THIS IS HOW THOSE IN POWER BECOME DESPOTS

Thank you Gov. Cuomo for telling us how your coloring-book Catholicism since the Second Vatican Council has malformed you and your conscience. Maybe you can sue Vatican II?

It matters not to Gov. Cuomo that he has made himself into a despot. It matters not to him that he by signing a bill into law, now enables the murders of babies. Maybe he won't murder any. I don't think Hitler himself executed any Jews, but he made laws that allowed it and there were many willing to do the work for Hitler.

He can cry crocodile tears for how bishops have enabled the molestation of minors by priests, but he would be a hypocrite. Because he is enabling something even more heinous than that.

It is clear that Gov. Cuomo could care less if he is excommunicated, chastised by his bishop or even the pope or has some kind of interdict levied against him. That's his prerogative. But Catholics need for some sanction to be placed against him and his heresies enumerated as placing him and any others outside the full communion of the Catholic Church. Catholicism isn't a make it up as you go religion despite what we have been taught or have taught since Vatican II.

So here we have a post-Vatican II Catholic who is actually a Post-Catholic, Post-Christian. Here are his very own words to confirm this diagnosis:

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday shrugged off criticism and even calls from Roman Catholic leaders for his excommunication from the church over his support of a new state abortion law.

Saying he is duty-bound to separate his religious views from his work as governor, Cuomo, a Democrat, defended his support for the state's Reproductive Health Act, which he signed last week. 

The bill mostly codifies abortion rights protected in Roe v. Wade and other federal abortion rulings.(Please notice how Associated Press thinks it is no big deal--the murder of children!)

"I have my own Catholic beliefs, how I live my life. ... That is my business as a Catholic," Cuomo said. "I don't govern as a Catholic. I don't legislate as a Catholic."

Catholic bishops in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Tyler, Texas, tweeted support for excommunicating Cuomo from the church after he signed the abortion bill last week.

My final comment: We now know that when the Democrats are in power in legislatures, state governors and in the Federal government, they will pass the most liberal and hienous abortion bills and allow babies to die full term at birth by legalized murder. 

Is a day coming, and I hope soon, that Catholics who profess to belong to the Democrat Party will be excommunicated automatically? I personally hope so.  It would be worse than being a Mason or a Fascist!

DESPICABLE

If our country ever regains its sanity, shouldn't people like Gov. Cuomo and this woman be sent to prison for enabling the murder of babies? Years after the Holocaust, those Germans who worked in concentration camps and escaped detection were arrested and put on trial. What they did during the Holocaust was legalized by Hitler but they are still being held accountable in war crime tribunals to this day.

FROM A HIGH OF 82% OF THE POPULATION ATTENDING MASS EACH SUNDAY IN MALTA FIFTY YEARS AGO, TODAY IT IS ONLY 36% WHICH IS GOOD COMPARED TO OTHER CATHOLIC NATIONS BUT BY 2040 ONLY 10% ARE EXPECTED TO ATTEND MASS IN MALTA

The Maltese author the the article below chooses this somewhat unflattering photo of the current Archbishop of Malta, Archbishop Scicluna, whose last name she shares. Not sure, though, if they are related.

FROM THE MALTA WINDS NEWSPAPER: My comments embedded in the article in RED. 

The article is about the decline in Mass attendance the last 50 years. She has some unorthodox views as to why this has happened, a mixed bag of fact and fiction, mostly fiction to fit her narrative:

Apparently, it’s not me, it’s you

Posted by Giselle Scicluna on 30th January 2019 in Opinion


Statistics published by Discern, the research institute of the Archdiocese of Malta paint a very grim picture for the Church in our country. A mere fifty years ago, the number of faithful who attended Sunday mass was at a whopping eight-two percent of the population. Fresh from the abhorrent religio-political war of the early sixties, with people still reeling from the horrific effects of ‘id-dnub il-mejjet’ (interdiction), eighty-two percent was then a huge number indeed.

Fast forward five decades and that number has dwindled to a scant thirty-six percent, (which by today's standards elsewhere ain't bad!) which figures show is hugely made up of attendees who are over fifty years of age. The same published data also predicts that if numbers keep on declining at the current rate, by 2040 only ten percent of Malta’s Catholic population will be attending Sunday Mass. Interestingly, against this scenario, the same study also reveals that ninety-two percent of the population believe they are Catholic.

So, in a nutshell, we can conclude that the decimated Sunday Mass attendance is not due to some existential crisis of faith, but to other perhaps more telling issues, which are increasingly keeping the faithful away from their Church. (I would say it is a crisis of faith that began in the 1960's when staunchly faithful Catholics of the pre-Vatican II era where alienated by the changes of the 1960's and then those who liked the changes, which they though couldn't happen, wanted even more changes, such as the relaxation of sexual morality to include contraception. So Vatican II hit both groups, traditionalists and those who were progressive alienating a goodly number of both and then the generations to follow them were not give a solid Catholic upbringing.)

Why are people, and more to the point young people, turning away, especially since religious indoctrination in Malta starts at a very young age? Religion classes in schools and ‘il-Muzew’ seem to be having no impact on our younger generations. Why is this? The answer perhaps lies in the advent of better education for all. Not so long ago, the threat of fire and brimstone kept us all in check and those who dared challenge the Church were treated as pariahs and worse. (And yes, this is the problem, the loss of Catholic identity and the fear of God as well as the fear of hell!)

But today’s youngsters have no such qualms; they are inquisitive and would not accept the dogma previous generations have been force-fed, just because the priest ‘said so’. And what is the Church doing about this? Nothing, except wring its hands about its current state of affairs. Instead of providing moral leadership and guidance to the younger generation, it chooses to pontificate from its pulpits in much the same way it has done for centuries, leaving a trail of lethargy in its wake.(I'd like to know which parishes anywhere in the world after Vatican II pontificated so much so that it alienated all the people who are no longer coming to Church. To me it is the liberal marshmallows give them that has led to apathy and the loss of Catholic identity not to mention the scandals in the Church that were mismanaged by the pope on down).

And yet, in certain instances it chooses to keep up with the times. Its various media outlets, as well as its presence on social media is on a par with that of most modern organisations, but instead of cultivating innovative ways to appeal to the masses, it chooses instead to be divisive on matters which have nothing to do with Christ’s teachings and which do the very same Church no favours at all. It simply prefers to give voice to those with an axe to grind who happen to share its biased political agenda. Try to reconcile the at times deplorable commentary emanating from these outlets to the teachings of Jesus Christ and it’s quite easy to understand why people no longer look to the Church for moral guidance. (I am not sure what this paragraph is referring to as it must be Maltese?)

All this without even touching on sex abuse scandals which have been dogging the Church for the past few years. It is not only its failure to prevent such tragedies that irks, but more so, its disgraceful way of dealing with the perpetrators and the culture of ‘omerta’ which surrounds these cases. The Church stands for moral rectitude and when it fails in its duty, it undermines people’s faith in its soundness and integrity. Perhaps because it has gotten away with pushing its own agenda for centuries on end, it still believes that the faithful can be duped into blindly doing its bidding. Well, if the current numbers are anything to go by, this is no longer the case. (This is more than likely true.)

Focusing on problems plaguing our society in a modern-day scenario, also seem to be beyond the Church’s capability. Parish priests in their majority are simply there to perpetuate the sense of pomp and circumstance surrounding the Church, more interested in its traditional pageantry when the occasion calls for it, than actually invoking all-year-round true community spirit within the parish.

Surrounded by the usual ‘cliques’, these parish priests’ priority is the embellishment of the church building itself and rarely the spiritual wellbeing of their flock. This is a harsh sum-up, but I wonder how many parish priests make a true effort to know their parishioners, regardless of how far-flung from the village centre they might live, except when ‘it-tberik’ comes along. Of course, funds must then be raised for some new, dazzling embellishment within the church. (Interesting? Is this a slam of the "reform of the reform"? Or does the author prefer all the money progressives spent on churches not in need of restoration or renovations but stripped of anything Catholic from its historical patrimony? She is right that priests should know their parishioners and be focused on ministry rather than fluff. However, Sunday is the day that we see the vast majority of our people, most don't want a personal relationship with their priest apart from the Sacraments. So if we don't do Sunday well or the other sacraments, what is left for these people, a hip priest?")

There are so many issues, so many factors which are contributing to the terrible malaise conflicting the Church. However, through the Church’s own findings, we can only deduce that it’s not us, the people, who are the problem here… And there are so many solutions which with goodwill and a better approach could reverse this sorry decline and stop the alienation of a faithful flock which for all intents and purposes still believes. But never mind all this sorry devastation, at least the Church is busy counting cranes…

My final comments:

 

 The last 50 years has seen popes and bishops and priests as well a clique of laity worshiping Vatican II and not Jesus Christ, more focused on the new and improved when in fact the old tried and true was just fine. Authoritarianism and paternalism needed to be reformed, no doubt and the laity called to a mature Catholicism where one's own maturity enables the person to embrace the faith. But the Faith has to be taught and correctly not some watered down version or a version that is no different than a secular model of living in the world.  We've returned to the chaos of the 1960's and again faithful evangelical Catholics are being alienated and those who are progressive will have their wings snipped in the future by a new pope. And more generations of Catholics will be malformed or uninformed about their faith and fail to see the need to attend Mass. Being a NONE will suit them fine.

CARDINAL DOLAN IT IS WAY PAST TIME FOR YOU TO EXCOMMUNICATE HIS A--, I MEAN, HIS DERRIERE

Let me be candid. As a pastor and as a Catholic, it is tragic, very tragic, extremely tragic, when a man chooses the wide path to hell and then mocks the Church for telling him he as done so. Public excommunication is meant to be rare but it is also meant to be medicinal when used.

Governor Cuomo has cut himself off from the full Communion of the Church and he needs to be told so by Cardinal Dolan. As a punitive measure, but also to reassure faithful Catholics that the Governor's actions are evil and against Holy Mother Church, the governor needs to be excommunicated in order to encourage him to repent publicly and be readmitted to the full communion of the Church publicly when he has completed his acts of penance.

Thus, I applaud Cardinal Dolan for his words in this New York Post tabloid, but he must do more. He must EXCOMMUNICATE.

The former Bishop of Lincoln, Nebraska once excommunicated a number of Catholics simply because they belonged to various anti-Catholic organizations. I believe that excommunication still holds under the current Bishop.

As the Democrat Party is becoming more and more anti-Catholic, will there be a day that Catholics are warned they cannot belong this party anymore for its extreme views and platforms, similar to a Catholic not being allowed to be a Nazi or a Fascist or an atheistic Communist?

New York Post, Cardinal Dolan: Why are Cuomo, Democrats alienating Catholics?

By Timothy Cardinal Dolan

January 28, 2019 |

Andrew Cuomo and Cardinal DolanIt’s been a rough time for faithful Catholics recently in our state government’s frantic rush for “progressive” ideas.

I’m thinking first of the ghoulish radical abortion-expansion law, which allows for an abortion right up to the moment of birth; drops all charges against an abortionist who allows an aborted baby, who somehow survives the scissors, scalpel, saline and dismemberment, to die before his eyes; mandates that, to make an abortion more convenient and easy, a physician need not perform it; and might even be used to suppress the conscience rights of health care professionals not to assist in the grisly procedures. All this in a state that already had the most permissive abortion laws in the country.

Andrew Cuomo signs bill updating New York's abortion law

As if that’s not enough, instead of admitting that abortion is always a tragic choice, and that life-giving alternatives should be more vigorously promoted, the governor and his “progressive” supporters celebrated signing the bill. At the governor’s command, even the lights of the Freedom Tower sparkled with delight.

Those who once told us that abortion had to remain safe, legal and rare now have made it dangerous, imposed and frequent.

Then our governor insults and caricatures the church in what’s supposed to be an uplifting and unifying occasion, his “State of the State” address.

The bishops of this state have long supported a reform of the inadequate laws around the sexual abuse of minors. Yes, we and many others expressed reservations about one element, the retroactive elimination of the civil statute of limitations, but urged dramatic reform that, in many ways, was tougher than what was being proposed by legislators. A month ago we renewed that stance, and even dropped our objections to the “look-back” section if all victims would benefit. The governor was aware of all this.

Why, then, would he use his address to blame the church, and only the church, for blocking this bill? Why would he publicly brag in a political address about his dissent from timeless and substantive church belief? Why would he quote Pope Francis out of context as an applause line to misrepresent us bishops here as being opposed to our Holy Father? Why did he reduce the sexual abuse of minors, a broad societal and cultural curse that afflicts every family, public school, religion and government program, to a “Catholic problem?”

I’m a pastor, not a politician, but I feel obliged to ask these questions, as daily do I hear them from my people, as well as colleagues from other creeds. I’ve been attacked in the past when I asked — sadly and reluctantly — if the party that my folks proudly claimed as their own, the Democrats, had chosen to alienate faithful Catholic voters. Now you know why I asked.

As an American historian, I am very aware of our state’s past record of scorn and sneers at Catholics. It used to be called “know-nothings.” Now it’s touted as “progressivism.”

Genuine progressives work to pass a “DREAM act,” a “voters rights act,” a “prison reform act,” and we pastors of the church pitch in to support them. That’s government at its best. I pray that spirit returns.

WHEN THE NONES ARE IN CHARGE OF YOUR FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS, WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT?

It is the perfect storm, nones and creamation. This leads those who are in charge of your funeral arrangements many different options. Unless you have arrangments spelled out and backed by legal counsel, the nones in your family with give you a special kind of funeral--NONE!

I read obituaries. And more and more I am seeing words like this, code words: Funeral arrangments will be announced at a later date. What does this mean? There will not be a funeral. How can this be? Because cremation is used and you can dispose of the ashes in any way you wish. Many simply let the funeral director decide or the place of cremation can decide what to do with the ashes.

But get this, if you read some obituaries and I just read one this morning, the nones are becoming even more emboldened. At the end of one obituary I read it said this. THERE WILL BE NO FUNERAL.

In my nearly 40 years of ordination, it has only been recently, within the last four years or so, that I have seen Catholics who are not being given funerals by their families nor are any Masses being scheduled for the happy repose of their souls.

I have even had parishioners who have died that weren't even given an obituary in the newspaper and no one knew the person had died except by word of mouth.

What to do; what to do; oh what are we to do?

IF THE LITURGICAL TRUTH BE TOLD AND IT IS

Press title for great full article. I have printed only the great conclusion to it:

Lament for the Liturgy

Annibale Bugnini: Reformer of the Liturgy by Yves Chiron is indispensable both for its historical depth and breadth and also for understanding how we received the only liturgy that most Roman Catholics have ever experienced.

An Assessment

Chiron’s book provides a helpful vehicle by which to assess, at least partially, Bugnini and his efforts at liturgical reform. If one were to base this assessment simply on output and results, Archbishop Bugnini must be judged a resounding success. In the space of six years he took the general directives of the Second Vatican Council and engineered a new missal for the Latin Rite. The Mass, which had been celebrated for centuries in Latin, was now celebrated, almost exclusively, in the vernacular. Within a half-decade, Mass went from being celebrated ad orientem in both the East and West, to being almost exclusively celebrated versus populumin the Latin Rite. The reforms directed and overseen by Bugnini have become deeply embedded in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church.

And, yet, reading this wonderful book in light of the 50 years since the Novus Ordo’s implementation, Bugnini’s legacy is decidedly more mixed, even negative. Bugnini and the other members and consultors who manned the Consilium were undoubtedly experts in the practice and history of the liturgy. Their legacy, however, raises the very important question whether they were, as Paul VI famously described the Church, “expert[s] on humanity.”

The buzzwords of their articles, talks, and titles of their books betray their biases and presuppositions and suggest that they were not experts on humanity. For instance, Dom Botte’s book describing his inside view of the liturgical reform is titled From Silence to Participation. Bugnini described the transformation of the “inert and mute assembly” into true participants. Such descriptions are a common theme. The liturgical reformers failed to see how silence could be a form of participation, indeed perhaps a deeper participation than the recitation of banal translations.

The reformers also seemed unable to credit ordinary lay people with the ability to learn and penetrate the mysteries of the Mass as it was already being celebrated. If these people could not “understand” the words, they could not truly worship. Bugnini had to paraphrase the Mass to make it “accessible.” This both assumes that one can really comprehend phrases such as, “Take this, all of you, and eat of it, for this is my body,” and obscures the manner in which mystery and comprehension coincide and overlap. As we begin to grow in knowledge, we realize that God’s mystery is even greater than we ever imagined.

The reformers’ zeal for relevance and for a liturgy fit for contemporary man was and is a fool’s errand. As soon as one “updates” a liturgy, it is suddenly out-of-date. The new new man succeeds the new man. And so on and so forth. Nor does this chasing after relevance take into account man’s eternal and universal thirst for transcendence.

Finally, Bugnini and his fellow reformers put a premium on rational comprehension and stark simplicity. But this was done at the expense of basic human anthropology and a proper understanding of God. We are not simply spirits, but embodied souls who need to touch, to feel, to taste, to see. When we no longer kneel, genuflect, kiss, adore, we often cease to believe. We may now “understand” the words of the liturgy but at the expense that we do not actually believe them. Further, God is superabundant. His language is superabundance. He expresses Himself in ways that seem excessive, even superfluous. Why should our worship of Him be any different?

Chiron’s book is a great gift to the Church. While we cannot change the past, Chiron gives us the ability to see it clearly, to assess it with honesty, and to ask the deep questions that will help us avoid making missteps in the future. Bugnini was clearly well-intentioned. He loved the liturgy. But so many of his actions undermined rather than cultivated the liturgy he loved. May we avoid repeating his mistakes.

Annibale Bugnini:Reformer of the Liturgy
By Yves Chiron
Foreword by Alcuin Reid
Angelico Press, 2018
Hardcover, 214 pages

GOOD NEWS UDATED AND CARDINAL DOLAN'S SLAM OF THE INFANT MURDER ENABLING GOVERNOR FROM NEW YORK

NEWSABORTION, CATHOLIC CHURCH

Mon Jan 28, 2019 - 1:17 pm EST

New York bishop: Gov. Cuomo’s abortion activism ‘may…result’ in excommunication

UPDATED ADDITION FROM LIFESITE NEWS

New York governor justifies legalizing abortions up to birth: I’m not here to represent Catholicism

 Abortion, Andrew Cuomo, Catholic, Edward Scharfenberger, Excommunication, New York, Timothy Dolan

NEW YORK, January 28, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Governor Andrew Cuomo dug in his heels today, defending signing a law legalizing abortion up until birth while lashing out at Catholic bishops, some of whom increasingly speak of his future excommunication.

“The Catholic Church doesn’t believe in a woman’s right to chose...I understand their religious view,” said Cuomo in a WAMC radio interview, adding, “I’m not here to represent a religion.”

“I’m here to represent all the people and the constitutional rights and limitations for all the people, not as a Catholic,” asserted the governor.

Last week the governor signed into law a bill enshrining a woman’s absolute right to abortion, and then called for a city and state-wide celebration, going so far as to order the spire topping the One World Trade Center and other landmarks to be lit in pink.   

Earlier today, New York City’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan did not mince words, saying that the abortion bill Cuomo signed into law is “ghoulish, grisly, and gruesome.”

“The fact that he’s a Catholic as far as I’m concerned has nothing to do with it,” said Dolan on “Fox & Friends.”

“Any thinking human being that would want a baby, allow a baby, to be aborted right up to the moment of birth...anybody who thinks that a baby who survives a gruesome abortion procedure and that a doctor is no longer required to attempt to save that baby’s life – you don’t have to be a Catholic to abhor those types of things,” continued Dolan.

“This is just awful,” said the cardinal, “and I don’t know why we would brag about this.”

PETITION: Say "NO" to celebrating abortion by lighting up One World Trade Center. Sign the petition here.

Dolan pointed out that abortion proponents like Cuomo no longer claim they want to keep abortion “safe, legal, and rare.” It’s now “dangerous, enforced, and frequent.”

“Do you pop champagne corks for that, drink chablis, and eat brie? Do you light up the Empire State Building?” asked Dolan.  

Dolan said he receives “wheelbarrows of letters” every day asking for Cuomo to be excommunicated.  

“We have a governor that brags” about his differences with the Catholic Church’s teaching, said Dolan.    

“We have a governor that uses his dissent from Church teachings as applause lines,” Dolan said. “We have a governor that takes quotes from Pope Francis out of context to draw an artificial cleavage between bishops of New York and the Holy Father himself.”

“He likes this. He likes being the...bad boy when it comes to the Catholic Church.”  

Addressing Gov. Cuomo, Cardinal Dolan urged him, “this is hideous. Do not brag about making the state of New York the abortion capital of the world.”

“This is not an enlightened, progressive posture.”

While Cardinal Dolan has said repeatedly that he does not think excommunication is a proper response to Cuomo’s actions, a growing group of his fellow bishops have warmed up to the idea. Dolan has also been cagey about whether the prominent Catholic politician should be denied Holy Communion.

“Excommunication is a last resort, and as the Governor continues to distance himself from our [Catholic] communion, it may, unfortunately, result in that,” said Albany’s Bishop Edward Scharfenberger in a January 26 interview on Fox & Friends.

“My hope is that since his faith is important to him, he will reconsider the importance of maintaining that communion and not continue to distance himself,” said Scharfenberger.   

“One can put themselves in the position whereby morally they cannot receive Communion at the altar rail,” he added. “And I think the governor is in that situation right now.”

Knoxville, Tennessee Bishop Richard Stika and Tyler, Texas Bishop Joseph Strickland have both publicly said that if Cuomo lived within their jurisdictions they would take action and possibly excommunicate the politician.

Strickland recently said that the new law amounts to “infanticide.”

FULL PAPAL INTERVIEW, PRESS TITLE

Venezuela, the Pope: “I fear bloodshed”

On the return flight from Panama, on Caracas Francis asks, “those who can help solve the problem to be great”. He spoke of the “drama of abortion: to understand it one must be in the confessional”. He then closes to priestly marriage but not to exceptions

SOMETIMES I THINK WE NEED BISHOPS WITH SOME TOXIC MASCULINITY THAT WILL LEAD THEM TO HAVE SOME RIGHTEOUS ANGER!

A spokesman for Cardinal Dolan said the following concerning a public excommunication of the infant murder enabling Catholic governor of New York, Coumo:

Asked by CNN Religion Editor Dan Burke about the calls for Gov. Cuomo to be excommunicated over New York's new abortion bill, Dolan’s spokesman said he would “not discuss any individual,” but that “excommunication should not be used as a weapon.”

“Too often, I fear, those who call for someone's excommunication do so out of anger or frustration,” Dolan's spokesman said in the statement.

Mr. Spokesman an excommunication that is public is the last resort of the person's bishop who has spoken directly to the Catholic and told him to recant or face excommunication.

The problem is that there is a loss of belief in hell and how an excommunicated CAtholic cut off officially by the Church from the Church could end up there if he doesn't repent and change course.

Excommunication is meant to be medicinal. It is not meant to be a permanent punishment but rather a wake-up call to the one who has chosen to face away from God and the Church and to choose damnation over salvation, which is what Governor Cuomo has done and has been doing for some time and claiming the veneer of being a good Catholic! He has to be challenged on that and punished by the Church.

If we can't have righteous indignation and anger over priests who molest children in the most heinous ways and a Catholic governor who now enables murder of children up to the very day they are due, then we have a major problem. 

Righteous anger can be transformed into something good when excommunication is used to warn not only the one excommunicated but all others who sympathize with the excommunicated person!

THOSE DREADED IN FLIGHT PRESS CONFERENCES

This headline is confusing because the pope, and he says maybe because he is closed minded, will not allow optional celibacy as the Eastern Rite does. He also judges certain hypocritical Catholics, but nothing new here about this kind of papal name calling:

Francis expresses openness to married priests in places with 'pastoral necessity'

I WOULD AGREE--BUT LET'S CALL IT PROTESTANT AND BLAME ECUMENISM FOR CATHOLIC INVOLVEMENT

I have to agree with the article I link below with a couple of excerpts I have chosen. Press the title for the complete article.

However, the complaint is against Christianity that becomes too involved with the Political Right and weds it.

Catholicism cannot do this in the political realm although our moral teachings on sexuality are certainly to the right politically speaking, but not our teachings on social justice, welcoming the stranger (i.e. aliens) and the like. We fall to the left politically speaking.

But Catholicism is about the splendor of truth regardless of any political implications. The Church's splendor of truth speaks either of confirmation or challenge to the political right or left!

This article is not about Catholic orthodoxy or orthopraxis. It is not about good liturgy or bad liturgy.

It is about politics and politics using religion for its own purpose and religion allowing itself to be used in the pursuit of political power--a corruption of Christianity in general and Evangelical Protestantism in particular.

Is the Religious Right to Blame for Christianity’s Decline?

The movement is one of the most dramatic failures in American political history.

As the number of Americans that identified with no religion began increasing in the 1990s, scholars and journalists began to look for explanations. Especially among pundits, these explanations typically favored their own cultural, theological, and political prejudices. To lay my own cards on the table, I am persuaded that fertility rates are one of the best predictors of a Christian denomination’s long-term health. That said, it would be remarkable if politics did not have any effect on religious trends, given the degree to which American religion has been so politicized since the rise of the Religious Right in the late 1970s.

WHICH CHRIST DO YOU WANT OR DO WE NEED?

When I was in the seminary I learned about three aspects of Christ which presented below are simplified:

1. Christ above the culture is based on a very high Christology where Christ the King is in heaven beckoning His people to their true home. This is a sort of benevolent ambivalent Christ where the parish Church is a refuge from the world and its ways which cannot and will not change.

2. Christ against the culture, a medium Christology, is based upon Christ fighting the world and imposing His will in the here and now. It is Christ who will transform the world in the hear and now and will use anathemas and excommunications to do so. Christ is a culture warrior.

3. Christ with the culture is low Christology where Christ accompanies His people, especially those on the margins, those excluded and maligned. The Church is a field hospital offering first aid but no real cures.

Of course I have oversimplified these perspectives but would suggest that the pre-Vatican II Church presented Christ above the culture. Popes John Paul II and Benedict presented Christ against the culture. And Pope Francis is bringing back the 1970’s spirit of Vatican II Christ with the culture.

Personally I think there has to be a pope in the future who can present all three aspects of the One Christ in a majestic, down to earth, clear and unambiguous way.

What do you think?

LITURGICAL ODDITY OR BACK TO THE FUTURE?

At the Mass for priests and religious today, Pope Francis consecrated a new altar for an old cathedral.

It did something I never saw before and maybe John Nolan would like to chime in:

After the consecration of the altar and its vesting and nicely I might add as is the altar itself, the Bishop of the Diocese then did the offertory prayer, the Orate Fratres, Preface Dialogue and Preface, all this while Pope Francis remained at the throne, I mean, chair.

Then during the Sanctus, which in Spanish was interminable, Pope Francis came to the newly consecrated altar to pray the Eucharistic Prayer as the bishop stood to the side. Kosher?

JUST WHICH HYMNS, NAMES PLEASE, THAT ARE FOUND IN CATHOLIC HYMNALS THAT SHOULD NOT BE SUNG IN ANY CATHOLIC LITURGICAL OR DEVOTIONAL CONTEXT?

Archbishop Samples in his excellent guidelines for chanting the Mass (two posts below this)  threw out this bomb but His Excellency doesn't name names. I want names please!!!!!

Hymn and song texts must conform to the teachings and doctrines of the Church, especially with regard to the Eucharistic Sacrifice and the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Any texts which promote teachings which are ambiguous or contrary to the Faith must be retired from the parish repertoire. It must be sadly acknowledged that some hymns in approved hymnals, music issues and missalettes do not reflect Catholic theology and should not be used. Musicians should be attentive to this point and think carefully about the selection of hymns, seeking guidance from the pastors of the Church when needed. With this in mind it follows that just because a particular piece is published in a Catholic hymnal or worship aid does not necessarily mean that the piece was intended to be sung at Holy Mass.

 I would like comments to suggest names of hymns in Catholic hymnals that should be weeded out because "Any texts which promote teachings which are ambiguous or contrary to the Faith must be retired from the parish repertoire."

THIS PROTESTANT PASTOR HAS ALL THE CRITERIA FOR CHURCH CONSUMERS

I just love going shopping! I copy this from a longer article in the religion section of the Augusta Chronicle. As an aside I notice that this section was at the front of the newspaper this week whereas historically it has been the very last section after pets!

Some people approach finding a church like I approached finding a room. They do a quick search, focus on one issue they consider important (my one issue was price), then commit. It is not the best way to select a church.

Churches, like people, have strengths and weaknesses. One church’s strength might be its preaching, another’s might be its music, still another might be its strong sense of community.

The church that is strong in preaching might be weak in community, the one with great music might have a watered-down theology. Choosing a church on the basis of a particular strength could lead to regret. Better to look for the presence of certain core strengths that are important to church health. One of those core strengths is a love and respect for the Bible. A lack of dependence on the Bible might point to an unhealthy dependence on the latest trend or a hidebound reliance on an ancient tradition.

Look to see if the church’s pursuit of God extends beyond Sunday mornings. Are there Bible studies, discipleship-style groups, and spiritual formation opportunities happening during the week? Is the church active in the community? A church is not a church, no matter how dynamic Sunday mornings are, unless its love for God extends to the rest of the week.

Friendships and loving relationships are another distinguishing mark of a good church. How many cars are in the parking lot a half-hour after the last amen? Are people talking and laughing and praying together? Do they spend time with each other during the week?

A strong, healthy church uses time and resources to help people outside the church. If the church’s budget, which is a theological document, only includes items that directly benefit the church, something is out of balance. A good church follows Jesus’ example of service to others.

I often suggest people spend a month or more before they decide whether a church is for them. With churches, as with motels rooms, if someone asks, “Do you want to see it first?” answer “Yes.”

Shayne Looper is the pastor of Lockwood Community Church in Branch County, Mich. 

BOMBSHELL: WE NEED BISHOPS LIKE THIS TO IMPLEMENT WHAT THE ORDINARY FORM MISSAL, AND THUS THE CHURCH, TELLS US TO DO

Portland archbishop issues pastoral letter on sacred music, mandating more Gregorian chant, Latin

Liturgical leadership based on the instructions of the Roman Missal is sorely lacking today and it shows in most parishes.

I copy this from The Deacon’s Bench:

This popped up on the archdiocesan website this morning: “Sing to the Lord a New Song,” written to the faithful and clergy of the archdiocese by Archbishop Alexander Sample.

Some highlights:

One parish celebration every Sunday should be a Sung Mass (Missa cantata), offered with consistency and with the greatest care and attention the community can give it. In the former traditional parlance, this may have been referred to as a High Mass. It could also be referred to as a Solemn Mass. A Sung Mass need not be elaborate; indeed, the principle of noble simplicity should guide it. Other Masses in the parish may include less singing and more recited parts, but the Sung Mass sets the pattern and the model for sacred music in the parish.

For the Sung Mass, the celebrant should learn to sing, without instrumental accompaniment, the celebrant’s chants for the orations and dialogues to the melodies given in the Roman Missal, with the responses sung by the faithful. There is the simple human reality that some priests are not gifted with the ability to sing, or at least to carry a melody. In these cases, it might be more desirable for the celebrant to chant recto tono (on the same note) the parts that belong to him.

Every parish is asked to learn the English plainchant settings of the Ordinary, found in the Roman Missal, which should be given pride of place. Other settings are at the discretion of the parish, subject to the liturgical norms of the Church as outlined in this pastoral letter. Clergy should set an example by singing with the faithful wherever in the Mass this is appropriate.

Every parish and mission in the Archdiocese should establish to the best of its ability at least a minimum Gregorian repertoire of the chanted Ordinary sung by the people in Latin. Mass VIII (De Angelis) and Mass XVIII (Deus Genitor Alme) are the most popular and accessible. Parishes capable of more than this are encouraged to build their chant repertoire beyond this minimum. (Interestingly enough, the melodies given in the Roman Missal itself for the Sanctus and the Agnus Dei in English and Latin are from Mass XVIII.)

It should be noted that the Missal makes no reference to a recessional hymn, making it an appropriate time for an instrumental (e.g. pipe organ) piece, or silence, especially during Lent. 3] Hymn and song texts must conform to the teachings and doctrines of the Church, especially with regard to the Eucharistic Sacrifice and the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Any texts which promote teachings which are ambiguous or contrary to the Faith must be retired from the parish repertoire. It must be sadly acknowledged that some hymns in approved hymnals, music issues and missalettes do not reflect Catholic theology and should not be used. Musicians should be attentive to this point and think carefully about the selection of hymns, seeking guidance from the pastors of the Church when needed. With this in mind it follows that just because a particular piece is published in a Catholic hymnal or worship aid does not necessarily mean that the piece was intended to be sung at Holy Mass.

The Church accords the pipe organ pride of place as the musical instrument most in harmony with the spirit of the Roman liturgy. In the Latin Church the pipe organ is to be held in high esteem, for it is the traditional musical instrument which adds a wonderful splendor to the Church’s ceremonies and powerfully lifts up man’s mind to God and to higher things.  Unfortunately, the use of the pipe organ has diminished over the years since the Council, for many reasons, such as the lack of trained organists and the cost of purchase and upkeep. However, if the pipe organ is to come back to prominence in our sacred music, we must be willing to invest for the future. All parishes are encouraged to include the pipe organ in their sacred music repertoire. A parish seeking to purchase or replace an organ must first consult with the archdiocesan staff responsible for the Sacred Liturgy. Usually a parish will be required to engage the services of a qualified organ consultant, to provide informed advice to the pastor and finance committee. If an electronic or hybrid organ is purchased, it must be manufactured to the American Guild of Organists dimensional standards for its purchase to meet the approval of the Archdiocese.

The letter concludes:

It is my sincere hope that this pastoral letter will be well received by the clergy and faithful of the Archdiocese of Portland, for the sake of an authentic renewal of the Sacred Liturgy according to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and the mind of the Church. I am especially counting on our wonderful and dedicated church musicians to answer this call for renewal. May the renewal and reform of sacred music in the Archdiocese of Portland lead us together to a beautiful and worthy celebration of the sacred mysteries of the Holy Mass, for the glory of God and the sanctification of all the faithful.

Read the entire document. 

THE TRUTH BE TOLD

MEET THE INDIAN AND BLACK THUGS

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on who the guilty parties are in the Covington Catholic controversy:

The Catholic white boys from Covington Catholic High School—hated because they are Catholic, white, male, and Trump supporters (some of them)—have been indicted by lots of pundits, politicians, reporters, and celebrities, both liberal and conservative. Yet the record shows that the students were the only innocent party to this fracas. None of them said or did anything bigoted, but this is not true of the Indians and the black Israelites. 

A group of about 20 Indians, led by activist Nathan Phillips, tried to storm a Mass on January 19 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C. They were stopped by security who had to lock the doors. This is what the Nazis did to the Jews in Hitler’s Germany—they crashed the synagogues during services.

It is against the law in D.C. to disturb a religious service. Had Phillips succeeded, it would have been a hate crime. If the Catholic students had barged into a crowd of Indians while they were praying, they would be on the front page of every newspaper in the country and it would be the lead story on the broadcast and cable news outlets.

However, this unprovoked attack by Phillips and company—on innocent persons exercising their First Amendment right to religious liberty—was ignored by most of the mainstream media. The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, ABC News. CBS News, NBC News, CNN and MSNBC never said a word about it. Only Fox News did.

Phillips also made disparaging remarks about Catholicism, saying the students are not being told the truth about their religion. Yet not one student made a disparaging remark about Indians. But the black thugs did—they called the Indians “savages.” That being the case, why didn’t Phillips and his merry band of church busters confront them? Why did they seek to crash a Mass instead? They are the bigots, not the kids.

The black Israelites bashed white people, black people, Christians (especially Catholics), Puerto Ricans, and homosexuals. Where were the gay rights groups? If the kids called gays “faggots”—which is what these thugs did—the media would have been up in arms. So it is not the content of an insult that matters, it is the identity of who says it.

The mainstream media picked up a few of the anti-Catholic statements by the black activists, but overall they did a lousy job. We watched the video and here are some of the most anti-Catholic statements that were made.

• [Black Israelite responding to a question] “You want to see hate in the Bible? Let’s see hate in the Bible. Let’s see what the Christians and the Catholics don’t go into.” [He then reads a verse from Ecclesiastes]
• [Black Israelite pointing out a Catholic priest standing nearby] “And like this, child molesting faggot priest right there… the Catholics are a bunch of child molesters.”
• [Black Israelite speaking to crowd] “You want to talk about R. Kelly. Why we don’t talk about the Catholic Church? Why we don’t talk about the Roman Catholic Church, and especially you so-called Hispanics and Negroes, you got no business calling yourself a Roman Catholic. When’s the last time you’ve been a Roman?”
• [Black Israelite speaking to Covington students] “And Jesus Christ is not a white man. This ain’t Jesus Christ…the truth matters. This is a faggot child molester. This is not Jesus Christ. If you look in the Bible, you will see he is a man of color” [man referring to a Catholic/Christian depiction of Jesus]
• [Black Israelite speaking to a Catholic prayer circle nearby] “The child molesting Catholic Church here. This is what we’ve come to. How long are we going stay in the Catholic Church? How long are we going to continue worshipping idols in the Catholic Church? Where is Hail Mary in the Bible? There’s no Hail Mary in the Bible. You can’t worship Mary. You’re supposed to worship the Lord.”
• [Black Israelite speaking to prayer group] “You have your reward. Your reward is your Catholic Church being tax exempt, being child molesters and getting away with it. You’ve been raping children since 1492 in the Catholic Church. You’ve been raping children in Rome before you got here. “
• [Black Israelite speaking to separate group of students] “When you walk in a Catholic Church, it is filled with idols. When you worship and kiss and bow down to a statue, you’re breaking the commandments of God. So the Catholic Church is totally against God, not even speaking about the child molestation. We’ll leave that one alone. But against God’s laws and commandments, yes. You say ‘Hail Mary, full of grace’. You say that prayer. Where is that prayer in the psalms? Where is that prayer in the Bible?”

No white student responded in kind to either the Indian or black activists. They, and they alone, were innocent.

What happened on January 18 has been nicely captured by my good friend, Rabbi Aryeh Spero. Here is what he told me.

“This is a contrived and false episode pounced on by people who hate religious white Catholics and are always on the look-out to demonize Catholics. These people are bigots. It is all part of the anti-Christianism by many segments in today’s leftist America and media collaborators. If they could, they would physically beat up Catholics and take away their jobs and livelihood simply because they are white, conservative, and people of biblical faith. They are consumed by hate. Who taught these people to SO hate white, religious Americans?”

FINALLY! THE BISHOP APOLOGIZES

Message From the Most Rever... by on Scribd

THIS NEW VATICAN NEWS REPORTER SEEMS TO BE DOING THE VERY DANG THING HE IS CONDEMNING AND DOING SO IN THE NAME OF POPE FRANCIS

It's all very discouraging to find this kind of crap coming out of the new Vatican Media head. He does the very same thing he condemns and thinks we don't see it!

By Andrea Tornielli

On Thursday, the feast of the patron saint of journalists, St Francis de Sales, Pope Francis made reference to certain Catholic media outlets while speaking to the Bishops of Central America.

He said the result of evangelization is based neither on the material means at our disposal, nor on the quantity of events that we organize, but “on the centrality of compassion”.

“I am worried about how the compassion of Christ has lost a central place in the Church,” said Pope Francis, “even among Catholic groups, or is being lost – not to be so pessimistic. Even in the Catholic media there is a lack of compassion. There is schism, condemnation, cruelty, exaggerated self-praise, the denouncing of heresy…”.

His words are like a “photograph” of a reality which unfortunately is plain for all to see: the spread – even among media that proclaim to be Catholic – of the habit of wanting to judge everything and everyone by putting one’s self on a pedestal and raging against one’s brothers and sisters in the faith who have different opinions.

We should not believe that such a profoundly anti-Christian attitude (even if conveyed under “Catholic” auspices) is a transitory phenomenon, linked only to the daily criticism of the present pontificate. In fact, at the root of this attitude lies something deeper and less incidental: the belief that in order to exist and confirm my identity, I must always find an enemy against which to direct my rage. Someone to attack, someone to condemn, someone to judge heretical.

THIS IS JUST A BAD CAN OF BEANS!

Progressive historian and theologian, as well as National Chismatic Reporter groupie, Massimo Faggioli, has some good points in an article in the NCR about a talk he gave  but other points are just beans laced with toxic hypocrisy and just plain ignorance. He should stick to topics he knows about in those areas.

For those who don't know how to translate Italian into English, Massimo should not be translated machismo and certainly not in this case, but as Maxwell or Maximilian.   Faggioli is the Italian word for the English word "BEANS!" but in the generic sense.

But his article is interesting, despite the beans, and worth reading and critiquing. I cherry pick a few of his ditties and make astute comments in RED below. But you can read the entire article by pressing the title:

Church historian says sex abuse poses biggest threat to church in 500 years

 I'm good at hyperbole but wow, just wow! Read this and talk about sensationalism:

It was, nevertheless, the firestorm that erupted in the U.S. church over the alleged abuse of seminarians and priests by former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, followed by the extraordinary letter by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, accusing Pope Francis of having known about and having covered for McCarrick, that pushed the crisis to a new level, Faggioli suggested.

When more than two dozen U.S. bishops later backed Viganò, the church moved to a place it had not seen for hundreds of years, he said: "You have to go back six centuries — the 1400s — to see a national church being split publicly about the legitimacy of a pope."

The shocking part of the Viganò controversy was not his letter, but the decision by the band of U.S. bishops to take his side, creating the "church equivalent of the Cuban missile crisis," Faggioli said.
In late August to mid-September, as the Viganò debate played out, Faggioli said he found himself "going to bed not knowing the next morning if we had one church or multiple churches."

"That's how bad it was, it seems to me," he added.

I lived through the Cuban Missal Crisis as a 4th grader with a dad in the army who told us when we left in the morning he might not be back home for a while. That was the day we were going to be nuked. My mother told us with tear in her eyes that if any bombs fall, to come right home--she lived through the most horrendous bombing of World War II in her hometown and knew what it meant to go straight home during an air raid! 

More importantly, I would contend that the bishops who wanted the Vigano accusations investigated further were acting in good faith and following the lead of the Holy Father who does not want bishops to acts as a sort of monarchical court or "yes men" but to act in a mature way even with the Holy Father, as Bishop of Rome, one of them and while Supreme not above reproach or questioning.

Unfortunately the Bishop of Rome acting as an absolute monarch  of by-gone days,  refuses to cooperate with those who ask him various things if it does not please him. This too is also a virulent form of clericalism so decried by the Holy Father. 

Unfortunately Faggioli suggests that this fraternal asking of questions during a crisis is an "attack on the Pope" by these bishops. How divisive is that, it's like what beans causes people to do when they eat too many of them!

WHAT?

While the curriculum has been updated, attention to candidates' affective lives and development remains "totally secondary," Faggioli said, adding that the priesthood has become even more idealized than it was in the past and that isolation from the people, particularly women, is still the model.

"That is a huge problem," he said.

I don't know what shelf Beans has been on. But most seminaries have been concerned with the "human development" of seminarians and almost to a fault becoming a therapeutic model. Bishops should not send broken men to the seminary for the seminary to fix though!

One of the reasons so many homosexual men have been allowed to enter the seminary is because women religious who assist in screening candidates and evaluating them  seem to love them and see them as no threat to their sexuality. Herein lies the problem, no? What is pejoratively described as "toxic masculinity" meaning a man acting like a man is suspect today, but not a man who acts in a toxic way like a women!

But let me say, that from day one the majority of people who are my paid co-workers and volunteers are women and almost exclusively who work in parishes in a variety of settings. 

I find Faggioli's comments on this aspect of priestly life completely bizarre. And the fact of the matter is that the friends of most priests are married couples and their families.