CONTRARY TO WHAT CARDINAL WATER CASPER SAID ABOUT AFRICANS HAVING NOTHING TO TEACH US, IT TURNS OUT THAT THEIR SYNODAL WAY HAS A LOT TO TEACH THE VATICAN IN GENERAL AND GERMANY IN PARTICUALAR. IT IS GERMANY THAT HAS NOTHING TO TEACH US!

Crux interviewed Father Justine John Dyikuk who is the former Director of Communications of the Nigerian Diocese of Bauchi Diocese and a Lecturer of Mass Communication at the University of Jos. He also serves as a Senior Fellow for International Religious Freedom Policy at the Religious Freedom Institute (RFI) in Washington, D.C.

Crux: A large number of German bishops and a German synodal path advocates for the blessing of same-sex unions, reshaping the priesthood and diaconate, including the ordination of women, allowing open Communion with Protestants and those in irregular marriages, and other doctrinal changes. What is your reaction to these proposals, and do you think Africa should buy into such proposals?

Father Justine: I am optimistic that Africa will not buy into such cheap proposals. The reason is simple – Recent data obtained by the Vatican shows that Africa and Nigeria where I come from have the largest number of faithful who attend Sunday Mass. This clearly indicates that the faith in Africa is vibrant and robust unlike what is happening in Germany or Continental Europe. By way of analysis, while the Church in Europe is rich financially, technologically and infrastructurally (in term terms of gothic Churches), it lacks population, clerical personnel (priests) and mass attendance by the young. By contrast, Africa is rich in population, priests and religious and a deep youth population who attend Holy Mass. However, the Church in that continent is financially poor and lacks technology and infrastructure.

Going forward, I think that instead of going the way of doctrinal changes as proposed by the German synodal path which is advocating for the blessing of same-sex unions, reshaping the priesthood and diaconate, including the ordination of women, allowing open Communion with Protestants and those in irregular marriages, the Church in Europe and America should form a stronger synergy of exchange of clergy, transfer of ecclesiastical knowledge, training of clergy/religious and sharing of the temporal goods of the Church with Africa, Asia and Latin America. This would make the Universal Church fare better.

Perhaps some questions that the German Church should answer include – Did the October 31, 1517, schism of Martin Luther make the Church better? Are there lessons from the Church of England which opened its doors to some of these doctrinal changes, yet numbers of the faithful have not swelled up since then? So, Africa has challenges such as war, hunger, infrastructure, ethnicity to mention a few that it is contending which the synod tried to address. Simply put, going the way of the German synod is going against the tenets of sacred scripture, sacred tradition and magisterial teachings.

Throughout this process, many confusing proclamations are being made
about the authentic way in which a Catholic follows Jesus. The Holy Father has at times stepped in and warned others not to follow the German way and chided that Germany “already has a great Protestant Church, but I don’t want another one.” How does an ordinary Catholic know what to do?

Every Catholic, clergy or lay know that they are living in the Truth and following the Way Jesus commanded if they hold to the tenets of sacred scripture, sacred tradition and magisterial teachings as I underscored earlier. The teachings of Jesus do not change. The Church under the guidance of the Pope Francis, the successor of Peter, is the referee. It is heart-warming that the Holy Father had to step in to warn others including Africa not to follow the German example. Our bishops and priests, their collaborators pass on the authentic faith in the one, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Every Catholic should look to an institution that has the aforementioned four marks of the true Church established by Christ that started on Pentecost Sunday 33AD. I do not share the view that there were confusing proclamations in the synod about the authentic way in which a Catholic should follow Jesus. The communique is out there – it is commendable that the Church in Africa is committed to co-responsibility, caring for the afflicted, walking together joyfully and allowing the Holy Spirit to lead it “forward to continue to sow new seeds and harvest abundant fruits of synodality.”

HAS POPE FRANCIS REVIVED THE ARIAN HERESY?

Progressives in the Church truly suffer a crisis of faith and see the Church as a mere human organization that, like political parties, can be manipulated at will to fit the meme of cultural shifts and ideologies at any given moment. 

The progressive agenda has always been based upon the Church being merely a human, sociological organization where certain lobbies and power groups can manipulate the organization to fit their ideological meme.

Basically, what I am is describing is a “church” without Divinity, without God and what is mentioned of “god” is a kind of Gnosticism that manipulates people into thinking what was unthinkable and alien to God and the Church His Son founded, is now acceptable and of “god” and of that “god’s” spirit. 

It is a religious atheism for ideological purposes. 

In other words, the Arian heresy basically said Jesus was not divine. Simplified, Jesus was just a good human being. 

The truth, though, is that Jesus Christ is One Divine Being, with two natures, Human and Divine. 

The same can be said of the Church. It is one Divine Reality, the Mystical Body of Christ comprised of the baptized with Christ as her Head and thus like Christ, the Church, she/her, has two natures, human and divine. 

The neo-Arian heresy as it concerns the Church is that it is just a human institution. 

Read this John Allen commentary on the mess that Pope Francis has exacerbated of the Church. I think the Gorbachev is a good analogy. But read it and try to find God in Allen’s commentary. He isn’t there. Nor is Divine Truth, the Deposit of Faith, the faith and morals of Christ the risen Lord. And the Church, as Allen’s commentary implies, but is not explicit, is a church without divinity, a mere human construct similar to the Soviet Union, except the church is older. And a leader, be it Gorbachev for the Soviet Union, or Pope Francis for the Church can cause an implosion resulting it demise. 

But can Pope Francis do that to a Divine Institution? Is the Church just like the Soviet Union where a leader, even if well-intentioned, sets into motion the “Union’s” demise? 

That is the sad reality with synodality and the method of Pope Francis’ governance, It makes a mockery of the Divinity of the Church. But because the Church’s Soul, melded to Her Body in an inextricable way is Divine, Christ, in the long run, will not be mocked. 

After a dramatic decade in power, Pope Francis faces a Gorbachev dilemma

THIS IS A GREAT FACEBOOK VIDEO ABOUT THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS—IT ISN’T JUST A KUMBAYA CONVIVIAL HAPPY MEAL

 

YOU CAN VIEW THIS MAGNIFICENT VIDEO ON FACEBOOK HERE.

This is a nice juxtaposition between the truly bloody events of Calvary and its sacramental re-presentation in an unbloody, glorified way during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. That one Sacrifice of Christ, now glorified through the Resurrection, is timeless and a part of eternity and experienced in a glorified, resurrection way at every Catholic Mass. Cool!

THIS IS A MORAL TEST! BEFORE YOU READ MY COMMENTARY, WHAT DO YOU SEE AND UNDERSTAND IN THIS MAINE VANITY LICENSE PLATE?

Because of complaints from rigid Christian moralists, no doubt among them, TLM loving Catholics, the man who ordered this vanity plate is being made now to discard it because the state has deemed it offensive. The State of Maine will send him an ad random new license plate.

However, he states that he ordered this vanity to plate from the state of Maine in good faith to promote his vegan lifestyle and his love for tofu. 

He says that other stickers on his car indicate he is vegan and you should see this license plate as a vanity plate touting his love for tofu and nothing else.

My question to all my readers, do you have a dirty mind? If so, go to confession! 

WHEREIN I AGREE THAT THE LAITY ARE MUCH MORE LIBERAL THAN CLERGY INSPIRED BY POPE SAINT JOHN PAUL II AND POPE BENEDICT XVI

 

Praytell published a study and this is what they quoted:

_______________

December 2022, the Wall Street Journal ran a story under the headline “U.S. Catholic Priests Are Increasingly Conservative as Faithful Grow More Liberal: Almost half of young clergy in a survey disapprove of the liberalizing Pope Francis.” Citing ongoing research by the Austin Institute via the Survey of American Catholic Priests, the Journal reports:

younger Catholic priests and priests ordained in more recent years tend to be noticeably more conservative than older priests on a host of issues, including politics, theology and moral teaching.

In contrast to this, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University found in 2021 that, among other figures,

thirty-five percent of millennial Catholics have considered leaving the church because of its teaching on LGBT issues.

_______________________

I happen to believe that the laity are more liberal than celibate young clergy who were inspired by the clarity of the two previous popes. 

For the most part, I don’t think the laity, in general, are opposed to same sex marriage or all the combinations that lobbies are pushing that are in agreement with the LGBTQ++++ agenda. 

I don’t think the majority of the laity are opposed to married clergy of whatever sexual persuasion as the LGBTQ++++ articulates it. 

They aren’t opposed to what ever gender, in the LGBTQ++++ anthropology or its many aspects, being ordained to the priesthood and diaconate. 

And thus we see where most parishes and an aging clergy, not inspired by the last two popes or even by Humanae Vitae and Vatican II, have not embraced one iota of Vatican II or Humanae Vitae.

They don’t want a Catholic Church that is Vatican II and formed by Pope Paul VI and his Humane Vitae and rational against women’s ordination and the magisterial teachings of Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI. 

The German synodal way is up these ill-formed Catholics craw. They like it and want it. 

ARE TRADITIONAL CATHOLICS THE ONLY ONES WHO ARE FAITHFUL TO VATICAN II AND THUS STAND IN THE WAY OF POPE FRANCIS’ SYNODAL WAY?

THIS TYPE OF LITURGY IS JUST FINE, BUT NOT THE TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS--AND THUS POPE FRANCIS UNDERMINES NOT JUST HIS PAPACY, BUT THE PAPACY AND THE ENTIRE CHURCH...

The Catholic Quote of the past 10 years:

The insanity of faithful Catholics being martyred each day in Nigeria for Christ, while rich, bloated German atheists posing as “Catholics” waste time and lots of money proposing “transgender” priests, marriages and amorality…what a sad time for the Church.

Pope Francis has ridiculed, diagnosed as mentally unstable, marginalized and now attempting to crush Catholics who prefer the Traditional Latin Mass and its ethos of doctrinal and moral clarity. He has done so because he says they want to undo Vatican II.

But the pope has not been as forceful with a humongous schismatic country, Germany and its so-called Catholics, who now want to completely erase Vatican II, Pope St. Paul VI as well as the next three popes, John Paul I, St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI. 

What Germany is doing and Pope Francis is neglecting to use an iron fist upon like he has done with traditionalists is to created a new non Catholic Church based upon the experience of Catholicism and its ethos between 1965 up until Humanae Vitae.

With Germany approving a non Catholic and non Christian approach to human sexuality and marriage, Germany has essentially codified the Church of 1965 to 1968, a less than three year tradition and trumped everything that came before 1965 and after 1968.

Germany has not only renounced Vatican II, they have renounced Humanae Vitae in its entirety. Germany has renounced the Catholic Church and Germany has renounced God, the ultimate blasphemy and sacrilege. 

And Pope Francis and his weak-knee response to Germany and the world? Who am I to judge? And after all we are all sinners. And thus Germany is given a pass because what Germany has done is exactly what Pope Francis wants and Catholics who are traditional and accept Vatican II, Pope Paul’s Humanae Vitae and Pope Benedict’s interpretation of Vatican II are the ones judged and condemned. 

Welcome to Pope Francis’ upside down church. 

THIS WAS THE EPISODE WHERE IT WAS REVEALED THAT THE FLINTSONES WERE CATHOLICS AND THEIR PARISH CHURCH, SAINT ROCCO, WAS SHOWN!

 

MORE GOOD NEWS FROM THE UPSIDE DOWN CHURCH…

As the Church of mercy and inclusion continues to gather so many people into its enlarged tent, including camel noses, that darling of the Vatican, Jesuit Fr. Rupnik, had restrictions placed upon him because no one could find a good way to show mercy to him for sexual abuse of religious sisters to include the abuse of the Sacrament of Penance and abuse of the Most Holy Trinity to make possible the abuse of women religious.

Yet, he is seen in Rome publicly con celebrating a Mass. But if he wanted to celebrate a private TLM at an obscure altar in the undercroft of Saint Peter’s, he would have been stopped!

But traditionalists who prefer the TLM are crushed, segregated, harassed and bishops have their authority over the oversight of this and every form of the Mass curtailed and removed.

It appears that the Church of synodality and conversion to it is replacing the Church Jesus founded and conversion to Christ. 

Who would have thought? 

OOPS, THE NEW FORMULA FOR ABSOLUTION IN THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE

 I went to Hilton Head’s other parish, Saint Francis By the Sea, for their Lenten Penance Service.

It was the first time I was there and they recently did a refurbishment of the inside of the church. The entire complex is very nicely done and landscaped and on a beautiful piece of Hilton Head property.

There are only two changes to the formula for absolution, “poured out” and “grant” as you see in the formula below. I realized that I have been saying “grant you pardon and peace” my entire 43 years as a priest, instead of “give you pardon and peace.”  I always have been ahead of my time!

I am, though, having a hard time remembering to say “poured out the Holy Spirit” as I still say “sent the Holy Spirit”. Sent is stuck in my aging mind! 

Here are the words for the new Absolution formula, which is really a small change and for the better:

“God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his son has reconciled the world to himself and poured out (currently, sent) the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the church may God grant (currently, give) you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, (+) and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

Here are some interior shots of the church I took this evening:

NOSTALGIA FOR THE 1970’S IS SO FUNNY, THAT I WANT TO CRY!

IN KEEPING WITH THE HIGH COMEDY THAT IS THE CHURCH TODAY, TRULY A LAUGHINGSTOCK, THIS HAS TO BE THE COMMENT OF THIS HILARIOUS ECCLESIAL CENTURY CONCERNING THE LINKED POST I HAVE BELOW. IT BROUGHT ME BELLIE LAUGHS! 

Aidan
2 hours ago
Controversy amongst Belgian Catholics: both of them?

Hand it to Pope Francis. Undoing the restored discipline and theological clarity of Popes St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI has been a hayride of rollicking fun and sneezing comedy. 

Backwardism has become a new cliche, but perhaps not in the way Pope Francis meant it, but he certainly has engendered nostalgia in the longing for the 1970’s crowd. This pope has been their Time Machine back to a better place for them prior to the last two popes.

Laugh and weep at this story. You can’t make it up unless you are in a Time Machine! 

Call to ‘abolish the clergy’ ignites controversy in Belgium

A booklet arguing that ‘to abolish clericalism, we must abolish the clergy’ has been criticized by lay Catholics and a bishop.

THIS COMMENTARY ON THE DUPLICITY OF PROCLAIMING SUBSIDIARITY AND SYNODALITY ALL THE WHILE MICROMANAGING BISHOPS AS THOUGH THEY ARE BRANCH MANAGERS IS OUT IN THE OPEN FOR ALL TO SEE, NOT JUST THE ORTHODOX BUT ALSO THE HETERODOX WHO HATE ULTRMONTANISM

George Wiegel is no traditionalist, but he is a thoroughly orthodox post-Vatican II Catholic in the best sense of what Vatican II actually hoped for the Church, or at least, the fathers of Vatican II. 

Thus this sad commentary on the hypocrisy of the Vatican, and quite sadly, Pope Francis, who is responsible for it, must be told. 

What Pope Francis has done in this regard, has nothing to do with Vatican II, it is the ultramontanism of Vatican I:

 Press title:

The New Ultramontanism and the Dissing of Vatican II

I am a Novus Ordo man, but I reject, indeed I deplore, the blunderbuss anti-Vatican II polemic of a marginal minority of liturgical traditionalists, who foolishly point a loaded gun to their Roman enemies.

I HOPE THIS COMMENTARY FROM THE SUPER, SUPER ULTRAMONTANE BLOG, “WHERE PETER IS” IS RIGHT, PRAY GOD!

As Pope Francis celebrates His Holiness’ 10th Anniversary on March 13, many are reflecting on his papacy. 

Even his magic circle of advisors acknowledge that he has been a very divisive figure and His Holiness has to own that and not blame it on the polarizing factions His Holiness has enabled or at least exacerbated. 

Because Pope Francis is so much a part of the period of Church history of his youth, the 1970’s, I know, because I was schooled in it, that pastoral theology was at its zenith in the 1970’s.

In my very progressive seminary, we had all kinds of pastoral theology classes, courses and pastoral experiences as a part of our academic preparation for ordination. 

This emphasis on pastoral theology and care was in reaction to a more doctrinaire approach that priests took with their parishioners, more black and white, more condemning and quick to anger and quick to judge of the pre-Vatican II period.  I think many Catholics of the pre-Vatican II era of the Church know that there was an authoritarianism in the clergy and many of the religious orders of men and women. They weren’t always very kind and a bit rigid and inflexible with the foibles of their flock.

I think in the post Vatican II era, and even within communities of traditionalists with the TLM, pastoral theology and care abounds in a way that it may not have abounded prior to the Second Vatican Council.

Pope Francis’ papacy has emphasized pastoral care, flexility in pastoral care and an embrace of sinners in a loving way. But he does preach conversion and calls for turning away from sin. And he names the worst kind of Catholic as one who is not just a sinner but also thoroughly corrupt. The corrupt risk the fires of hell.

Pastoral theology is just that, theology. It is an art. It is not a science and it certainly isn’t a dogma. Thus the manner in which pastoral theology is applied to particular situations varies from clergy to clergy. 

Thus this commentary from the the triple super ultramontane blog, “Where Peter is” which gives us some hope in a Church where it appears the pope and his magic circle want to imitate liberal Protestantism that has led to its demise:

BY PAUL FAHEY

Press title:

McElroy’s Pastoral Proposal is not Francis’s

I have written many times before about the difference between grave matter and mortal sin. The Catechism identifies grave matter as a breaking one of the Ten Commandments, whereas mortal sin is grave matter and “knowledge of the sinful character of the act” and “consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice” 

VERY IMPRESSIVE 22 YEAR OLD JURER, NOT ONLY ARTICULATE ABOUT THE LAW AND HIS ROLE IN THE JURY, BUT ABOUT JESUS CHRIST--AN EVANGELIST AND IN A POSITIVE WAY

James McDowell is a 22 year old good ole southern boy from South Carolina and does my state well! This is a great interview. I would suspect that he is a Southern Baptist or some other evangelical Protestant. He speaks about how his faith played into his decision and that the jurors prayed together. He prays for the conversion of Alex and prays for God's mercy upon his soul. He likens the possiblity for conversion and seeking God's mercy through repentance to Saint Paul harboring murdereous thoughts and actions toward Christians and being converted by the grace of God. He also indicates that his brother is in law enforcment and was at the scene of the murders the night of the killings. He was also a witness. James speaks about this. My point, though, is that James is a witness to his faith, not in an off putting way, not prosyletizing but evangelical! God bless James!!!! I grew up with this in the south and I was always impressed and envious of how Protestants could do this and so easily, whereas with Catholic laity, not so much! James wanted to glorify God! That says it all.

JUDGE CLIFTON NEWMAN OF SOUTH CAROLINA ROCKS!

 

I was totally amazed by Judge Clifton Newman’s handling of the Murdaugh trial. You can read an article on him HERE.

But what he said at sentencing to Murdaugh here was fantastic:

“Within your own soul, you have to deal with that. And I know you have to see Paul and Maggie during the night time when you’re attempting to go to sleep and I’m sure they come and visit you.” 

“All day, and every night,” said Murdaugh, who maintained his innocence during the sentencing hearing. 

“And they will continue to do so and reflect on the last time they looked you in the eyes,” the judge then replied.

I HAVE TO SAY THAT CHRIS ROCK ROCKS! I KNOW YOU WILL BE SHOCKED!

Chris Rock, Selected Outrage!

Okay, I know I am opening myself up to criticism here, because priests should not watch or hear certain things and words and crass conversation.

As I write this commentary, I am actually watching the show. I am laughing out loud. I love this guy! I am rolling in the aisles of my tiny condo. 

But, if you are an adult, don’t mind crass, explicative laced comedy, then watch Chris Rock, Selected Outrage. 

It is social commentary at its best and genius. He is an evangelist for common sense.

He names the disease of our culture today and the Church herself, although he does not lampoon the Church. He lampoons the grotesque culture we live within.

His abortion segment, might make you uncomfortable, but he basically says what Pope Francis has said, but in hilarious way—yet he names it for what it is! I think those who cheered when he said that a woman has a right to choose—and yes, he said, I support your right to abort yourself! Genius. That made them think. He went on to say, I support your right to kill children. That’s what they are!

He danced around the LGBTQ+++ crap which tells you this is the one area that you had better thread lightly. But he made his points, but he knew that this area was dangerous for him, yet he accomplished it a rather genius way!

You will be offended by the language, and yes some of it pornographic language. But don’t miss the social commentary. Our woke culture of selected outrage needs to hear this and hear this they will because of who he is and how he says it.

I would love to hear Chris Rock, if he were a Catholic, and I don’t think he is, thus, it wouldn’t work for him to do it, but a Catholic like him, to do a comedy routine on certain aspects of the Church today and the culture of listening and inclusivity that the woke Magisterium “f***s us with!

Watch Chris Rock, Selected Outrage if you dare! It’s the new evangelization in a worldly way!

WEARING MY COLAR WHILE FLYING, INCREDIBLE PART II

This is the second part of my post below about wearing my clerical garb while flying back and forth this past weekend.

After my story in the post below, there is more!!!!

As I mentioned, I was talking to people non-stop from start to finish, all because of my collar and not just religious stuff, just nice conversation.

After my encounter with the distraught father because of his son’s addiction, I moved to another area in the waiting area.

A woman with three small children, eventually came up to me and started a conversation, she was standing I was seated. She has three young children, and one in the oven. She told me before these children, she lost seven children through miscarriages. Finally the doctors figured out what this was happening and she has three and a half now. She says she’ll have as many children as God will give her.

She went to Steubenville and she and I know people in common. She knows people I know in Augusta! After the lengthy conversation, she asked if she could pray for me.

Now, before I go on, I must confess that after speaking to the distraught father, I thought to myself what missed opportunities to minister to strangers that I have had over the years by not wearing my clerics while flying. No one talks to me in my lay clothes. And in my clerics, I am not initiating conversation, it’s the others who are!

Thus this evangelical woman, wife, mother prayed over me publicly and thanks God that I was willing to wear my clerics that helped her to see me and then take the initiative to come and talk to me. She prayed for the people in need I had shared with her. After her prayed, I asked if I could bless her unborn child and I did. This all happened in a spontaneous way, was real, not contrived and I think the packed waiting area understood that.

Then I had a long conversation with an elderly couple from a ranch in Billings, Montana. What stories they had and dealing recently with 45 degrees below zero and how much they love their ranch!

Then on my flight from Atlanta to Savannah, I sat next to a middle age man from Albany, NY and we had a great conversation. He had a strong Catholic education and I think he does practice his faith. But we spoke about a bunch of things. 

As I was looking for my seat, a flight attendant greeted me friendly and said, I am glad we have a priest on this flight, and man sitting down, said yes and I am glad to see you in your collar. You can’t make this stuff up!

I have to say that the flights were the best part of my Stewardship retreat for me!!!

WEARING MY COLLAR WHILE FLYING!

 Over the years I have seldom flown with my clerical collar. But the last two times, my current trip and at Thanksgiving to Newark, I have. And I have had non stop conversations with perfect strangers.

I just spoke to distraught parents who just left their son in a Catholic drug rehabilitation place in St. Augustine. At 21 he’s had major drug issues and rehabs. His usage includes fentanyl! He’s one of 7 kids. His name is Jude! Pray for him and his family.

I GAVE A STEWARDSHIP RETREAT AT OUR LADY OF HOPE CHURCH IN WASHINGTON, INDIANA!

 I flew from Savannah to Louisville, Kentucky and the rented a car for the two hour drive to Washington. I asked for a midsize car and they gave me a micro go-cart! It was  the smallest car I have driven! I am helping to facilitate a retreat on Catholic Stewardship in Washington, Indiana. I Drove 2 hours through pouring rain, high winds, flash flooding, side road streams made into raging rivers and tornadoes, but by the grace of God I arrived safely! Frost on windshield yesterday morning , which the rental had an ice scraper, which I did not know how to use. The church inside and outside and the conference in their high school gym. I love being retired.

Speaking of the smallest ever, the church has the smallest sacraium everrr!

JOHN ALLEN ON ITALY’S COLLAPSE OF CATHOLICS WHO ATTEND MASS

 Basically, the collapse started in the 1960’s as Church reforms took place. The decline was almost immediate! There are still rank and file Catholics who remember the 1965 to 1975 period. Has there be a study of their experiences in that period?

Liturgical confusion and dumbing down plays a role as does the loss of reverence and piety, the loss of faith!

Doctrinal confusion reigned because of embedded opposition to JP II and Benedict XVI. This is evident in Bergoglio and his cadre of cardinal enablers, before and after his election.

Here is a portion of Allen’s commentary:

What’s important for our purposes is to note the time spans involved.

The onset of the decline in Mass attendance came in the 1960s, coinciding with the liberal reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), and extended through the relatively left-of-center papacy of Paul VI. In the 1980s, under the more conservative Pope John Paul II, things appeared to stabilize, only to start sliding anew in the 1990s and to continue unarrested ever since.

The declines from 2001 to 2021 coincide with the last four years of the John Paul papacy, when his cumulative influence should have been at its peak; all eight years of Benedict XVI; and the first eight years of Francis. In other words, we’re talking about 12 years of conservative papal leadership and eight years of a more progressive agenda, none of which appears to have affected how many people go to Mass one whit.

Whatever actually is driving these trends, whether the sitting pope is conservative or liberal seems to have remarkably little to do with it.

READ THE REST HERE.

POWERFUL QUOTE FROM THE PAPAL PREACHER ON JUDGING…

Cardinal Cantalamessa said, “it is not a matter of eliminating judgment from our heart, but rather of removing the poison from our judgment.”“The strength of Christian love,” he said, “lies in the fact that it is capable of changing judgment from an act of non-love, turning it into an act love,” thanks to the gift of the Spirit.

CRIME AND MURDER IN THE LOW COUNTRY! GUILTY AS SIN!

 

Alex Murdaugh is found guilty on all counts. Buster, his son, lives close by me in a nearby neighborhood on Hilton Head.

God have mercy on Alex’s soul. Pray for his surviving son, Buster. All very tragic and sad for him….Justice in the Low Country! 

I HAVE NO REASON TO BELIEVE THAT THIS COMMENTARY ISN’T TRUE BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT

 It isn’t about being traditional or progressive. It isn’t about being conservative or liberal. There is real and palpable, papable concern from all sides except those within the inner court, the magic circle. Read that HERE. 

Uneasiness occurred only days after his election, not with TLM Catholics, but Catholics reared in the Catholic Faith by two previous leaders, Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. I know that first hand from my days as pastor at St. Joseph in Macon in 2013. 

Although, back then concerns were voiced, they appreciated the down to earth way in which he related to people. 

When I visited my first cousins in Livorno, Italy months after his election in 2013, my basically non practicing relatives told me that he is like an uncle “como un zio” that you could invite to dinner/pranzo and feel comfortable with him. 

My own anecdotal evidence with bishops, clergy and rank and file laity, produces some of the same concerns although there was initial comfort and willingness to cut him some slack, as I did, and chalk it up to Italian humor and sarcasm. 

But there is clearly, from a variety of perspectives,  uneasiness and a sense that we have a leader that projects his own foibles and disorders on everyone else. 

I’ll leave it to psychologists and those in the know to diagnose this kind of personality disorder trait. 

I do know, while things are catastrophic, it isn’t the end. Christ is the End. He wins and thus does the Church win too. 

IT IS TOO TRUE, TOO FUNNY, TOO IRONIC AND TOO TRUE: IT IS THE QUOTE OF THE CENTURY!

THIS IS FROM THE PILLAR, THE PART HIGHLIGHTED IN RED IS THE SYNODAL QUOTE OF THE CENTURY!

Africa is arguably the most dynamic continent in the Catholic world, with buoyant vocations and high levels of Mass attendance. 

As John Allen noted in January, “Nigeria alone has roughly the same number of regularly practicing Catholics as all of western Europe.”

• “In much Catholic parlance, it’s long been said that Africa is the future of the Church,” he wrote. 
• 
  
• “Looking at the numbers in terms of who actually shows up, however, Africa isn’t the future. It’s the present, and it has been for a while.”
• 
  

One mark of the African assembly’s significance is that its closing Mass will be held at a sports stadium, while Asia’s closing Mass took place in a small church and Europe’s Masses were typically celebrated in a conference room. 

All the continental assemblies are reflecting on the working document“Enlarge the space of your tent.” But a Nigerian priest said in January that West African Catholics had reservations about the tent imagery.

FATHER THOMAS REESE, SJ (JESUIT), THINKS LOTS AND LOTS OF CHIACCHIERE (ITALIAN WORD FOR TALKING TO MUCH, CHATTER) IS WHAT POPE FRANCIS WANTS WHEN IN FACT POPE FRANCIS HAS CONDEMNED TOO MUCH TALKING, TOO MUCH CHATTERING

One can’t imagine that those who have an almost 10 year theological preparation before they are ordained a priest can make so many stupid theological statements and then, a Jesuit, that Father Reese is, along with his brother Jesuit, Pope Francis, claims that Pope Francis likes too much chatter when Pope Francis has complained about it from day one of his papacy!

This is what Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese said about the PAPROCKI/MCELROY CHATTER FEST AND SLAP DOWN.

Ironically, though, Fr. Reese’s remarks, but said through the fog of dementia, is actually blaming Pope Francis for all the polarization occurring in every country of the world due to Pope Francis himself! Because, as he says, Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI would have shut down heretical chiacchiere of McElroy, not to put words in Reese’s mouth. 

Fr. Reese, himself somewhat heretical, but maybe due to dementia that has kept his mind back in the theological chiacchiere of the 1970’s, dementia leads people back to headier days in a fog of nostalgia, is right and wrong in his statements to the NCR, confused to say the least:

"If I were to take him at face value, I would suggest that he have wise and prudent people read his essays before he publishes them," said Jesuit Fr. Tom Reese, a journalist who has covered the U.S. bishops for decades.

Reese told NCR that Paprocki's essay reflects not only deep divisions in the U.S. Catholic hierarchy but also a level of public animosity, open disagreement and strident rhetoric among bishops that Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI would not have tolerated.

"On the other hand, there wouldn't have been this kind of discussion under John Paul II because the Vatican would have shut it down," said Reese, who added that Francis has encouraged open discussion on sensitive issues such as figuring out new ways to accompany LGBTQ Catholics and same-sex couples.

"Francis has opened the church up for discussion again and [conservative bishops] just don't like it. They're trying to shut it down by using this kind of inflammatory rhetoric, even against cardinals," Reese said.

IS YOUR TLM PRIEST AN FBI AGENT? HOW WOULD YOU KNOW? HIS BACK IS TURNED TO YOU!

Undercover FBI agent investigating traditional Catholics, thwarted in his investigation due to his inablitiy to peer through the poinsettas to spy on them!

When you can’t see your priest’s face, you know something nefarious is afoot. Pope Francis knows this. But who knew that your TLM priest is an FBI agent. But what that agent did not know was that he could not observe you during Mass because his back was turned to you. I am sure he was frustrated.

The God of surprises for this FBI agent! 

Biden AG Merrick Garland admits FBI memo targeting Latin Mass Catholics was ‘appalling’

The Biden-appointed attorney general acknowledged the FBI memo directing surveillance of traditional Catholics was ‘appalling,’ but said he didn’t know if or how many FBI informants are embedded in U.S. Catholic churches.

FIRE, FIRE, PANTS ON FIRE! THIS ESSAY IS TOO HOT TO TOUCH! BUT THANK GOD FOR BRAVE BISHOPS FAR TOO FEW TODAY…

(Press title:) IMAGINING A HERETICAL CARDINAL
 (Yes, you read that correctly)!
By Bishop Thomas Paprocki

I am glad that Bishop Paprocki has the courage to tell it like it is and to call heresy and a heretic for what they are.

But! Pope Francis is the man to do that and he hasn’t but he has abused and mischaracterized those who love the TLM and persecute them to get them into the so-called in-line paying, praying and obeying Catholics!

THIS IS HAPPENING WITH THE VATICAN GASLIGHTING CATHOLICS, SOME WHO POST HERE, TELLING US THE TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS IS WHAT IS DIVISIVE IN THE CHURCH TODAY

 

In my most humble opinion, the Vatican actually wants what Germany is pioneering. It does not want Traditional Latin Mass communities because these thwart the unity of the disunity of the synodal ways’ logical conclusion, what Germany is doing. They want Germany and its way and Germany knows they are leading the way with support in the highest echelons of the Church. Those very highest echelons, though, do not want a liturgy at odds with the synodal way of Germany and what they want the synodal way to do for the universal Church. Germany is the template. 

As Sister Horizontal of the Seven Synods, in a bit of joyous mania exclaims, the Vatican ecclesializes us and you will enjoy it!

From Crux:

German bishops apparently ignore Vatican veto