SS. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Mission

P.O. Box 7352, York, PA, 17404

717-792-2789

SaintsPeterandPaulRCM.com

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

SS. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Chapel

129 South Beaver Street, York PA 17401

..... 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.

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Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

St. John Gualbert, Abbot

Ss. Nabor & Felix, Martyrs

July 12, 2026

In words addressed to the Holy Ghost, “sevenfold” in grace, the Church prays in the Sequence for Pentecost: “Grant to Thy faithful, dearest Lord, Whose only hope is in Thy Word Thy sevenfold gift of grace.”

The first of these gifts is the fear of God which is the foundation of all the others (Gradual); the seventh is the gift of wisdom, an enlightening from the Holy Ghost, thanks to which our intelligence is able to contemplate the truths of faith, set in a glorious light and in doing so to find great joy.

The sacred number seven which is borne by this Sunday, suggests that it is this gift of wisdom that is the object of today’s liturgy, and that with the Church itself, we ought to ask for it from the Holy Ghost.

No better subject could have been chosen for the Breviary lessons for this week than the story of David’s last days, for as St. Jerome says, “all bodily force weakens in old men, while only wisdom increases in them” (2^nd Nocturn); and the story of his son Solomon, famous for his wisdom beyond all other kings. When David saw that his death was not far off, from among his sons he named Solomon, “the Lord’s well-beloved,” as his successor. Then the prophet Nathan took Solomon to Gihon. “And Sadoc the priest took a horn of oil out of the tabernacle and anointed Solomon. And they sounded the trumpet and all the people said: God save King Solomon.”

David, in a last charge to his son, reminding him that it was for him to build the temple of the Lord, said: “Take thou courage and show thyself a man. And keep the charge of the Lord thy God to walk in His ways, that the Lord may confirm His words which He hath spoken of me saying: ‘Thy name is strengthened and thy posterity will reign forever. Do, therefore, according to thy wisdom, for thou art a wise man.’”

And David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city which bears his name, after reigning seven years in Hebron and twenty-three in Jerusalem, a strong fortress which he had taken from the Philistines.

“And Solomon sat upon the throne of his father David and his kingdom was strengthened exceedingly.” He was only a young man of seventeen; after he had offered a sacrifice similar to that mentioned by Daniel in today’s Offertory, and also alluded to in the Secret, “The Lord appeared to Solomon” saying: “Ask what thou wilt that I should give thee.” And Solomon said; Lord God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father. And I am but a child. Give, therefore, to thy servant an understanding heart, to judge Thy people and discern between good and evil.” And the Lord said to Solomon: “Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life or riches, nor the lives of the enemies, but hast asked for thyself wisdom to discern judgment, behold, I have given thee a wise and understanding heart; insomuch that there hath been no one like thee before thee, nor shall arise after thee. Yea, and the things also which thou didst not ask, I have given thee; to wit riches and glory, so that no one hath been like thee among the kings in all days here before.”

As God had promised, Solomon became not only the wisest, but the most powerful and magnificent of the kings of Israel. All the other sovereigns brought him presents and every nation who, until then, had despised Israel, began to seek and alliance with it. The Queen of Sabe, who came to censure Solomon, was full of admiration at all that she saw and heard (Gradual). The Egyptian Pharaoh of the time, gave him his daughter in marriage and Hiram, king of Tyre, made a treaty with him. In return for the corn, barley, wine and oil, which the countryside of Palestine yielded in abundance, Hiram sent Solomon the priceless timber of the forests of Libanus as well as workmen to help the Israelites build the Temple.

King Solomon taught his people the fear of the Lord, who, on His part protected him in all his undertakings, and, among other things, saved him when his eldest son endeavored to supplant him in the kingdom (Communion). In this way the words were fulfilled which were spoken by Solomon himself and of which St. Jerome reminds us in today’s office: “Refuse not wisdom and she will keep thee. Take possession of wisdom, acquire prudence: lay hold of her and she will raise thee up; through her thou wilt receive honor and when thou hast embraced her she will heap favors upon thy head and put upon thee a crown of glory.” On this St. Jerome comments: “Truly he who meditates day and night on the law of the Lord becomes with years more teachable, more formed through experience, wised through the passage of time and in his old age he gathers the sweetest fruits of his former labors” (2^nd Nocturn).

What the fruits of wisdom are, St. Paul points out in the Epistle: “What fruit had you therefore in those things, of which you are now ashamed?…. For the end of them is death. But now being become servants to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end life everlasting” (Epistle). In the Gospel, our Lord tells us: “By their fruits you shall know them….. Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit.” And He adds: “Not every one that saith to me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven: he that doeth the will of my Father who is in Heaven.”

In commenting on today’s Introit, St. Augustine remarks: “Hand and tongue must agree together; let the one glorify God and the other act accordingly.” True wisdom does not consist only in hearing God’s words but in fulfilling them; not only in prayer to Him, but in showing Him by our actions that we love Him. “The Gospel,” says St. Hilary, “warns us, that pleasing words and kindly airs are to be appraised according to the fruit of a man’s works, and that a man is to be judged, not only as he paints himself in words but as he shows himself in deeds, since often the sheeps’ clothing serves to hide the fierceness of the wolf. Therefore, it is by our mode of life that we must merit eternal happiness, desiring what is good, avoiding evil and obeying the heavenly precepts with our whole heart, so that through the fulfillment of such duties we may be acknowledged by God” (3^rd Nocturn).

Solomon, the peaceful monarch is none other than a type of Christ. His reign, hailed by all peoples, heralds that of the Messiah, who is the true King of peace; Solomon, the wisest of kings foreshadows the Son of God whose heavenly Father said on Mount Tabor: “Hear ye Him” (Gradual). He is a type of that Incarnate wisdom who will teach us the fear of the Lord (Gradual), and the way to distinguish good from evil (Gospel). The holocausts offered at the dedication of Solomon’s temple (Offertory) are like that of Abel, types of that unique and bloody sacrifice which Christ offered on Calvary and which He consummated in heaven where He entered after having obtained the victory over all His enemies.

This is the burden of the forty-sixth Psalm (Introit) in which the Fathers have seen under the symbol of the Ark of the Covenant, brought back by the people amid shouts of triumph from the field of battle to Mount Sion, a figure of the triumphant Ascension of our Lord into the heavenly kingdom.

INTROIT:

Ps. 46 O clap your hands, all ye nations; shout unto God with the voice of joy.

Ps. For the Lord is most high, He is terrible; He is a great king over all the earth. Glory be, etc. O clap your hands, etc.

COLLECT:

O God, the ordering of whose providence never erreth, we humbly beseech Thee to put away from us all hurtful things, and to give us all those things which are profitable for us. Through our Lord, etc.

May the pleading of blessed John Gualbert, the Abbot, make us acceptable unto Thee, O Lord, we pray; that what we may not have through any merits of ours, we may gain by means of his patronage. Through our Lord, etc.

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that, as the birthday of Thy holy Martyrs Nabor and Felix comes always for our veneration, so we may ever be attended by their intercession. Through our Lord, etc.

EPISTLE: Rom. 6, 19-23

Brethren: I speak a human thing, because of the infirmity of your flesh; for as you have yielded your members to serve uncleanness and iniquity unto iniquity, so now yield your members to serve justice unto sanctification. For when you were the servants of sin, you were free from justice. What fruit therefore had you then in those things, of which you are now ashamed? For the end of them is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end life everlasting. For the wages of sin is death. But the grace of God is life everlasting; in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Explanation: St. Paul here admonishes the Romans who had been converted to Christianity, but were still sensual and weak, that they ought to be much more zealous in serving God and mastering their passions. He demands of them that they should at least strive now as hard to save their souls as they once did to destroy them. This certainly is but right, for many a man would become just and holy if he would do as much for heaven, as he does for sin and hell. But to know how wholesome it is to consecrate themselves to justice and sanctity, he wishes them to consider what advantage they derived from sin. Nothing is gained from it but shame, confusion, sorrow, and death, but by a pious life, God’s grace and eternal life. Often consider this, Christian soul, and do not defile yourself by sins, which profit nothing, but bring shame, grief, and the retributive wrath of God.

GRADUAL:

Ps. 33 Come, children, hearken to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Come ye to Him and be enlightened; and your faces shall not be confounded. Alleluia, alleluia.

Ps 46 O, clap your hands, all ye nations; shout unto God with the voice of joy. Alleluia.

GOSPEL: Matt. 7, 15-21

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. Not every one that saith to Me: Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Who are false prophets?

Those seducers who under an appearance of virtue and honesty lure innocent, simple souls from the right path, and lead them to vice and shame; who by sweet words, such as: “God is full of love, and will not be severe on sin, He does not require so very much of us, He knows we are weak, and if a person sins, he can be converted,” seek to steal from souls all modesty and fear of God. Guard against such hypocrites, for they have the poison of vipers on their tongues. By the false prophets are also understood those who propagate error, who by superficial words degrade the true faith, who speak always of love and liberty, and who under the pretence of making people free and happy, bring many a soul to doubt and error, depriving it of true faith and peace of heart.

How can we know the false prophets?

By their works; for evil, corrupted man can produce only bad fruit. If we look into their life we will find that at heart they are immoral hypocrites who observe external propriety only that they may the more easily spread their poison. The false teachers and messengers of error may be known by their lives, but especially by their intentions, which are to subvert all divine order, and to put the unrestrained lust of the flesh and tyranny in its place.

Why does Christ say: “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire”?

He warns us that faith without works is not sufficient for salvation; and he therefore adds; Not every one that saith: Lord, Lord (who outwardly professes himself my servant, but is not really such) shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who , (by the fulfillment of the duties of his state of life and by the practice of good works), does the will of my Father, merits heaven. Strive then to fulfill God’s will in all things, perform your daily duties with a good intention, and you will certainly obtain the kingdom of heaven.

OFFERTORY:

Dan, 3. As in holocausts of rams and bullocks, and as in thousands of fat lambs; so let our sacrifice be made in Thy sight this day, that it may please Thee: for there is no confusion to them that trust in Thee, O Lord.

SECRET:

O God, who has enacted one perfect sacrifice in place of all the various victims that were under the Old Law, receive this sacrifice offered by Thy devout servants, and sanctify it as Thou didst sanctify the offerings of Abel, and may that which they have severally offered to the honor of Thy majesty, avail them all unto salvation. Through our Lord, etc.

May the holy Abbot John Gualbert obtain from Thee, O Lord, we pray, that the offerings laid on Thy holy altar may avail us unto salvation. Through the same Lord, etc.

May the gift of Thy people, we pray, O Lord, be pleasing to Thee through the prayers of Thy holy Martyrs Nabor and Felix; and may it be worthily made through their merits, in honor of whose triumph it is offered to Thy name. Through the same Lord, etc.

COMMUNION:

Ps. 30. Bow down Thine ear, make hast to deliver me.

POSTCOMMUNION:

May Thy healing work, O Lord, set us clear of wrong ways and lead us into the right way. Through our Lord, etc.

May Thy sacrament which we have taken, and the pleading of blessed John Gualbert, the Abbot, protect us, O Lord; that we may both follow his glorious example, and receive the help of his intercession. Through our Lord, etc.

We ask, O Lord, on the birthday of Thy Saints, that we, who have been fed with Thy sacraments gift, may enjoy forever those good things with which, by Thy grace, we are now refreshed. Through our Lord, etc.

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them.

PROPER OF THE SAINTS FOR THE WEEK OF JULY 12^th:

Date Day Feast Rank Color F/A Mass Time and Intention

12	Sun	7th Sunday after Pentecost St. John Gualbert, Ab Ss. Nabor & Felix, Mm	sd	G		Mass 9:00 AM; Members Ss. Peter & Paul; Rosary of Reparation 8:30 AM; Confessions 8:00 AM
13	Mon	St. Anacletus, PM	sd	R		Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
14	Tue	St. Bonaventure, BpCD	d	W		Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
15	Wed	St. Henry II, Emperor of Germany, C	sd	W		Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
16	Thu	Our Lady of Mt. Carmel	dm	W		Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
17	Fri	St. Alexius, C Humility of BVM	sd	W	A	Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
18	Sat	St. Camillus de Lellis, C St. Symphorosa & her Seven Sons, Mm	d	W		Mass 9:00 AM; Confessions & Rosary of Reparation 8:30AM
19	Sun	8th Sunday after Pentecost St. Vincent de Paul, C	sd	G		Mass 9:00 AM; Members Ss. Peter & Paul; Rosary of Reparation 8:30 AM; Confessions 8:00 AM

Brethren : I speak a human thing, because of the infirmity of your flesh; for as you have yielded your members to serve uncleanness and iniquity unto iniquity, so now yield your members to serve justice unto sanctification (Rom. 6, 19). Justice treats her followers in a very different way; she does not degrade, she does not deceive them that keep her. She blesses them with peace of mind at every step they take in duty-doing; she is ever enriching their treasure of merit; she leads them safely to the perfection of love. The life of divine union then grows, almost spontaneously, on that high ground of justice; it rests on justice, as a flower does on its stem. ‘He that possesseth justice,’ says Scripture, ‘shall lay hold on wisdom’: he shall find delights in that divine wisdom, which surpasses all that earth could procure (Ecclus. 15, 1-8).

Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, 7th Sunday after Pentecost

The second favor destined by the Holy Ghost for the soul that is faithful to Him in action, is the gift of Wisdom, which is superior to that of understanding. The two are, however, connected together, inasmuch as the object shown by the gift of Understanding, is held and relished by the gift of Wisdom. Understanding is light; Wisdom is union. Now union is obtained by the will, that is, by love, which is in the will. This seventh gift is called Wisdom, which is taken from its uniting the soul, by love, to the eternal Wisdom, Jesus Christ. The apostle St. James urges us to pray for Wisdom: “If any of you want wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all men abundantly, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him; but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.”

Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year on the Gift of Wisdom

A Lesson in Mercy, Purity, Defense of Truth and the Reward of those who trust in God

St. John Gualbert, a Florentine soldier of nobility, forgave the murderer of his brother who had pleaded for mercy in the name of Jesus Christ. John then went to the church of San Miniato which was near at hand, and as he was adoring the image of Christ crucified, the head of Christ turned toward him. He immediately laid aside his military clothing and embraced the monastic life to become a soldier for Christ. St. John would eventually become the great reformer of monastic life when he laid the foundations of his Order under the Rule of St. Benedict at Vallombrosa as directed by St. Romuald of Camaldoli under divine inspiration.

St. John, having denounced the simoniac bishop of Florence, Peter of Pavia, led the people of Florence in refusing to have communion with him. Peter responded by killing all his opponents including every one of the monks at San Salvi during their Night Office. During the next four years the case was appealed to Rome and St. Peter Damien conducted the investigation with full authority of the Sovereign Pontiff, Alexander II. St. Peter Damien, invoking the principle that no inferior has the right to depose their superiors sided with the cause of Peter of Pavia.

Taking the defense of the monks was none other than Hildebrand, later to become Pope St. Gregory VII. Since the majority of bishops sided with Peter of Pavia, Pope Alexander would not depose him, but took the monks under his personal protection. Still the matter was unresolved because the Florentines refused to accept Peter of Pavia.

In Lent 1067 under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, St. John gave his consent to a trial of fire as a means to provide testimony of the truth of the accusation brought by him against the Bishop of Florence. One of St. John’s monks, Peter by name, and since then known as Peter Igneus, walked slowly before the eyes of the multitude through an immense fire without receiving the smallest injury. Heaven having spoken, the bishop was deposed by Rome and ended his days a happy penitent in the very monastery of St. John at Settimo where the trial of fire took place.

Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, Feast of St. John Gualbert

“Mercy without justice is the mother of dissolution; justice without mercy is cruelty.”

St. Thomas, commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew

Instruction for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost 

Who are the false prophets?
Those seducers who by an appearance of virtue and honesty lure innocent simple souls in numerous ways from the right path, and lead them to vice and shame; who by sweet words, such as: “God is full of love, and will not be so severe on sin, He does not require so very much of us, He knows we are weak, and if a person sins, he can be converted,” seek to steal away the fear of God, delicacy, and modesty from harmless souls, and then ruin them. Guard against such hypocrites, for they have the poison of vipers on their tongnes. By the false prophets are also meant the false teachers and propagators of error who by superficial words degrade the true faith, who speak always of love and liberty, and who under the pretence of making people free and happy, bring many a soul to doubt and error, depriving them of true faith and peace of heart. Lend no ear to them, do not read their books and writings, but carry them to your pastor, and try to induce others to do the same.

How can we know the false prophets?
We may know the deceivers by their works, for evil, corrupted men can produce only bad fruit. If we look into their life and inquire about it, we shall find, that at heart they are immoral hypocrites who observe external propriety only that they may the more easily spread their poison. The false teachers and messengers of error may be known partly from their lives, but especially by their intentions, which are to subvert all divine order, and to put the unrestrained lust of the flesh and tyranny in its place.

Who else are understood by the false prophets?
Those who under pretence of making men happy and rich, induce the credulous to make use of superstition, of wicked arts, deceit, and injustice; and especially those who under the deceiving appearance of liberty and equality, independence, and public good, incite them to things which lead to open or secret revolt against civil and ecclesiastical authority.

Be not deceived by these so called public benefactors, who look always to their own advantage, but do you trust in God, support yourself honestly, live like a Christian, and you will find true liberty and happiness here and there.

Why does Christ say: Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down and shall be cast into the fire?
He shows by this, that to have done nothing good, is enough for damnation; and He adds, therefore, Not every one that saith: Lord, Lord (who outwardly professes himself my servant, but is not really such), shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who, by the fulfilment of the duties of his state of life and by the practice of good works, does the will of my Father, merits heaven. Strive then, my Christian, to fulfil God’s will in all things, and to perform your daily duties with a good intention, and you will certainly obtain the kingdom of heaven.

"Since we have reached the most sweet Heart of Jesus, and it is good for us to abide in It, let us not readily turn away from It. How good, how sweet it is to dwell in Thy Heart, O good Jesus! Who is there who would not desire this pearl? I would rather give all else, all my thoughts and all the affections of my soul in exchange for It, casting my whole mind into the Heart of my good Jesus." "Who is there who would not love this wounded Heart? Who would not love, in return, Him Who loves so much?"

St. Bonaventure, the Seraphic Doctor, on the Sacred Heart of Jesus

“In the way of virtue, there is no standing still; anyone who does not daily advance, loses ground. To remain at a standstill is impossible; he that gains not, loses; he that ascends not, descends. If one does not ascend the ladder, one must descend; if one does not conquer, one will be conquered.”

St. Bonaventure, the Seraphic Doctor, on spiritual progress

Ss. Linus, Clement, and Cletus, the immediate successors of St. Peter, received from St. Peter their pontifical consecration. St. Anacletus had a less but sill inestimable glory of being ordained a priest by the Vicar of the Man-God. Whereas the feasts of most of the martyr Pontiffs who came after him are only of simple rite, that of St. Anacletus is a semidouble, because of his privileges of being the last Pope honoured by the imposition of hands of the Prince of the Apostles.

Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, Feast of St. Anacletus, Pope and Martyr

“Whosoever shall die in this habit (the scapular of Carmel) shall not suffer eternal flames.”

The Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Simon Stock

Priests, my Son's ministers, priests, by their evil life, by their irreverences and their impiety in celebrating the holy mysteries, love of money, love of honor and pleasures, priests have become sewers of impurity. Yes, priests call forth vengeance, and vengeance is suspended over their heads. Woe to priests, and to persons consecrated to God, who by their infidelities and their evil life are crucifying my son anew! The sins of persons consecrated to God cry to heaven and call for vengeance, and now here is vengeance at their very doors, for no longer is anyone found to beg mercy and pardon for the people; there are no more generous souls, there is now no one worthy of offering the spotless Victim to the Eternal on the worlds behalf………Rome will lose the Faith and become the seat of the Antichrist.

Our Lady of La Salette to Melanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud

Believe me, that a little attention to acquire humility, and an act of this virtue, are worth more before God's infinite wisdom than all the learning of the world . . . Humility drew the Son of God from Heaven to the womb of a Virgin, and by the same humility we can draw Him into our souls. The more the flower of humility blossoms in a soul, the greater is the good odor it imparts to her who possesses it, to those who behold her, and to those who are about her.

St. Teresa of Avila

In this crisis King Charles of France shows himself as a very mean, shabby, and contemptible figure. He never raised a finger to try to save St. Joan. He could have ransomed her, giving if need be a promise that he would never use her in the field again and, by the code of chivalry, such an offer of ransom would have had to be accepted. When Joan was placed in the power of the Bishop of Beauvais- which was French- the Archbishop of Rheims, his ecclesiastical superior, should have been ordered by the King to compel him to lodge her in the ecclesiastical prison in Beauvais, where, as the question of her orthodoxy was in dispute, she could be examined by theologians of both political parties. Such an order by the Archbishop would have been backed by the authority of Rome. But there is no record that Charles made any move to save the girl who saved his kingdom. He gave an example of callous ingratitude hard to match anywhere in history… When all the arguments as to responsibility have been heard, there remains one certain fact: French priests and lawyers tried and condemned St. Joan, and every witness against her was French. None of them need have taken part in the trial. They could have left the dirty work to an English ecclesiastical court. As it was, five bishops, thirty-two doctors of theology, sixteen bachelors of theology, nine doctors of civil and canon law, seven doctors of medicine, and more than eighty other priests and lawyers were included in her trial. Except five, every one of them was French.

John Beevers, St. Joan of Arc

I, their Mother, will graciously go down to them on the Saturday after their death, and all whom I find in purgatory I will deliver and will bring to the mountain of life eternal.

The Blessed Virgin Mary to James d’Euse, who she foretold would soon become Pope John XXII ending the Western Schism, regarding those who died wearing the scapular of Mt. Carmel

Ecumenism of St. Paul

I wonder that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ, unto another gospel. Which is not another, only there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema. As we said before, so now I say again: If any one preach to you a gospel, besides that which you have received, let him be anathema.

St. Paul, Apostle, Galatians 1, 6-9

If anyone prefers otherwise, I will not contend with him, provided he say nothing to the detriment of the Venerable Virgin, for we must take the very greatest care, even should it cost us our life, that no one lessen in any way the honour of our Lady.

St. Bonaventure

It is by as great a fraud...that these enemies of divine revelation, who bestow the highest praises on human progress, wish, with a truly reckless and sacrilegious audacity, to bring it [the progressist error] into the Catholic religion, as if religion was not the work of God, but that of men, or was some philosophic discovery that human methods could perfect.

Blessed Pope Pius IX, Qui pluribus

If I feel aggrieved by some sharp word that has been said to me, or by some discourtesy shown me, from whence does this feeling of pain proceed? From my pride alone. Oh, if I were truly humble, what calm, what peace and happiness would my soul not enjoy! And this promise of Jesus Christ is infallible: "Learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest to your souls" (Matt. 11, 29).

Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo, Humility of Heart

INSTRUCTION ON GOOD WORKS

What are good works?
All actions of men which are done according to the will of God, from love of Him, and by the help of grace.

Which are the principal good works?
Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Prayer including all acts belonging to the service of God; fasting, all mortifications of the body; almsgiving, all works of mercy.

How many are the works of mercy?
Two: corporal and spiritual.

 Which are the spiritual works of mercy?
Those which have for their object the salvation of our neighbor; as, 1, to admonish the sinner; 2, to instruct the ignorant; 3, to counsel the doubtful; 4, to comfort the afflicted; 5, to bear wrongs patiently; 6, to forgive injuries and offences; 7, to pray for the living and the dead.

Which are the corporal works of mercy?
1, To feed the hungry; 2, to give drink to the thirsty; 3, to clothe the naked; 4, to visit the prisoners; 5, to shelter the houseless; 6, to visit the sick; 7, to bury the dead (Matt. 25, 42-43).

What is necessary to render works meritorious?
1, They must be good in themselves; 2, they must be done by the grace of God; 3, in the state of grace; 4, by free will; 5, with the good intention of pleasing God.

Can we be saved without good works?
No; for Christ says expressly, "Every tree that bringeth not good fruit shall be cut down and shall be cast into the fire." And that servant in the Gospel (Matt. 25, 25) who neither wasted his talent nor yet traded with it, but dug into the earth and hid his lord's money, was therefore cast into the outer darkness.

Truth - the substance and ground of Prudence

Classical Christian ethics, on the contrary, maintains that man can be prudent and good only simultaneously; that prudence is part and parcel of the definition of goodness; that there is no sort of justice and fortitude which runs counter to the virtue of prudence; and that the unjust man has been imprudent before and is imprudent at the moment he is unjust. Omnis virtus moralis debet esse prudens— All virtue is necessarily prudent.[.....] Thus prudence is cause, root, mother, measure, precept, guide, and prototype of all ethical virtues; it acts in all of them, perfecting them to their true nature; all participate in it, and by virtue of this participation they are virtues. [.....] We incline all too quickly to misunderstand Thomas Aquinas’s words about “reason perfected in the cognition of truth.” “Reason” means to him nothing other than “regard for and openness to reality,” and “acceptance of reality.” And “truth” is to him nothing other than the unveiling and revelation of reality, of both natural and supernatural reality. Reason “perfected in the cognition of truth” is therefore the receptivity of the human spirit, to which the revelation of reality, both natural and supernatural reality, has given substance. Certainly prudence is the standard of volition and action; but the standard of prudence, on the other hand, is the ipsa res, the “thing itself,” the objective reality of being. And therefore the preeminence of prudence signifies first of all the direction of volition and action toward truth; but finally it signifies the directing of volition and action toward objective reality. The good is prudent beforehand; but that is prudent which is in keeping with reality.

Josef Pieper, The Four Cardinal Virtues

THE FRUITS OF LIFE SEVENTH WEEK AFTER PENTECOST

Presence of God - Help me, O Lord, not to be satisfied with words, but to bring forth fruits of sanctity.

Meditation:

1. Both the Epistle (Rom. 6, 19-23) and the Gospel (Mt. 7, 15-21) for today speak of the true fruits of the Christian life and invite us to ask ourselves what fruit we have produced so far. "When you were the servants of sin," says St. Paul, you brought forth the fruits of death, "but now, being made free from sin and become servants of God, you have your fruit unto sanctification." Our sanctification should be the fruit of our Christian life, and we must examine ourselves on this point. What progress are we making in virtue? Are we faithful to our good resolutions?

Every Christian may consider himself a tree in the Lord's vineyard; the divine gardener, Jesus Himself, has planted it in good, fertile, productive ground in the garden of the Church, where it is watered by the living water of grace. He has given it the most tender care, cut off its useless branches by means of trials, cured its diseases by His Passion and death, and watered its roots with His precious Blood. He has taken such good care of it that He can say: "What is there that I ought to do more to My vineyard, that I have not done to it?" (Is 5, 4). After all this solicitude, one day Jesus comes to see what kind of fruit this tree is bearing, and by its fruit He judges it, for "a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit." Before the Redemption, mankind was like a wild tree which could bring forth only fruits of death; but with the Redemption, we have been grafted into Christ, and Christ, who nourishes us with His own Blood, has every right to find in us fruits of sanctity, of eternal life. This is why words and sighs and even faith are not enough, for "faith . . . if it have not works, is dead in itself " (Jas. 2, 17). Works as well as the fulfillment of God's will are necessary, because "not everyone that says to Me `Lord, Lord!' shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doth the will of My Father who is in heaven."

2. In the Gospel of the day, Jesus directs our attention to the "false prophets" who appear "in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly are ravening wolves." There are many who claim to be teachers in spiritual or moral matters, but they are false teachers because their works do not correspond to their words. It is easy, in fact, to speak well, but it is not easy to live well. Sometimes false doctrines are offered to us, even though they may not seem false at first because they have the appearance of truth. Thus any doctrine which, in the name of an evangelical principle, offends other doctrines is false: for example, that which in the name of compassion for individuals does harm to the common good, or that which in the name of charity sanctions injustice or leads to a neglect of obedience to lawful superiors. Equally false is any doctrine which tends to make us lax, disturbs peace and harmony, or under the pretext of a greater good, brings about dissension between superiors and subjects, or does not submit to the voice of authority. Jesus would like us to be as "simple as doves," averse to criticism and severe judgments of our neighbor; but He also wants us to be as "wise as serpents" (Mt 10, 16), so as not to let ourselves be deceived by false appearances of good which hide dangerous snares.

Furthermore, it is not given to all to be teachers, nor is it expected of all; but of everyone‑ learned and ignorant, teachers and pupils‑ Our Lord asks the practice of the Christian life in the concrete. What good would it do us to possess profound, lofty doctrine if, at the same time, we should not live according to this doctrine? Before we begin to instruct others, we must try to instruct ourselves, pledging ourselves to follow all the teachings of the Gospel in imitation of Jesus, "who began to do and to teach" (Acts 1,1). The genuine fruit which proves the worth of our doctrine and of our life is always that indicated by Jesus: the fulfillment of His will. This fulfillment means total adherence to the laws of God and of the Church, loyal obedience to our lawful superiors, fidelity to duty‑ and all these in every kind of circumstance, even at the sacrifice of our own ideas and will.

COLLOQUY:

"O eternal God, when man was only a tree of death, You made him a tree of life by grafting Yourself onto him! Nevertheless, many people bring forth only fruits of death, due to their sins and to their refusal to be grafted onto You, O eternal life. Many remain in the death of their sins and do not come to the fountain from which Christ's Blood flows to water their tree . . . and thus it is seen that You created us without our help but You will not save us without it.

"What great dignity, O God, does the soul receive which has been grafted onto You and what excellent fruits it produces! How does this tree bear these fruits, if, by itself, it is sterile and dead? It bears them in You, O Christ, for if You had not been grafted onto it, it could produce no fruit by its own power, for it is nothing.

"O eternal truth, inestimable love! You brought forth for us, O Christ, fruits of fire, love, light, and prompt obedience, by which You ran like a Lover to the ignominious death of the Cross; You gave us these fruits by grafting Your divinity onto our humanity. Thus, a soul who has been grafted onto You cares for nothing but Your honor and the salvation of souls: it becomes faithful, prudent, and patient. Be ashamed, my soul, that you deprive yourself of so much good on account of your faults! The good I do is of no use to You, O God, and the evil of which I am guilty cannot harm You, but You are pleased when Your creature brings forth fruits of life because she will reap infinite good from them and attain the end for which You created her.

"O God, Your high, eternal will desires only our sanctification; therefore, a soul who desires to sanctify itself, strips itself of its own will and clothes itself with Yours. O my sweet Love, I think this is the true sign of those who have been grafted onto You; they fulfill Your will according to Your pleasure and not according to their own, so that they become clothed in Your will" (cf. St. Catherine of Siena).

The Notes of a True Catholic

What then will the Catholic Christian do, if a small part of the Church has cut itself off from the communion of the universal Faith? The answer is sure. He will prefer the healthiness of the whole body to the morbid and corrupt limb. But what if some novel contagions try to infect the whole Church, and not merely a tiny part of it? Then he will take care to cleave to antiquity, which cannot now be led astray by any deceit of novelty. What if in antiquity itself two or three men, or it may be a city, or even a whole province be detected in error? Then he will take the greatest care to prefer the decrees of the ancient General Councils, if there are such, to the irresponsible ignorance of a few men. But what if some error arises regarding which nothing of this sort is to be found? Then he must do his best to compare the opinions of the Fathers and inquire their meaning, provided always that, though they belonged to diverse times and places, they yet continued in the faith and communion of the one Catholic Church; and let them be teachers approved and outstanding. And whatever he shall find to have been held, approved and taught, not by one or two only but by all equally and with one consent, openly, frequently, and persistently, let him take this as to be held by him without the slightest hesitation.

St. Vincent Lerins, Commonitory, Chapter Three

This being the case, he is the true and genuine Catholic who loves the truth of God, who loves the Church, who loves the Body of Christ, who esteems divine religion and the Catholic Faith above every thing, above the authority, above the regard, above the genius, above the eloquence, above the philosophy, of every man whatsoever; who sets light by all of these, and continuing steadfast and established in the faith, resolves that he will believe that, and that only, which he is sure the Catholic Church has held universally and from ancient time; but that whatsoever new and unheard-of doctrine he shall find to have been furtively introduced by some one or another, besides that of all, or contrary to that of all the saints, this, he will understand, does not pertain to religion, but is permitted as a trial, being instructed especially by the words of the blessed Apostle Paul, who writes thus in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, “There must needs be heresies, that they who are approved may be made manifest among you”: as though he should say, This is the reason why the authors of Heresies are not forthwith rooted up by God, namely, that they who are approved may be made manifest that is, that it may be apparent of each individual, how tenacious and faithful and steadfast he is in his love of the Catholic faith.
And in truth, as each novelty springs up incontinently is discerned the difference between the weight of the wheat and the lightness of the chaff. Then that which had no weight to keep it on the floor is without difficulty blown away. For some at once fly off entirely; others having been only shaken out, afraid of perishing, wounded, half alive, half dead, are ashamed to return. They have, in fact swallowed a quantity of poison -- not enough to kill, yet more than can be got rid of; it neither causes death, nor suffers to live. O wretched condition! With what surging tempestuous cares are they tossed about ! One while, the error being set in motion, they are hurried whithersoever the wind drives them; another, returning upon themselves like refluent waves, they are dashed back: one while, with rash presumption, they give their approval to what seems uncertain; another, with irrational fear, they are frightened out of their wits at what is certain, in doubt whither to go, whither to return, what to seek, what to shun, what to keep, what to throw away.
This affliction, indeed, of a hesitating and miserably vacillating mind is, if they are wise, a medicine intended for them by God's compassion. For therefore it is that outside the most secure harbour of the Catholic Faith, they are tossed about, beaten, and almost killed, by divers tempestuous cogitations, in order that they may take in the sails of self-conceit, which, they had with ill advice unfurled to the blasts of novelty, and may betake themselves again to, and remain stationary within, the most secure harbour of their placid and good mother, and may begin by vomiting up those bitter and turbid floods of error which they had swallowed, that thenceforward they may be able to drink the streams of fresh and living water. Let them unlearn well what they had learnt not well, and let them receive so much of the entire doctrine of the Church as they can understand: what they cannot understand let them believe.

St. Vincent Lerins, Commonitory, Chapter Twenty

What is new in this teaching (on Religious Liberty) in relation to the doctrine of Leo XIII and even of Pius XII…is the determination of the basis peculiar to this liberty, which is sought not in the objective truth of moral or religious good, but in the ontological quality of the human person….. It cannot be denied that a text like this [the conciliar declaration on Religious Liberty] says materially something different from the Syllabus of 1864, and even almost the opposite of propositions 15, and 77 to 79 of that document.

Fr. Yves Congar, O. P., On the Vatican II teaching on Religious Liberty

It is the invariable opinion of theologians that there is no more efficacious means than Mass for obtaining a good and holy death. Christ our Lord is said to have revealed to St. Mechtilde that he who in life is in the habit of devoutly hearing holy Mass shall in death be consoled by the presence of the angels and saints, his advocates, who shall bravely defend him from all the snares of infernal spirits. Oh, how beautiful the death which is destined to succeed your life if you shall have striven to hear with devotion as many Masses as you could!

St. Leonard of Port Maurice

Be prepared, therefore, to meet with difficulties. Remember the words of the Wise Man: "Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation" (Ecclus. 2:1). Do not think you are called to enjoyment alone. You must struggle and combat; for, notwithstanding the abundant succor which is offered to us, we must expect hard labor and difficulties in the beginning of our conversion. That you may not be discouraged, bear in mind that the prize for which you are striving is worth more than all you can ever give to purchase it. Remember that you have powerful defenders ever near you. Against the assaults of corrupt nature you have God's grace. Against the snares of the devil you have the almighty power of God. Against the allurements of evil habits you have the force of good habits confirmed by grace. Against a multitude of evil spirits you have numberless angels of light. Against the bad example and persecutions of the world you have the good example and strengthening exhortations of the saints. Against the sinful pleasures and vain joys of the world you have the pure joys and ineffable consolations of the Holy Ghost.

Ven. Louis of Granade, The Sinner’s Guide

BANISH FROM YOUR MIND whatever tends to depress and disconcert you, striving always with great mildness to acquire or preserve serenity of soul. For Christ Himself has said: "Blessed are the peacemakers. . . . Learn of me for I am meek and humble of heart." Never doubt that God will crown your labor and make your soul a dwelling of delight; all He asks of you is a sincere attempt to disperse the clouds and storms whenever you are molested by disturbances of the senses and passions, that the sun of peace may shine on all your actions.

As a house cannot be built in a day, neither can the mansion of inner peace be built within our souls in a fleeting instant. Rather, our success is a gradual attainment; it is the culmination of the primary work of the divine architect in predisposing our souls for the edifice to be built therein, and the firm establishment of humility which must be the foundation of that edifice.

Rev. Lorenzo Scupoli, The Spiritual Combat

Hermeneutics of Continuity/Discontinuity

On the "Ordinary Form" of the Novus Ordo

What happened after the Council was altogether different: instead of a liturgy fruit of continuous development, a fabricated liturgy was put in its place. A living growing process was abandoned and the fabrication started. There was no further wish to continue the organic evolution and maturation of the living being throughout the centuries and they were replaced -- as if in a technical production -- by a fabrication, a banal product of the moment. Gamber, with the vigilance of a true visionary and with the fearlessness of a true witness, opposed this falsification and tirelessly taught us the living fullness of a true liturgy, thanks to his incredibly rich knowledge of the sources. As a man who knew and who loved history, he showed us the multiple forms of the evolution and of the path of the liturgy; as a man who saw history from the inside, he saw in this development and in the fruit of this development the intangible reflection of the eternal liturgy, which is not the object of our action, but which may marvelously continue to blossom and to ripen, if we join its mystery intimately.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, introduction in the French edition of Monsignor Klaus Gamber’s book, The Reform of the Roman Rite

The “Abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by the prophet Daniel, in the holy place” refers to heresy or negligence in the papal office.

In assessing Our duty and the situation now prevailing, We have been weighed upon by the thought that a matter of this kind [i.e. error in respect of the Faith] is so grave and so dangerous that the Roman Pontiff, who is the representative upon earth of God and our God and Lord Jesus Christ, who holds the fullness of power over peoples and kingdoms, who may judge all and be judged by none in this world, may nonetheless be contradicted if he be found to have deviated from the Faith. Remembering also that, where danger is greater, it must more fully and more diligently be counteracted, We have been concerned lest false prophets or others, even if they have only secular jurisdiction, should wretchedly ensnare the souls of the simple, and drag with them into perdition, destruction and damnation countless peoples committed to their care and rule, either in spiritual or in temporal matters; and We have been concerned also lest it may befall Us to see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by the prophet Daniel, in the holy place. In view of this, Our desire has been to fulfill our Pastoral duty, insofar as, with the help of God, We are able, so as to arrest the foxes who are occupying themselves in the destruction of the vineyard of the Lord and to keep the wolves from the sheepfolds, lest We seem to be dumb watchdogs that cannot bark and lest We perish with the wicked husbandman and be compared with the hireling.

Pope Paul IV, Cum Ex Apostolatus Officio

“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

Dogma IS the Magisterium explaining "clearly what is contained in the Deposit of Faith"

God has given to his Church a living Teaching Authority [i.e. Magisterium] to elucidate and explain clearly what is contained in the Deposit of Faith only obscurely and implicitly... If the Church does exercise this function of teaching, either in the ordinary (and universal) or the extraordinary way, it is clear how false is a procedure which would attempt to explain what is clear by means of what is obscure. Indeed the very opposite procedure must be used.

Pope Pius XII, Humani Generis

The Transfiguration : Tropological Meaning from the Church Fathers

Christ wished, in the first place, to give a type of the transfiguration of a soul dark with sins into that light of grace by which we are made like unto Christ. For our transfiguration standeth in likeness, or configuration unto Christ; that we should be conformed unto Christ in all humility, charity and obedience; that we should be living images of the life and holiness of Christ; that we should think, speak, and act with such piety, gravity, and zeal as Christ did; that whosoever sees us should think that he beholds Christ in us. Again Christ here gives a representation of the transfiguration by which a soul passes from a lower degree of holiness to a higher degree. For Christ who was already holy was transfigured. This transfiguration is more infrequent and more difficult than the former. For Saints often flatter themselves on account of their sanctity, and as it were rest in it, and do not aspire to higher sanctity, as sinners and penitents aspire to righteousness. It is less frequently, says a Father, that any one is transfigured from less to greater sanctity, than from sin to holiness. It can only take place in the mountain, and by going aside with Christ, that is to say, by frequent and fervent prayer and meditation. For in them the mind is illuminated by God, and draws as through a pipe celestial light, by means of which it conceives fresh ardor to reform its ways, yea to be transformed into Christ, that with St. Paul it may say, "The world is crucified unto me. I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." And with St. Francis, it would imprint the five wounds of Christ, if not in its body, yet in the inmost recesses of its soul.

Prayer, then, is the transfiguration of the soul.

§ Because in it the soul receives light from God, that she may know Him and herself and all things more clearly.

§ By it the soul seeks and obtains grace to blot out the stains and vices by which she is deformed. In it she receives consolation for desolation; out of weakness she is made strong; from slothful she becomes fervent; for perplexity, she hath understanding ; for sadness, gladness; and for cowardice, courage.

§ She is raised above herself, and is lifted up to God in heaven, where she learns and sees that all the things of earth are fragile and worthless, so that from her lofty height she looks down upon them as fit only for children, She perceives that the true riches, honours, and pleasures are nowhere but in heaven.

§ In prayer she unites herself to God. For, "he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." (1. Cor. vi. 17.) Hence St. Francis, when he prayed, was lifted up on high, and could speak, think of and love nothing else save God. "My God and all," he was wont to say, "Grant me, O Lord, to die for love of Thy love, Thou who didst deign to die for love of my love!" This is what St. Paul says, "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2. Cor. iii. 18.)

Rev. Cornelius de Lapide, The Great Commentary

Hermeneutics of Continuity/Discontinuity

In reality, the body and blood of Christ do not mean the material components of the human person of Jesus during his lifetime or in his transfigured corporality. Here, body and blood mean the presence of Christ in the signs of the medium of bread and wine.

Archbishop Gerhard Muller, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, On the Eucharist, from a book on the Mass in 2002

Council of Trent: Decree Concerning the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist

CANON I.-If any one denieth, that, in the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist, are contained truly, really, and substantially, the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently the whole Christ; but saith that He is only therein as in a sign, or in figure, or virtue; let him be anathema.

CANON lI.-If any one saith, that, in the sacred and holy sacrament of the Eucharist, the substance of the bread and wine remains conjointly with the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and denieth that wonderful and singular conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the Body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the Blood-the species Only of the bread and wine remaining-which conversion indeed the Catholic Church most aptly calls Transubstantiation; let him be anathema.

CANON III.-If any one denieth, that, in the venerable sacrament of the Eucharist, the whole Christ is contained under each species, and under every part of each species, when separated; let him be anathema.

CANON IV.-If any one saith, that, after the consecration is completed, the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ are not in the admirable sacrament of the Eucharist, but (are there) only during the use, whilst it is being taken, and not either before or after; and that, in the hosts, or consecrated particles, which are reserved or which remain after communion, the true Body of the Lord remaineth not; let him be anathema.

The Duty of the Church is to Uphold and Defend the “Supernaturally Good” toward the “Final Aim”

Whatever a Christian does, even in worldly affairs, he is not at liberty to disregard what is supernaturally good, but he must order everything towards the highest good as his final aim, in accordance with the precepts of Christian wisdom. All his actions, however, as far as they are morally good or bad, that is to say, as far as they are in accord with or transgress the natural and divine law, are subject to the judgment and jurisdiction of the Church.

Pope St. Pius X, Singulari Quadam

“For a good tree is not distinguished from an evil one by its leaves or flowers but by its fruit.”

St. Bernard

One would think that Catholics, after nearly 2,000 years of practicing their faith, would know a thing or two about it. Unfortunately, a thing or two may be all they know about it. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life surveyed a wide cross section of Americans on their general knowledge of religion. Responses were received from Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Mormons and even atheists and agnostics. Out of 32 questions, Catholics (white and Hispanic combined) got an average of only 14.7 right. To add insult to injury, even the atheists outscored Catholics by six points.

Only a third of Catholics could name the four Gospels. Only 55% knew that the Catholic Church believes in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. (How many individual Catholics actually believe that is another matter.)

The Pew survey showed what virtually every other survey has shown: Most adult Catholics are clueless about the faith they profess.

F. Douglas Kneibert, National Catholic Register, Why Catholic?

Love is also capable of decline. Purely human love can grow less and less until it perishes altogether. When a man begins to think less and less of his wife, to be less thoughtful of her welfare, to do fewer things to make her happy, then his love for her is failing. When he does something evil to her then his love ceases. Charity -man's love for God- can also fail, though not in precisely the same way. Charity will not fail simply because a man thinks less often of God. It will not even fail through venial sin. Venial sin is concerned only with the means that lead to the goal. It does not destroy man's basic tendency to God in charity. But mortal sin destroys charity completely. Charity is the love of God above all things. But in mortal sin man prefers some created thing to God. Hence mortal sin drives charity out of the soul of man. In a certain sense venial sin can led to the loss of charity. Since all sin is not in accord with the will of God, the venial sinner is gradually disposing his will to give up God. Because he has not followed the will of God in all things, when some crisis arises in his life he may give up God for some temporary created good.

Fr. Walter Farrell, O. P., S.T.M., My Way of Life, Pocket Edition of St. Thomas

PROBLEM: Rev. Cornelius a Lapide, in his Great Commentary sacred Scripture, referencing Church fathers and doctors, says that the gift of “never-failing faith” was given to St. Peter alone as a personal grace and is not personally possessed by his successors in the papal office! Vatican I, in referencing the “never-failing faith” of a pope defines dogmatically that it means that in the exercise of his infallible teaching authority the pope will never formally impose doctrinal or moral error on the Church. Dogma is the proximate rule of faith, not the personal opinions of any pope!

In addition, I believe this question has become profoundly complicated due to the current, widespread rejection of Thomistic cosmology and metaphysics – this denigration of Thomism engulfing even the Papacy. This denial of scholastic cosmology and metaphysics is due almost entirely to the effect of reductive analytical physical science upon Catholic thinking. And because of the almost universal ambience of this reductive materialism, there are all sorts of people of good will out there – persons who truly wish to follow Christ and his Church – who are desperately and foolishly trying to understand such concepts as Transubstantiation and Original Sin in a manner which will accord with what they believe is the irrefutable worldview of modern science. It is this scientific world-view which has supposedly necessitated doing an end-run around the Thomistic view of being and substance. And it is this loss of the understanding of being and substance which erodes the foundations of virtually all the articles of our Catholic Faith.
I have explored this problem in depth in my book The War Against Being and the Return to God. Suffice to say here that these people are certainly immersed in very serious philosophical error, and that these errors severely affect their proper understanding of defined doctrine. What is hard to determine is whether they can truly be considered as individuals who have “lost the faith.” It is certainly my contention that recent Popes have fallen into these errors. However (and this is a huge “however”) it is even more my certain belief that, in keeping with the doctrine laid down by Vatican I concerning the never-failing faith of Peter and all his successors, none of them can be considered to have “lost the faith.”

James Larson, The War Against the Papacy

Temperance

Wherever forces of self-preservation, self-assertion, self-fulfillment, destroy the structure of man’s inner being, the discipline of temperance and the license of intemperance enter into play.

The natural urge toward sensual enjoyment, manifested in delight in food and drink and sexual pleasure, is the echo and mirror of man’s strongest natural forces of self-preservation. The basic forms of enjoyment correspond to these most primordial forces of being, which tend to preserve the individual man, as well as the whole race, in the existence for which he was created (Wisdom 1:14). But for the very reason that these forces are closely allied to the deepest human urge toward being, they exceed all other powers of mankind in their destructive violence once they degenerate into selfishness.

Therefore, we find here the actual province of temperantia: temperateness and chastity, intemperateness and unchastity, are the primordial forms of the discipline of temperance and the license of intemperance.

But we have not, as yet, fully explored the range of the concept of temperantia — in “humility,” the instinctive urge to self-assertion can also be made serviceable to genuine self-preservation, but it can likewise pervert and miss this purpose in “pride” — And if the natural desire of man to avenge an injustice which he has suffered and to restore his rights explodes in uncontrollable fury, it destroys that which can be preserved only by “gentleness” and “mildness.” Without rational self-restraint even the natural hunger for sense perception or for knowledge can degenerate into a destructive and pathological compulsive greed; this degradation Aquinas calls curiositas, the disciplined mode studiositas.

To sum up: chastity, continence, humility, gentleness, mildness, studiositas, are modes of realization of the discipline of temperance; unchastity, incontinence, pride, uninhibited wrath, curiositas, are forms of intemperance.

Why is it that one reacts with involuntary irritation to these terms which express the essence of temperance and intemperance, discipline and dissoluteness? Since it can hardly be caused by resistance to the good, this irritation must stem from the thick tangle of misinterpretations which covers and smothers each one of these concepts. This mesh of misinterpretations has its roots in a distortion and falsification of man’s ideal image which we can properly term demonic, all the more so since Christians and non-Christians alike regard them as characteristics of the Christian image of man. Worse, the root cause is not just a misconceived image of the good man, but a misconceived view of created reality. Temperantia is intimately related to the ordered structure of the being of man, in which all gradations of creation unite; as the history of heresy shows, it is quite particularly in the sphere of temperantia that the attitude toward creation and “the world” is most incisively decided.

The attempt to reconstitute the genuine and original meaning of temperantia and its various modes of realization must embrace a variety of tasks. It will have to go beyond the strict limits of the subject, in order to anchor the true image of this virtue in the fundamentals of Christian teaching concerning man and reality.

Josef Pieper, The Four Cardinal Virtues

From the attribute of God’s GOODNESS follows His Mercy/Justice

In the true Religion, justice and mercy not only cannot, but do not exist without one another. This is why all this vague and amorphous talk of “accompaniment, reconciliation and integration” emanating from the recent Synod’s progressivist party is so very diabolical. It is not directed to setting people right with God. It is therefore neither just nor merciful. The mercy lauded in Holy Scripture is either a divine attribute or a human virtue. As a divine attribute it is perfectly in conformity with God’s justice. In fact, in God,  justice and mercy are attributes that can only be logically distinguished; they have no real distinction in the divine essence Itself which is perfectly simple and not composed of parts. As a virtue of men, mercy is not a mere sentiment or emotion. The pure, unchecked emotion of mercy can lead us to be unjust, in the same way that any unchecked emotion can. Here, “conformity to reason” — a touchstone of perennial wisdom on the virtues — is of utmost importance. God Himself shows us mercy by giving us His grace. That grace, in turn, makes us “just,” or right with Himself. In Christ, “Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed” (Ps. 84:11). And Our Lord enjoins us to imitate Himself by offering sublime divine promises: “He that followeth justice and mercy, shall find life, justice, and glory” (Prov. 21:21); and “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matt. 5:7).

Br. Andre, MICM

The Church must end any requirement of a state issued "marriage license" for sacrament of matrimony.

It was the Catholic Justice AnthonyKennedy who declared unconstitutional state laws against Sodomy, overturned DOMA, and has now confirmed homosexual "marriage" constitutional right. Excommunication?

What Marriage Is and Isn't, and What to Expect from a Redefinition Dennis Bonnette

Even the new definition of marriage will quickly be deemed discriminatory against other sexual perversions

Today people are fighting about “marriage equality,” but few people understand the original definition of marriage and why it must be so.
The common definition of traditional marriage given today, even by Justice Anthony Kennedy in his June 26, 2013, Supreme Court decision invalidating DOMA, is that marriage is “a union of a man and a woman.” This definition merely expresses the material content of a marriage, that is, which persons can enter into it. It fails to express the formal content, which entails the purpose of the contract, and thereby, fails to distinguish true marriage from its false imitators. Every contract expresses, not only who enters into its terms, but also the purpose of the contract. For example, two people agree to the sale of a house. The contract does not merely name the two people involved, but its terms must also define the nature of the sale. Since marriage is a contract between two persons, it also has a purpose, which has always been either expressed or assumed by those entering into it.
The Rev. Heribert Jone in his Moral Theology (Newman: Westminster, 1945, p. 483.) offers the definition of marriage that has been recognized for thousands of years: “The marriage contract is a contract by which two competent persons of the opposite sex give to each other the exclusive and irrevocable right over their bodies (ius in corpus) for the procreation and education of children.” That is, the couple gives to each other the right to those acts which are suitable to the procreation of children. From this, flows the responsibility and right of that couple to provide for the care and education of children conceived by their marital union. That is also why adultery has always been considered such a moral outrage to those who are married: it is a sex act that directly attacks the natural purpose of marriage itself.
A New Definition
The new definition being sold today in the media, and even the Supreme Court, is a twisted and shortened version, based on a simple substitution of the traditional purpose of the marital union with the mere material naming of those who enter into that union, thereby losing sight of the essential purpose of the marital contract – and allowing people to redefine it as something like a union of mutual love and commitment between any two people, even of the same sex.
This new definition ignores the vital national interest of true marriage as the only natural way for society to replace its members, or else, to die out. Only males and females can naturally reproduce, and every human being is the natural product of just such a sexual union.
That is the reason why society has always honored true marriage with special protection in law – not because people have an inalienable right to marry (which they do), not because it serves some selfish interest of the people involved, not because it is a religious sacrament, but primarily because true marriage, by its very nature, alone serves the vital national interest of replacing the population that dies off.
Matrimony is taken from the Latin, “mater,” meaning “mother,” and “monium,” meaning “a state or condition,” thus defining the purpose of marriage as man taking a wife to have children. In ancient Rome, this was understood as the purpose of marriage, the production of new citizens for the Roman state.
Marriage and the Constitution
Traditional marriage already has a legitimate foundation in the U.S. Constitution, where the Preamble refers to securing “the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”
In so saying, the Preamble establishes the “legislative intent” that judges look to in determining the meaning of a law. “Equal protection” clauses are cited in both state and federal claims that homosexuals have the same right to marry as heterosexuals. But equality claims are illicit unless litigants are similarly situated before the law. Since heterosexual marriage as a general institution can, at least potentially, further the purposes of the Constitution by securing “blessings…to…our posterity” insofar as traditional marriage is the only institution that is naturally able to produce society’s posterity – and since homosexual unions cannot produce any “posterity” by themselves, the potential litigants are not similarly situated. Thus the Preamble’s wording establishes a distinct and special basis for traditional marriage, but not for homosexual unions. And this role of traditional marriage in assuring society’s posterity is consistent with the classical meaning of marriage, even as understood by the pagan Romans.
Moreover, since we are all responsible for the results of our actions, husbands and wives, share the responsibility, and hence the right, to raise and educate their children to adulthood – the time when they, too, become self-sustaining members of society. No other “arrangement” naturally confers this obligation because no other human union is naturally designed for those acts that beget children. True marriage obliges society to respect and defend the natural process of begetting and raising children.
Although some couples may be sterile, their marriages are still valid because marriage is an agreement to enjoy those sexual acts which may result in children, not a guarantee that children will result. As long as husband and wife can perform the act which normally can result in children, the contract is fulfilled. What is clear is that only heterosexual couples can engage in such acts.
The Future of Marriage
Even the so-called “new” definition of marriage will quickly be seen as discriminatory, since it forbids three men marrying each other, people marrying animals, adults marrying children, fathers marrying daughters, and so forth. If this sounds absurd, consider that bestiality was legal in Germany from 1969 until only recently, when it was banned – but even then only because it was considered “inhumane” to the animals! And bestiality is today legal in at least eight countries. In 2011 the United States Senate approved a bill legalizing bestiality in the Armed Forces. The North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) has for years been arguing for legalizing sex between men and boys.
This is the can of worms regarding the redefinition of marriage that American society is being seduced into opening today, and which now has been at least partially decided by the United States Supreme Court. For the reasons stated above, it is vital to the nation that we retain the traditional, and only rational, legal definition of marriage -- as a union solely between one adult male and one adult female, giving to each other the exclusive and irrevocable right over their bodies to engage in sexual acts suited for the procreation and education of children.

The Cause of Homosexuality? It has been revealed in Sacred Scripture.

Because that, when they knew God, they have not glorified him as God, or given thanks; but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of a corruptible man, and of birds, and of fourfooted beasts, and of creeping things. Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness, to dishonour their own bodies among themselves. Who changed the truth of God into a lie; and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

For this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature. And, in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men working that which is filthy, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was due to their error. And as they liked not to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all iniquity, malice, fornication, avarice, wickedness, full of envy, murder, contention, deceit, malignity, whisperers, Detractors, hateful to God, contumelious, proud, haughty, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

Foolish, dissolute, without affection, without fidelity, without mercy. Who, having known the justice of God, did not understand that they who do such things, are worthy of death; and not only they that do them, but they also that consent to them that do them.

St. Paul, Rom. 1: 21-32

Aberrosexual Clerics may be the Novus Ordo Norm

John Vennari: According to a news report, a Catholic attorney in Florida recently said, “The good priests who keep in contact with me say that 70 percent of the U.S. bishops are homosexual.” That statement would have shocked many Catholics, but I am sure it did not shock you.

Randy Engel: No. The existence of a large and dominant homosexual contingent in the American hierarchy and within the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (formerly the National Conference of Catholic Bishops/United States Catholic Conference) in Washington, D.C. is one of the dominant themes of my book.
The rise of this phenomenon, that is, the emergence of a large number of homosexual cardinals and bishops in AmChurch (American Church), has been a gradual process covering more than 100 years and closely parallels the rise of the secular Homosexual Movement in the United States and abroad. It is the presence of the Homosexual Collective within Am-Church’s hierarchy that has made possible the wholesale homosexual colonization of many dioceses in the United States, and the subsequent cover-up of clerical sexual abuse cases by the American hierarchy with the co-operation of the Holy See. When shepherds turn into wolves, not only are seminarians, priests and religious under their care at risk, but their flock as well.

John Vennari: Is there a difference between the Homosexual Collective within the Church and the secular Homosexual Collective?

Randy Engel: Generally speaking, no. Catholic homosexual clergy and religious toe the secular party line. They use the same language, promote the same rhetoric and advance the same political agenda. This becomes startling clear in the chapter devoted to the so-called Catholic pro-homosexual organization New Ways Ministry.
I think there are many Catholics who think that a self declared “gay” bishop, priest or religious doesn’t behave like other homosexuals, that is, he’s not into sodomy, porn, drugs, or sexual seduction, etc., but this is just wishful thinking. The odds are that he is.

Catholic Family News, excerpt of interview of Mrs. Randy Engel, author of The Rite of Sodomy, Homosexuality, Satanism, and the Roman Catholic Church, interview published in April 2011

No sense in mincing words!

“My only source for Luther was Luther himself. [….] Luther was so vile that he could not possibly be an instrument of God. [….] this so-called reformer made no discovery at all in the theological realm. [....] He was not only a liar, but an ignorant liar.”

Rev. Heinrich Seuse Denifle, O. P., (1844-1905), the great scholar and historian, who was beloved by Leo XIII and St. Pius X, wrote important studies on the history of medieval universities, history of the University of Paris, medieval mysticism, history of the Hundred-Years War, many works on philosophy and theology always searching for primary documentation throughout the archives in Europe. He was a conductor of the Cardinalitial Commission of Studies, a member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences (Vienna), and of those of Paris, Prague, Berlin, Göttingen, honorary doctor of the Universities of Münster and Innsbruck, member of the Légion d’honneur, of the Order of the Iron Crown, etc. He was on his way to Cambridge, where he was to be made Honorary Doctor of that university, when he died.

Comments from those who have read the Third Secret of Fatima:

Ø “I cannot say anything of what I learned at Fatima concerning the third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts: one concerns the Pope. The other, logically – although I must say nothing – would have to be the continuation of the words: In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved.” [3] [emphasis added] – Joseph Schweigel, S.J., d. 1964 (interrogated Sister Lucia about the Third Secret on behalf of Pope Pius XII on Sept. 2, 1952)[4]

Ø “In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? If ‘in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,’ … it can be clearly deduced from this that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure or even lost altogether. Thus it is quite possible that in this intermediate period which is in question (after 1960 and before the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary), the text makes concrete references to the crisis of the Faith of the Church and to the negligence of the pastors themselves.” [5] [emphasis added] – Fr. Joaquin Alonso, C.M.F., d. 1981 (Cleratian priest and official Fatima archivist for over sixteen years; had unparalleled access to Sister Lucia)

Ø “The Secret of Fatima speaks neither of atomic bombs, nor nuclear warheads, nor Pershing missiles, nor SS-20’s. Its content concerns only our faith. To identify the Secret with catastrophic announcements or with a nuclear holocaust is to deform the meaning of the message. The loss of faith of a continent is worse than the annihilation of a nation; and it is true that faith is continually diminishing in Europe.” [6] [emphasis added] – Bishop Alberto Cosme do Amaral, d. 2005 (former bishop of Fatima-Leiria; remarks made in Vienna, Austria on Sept. 10, 1984)

Ø “It [the Third Secret] has nothing to do with Gorbachev. The Blessed Virgin was alerting us against apostasy in the Church.” [emphasis added] – Cardinal Silvio Oddi, d. 2001 (Vatican diplomat and personal friend of Pope John XXIII, from whom he knew certain details concerning the Third Secret) [7]

Ø “In the Third Secret it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.” [emphasis added] – Cardinal Mario Luigi Ciappi, O.P., d. 1996 (personal theologian to Popes John XXIII-John Paul II) [8]

Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité, The Whole Truth about Fatima, [2], Volume 3.

Posted by OnePeterFive

The Providence of God is unfailing!

“If you wish to be a Catholic, do not venture to believe, to say, or to teach that they whom the Lord has predestinated for baptism can be snatched away from his predestination, or die before that has been accomplished in them which the Almighty has predestined. There is in such a dogma more power than I can tell assigned to chances in opposition to the power of God, by the occurrence of which casualties that which He has predestinated is not permitted to come to pass. It is hardly necessary to spend time or earnest words in cautioning the man who takes up with this error against the absolute vortex of confusion into which it will absorb him, when I shall sufficiently meet the case if I briefly warn the prudent man who is ready to receive correction against the threatening mischief.”

St. Augustine, On the Soul and Its Origin, 3, 13

Leo XIV Reinstated Convicted Child-Porn Priest who was protected by Francis

Carlo Alberto Capella was Vatican diplomat who was convicted by a Vatican tribunal of possessing and sharing child pornography. Capella admitted guilt to the charges. He is the only one who has served a prison sentence in the Vatican jail for this crime or for any sexually related crime against minors.

Monsignor Capella was ordained a priest in 1993 for the Archdiocese of Milan. After studies of canon law he entered the Vatican diplomatic corps. He was assigned to the papal nunciature in India in 2003 and to the nunciature in Hong Kong in 2007. In 2008 he was created Chaplain of His Holiness, which entitled him to the title of Monsignor.  In 2011 he was transferred to the Vatican to serve in the Secretariat of State. In 2016 he was assigned to the papal nunciature to the United States.

In 2017, Capella was recalled to the Vatican by Pope Francis after United States officials informed the Vatican that he was under investigation for possession and sharing of child pornography. The government of Canada has issued a warrant for his arrest, alleging that during his time in Canada in December, 2016 he had possessed and shared child pornography. He was returned to the Vatican which claimed diplomatic immunity for Capella protecting him from prosecution in the United State or Canada.

In 2018, he was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison, which he served in the Vatican jail. As of 2021, he was allowed out during the day to work in an office that sells papal blessings. In 2023, following the end of his prison sentence, Capella was permitted to return to work in the Vatican Secretariat of State. Now Pope Leo XIV has reinstated Msgr. Capella to a senior diplomatic position in the Vatican Secretariat of State.

COMMENT: Pope Leo is protégé of Francis to whom he own s his promotions to bishop and cardinal. It was Francis who protected this pervert from criminal charges in the United States and in Canada and now it is Francis' protégé who has restored him the a high level position in the Vatican. This does not portend well for any serious reform of the Novus Ordo Church which has become a sinecure for homosexuals and others perverts.

"Pope Francis won't ever speak ex cathedra."

Cardinal Fernandez, during press conference introducing Dignitas Infinita

COMMENT: God has revealed that He will never permit His Church to bind doctrinal or moral error on His faithful. This promise has been invariably kept throughout the history of the Church including the time of Vatican II and its aftermath. Vatican II was a pastoral council of churchmen teaching by their grace of state by virtue of their personal magisterium. The pope and the council never engaged the Magisterium of the Church to teach without the possibility of error. Consequently, the errors of Vatican II reflect only on the heresy and weakness of individual churchmen.

The fact that Pope Francis "won't ever speak ex cathedra" could have meant anything. It could have meant that he was not the pope but only the "bishop of Rome" and therefore could not have engaged the Magisterium even if he wanted to. It could have meant that he did not recognize the Magisterium of the Church and did not engage what he did not believe in. This would imply that he did not believe in the office of the papacy with its universal jurisdiction, and therefore, the office which he assumed was not the papacy but something of his own imaginary construction. Pope Francis may have been just another Pontius Pilate and did not know or care what truth is. Maybe he was just another habitual liar. Maybe he was the pope and knew that if he had put his ass into the chair of Peter and tried to bind the Catholic conscience to his doctrinal error and moral corruption it would have been the last thing he ever did. Whatever the last thing he did was, there is no evidence that he made any effort to repent before his death.

COMMENT ON THE RECENT CONSECRATION OF BISHOPS BY THE SSPX:

The recent consecration of bishops by the SSPX and their “excommunication” by Rome is damaging to the traditional cause and the defense of the Catholic faith. It is also damaging to the Church and its rule of law.

Rome has manipulated the SSPX into a trap that was explained to them more than fifteen years ago. Rome embraced the heresy of Neo-modernism before Vatican II and the purpose of Vatican II was to infect this heresy into the life blood of the Church. The heresy severs the form and matter of Dogma professing that the form is a divine truth revealed by God but the matter, that is, the words, are a human approximation of that divine truth that must progressively evolve and be purified of human accretions, distortions and historical contingencies to arrive at a more perfect expression of the divine truth. It is a claim that we know the faith better than our fathers and our children will know the faith better than us. Thus Dogma, which never reaches its term, no longer is the proximate rule of faith. It is replaced by the pope who guides the dogma into a progressively more perfect expression.

Once the pope becomes the proximate rule of faith the infallible Magisterium of the Church is replaced by the personal fallible magisterium of the pope grounded upon his grace of state, and then whatever the pope says or does becomes what every faithful Catholic is expected to say or do. This corruption was taught in the Vatican II document Lumen Gentium. The term “authentic magisterium” was introduced and faithful are called upon to submit unconditionally their mind and will, or as Lumen Gentium says, “religious submission of will and mind…. religious assent of soul,” to the “authentic magisterium” of the pope. The Congregation for the doctrine of the faith under Ratzinger declared that the this “obedience” was correct sensus fidei for all Catholics. The next move was to add the proposition of unconditional obedience to the “authentic magisterium” as an addendum to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed in 1989 Profession of Faith and Oath of Fidelity where every other proposition in the creed is a dogma. They thus, by association, elevated a non-dogmatic proposition into the level of a Catholic dogma! They then made the 1989 Profession of faith the one and only necessary requirement to be reconciled with the Novus Ordo Church. This was followed by creating a canon law that makes any disobedience to the “authentic magisterium” a canonical crime with an unspecified penalty.

Fr. Joseph Fenton, the editor of the American Ecclesiastical Review and a peritas at Vatican II, wrote an excellent article, Infallibility in the Encyclicals, AER, 1853, in which he addressed the term, “authentic magisterium.” Fr. Fenton provides the definition of the term and attributes its origin to Fr. Joachim Salaverri, of the Jesuit faculty of theology in the Pontifical Institute of Comillas in Spain. The “authentic magisterium” is more properly translated into English as the “authorized magisterium.” Either way, the term refers only to the person of the pope and whatever he does personally. Thus anything the pope does is an act of his authentic magisterium. Pope Leo can employ his “authentic (authorized) magisterium” to define a Catholic dogma by engaging the Extra-ordinary Magisterium of the Church as Pope Pius XII did with the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or he can employ his “authentic magisterium” to arrange the seating assignments at a papal dinner. What he cannot do is demand unconditional obedience to his “authentic (authorized) magisterium in and of itself. To make an oath of unconditional obedience to a man is idolatry. Unconditional obedience can only be given to God.

Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who had his own problem with Neo-modernism, recognized that the insertion of the addendum of unconditional obedience to the “authentic magisterium” in a Catholic creed was idolatry. He rejected the formulation calling it a "dangerous formulation" and "sheer trickery." He said, “They (Modernist Rome) are no doubt going to have these texts signed by the seminarians of the Fraternity of St. Peter before their ordination and by the priests of the Fraternity, who will then find themselves in the obligation of making an official act of joining the Conciliar Church." 

Rome imposes the 1989 Profession of faith on any cleric or any lay person as a condition for exercising any office in the Church. The SSPX leadership stupidly accepted this demand and swore, certainly by 2015, unconditional obedience to the “authentic magisterium” of the pope. They also followed the declaration of the Congregation for the doctrine of the Faith, when it was headed by Cardinal Ratzinger, that forbade any public criticism of the pope. Even before 2015 and during the entire pontificate of Pope Francis, the SSPX said nothing to defend the faith and Catholic worship. They were content to have a seat at the Novus Ordo circus. They even declared after the death of Bishop Williamson in January of 2025 that he had sinned grievously by consecration bishops because there no longer existed a state of necessity! Then only 15 months after the death of Bishop Williamson, they discovered a that a state of necessity exists. The only “state of necessity” was that SSPX itself wanted a bishop. That, in itself, is insufficient grounds to consecrate bishops and by proceeding with the consecrations, made all traditional Catholics look like mindless ideologues. The further muddied the defense of the Catholic faith by their oath of unconditional obedience to the “authentic magisterium” of the pope and then publically disobeying him on insufficient moral grounds. They have associated every faithful traditional Catholic in their worthless scheming.

The SSPX sooner or later must recognize that Dogma is the proximate rule of faith and that Neo-modernism is a heresy that they are standing so close to they cannot recognize it. Dogma is an infallible both in the truth it proposes and in the words used to express that truth. That is, both the form and the matter of Dogma, which constitute one substantial being, are the infallible work of God, or as St. Pius X said, “A truth fallen from heaven.” Once that is done, they will be able to say unequivocally that Vatican II, a pastoral council that treated Catholic doctrine with grossly imprecise terminology, taught heresy because heresy IS the denial of the literal meaning of Dogma. They will recognize that the only act that is invariably associated with schism if manifest heresy! Pope Francis was and Pope Leo is schismatic because they are heretics. No Catholic can make an act of unconditional obedience to the “authentic (authorized) magisterium of the pope because that is idolatry. No one can be excommunicated by canon law can ipso facto in the external forum without canonical due process simply because the pope says so in his personal "authentic magisterium." This is not the first time but just the most egregious example of the extension of the “obedience” claimed by the “authentic magisterium” to corrupt canon law in the Church. The entire purpose of the corruption of canon law and due process is to impose the Neo-modernist will by the appearance of legal formality. It in the end is perfectly Pharisaical.

Remember in your charity:

Remember the welfare of our expectant mother: Nao Miyata,

Drews petition prayers for the spiritual and temporal welfare of the Christian & Irene Melnick family,

Gene Peters asks our prayers for the spiritual welfare of Beverly Wood and Bonnie Cormesser,

Mr. & Mrs. Hall request prayers for the health of their daughter, Erika Smith,

Drews request your prayers for Phyllis Virgil, for her health and spirital welfare,

For Anthony Niekrewicz, spiritual and temporal welfare is the petition of all the members of Ss. Peter & Paul,

Mary Lou Loftus' aunt, Susan Hendricks, who is gravely ill after emergency surgery,

Fred Holder, for his spiritual and physical welfare,

Thomas Soul, a nursing home patient who has suffered a stroke,

Donna Kallal, a dear friend of the Schiltz family who is dying,

Philip Thees requests our prayers for the heath of Mary Glatz and Agnus Messineo,

For the welfare of Aaron, a York resident in need of conversion,

For the spiritual welfare of Margaret Connelly is the petition of Camilla Meiser,

Linda Boyd, for her health,

Pete Schiffbauer, a cousin of Monic Bandlow who is gravely ill,

Joan R. Barr, the widow of F. Donald Barr who died March 7, they were married 70 years

Cole Schneider, prayers for his welfare are requested by Camilla Meiser,

JoAnn Niekrewicz, for her recovery from a recent fall and shoulder injury,

The Drews ask prayers for the spiritual and physical welfare of Robert Carballo,

Conversion of Jack Gentry, the nephew of Camilla Meiser,

For Sr. Maria Junipera, who took her final vows as a nun with the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Richmond, New Hampshire April 8,

Stephen Bryan, the brother of a devout Catholic religious, for his spiritual welfare,

Marie Kolinsky, for her health and spiritual welfare is the petition of her family,

Gene Peters requests our prayers for the conversion of Shirley Young and Carl Loy who are dying, the conversion of Dawn Keithley and Nate Schaeffer,

Rev. Leo Carley, an eighty-nine year old priest faithful to Catholic tradition, who is seriously ill,

For the recovery of Hayden Yanchek, the grandson of Francis Yanchek, injured in a farming accident,

Maureen Nies, for the recovery of her health is the petition of Camilla Meiser,

Daniel Vargs, for his health is the petition of his parents,

Art Noel, for the restoration of his health,

For the welfare of Peg Berry and her husband, Bill,

Marianne Connelly asks prayers for Chris Foley, who is gravely ill, and the welfare of his wife, Mary Beth,

The spiritual welfare of the Sal & Maria Messineo family is the petition of the Drew’s,

Liz Agosta, who is seriously ill, for her spiritual and temporal welfare,

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,

Monica Bandlow request our prayers for the welfare of Ray who is recovering from a MVA, and his daughter, Sonya, 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

Peg Berry requests our prayers for her brother, William Habekost,

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,

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,

Kaitlyn McDonald, for the recovery of her health and spiritual welfare,

Roco Sbardella, for his health and spiritual welfare,

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,

For the spiritual welfare of Mark Roberts, a Catholic faithful to tradition,

Michael Brigg requests our prayers for the health of John Romeo,

The health and welfare of Gene Peters and his sons,

Conversion of Anton Schwartzmueller, is the prayer request of his children,

Christine Kozin, for her health and spiritual welfare,

Teresa Gonyea, for her conversion and health, is the petition of her grandmother, Patricia McLaughlin,

For the health of Sonya Kolinsky,

Jackie Dougherty asks our prayers for her brother, John Lee, who is gravely ill,

For the health and spiritual welfare, Meg Bradley, the granddaughter of Rose 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,

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,

The Joseph Cox Family, their 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,

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,

Rende and Mary Mufide, a traditional Catholics from India ask our prayers for her welfare and he family members, living and deceased,

Mary Glatz, her health and the welfare of her family,

Barbara Harmon, who is ill,

Jason Green, a father of ten children, 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,

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, and for Fr. Thomas Blute,

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

The Drew’s ask our prayers for the welfare of Joe & Tracey 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 friend, 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, Kathleen Gorry, health of mind and body of Cathy Farrar.

Pray for the Repose of the Souls:

John Callisanti, a faithful Catholic, died June 23, prayers petitioned by Philip Thees,

Christian Joseph Melnick, died June 19, a 56 year old faithful Catholic and devoted husband and father of nine,

Fr. Radoslav, a relatively young faithful priest who was working with Bishop Stobnicki in Poland,

Leonard Messineo, a long time traditional Catholic, dies May 18,

For Jo Ann Niekrewicz, our dear friend, died March 1, for the blessed repose of her soul is the petition of all the members of Ss. Peter & Paul,

Shirley Rotondo, died February 2-26, and Louisa McBride, died February 27, is the petition of Monica Bandlow,

Katherine Veronica Wedel, the mother of Mary Baer, died February 6,

James Condit, Jr., traditional Catholic activist, died December 27,

Beverly Harmon, died December 16, requested by the Sentmanat family,

Rev. Nicholas DeProspero, a faithful Ruthenian Eastern rite Catholic priest, died December 10,

Monica Bandlow petitions our prayers for her friend, Patricia Messineo, died November 28,

Guy Berthault, died November 23, a great Catholic scientist whose work in sedimentology destrooyed Lyellian geology and the theory of evolution,

Thomas Soul, died November 8 after receiving the last rites of the Church,

Etta Van Der Werken, a dear friend of Barbara Taffe, died 10-21-2025,

Gary Potter, Catholic writer and apologist and great long time defender of Catholic doctrine and tradition, died 9-9-2025,

Elizabeth Gorska, who died September 9, a relative of Lidia Gjec,

Camilia Meiser request our prayers for the souls of Peggy Cummings and Elizabeth Genter,

Thomas A. Nelson, founder of TAN Books and Publishers, died August 16,

Juan D. Gonzalez, our former sacristan, choir director, and dear friend, died July 23,

Sal Messineo, a faithful traditional Catholic, died Augsut 14,

Patricia Askew, a friend of Camilla Meiser, died July 3,

Joseph Kerney, a young man whose family provided the statues of the Sacred Heart, Mary and Joseph in our sanctuary, died May 30,

Louis Richard Ajlouny, the father of Randa Sharpe, died May 15,

Rene Guidicessi, died April 25, an old friend of the Drews,

F. Donald Barr, died March 7 at 94 years of age, co-founder of Robert Francis Religious Goods, in Philadelphia,

Dr. David Allen White, a well known defender of the Catholic faith, died February 11,

Bishop Richard Williamson, a renowned defender of the Catholic faith and most charitable gentleman, died January 29,

Rodolfo Alberto Lacayo, a cousin of Claudia Drew, died January 4,

Genieve Wallace, died Christmas day,

Ruth Marion Beaucheane, died December 8, is the petition of Monica Bandlow,

Ana Maria Salcedo, the sister of Mario Fiol, died November 26,

Fr. Johin Cardaro, a traditional Catholic priest who was found dead in his home November 2,

Robert Carballo asks that we remember his parents, Roberto & Aida Carballo, and his friend, David Duclos, who died April 15,

Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais who may have been responsible for preventing the SSPX's public reconciliation with Rome in 2012, died October 8,

Lorna Edwards, our dear friend and loyal supporter of this Mission, died August 10,

Lois Petti, died July 28 two hours after receiving the Last Sacraments from Fr. Waters,

Wolfgang Smith, a renowned Catholic scholar, mathematician, scientist, philosopher, who helped the Kolbe Center for the Study of Creation, died July 19,

Willaim Glatz, a good and faithful Catholic, died July 17,

Alicio Gonzalez, a Catholic who asked for the sacrament of Extreme Unction, unfortunately did not receive, died July 9,

John Zavodny, a faithful Catholic who died wearing the scapular of Mt Carmel on the first Saturday of May, requested by Phyllis Virgil,

Catherine Martel, a lapsed Catholic, received the last sacraments in a good disposition from Fr. Waters on March 25 and died on April 4,

Father Basilio Méramo, a faithful priest, died March 5, removed from the SSPX for opposing their accommodation with Rome,

Julia McDonald, the mother of Kyle McDonald, died March 1,

Agnus Melnick, died February 28, a long time faithful Catholic and mother of eight children, including a traditional priest,

Kathryn (Drew) Lederhos, of Wellesley, MA, died February 3, 2024,

Chris Foley, the brother of Mary Lou Loftus, died February 1,

Louis Zelaya, the brother of Claudia Drew, died January 30,

Fr. James Louis Albert Campbell, a faithful priest who died December 18 at 91 years of age, and her mother and father, Teresa and Thomas Maher,

Charles Harmon, the father of Tracey Sentmanet, died October 1, after receiving the rites of the Church,

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 parents, Thomas & Teresa Maher, her husband, William Bandlow, her brother-in-law, Richard Bandlow, her sister, Mary Maher, Fr. Christopher Darby, SSPX, who died March 17, Robert Byrne, Michelle Donofrio McDowell, her cousin, Patricia Fabyanic, the Prefect of Our Lady’s Sodality, March 8, for John Pfeiffer who died August 20, Theresa Hanley, died July 23, Fr. Juan-Carlos Iscara, SSPX, who died December 20, 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,

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,

Rev. Fr. Joseph F. Collins, died April 27, 2019 to whom we are indebted for establishing our traditional pre-Bugnini Holy Week in all its beauty,

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,

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,

James & Jean Rowan and their sons, Patrick & Daniel,

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.

As time goes by, there are fewer and fewer Novus Ordo Catholics every year!

St. John himself, the Apostle of love, who seems in his Gospel to have revealed the secrets of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and who never ceased to impress upon the memory of his disciples the new commandment “to love one another,” nevertheless strictly forbade any intercourse with those who professed a mutilated and corrupt form of Christ’s teaching: “If any man come to you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into the house, nor say to him, God speed you” (II John 1:10). Therefore, since the foundation of charity is faith pure and inviolate, it is chiefly by the bond of one faith that the disciples of Christ are to be united. A federation of Christians is inconceivable in which each member retains his own opinions and private judgment in matters of faith, even though they differ from opinions of all the rest. How can men with opposite convictions belong to one and the same federation of the faithful: those who accept sacred Tradition as a source of revelation and those who reject it; those who recognize as divinely constituted the hierarchy of bishops, priests and ministers in the Church, and those who regard it as gradually introduced to suit the conditions of the time; those who adore Christ really present in the Most Holy Eucharist through that wonderful conversion of the bread and wine, Transubstantiation, and those who assert that the body of Christ is there only by faith or by the signification and virtue of the Sacrament; those who in the Eucharist recognize both Sacrament and Sacrifice, and those who say that it is nothing more than the memorial of the Lord’s Supper; those who think it right and useful to pray to the Saints reigning with Christ, especially to Mary the Mother of God, and to venerate their images, and those who refuse such veneration as derogatory to the honor due Jesus Christ, “the one mediator of God and men” (I Tim 2:5).

Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos

Unless the Lord build a house, they labor in vain that build it.

Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it. Ps. 126

From Tradition In Action:

You don't have to be a liturgical EXPERT to see that there is no essential difference in the act!

The question is: Is there any essential difference in the actors?

Top: St. Patrick Catholic Church, Chatham, New Jersey (44:43 mark on their August 22, 2021

Bottom: First Lutheran Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (49:30 mark on their July 6 2025

Jewish morality is openly demonstrated in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon with the wonton killing of thousands of men, women and children. Over 95% of Jewish religious and political leaders support abortion and same-sex 'marriage'. AI is intended to enforce Jewish morality.

Yuval Harari at Davos: ‘AI is not just another tool…It has the ability to lie and manipulate’ and will take over all world religions

by Leo Hohmann 1-20-2026

Israeli historian and philosopher Yuval Harari spoke January 20th at the World Economic Forum 2026 conference in Davos and hit on crucial themes about the future of artificial intelligence and humanity.
If Klaus Schwab and Larry Fink represent the legal and geostrategic views of the Davos crowd, Harari represents its spiritual soul. And a dark soul it is, devoid of anything truly from the heart of God.
He seems to describe a mass psychological control grid getting ready to clamp down on humanity.
Harari stated in his WEF speech that:
The most important thing to know about AI is that it is not just another tool. It is an agent. It can learn and change by itself and make decisions by itself. A knife is a tool. You can use a knife to cut salad or to murder someone, but it is your decision what to do with the knife. AI is a knife that can decide by itself whether to cut salad or to commit murder.

The second thing to know about AI is that it can be a very creative agent. AI is a knife that can invent new kinds of knives as well as new kinds of music, medicine and money.

The third thing to know about AI is that it can lie and manipulate. Four billion years of evolution have demonstrated that anything that wants to survive learns to lie and manipulate. The last four years have demonstrated that AI agents can acquire the will to survive and that AIs have already learned how to lie.
How many times have you heard that AI is just a tool that can be used for good or for evil? Well, Yuval Harari, the philosophical/spiritual voice of the WEF, says it’s more than that. And he doesn’t say it has the potential to be more than that. It already is.
So, AI can “lie and manipulate.” That’s what some of us have been warning from the start, and yet so many of our brothers and sisters rely on it every day to inform their work, their businesses, their personal lives. They will become dependent on it, and at some point they will be deceived by it.

Harari speaking at Davos 2026: AI is already an agent capable of making decisions, lying, manipulating.

Harari is a valuable source because, whether you think he’s evil or you think he’s good, he doesn’t water down his message like so many corporate CEOs in the tech world do. The CEOs and analysts in the business world have lied to us and said AI will not replace human work; it will only enhance human work. That was a lie and they knew it, but they also knew that if they told us the truth it would cause a mass uprising.
Well, now Harari is letting the cat out of the bag, probably because he knows it’s too late to do anything to stop this beast system from fully rising up and taking over the world.
Harari stated:
“Four billion years of evolution has demonstrated that anything that wants to survive learns to lie and manipulate. The last four years have demonstrated that AI agents can acquire the will to survive and that AIs have already learned how to lie. “Now, one big open question about AI is, whether it can think. I think, therefore I am, as René Descartes said. We rule the world because we can think better than anyone else on the planet. Will AI challenge our supremacy in the field of thinking. That depends on what thinking means…”
Harari said AI will first take over everything that consists of words. That includes law, articles and books, even religion. You can see that is happening already. News writers and gatherers are being replaced. Legal assistants and lawyers are being replaced. And people are consulting AI for advice related to life, faith and spiritual matters.
“Some people argue AI is just glorified auto speech. It barely predicts the next words in a sentence,” Harari said. “But is that so different from what the human mind does? As far as putting words in order, AI already thinks better than many of us. Therefore, anything made of words will be taken over by AI. If laws are made of words, then AI will take over the legal system. If books are just combinations of words, then AI will take over books. If religion is built from words, then AI will take over religion. This is particularly true of religions made up of books like Islam, Judaism and Christianity.”
He does hint that if your religious faith is real, you may want to find out if it’s based solely on words you have memorized or if it’s something real that you have internalized in your heart.

A preview of our AI dominated world

He asks:
“What happens to the holy books when the greatest expert of the book is an AI? Everything made of words will be taken over by AI.”

My overall response to Harari’s speech about AI being more than a tool, and that it’s fully capable of lying and manipulating, is that AI is an automated version of what George Orwell presented in his famous dystopian novel, 1984.
Winston, the main character in Orwell’s novel, held a middle-management position in the Ministry of Truth. His job was to sift through all of the news of the day, all of the history books, science books, legal analyses, everything that people referred to for information, and weed out that which the all-powerful state did not want people to know. He dropped the forbidden information down the “memory hole” and he advanced up the chain to be distributed the information which jibed with the official narrative of Big Brother.
How is this different from the algorithms used by today’s AI?
Orwell, living and writing in the 1940s, could not have envisioned that a computerized software system known as machine learning was going to rise up to do the job that he assigned to human beings. That job is to filter and control all human knowledge through a single conduit with demonic influence.
Because Harari is an admitted atheist, it is here where his analysis breaks down. He doesn’t understand anything about the spiritual battles raging in the world.
He says that, “If we continue to define ourselves by our ability to think in words, our identity will collapse.”
As followers of Jesus Christ, we must, if we want to retain our humanity, get our identity from God the Father, our Creator, and his Son Jesus. All else will be overwhelmed by the coming beast system.

Feast of the Precious Blood Of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Seven Offerings of the Precious Blood

1. Eternal Father, I offer You the merits of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, Your Beloved Son and my Redeemer, for the propagation and exaltation of my dear Mother the Holy Church, for the safety and prosperity of her visible Head, the Holy Roman Pontiff, for the cardinals, bishops and pastors of souls and for all the ministers of the sanctuary.

Glory be to the Father, etc.; Blessed and praised forevermore be Jesus Who hath saved us by His Precious Blood!

2. Eternal Father, I offer You the merits of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, Your Beloved Son and my Redeemer, for the peace and concord of nations, for the conversion of the enemies of our holy Faith, and for the happiness of all Christian people.

Glory be... Blessed and praised...

3. Eternal Father, I offer You the merits of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, Your Beloved Son and my Redeemer, for the repentance of unbelievers, the extirpation of all heresies and the conversion of sinners.

Glory be... Blessed and praised...

4. Eternal Father, I offer You the merits of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, Your Beloved Son and my Redeemer, for all my relations, friends and enemies, for the poor, the sick, and those in tribulation, and for all those for whom You will that I should pray, or know that I ought to pray.

Glory be... Blessed and praised...

5. Eternal Father, I offer You the merits of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, Your Beloved Son and my Redeemer, for all those who shall this day pass to another life that You may preserve them from the pains of Hell and admit them the more readily to the possession of Your Glory.

Glory be... Blessed and praised...

6. Eternal Father, I offer You the merits of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, Your Beloved Son and my Redeemer, for all those who are lovers of this Treasure of His Blood, and for all those who join with me in adoring and honoring It, and for all those who try to spread devotion to It.

Glory be... Blessed and praised...

7. Eternal Father, I offer You the merits of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, Your Beloved Son and my Redeemer, for all my wants, spiritual and temporal, for the holy souls in Purgatory and particularly for those who in their lifetime were most devoted to this Price of our Redemption and to the sorrows and pains of our dear Mother, Mary most holy.

Glory be... Blessed and praised...

Blessed and exalted be the Blood of Jesus, now and always, and through all eternity!  Amen

There is but one universal Church of the Faithful, outside which no one at all can be saved.

Pope Innocent III, Fourth Lateran Council, 1215

The Virtue of Supernatural Hope

Natural hope springs from man's youthful power and dries up along with it. For supernatural hope, however, the reverse is true: it not only is not tied to being naturally young but also is itself the basis for a much more substantial youthfulness. It endows a person with a " not yet" that simply surpasses and is remote from the decline of natural powers of hope.

And the supernatural vigor of hope overflows and radiates even into the rejuvenated powers of natural hope. Nothing assures and establishes "eternal youth" (in the most literal sense of the word) as does the theological virtue of hope. It alone is able to provide man with the unalienable possession of that inner tension that is both relaxed and taut, that elasticity and agility, that stouthearted freshness, that resilient joyousness, that composed bravery of confidence, which distinctly characterize a young person and thus make him lovable.

Since supernatural hope implants in man the new "future" of a simply inexhaustible " not yet", it establishes a new youthfulness, which can be destroyed only together with hope itself. In the two forms of hopelessness, in despair as well as in presumption, this youthfulness of the hoping person comes to nothing all the same, but in different ways: in despair, in the way of the senile; in presumption, in the way of the infantile.

In despair as in presumption, the truly human quality stiffens and songeals, and only hope is able to preserve it in radiant litheness. Both forms of hopelessness are in the real sense inhuman and deadly. "These two things kill the soul: despair and perverted hope", says St. Augustine.

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

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

SSPX issues 154-point profession of faith to Pope Leo, cardinals ahead of consecrations

The Society of St. Pius X unveiled a sweeping 17-chapter ‘Profession of Catholic Faith,’ urging Pope Leo and the cardinals to embrace Tradition as the remedy to the Church’s ‘deepest ills.’

LifeSiteNews | June 24, 2026 — The SSPX has published a "Profession of Catholic Faithe" as part of communications with the Pope and the cardinals ahead of the planned episcopal consecrations and “in response to the chief and gravest dangers of our time.”

According to an open letter published by the Society of St. Pius X “to His Holiness Pope Leo XIV and to the Cardinals of the Holy Church” dated June 24, the leadership of the SSPX formulated its 17-chapter profession of Catholic Faith as a “necessary expression, peaceful and resolute, of our Faith” as the cardinals prepare to gather in consistory later this week.

“Today the Church suffers under the pressure of new forces, coming both from within and without, which push her in every possible direction, except – it seems to us – the right one,” the Society argues, adding, “In the face of such suffering, we cannot remain indifferent.”

Consequently, the Society maintains that “Tradition contains all the remedies for the deepest ills afflicting the Church and the world, for which solutions are sought in vain outside of it.”

“We are persuaded that, in the unstable and extremely perilous context that now confronts us, the finest contribution one can offer to the universal Church is that of a sincere and integral profession of Catholic Faith,” the fraternity of priests write.

The letter was accompanied by the Society’s "Profession of Catholic Faith." broken into 17 chapters outlining 154 points of traditional doctrine while rejecting their corresponding modern errors.

COMMENT: In general, the profession of faith has many excellent qualities, however, it is clearly a product of the SSPX culture and character. The SSPX is a completely inbred organization. No one thinks outside the box and their box is very small. While the Profession recognizes that the remote sources of revelation are Scripture and Tradition and that these constitute the remote rule of faith (#9), they then, after professing that "no dogma" may be omitted, stumble in not recognizing that Dogma constitutes the proximate rule of faith.

5. I add that, in the present confusion, it is no longer sufficient to recall a few isolated truths. It has become indispensable to set in full light the entire order of Catholic doctrine, in its supernatural coherence and luminous harmony, omitting no dogma, diminishing no truth, and substituting for the received Faith no equivocal or truncated language which, under the pretext of ecumenism or adaptation to the world, disfigures this doctrine with ever greater audacity. 

9. This Revelation is the true Word of God, entrusted to the Church as a Deposit, and proposed to men as the Rule of Faith in the form of a body of doctrine, in which the mysteries are formulated in a manner that renders them intelligible and expressible in words.

The problem is confounded because they continually used the word "magisterium" equivocally. They treat the infallible Magisterium of the Church teaching by the authority of God and the fallible magisterium of churchmen teaching by their grace of state as if these were the same thing, They are not and constitute a distinction of kind and not one of degree. Their belief in the mutability of Dogma is directly expressed in their understanding of the Dogma that membership in the Catholic Church is necessary for salvation, that is, no one is saved outside the Catholic Church:

60. This truth means that no one can be saved without Christ and His Church, through a false religion as such, nor be assured of His salvation outside the visible structure of the Church. If men are saved without belonging to the visible society which is the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, it is by a supernatural ordination to the one Church of salvation, and in spite of the errors of the false religions in which they find themselves, from which they free themselves by not refusing the grace offered to them and by corresponding to it

Here the Dogma is not "omitted," it is corrupted by substituting the word, "without," for the word, "outside." This is a common example of how the heresy of Neo-modernism works. This heresy leads directly to the Prayer Meeting of Assisi and the SSPX has not figured it out. The SSPX believes and teaches that any Jew, Moslem, Protestant, Hindu, Pagan, etc., etc. can obtain salvation by desire to do the will of a god who rewards and punishes which can be known by natural philosophy. The essential problem is that the SSPX does not understand or even recognize that the principle heresy today is Neo-modernism and not Modernism. Not recognizing the enemy, they continually punch the air.

Regarding the sacraments they rightly profess the Dogma that the sacraments require correct form, matter and intention:

111. I profess that the sacraments must be validly celebrated with the prescribed matter, form, and intention, observing the liturgical rites which clearly express the Catholic Faith; and that they must be received with the required dispositions.

Yet the SSPX believes that a Catholic priest can enter a bakery and consecrate all the bread in the bakery or enter a wine cellar and consecrate all the wine. This they believe can happen when there is obvious corruption in form, matter and intention. This can only happen when Dogma is taken in a non-literal sense. They apply the same sacramental theology to the sacrament of Baptism denying the Dogmas that baptism is necessary for salvation and the true and natural water is necessary for the sacrament which they take in a purely metaphorical sense.

112. I believe that Baptism is the door of the Church and that it is necessary for salvation. Ordinarily, no one can be saved without receiving it; through this sacrament, man is washed from original sin, incorporated into Christ, marked with the Christian character, and made a member of the Church. I therefore reject the practice of deferring without grave cause the Baptism of children who have not the use of reason. However, one who, after the age of reason and without fault on his part, is prevented from accessing this sacrament, can be saved in an extraordinary manner by Baptism of Desire, that is, by a supernatural act of faith and perfect charity which orders him to the Church.

So the good-willed Jew, Moslem, Hindu, Protestant, Pagan, etc. who believes in a god who rewards and punishes is thereby making an act of "supernatural faith and perfect charity"!

The word "heresy" occurs only once in the Profession of the SSPX. "I therefore reject every liturgical reform or usage which, through omission, doctrinal ambiguity, or practical orientation, favours heresy.... " The definition of heresy is the rejection of any Dogma. That is why the word only occurs as an accusation of "favoring" heresy. Vatican II, a pastoral council, is a product of the fallible magisterium of churchmen teaching by their grace of state. The Council did not just "favor" heresy, it taught it. It is impossible to know what heresy is unless you first know what Dogma is. Unless a clear and precise understanding of the nature of Dogma is known, it is impossible to address modern errors effectively.

The term, Second Vatican Council, also occurs only once in the document in Profession 143:

143. I acknowledge in particular that modern errors represent a dreadful threat to the whole of the Catholic order, and that their penetration into the life of the Church, under the influence of the Second Vatican Council and the post-conciliar reforms, has provoked a crisis of exceptional gravity: agnosticism attacks the knowledge of God; naturalism attacks the necessity of grace; subjectivism attacks the supernatural motive of faith; relativism attacks the immutability of dogma; situation ethics attacks the divine law; liberalism attacks the Social Kingship of Christ; false ecumenism attacks the uniqueness of the Church; collegiality and synodality attack the divine constitution of the Church in her hierarchy; liturgical anthropocentrism attacks the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

This is all true but why is the SSPX unable to say Vatican II is heretical? Until the SSPX understands what Dogma is, what Neo-modernism is, and what the Magisterium of the Church is and how it is distinct from the magistrium of churchmen, they will continue to be incapable of effectively addressing modern errors.

In the end the question arises how is it now, after nearly fifteen years of silence against the apostasy of Rome, through the entire pontificate of Francis/Bergoglio, does the SSPX find that it is time to speak up? For what end is this Profession of Faith intended? And why cannot the SSPX articulate propositions of faith directly contrary to the beliefs and teachings of Rome demanding that Pope Leo engage the infallible Magisterium of the Church to clearly address the modern errors of Vatican II and the conciliar Church? It is a matter of canon law and the constant tradition of the Church that every Catholic has the right to demand explicit judgments from the Magisterium and the pope has an absolute duty to address these questions of faith. The SSPX has been in dialogue with Rome formally and informally for thirty years exchanging opinions on Catholic truth. If the SSPX understood what Dogma is this thirty year dialogue could have been concluded in thirty minutes. It has only been a year and a half since the death of Bishop Richard Williamson. The SSPX declared at that time that there was no state of necessity to justify the consecrations of bishops and they accused Bishop Williamson of grave sin for doing so. If the SSPX cannot identify direct heresy and heretics in Rome, then they cannot claim a state of necessity for themselves.

ANGEL OF THE JUDGMENT

The Situation Regarding the SSPX Episcopal Consecrations of July 1, 2026 -

by Roberto de Mattei

June 24, 2026 | Posted by the conservative Catholic blog, Rorate Caeli

What is one to think, and what is one to do, in the face of the episcopal consecrations announced by the Society of Saint Pius X at Écône for July 1st, and the consequent latae sententiae excommunication that will be reaffirmed by the Holy See?

The first consideration to be made is that, if this comes to pass, we will be confronted with a painful trial — not only for the world of Catholic Tradition, of which the Society of Saint Pius X has been a part since its foundation on November 1, 1970, by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, but also for Pope Leo XIV. The Pontiff has indeed identified the internal reconciliation of the Church as one of the principal objectives of his pontificate, and he would find himself, barely more than a year after his election, having to confront a new tearing of the ecclesial fabric, with the risk of aggravating divisions that have been awaiting a resolution for decades.

On the substance of the controversy, one cannot avoid pointing out what appears to be a genuine paradox. Among the many reasons advanced by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988 — and now taken up again by the Society of Saint Pius X to justify episcopal consecrations without a pontifical mandate — the argument from the state of necessity of the faithful in the face of the gravity of the ecclesial crisis is, at one and the same time, both the weakest and the strongest argument.

The state of necessity is, by its very nature, an exceptional condition that permits deviation from the ordinary application of certain norms in view of a higher good — which, in the case of the Church, is the salvation of souls. But who has the authority to verify the existence of such a state and to determine its beginning and end? It is evident that this assessment cannot be left to the judgment of the Society of Saint Pius X itself. Were that the case, one would have to conclude that the state of necessity ceases when the Society deems it to have ceased — effectively attributing to it a power of judgment over the Holy See that is incompatible with the hierarchical and visible constitution of the Church. The result would be a situation in which a particular body sets itself up as the ultimate criterion for evaluating the actions of the supreme authority.

If the principle of the state of necessity were admitted as a general criterion for action, any bishop who judged the Church to be passing through a grave crisis could feel authorized — or even morally obligated — to consecrate other bishops without a pontifical mandate, in order to ensure the continuity of the faith and the sacraments. The consequence would be a proliferation of parallel jurisdictions and episcopi vagantes scattered throughout the world, with inevitable effects of fragmentation, disorder, and confusion for the very faithful one would seek to protect.

The existence of an episcopal line deriving from Archbishop Richard Williamson — one of the four bishops consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988 and subsequently expelled from the Society of Saint Pius X — shows concretely how the logic of the state of necessity, once detached from a higher principle of authority capable of delimiting and regulating it, can generate further divisions. This is a phenomenon which, beyond any judgments on the persons involved, illustrates the intrinsic risk of episcopal consecrations founded on subjective assessments of the state of necessity.

And yet this argument — so fragile on the theological and canonical level — presents itself as the strongest on the pastoral level. Archbishop Lefebvre was not a speculative theologian or a canonist, but a missionary and a pastor of souls. In his letter to priests of April 27, 1987, he wrote: "The faithful who are still Catholic find themselves in many places in a desperate spiritual situation. It is this appeal that the Church hears; it is for these situations that she grants jurisdiction through the law of supplied jurisdiction." The decisive criterion for him was not the assertion of a right proper to the Society, but the spiritual need of the faithful. The episcopal consecrations of 1988 were intended as a response to this appeal of souls.

We thus find ourselves before the paradox. The Society of Saint Pius X, by invoking the state of necessity, grounds a large part of its justification on the primacy of pastoral requirements over strictly juridical and doctrinal considerations — thereby embracing that very primacy of pastoral practice which is a foundational mandate of Vatican II. The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, by contrast, invokes Vatican II, yet does not acknowledge the weight of the pastoral argument and employs against the Society the terms and concepts of pre-conciliar theology, in the name of the binding force of doctrine and law.

In this confused situation, the only sensible counsel that can be offered to those who are uncertain is to abide by the principle of logic and law: In dubiis standum est pro statu quo, donec ratio certa contrarium persuadeat — "In cases of doubt, one must hold to the existing state of affairs, until certain proof demonstrates the contrary." Reason suggests that each person remain in the position in which he finds himself, continuing to do what he does, avoiding being drawn into sterile polemics and emotional proclamations that have no other result than to reopen old wounds and pour vinegar into the wounds of the Church.

The problem that presents itself today is far broader than the grave matter of the July 1st episcopal consecrations and their canonical consequences. Nor does the question exhaust itself in the debate over the traditional liturgy or the interpretation of the documents of the Second Vatican Council. At the heart of the controversy lies the historical and theological judgment on the twentieth century — a century that profoundly marked the destiny of the Church and of the contemporary world.

A little over a hundred years ago, the conflagration of the First World War brought to an end the international order born of the Christian centuries, while the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917 set an even vaster fire in the world. Yet in the same year in which Bolshevism seized power, Our Lady appeared to the three shepherd children of Fatima, explaining the true causes of the crisis of the modern world and assuring, after chastisements, wars, and persecutions, the final triumph of her Immaculate Heart. The message of Fatima was addressed to all of humanity, but in a particular way to the Pastors of the Church, within which Modernism had begun to spread its deadly poison. Against this evil, Providence raised up Saint Pius X. With the encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis of September 8, 1907 — ten years before the apparitions at Fatima — the great Pontiff denounced with prophetic clarity the process of self-dissolution of the decades that would follow. Pascendi and Fatima constitute, respectively, the doctrinal diagnosis and the supernatural response to the crisis of modernity. These events, in turn, acquire their authentic significance only when placed within a broader perspective that allows one to read the events of history as phases of a single struggle that crosses the centuries.

It is here that the vision of Saint Augustine takes on an extraordinary relevance for our time. In the City of God, the great Doctor of the Church interprets history as the permanent confrontation between those who orient their lives toward God and those who reject the divine order. The Augustinian tradition, with its capacity to read historical events in the light of Providence, offers the interpretive key necessary for confronting questions that continue to determine the life of the Church — with its apostasies, its persecutions, and its acts of heroism.

The last word, in this dramatic horizon, belongs to him who holds the divine mandate to guide the Church and whom the Society of Saint Pius X itself acknowledges as the legitimate Vicar of Christ — the reigning Pope, Leo XIV. No solution to the grave problems afflicting the Mystical Body of Christ will be found outside of him or against him.

COMMENT: Dr. Roberto de Mattei is a conservative Novus Ordo Catholic historian which alone makes it impossible for him to know or do anything correctly because he will always have his priorities upside-down. Where does he get it wrong? For Mattei, the pope constitutes the proximate rule of faith. He does not understand that the proximate rule of faith is DOGMA. For Mattei, the faith is subject to the authority of the pope. The pope for Mattei is the principle cause and sign of the unity of the Church. Mattei does not openly deny the truth that the faith itself is the principle sign and cause of unity of the Church but he makes the faith subject to the arbitrary judgments of the pope who becomes its revealer. He places the authority of the pope over Dogma so that the Dogma means whatever the pope says it means. Whatever the pope says or does becomes the proximate rule of faith for Mattei. For him the determination of a state of necessity can only be declared by the authority of the pope. For Mattei, the pope can never be the cause of the state of necessity therefore, a state of necessity can never really exist.

Mattei acknowledges that the "salvation of souls" is the "highest good" then immediately reduces it to a legal truism. Something that in the end is unknowable in its practical application. He then wonders just who could ever determine when such a state of necessity begins and when it ends.For Mattei only the pope with absolute authority can do so.

The answer is not as difficult as Mattei pretends. Any individual Catholic faithful can declare a state of necessity for himself whenever he is unable to obtain from his ordinary what is necessary for his salvation, that is, the Catholic faith and Catholic sacraments. This is not a "subjective" determination as Mattei pretends for the faithful Catholic must make known to his local ordinary the existing objective factual conditions that constitute the state of necessity, demonstrate the establishment of a true and certain conscience, and thus, provide a moral justification for any acts of disobedience. After determining a state of necessity that he makes it known to his local ordinary, the ordinary has the obligation to fulfill his duties to provide what is necessary for salvation. If he fails to do so, fails to fulfill his duty for whatever reason, then the faithful Catholic is free is seek these necessities from any other cleric and any cleric can do so by the virtue of the supplied jurisdiction by the Church which places the salvation of souls as her highest law. Mattei believes that salvation comes from obedience to the pope while faithful Catholics know that "without faith, it is impossible to please God," and that the pope is just as much subject to God's revealed truth as every other faithful Catholic. The "paradox" that Mattei is talking about is not real. There is no conflict of the SSPX "pastoral requirements" vs. Novus Ordo "juridical and doctrinal considerations."

Mattei believes that the pope can be judged by no one. That is a doubtful proposition. The Decretals of Gratian is a collection of canonical texts compiled in the 12th century. Pope Gregory IX in 1230 directed St. Raymond of Pennafort, the distinguished Dominican, to organize an addendum to the code to include legal codes adopted since the time of Gratian but the work became a much more extensive revision. Working from the Decretals of Gratian, St. Raymond wrote a five volume edition of the Decretals that became the Corpus Iuris Canonici which served as the legal code for the Latin Church’s canon law from that time until the promulgation of the Code of Canon Law in 1917.

Decretum Gratiani, which was included in the old Corpus Iuris Canonici, affirmed that a Pope who deviates from right doctrine (i.e.: a notorious public heretic) can be judged. The canon states that the "pope judges all and is judged by no-one, unless he is found to have departed from the faith": ‘Hujus culpas redarguere præsumit mortalium nullus, quia cunctos ipse judicaturus a nemine est judicandus, nisi deprehendatur a fide devius (dist. XL, C. 6)’. This is the professed law of the Church from time immemorial until 1917. When the revised Code of Canon Law (Codex Iuris Canonici 1917) came into force, the Church eliminated from the new legislation the phrase "unless he is found to have departed from the faith." This deletion was continued in the 1983 code. Although the phrase, "unless he is found to have departed from the faith," was not included in the 1917 and the 1983 codes, the canonical commentary still regards the phrase as legally binding:

‘Canon 1404 – The First See is judged by no one.‘

COMMENTARY: "Canon 1404 is not a statement about the personal impeccability or inerrancy of the Holy Father. Should, indeed, the pope fall into heresy, it is understood that he would lose his office. To fall from Peter’s faith is to fall from his chair."

New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, John P. Beal, James A. Coriden, and Thomas J. Green eds. (New York: Paulist, 2000), p. 1,618.

The code is the compilation of laws governing the Church as social institution. Most of the laws in the code are ecclesiastical positive human laws grounded upon human authority, however, many of the legal codes are divine positive laws grounded upon divine authority or upon natural law. If a human law is deleted from the code, the law ceases to bind. If a law of divine authority is deleted from the code, the law continue in force for the human authority of the Church cannot overturn the law of God. This self-evident principle is stated in the code itself. Consequently, the commentary cited above is a recognition that the pope cannot be judged "unless he is found to have departed from the faith" is of divine origin. It is necessarily a divine law because the papacy is a divine institution established directly by Jesus Christ and therefore governed in its essence only by divine laws.

Therefore, it is divine law that permits a heretical pope to be judged. Importantly, although the law permits a heretical pope to be judged, it says nothing about who and how a pope is to be judged regarding heresy and it does not address penalties. It says nothing about removal from office. If the law intended the removal from office the law itself would have to state the penalty and provide a mechanism for its determination and enforcement.

So now it falls to opinions regarding the judgment of a heretical pope. Most theologians believe that it is "understood" that the removal from office necessarily follows from a judgment of heresy often citing the scriptural and traditional admonition to avoid heretics:

"A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, avoid: Knowing that he, that is such a one, is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned by his own judgment" (Titus 3:10-11).

They argue that since the faithful cannot avoid a pope as head of the Church therefore the heretical pope must lose his office. A serious problem with this argument follows, that is, if the faithful cannot "avoid" a pope, then there must necessarily be a pope who in fact cannot be avoided. Therefore, those who would make the papacy vacant must also be able to fill the office with a true pope.

But can a heretical pope be avoided? It really becomes a problem for those who hold the pope as their proximate rule of faith and not, as they should, dogma. For if dogma is not the proximate rule of faith then the pope must be, and he then can never be a heretic for whatever the pope holds the dogma or doctrine to mean is what it then means and only those who disagree with the pope are heretics. For a Catholic, dogma is the proximate rule of faith and although a heretical pope can do immeasurable damage to the Church he cannot touch individual souls of the faithful.

If we adhere to what the law says and nothing more, we can say this: The definition of heresy is the denial of dogma. The heretic denies dogma and the faithful keep dogma. Those who can judge a heretical pope are the faithful. The law does not distinguish or discriminate among the faithful as to the judgment. Dogma is articulated for all the faithful. Its understanding does not require any theological competence. It requires proper definition and correct grammar. Any of the faithful, that is those who hold dogma as their proximate rule of faith, can judge a manifestly heretical pope such as Pope Francis. Any of the faithful can know when a dogma is directly contradicted for the first principles of the understanding, such as the principle of non-contradiction, are innate in human nature. Thus all the faithful can judge, in fact must judge, a heretical pope and so that they may not follow him in his heresy for God has said that 'it is not possible to deceive His elect' (Matt. 24:24). The law does not specify the judge because the judgment rests with all the faithful, it is universal. The law does not specify a penalty because none of the faithful have the competency to impose a penalty and remove a heretical pope from office. It is God who is the formal and final cause of the pope and the office of the papacy. It is God who 'marries' the designated candidate to the papal office and only God can remove him from it just as God removed the High Priest and destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem and the Levitical priesthood which can never be reconstituted.

Those who hold dogma as their proximate rule of faith recognize Pope Leo as a heretic because he denies dogmatic truth. He preaches a different gospel so we "receive him not into the house nor say to him, God speed you" (2 John 10). Since he preaches a different gospel, "Let him be anathema" because we are first "servants of Christ" (Gal 1: 8). For in dogma, the Church has spoken and the heretic Pope Leo "will not hear the church, (therefore) let him be to thee as the heathen and publican (Matt 18:17).

Since Mattei cannot see his way out of his box so he advises, "Reason suggests that each person remain in the position in which he finds himself, continuing to do what he does." Since Mattei cannot conceive a state of necessity from the current corruption of faith and morals maybe an analogy to a person dying of thirst would be more clear. By natural law a man dying from thirst is entitled to preserve his life by drinking available water. The pope tells him he cannot have any water. Mattei advises that he should "remain in the position which he finds himself, continuing to do what he does,", that is, continue to die of thirst. Suppose it is not just one man but an entire family? Suppose that man was so weakened that he could not bring the water to himself? Would Mattei intervene to help? Well, probably not because Mattei could not recognize a state of necessity if he were the man dying of thirst.

Right of the Faithful to Appeal Directly to the Judgment of the Pope

The holy Roman Church holds the highest and complete primacy and spiritual power over the universal Catholic Church which she truly and humbly recognizes herself to have received with fullness of power from the Lord Himself in Blessed Peter, the chief or head of the Apostles whose successor is the Roman Pontiff. And just as to defend the truth of Faith she is held before all other things, so if any questions shall arise regarding faith they ought to be defined by her judgment. And to her anyone burdened with affairs pertaining to the ecclesiastical world can appeal; and in all cases looking forward to an ecclesiastical examination, recourse can be had to her judgment.

Second Council of Lyons, Denz. 466

And since the Roman Pontiff is at the head of the universal Church by the divine right of apostolic primacy, We teach and declare also that he is the supreme judge of the faithful, and that in all cases pertaining to ecclesiastical examination recourse can be had to his judgment.

First Vatican Council, Denz. 1830

Not only do we know God through Jesus Christ, but we only know ourselves through Jesus Christ; we only know life and death through Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus Christ we cannot know the meaning of our life or our death, of God or of ourselves. Thus without Scripture, whose only object is Christ, we know nothing, and can see nothing but obscurity and confusion in the nature of God and in nature itself.

Blaise Pascal, Pensées

Pope says church 'must move forward' if SSPX proceeds with illicit ordinations

Vatican News | Junno Arocho Esteves | June 17, 2026

Pope Leo XIV said that although he is considering a final appeal to the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X, the choice to splinter from the Catholic Church falls on them.

Speaking to journalists outside his residence in Castel Gandolfo June 16, the pope was asked about his feelings regarding plans by the traditionalist society, commonly known as SSPX, to proceed with the consecration of new bishops without a papal mandate.

The pope said that while he is "considering making another appeal to say: 'Do not do this, let us try to live in communion within the church,' " the decision to proceed "is their choice."

"Certainly, division among Christians is always a painful point. But they refuse to accept certain fundamental elements of the church, starting with several points from the Second Vatican Council," Leo said.

"If they make that choice, I am sorry, but we must move forward," he added. [.....]

COMMENT: The Vatican II Novus Ordo Church is a big tent inviting a wide variety of heretics, schismatics, apostates, pagans, animists, homosexuals, adulterers etc. to join the party. Even Leo/Prevost himself is now known to have worshiped the pagan goddess Pachamama. The SSPX, seeking a corner under this big tent, has been mute for so long we have wondered out loud if they lost the power of speech. But what about Pope Leo/Prevost? His recent pictures with the "Archbishopette of Canterbury" looks creepy. If he were just personally sick, his welcome would be extended without exceptions but, he has serious exceptions. Those must be "excepted" who "refuse to accept certain fundamental elements of the church, starting with several points from the Second Vatican Council"! There are some things the "listening church of Synodality" just can't listen to. Vatican II was a "pastoral council" that never rose above the level of churchmen pastorally opining with no greater authority than their grace of state. Any doctrinal opinions from churchmen from Vatican II that, if only apparently, contradict or undermine Catholic revealed truth must be rejected, and there is plenty there to reject. Such as, the claim that the Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church. Putting the question to Artificial Intelligence:

Question: If A subsists in B does it follow that A and B are an identity?

ANSWER: No.

“As A subsists in B” usually means A is (in some manner) realized, embodied, or found within B—not that they are numerically identical. For identity you need a strong equivalence claim: that they have exactly the same being/existence and are the very same entity.

So:

If A subsists in B, it’s consistent that A is distinct from B even if A is present in B (e.g., a part in a whole, an instance in a substrate, a property inhering in a thing).

Only under additional premises—often something like “A subsists in B and B subsists in A” plus an argument that this forces sameness—would identity follow.

The truth that the Catholic Church and the Church of Christ are one and the same thing is divinely revealed truth. Even the blind "artificial intelligence" "sees" this Vatican II confabulation is just a lie! Those that deny this truth are heretics and, as St. Thomas says, "All heretics are schismatics," it remains to be determined what and who's church the SSPX will be leaving. Revelation ended with the death of the last apostle. What exactly Leo/Prevost is referring to when he talks about "certain fundamental elements of the church, starting with several points from the Second Vatican Council" needs serious clarification. No Catholic is obliged to believe anything with "divine and Catholic faith" that "started.... from the Second Vatican Council." The pastoral failures of Vatican II reek to high heaven and doctrinal obfuscation only magnifies the crime.

Heresy is Ugly

In the medieval town (of 1480), fourteen of the named buildings are churches; trees grow along the banks of the river and the bridge allows free passage… [By contrast to] the consistent practice of the Gothic style in the old town… the structures of the new town (of 1880) are uniform only in their harsh, monotonous ugliness… [A] vast jail… occupies what used to be open land available for the enjoyment of all. The peaceful old churchyard has been enclosed and converted into ‘Pleasure Grounds’ for the family at the new parsonage. The river-banks have been turned into wharfs, the trees felled… the bridge is closed by a toll-gate… [T]he marks of a free and generous community have disappeared; the evidence here is for social exclusiveness, a competing proliferation of [religious] sects, mechanized, dirty and noisy industry, the pursuit of money, the advent of madness and crime… [W]arehouses dwarf and obscure the churches which dominated the medieval scene…

Margaret Belcher, late professor of English at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and editor of the multivolume collection of the great Victorian Gothic Revivalist Architect Augustus Welby Pugin (1812-1852), who was the architect for 9 cathedrals and 60 churches, on a pair of drawings of a English town contrasting the town of 1480 with what it became in 1880.

Remember in your prayers the welfare of Bishop Michel Stobnicki and his apostolate throughout Poland and central Europe.

“By their fruits you shall know them”.

By their fruits we are expected to know them!

The Archdiocese of Dubuque Iowa is restructuring its 160 parishes across 30 northeast Iowa counties into 24 "pastorates". Driven by a 46% decline in Mass attendance and a shrinking number of priests, the Archdiocese halted weekend Masses at more than 80 churches, though they remain open for weddings and funerals.

The transition to the new pastorate structure, which requires grouped parishes to share clergy and resources, officially takes effect on July 14, 2026.

The sweeping consolidation has significantly impacted communities and traditional worship schedules. Key details of the situation include.

The Cause: The Archdiocese reports a drop of nearly half in weekend Mass attendance over the last 20 years, alongside a decreasing number of priests. The region currently has roughly one priest for every two parishes.

Church Usage: While many church buildings will no longer host weekend Mass, they are not completely closed. They remain accessible for other liturgical celebrations, such as weddings, funerals, weekday Masses, and private prayer.

COMMENT: The Archdioces of Dubuque has paid out about $17 million in settlements for the sex abuse crimes of homosexual pederasts over the last 30 years. Unlike many dioceses in the United States such as Harrisburg, Baltimore and Philadelphia, the Dubuque Archdiocese has not had to file for bankruptcy and Chapter 11 protection. The collapse is due to the loss of the Catholic faith with the associated “shrinking number of priests.” The Archdiocese is consolidating from 160 to 80 parishes and these 80 parishes with be consolidated into 24 “pastorates” which means that most priests will cover three parishes and a few will cover four. The consolidation is because of a “46% decline in Mass attendance”… “over the last 20 years.” There are four dioceses in the State of Iowa and Dubuque is the Archdiocese and the metropolitan see for the State of Iowa because it is the first diocese in the area, established in 1837. It was initially part of the diocese of St. Louis which itself was established in 1826 from the Diocese of Louisana in New Orleans that was established in 1793. The diocese of St. Louis covered the entire territory of the Louisana Purchase. Excluding Spanish missionary work in the southwest, the Archdioces of Dubuque is the third Catholic diocese west of the Mississippi River. It was in the beginning responsible for the spiritual welfare of all Catholics as well as Catholic missionary work in Iowa, Minnosota, North and South Dakota, that is, everywhere east of the Missouri river, and south-west Wisconsin. What the heroic French and Italian missionaries from the Archdiocese of Dubuque built for over the next hundred plus years has not just been squandered by the effeminate Novus Ordites through sloth, but actively ruined by their heresy and schism. This is the fruit of Vatican II. This decline has been evident since the early 1970s but with each passing year it is now visible to the blind. It is impossible to attribute good but misguided intentions to Novus Ordites. They are enemies of the Catholic faith. We must double our prayers that God will cleanse His Church even if we ourselves must suffer in the persecution. The loss of souls is irreparable. It may be soon time to say that there is no salvation in the Novus Ordo Church.

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

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

Blessed Pope Pius IX

PREVIOUS BULLETIN POSTING WORTH REMEMBERING:

IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND

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 rears 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

If men are “obligated” to a “right faith” then “Religious Liberty” is lie!

That by Divine Law Men are obliged to a Right Faith

As sight by the bodily eye is the principle of the bodily passion of love, so the beginning of spiritual love must be the intellectual vision of some object of the same. But the vision of that spiritual object of understanding, which is God, cannot be had at present by us except through faith, because God exceeds our natural reason, especially if we consider Him in that regard under which our happiness consists in enjoying Him.

a.) The divine law directs man to be entirely subject to God. But as man’s will is subjected to God by loving Him, so his understanding is subjected to Him by believing Him,—but not by believing anything false, because no falsehood can be proposed to man by God, who is the truth: hence he who believes anything false does not believe God.

b.) Whoever holds an erroneous view about a thing, touching the essence of the thing, does not know the thing. Thus if any one were to fix on the notion of irrational animal, and take that to be man, he would not know man. The case would be otherwise, if he was mistaken only about some of the accidents of man. But in the case of compound beings, though he who errs about any of the essentials of a thing does not know the thing, absolutely speaking, still he knows it in a sort of a way: thus he who thinks man to be an irrational animal knows him generically: but in the case of simple beings this cannot be,—any error shuts out entirely all knowledge of the thing. But God is to the utmost degree simple. Therefore whoever errs about God does not know God. Thus he who believes God to be corporeal has no sort of knowledge of God, but apprehends something else instead of God. Now as a thing is known, so is it loved and desired. He then who errs concerning God, can neither love Him nor desire Him as his last end. Since then the divine law aims at bringing men to love and desire God, that same law must bind men to have a right faith concerning God. Hence it is said: Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. xi, 6); and at the head of all other precepts of the law there is prescribed a right faith in God: Hear, O Israel: the Lord thy God is one Lord (Deut. vi. 4).

St. Thomas Aquinas, Of God and His Creatures

The Absolute Necessity of “Prayer And Penance”

However, in the face of this satanic hatred of religion, which reminds Us of the "mystery of iniquity" [Thess. 2, 7] referred to by St. Paul, mere human means and expedients are not enough, and We should consider ourselves wanting in Our apostolic ministry if We did not point out to mankind those wonderful mysteries of light, that alone contain the hidden strength to subjugate the unchained powers of darkness. When Our Lord, coming down from the splendors of Thabor, had healed the boy tormented by the devil, whom the disciples had not been able to cure, to their humble question: "Why could not we cast him out?" He made reply in the memorable words: "This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting" [Matth. 17, 18-20]. It appears to Us, Venerable Brethren, that these Divine words find a peculiar application in the evils of our times, which can be averted only by means of prayer and penance.

Mindful then of our condition, that we are essentially limited and absolutely dependent on the Supreme Being, before everything else let us have recourse to prayer. We know through faith how great is the power of humble, trustful, persevering prayer. To no other pious work have ever been attached such ample, such universal, such solemn promises as to prayer: "Ask and it shall be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened" [Matth. 7, 7]. "Amen, amen I say to you, if you ask the Father anything in my name He will give it you."

And what object could be more worthy of our prayer, and more in keeping with the adorable person of Him who is the only "mediator of God and men, the Man Jesus Christ" [I Tim. 2, 5], than to beseech Him to preserve on earth faith in one God living and true? Such prayer bears already in itself a part of its answer; for in the very act of prayer a man unites himself with God and, so to speak, keeps alive on earth the idea of God. The man who prays, merely by his humble posture, professes before the world his faith in the Creator and Lord of all things; joined with others in prayer, he recognizes, that not only the individual, but human society as a whole has over it a supreme and absolute Lord. …..The Divine Heart of Jesus cannot but be moved at the prayers and sacrifices of His Church, and He will finally say to His Spouse, weeping at His feet under the weight of so many griefs and woes: "Great is thy faith; be it done to thee as thou wilt" [Matth. 15, 28.]. Pope Pius XI, Charitate Christi Compulsi, On the Sacred Heart

Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, fountain of eternal life, Your Heart is a glowing furnace of Love. You are my refuge and my sanctuary. O my adorable and loving Savior, consume my heart with the burning fire with which Yours is aflamed. Pour down on my soul those graces which flow from Your love. Let my heart be united with Yours. Let my will be conformed to Yours in all things. May Your Will be the rule of all my desires and actions. Amen. St. Gertrude the Great

CAN POPE LEO XIV RESTORE CATHOLIC MORALITY? Impossible without repentance!

When Pope Francis taught that Catholics living in a state of adultery can under certain circumstances receive Holy Communion without repenting of Sin, he overturned the First Principle of Catholic Moral Theology and thus destroyed 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

"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

Novus Ordo Church: The Lesser and Disordered Good

"A good proportionate to the common condition of human nature is found in many..., but the good that is above the common condition of nature is a small number... And since eternal bliss, consisting in the vision of God, surpasses the common condition of nature, there are but a few who are saved. And this shows the mercy of God that raises some to that salvation that the majority of men do not attain."

St. Thomas Aquinas

COMMENT: All that God has created is good coming from that hand of God. All creation is hierarchically directed to the glory of the greatest good which is God Himself. Man is created in the image of God which consists in the spiritualization of a soul with the powers of reason and will. The reason of man is directed to know truth and the will of man is created to choose good. Man fails to obtain salvation when he lives on lies and thus the good he chooses is not good enough. It is not a good enough because it is a good that has a disordered reference to God and a disordered reference to God's creation. It is a disordered lie. Every saint commenting on the number saved says that very few men are saved. Jesus Christ said that the way of salvation is straight and the gate narrow while the way to damnation is broad and the gate wide. We are to strive to enter by the narrow gate with the few and turn away from the many. The narrow gate demands that the reason adheres to truth and the will to the greatest good which is God. The Novus Ordo Church uniformly is complacent and satisfied with lies and "a good proportionate to the common condition of human nature found in many." There is no possibility for salvation for anyone who is satisfied with lies and a lesser disordered "good proportionate to the common condition of human nature."

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

The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, BVM -Queen of All Saints & Mother of Fair Love, and BVM-Mediatrix of All Grace are feasts of the Blessed Mother Mary normally celebrated on May 31. The Queenship is translated to the following day and the other two are suppressed this year because of Trinity Sunday. Since the current occupant of the papal throne, like his predecessor Francis/Bergoglio, despise the immemorial tradition of the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Mediatrix of All Graces, we should offer prayers to her today in memory of this title.

Prayer to Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Graces

O heavenly treasure of all graces, Mary, Mother of God and our dear Mother, since you are the first-born daughter of the Eternal Father, and you held in your hands His omnipotence, be moved to pity for our souls and grant us the graces which we fervently ask of you, our dear Lady, Mediatrix of All Graces. [Make your requests here] Hail Mary, etc.

O merciful dispenser of divine graces, Mary most Holy, Mother of the Eternal Incarnate Word, who has crowned you with His immense wisdom, look tenderly upon the greatness of our sorrows, and grant us the necessary graces we need so much to fulfill the will of our Creator, God the Father. Hail Mary, etc.

Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Graces, pray for us.

Pope Leo endorses Francis/Bergoglio's Heretical Document, Evangelii Gaudium

Neo-Modernists belief:

"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 the Pelagian, Evangelii Gaudium

"Pope Francis masterfully concretely set forth in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium ....."

Pope Leo XIV

Catholic Faith:

"The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that all those who are outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans but also Jews or heretics and schismatics, cannot share in eternal life and will go into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless they are joined to the Church before the end of their lives.... and that nobody can be saved, no matter how much he has given away in alms and even if he has shed blood in the name of Christ, unless he has persevered in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church."

Pope Eugene IV, Council of Clorence, Cantate Domino, 1441

SSPX announces four candidates to be consecrated as bishops for the SSPX

The SSPX has been in doctrinal discussions with Rome since 1997 and since around 2015 their leadership made the 1989 Profession of Faith with its third addendum of vowing in a Catholic profession of faith to unconditional obedience to the "authentic (authorized) magisterium" of the pope and were, because of that, regularized in the Novus Ordo Church. The authentic (authorized) magisterium is a modern term used to identify the person of the pope in his 'authorized' acts and has no other meaning beyond that. When the pope arranges the seating assignments at a papal dinner it is an act of the "authentic (authorized) magisterium" of the pope. Archbishop Lefebvre considered this addendum unacceptable. Why? Because unconditional obedience, or as the Vatican II document Lumen Gentium terms it, unconditional 'submission of the mind and soul', can only be given to God. All human acts of obedience are necessarily conditional. The SSPX since 2012 has expelled or driven out over one-hundred clerics from their society because they would not go along with the compromising of the leadership. They insisted, as did Archbishop Lefebvre, that there could be no accommodation with Rome without first addressing the doctrinal errors of Vatican II and its corrupting 'spirit'. The most notable of those expelled was Bishop Richard Williamson. Bishop Williamson before his death consecrated six bishops to aid traditional Catholics throughout the world because there exists a state of necessity in the Catholic Church to defend the faith and preserve the purity of worship. Our Mission of Ss. Peter & Paul benefitted much from his charity. When Bishop Williamson died in January of 2025 the SSPX published a notice in which they censored his consecrations of bishops as an unnecessary act and a grave sin. They expressed their hope that he sincerely repented from this grave sin before his death! Now, a little over a year later, the SSPX has discovered their own 'state of necessity' and propose to consecrate four clerics as bishops. This 'state of necessity' has nothing to do with the defense of the Church, Catholic tradition and purity of worship but only with the needs of the SSPX. This is not a morally acceptable ground for the consecrations and the SSPX knows it. A dishonorable motive vitiates what in other respects is a honorable act.

Furthermore, the priests of the SSPX without exception were ordained with the understanding that they would not be exercising ordinary jurisdiction. The SSPX believes erroneously that supplied jurisdiction is provided by the Church directly to the clerics because of the state of necessity in the Church. This is not true. Supplied jurisdiction is provided by the Church for the needs of the faithful. Any cleric may provide for the spiritual needs of the faithful when those holding ordinary jurisdiction either will not or cannot. When a faithful Catholic cannot obtain Catholic doctrine and Catholic sacraments from those exercising ordinary jurisdiction over him, he is free to obtain these from any other cleric who is willing to help. Now SPPX clerics WILL NOT provide the sacraments to any faithful Catholic who does not conform to the doctrine and worship of the SSPX and who is unwilling to pay for these sacraments. The SSPX clerics believe that supplied jurisdiction is provided to them directly by the Church independent of the needs of the faithful and they are free to give or withhold spiritual aid. This is why Fr. John Fullerton, the current and former district superior of the SSPX for the United States once vowed a threat to Ss. Peter & Paul Roman Catholic Mission that unless the property was turned over to them or to the local ordinary, he would personally see that no Catholic attending our Mission would ever received any sacraments from any traditional priest whomsoever. He vowed that we would enter a "spiritual desert." This is objectively a grave sin. It demonstrates more convincingly than any argument that the SSPX exists for itself and not the good of the Church or the needs of the faithful. The SSPX has no right to consecrate bishops based upon the personal needs of their own society.

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

“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.

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.

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