I JUST LOVE BONNIE AND CLYDE! THEY DESERVE THE BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR ACADEMY AWARD 🥇!

Didn't watch last night's stellar performance by Bonnie and Clyde, after all the Walking Dead (not those on the Academy Award Show but the actual show with  Neegan) was on and I presume on that show the President is a walker as are the celebrities of Hollywood although on the Academy Awards art was mimicking the reality of the Walking Dead. In fact, it might have been the Walking Dead?

KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES; SUNSET BOULEVARD/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES

ABUSE ENCOURGED BY MALIGNANT PASSIVE ENCOURAGEMENT BY THOSE IN LEADERSHIP

Even as a child, I prayed this prayer from one of my prayer books, thus I was made aware that priests came in all sizes and personalities and some were good, bad, indifferent, tepid and down right evil. So when the scandal of abuse in the Church accelerated in the 1970's, liturgical and otherwise, I was not shocked:

PRAYERS FOR PRIESTS

O Almighty and Eternal God, look upon the Face of Thy Christ, and for love of Him Who is the eternal High-priest, have pity on Thy priests. Remember, O most compassionate God, that they are but weak and frail human beings. Stir up in them the grace of their vocation which is in them by the imposition of the Bishop's hands. Keep them close to Thee, lest the enemy prevail against them, so that they may never do anything in the slightest degree unworthy of their sublime vocation.

O Jesus, I pray Thee for Thy faithful and fervent priests; for Thy unfaithful and tepid priests; for Thy priests laboring at home or abroad in distant mission fields; for Thy tempted priests; for Thy lonely and desolate priests; for Thy young priests; for Thy aged priests; for Thy sick priests; for Thy dying priests; for the souls of Thy priests in Purgatory.

But above all I commend to Thee the priests dearest to me: the priest who baptized me; the priests at whose Masses I assisted and who gave me Thy Body and Blood in Holy Communion; the priests who taught and instructed or helped me and encouraged me; all the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way, particularly (your priest’s name here). O Jesus, keep them all close to Thy heart, and bless them abundantly in time and in eternity. Amen. Mary, Queen of the clergy, pray for us; obtain for us many and holy priests. Amen.

I don't know if there is a connection between the horrifying proliferation of sexual abuse of the vulnerable in the Church by clergy and their supervisors who encouraged it by a nod and a wink or rewarded it with months of useless therapy to overcome it, but liturgical abuse went on steroids after Vatican II as did the abuse of minor males by the clergy. Neither were punished by their bishops.

In fact the John Jay College of Criminal Law discovered that 1974 was the year where more priests abused male minors in the Church. There was a heck of a lot of other abuse going on too, especially the raping of beautiful churches by the iconoclastic liturgical elite as well as the horrifying liturgical abuse that often led to the desecration of the Most Holy Eucharist, not only in its sacrificial aspect but in the Species of the Sacrament.

There are two stories of recent interest in this regard, one from almost 100 years ago that Rorate Caeli resurrected and another from Guam where sexual abuse of minors by the chief shepherd, their bishop is being tried by none other than Cardinal Raymond Burke.

In terms of the trial of the bishop, the current administrator of that diocese has order priests to start following the General Instruction of the Current Ordinary Form Missal rather than ad libbing it or making up one's own way of celebrating the Mass. In other words, it appears that not only has sexual abuse be ignored but also liturgical abuse. A connection???? I suspect so.

Then this horrific story from about 100 years ago. Please note how this murdering priest executed for his crimes celebrated the liturgy of the Church--the pre-Vatican II Church at that, thus show that there was some liturgical abuse back then too not to mention other kinds of horrific breaking of priestly promises.

A tale of Mass murder and homicide

On 18 February 1916 a Catholic priest was executed by the state of New York at the Sing Sing prison, the only priest in America to receive the death penalty for a crime. The New York Daily News today did a look back at the story from a century ago.

Father Hans Schmidt was convicted of murder, following an affair he had with a woman. Before he killed her, he also paid for their baby to be aborted.

What was especially interesting was this passage from today's article:

"...Schmidt, a 1907 Bavarian emigre, was a square peg who refused to conform to Catholicism's meticulously rounded holes. He altered the church's ritual prayers to suit his eccentricities, and his ceremonies often were a mess of scriptural error."

No further comment is needed.

UNLESS AGING ICONOCLASTS HAVE THEIR WAY, THIS BODES WELL FOR WHAT CATHOLIC CHURCHES SHOULD LOOK LIKE AND DID UNTIL ABOUT THE 1970'S AND ITS MENTALITY

So many in the south, one is included from South Carolina, (Aiken near where I grew up in Augusta) but one is missing from Greenville,SC, and then there is the new Cathedral in North Carolina. The south, as usual, leads the way!

Coming Soon: 10 Beautiful New Churches in the Works

Posted by Peter LaFave | Feb 24, 2017 | America, Architecture, Catholic Church, Culture, Faith,

This article continues our series on the revival of sacred architecture that has arisen in the past decade, and features ten new Church designs, whether in concept phase or nearing completion in construction, all adhering to the rich, traditional design of centuries past. Our previous article, which highlighted church interior renovations, can be found here.

 Phillip the Apostle, Lewisville, TX, McCrery Architects
Unable to serve the 10,000 members of its fast-growing parish, St. Phillip the Apostle parish has commissioned a new church construction, on its Lewisville campus. The church will draw on the Medieval country church style, and is designed by James McCrery. Learn more

Courtesy of McCrery Architects

Courtesy of McCrery Architects

Chapel of the Holy Cross, Tampa, FL, Duncan Stroik
A new 900-seat chapel for a Jesuit prep school in Florida draws on the great tradition of Jesuit architecture and will be a new focal point of the school’s expanding masterplan. The brick exterior has a limestone portico and is topped with an octagonal cupola. The centralized interior includes four shrines dedicated to Jesuit martyrs and an altarpiece above the main altar depicting the vision of Saint Ignatius at La Storta. The chapel will be completed in 2018. Learn more

Courtesy of Duncan Stroik

Courtesy of Duncan Stroik

Sacred Heart, Knoxville, TN, McCrery Architects,
This cathedral will serve as the focal point for the Diocese of Knoxville, with seating for 1,000 parishioners in a 25,000 square foot worship space. Learn more

Courtesy of McCrery Architects

Courtesy of McCrery Architects

Mary Help of Christians, Aiken, SC, McCrery Architects,
Nearing completion, with just the addition of the bell tower remaining, this church is inspired by Renaissance architecture, and the churches of the very early Christian period. Learn more

Courtesy of McCrery Architects

Holy Cross Church, Rumson, NJ McCrery Architects,
This project, which has neared completion, is an addition to and transformation of an historic wood-frame shingled church in Rumson. The current church is quite small and will be expanded by means of transept additions and extension of the nave. The interior will be turned 180 degrees so as to orient the Mass. Learn more

Courtesy of McCrery Architects

Courtesy of McCrery Architects

Christ the King Chapel, Christendom College, Front Royal, VA  O’Brien & Keane
This chapel will serve as the new spiritual home for the community of Christendom College in Front Royal, VA. From the Christendom College website: “The interior of the chapel will feature an elegant high altar at the center of a traditional cruciform structure. Above the altar will sit a commanding Gothic tower with refurbished historic bells.
The new bell tower and spires will rise out of the valley along the shores of the Shenandoah River on our campus. The Chapel will be visible from I-66, serving as a symbol of hope and beauty to all who travel the major interstate. Learn more

Courtesy of Christendom College

Courtesy of Christendom College

New Mount Carmel Monastery, Cody, WY, McCrery Architects
This French Gothic monastery will be nestled in the rugged mountains of Park County, Wyoming, serving as the home and sanctuary to the Carmelite Order and Mystic Monks Coffee. Lean more

Courtesy of McCrery Architects

Courtesy of McCrery Architects

Our Lady of Good Voyage, Boston, MA Cram and Ferguson
This newly constructed chapel in Boston’s Seaport district will seat just over 200, with an interior in the wooden English Gothic style. The chapel will feature items salvaged from closed churches in the Boston Archdiocese, including stained glass windows and a Victorian era alter. Learn more

Courtesy of Cram and Ferguson

Courtesy of Cram and Ferguson

Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, NC, O’Brien & Keane
The cathedral, which is nearing completion, will replace the current, smaller church, and will provide seating for over 2,000. The traditional cruciform design will feature custom marble liturgical furnishings, rendered in Bianco Carrara and Giallo Siena. Learn more

Courtesy of O’Brien and Keane

Courtesy of O’Brien and Keane

Pius X, Granger, IN, Alliance Architects
Designed in the traditional Romanesque style, with emphasis on a centralized tabernacle, this church will accommodate 1,300 souls. Learn more

Courtesy of Alliance Architects

Courtesy of Alliance Architects

Do you have a new church construction to share? Send it to us and we’ll feature it in our next article.
Please feel free to share this article.

POPE FRANCIS QUOTES SCARLET O'HARA, THAT GOOD IRISH CATHOLIC (OR WAS SHE LIVING A DOUBLE LIFE?)

Pope Angelus: Let God take care of tomorrow

Pope Francis during this Sunday Angelus overlooking St Peter's Square - AP

26/02/2017 12:35

 

 

(Vatican Radio) During his Angelus address on Sunday in St Peter’s Square, Pope Francis took his cue from the Gospel reading of the day in which Jesus calls us not to worry about tomorrow, recalling that above all there is a loving Father who never forgets his children.

Drawing from this passage the Pope reminded the pilgrims and tourists present to trust in God who takes care of the living beings of creation.

Trusting in him, explained the Holy Father, “will not magically solve our problems, but it lets us face them with the right frame of mind.”

Pope Francis went on to say that, “God is not distant or anonymous: he is our refuge, the source of our serenity and our peace.”

When we distance ourselves from God we end up following the obsessive pursuit of worldly goods and riches. However, Jesus, the Holy Father said, “tells us that this desperate search is an illusion and a cause of unhappiness.”  Quoting from scripture, Pope Francis reiterated that "You cannot serve God and wealth"; one has to choose constantly the road that leads to God, because the temptation to reduce everything to money, pleasure and power is pressing. Choosing God’s path, observed the Holy Father may not immediately bear fruit but it ultimately leads to fulfillment and the realization of his plans for us.

(Lydia O'Kane)

HAS ASH WEDNESDAY AND QUADRAGESIMA SNUCK UP ON YOU?

This is a whine line! The season of Septuagesima needs to be restored to the Ordinary Form Latin Rite Missal. The glorious new Divine Worship, the Missal of the Ordinariate has it restored along with other EF options for their Ordinary Form Mass! WHY OR WHY THEM AND NOT US POOR ORDINARY FORM STEP CHILDREN??????

In your Ordinary Form parishes, in the three Sundays leading up to Ash Wednesday which is this Wednesday, were you given any words of warning??????

HAPPY QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY ANYWAY! BOOHOO!!!!!!

I AM SURE THE RELGIOUS HABIT, COMMUNITY LIFE AND A CLEAR APOSTOLATE HAVE ALL CONTRIBUTED TO THIS NUN LIVING TO BE 110! WHAT DO YOU THINK?

On her 110th birthday, Italy’s oldest native-born nun says love is the secret to life

ROME • Italy’s oldest native-born nun, Candida Bellotti, celebrated her 110th birthday with best wishes from Pope Francis and valuable tips for those wanting to live a long life. “Love, love and keep on loving. With joy!” the nun said as she marked the big milestone on Monday at the convent where she lives in the Tuscan town of Lucca. “Have faith in the future, and put in as much work as you can to make your wishes come true.” Sister Candida has survived two world wars, 10 popes and 57 Italian prime ministers. Born in Verona, she became a nun in 1931 with the Ministre degli Infermi di San Camillo order and worked as a nurse in hospitals and care homes across the country. She celebrated her birthday

 

Read More

 

MORE SERIOUS MORTAL SIN (WHEN UN-NATURAL) AND LESS SERIOUS MORTAL SIN BECAUSE ADULTERY IS NATURAL SEX?????

To see the logic of Catholic moral teaching based upon Sacred Scripture and Tradition for practicing Catholics and in Natural Law for all others, to include atheists, torn asunder by the silliness of 1970's thinking revived in 2010's is heartbreaking and breathtaking! But thus it is in the highest places of the Magisterium.

You can read the full article by pressing:

Cardinal Coccopalmerio: my Communion guidance wouldn’t apply to gay couples

My comments:

As politically incorrect it is, I am happy to see that the befuddled good Cardinal makes the distinction between natural and unnatural sex. Although he and everyone else knows that unnatural sex takes place between heterosexual couples and thus seems to be a more serious mortal sin for those who have recourse to natural sex, even if immoral, compared to those whose inclinations are purely toward the unnatural as in homosexual couples. But let's not split hairs.

But the logic that Cardinal Coccopalmerio uses to justify giving Holy Communion to those in so-called second marriages (civil unions) when the first union is still considered sacramental and thus in force is mind boggling when it comes to discerning what is more serious mortal sin and less serious mortal sin.

He does not make clear that those who feel they have a "good marriage" and have discerned they will return to Holy Communion may not have used the External Forum first to its ambiguous conclusion.

But the good Cardinal seems to be disingenuous. If those who are in adulterous relationships discern they need to go to Confession and Holy Communion, or bypass Confession and go directly to Holy Communion, then logically speaking anyone can go to Holy Communion no matter how less, more, or most their mortal sins are to include unnatural immorality. All you have to do is "feel good" about returning to Holy Communion.

I'm okay! You're Okay!

Holy Mary Mother of God and Mother of the Church pray for us!

VERY FAKE NEWS FROM PRAYTELL

Deaconesses are ordained by an Orthodox Archbishop so reports PRAYTELL.

However if one views the photos of the actual consecration and reads the story one knows these women are not ordained deacons for only men can be that.

Patriarch Theodoros of Alexandria performs first consecration of deaconesses

• Published by Aurelian Iftimiu
•  22.02.2017

On the feast of the Saint and Great Martyr Theodore of Tyre, 17 February 2016, the day on which His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa celebrates his name day, a festive Divine Liturgy was celebrated at the Holy Church of St Nicholas, within the Missionary Centre of Kolwezi.

Together with the Alexandrian Primate concelebrated Their Eminences Nicephorus, Metropolitan of Kinshasa, Innocent, Metropolitan of Burundi and Rwanda, and the local Metropolitan Meletios of Katanga, accompanied by the Clergy of the Hy Metropolis.

As the official site of the Patriarchate reports, His Beatitude the Patriarch spoke during his homily about the Great Martyr St Theodoros, emphasising the confession of martyrdom before the persecutors of faith and his love for Jesus Christ.

At the end of the Divine Liturgy the Primate of the Alexandrian Throne consecrated the Catechist elder Theano, one of the first members of the Missionary staff in Kolwezi, to “Deaconess of the Missions” of the Holy Metropolis of Katanga and read the prayer for one entering the “ecclesiastic ministry” for three Nuns and two Catechists, in order for them to assist the missionary effort of the Holy Metropolis, particularly in the Sacraments of Baptisms of adults and marriages, as well as in the Catechetical department of the local Church.

Note that it is the first time in the history of Missions in Africa that these consecrations have been done. 

The Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Alexandria restored the deaconess ministry during its working session held in November 2016.

Several holy women who fulfiled the deaconess ministry are enlisted in the Orthodox Calendar, among whom the most well known are St Tatiana (January 12), St Olympias (July 25), and St Foebe (September 3).

THE ENLIGHTENMENT KNOWN AS MODERNISM IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS CONTINUING TO REAR ITS UGLEY HEAD IN HIGH PLACES AS IT CONCERNS THE HISTORICAL JESUS AND EXEGISIS OF SCRIPTURE

Make no mistake, the liberal Protestants of the late 1800's came us with modern Scriptural exegisis to compliment the Enlightenment as it concerned modern thought of that period.

It led liberal Protestants to search for the historical Jesus stripping Scripture of any post-resurrection insights, meaning what did Jesus say in actuality without the filters of the resurrection and what did what He say mean in the culture of His day.

Of course this leads to a very low Christology. Jesus is just a poor misguided soul.

By the 1920's, conservative Protestants had had their fill of such nonsense! Their over-reaction led to the Fundamentalist movement within Protestantism to recover a high Christology and to be "fundamentalistic" in interpreting the Scriptures.

Today, liberal Protestantism is almost dead whereas the fundamentalists are going strong.

Many Catholic Scripture scholars began to use a modified form of the liberal Protestant version of interpreting Scripture developed in response to the Enlightenment in 1942 when Pope Pius XII allowed for it.

But by the late 1960's it was almost identical to the misguided Protestant version and having the same negative or deleterious effect on the faith of millions of Catholics, both clergy and laity.

Well, low and behold, in conjunction with the recovery of the 1970's mentality of making the Catholic Church unrecognizable as being Catholic, the new head of the Jesuits has given an interview that highlights everything I was taught in the seminary about interpreting Scripture and Tradition, a failed exegisis.  When will this generation move over for John Paul II and Benedict XVI's generation of priests and laity??????

Sandro Magister writes the following interview that the new superior general of the Society of Jesus, the Venezuelan Arturo Sosa Abascal, very close to Jorge Mario Bergoglio, has given to the Swiss vaticanista Giuseppe Rusconi for the blog Rossoporpora and for the "Giornale del Popolo" of Lugano.

Here are the passages most relevant to the case. Any commentary would be superfluous.

*

Q: Cardinal Gerhard L. Műller, prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, has said with regard to marriage that the words of Jesus are very clear and "no power in heaven and on earth, neither an angel nor the pope, neither a council nor a law of the bishops has the faculty to modify them."

A: So then, there would have to be a lot of reflection on what Jesus really said. At that time, no one had a recorder to take down his words. What is known is that the words of Jesus must be contextualized, they are expressed in a language, in a specific setting, they are addressed to someone in particular.

Q: But if all the worlds of Jesus must be examined and brought back to their historical context, they do not have an absolute value.

A: Over the last century in the Church there has been a great blossoming of studies that seek to understand exactly what Jesus meant to say… That is not relativism, but attests that the word is relative, the Gospel is written by human beings, it is accepted by the Church which is made up of human persons… So it is true that no one can change the word of Jesus, but one must know what it was!

Q: Is it also possible to question the statement in Matthew 19:3-6: “What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder”?

A: I go along with what Pope Francis says. One does not bring into doubt, one brings into discernment. . .

Q: But discernment is evaluation, it is choosing among different options. There is no longer an obligation to follow just one interpretation. . .

A: No, the obligation is still there, but to follow the result of discernment.

Q: However, the final decision is based on a judgment relative to different hypotheses. So it also takes into consideration the hypothesis that the phrase “let man not put asunder…” is not exactly as it appears. In short, it brings the word of Jesus into doubt.

A: Not the word of Jesus, but the word of Jesus as we have interpreted it. Discernment does not select among different hypotheses but listens to the Holy Spirit, who - as Jesus has promised - helps us to understand the signs of God’s presence in human history.

Q: But discern how?

A: Pope Francis does discernment following St. Ignatius, like the whole Society of Jesus: one has to seek and find, St. Ignatius said, the will of God. It is not a frivolous search. Discernment leads to a decision: one must not only evaluate, but decide.

Q: And who must decide?

A: The Church has always reiterated the priority of personal conscience.

Q: So if conscience, after discernment, tells me that I can receive communion even if the norm does not provide for it…

A: The Church has developed over the centuries, it is not a piece of reinforced concrete. It was born, it has learned, it has changed. This is why the ecumenical councils are held, to try to bring developments of doctrine into focus. Doctrine is a word that I don't like very much, it brings with it the image of the hardness of stone. Instead the human reality is much more nuanced, it is never black or white, it is in continual development.

Q: I seem to understand that for you there is a priority for the practice of the discernment of doctrine.

A: Yes, but doctrine is part of discernment. True discernment cannot dispense with doctrine.

Q: But it can reach conclusions different from doctrine.

A: That is so, because doctrine does not replace discernment, nor does it the Holy Spirit.

IF GERMANS ARE DOING THIS, IT'S GOT TO BE GOOD 😊!

I copy this from WDTPRS:

This was celebrated ad orientem.  The Mass was chanted mostly in German. One of the finest choirs in Europe sang the Ordinary in a Latin setting (Primi toni octo vocum  of Stefano Bernardi).  This goes to show how the Ordinary Form can indeed be celebrated in greater continuity with our tradition than it usually is in most places.  You can see the whole Mass HERE.