TYLER, WE HAVE A PROBLEM

 My astute comments first:  

I think what we see here are two things. A diocesan priest who has promised obedience to his bishop acting as a loose canon whether or not you agree with what he said in his video or at least parts of what he stated. 

Secondly, you have a bishop in another state encouraging a priest in another diocese and agreeing with what he said. Bishop Strickland, though, as far as I can tell, has not criticized some of what the priest said or made clear that it was only his stance that a Catholic cannot (should not) be a democrat since it is a party that supports the massacre of unborn babies and babies born after a "botched" abortion where the baby lives, even into the final moment of pregnancy, the 9th month. 

So what we have here is the bishop of the priest in question correcting one of his priests and privately now for the time being and a Bishop Strickland from Tyler, Texas supporting the same priest. This is what is so "heterodox" if you will, a bishop from another diocese interfering in the supervision of a priest who has his own bishop that he has promised obedience. 

The question is, now, will Bishop Strickland be disciplined by the Pope (through the papal nuncio) and privately? Stay tuned....

La Crosse bishop to correct ‘Catholics can’t be Democrats’ priest

Catholic News Service (CNS)

Fr. James Altman. YouTube screenshot.

CNA Staff, Sep 9, 2020 / 03:32 pm MT (CNA).-  

After a Wisconsin priest said in a viral video that no Catholic can be a Democrat, the priest’s bishop will attempt fraternal correction, and said Wednesday the priest has inflicted a “wound” upon the Church. A Texas bishop, however, has doubled down on his support for the priest.

“I am applying Gospel principles to the correction of Fr. Altman. ‘If your brother does something wrong to you, go to him. Talk alone to him and tell him what he has done. If he listens to you, you have kept your brother as a friend. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two others with you to talk to him.’ (Mt 18:15-16).”

“I have begun this process, not in the bright light of the public arena, but as the Gospel dictates, in private,” Bishop William Callahan of La Crosse said in a Sept. 9 statement.

“Canon law indicates that before penalties are imposed, we need to ensure that fraternal correction, rebuke or other means of pastoral solicitude will not be sufficient to repair the scandal,” the bishop added, in reference to canon 1341 of the Church’s Code of Canon Law.

Fr. James Altmann, a priest of La Crosse, gained attention after an Aug. 30 video was published on YouTube, in which the priest said that “You can not be Catholic and be a Democrat. Period.”

In the ten-minute video, which has been viewed on YouTube more than 400,000 times, the priest said that he had “crunched the numbers,” and “I came up with a pretty close approximation of how many Catholics voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012. Zero.”

“There will be 60 million aborted babies standing at the gates of heaven barring your Democrat entrance," Altman added, while criticizing the Democratic platform’s commitment to legal protection for abortion.

The priest also decried the “climate change hoax,” and lamented "DACA- which means criminal illegal aliens,” he said.

He also criticized Archbishop Wilton Gregory, and praised President Donald Trump as “one of the best pro-life presidents.”

While the Catholic Church condemns support for the legal protection of abortion, it does not prohibit membership in the Democratic Party, and in recent months, some bishops have recognized the voices of pro-life Democrats advocating for changes to their party’s platform on the issue of abortion.

The priest’s video gained even more attention after Tyler, Texas Bishop Joseph Strickland “endorsed” it over the weekend.

“As the Bishop of Tyler I endorse Fr Altman’s statement in this video. My shame is that it has taken me so long.  Thank you Fr Altman for your COURAGE. If you love Jesus & His Church & this nation...pleases HEED THIS MESSAGE,” Strickland tweeted Sept. 5.

Strickland did not respond to questions regarding the video from CNA, but did email a statement Wednesday afternoon, in which the bishop reiterated on his support for Altman's video.

“I support Fr. James Altman's video because I believe, not only Catholic Christians, but ALL God's people must ask themselves some tough questions each time they prepare to cast their vote in any local, state, or national election.

“Voting is not an easy task nor one to be taken lightly. On the contrary; it requires research, prayer, and discernment. We must ask ourselves- Do we believe in God. Do we as a nation believe in God?” Strickland wrote, adding that Catholics must also ask themselves if they believe in God's commandment's and in Catholic Tradition. 

“Are we willing to acknowledge our sins and seek repentance and reparation as individuals and as a nation? Are we casting our vote through the lens of Jesus Christ and his Teachings?”

“If my support of Father Altman can prompt meaningful conversations and prayerful discernment about these questions, then I am at least beginning to fulfill my role as a pastor of souls and a disciple of Jesus Christ,” Strickland added.

For his part, Callahan noted that Altman has become a symbolic figure in a fractured conversation about Catholicism and partisanship in America.

Callahan emphasized that he understands “the undeniable truth that motivates his message. When we approach issues that are contradictory to the Faith and teachings of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church, particularly on abortion and other life issues, we should invite dialogue and heart-felt conversion to the truth. Our approach must never seek to divide, isolate and condemn.”

“That being said it is not only the underlying truth that needs to be evaluated but also the manner of delivery and the tone of his message. Unfortunately, the tone Fr. Altman offers comes off as angry and judgmental, lacking any charity and in a way that causes scandal both in the Church and in society. His generalization and condemnation of entire groups of people is completely inappropriate and not in keeping with our values or the life of virtue,” the bishop insisted.

Altman is the pastor of St. James the Less Parish in La Crosse. He was ordained a priest in 2008, and had worked as an attorney before entering seminary. At a previous parish, St. Peter and Paul, the priest was criticized after a cemetery care fund was reportedly drained, and upkeep at the cemetery declined. The La Crosse diocese did not respond to questions from CNA about the cemetery fund.

Callahan's statement recognized that many Catholics are looking to him for clarity.

“The amount of calls and emails we are receiving at the Diocesan offices show how divisive he is. I am being pressured by both sides for a comment; one side holds him up as a hero or a prophet, the other side condemns him and vilifies him and demands I silence him,” the bishop wrote.

“Most people expect a decisive move from me, one way or another. Many suggest immediate penalties that will utterly silence him; others call for complete and unwavering support of his views. Canonical penalties are not far away if my attempts at fraternal correction do not work.”

“I pray that Fr. Altman’s heart and eyes might be open to the error of his ways and that he might take steps to correct his behavior and heal the wound he has inflicted on the Body of Christ.”

Ed. note: This report was updated shortly after publication, when Strickland emailed comments to CNA.

 

WILL LUKEWARM CATHOLICS (TEPID) RETURN TO MASS AND CHURCH PARTICIPATION IN THE SAME WAY AS FULLY COMMITTED CATHOLICS ARE DOING?

 Christmas Eve, 2019 and Easter, 2020; what will Christmas Eve be 2020?

There has been an interesting exchange between Fr. Z, who is far from a heterodox Catholic and the lay theologian and university professor, Massimo Faggioli. (Faggioli is the Italian word for "beans" and thus Fr. Z refers to him by the English translation of his last name). 

Dr. Faggioli castigated the new Bishop of Madison, Wisconsin for celebrating Confirmation in the Extraordinary Rite and then remaining for the Celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the same rite. The bishop presided in choir dress and Fr. Z was the celebrant. 

But this is what Fr. Z says (and it is his opinion) about orthodox Catholicism:

Confirmation with the older, traditional Rite has been going on all this time.  It is now much more frequent because more and more people are choosing to attend the Traditional Latin Mass and they want traditional Confirmation for their children.  Also, more and more bishops are finding it opportune to administer Confirmation in the older Rite and they are generous with their time and effort.

This is simply a normal pastoral activity of bishops that shouldn’t surprise or disturb anyone.

Also, it will become more and more prevalent in the future, I predict.

A demographic sink hole has been opening up underneath the Church for a long time.  COVID has accelerated the sink hole.   Large numbers of Catholics in name and baptism only will fall through that hole not to be seen again anytime soon.   The Church’s landscape is going to change.  I think that a few groups will remain strong in the Church, including Traditionalists (who are having lots of children, who are dedicated and generous with their money) as well as converts from a more Evangelical background and also some charismatics who have strong Eucharistic and Marian devotion.   These groups will find each other out of necessity.  There will be some friction, but I think something amazing will grow out of it.  And what binds them together will the TRADITIONAL LATIN  RITE, not the Novus Ordo.

My astute comments:

I have had experience with all the groups Fr. Z states which I highlight in blue. When I was pastor of the Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Augusta and vocation director as well (1991-2004), there was/is a large charismatic  ecumenical community with most of the Catholics attending my parish. Most of the Protestants converted to Catholicism too, evangelical Protestants.  The Catholics were very orthodox in their faith, believed in Humanae Vitae and had many, many children. The only fly in the ointment was their liturgical sensibilities and spirituality which was Pentecostal Protestantism/worship and praise. But in terms of belief in the Most Holy Eucharist, the Sacrifice of the Mass and the other sacraments and Church teaching they were ORTHODOX! They just like a more charismatic experience of these in style and music.

The children of the parents who began this charismatic community in about 1970, though, wanted even more orthodox and traditional Catholicism.  As pastor of Most Holy Trinity, I emphasized authentic Catholic identity and providentially, Pope John Paul II issued the new Catechism of the Catholic Church as I began my pastorate and the charismatic community embarked on a study of it which helped lead to the re-Catholicizing of the Protestant Pentecostal leaning founders and original members. 

This community (Alleluia Community, google it) has provided more vocations to the priesthood as well as the Church of the Most Holy Trinity than any other deanery and parish in our diocese. As it concerns Most Holy Trinity, not all the vocations were from the Alleluia Community. Since the mid 1980's MHT has provided at last 15 to 20 candidates to the priesthood (both diocesan and religious) and female religious orders. 

But what is truly fantastic is that the priests ordained for our diocese over the years from Augusta's charismatic community are also celebrating the EF Mass and eager to do so. 

Let's briefly look at Traditionalists and another group Fr. Z fails to mention (home schooling families), these too will keep the Church going with fidelity to Mass and the Church and her teachings. 

Anecdotal evidence from the Savannah deanery shows that the EF Mass celebrated each Sunday at our Cathedral-Basilica saw immediately after parishes reopened, a return to normalcy in terms of the number attending Mass and even more now than before the Pandemic shutdown. Our diocese reopened Pentecost Sunday which was the last Sunday of May.  The same can't be said of the Ordinary Form Masses either at the Cathedral or other parishes in the Savannah deanery.

My last point is this. Prior to Vatican II when there was more unity among Catholics, most Catholics were very orthodox and there was about 90% of all Catholics attending Mass each Sunday and the Mass was never criticized as post Vatican II Catholics would do to it, we had vocations galore from rank and file parishes. We didn't need "new movements" to provide these vocations. The parish was the primary source for vocations. 

That has changed. Rank and file parishes are not providing vocations, new movements are, like Traditionalist parishes, parishes with the EF Mass, parishes with charismatic communities and now home schooling families who network with one another. 

And finally, these new movements are conservative politically. They will not vote for anyone who is pro-choice and they will not belong to a political party that supports abortion on demand and the killing of a born child after a "botched" abortion where the baby lives.  

FROM THE WHAT WERE THEY THINKING FILE

 

From The San Diego Union-Tribune: 

Roman Catholic services will continue on board Southern California Naval bases at least for the next year, Rear Adm. Bette Bolivar, the commander of Navy Region Southwest, announced Tuesday, reversing a plan to suspend most contracts for priests in an effort to cut costs.

That plan, first reported by the Union-Tribune Saturday, would have left base chapels at most installations in San Diego devoid of any Catholic services due to a shortage of priests in the active duty Chaplain Corps. The priests at these installations are civilians and work under contract.

News of the canceled contracts led to a public outcry from religious and political leaders.

“Contrary to previous discussions, this year we will continue contracted religious ministry programs and services similar to what we’ve had in place previously,” Bolivar said in a statement. “We will also continue to assess how best to meet the needs of our Sailors and their families throughout the region.”

Rev. Jose Pimentel, a priest who has led services at Naval Base Coronado and Naval Air Station North Island for eight years, said he is grateful for Bolivar’s decision.

“It’s wonderful news,” Pimentel said when reached by phone Tuesday. “I’m grateful that they realize the importance of the ministry we provide to the sailors, Marines and Coast Guard members — people of all diverse backgrounds — we’re here for them.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, wrote on Twitter Sunday that the Navy should “look at canceling Admirals, not priests.”

Read more. 

Related: ‘It’s difficult to fathom’: more on Navy’s move to cancel priest contracts

AS IT CONCERNS THE NAME OF THE UPCOMING ENCYCLICAL...

 

Fratelli tutti fa tutti frutti, in ogni caso mi sono venute le lacrime agli occhi mentre ridevo

PROCESSING/JOURNALING A HERMITAGE-LIKE RETREAT

One can see how this teaches without words, the Church's belief in the Real Presence leading to most Catholics at the time believing in Transubstantiation:

And one can understand why 70% of Catholics no longer believe in Transubstantiation after experiencing this:

I just listened to a marvelous more than an hour long talk/teaching by Bishop Baron on the Most Holy Eucharist.

It was brilliant and showed how belief in the Real Presence which eventually is described at "transubstantiation" developed certainly from Jesus Himself in John's Gospel especially and then carried on from there with the Apostles and the early Church Fathers.

He also describe some in-house heretical teachings in later centuries clearly confronted by the Church to insist upon transubstantiation.

Then in a brilliant way he described the Council of Trent, which Catholics must receive, and how it clarified what the Church's teaching is concerning the Most Holy Eucharist compared to the "reformers" versions of it, from Luther, to Calvin to others. Trent reaffirmed the Church true teaching compared to the Protestant Reformers and their adherents as "anathemas" or "be condemned".

In the 1950's more erroneous thoughts or theological positions were being taken which let Pope St. Paul VI to reaffirmed and very directly during Vatican II, Trent's authentic teaching as binding on the nature of the Real Presence in the Consecrated Bread and Wine, Christ's Body and Blood.

Bishop Baron prefaced his teaching by citing the Pew Survey of a couple years ago that said 70% of
Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence as taught by Trent, Vatican II and Pope St. Paul VI and subsequent popes. They believe it to be a symbol, a Protestant ideology which condemns Catholics for holding such a view, according to Trent of course.

In this talk, videoed before about 5,000 priests, religious and catechist, Bishop Baron hope that teaching about the Holy Eucharist and the Real Presence would be a priority as it hasn't be taught or received by 70% of Catholics surveyed.

THAT IS WHERE I BECAME APOPLECTIC!

For centuries, the great poor, uneducated and unwashed masses of the Church (meaning those who were not priests and religious) believed in the real presence because of the manner in which Mass was celebrated and how the laity received Holy Communion, in fear and trembling, with reverence and faith.

Being formed by Trent and its anathemas and the refined Roman Missal, post-Trent--the celebration of the Mass and the manner in which it was done handed on the true faith about not only the Sacrificial aspect of the Mass but the Real Presence.

The law of prayer is the law of belief!  And if prayer is according to the mind of the Church celebrated reverently and with are and by the Book, the law of belief follows.

But the converse is true that if the prayer is celebrated sloppily, with little reverence and particular ways of doing things become codified that eat away at true belief, then belief suffers and dies.

What has led to 70% of Catholics not believing orthodox Catholic teaching on the Eucharist and combined with that in some places only 12% of Catholics attending Mass.

These are the things that accomplished that great feet in only 50 years or so after Vatican II:

1. There was a loss of appreciation for the rubrics of the Mass, that led to sloppy celebrations of it, with many banalities and a horizontal view of the Mass and receiving Holy Communion. Music became associated with fads in music, thus religious words set to secular ditties

2. Priests and parishes became creative with the Liturgy and ceased to read the black and do the red. As varied as are the various parishes even in the same city, so too the Mass in the Ordinary Form. The Ordinary Form Mass, depending on the priest and the place was like "a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get." And what you get was the worst choice in that box!

3. Then these things became allowed which collectively have contributed to the loss or orthodox Catholic Faith and Catholics leaving the Church and becoming nones (moral issues they can't understand and won't believe and are not willing to try being a party of this heterodoxy).

a. Communion standing rather than kneeling--most Catholics when this innovation began view it as less reverent than kneeling and they had a lifetime of kneeling to know what they were talking about

b. Then Communion in the hand which like standing, those Catholics who spent a lifetime receiving on the tongue because of their belief in the Real Presence and spirituality of reverence, perceived receiving in the hand as less reverent.

c. Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion: for those who were the first to experience it, they spent a lifetime receiving Holy Communion from priests who were ordained to consecrate and touch the Sacred Host. Their ordination and the anointing of their hands is what gave them the authority to consecrate and distribute Holy Communion. Having lay people, who took an hour long class on "how to distribute and when to come up, etc) and often chosen not for their holiness of life and fidelity to the Church, but because they were willing to do it and thought it was a very priestly function, caused people to wonder about the Real Presence if its distribution was accomplished by laity in a more casual way and receiving on the run in the hand or tongue.

The loss of reverence or at least the perceived loss of reverence contributes to this loss of faith in the Real Presence as taught by the Church for 2000 years.

If we don't understand that the primary way in which orthodox Catholic Faith is inculcated, by the manner and style of our worship at Mass, no amount of catechesis will remedy the malaise.

THE GLORIES OF VATICAN II

 

Our diocese canceled our annual priests’ retreat due to Covid-19 issues with our retreat house in Jacksonville, Florida. We are asked to find an alternative to this retreat. Thus I am doing a private, kind of self-directed retreat this week at a beautiful place of nature. I am following the schedule we use for our diocesan retreat. My retreat master is Bishop Barron. I am using selected videos from his vast number of videos. 

Last night, at my retreat conference, Bishop Baron spoke about Vatican II and the polarization in the Church today which is both religious and political but interconnected. 

Like Bishop Baron, I am not amongst those who are verging in the direction of schism, true schism, who reject Vatican II altogether or reject portions of it. It is an ecumenical council headed by the Pope and the bishops in union with him and holds a place of authoritative pride. Those who disagree with this defined teaching of the Church (about ecumenical councils) place themselves on the road to schism. 

My retreat master did not go into it specifically, but he did make a point about the actual Council and how it was implemented. He spoke of anecdotal evidence that he himself experienced after the council that anyone his age, which is a bit young than me, can certainly confirm. 

Thus, I prefer, like Bishop Baron, to uphold Vatican II and its integrity and rather critique its manner of implementation. And I prefer to critique the lack of critique from bishops of the Church concerning Vatican II’s implementation that has led to about 12 % of Catholics attending Mass, a gauge about the success or failure of a Council’s implementation. 

I support Pope Benedict’s vision for Vatican II which he enunciated very clearly and his papacy gave witness, especially his liturgical vision, his call for a more ‘universal” Liturgy in terms of style and language and his call that Catholic laity and clergy be faithful to the Church by witnessing to the Light of Christ in the world. 

We must reach those who are alienated from God or know Him not, with the medicine of truth, even if that Medicine tastes bitter to them. It is here, that the implementation of Lunmen Gentium of Vatican II combined with a miserable implementation of the reformed liturgy, has undermined the actual Council.

When you have the National Chismatic Reporter, pro-abortion Catholic politicians evangelizing the world with a heresy rather than truth, and the bishops of local dioceses where these things originate doing nothing, that undermines Vatican II pure and simple. 

It is up to bishops who supervise their priest and religious who work in their dioceses to make sure a heresy is not being witnessed by any Catholic in their diocese as it goes against one of the most important documents of VAtican II, Lumen Gentium. They need to call them out, be it a pubic person like a Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi or a Michael Voris on the other end or fascist Catholics on the far right of things. 

And when it comes to the post-Vatican II liturgy and any liturgy accepted by the Church today, to include the EF Mass, the Ordinariate’s Mass, the different rite Masses in the Latin Rite as well as Eastern Rite Liturgies, bishops must model reading the black and doing the red and expecting their priests and parishes doing the same. Lumen Gentium and Sacrosantum Concilium are inter related in this regard. A corruption of the Mass and other liturgies is a corruption of Vatican II and its implementation.

What say you? 

THE NATIONAL CHISMATIC REPORTER (NCR) SAYS THAT THE VIDEO THAT BISHOP STRICKLAND SUPPORTS IS HOMOPHOBIC, AND ANTI IMMIGRANT; IS IT?

 For the National Chismatic Reporter, women’s ordination, gender ideology, as well as being pro-choice has become its hallmark. It is beyond me why the local bishop where the NCR is headquartered tells them they cannot use the name Catholic in their name and claim any affiliation with the Catholic Church. 

Correct me if i am wrong, but didn’t Michael Voris obey his bishop’s request that the Vortex or the Church Militant no longer use “Catholic” in its name. He at least had the good graces to comply, which I am glad he did. 

Yet, this article impugns the integrity of the Bishop of Tyler, Texas for endorsing a video which the Chismatic says in homophobic and anti-immigrant. Of course for the left, the label “homophobic” is like calling someone the “n” word since the homophobic person should be marginalized, have his civil rights taken away and segregated from the rest of society. 

But is it homophobic and is the NCR pro-lifephobic? 

Texas bishop endorses video claiming faithful Catholics can't support Democratic candidates

Sep 6, 2020

by Christopher White

 

Politics

Strickland resized.jpg

Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, speaks from the floor during the fall general assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore Nov. 11, 2019. (CNS/Bob Roller) 

Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, has endorsed a video that includes anti-immigrant remarks and homophobic slurs by a priest of Wisconsin in which the priest claims, “You cannot be Catholic and be a Democrat.”

The video was released Aug. 30 by Fr. James Altman, pastor of St. James the Less Catholic Church in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and has since received more than 298,000 views. 

In the 10-minute video, set to ominous music and dark lighting, the priest slams Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Washington D.C., for his criticism of President Donald Trump’s photo-op and appearance at the St. John Paul II National Shrine earlier this summer. He also criticizes Jesuit Fr. James Martin and his closing prayer at the Democratic National Convention; refers to participants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects immigrants who entered the United States as minors from deportation, as “criminal illegal aliens"; and calls climate change a hoax. 

READ THE REST AT CHISMATIC

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CATHEDRAL, ALBANY, NY BEFORE AND AFTER AND SAVANNAH’S CATHEDRAL-BASILICA OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST SUNDAY’S EF MASS BUT ONLY AFTER

 While it is unfortunate what was done to the sanctuary, Albany, NY’s renovation of its Catholic Cathedral could have been much worse. Apart for the sanctuary, the cathedral itself is marvelously preserved in its beauty, not a whitewash. The sanctuary could be happily restored somewhat easily but expensive nonetheless. While we don’t worship money, money offered as love offerings should not be wasted on useless renovations only to have to spend more money to correct the big mistake of a renovation that cost too much:

And the Cathedral Basilica of Savannah’s 14th Sunday after Pentecost EF Mass, photos posed after, not before or during:

Of course the biretta or is it beretta doesn’t help the cause of my hair, but at my age, who cares!

HMM, CAN THE CHURCH LOSE HER TAX EXEMPT STATUS OVER THIS, OR AT LEAST THE DIOCESE OF TYLER, TEXAS AND WOULD THAT BE A GOOD THING IN FREEING THE CHURCH FROM THE SHACKLES OF POLITICAL PROGRESSIVES AND/OR CONSERVATIVES IN ORDER TO BE AN ACTUAL PROPHETIC FORCE IN AMERICA

MY COMMENTS FIRST:  If a political party and its candidate advocated for “separate but equal” segregation, as was the case for many politicians, usually democrats, in the south through the mid 1960’s, wouldn’t the Church today condemn that party and any politicians advocating such?

Yet there is a timidity to say what Bishop Joseph Strickland said concerning if a Catholic may be a democrat. Why? Because of fear of losing tax exempt status. Or because of the good things democrats advocate and not wanting to lose that voice. It is kind of like supporting Mussolini because of the good things he did for Italians, like getting the trains to run on time, but overlooking his fascist ideology and  friendship with Adolph Hitler.

But worse than that, a fear of being prophetic, like the prophets of old, who had to face backlash from the very people they were calling to conversion, and often that backlash was violent, has sanitized the words of many bishops and priests so as to render the Church’s message impotent.  Today, Catholics who are democrats, like Vice President Biden and his Catholic followers, get angry at any prophetic voice from bishops and priests challenging their apostasy as it concerns the Church’s seamless garment of life unravels if the protection of the innocent unborn “thread” is pulled and clipped.

Unless a republican or independent is calling for the massacre of illegal immigrants, those who are poor and put a drain on our economy, the Church’s teachings on migrants, the poor and other social justice issues while important are not as important as protecting human life from murder and massacre beginning with the innocent unborn. And to boot, democrats are calling for the killing of a child who survives a late term abortion or partial birth abortion. They also endorse euthanasia.

Do we need more Fr. James Altmans and Bishop Stricklands? What would happen in the Catholic Church’s rank and file clergy and laity if we had more? Would the progressives leave the Church or have they done so already?

Fr. James Altman: "You cannot be a Catholic and a Democrat. Period." -- Endorsed by the Bishop of Tyler, Texas

This afternoon, Bishop Joseph Strickland, of the Diocese of Tyler (Texas), endorsed this important video by Fr. James Altman, of La Crosse (Wisconsin).

AN APOLOGETIC FOR A METHOD OF GOVERNANCE BY A RADICAL JESUIT POPE

 This article reads like an apologetic and almost like an obituary. It is kind of fascinating that this is occurring. Perhaps Pope Francis is being worn down by criticism by high prelates like the dubia cardinals, and other bishops, maybe one or two completely off the rails. But I suspect too, there are those bringing their concerns to the pope privately and respectfully, but directly. The latter seems to me to be the best process rather than an ugly public spectacle.

As I read this rather lengthy apologetic by Pope Francis’ closest Jesuit advisor, I think I get a sense of what the main problem of governance with this pope is. He is a Jesuit, imposing on the Church which is not Jesuitical a Jesuit spirituality and way of doing things, but conditioned by a post-Vatican II expression of “Jesuitness” that is not what it was prior to the Council.

The Catholic Church is comprised of many spiritualities and religious orders but primarily secular clergy not religious order ones. Thus the papacy must transcend one particular order, form of spirituality and discernment as well as any secular expressions of the clergy and laity, secular not being used in a negative way here. I am a secular priest, not a religious order priest.

Also, religious orders in the post Vatican II era, especially in its immediate aftermath, made the process of arriving at discernment and decisions that led to certain reforms sacrosanct. It was the process of arriving at a prayerful decision discerned in prayer that was more important than the decision made, such as wearing no habits, expanding ministries, become social justice warriors, relaxing rules and allowing an individualistic approach to religious life rather than a communal one—all of which has led to the destruction of some of the most stable and successful men and women’s religious orders prior to Vatican II. Do we really need more of this?

Read the full article below HERE. 

Francis’ Government: What is the driving force of his pontificate?

 Antonio Spadaro, SJ / Pope Francis / Published Date:5 September 2020 

Free Article

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After seven years of this pontificate, what is its driving force? Some commentators and analysts have wondered if Francis’ drive still exists; others have tried to reflect on its substance. The question could be re-phrased as follows: What kind of government does Francis exercise, and how do we interpret it in the light of these seven years? I intend to address this question here, examining the meaning of his way of governing, which comes from his personality, his own life and formation.[1

PLAYING AROUND WITH BEFORE AND AFTER, BUT STATUS QUO REMAINS AFTER EXPERIMENTATION

I had some time to kill this Saturday morning, so I thought I would experiment with a before and after in our new St. Anne main Church.  It is makeshift, thus I would never leave it the way I rearranged things and all is back to the status quo.

But it gives me some ideas about improving our contemporary/Neo-traditional sanctuary.  The tables that the six candles are own are our credence tables and are off to the sides behind the tabernacle. Thus these would not work.  I'd need something taller that could also accommodate flower arrangements too.

But what do you think and what would you suggest?

BEFORE and STILL IS:

AFTER AS AN EXPERIMENT (please note candles on altar):

Please note different placement of two candles on altar:

Please note new placement of two candles on either side of altar on tall candle stands:

These are the makeshift credence tables for this experiment. I think we would need to extend the tabernacle's "table" out slightly below its top with something that matches it better, but what?

AND NOW FOR A REALLY, REALLY, REALLY IMPORTANT POST!!!! I VEHEMENTLY PROTEST THIS OUTRAGEOUS OUTRAGE!

Baby Ruth: New innovations make the iconic chocolate bar even better---NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I BEG TO DIFFER AND I PROTEST! This week, much to my dismay, I ate a snack sized Baby Ruth bar that someone in our office purchased for the staff to snack on.

 I've been eating these things since I was a child, a huge bar costing only 5 cents in the early 60's! As I was eating it, I thought to myself, self, this isn't my day's Baby Ruth, its too sweet and the nougat is different, its like fake news, its a fake Baby Ruth!!!! Maybe it came from China or Covid 19 infected it?

 I even complained to one of my coworkers that the Baby Ruth didn't taste right. Unfortunately she's generation Z or something like that and didn't know what a Baby Ruth was, nor could she remind me of the name of its sister star, which I figured out on my own, the Butterfinger candy bar, my other most favorite, but second only to Baby Ruth candy bar.

 Well, I googled Baby Ruth to see if its recipe had changed. And sure enough, I found this pro-change article I post below! Nestle, which is a Swiss Company, sold out its candy division to an Italian company, Ferraro. I knew they had changed the recipe for the Butterfinger, which isn't bad, but not as good as it use to be. But the Baby Ruth I have no desire to eat again. The change has ruined it for me! 

It's like new Coke and its debacle back in 1984!  It's like the new Mass of 1970! Oh, the humanity of it all!

 

You can read the pro change article here, propaganda if I ever read it!

THE EF LOW MASS FOR FIRST SATURDAY IN HONOR OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY CELEBRATED AS A LOW MASS WITH FOUR HYMNS INSERTED

The video below is our Extraordinary Form Low Mass for  the First Saturday of September using the votive Mass of The Immaculate Heart of Mary. At our Tuesday low Mass we do not sing hymns nor do I give a homily, which was customary prior to Vatican II, no homily/sermon for daily Mass, that is.

However, as I was experiencing this Mass while celebrating it with the "four hymn" sandwich, if you will, hymns sung but not the Mass, it brought be back to my childhood both in Atlanta and Augusta. My father always took us to the early Sunday morning Mass which was like today's First Saturday Mass, although usually the four hymns were all vernacular Marian hymns.

I can see why so many Catholics prior to Vatican II preferred the Low Mass as celebrated below. It truly is noble simplicity as Vatican II "mandated." Liturgists are the ones who demanded that there be no more distinctions between low, Sung and Solemn Sung Mass, that all Masses no matter when have at least some of its parts sung and hymns to replace propers at all Masses. 

Of course, I was exposed as a child to High Masses too, but less frequently than the low Mass.

By the way, the framed print you see was down loaded from a computer website, sent to a local drugstore, Walgreens, where they "blew it up" then our CRE brought it to a craft store and had it framed (all this on Friday) and the total cost was less than $50! Who would have thought????

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN CHURCH AND STATE ARE TOO CLOSELY ALIGNED

 This syndicated column was in Saturday’s Augusta Chronicle. While it is on Evangelical Protestantism, it could easily be applied to any religions’ religious leaders. 

As it concerns Christians, all are sinners in need of conversion, repentance and on-going forgiveness. Many in the press do not understand this aspect of Catholicism or most Protestant expressions of Christianity. 

But as Pope Francis has stated, some Christians, be they clergy or laity, are not just sinners in need of conversion, repentance and forgiveness, they are corrupt, thinking they don’t need what typical sinners need. They think they are above God’s WAY, TRUTH AND LIFE.

Combine that with politics and religious figures really wanting a career in politics or associated with powerful politicians, it reminds me of what Islam’s religious leaders are today and what was true of Catholicism and her popes and bishops when the Church and state were one, not separated. I think too, this would be true of the “official” religion of any state, as is the Anglican Communion in Great Britain. When religious leaders get too cozy with the state and its politicians or they are the state and its political leaders, Houston, we have a problem:

Falwell and evangelicalism’s theological confusion

Shayne Looper

Evangelicalism has a problem: Evangelicals.

It is not a new problem. Evangelicals have been giving evangelicalism a bad name for years. The disconnect between the gospel proclaimed by prominent evangelicals and the lifestyle exhibited by them sometimes is impossible to ignore.The scandals associated with such names as Jimmy Swaggart, Robert Tilton, Jim and Tammy Bakker, and many others follow the familiar road of greed, sex and power. It’s not like these people didn’t know better. These are issues Jesus and his apostles addressed.

These moral failures point to an underlying problem that is not merely ethical but theological. The latest scandal involving Jerry Falwell Jr. is a case in point.

Falwell Jr. was, until recently, the president of Liberty University, which was founded by his famous televangelist father. During Falwell Jr.’s tenure, Liberty saw student enrollment increase phenomenally, making it the largest school in the country. Falwell’s name recognition has also increased in recent years, in large part because of his political activism. Falwell has become one of the most familiar names in evangelicalism.

When candidates in the 2016 presidential campaign sought the highly prized support of evangelicals, the first place they turned was Liberty University. Ted Cruz launched his campaign there. Falwell allowed him to announce his candidacy from the Liberty campus arena and even required the student body to attend.

It looked as if Cruz had the inside lane on evangelical support but then, in an unexpected move, Falwell endorsed Donald Trump. Interviews followed. Speaking engagements. Falwell called candidate Trump “a man who ... can lead our country to greatness again.” Photo ops with the candidate followed. At one point, according to Falwell, Mr. Trump discussed with him the possibility of serving as the U.S. secretary of education.

All I knew about Jerry Falwell Jr. prior to his highly publicized endorsement of Donald Trump, was that Liberty University had grown wildly in just a few years under his leadership. With regard to the academic health of the university, this seemed reckless to me.

Then began the trickle of reports of questionable behavior, which grew into a stream, and then a cataract.

Mr. Falwell insists that he has been targeted by the Left because of his support of President Trump. I don’t doubt that he is right. He painted the target on his own back when he threw his support to Mr. Trump in 2016.

But he has no call to complain. He is the one who gave his opponents their ammunition.

I sensed there was a problem when Falwell defended himself against accusations of hypocrisy by saying, “I have never been a pastor.”

He seemed to suggest that only pastors are expected to live by biblical standards of holiness. He has repeated this kind of thing a number of times, most recently around the time of his resignation.

Falwell’s misunderstanding exposes a theological fault that runs through evangelicalism: the false idea, as Christopher Wright puts it, that “there can be a belief of faith separate from the life of faith; that people can be saved by something that goes on in their heads without worrying too much about what happens in their lives.”

This belief persists in evangelicalism despite the abundance of biblical teaching against it, in both Old and New testaments.

St. Paul himself, who never budged from his insistence that people are saved by grace through faith, absolutely refused to divide faith from life.

He characterized his life work as bringing about “the obedience of faith ... among all the nations.”

The divide between faith and life — whether in Jerry Falwell Jr. or in any of us — is one reason so many people find it hard to take seriously the claims of Jesus Christ. As Wright said, “the moral state of those who claim to be God’s people ... is a major hindrance to the mission we claim to have on (Christ’s) behalf.”

“The obedience of faith” is not a matter for pastors only, as Mr. Falwell implied, but for everyone who claims to belong to Christ. The world will not judge the church on the basis of its statement of faith, but on the quality of its life.

Shayne Looper is the pastor of Lockwood Community Church in Coldwater, Michigan. His blog, “The Way Home,” is at shaynelooper.com .

WHEN A PERSON WHO THINKS THEY ARE BAPTIZED, BUT UNBEKNOWNST TO THEM, THEIR BAPTISM WAS NOT VALIDLY CONFERRED, DO THEY RECEIVE ANY BENEFITS FROM RECEIVING HOLY COMMUNION?

 

When the Vatican told bishops, priests and deacons, not to mention anyone who does an emergency baptism, that only the words, I baptize you, in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit constitutes a valid baptism, any other words, to include even the royal “we” invalidates the conferral of the sacrament, a “priest” realized after viewing the video of his baptism that he wasn’t baptized, thus not a Catholic and not a priest. All the sacraments, including all the steps to priestly ordination had to be conferred upon him. 

My question, since he had no sanctifying grace of Baptism, was there any grace conferred to him and his soul from the confessions he made and the Holy Communions he received (not from his “masses” but from Masses celebrated by a valid bishop or priest? Think of his invalid ordination at a valid ordination Mass with Hosts and Precious Blood consecrated validly at a Mass the non-priest also “concelebrated.”

What say you? Was anything from God conferred upon a boy or a man who thought he was validly baptized and validly received all of the other sacraments offered to him but through absolutely no fault of his own, were invalid because of an invalid baptism????

IT APPEARS THAT POPE FRANCIS’ VATICAN IS REIGNING IN THE WILD HORSES OF BISHOPS IN VARIOUS. COUNTRIES, THIS TIME AUSTRALIA

 My most astute comments first:

In recent months, if not weeks, the Vatican has told the bishops of Germany that only a priest can be a “pastor” of a parish. It makes you wonder if the bishops even attended a seminary or read the Baltimore Catechism that the Vatican has to tell them such a thing!

Then the Vatican told bishops, priests and deacons, not to mention anyone who does an emergency baptism, that only the words, I baptize you, in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit constitutes a valid baptism, any other words, to include even the royal “we” invalidates the conferral of the sacrament. 

And then Pope Francis wrote notes about how angry he was with the last synod and I presume all his synods because of participants bringing “his (their) truth” to the table and not discerning THE Truth, the Way and the Life of God. I expanded on that anger of the pope by the way. 

So what does this tell the German Church which is going off the rails with its local synodal process?

And now this to the Australian Church which wanted priests to be able to break the seal of confession for some mortal sin and to propose option celibacy. THE VATICAN SAID NO! :

Vatican tells Australian Church that seal of confession not up for debate

• Charles Collins
  Sep 5, 2020
  MANAGING EDITOR

Although reaffirming the principle that the seal of confession can never be violated, the Vatican has told Church leaders in Australia that victims of sexual abuse should be encouraged to report abuse to the proper authorities.

Recognizing the question of the seal of confession “is one of great delicacy and that it is related intimately with a most sacred treasure of the Church’s life, that is to say, with the sacraments,” the Vatican said “the confessional provides an opportunity – perhaps the only one – for those who have committed sexual abuse to admit to the fact.”

READ THE REST AT CRUX

CELTIC INCULTRATION INTO THE LITURGICAL CHANT OF THE CHURCH?

It seems to me that this Celtic rendition of "Jerusalem, My Happy Home" is a very app application of the theology of liturgical "inculturation" as it concerns music in the liturgy. It is a sort of polyphonic chant in harmony with Latin Rite's Gregorian Chant and Polyphony (no pun intended). Yet it clearly has a Celtic feel or sound, a cultural sound. What say you? 

Anne's execution Chant (Jerusalem my happy Home)