ONE THING IS VERY CLEAR, CLIMATE CHANGE IS NOT THE NUMBER 1 EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO MANKIIND! ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE MAY WIPE OUT HUMANITY IN THIS COMING DECADE! AND THE WINDS OF WAR AROUND THE WORLD IS SPARKING ALARM, ALARM I SAY,, IN EUROPE BUT THE USA IS ASLEEP AT THE WHEELS OF WAR!

 PRESS TITLE FOR DISTURBING ARTICLE ON THE WINDS OF WAR IN EUROPE!!!!

Pray for Europe, Pray for the World

Something is afoot.

What? We, the hoi polloi, do not know. 

Read more »

BRILLIANT UPDATE! DID POPE LEO REALLY SAY THIS AND CAN WE ASK, “WHAT DOES THE POPE REALLY SAY?”

UPDATED, UPDATED, UPDATED!The Church in Crisis — and How We Must Not Save Her: Twelve Issues (Bishop Robert Mutsaerts)

 The Church in Crisis — and How We Must Not Save Her

Twelve Issues, Uncomfortable Truths, and a Catholic Way Forward

"The Church does not exist for itself": Leo XIV calls on Rome for a pastoral approach that truly leads to Christ

Pope Leo gave a very good talk to the priests of His Holiness’ Diocese, Rome. But because His Holiness is the Bishop of Rome, thus the Universal Pastor, His Holiness is speaking to all priests and bishops of the world.

You can read His Holiness’ full presentation HERE. But this is what I want to focus upon in terms of evaluating what has happened to the Church in the last 60 years:

To verify, under the light of the Holy Spirit, means to stop, to reread what has happened, to recognize what has borne fruit, to understand what has not worked, and to seek together the reasons. It means, in a word, to make truth. I invite you to carry out this verification by involving the whole community and, as far as possible, also listening to people who do not frequent it and see things, so to speak, «from outside.»

1. Has the liturgical rearrangement accomplished any real renewal? Yes, there is more active participation but not necessarily actual participation, meaning internal conversion, contemplation and experiencing the Transcendent. It isn’t the vernacular that has done this, but dumbing down the Mass, the loss of sacred silence while ritual and prayer is happening, standing to receiving Holy Communion with the hand and on the run and allowing anyone and everyone to distribute Holy Communion and usually not wearing their Sunday Best, their most modest Sunday best. 

2. What has happened to religious life? For women’s orders who changed everything and usually using a synodal way to do it—they are on life support today about to disappear altogether. Is there a way to turn that around? Yes, but few are willing but the Nashville Dominicans is a good example!

3. Only those dioceses in the world that are traditional and orthodox are seeing vocations to the priesthood. Charleston, SC has more seminarians and ordinations with much fewer Catholics than Chicago but far more seminarians and ordinations than Chicago and Charlotte, NC does too, although the new bishop there may bring Chicago to Charlotte! 

4. We all know that Vatican II was imposed upon the Church in the most pre-Vatican II way in the late 1960’s and most of the 1970’s. Authoritarianism reigned supreme to take a hammer to all that was pre-Vatican II, humiliating the faith and piety of pre-Vatican II Catholics who did not want to change or resented being made to change. We saw that returning during Pope Francis’ Magisterium especially with the Holy Father’s animus towards those young and old who prefer pre-Vatican II ethos and liturgies. Alienating these Catholics in a new way is not missionary or evangelization and continues to lead to the loss of Catholics joining schismatic sects. 

5. In 1965 in the USA, nearly 90% of Catholics attended Sunday Mass and made their Easter Duty. Today, maybe 5% to 12% of Catholics attended Sunday Mass  and make their Easter duty and fewer are getting married in the Church. We can’t just blame secular sociological changes and mores, but the Church's own destruction of its pre-Vatican II form, which in no way can be called renewal or even purification of its more rigid aspects, but wholesale destruction of it to create something else. 

Any other evaluations?

I THOUGHT VATICAN II TAUGHT THAT THERE WERE TO BE NO BARRIERS BETWEEN THE LAITY AND THE SANCTUARY—THUS ALTAR RAILINGS HAD TO BE REMOVED BECAUSE VATICAN II TAUGHT THAT THESE WERE BARRIERS!

This photo is a shrine at Fatima which has Rupnick mosaics everywhere. We know that his expensive artwork is everywhere in Europe in major shrines and now everyone is scrambling to figure out how to rid their shrines and churches of this art because the artist is such a disgrace. 

But evidently Fatima has decided to keep it. I am conflicted about ripping out artwork because even if the artist is corrupt his art may be a grace. And judging art is a science for many who do it. I find myself never agreeing with art critics and just relying on what I like and don’t like.

But, if something is truly considered a work of art, whether I like it or not, I don’t normally like to see it ripped out and discarded. That seems to go against what is sacred. 

But this is my point today and it isn’t about art but about altar railings or better yet Communion railings!

Look at the Fatima chapel above. There is no Communion railings. But, but, but…there is a barrier, roping to keep pilgrims out of the sanctuary.

While altar railings, I mean, Communion railings functioned in the same way, their purpose wasn’t to keep out but to invite the laity to come and kneel at the Communion railing to pray, to adore and yes, to receive Holy Communion in the most reverent way possible.

That roping is only a barrier! 

IF HE DOES, Will pope Leo excommunicate him? WERE THE FSSPX EXCOMMUNICATIONS A WARNING?

 

"The need compels me": The Bishop of Antwerp advances his plan to ordain married men as priests in 2028

The Bishop of Antwerp, Belgium, Johan Bonny, has begun training several married men with the intention of ordaining them as priests in 2028. The project, publicly announced in March, has advanced…

ANOTHER REASON, ACTUALLY THE SAME ONE, WHY WE NEED AD ORIENTEM FOR THE LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST!

 We don’t need to be entertained by the piety, lack thereof, or facial antics of the priest-celebrant at Mass.

Sure, if the priest gets the gift of tears at Mass, then by all means cry your eyes out, but not in front the congregation, ad orientem solves that problem marvelously!

We don’t need to look at a priest at the consecration looking like he’s in ecstacy of some kind, real or acted. WE DON’T NEED THAT!

We don’t need to even know who the priest is while celebrating the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Ad orientem, it might be any priest in the world , the bishop or even the pope—who cares! I know, spirit of Vatican II Catholics can’t get enough of the cult of the priest and his looks, piety and personality, not to mention, popularity, they eat it up—they love it. UGH! 

Moved to Tears at the Altar: A Priest’s Experience Points to the Miracle of the Eucharist at Every Mass

Alyssa MurphyBlogs

THE APPARITIONS AT CONYERS, GEORGIA—I WAS THERE—WAS IT A GRAND HOAX OR NOT?

I can’t remember what year I went, I think around 1995 or so, but I was very impressed with how many people were there and I do believe I went with a small group of people from my parish in Augusta, GA, a short two hour drive. No matter the year, it was definitely on October 13 when I went. 

Conyers is a suburb of Atlanta about an hour east of downtown. 

And there were all kinds of people there, the sick, the lame, the dying and all those assisting them. It was almost like a Lourdes experience in Georgia! 

And everyone was praying and to have up to 100,000 pilgrims praying the Holy Rosary as Mrs. Fowler was having her “visions” was quite moving. 

I tend to agree with what Bishop Donoghue said and his openness to it. He is quoted in the last paragraph of this post from Wikipedia. The rest below is the dreaded and maligned but great AI summary of it:

Here is a facebook documentary with video evidence: 

 https://www.facebook.com/reel/1279163224343654/?fs=e&fs=e

The Marian apparitions at Conyers, Georgia, were a series of high-profile, alleged religious visions reported by housewife Nancy Fowler between 1990 and 1998. At their peak in the early-to-mid 1990s, Fowler’s farm in Conyers became one of the largest and most heavily attended unofficial pilgrimage sites in the United States. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Chronology of the Visions

• The Beginnings (1987–1988): Fowler first reported seeing a silent vision of Jesus Christ in 1987 while living in despair. By 1988, she claimed to receive inner locutions and visions from the Virgin Mary, whom she referred to as "Our Loving Mother". Mystically guided to relocate, she and her family moved to a farm in Conyers, Georgia, in 1990. [1, 2, 3]
• Monthly Apparitions (1990–1994): From October 13, 1990, until May 13, 1994, Fowler claimed that the Virgin Mary appeared to her publicly on the 13th of every month. These occurrences drew immense global crowds—frequently reaching up to 80,000 pilgrims in a single day—which severely strained local roads and infrastructure. [1, 2, 3]
• Annual Messages (1994–1998): Due to mounting pressure from local civil and church authorities, the schedule shifted. Mary allegedly announced she would only appear with a public message once a year on October 13—a date chosen to align with the historical anniversary of the "Miracle of the Sun" at Fátima, Portugal. [1, 2, 3]
• The Final Message (1998): On October 13, 1998, an estimated 100,000 pilgrims converged on the Conyers farm. Fowler emerged to deliver what she announced would be Mary’s final public message, which focused heavily on a call to the "youth of the world" to find moral direction. After this date, the public messages ceased completely. [1]

Core Themes & Pilgrim Customs

The messages Fowler delivered primarily emphasized traditional Catholic themes: repentance, frequent prayer (especially the Rosary), and personal conversion. They also included specific warnings for the United States, warnings of future war, and public admonitions against abortion and euthanasia. [1, 2, 3]

During the events, pilgrims engaged in several distinct devotions:

• Collecting Holy Water from a well on the property blessed by Mary.
• Praying at a large, 15-foot crucifix on "Holy Hill".
• Taking Polaroid photographs of the sun and sky, hoping to capture miraculous changes in light, crosses, or shapes of holy figures. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Catholic Church Position & Scientific Testing

The Roman Catholic Church never officially recognized or sanctioned Nancy Fowler’s visions. The Archdiocese of Atlanta maintained a highly skeptical and hands-off approach. While they did not issue a formal final condemnation, they actively forbade priests from leading organized pilgrimages to the farm, prohibited celebrating Mass on the property, and discouraged the faithful from treating it as an official shrine.[1, 2, 3]

In the mid-1990s, a team of scientists and neuropsychophysiologists tested Fowler during her alleged states of vision. Their data indicated that she entered genuine altered states of consciousness during the events and did not exhibit signs of psycho-pathology, though critics and skeptics remained convinced the events were a combination of psychological delusion or financial exploitation. [1, 2]

Aftermath and the Site Today

Following the conclusion of the public visions, Fowler distanced herself from the supporting non-profit organization (Our Loving Mother's Children, Inc.) in 1999. She eventually moved to Texas, kept a very low profile, and passed away from cancer in 2012. [1, 2]

The Conyers farm site (located at 2324 White Rd NE) still exists today as a peaceful spiritual retreat. Maintained by a foundation, the 120-acre property features the original prayer farmhouse, a grotto with various shrines, walking trails, and stations of the cross, remaining a quiet place of prayer for visitors. [1]

Would you like to explore the exact text of the final 1998 message, look into the scientific testingperformed on Nancy Fowler, or learn more about how to visit the current memorial farm in Conyers?

Position of the Catholic Church

The Catholic Church maintains a cautious stance towards the Conyers apparitions. While the Church has not officially endorsed the apparitions, it also does not condemn them outright.^[6] Archbishop James Patterson Lyke, O.F.M., who was Archbishop of Atlanta during the time of the apparitions, forbade priests from leading or initiating pilgrimages to Conyers.^[1][7] In 1994, Lyke's successor, Archbishop John Francis Donoghue, reiterated the directives to priests concerning pilgrimages to Conyers.^[5] Archbishop Donoghue was more open to the events however. In a June 12, 1994 article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, he said of the Conyers apparitions, “People are praying. People are coming back to church who hadn’t been in church for a long time.  People’s faith is restored.  Conversions are taking place.” Portions of the Blessed Mother’s final message to Nancy were even published in the Atlanta Archdiocese newspaper, the Georgia Bulletin.

POPE LEO NEEDS A MOTU PROPRIO LIKE THE ONE BELOW THAT UNDOES TRADITIONIS CUSTODIS! BRIEF, TO THE POINT AND DEATH DEALING!

 APOSTOLIC LETTER

ISSUED *MOTU PROPRIO*

BY THE SUPREME PONTIFF

LEO XIV

The wage restraint measures adopted by my Predecessor in the Apostolic Letter issued *Motu Proprio* "Un futuro sostenibile" [A Sustainable Future] of 23 March 2021—measures that were necessary to address the exceptional challenge of the pandemic and had already been partially modified through the repeal of Article 3 via the *Rescriptum ex Audientia* of 16 June 2025—may now be set aside, in the certainty that the institutions of the Holy See and Vatican City State will continue, through different means, their commitment to ensuring economic sustainability.

For this reason, having heard the expert opinion of the Secretariat for the Economy and having carefully examined the matter,

I establish the following:

Effective 1 September 2026, the Apostolic Letter issued *Motu Proprio* "Un futuro sostenibile" of 23 March 2021 is repealed; however, the effects produced during the period of its validity remain definitive, including the effects resulting from the suspension of the accrual of the biennial seniority increments referred to in Art. 5, which suspension remains permanently in effect.

I decree that these provisions shall have immediate, full, and lasting force, and that this *Motu Proprio* be published in *L’Osservatore Romano* and subsequently in the *Acta Apostolicae Sedis*.

Given at the Vatican, 1 September 2026, in the second year of the Pontificate.

POPE LEO XIV

I LOVE THE ORIENTATION!

 PRAYER CARD FOR SEMINARIANS OF THE DIOCESE OF CHARLESTON:

NO CHANGES WHATSOEVER! OF COURSE THE MORE SEASONED PHOTO HAS US ALL WEARING GLASSES

 I worked at the Dairy Queen/Brazier in Augusta, GA from the time I was 14 until about 20. Danny and Angie Danilovich worked there with me when we all were teenagers in the late 1960’s or very early 1970’s. They fell in love there and married as 18/19 year olds. Both were and are Catholics and their marriage has withstood the test of time even for teenage marriages. Angie was visiting Hilton Head and was at the Mass I celebrated for the Vigil of the 24th Sunday of Time. 

These both are ChatGPT manipulation of another photo and yes, we all wore white at the Dairy Queen… 

REPLAY OF A POST FROM A FEW YEARS BACK…

 On top of the World Trade Center in 1978…

I REMEMBER 9/11 AS THOUGH IT WAS YESTERDAY

Just as it was a beautiful crisp day in New York 18 years ago today, so it was in Augusta, Georgia. I was pastor of The Church of the Most Holy Trinity in downtown Augusta, since June of 1991, so by 9/11/2001 just a little over 10 years.

When we first heard of the first plane hitting the first twin tower, we turned on the television to listen to the news being reported as it happened, something rather new at that time. And as bad as it was, rumor was also being reported as fact which eventually had to be debunked, such as multiple planes downed in Washington, DC and on the Mall there.

By mid morning, realizing how horrible this event was and not knowing who was attacking us (the Soviet Union had collapsed, although I initially thought it was Russia), I opened wide the doors to our church as they are opened in the photo above.

The church was always opened during office hours, but the doors were shut so you had to push the huge door to get in.

By opening them wide, it let people know the church was available for prayer and a steady stream of people living and working downtown entered to do just that. 

Most Holy Trinity's daily Mass is at 12:15 PM to accommodate downtown workers on their lunch hour. I was overwhelmed that the 12:15 PM Mass had about 700 people in a church that seats about 900 and a very significant number of the people were Protestants. 

It was a rather emotional Mass as no one really understood what was happening and when the other shoe might drop.

The recessional hymn was America the Beautiful. This verse had everyone in tears:

Oh, beautiful for patriot dream

That sees beyond the years

Thine alabaster cities gleam,

Undimmed by human tears!

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee,

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea.

WILL POPE LEO ISSUE A MOTU PROPRIO AS STRONG AS TRADITIONIS CUSTODIS FORBIDDING LITURGICAL ABUSES—MEANING, CELEBRATING THE PAUL VI AND JOHN PAUL II MASS BY THE BOOK, READING THE BLACK AND DOING THE RED? I PRAY SO!

 The Jesuitical America Magazine’s on-line article decries liturgical abuse, which is rich, considering Jesuits have been some of the greatest abusers of the liturgy since the 1970 Missal became mandatory in Advent of 1969. 

At least, there is an implied repentance, but they needed to be explicit about how damaging the Jesuits have been to the renewal of the Liturgy with the 1970 Roman Missal. But, alas!

You can read their entire article Here. 

Here’s a moneybyte:

However well-meaning the priest is in departing from the rubrics, the fact remains that it is a decision only he can make and that often draws attention to him. There is a word for that: clericalism.—THE EDITORS, America Magazine

My final comments: The only way out of the grave liturgical abuses by Jesuits and any and all priests is a strongly worded Motu Proprio from Pope Leo stating that all Catholics must be accompanied to the licit celebration of the Paul VI’s Mass which has absolutely no improvisation, liturgical abuses and horizontally oriented. 

It must make clear that every priest who celebrates the Paul VI’s Mass should write a letter to the pope stating he understands the gravity of casual celebrations of the Mass and that liturgical abuses will absolutely be eliminated or suffer censure from his local bishop. 

And priests who don’t follow the rubrics of the 1970 Missal cannot celebrate Mass in churches or with a congregation. Nor should their Masses be advertised. 

POPE LEO ON ONE OF THE 7 SPIRITUAL WORKS OF MERCY, CORRECTING THE SINNER…

 Dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday!

The word of God proclaimed in this Sunday’s liturgy offers us some fundamental criteria for thought and action.  In the Letter to the Romans, we read that every commandment is “summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Rom 13:9).  Saint Paul insists on this point with a very powerful image, one that also appears in the Lord’s Prayer.  He writes: “Owe no one anything, except to love one another” (v. 8).

Jesus taught us to ask for and to practice the forgiveness of debts.  Yet there is one debt we owe to one another that does not enslave us: the debt of mutual love.  All the attention, care and goodness we have received make us freer and more capable of responsibility.

In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus suggests at least two ways for every Christian community to practice mutual love.  The first is to become capable of fraternal correction.  This is a delicate art, too often forgotten, that calls for frankness and a gradual approach.  Speaking honestly with one another — first face to face, then, if necessary, with two or three others, and finally, when required, with the whole community — means facing reality and transforming problems and conflicts into opportunities for growth.  Complaining and speaking ill of others are easier, but they accomplish nothing and leave many situations paralyzed.  The Gospel, instead, teaches us the freedom that comes through charity.

There is also a second way of loving one another as brothers and sisters, which, for Jesus, transforms even our prayer: coming to an agreement.  Not only when there is a conflict, but also when asking God for some gift.  The Lord says: “If two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven” (Mt 18:19).  This promise suggests that we can have shared desires, shared sorrows and shared hopes, and that through prayer we can grow in unity.  Without faith, each person might feel alone and become suspicious of others, seeing them as strangers and enemies.  By grace, however, we are brothers and sisters who can live in harmony: meeting one another, forgiving one another and listening to one another in the Lord.

Let us ask Mary, who, after the angel’s announcement, went in haste to her cousin Elizabeth to share the joy and the hardship of pregnancy, to teach us, too, the joyful debt of fraternal love.

WHEREIN THERE WASN’T ANYTHING WRONG WITH THE PRE-VATICAN II CHAPEL, BUT WRECKOVATED BY THE JESUITS, NONE THE LESS, AND THEN LATER A NEW RENOVATIOIN BY THE JESUITS AND MUCH MORE TASTEFUL, JUST ADD AN ALTAR RAILING, NEW ALTAR AND AMBO…

 Madonna della Strada Chapel at Loyola, Chicago:

First iteration:

Second iteration:

Third iteration: