THE CARDINAL RULE FOR CLARITY

Does His Eminence have a snow ball's chance in hell to be the next pope?

Manifesto of Faith

“Let not your heart be troubled!” (John 14:1)

In the face of growing confusion about the doctrine of the Faith, many bishops, priests, religious and lay people of the Catholic Church have requested that I make a public testimony about the truth of revelation. It is the shepherds' very own task to guide those entrusted to them on the path of salvation. This can only succeed if they know this way and follow it themselves. The words of the Apostle here apply: “For above all I have delivered unto you what I have received” (1 Cor. 15:3). Today, many Christians are no longer even aware of the basic teachings of the Faith, so there is a growing danger of missing the path to eternal life. However, it remains the very purpose of the Church to lead humanity to Jesus Christ, the light of the peoples (see LG 1). In this situation, the question of orientation arises. According to John Paul II, the Catechism of the Catholic Church is a “safe standard for the doctrine of the faith” (Fidei Depositum IV). It was written with the aim of strengthening the Faith of the brothers and sisters whose belief has been massively questioned by the “dictatorship of relativism.”[1]

1. The one and triune God revealed in Jesus Christ

The epitome of the Faith of all Christians is found in the confession of the Most Holy Trinity. We have become disciples of Jesus, children and friends of God by being baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The distinction of the three persons in the divine unity (CCC 254) marks a fundamental difference in the belief in God and the image of man from that of other religions. Religions disagree precisely over this belief in Jesus the Christ. He is true God and true Man, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. The Word made flesh, the Son of God, is the only Savior of the world (CCC 679) and the only Mediator between God and men (CCC 846). Therefore, the first letter of John refers to one who denies His divinity as an antichrist (1 John 2:22), since Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is from eternity one in being with God, His Father (CCC 663). We are to resist the relapse into ancient heresies with clear resolve, which saw in Jesus Christ only a good person, brother and friend, prophet and moralist. He is first and foremost the Word that was with God and is God, the Son of the Father, Who assumed our human nature to redeem us and Who will come to judge the living and the dead. Him alone, we worship in unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit as the Only and True God (CCC 691).

2. The Church

Jesus Christ founded the Church as a visible sign and tool of salvation realized in the Catholic Church (816). He gave His Church, which “emerged from the side of the Christ who died on the Cross” (766), a sacramental constitution that will remain until the Kingdom is fully achieved (CCC 765). Christ, the Head, and the faithful as members of the body, are a mystical person (CCC 795), which is why the Church is sacred, for the one Mediator has designed and sustained its visible structure (CCC 771). Through it the redemptive work of Christ becomes present in time and space via the celebration of the Holy Sacraments, especially in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, the Holy Mass (CCC 1330). The Church conveys with the authority of Christ the divine revelation, which extends to all the elements of doctrine, “including the moral teaching, without which the saving truths of the faith cannot be preserved, explained, and observed” (CCC 2035).

3. Sacramental Order

The Church is the universal sacrament of salvation in Jesus Christ (CCC 776). She does not reflect herself, but the light of Christ, which shines on her face. But this happens only when the truth revealed in Jesus Christ becomes the point of reference, rather than the views of a majority or the spirit of the times; for Christ Himself has entrusted the fullness of grace and truth to the Catholic Church (CCC 819), and He Himself is present in the sacraments of the Church.

The Church is not a man-made association whose structure its members voted into being at their will. It is of divine origin. "Christ himself is the author of ministry in the Church. He set her up, gave her authority and mission, orientation and goal (CCC 874). The admonition of the Apostle is still valid today, that cursed is anyone who proclaims another gospel, “even if we ourselves were to give it or an angel from heaven” (Gal 1:8). The mediation of faith is inextricably bound up with the human credibility of its messengers, who in some cases have abandoned the people entrusted to them, unsettling them and severely damaging their faith. Here the Word of Scripture describes those who do not listen to the truth and who follow their own wishes, who flatter their ears because they cannot endure sound doctrine (cf. 2 Tim 4:3-4).

The task of the Magisterium of the Church is to “preserve God’s people from deviations and defections” in order to “guarantee them the objective possibility of professing the true faith without error” (890). This is especially true with regard to all seven sacraments. The Holy Eucharist is “source and summit of the Christian life” (CCC 1324). The Eucharistic Sacrifice, in which Christ includes us in His Sacrifice of the Cross, is aimed at the most intimate union with Him (CCC 1382). Therefore, the Holy Scripture admonishes with regard to the reception of the Holy Communion: “Whoever eats unworthily of the bread and drinks from the Lord's cup makes himself guilty of profaning the body and of the blood of the Lord” (1 Cor 11:27). “Anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion” (CCC 1385). From the internal logic of the sacrament, it is understood that divorced and civilly remarried persons, whose sacramental marriage exists before God, as well as those Christians who are not in full communion with the Catholic Faith and the Church, just as all those who are not disposed to receive the Holy Eucharist fruitfully (CCC 1457), because it does not bring them to salvation. To point this out corresponds to the spiritual works of mercy.

The confession of sins in Holy Confession at least once a year is one of the Church’s commandments (CCC 2042). When the believers no longer confess their sins and no longer experience the absolution of their sins, salvation becomes impossible; after all, Jesus Christ became Man to redeem us from our sins. The power of forgiveness that the Risen Lord has given to the Apostles and their successors in the ministry of bishops and priests applies also for mortal and venial sins which we commit after Baptism. The current popular practice of confession makes it clear that the conscience of the faithful is not sufficiently formed. God's mercy is given to us, that we might fulfil His Commandments to become one with His Holy Will, and not so as to avoid the call to repentance (CCC 1458).

“The priest continues the work of redemption on earth” (CCC 1589). The ordination of the priest “gives him a sacred power” (CCC 1592), which is irreplaceable, because through it Jesus becomes sacramentally present in His saving action. Therefore, priests voluntarily opt for celibacy as "a sign of new life" (CCC 1579). It is about the self-giving in the service of Christ and His coming kingdom. With a view to receiving the ordination in the three stages of this ministry, the Church is “bound by the choice made by the Lord Himself. That is why it is not possible to ordain women”(CCC 1577). To imply that this impossibility is somehow a form of discrimination against women shows only the lack of understanding for this sacrament, which is not about earthly power but the representation of Christ, the Bridegroom of the Church.

4. Moral Law

Faith and life are inseparable, for Faith apart from works is dead (CCC 1815). The moral law is the work of divine wisdom and leads man to the promised blessedness (CCC 1950). Consequently, the "knowledge of the divine and natural law is necessary" to do good and reach this goal (CCC 1955). Accepting this truth is essential for all people of good will. For he who dies in mortal sin without repentance will be forever separated from God (CCC 1033). This leads to practical consequences in the lives of Christians, which are often ignored today (cf 2270-2283; 2350-2381). The moral law is not a burden, but part of that liberating truth (cf Jn 8:32) through which the Christian walks on the path of salvation and which may not be relativized.

5. Eternal Life

Many wonder today what purpose the Church still has in its existence, when even bishops prefer to be politicians rather than to proclaim the Gospel as teachers of the Faith. The role of the Church must not be watered down by trivialities, but its proper place must be addressed. Every human being has an immortal soul, which in death is separated from the body, hoping for the resurrection of the dead (CCC 366). Death makes man's decision for or against God definite. Everyone has to face the particular judgement immediately after death (CCC 1021). Either a purification is necessary, or man goes directly into heavenly bliss and is allowed to see God face to face. There is also the dreadful possibility that a person will remain opposed to God to the very end, and by definitely refusing His Love, "condemns himself immediately and forever" (CCC 1022). “God created us without us, but He did not want to save us without us” (CCC 1847). The eternity of the punishment of hell is a terrible reality, which - according to the testimony of Holy Scripture - attracts all who “die in the state of mortal sin” (CCC 1035). The Christian goes through the narrow gate, for “the gate is wide, and the way that leads to ruin is wide, and many are upon it” (Mt 7:13).

To keep silent about these and the other truths of the Faith and to teach people accordingly is the greatest deception against which the Catechism vigorously warns. It represents the last trial of the Church and leads man to a religious delusion, “the price of their apostasy” (CCC 675); it is the fraud of Antichrist. “He will deceive those who are lost by all means of injustice; for they have closed themselves to the love of the truth by which they should be saved” (2 Thess 2:10).

Call

As workers in the vineyard of the Lord, we all have a responsibility to recall these fundamental truths by clinging to what we ourselves have received. We want to give courage to go the way of Jesus Christ with determination, in order to obtain eternal life by following His commandments (CCC 2075).

Let us ask the Lord to let us know how great the gift of the Catholic Faith is, through which opens the door to eternal life. “For he that shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation: The Son of Man also will be ashamed of him, when He shall come in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:38). Therefore, we are committed to strengthening the Faith by confessing the truth which is Jesus Christ Himself.

We too, and especially we bishops and priests, are addressed when Paul, the Apostle of Jesus Christ, gives this admonition to his companion and successor, Timothy: “I charge thee, before God and Jesus Christ, Who shall judge the living and the dead, by His coming, and His kingdom: Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine. For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears: And will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables. But be thou vigilant, labour in all things, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil thy ministry. Be sober.” (2 Tim 4:1-5).

May Mary, the Mother of God, implore for us the grace to remain faithful without wavering to the confession of the truth about Jesus Christ.

United in faith and prayer

Gerhard Cardinal Müller

Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith 2012-2017

---

[1] The numbers in the text refer to the Catechism of The Catholic Church.

DOES SAGINAW REALLY MATTER? WELL, MAYBE

Would a bishop get removed from his diocese for imposing this.

Traditionalist Tragedy in Saginaw

A young priest, no not an oxymoron, or should I write, a young traditional priest, no not an oxymoron either, tried to impose, wait for this, bells and smells, cassocks and surplices and Latin Chant on his liturgically progressive parish. It caused such divisions that his temporary administrator bishop removed him from the parish.

I suspect that the parish is malformed. Why else would these things create such division that it leads to a priest being removed from the parish. Maybe the priest was a dictator in these things and too inflexible about some of the things he should have kept. I don't know. Maybe someone else does.

But the problem is more than the traditional priest. It is the parish who thinks that bells and smells, cassocks and surplices and Latin Chant are inconsistent with the post-Vatican II Church. 

If this were the early 1970’s and a long-haired hippie type priest who protests at the draft board and nuclear arms facilities to the point of damaging property and removed altar railings, introduced liturgical dance, ad libbed the words of the Mass, moved the tabernacle to a closet, used French bread and its crumbs for Holy Communion littering the floor with these crumbs, and forced people to stand for the Mass, no kneeling allowed whatsoever and he received Holy Communion last, from a Eucharistic Minister, while he sat during the distribution, he would not have any thing said to him and those who might complain would be labeled soooooo pre-Vatican II.

But when a traditional priest imposes some liturgical elements in a progressive parish, he gets removed from the parish. In the 70’s if he molested boys (which is not what happened with this priest) he’d be transferred to another parish.

This is Fr. Anthony Ruff, OSB's take on Vatican II, his opinion by the way but stated dogmatically as
 progressive liturgists have consistently done since the 60’s making one think that this kind of pontificating is infallible and that the liturgist has an inside track on the truth (Gnosticism). You can read his whole article HERE at Praytell. It has some merit but offers no mea culpas for what liberalism has done to the Church and liturgy leading to the many tragedies that describe the Catholic Church today and not what the traditionalist priest is guilty of in Saginaw.

First Fr. Ruff writes this with a link for you to read the truth of the matter at the NCR with Ruff's editorial comment about the NCR: 

The National Catholic Register reports the tragic, heartbreaking story of a young priest and pastor, Fr. Edwin Dwyer, being removed by Bishop Hurley because his promotion of more traditional worship had divided the parish. According to NCReg, Fr. Dwyer introduced liturgical elements such as “incense and bells, the traditional black cassock and white surplice for altar boys, and Latin and Gregorian chant.”

You can read the sad details at the NCReg – but of course you know that NCReg puts a particular (right-leaning) spin to its reporting. Take that into account.

Then he writes this:

There are tensions and seeming contradictions between the pastoral shiftof the Second Vatican Council and the seemingly traditionalist tone of its statements on the preservation of chant and the Latin language and the pipe organ and traditional music and the like. This is the tension between my own biases, identified above, that are traditionalist but also admit that the pastoral shift is a real paradigm shift.

Here’s the key: the pastoral shift of the Second Vatican Council has priority over its traditionalist statements. Your starting point cannot be the traditionalist statements. You can’t turn them into an agenda. Your starting point has to be reformed vision of liturgy which puts people’s participation first, takes seriously people’s cultural context, respects their history and experiences of worship, and values their convictions as fellow members of the priestly People of God. And however much you esteem tradition, you have to acknowledge that the Council saw the preconciliar liturgy as inadequate and in need of reform.

My question to the pontification of Fr. Ruff, did you just make up out of thin air "Here's the Key????" crap?

STRAWCHALICE ANYONE? AND HOW CAN A PRIEST BE SO LITURGICALLY INANE?

From the "Oh how creative and precious" file:

Michael Joncas, who should know better, unless he isn't Catholic, asks a dumb question at Praytell that has some dumb comments, but alas. You can press the title for the full post, I copy a pertinent excerpt below the title:

Question about a Roman Rite liturgical practice

Recently I have experienced a practice in some of the communities to which I’ve been assigned that is new to me, namely the provision of a small paten with a single largish host and a chalice holding only enough wine and water for the priest’s use designated for the priest/presider in isolation from the other eucharistic breads/hosts and wine. While I don’t think this practice invalidates the Mass being celebrated, I wonder where the practice comes from and what reasons are adduced for introducing it. Steeped in a eucharistic theology that makes much of the symbolism of one bread and one cup at eucharist, I would see no need for a separate paten and chalice for the priest/presider; in fact I might go so far as to say that doing so strikes me as an embodiment of the clericalism against which Pope Francis inveighs. On the other hand, I seem to remember an argument that the priest must commune from elements consecrated at the Mass over which he presides; perhaps supplying eucharistic bread and wine separate from the congregation’s guarantees that the priest will follow that precept.

My answer according to color:

The priest with his own chalice and paten comes from the Traditional Latin Mass and remains a custom in the New Order of Things, (NOT).  That a liturgist doesn't know this is quite astounding, no or not? 

The reason the priest has his own host and chalice is that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass isn't complete until HE, the PRIEST, Acting in the PERSON of CHRIST, the HEAD of the CHURCH, consumes the HOLOCAUST. If the priest doesn't consume the Holocaust of the Mass he is celebrating, the Holy Sacrifice is not complete.  Does anyone disagree with this DOGMA?

Clericalism is not experienced when a priest completes the Sacrifice. But it is experienced when a priest misleads the faithful or speaks ignorantly of things he should know something about.  

And for Pope Francis, at every Mass that His Holiness celebrates everyday, His Holiness uses the celebrant's chalice and paten and the Host on it and consumes the Host completely, not breaking it into smaller fragments for the laity to receive so that he can be one with them.  

BLACK FACE ANTICS DONE BY POLILTICIANS 40 YEARS AGO GET YOU EXCOMMUNCIATED TODAY FROM THE SECULAR MORALS OF GODLESS POLITICAL RELIGION--WHY NOT THIS?

A white man cannot pretend to be a black man by putting on black face or he will be tarred and feathered and run out of office and never forgiven.

However, the liberal secular morals of the new puritanical godless religion of the left embraced by the democrats sees nothing offensive towards women by this image, in fact if you criticize this, you are homophobic or against lgbtq people:

Is there a double standard of hypocrisy in this secular, puritanical religion? Are their morals corrupt?

And what about people who want to change their race to white or black or native American, if they can change their gender to the opposite sex or no sex why can't they declare they are Native American?

What's up with this godless secular religion, don't they believe in logic????????????

PECULIAR EMAIL

I got a global email, quite peculiar/schismatic from this person. Anyone know him??????

+ Elijah

Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate

THE POPE WHO SPEAKS TOO MUCH AND IN A GOSSIPY WAY AND WITHOUT PRECISION

The next pope will have much to do to restore sobriety, clarity and eloquence in papal speak!

Vatican clarifies pope on issue of ‘sexual slavery’ of nuns

• Associated Press
  Feb 6, 2019

Pope Francis delivers his message in the Paul VI hall on the occasion of his weekly general audience at the Vatican, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019. (Credit: AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia.)

ROME - The Vatican on Wednesday clarified comments by Pope Francis about a case of what he called “sexual slavery” within a French congregation of nuns, saying he was referring to an abuse of power that was reflected in instances of sexual abuse.

Francis cited the case when responding to a question about the sexual abuse of nuns by clergy during a press conference Tuesday returning home from the United Arab Emirates. It was the pope’s first-ever public acknowledgment of the problem of priests and bishops sexually abusing nuns. He stressed that the Vatican had been confronting the issue for some time and vowed to do more.

Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said Wednesday Francis “spoke of ‘sexual slavery’ to mean ‘manipulation’ or a type of abuse of power that is reflected in a sexual abuse.”

The Community of St. Jean admitted in 2013 that its late founder had behaved “in ways that went against chastity” with women in the order, according to the French Catholic newspaper La Croix. The Vatican under Pope Benedict XVI ultimately dissolved an offshoot of the congregation.

The issue has come to the fore amid the Catholic Church’s overall reckoning with the sexual abuse of minors and the #MeToo-inspired acknowledgement that adults can be victims of abuse whenever there is an imbalance of power in a relationship. In the past year, The Associated Press and other media have reported on cases of abused nuns in India , Africa, Europe and South America - evidence that the problem is by no means limited to a certain geographic area.

In November, the organization representing all the world’s female Catholic religious orders, the International Union of Superiors General, publicly denounced the “culture of silence and secrecy” that prevented nuns from speaking out and urged sisters to report abuse to their superiors and police. And just last week, the women’s magazine of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano identified the clerical culture of the all-powerful clergy as the culprit.

The magazine, “Women Church World,” noted that the scandal involves a corollary: n[uns being forced to abort the priests’ children or bear children that the priests refuse to recognize.

Francis’s acknowledgement of the problem comes as he prepares to decide the fate of the disgraced American ex-cardinal, Theodore McCarrick, who is accused of abusing minors as well as adult seminarians.

IF THIS DOESN’T MERIT EXCOMMUNICATION OR INTERDICT I DON’Y KNOW WHAT DOES

Cardinal Dolan 👂 👂 👂

From the Deacon’s Bench:

Cuomo Writes: ‘My Roman Catholic Values Are My Personal Values…’

 FEBRUARY 6, 2019 BY DEACON GREG KANDRA

From an op-ed in today’s New York Times, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York takes on those who have condemned the state’s new abortion law—and the governor mentions prominently his own Catholicism: In his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, President Trump attacked the law that New York passed last month codifying a woman’s right to an abortion, and he proposed federal legislation to roll back the protections provided by the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. The president’s… Read more

IT IS SAD, TRAGIC AND SINISTER THAT DEMOCRATS SEE CHILD SACRIFICE, ABORTION THROUGHOUT PREGNANCY AND INFANTICIDE AFTER BIRTH AS A SACRAMENT WHAT WE SHOULD CALL A BLACK SACRAMENT AS IN BLACK MASS--MEANING SATANIC

Yes, there are many things that we can criticize President Donald Trump, but his pro-life activism is not one of them. Perhaps in God's mysterious plan as Pope Francis would say about the multiplicity of religions and universalism in that regard, that God willed that Donald Trump be president to be a voice of reason when it comes to abortion and to be blatant about it.

I am beyond sickened by what the Democrat Party has become in this regard and there seems to be no voices in that party standing up for the life of babies. At least in the Catholic Church with our clergy scandals, no one is teaching that what is wrong is good.

I am beginning to think that like Fascism, godless communism and other authoritarian governmental models, that Catholics must be told they can no longer belong to a political party that has become as evil as the Democrat Party.

ARE PRIESTS BETTER THAN THE LAITY?

1. Do you experience priests who place themselves above the laity?
2. Is there a lack of leadership in parishes because the priest does not exercise authority according to his high calling, in other words he sees no authority differentiations between himself and lay leaders.
3. Is the clericalization of the laity and the laiziation of the clergy still a problem today?
4. Should seminarians live a monastic life and should rectories become more monastic with a rule of life for diocesan clergy, i.e. common Liturgy of the Hous and common meals similar to convents?
5. Should clergy and laity be governed by the Magisterium of the Church, meaning Scripture, Tradition and Canon Law?
6. Should clergy share the the bishops’ three-fold ministry to teach, rule and sanctify?

Please press the title below for the article to help you formulate your answers to the questions above:

New report warns against priests placing themselves above laity

THIS IS WHERE POPE FRANCIS GETS IT TAKES 100 YEARS TO IMPLEMENT AN ECUMENCIAL COUNCIL--PIOUS OPINION OF ONE ELDERLY JESUIT IN 2013!

Jesuit says confusion over Vatican II is normal, even 50 years later, LATER HE SAYS 100 YEARS...

Jan 25, 2013

by Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

This video was made in 2012 before Pope Francis became pope:

Rome — "I'm just beginning to understand the depth and breadth of the [Second Vatican] council" and its teachings, says a 91-year-old Jesuit who served as an expert at the council.

Jesuit Fr. Ladislas Orsy, a visiting professor at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, told an audience Thursday in Rome that while every ecumenical council in church history led to debate -- and sometimes even schism -- it always has taken more than 50 years for a council's teachings and reforms to take root in the Christian community.

"Granted we may see a great deal of confusion today; granted we may even see a denial of the council or we may even hear a way of explaining away the council," Orsy said during a speech that was part of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity celebrations at Rome's Centro Pro Unione.
Vatican II can be examined as a historical event, and theologians can use a variety of scholarly tools to propose different interpretations of its teachings, but one thing Catholics cannot deny is the church's teaching that the Holy Spirit is active in its ecumenical councils, he said.

Orsy asked his audience, "Are you surprised that there is a bit of disarray today in the Roman Catholic Church when this happened in the case of Nicea, dealing with the very foundation of our faith?" The Council of Nicea in 325 affirmed the divinity of Christ.

Nicea's deliberations led to debate and division, he said, but over the centuries "this wave of energy" of the Holy Spirit "quietly took possession of the church and the confusion sorted itself out." Today, he said, mainline Christians, while divided on a variety of issues, profess the basic tenets of their faith using the Nicean creed.

"Just looking at what happened after Nicea," he said, "it is not farfetched" to think that the work the Holy Spirit began at the Second Vatican Council continues in the church and "maybe, shall we say, 100 years from now," people will recognize how deeply it impacted the church.

The Jesuit said he hoped to live a "few more years" so he could try to understand more about where the Holy Spirit is leading the church through the teachings of Vatican II and the continuing process of that teaching taking root in the lives of Catholics.

In his talk, Orsy looked particularly at "Dignitatis Humanae," Vatican II's declaration on human dignity and religious freedom.

The Jesuit canon lawyer said the document, approved on the last day of the council, takes the visions of the church, the world and the human person expressed in the other Vatican II documents and applies them to "real-life situations."

It reaffirmed traditional church teaching that all human beings have an obligation to seek the truth and to strive for the perfection to which God calls all people, but it insisted the truth could be imposed on no one.

The document insists on "respect for the truth, but asserts that charity has its own priority, sometimes even above truth," urging the church to model itself more closely after Christ, "who never imposed with any kind of violence the truth that he proclaimed."

The council, he said, articulated a "fresh view of the human person" and affirmed that "by acknowledging the freedom of the human person, we honor a divine quality in the human person," who was created in God's image and likeness.

The declaration, Orsy said, represented a transition from "the realm where the highest criteria for judging the person were abstract, general and impersonal truths to the realm of charity and love, where the normative rule is to honor the dignity of the person."

"The ultimate conclusion is not to enforce the truth, but to embrace the person," he said.

THE POPE CLARIFIES THINGS FOR US--VERY CLEAR! IT IS SPIRIT OF VATICAN II CLEAR!

 

After the historic signing of the document, what do you think the consequences will be in the Islamic world? I am thinking above all of the conflicts in Yemen and Syria. And what are the consequences also among Catholics? Considering that there are some Catholics who accuse you of being exploited by Muslims.

“Not only by Muslims... (He laughs, ed.) They accuse me of being exploited by everyone, even by journalists. It’s part of the job, but I want to say one thing. From the Catholic point of view the document has not give way a millimeter from Vatican II, which is also cited several times. The document was made in the spirit of Vatican II. (I feel so much better as the spirit of Vatican II has really blessed the Church-not!) I wanted, before making the decision, to say it’s fine like that and we sign it like that, at least for my part I had it read by some theologian and also officially by the theologian of the Papal Household who is a Dominican, with the beautiful tradition of the Dominicans, not to go witch hunting, but to see the right thing... and he approved. If one feels bad, I understand it, it’s not an everyday thing... but it’s not a step backwards: it’s a step forward. A step forward that comes after 50 years, from the Council and that must develop. Historians say: it takes 100 years for a Council to root in the Church, we are halfway there. It has my attention. I’ll tell you: I’ve seen the phrase, but I don’t know if it’s a safe phrase, but it’s a phrase from the Council... it surprised me as well... Even in the Islamic world there are different opinions, there are some more radical, and others which are not. Yesterday in the council of wise men there was at least one Shiite, that gave a very great universality, he spoke well. There are discrepancies among them as well, but it’s a process and processes mature”.

THE UNENDING CONTROVERSIES AND AMBIGUITIES AND SCRATCHING OF ONE'S HEAD, WILL IT END IN MY LIFETIME?

Pope Francis with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb  (Vatican Media)

I don't know who will react more negatively to this? Rank and file Catholics? Rank and File Muslims? or Radical Muslims who will react in the most horrible way possible?

This is an excerpt from Fr. Z's blog. You can read his whole apologia here: 

Francis signed document saying that God willed the “pluralism and diversity of religions”. What’s up with that?

Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahamad al-Tayyib, signed a document on “Fratellanza Umana per la Pace Mondiale e la convivenza comune… Human Fraternity for world peace and living together”.

The document presents some affirmations and aspirations. It contains the following head-scratching statement. Emphases mine…

Freedom is a right of every person: each individual enjoys the freedom of belief, thought, expression and action. The pluralism and the diversity of religions, colour, sex, race and language are willed by God in His wisdom, through which He created human beings. This divine wisdom is the source from which the right to freedom of belief and the freedom to be different derives. Therefore, the fact that people are forced to adhere to a certain religion or culture must be rejected, as too the imposition of a cultural way of life that others do not accept;

Do you get that?  “The pluralism and diversity of religions” is “willed by God”.

HISTORY IS MADE, MEANING THIS IS HISTORIC AND MASS IS IN THE NEW LATIN, ENGLISH!

RACISM AND ABORTION

When I was three years old we moved from Naples, Italy to Atlanta, GA around 1957. Segregation and racism were rampant in the south of that day and legalized. I remember blacks sitting at the back of the bus, water fountains marked white only and the Woolworth's counter segregated as well.

Most white people who grew up in the south thought nothing about it. It was legal and safe for them.

I always wondered about it and thought it wasn't right that in a country that taught that all people are created equal that this inequality existed. But it did and in high places.

We've come a long way but not all the way in respecting the equality of all races.

But we are still stuck in the symbolic "Jim Crow" and legalized racism of the 1950's as it concerns the dignity of every child created in the image and likeness of God. They are human beings created equal.

Why is it that normal people and their politicians support legal abortion, the killing of children and now promoting even infanticide. How does this happen in an enlightened society?

Would CNN ever show the horrors of abortion as it concerns the child that is murdered, especially the partial birth abortion as gruesome as it is? NO!

The Governor of Virginia thought nothing about wearing black face in the 1980's and showing someone in a KKK outfit for his college annual. One has to wonder about the college administration at that time too.

Little did he know that almost 40 years later that would come back to bite him and run him out of political office.

What about all those who today support the murder of children through the various abortion procedures. What will happen to them 40 years from now when the USA is more enlightened about this horror and is repulsed that it was ever legal?

FOOD FOR THOUGHT ON DIOCESAN REPORTS

On another post, I spoke of the "drip, drip, drip" aspect of the various dioceses throughout the country releasing names of those who are credibly accused  most of them dead or long gone from dioceses. I lamented the fact that the National Conference of Catholic Bishops could have made one big giant bombshell, get it all out there together, and continue to move forward to prevent this kind of mismanagement in the future. But no, they prefer the agonizing drip, drip, drip and interminable press coverage that continues because of the drips.

But another aspect related to a coordinated effort is what information is given when names are released. Thanks be to God our Diocese of Savannah had very few reports of abuse. The most notorious abuser is thankfully in prison for life and we know from press reports, not the diocese, that he was a serial abuser of the worst kind. The others who are reported, we have no information. Are they like Wayland Brown or did they have only one or two reported cases of abuse? As bad as abuse is, some is much more heinous than others. All abusers should not be lumped together.

I read in CRUX this morning a commentary by a man abused by a priest in Texas. This is what he said in part:

Hebert told Crux that he is happy that the list was published, but finds the information on the Austin and Galveston-Houstonwebsites - the two Texas dioceses in which Willemsen served - to be “clinical, hard, [and] cold” due to a lack of details about the assignments of the alleged abusers. He compliments the Archdiocese of San Antonio for being “much more comprehensive,” adding their website “reads like you are speaking with someone who cares and knows that a victim wants to know about their abuser and put their lives back together after having gained some closure to that chapter.”

I have to agree. For some odd reason, I read some of San Antonio's list and found it had details that few other dioceses have. In fact, I discovered from San Antonio's website that one of their Irish Imported priests was accepted by the Diocese of Savannah in the 1960's! He's on our list but with no other details whatsoever. I discovered that he had 10 credible cases of abuse against him and that now he is dead, none of this on our website.

Unfortunately too, my childhood pastor in Augusta, from the time I was in first grade until 12th is on our list but with no details whatsoever. How pervasive was his abuse, what type? I would like to know because now I wonder was he like Wayland Brown or was his a one time event? That matters on many levels!

This is San Antonio's description of this priest who was in Augusta in the 1960's when I was growing up and I remember him as a child. Those of us in our diocese should have known this from our diocese not from another diocese. All of this could have been avoided by a nationally mandated style of reporting. Kudos to San Antonio! Here is what San Antonio said about a priest ending up in my diocese when I was a kid:

O'Sullivan, Michael J. – 10 allegations
Michael J. O’Sullivan was ordained a priest in Ireland in 1955 for the Archdiocese. From 1955- 1965, he was assigned in the Archdiocese to St. Mary in Fredericksburg, to St. Peter in San Antonio, to St. Mary in Victoria, to Blessed Sacrament in San Antonio, and to St. Vincent de Paul in San Antonio. The first known allegation of child sexual abuse against O’Sullivan was made in 1962, while he was assigned at Blessed Sacrament. O’Sullivan was placed under the care of a local psychiatrist, and on his recommendation was assigned to minister at St. Vincent de Paul while his treatment continued. Because it was alleged that he re-offended at St. Vincent de Paul, he was sent for residential treatment to Conyers, Georgia, under the care of a medical doctor. After about a year of this treatment, the doctor proposed that O’Sullivan’s return to ministry would be of service to the community and profitable to his psychotherapeutic progress. In a letter responding to the doctor’s proposal, the Archdiocese refused to accept O’Sullivan in San Antonio, but allowed that another diocese, “with full knowledge of Father’s problem,” might assign him. The Diocese of Savannah, Georgia assigned him to parish work in 1965, and when they learned in 1971 that he had again sexually abused children, the Diocese of Savannah removed his authorization for priestly ministry and asked him to leave their diocese. O’Sullivan returned to his hometown in Ireland. He lived in his parent’s house, but also exercised some priestly ministry over the years and received some assignments from the Diocese of Kerry. The Archdiocese became aware that he was no longer in Savannah in 1973, when the bishop of Savannah copied the Archdiocese on a letter warning the bishop of Kerry about O’Sullivan’s 

history. A visitor from Savannah had encountered O’Sullivan presenting himself as a priest in Ireland, and the letter was intended to ensure that action would be taken to keep him out of ministry. While the Archdiocese removed O’Sullivan from his assignment in San Antonio in 1964 and sent him for psychiatric treatment, the Archdiocese did not formally remove his faculties to minister or forbid him to present himself as a priest until 1994. While no allegations had yet been made against O’Sullivan in Ireland in 1994, since then four allegations have come forward, alleging child sexual abuse in Ireland in the 1970’s. Because the Archdiocese recognized that there was sufficient evidence of abuse to do so, in 2006 Archbishop Gomez referred this case to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, seeking O’Sullivan’s laicization (removal from the clerical state). O’Sullivan died in 2013, prior to the resolution of his case. 

DID YOU GET YOUR THROAT BLESSED ON SUPER BOWL SUNDAY, I MEAN THE FEAST OF SAINT BLAISE?

What did you experience at your church?

NOW WE KNOW WHY THEY TAUGHT THAT THE MASS WAS A MEAL AND DOWNPLAYED SACRIFICE

A  trattoria is an Italian-style eating establishment, less formal than a ristorante, but more formal than an osteria. There are generally no printed menus, the service is casual, wine is sold by the decanter rather than the bottle, prices are low, and the emphasis is on a steady clientele rather than on haute cuisine.

CANDLEMAS DONE RITE

Did you conclude Epiphanytide with a Candlemas in your parish? If not why did you not celebrate it? Did you take down your Christmas decorations yesterday? And if you attended Candlemas, how was it?

DID YOUR ALTAR SERVER SEE HIS SHADOW AT YOUR CANDLEMAS MASS (I KNOW, I KNOW, THAT'S REDUNDANT)

THERE IS A REASON WHY CANDLEMAS AND GROUNDHOG DAY ARE ON THE SAME DAY!

BOMBSHELL: A BISHOP WITH TESTOSTERONE!!!!!!!! A TRUE CATHOLIC BISHOP!!!!!!

 We need bishops and popes and priests who model themselves after this version of the Risen Lord!

AN EXCERPT!

The champion of this abortion legislation is Andrew Cuomo, a Catholic and governor of New York. Governor Cuomo frequently cites his Catholic faith in support of legislation he favors. His public witness as a Catholic politician, coupled with his stalwart support of abortion, is unacceptable. 

 

Politicians who reside in the Catholic Diocese of Spokane, and who obstinately persevere in their public support for abortion, should not receive Communion without first being reconciled to Christ and the Church (cf. Canon 915; "Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion. General Principles." Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 2004).

 

CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF SPOKANE

Office of the Bishop

February 1, 2019

Dear Friends,

Each January as the nation commemorates the sad anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, marches are held, and vigils are prayed. Those committed to the cause of human rights of the unborn make their voices heard. This year, pro abortion politicians fearing increased restrictions on abortion have advocated for and passed laws expanding access to abortion in the state of New York. Similar attempts have been made in Virginia.

Efforts to expand access to abortion, allowing murder of children up to the moment of birth is evil. Children are a gift from God, no matter the circumstances of their conception. They not only have a right to life, but we as a society have a moral obligation to protect them from harm.

The champion of this abortion legislation is Andrew Cuomo, a Catholic and governor of New York. Governor Cuomo frequently cites his Catholic faith in support of legislation he favors. His public witness as a Catholic politician, coupled with his stalwart support of abortion, is unacceptable. 

Politicians who reside in the Catholic Diocese of Spokane, and who obstinately persevere in their public support for abortion, should not receive Communion without first being reconciled to Christ and the Church (cf. Canon 915; "Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion. General Principles." Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 2004).

The Church’s commitment to the life of every human person from conception until death is firm. 

God alone is the author of life and for the civil government to sanction the willful murder of children is unacceptable. For a Catholic political leader

to do so is scandalous.

I encourage the faithful to turn to our Lord in prayer for our political leaders, entrusting them especially to the intercession of St. Thomas More, a public servant who preferred to die at the hands of civil authorities rather than abandon Christ and the Church.

 Let us also keep the unborn, as well as all pregnant mothers, in our prayers.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.

Live, Jesus, in our hearts forever.

In Christ,

Most Reverend Thomas A. Daly

Bishop of Spokane

STRONG WORDS FROM THE FORMER BISHOP OF RALEIGH AND NOW THE BISHOP OF ARLINGTON

Thank God, the governor of Virginia isn't Catholic. I pray that the Democrats undergo a pastoral conversion that would help them to link racism as an assault on the dignity of the human person created in the image and likeness of God to the evil of abortion as an assault of the human person that always leads to the killing and/or murder of a child. I pray the Democrats would have asked Governor Northam to resign his office just on what he said about his endorsement of infanticide. I pray they will change course and ask Gov. Cuomo to resign and every person in New York who voted for the bill allowing infanticide there. DEMOCRATS STOP YOUR HYPOCRISY AND CHERRY-PICKING ABOUT WHAT CONSTITUTES ASSAULTS ON THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON.

Bishop Michael F. Burbidge responds to photos from Governor Northam’s yearbook

In recent days, the Commonwealth of Virginia has witnessed public officials, including our Governor, make callous statements ignoring the dignity of unborn children and jeopardizing the safety and protection of those even in the process of being born. Now, with the extremely disturbing photos in Governor Northam’s medical school yearbook, we see another offense against the dignity of human life – the sin of racism.

In the midst of some petitioning for the resignation of Governor Northam, the Catholic Church renews its firm call for the protection of all human life and the respect for the dignity of each and every person. We ask the Governor to do what is best to restore the trust and confidence of the people in our leaders.

With people of good will and dependent upon the Lord’s mercy and love, I pray for the day when all elected officials will defend the life and dignity of God’s people, including the unborn, and people of every race, creed, sex, social condition, and ethnic background.

STRONG WORDS FROM POPE FRANCIS ON THE HEELS OF THE NEW YORK GOVENOR'S ARROGANCE AS IT CONCERNS THE MURDER OF BABIES AND INFANTICIDE

Pope Francis meets with Italy's Pro-Life Movement  (Vatican Media)

I just pray that His Holiness or a future pope tells bishops to tell their pro-choice Catholics be they politicians or not, to stop receiving Holy Communion until they repent and go to confession and worthily receive absolution and do their penance! 

 

Pope to Pro-Life Movement: ‘Politicians should place defense of life first'

Pope Francis appeals to politicians to defend the lives of unborn babies as the cornerstone of promoting the common good, in remarks to Italy’s Pro-Life Movement on Saturday.

 

By Devin Watkins

Italy’s Pro-Life Movement is a network that helps women with crisis pregnancy counseling and adoption services.

Pope Francis addressed the Movement’s Board of Directors on Saturday, ahead of the 41^st National Day for Life, which is celebrated on 3 February under the theme: “It’s life; it’s the future”.

“Ahead of tomorrow’s Day for Life, I take this opportunity to appeal to all politicians, regardless of their faith convictions, to treat the defense of the lives of those who are about to be born and enter into society as the cornerstone of the common good”.

A newborn child, said the Pope, brings “newness, future, and life” to society.
“Voluntarily extinguishing life in its blossoming is, in every case, a betrayal of our vocation, as well as of the pact that binds generations together, which allows us to look forward with hope,” he said.

Abortion undermines justice

Pope Francis thanked Italy’s Pro-Life Movement for defending the lives of the unborn. He said they bear witness through their work that “those who have been conceived are children of the whole of society”.
“Their killing in huge numbers, with the endorsement of States, is a serious problem that undermines the foundations of the construction of justice, compromising the proper solution of any other human and social issue,” he said.

Every stage of life

Pope Francis said protecting life is not a one-off action but means protecting every aspect of a person’s life.
“Taking care of life”, he said, “requires that attention be paid to living conditions: health, education, and job opportunities. In short, it includes everything that allows a person to live in dignity.”
The Pope said every person should be involved in defending life at every level of society, carried out “in a multiplicity of actions, attentions, and initiatives”.

Gift from God

Life, said the Holy Father, is a gift from God for which we cannot take sole credit.
“When life itself is violated at its emergence, what remains is no longer the grateful and enchanted welcome of a gift, but a cold calculation of what we have and what we can use. Then even life is reduced to a one-time-use consumer good”.
But, Pope Francis said, Italy’s Pro-Life Movement draws on the Catholic faith and Church teachings to contrast these tendencies. “May the Day for Life bring a breath of fresh air and help all to work generously” to promote life.
“Where there is life, there is hope!” the Pope declared.

IT’S 1984! NO DEMOCRAT PARTY IT IS 2019 AND THE PROBLEM ISN’T RACISM WITH VIRGINIA ‘S GOVERNOR FOR WHICH HE HAS ASKED FORGIVENESS, BUT THE FACT HE SUPPORTS THE MURDER OF BABIES, INFANTICIDE

Offering comfort as he and the mother decide to kill him:

AND FOR THE SAME REASON, THE ENABLEMENT OF THE LEGALIZED MURDER OF BABIES AND INFANTICIDE, THE NEW YORK GOVENOR MUST RESIGN.

But you won’T HEAR A SINGLE DEMOCRAT DOING SO FOR INFANTICIDE IN 2019, BUT 1984?

IN THESE HORRIBLE DAYS OF THE BISHOPS-MADE-SCANDALS, IT IS GOOD TO KEEP A SENSE OF HUMOR!

I saw this at The New Liturgical Movment and it is just too funny. And on top of that, it is from our neighboring diocese of Charleston, SC which has a cathedral with the same name as our cathedral in Savannah. One day I might retire in the Charleston diocese.

Catholic comedian Jeremy McLellan weighs in on the discussion provoked by a post on the blog of Fr Michael White, pastor of Nativity Church in Timonium, Maryland, entitled “Why We Don’t Encourage (Little) Kids in Church.” As is so often the case, there is already a solution to the problem, and what’s old is new again...

SOURCES TELL ME AS WHISPERED IN THE LOGGIA

Rocco Palma of Whispers in the Loggia has his sources and is usually correct. This is from him:

Seven months since now-Archbishop Theodore McCarrick was initially removed from ministry following a substantiated report of abuse (followed quickly by a second allegation), a lead Whispers op relays that the onetime cardinal – already stripped of his red hat by Pope Francis – will be dismissed from the clerical state by the Holy See within days.

By any measure, that outcome would've been unthinkable a year ago.... In many ways, it still is.

 [This] penalty hasn't yet been levied on an American prelate. Yet even more, in any context, never has a "prince of the church" been removed from the priesthood altogether.

Clearly, terms like "unprecedented" and "watershed" can easily be overemployed or misused in moments like these.

In this singular case, however, to say they apply is the height of understatement.

IS THE DRIP, DRIP, DRIP EXACERBATING THE ABUSE SCANDAL?

Now that the bishops are realizing that the feds are coming after them on the abuse scandal, each diocese has begun to release the names of priests credibly accused of abuse. Some are going back to the 1920's or before.

Each time there is a release, there is news coverage either locally or nationally.

Texas, a nation of a state, released their names at once, each diocese doing so. This is a big state and big news.

Now, I am not a bishop or the pope, but what good is the USCCB and synodality if they could not have gotten together and decided on a common date to release all names nationally so that there would be one big bombshell of a news story and then that would have covered it.

But no, each bishop or Metropolitan decides on a drip, drip, drip approach with drip, drip, drip news coverage creating even more angst and alienation among faithful clergy and laity.

Is this how to run a Church?