place to
the Holy Ghost.
This ceremony
teaches you that by original sin you were really in possession of the devil,
and that he abided in you, but that, through Baptism, he has been cast out of
you; that your soul has been purified from the horrible stain which disfigured
it, and that the Holy Ghost, having sanctified and ornamented it with his
grace, comes to take up his abode in it. […..]
That Baptism
imprints in your soul a spiritual character, which no sin can efface. This
character is a proof that from this time you do not belong to yourself, but
that you are the property of Jesus Christ, who has purchased you by the
infinite price of his blood and of his death. You are not of yourself, but you
are of Christ’s therefore, St. Paul concludes, “that the Christian should no
longer live for himself, but for Him who died and rose again for him;” that is
to say, that the Christian should live a life of grace, and that he should
consecrate to his Redeemer his spirit, his heart, and all his actions. […..]
The Priest
introduced you into the Church, by saying, “Enter into the house of God, that
you may have eternal life.” This ceremony teaches you that Baptism enables you
to enter into the Society of Jesus Christ, and of all the faithful who compose
the house or family of God. By this entry, you begin to partake of all the good
works of the faithful and you acquire a right to the sacraments, to the
prayers, and to all the other good works which are done in the Church.
Moreover, in entering into the Church, you have become her child, and have been
made a child of God, the heir of God, and co-heir of Jesus Christ; you entered
into society and communion with the angels and all the blessed who are in
Heaven. By this ceremony you are likewise taught that, in order to be united to
Jesus Christ, and to have eternal life, it is necessary to be a member of the
Church, and to persevere therein to the end, believing all she teaches, obeying
all she commands.
St. John Eudes, excerpt from Man’s Contract with God in Baptism
COMMENT: St. John Eudes makes
clear what every faithful Catholic should already know, that is, it is by
virtue of the sacrament of Baptism received with Faith that makes a person a
Child of God. The Neo-modernist popes since Vatican II heretically teach that
everyone is a child of God by virtue of the Incarnation of the Logos, the Word
becoming flesh, where the second Person of the Trinity, by personally uniting
Himself with our human nature, thereby elevated all humanity to being children
of God by virtue of this shared humanity. For them, Baptism is only an outward sign signifying what has already taken
place. It reduces Baptism from a performative
sign that is necessity of means
for salvation to a simple necessity of
precept which obligates only those who feel some inner compulsion to obey.
It is this fundamental corruption of revealed truth that makes modern ecumenism
with such events as the blasphemous “Prayer Meeting at Assisi” possible. For
them the “spiritual character” imprinted on the soul at Baptism is meaningless.
The “spiritual character” is both the sign of and cause of the adoption as Sons
of God. The character is like a receptacle that makes the reception of the
sacramental grace of adoption possible. Those who have the character of the sacrament
without the sanctifying grace of adoption will suffer the greatest torments of
all in hell.
It is an unfortunate fact that the many
traditional Catholics and conservative Catholics believe this tripe and profess
that any “good-willed” Protestant, Jew, Moslem, Hindu, Buddhist, etc., etc. can
be a child of God, a member of the Church, a temple of the Holy Ghost and an
heir to heaven by virtue of being a “good” Protestant, Jew, Moslem, Hindu,
Buddhist, etc., etc. This error is
derived essentially from the more fundamental error of denying Dogma as Dogma, by overturning Dogma in its very nature. For these
Neo-modernists, Dogma is not the revealed truth of God but only a human axiom
open to unending refinement and new interpretations.
But the truth is that Dogma is divine
revelation formally and infallibly defined by the Magisterium of the
Church. It is irreformable in both the
truth it declares and the words that it uses to define. It constitutes the formal object of divine and Catholic faith
and is the proximate rule of faith for
every faithful child of God. Not until every traditional Catholic
recognizes and defends this truth will any effective resistance to
Neo-modernist error be effectively mounted.
Pope to Italian Bishops: A synodal Church is open to everyone
As the Italian Bishops conclude their 77th General Assembly, Pope
Francis urges the Italian Church to continue journeying together on the synodal
path to promote the "co-responsibility" of laypeople and clergy and
build a less clerical Church.
Vatican News | Lisa Zengarini | May 23,
2023
Pope Francis on Thursday encouraged the
Italian Church to continue its synodal process “with courage and
determination”, above all by “valuing the potential” present in its parishes
and Christian communities.
The Pope was addressing the bishops and
diocesan representatives of the synodal path in Italy in the Paul VI Audience
Hall, as the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI) concluded its 77th General
Assembly focused on the synodal process in the lead up to the 2021-2024 Synod
on Synodality.
A unique spiritual experience of conversion and renewal
The Holy Father introduced his speech by
noting that the process is a “unique spiritual experience of conversion and
renewal” which can make ecclesial communities “more missionary and more
prepared to evangelize today's world”.
As the Italian Church concludes the
two-year listening phase and enters the discerning phase, he therefore offered
four recommendations responding to some questions submitted by the CEI
Permanent Committee regarding the pastoral priorities for the Italian Church,
how to overcome objections and concerns, and the participation of clergy and
lay people.
Keep walking guided by the Holy Spirit
The first indication he gave was to “keep
walking guided by the Holy Spirit”, always serving the Gospel and cultivating
“the freedom and creativity” of those who bear witness to the good news of
God's love by “staying grounded in what is essential”.