CARDINAL MUELLER STRIKES AGAIN! HOW MANY CARDINALS AGREE WITH HIS EMINENCE?

 Google translate of a Spanish text:

Cardinal Müller describes the situation in the Church as "hour of the great tragedy"

 Cardinal Gerhard Müller describes the situation that has arisen in the Church with the Synodal Path in Germany as “the hour of the great tragedy”.  In an interview with the "Tagespost", the emeritus prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith affirms that the current Vatican authorities have underestimated the entire process and the "Furor teutonicus" from the beginning.

 03/30/23 12:38 PM

 (Die Tagespot/InfoCatólica) Cardinal Müller believes that historical parallels must be established:

 "During the Reformation, Rome was partly responsible for the apostasy of much of the Catholic Church throughout Northern Europe by doing nothing or doing it too late.  It is very regrettable that here the competent authorities have illusions about the German situation and do not fulfill their responsibility with sufficient vigor to be the eternal principle and foundation of the unity of the Church in the revealed truth of Christ.

 Hostile position taken by bishops and theologians

 The cardinal also told Die Tagespot about the global synodal process, in connection with which he declared in an interview on EWTN that a "hostile takeover" was taking place, that is, a kind of internal coup.  In the "Tagespost" he specifies:

 “Synodality is anchored in the practice of the Church.  Now the abstract concept of synodality becomes a principle of the Church.  One speaks then of a synodal Church.  Which is still strange, since the characteristics of the Church - united, holy, catholic, apostolic - appear in the Creed and cannot be multiplied arbitrarily."

 The "hostile takeover," according to Müller, is carried out by bishops and theologians "who no longer recognize the basic principles of the Catholic faith."

 Violation of the Constitution

 The cardinal casts a harsh judgment on the blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples decided by the Synodal Path in Germany: this decision is "invalid and heretical in its content" because it clearly "contradicts the revealed understanding of marriage and also natural anthropology, based on reason."

 But for Müller, the error occurred at the beginning of the Synodal Path: "Namely, when it was expressly declared that the decisions of the synodals are valid even if they violate the contents of the Catholic faith."  In secular terms, that would be a violation of the Constitution.  Formally, the synodal body does not act at the level of the Magisterium and, secondly, a part of the episcopal conference cannot represent the entire Magisterium of the Catholic Church.

BOMBSHELL GOOD NEWS! CARDINAL ROCHE IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY OFFENDER OF BOTH THE ULTRA ORTHODOX TRADITIONALISTS AND THE ULTRA HETERODOX, APOSTATE GERMANS

 

This will make the Germans mad! From the Pillar:

Cardinal Roche to German bishops: ‘Nein’ to regular lay baptisms and preaching at Mass
Both measures were endorsed by the country’s controversial ‘synodal way.’
LUKE COPPEN
March 30, 2023

BOMBSHELL: POPE FRANCIS IS BEING TRANSPORTED BY AMBULANCE TO THE HOSPITAL WITH A CARDIAC PROBLEM

Update from Fox: Pope Francis was hospitalized after having difficulty breathing recently and tests revealed a respiratory infection, a Vatican spokesman said.

"The tests showed a respiratory infection (COVID-19 infection excluded) that will require some days of medical therapy," Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said on Wednesday.

 UPDATE! Papa Francesco he is hospitalized at the Gemelli Polyclinic after feeling unwell in the early afternoon. According to health sources, it would be one atrial fibrillation which doctors are now monitoring, resulting from respiratory distress. The Holy Father arrived at the hospital in an ambulance and was transferred to the cardiology department.

After the first tests it was decided to hospitalize Pope Francis who, therefore, will spend the night at the Gemelli. With him are the closest collaborators and men of the gendarmerie who watch over his safety. At the moment, sources reached by "Agenzia Nova" speak of a "situation under control", but which is not underestimated. The Pope is vigilant and collaborative and his general conditions do not cause particular concern, even if he appears visibly tired. For the moment, all the Pope's commitments scheduled for the next few days have been cancelled.

THE BLOG SILERE NON POSSUM IS REPORTING THIS AND IT IS TO GEMELI HOSPITAL IN ROME!

THIS IS FROM THAT BLOG:

This afternoon the Supreme Pontiff was transported by ambulance to the cardiac unit  of the Agostino Gemelli Hospital.   Investigations are underway.  All the appointments of the Holy Father in the agenda of 30 and 31 March have been cancelled.

These are photos taken from today’s Wednesday audience as the Holy Father was being assisted to get into the Pope Mobile at St. Peter’s Square:

THIS IS A BIT OF A BOMBSHELL…

Update from the Pillar: 

World War Z? Zollner's resignation and the credibility of papal reform

Fr. Hans Zollner resigned dramatically from a papal safeguarding commission. What comes next?

JD FLYNN

Jesuit Father Hans Zollner has resigned from his position with the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. 

His letter of resignation is below as a photo. 

However, I think it is fair to say that the straw that broke his back relates to Jesuit Father Rupnick, a good friend of Jesuit Pope Francis. This scandal is precisely a game changer and Zollner knows it.

You can read an interview with Zollner about the Rupnick case a few days before his resignation HERE. 

WHY AREN’T TRADITIONAL BLOGS SHOWING EXAMPLES OF THE MODERN ROMAN MISSAL MASS BEING CELEBRATED WITH THE OPTION OF THE TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS?

 

Pope Benedict XVI as Cardinal Ratzinger famously wrote in the 1990’s that most Catholics if they attended a Modern Roman Missal Mass celebrated ad orientem, in Latin and with the proper chants, would be hard pressed to tell the difference between it and a TLM. 

I agree! Of course the late Holy Father knows much more about that than I do.

While I believe it was a pastoral stupidity on part of Pope Francis to cancel Pope Benedict’s liturgical laws and vision for the Church, really beyond stupid and damaging to the papacy, I do believe bishops and priests should work at making the Modern Roman Missal Mass as traditional looking as possible to replace the canceled TLMS. 

Why that hasn’t been a policy yet, is beyond me; it’s another ultra stupidity to say the least.

Does anyone know of dioceses and parishes who once had the liberal celebration of the TLM now replacing those Masses with a traditionally celebrated Modern Roman Missal Mass?

Why don’t traditional blogs show this and praise it?

Of course, everyone knows I am a progressive senior priest and thus I have shown this and advocate for the liberal celebration of Traditionally oriented Modern Roman Missal Masses!

What do you think of the chairs for celebrant, deacon and subdeacon?

THE LIBERAL PRESS IS HAVING A HARD TIME WITH THIS MURDERER, AS THEY SHOULD

 All of us who have had schools in our parish know that the tragedy at Covenant Presbyterian School could happen anywhere. No matter what precautions you take, if someone is hell bent on carrying out evil deeds against the innocent they will.

Six innocent people are dead, three of them 9 year olds, the others, adults in their 60’s. 

Apart from abortion, gun violence is outranking the other means by which children are dying, but abortion is the number one killer of innocent children, by mothers, fathers and the hitmen they choose to do it. 

The murderer in this sad, tragic case is presenting challenges for the liberal media. Science teaches us, which DNA evidence proves, that the killer, herself killed, is a biological female. Her name is Audrey Hale. 

The liberal press doesn’t know what to do. They’ve said that it is rare for a women to do this kind of mass murder. But I heard one CNN reporter use the pronoun “they” to refer to her. I thought at first that there was more than one shooter. 

When I heard this silly CNN reporter use the pronoun “they” for this woman, I realized that the murderer had a gender mental illness which had not been communicated clearly in the first reports.

In fact, the CNN reporter was trying to be respectful of this woman’s fantasy of claiming to be transgendered and identifying as male. 

They, the liberal media, don’t know how to refer to this woman, a true woman, pretending to be a male. 

Think of the Jeopardy contestant who is a man but claims to be female now. And think how the media insisted that he is a woman and as such, won more money on Jeopardy than any other woman in the history of the show. 

But he’s a man dressed as woman! There’s a real woman out there who has won the most on Jeopardy of any other woman. 

Mental illness which needs serious therapy is the cause of so much gun violence. And yet the media glorifies mental illness when it comes to gender dystopia. Any kind of mental illness needs to be acknowledged as such so that therapy or some kind of intervention can be made to place the mentally ill on the road to recovery before they harm or mutilate themselves or innocent men, women and children. 

Eternal rest grant to those innocent children and adults cruelly murdered by this woman and comfort to those who grieve. 

THIS MAKES ME HEARTSICK!

 Saint Bernard of Clarivoux Church, which is in St. Bernard, Nova Scotia, has been closed and is for sale. 

This is on the southern end of Nova Scotia, near Yarmouth. It needs $8 million in Canadian dollars of repair.

It’s for sale. O my! Here’s the for sale video: 

 

 Not far from this Church in St. Bernard, Nova Scotia is St. Mary's Church in Church Point, Nova Scotia. It is the largest wooden church in North America. It has been closed too. Both these communities look like the little community where my father grew up in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The churches in all these communities were the central hub of community life. Catholics in Nova Scotia were very devout, very faithful, very pious. That has all changed in the 50 years since Vatican II. Nova Scotia and all of Canada were even more progressive in the liberal deconstruction of the Catholic Church and the emphaisis on killing the pre-Vatican II piety and faith of the poeple. They did a good job!

EUCHARISTIC MIRACLE IN THE ORDINARY FORM AND WITH A EUCHARISTIC MINISTER’S HOSTS!!!!!!

 

Priest Reports Possible Eucharistic Miracle at Connecticut Church

Zelda Caldwell/CNANation

I THINK CARDINAL MCELROY IS FULL OF HIMSELF AND IS STUCK AND MIRED IN THE KUMBAYA CHURCH OF I’M OKAY; YOU’RE OKAY OF THE 1970’S—WHATEVER HAPPEN TO SIN WAS ASKED BACK THEN TOO!

Cardinal McElroy likes to hear himself speak and I suspect he likes to write too. You can read his lengthy speech HERE. 

This is a good speech. He does speak about God in it and that’s a lot more than many of the bureaucrats in the Vatican do where their speeches don’t even mention God.

But, as I read his presentation, I realized that what he describes as his hope for the Church of the future is liberal Protestantism. It already exists there, although dying on the vine due to their liberality.

You can find it as a Buddhist too, as a Hindu, various sects of Judaism, and in no religion at all but an organization that is altruistic. 

I did not read about the scourge of sin and lawlessness in the Church, from the Vatican down to the most humble home or tent of the laity. 

I did not hear about the call to repent and believe the Good News as outlined by the Church for the past 2,000 years.

I did not hear about life without God here on earth and in hell because the sinner loves sin more than God. 

I did not hear about the Bloody Sacrifice of Jesus for the only purpose to save mankind from the gates of hell by the forgiveness of sin through the Blood of Jesus Christ or that Jesus Christ alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life. 

If Cardinal McElroy gets his church, I will become a none as nones don’t have to put up with the sh-t of the McElroy church of holding hands and singing kumbaya. 

THIS IS GOOD NEWS ON TWO FRONTS, ENABLING ABUSE OF MINORS AND ABUSE OF CATHOLIC DOCTRINE AND MORAL TEACHINGS…IS BAITZING GOING TO BE NEXT, GOD WILLING?

Read the Pillar article HERE.

..The Vatican announced March 25 that the pope had accepted Bishop Franz-Josef Bode’s resignation as head of the Diocese of Osnabrück, in northwestern Germany, but gave no reason for the step.

Bode is 72, three years below the age when diocesan bishops are required to offer their resignations to the pope. He is the deputy chairman of the country’s bishops’ conference and one of the four chief organizers of the controversial “synodal way.” 

Days after the synodal way’s final plenary meeting on March 9-11, Bode invited same-sex and remarried couples to contact his diocese about receiving blessings after the synodal way endorsed “blessing ceremonies for couples who love each other.” 

…“Particularly in dealing with cases of sexualized violence by clergy, for a long time, I myself tended to focus more on the perpetrators and the institution than on the victims.” 

“I misjudged cases, often acted hesitantly and made some wrong decisions, and failed to live up to my responsibility as a bishop at these points.”

He added: “I expressly acknowledge my responsibility as well as my personal mistakes, and today I can only once again ask all those affected for forgiveness.”

CARDINAL ROCHE AND THE CHANGED THEOLOGY OF THE CHURCH

 What year would you say this photo was taken?

If you said 1930, then you win the prize to read my post below free of charge:

Do Catholics have to give obedient consent of the will to a particular theology of the Church or this, that or the other theology? Yes, they may, but no, they don’t have to give it! We only have to give assent to defined doctrine and dogma is the highest form of it, but both require our anssent and obedience.

For example, there is a theology of limbo for unborn children. A Catholic is free to believe this but is not required to do so. Those that don’t have the backing of popes, Pope Benedict XVI, in particular. Limbo is a theology not a doctrine and certainly not a dogma.

The ideology of rupture, masquerading as a theology, is new to the Church since the close of the Second Vatican Council. St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI made inroads into giving the Council with all its ambiguities the proper interpretation in continuity with the 2000 year Magisterium of the Church. They insisted that Vatican II did not create a new Church or force believers to become something else than what they were when they were baptized Catholic and eventually gave an adult consent to their Faith. 

To strip Catholics of their Catholic identity and force them into a new kind of pseudo-Christianity, wreaks of manipulation, coercion, spiritual abuse, authoritarianism and has elements of the political aspects of the Protestant Reformation in monarchical Europe during the time of Martin Luther. It is wrong. It is evil. 

Cardinal Roche of the Dicastery of Divine Worship seems to be the wrong person in this position and not intellectually qualified to pontificate on the liturgy or the Church, tells the truth and an untruth recently.

He lets the cat out of the bag. The post Vatican II Church as incarnated by the Germany synodal way is a completely different Church than the one prior to post-Vatican II synods and Vatican II itself. 

Read this article. It makes sense to me:

From the National Review:

By MICHAEL BRENDAN DOUGHERTY

March 22, 2023 3:24 PM

In a stunning interview, Cardinal Archbishop Arthur Roche, the man the Vatican has placed in charge of extinguishing the Traditional Latin Mass that Benedict XVI in 2007 had widely permitted, admitted in an interview with the BBC that Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and his radical traditionalist followers are right — that the faith once delivered to the saints has been abolished and substituted by the Church in the 1960s.

“The theology of the Church has changed,” argued Roche. “Whereas before the priest represented, at a distance, all the people — they were channeled through this person who alone was celebrating the Mass.” Now, however, Roche stated that “it is not only the priest who celebrates the liturgy but also those who are baptized with him, and that is an enormous statement to make.”

Roche is of course misstating the old theology. The priest celebrates the Mass not as a representative of all the people, but in persona Christi. All present at Mass assist him in doing so. All talk of distance is a silly slander.

Roche’s words follow the line pursued by more-radical theologians after the Second Vatican Council. In fact, this is the very line of thought, when I encountered it in Karl Rahner’s Theological Investigations, that caused me to become a traditionalist. (Though Rahner by that time used the language of “president” and “assembly” rather than that of “priest.”)

Just as important as Roche’s confirmation that the present Vatican has done away with wide permission for the old Mass is his affirmation of the underpinning assumptions that Benedict XVI used to license it — namely, Benedict’s “hermeneutic of continuity,” or the idea that the Second Vatican Council did not impose upon the faithful anything substantively new or different from the faith that the Church held before it. Therefore, the old Mass and the new Mass must express the very same faith.

That is not this Vatican’s position. Roche and the Vatican agree with progressives who view the old Mass as unsuited to a Church that has a new theology. And so they agree with radical traditionalists, and the Lefebvrites, that the purpose of the new Mass was to impose a new religion upon the Church.

Benedict’s view — though I’m not sure that it was correct — at least tried to address the crisis of the Church. The Vatican’s current view can only deepen it.

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THIS, WHO NEEDS ENEMIES?

Cardinal McElroy has let the cat out of the bag. He doesn’t like or tolerate anyone who voices opposition to Pope Francis’ lack of clarity and His Holiness making into dogma mere pastoral solutions. 

In a recent Spanish speaking interview, which you can read HERE, the good Cardinal, bless his little heart, has the temerity to condemn EWTN and its commentators who dare to question the pastoral, doctrinal and moral direction Pope Francis is taking the Church. They dare question his ambiguities and the confusion this has caused and the very serious polarization His Holiness has created within the Cardinals who elect popes and the entire College of Bishops not to mention the poor rank and file laity. 

This is what Cardinal McElroy, in a Viganò’s moment, has to say and it is stunning:

This focus of Francis "doesn't have the clarity and security that many have come to trust in their understanding of the faith," said McElroy. "But it does incarnate the pastoral method of the same Lord who calls us to draw close to each person first with a loving embrace, then with help and healing, and after with the call to conversion and to change."

I have just read Georgia’s Prosecuting Attorney General’s report on how the Archdiocese of Atlanta and the Diocese of Savannah handled allegations of sexual abuse of minors by priests from 1950 to the present. 

What is clear is that victims often felt they had no right to criticize priests in general if they were errant in any way, and bishops often were worried more about the priests than their potential and actual victims. They were more worried about reputation.

Thanks be to God that ETWN is not intimidated or manipulated by those in the hierarchy who would like to silence them and those who appreciate the whistleblowing! 

THREE TRADITIONAL ASPECTS OF POPE FRANCIS’ PAPACY THAT WILL ENDURE AFTER HIS HOLINESS IS CALLED TO HIS JUST REWARD…

Pope Francis has some very good and traditional things to say about the Sacrament of Penance, aka, Reconciliation, Confession. However, I am not sure I would want to go to His Holiness face to face, please provide me a screen, thank you very much!

There are three areas that I believe will be Pope Francis’ enduring legacy. Not among these three are “confusion, synodality and wokeness” but these three will endure and are appreciated:

1. The Holy Father has emphasized popular piety and traditional devotions, especially those that surround our Blessed Mother and private revelations associated with her all over the world. Almost immediately following Vatican II, we were told that Catholic spirituality, like Protestant spirituality, had to focus on Jesus alone and Marian devotions and the cult of the saints were out, because Vatican II taught us that, which was a lie. But we believed those who said what Vatican II taught, although it didn’t. 

2. The Holy Father has recovered the devil and concern for his tempting and corrupting influence. Angels, fallen or not, fell out of favor because Vatican II taught us that, but really it didn’t but we were told that it did teach that angels were out, so we believed it. Well, Pope Francis has recovered the devil and all the angels, fallen or not. 

3. The Holy Father has emphasized the Sacrament of Penance, Confession, over and over again. Almost immediately following Vatican II there was a drop off of sinners going to confession often due to the emphasis that people should go to Confession as though they were going to a psychiatric appointment, not in a booth, but a comfortable room, not behind a screen, but sitting comfortably before the priest, staring you in the eye as you confessed embarrassing sins. No body, but those use to psychiatric counseling, liked it so they stopped going and of course almost immediately after Vatican II there was confusion about sin and even if it existed, and mortal sin was no longer taught. 

Pope Francis, to His Holiness’ credit, recently said this and it is as traditional as it gets:

Mercy and the Church's missionary activity

Pope Francis explained that mercy could almost be included among the “notes” or distinguishing characteristics of the Church: “The work of divine mercy thus coincides with the very missionary activity of the Church, with evangelization, because the face of God, as shown to us by Jesus, shines through it.”

Therefore, he said, it is necessary for priests to be available, especially during the season of Lent, to celebrate the Sacrament of Confession, also known as Reconciliation.

He emphasized that this priestly availability is shown in “certain evangelical attitudes,” beginning with welcoming everyone without prejudice, and including listening with the ear of the heart, generously absolving penitents, and accompanying the penitential journey of those who approach the Sacrament.

Rediscovering the gift of Confession

Pope Francis noted that “the Church’s evangelizing mission passes in large part through the rediscovery of the gift of Confession,” not least in view of the approaching Jubilee Year of 2025.

Turning to the pastoral plans of particular Churches, the Pope insisted on the importance of sacramental Confession and of ensuring that the faithful have access to the Sacrament. He suggested that cathedrals and other churches should always have a confessor on duty, as part of the effort to “facilitate access for the faithful to this 'encounter of love' as much as possible.'”

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE! SINCE I AM FROM AUGUSTA….HILARIOUS!

 

I JUST SAW THIS ON FACEBOOK!

 

Wait a minute, that’s an old picture, (after I removed the altar railing at St. Joseph Church in Macon and before I restored it) and that priest is me, although much younger version of me and that photo was lifted from my most humble blog and the photographer, Buck Milton gets credit for taking the photo and so many more of this grand church building!

AN INCREDIBLY INSENSITIVE AND UNCHARITABLE SLAM AGAINST MENTAL ILLNESS BUT MORESO THE TONE DEAFNESS OF WHAT THE REAL PROBLEM TODAY IS WITH THE CHURCH AND IT IS SPELLED GERMANY AND THEIR BISHOPS…

The super, tripple XXX, ultramontane blog, “Where Peter Is” has an incredibly stupid commentary on the madman, the former nuncio of the USA, Archbishop Vigano. You can read the uncharitable and tone deaf commentary  THE BISHOPS AND THE MADMAN HERE.

A very astute comment by a well known blogger responded to this article on their facebook page and this is what that astute man wrote:

It does seem to me to be exceptionally uncharitable to castigate a man who might well be suffering from a mental disorder, dementia or some other organic mental issue. Then to exploit this condition in the present and apply it to the past when this wasn’t the case and when he found support and respect from American bishops during his time as nuncio, is even more incredibly uncharitable and manipulative. Of course if others are exploiting the condition of the Archbishop In order to undermine the papacy, that is evil. However we know that Pope Francis has played the game of accusing traditionalists of mental disorders and rigidity to manipulate an outcome. There seems to be a need for an apology from the Holy Father to those who are traditionalists but not rigid or mentally ill. But with all that said, even if Archbishop Vigano is sane and takes responsibility for his words and actions, and he finds support from some American bishops, these seem to pale in significance with the what the German hierarchy is doing to this pope which is truly evil and divisive—no apology is asked of them?

I am convinced that the Traditionalists are being played like a fiddle by the Holy Father and other post-Catholic radicals in Germany and elsewhere as a sort of smokescreen to distract from what Germany and other European bishops want to accomplish. 

I really do wonder who the madmen are in the Church and it appears more than likely that Archbishop Vigano isn’t the only one and that there are more people out there that need an apology from those trying to create an apostate church through a hostile takeover. 

But let’s focus on the madness of Archbishop Vigano and those American bishops who thought that he was/is a man of integrity. Yes, they are the really serious  problem for the Church today. NOT!!!

DO THE BACKWARD TRADITIONALISTS EVER HAVE TO BE REMINDED OF THIS?

 

CARDINAL MUELLER TEACHES THE CATHOLIC FAITH WHICH GIVES HOPE TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD AND HE ALSO CALLS OUT THE GERMAN GNOSTICS OF THE SYNODAL WAY IN A WAY THAT ONLY A FELLOW GERMAN CAN DO AND HE DOES IT BRILLIANTLY

 I lift this from a longer Lifesite article:

Müller was also asked why he thinks Germany is the center of this “Sonderweg” (special path) rather than Spain, France, or Italy.

“Unfortunately, there is still the Furor teutonicus, the indomitable tendency to always want to instruct and dominate the whole world,” he answered. “German Catholics still suffer from being second-class citizens (and scholars in theology and science) ever since the Kulturkampf [culture war] in the Bismarck Empire and the claims of superiority of the Prussian Protestant Leitkultur [dominant culture]. It is an irony of Church history that in the face of the challenge of an aggressive de-Christianization of the West, Catholics want to overcome their inferiority complex by referring to their common mediocrity.”

“What is your advice to the faithful Catholics in Germany who dislike the Synodal Way but no longer find the usual stability in Rome?” the interviewer asked Müller.

“A look at church history helps us to cope more easily with the ups and downs,” the German cardinal said. “After all, we Christians are not promised a success story like in a human enterprise, but the assistance of the Holy Spirit even in times of decline or even persecution. In the stock market, prices rise and fall. We live from the promise of Jesus that he will always be with us until the end of the world.”

“The rock on which Jesus builds his Church, even the gates of hell cannot overcome. But he who sits in the chair of Peter, like the namesake of this office, can personally fail. This is why Christ prays for Peter that his faith may not be extinguished (cf. Lk 22:32).”

EUCHARISTIC COHERENCE AND VOCATIONS TO THE PRIESTHOOD

 These are all celebrations of the Modern Roman Missal. Which photo, more than likely, will not encourage a healthy sense of reverence and transcendence in the Real Presence of the Lord?  Which photo will not encourage priestly vocations?

 

I read a story about the vocation crisis in Ireland. To remedy it, the bishops are coming up with a gimmick, I mean, a program to encourage vocations to the priesthood.

As with all gimmicks, I mean, programs to address the loss of Catholic Faith and thus, vocations to the priesthood, these will fail. 

What our bishops together with the clergy and laity need to do is to study how the Catholic Faith is lived in local parishes and what is the state of the Liturgies in local parishes and how the priesthood is expressed in those very same parishes.  

Then, there needs to be a study of parishes which actually have vocations coming from their parish. Why is that? What are the qualities of the parish, its liturgies and how the priesthood is lived in those parishes.

Of course, the point of contact with their institutional  that about 99% of Catholic who still bother to attend Mass, have with their parish is at Sunday Mass.

So, let's ask some fundamental questions about what 99% of Catholics who bother attend Mass, whose only experience with their parish is Sunday Mass, experience at Mass.

1. Is there a sense of transcendence and the work of the Liturgy planned and executed with care, dignity, reverence and fear and wonder in the Real Presence of the Supreme Being, God Almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit? 

2. Are the clergy and laity swept up into the timelessness and eternity, of the heavenly liturgy which the earthly liturgy is meant to symbolize and be a sign of, a Sacrament, although veiled of the beauty of heaven?

3. Are liturgical vestments and lay clothing the best possible, clean, beautiful and befitting the worship of the Supreme Being, Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Is there a proper understanding of the role of the laity and their lay clothing which they wear to Mass as being their "Sunday Best?"

4. Are all of  the formal ministries of the Mass, from altar servers to lectors, to cantors, etc carried out in a dignified and rehearsed way with a beautiful choreography and sound?

5. Is the moment of the reception of Holy Communion a sign and symbol of reverence in receiving the Real Presence of the Crucified and Risen Lord under the palatable glory of the Sacramental sign of Bread and Wine, either/or or both/and?

Augusta in my Diocese of Savannah has produced more priests for our diocese and religious orders than any other city in our diocese, to include the see City, Savannah itself! This was true prior to Vatican II but more so after Vatican II.

In the post-Vatican II period, beginning toward the mid 1990's, one community in Augusta in particular has produced an abundance of vocations--the Alleluia Community, an intentional charismatic community.

What do they do in that community, which every parish should try to do?

1. There is community and strong faith-filled friendships created and sustained, but within the context of encouraging faith, hope and love.

2. The members pray together apart from Mass at a weekly prayer meeting, of a charismatic nature, pray in their homes and provide Bible studies and support systems to live out their Christian walk. 

3. They have a strong, personal relationship with the Risen Lord whom they experience in community, in their personal prayer life, in their prayer meetings and in the parishes, especially at Mass and there is a deep and abiding belief in the real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament especially as it concerns adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament. 

We don't need programs to encourage vocations to the priesthood or Eucharistic Coherence. We simply need to be what God calls us to be in our local parishes. We need to look at what worked in the past and will work today if properly recovered and lived!

LIKE THE CHURCH, THERE ARE MANY SHADES OF ROSE COLOR VESTMENTS!

 I am sure the first one is everyone’s favorite!

LAETARE SUNDAY AND MACON’S CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL AND PARADE…

 I don’t know if Macon’s Cherry Blossom Festival parade is today, Laetare Sunday, or not, but it regularly falls on Laetare Sunday. It is a two week festival and everyone wears pink. Pink is pretty. Does your priest wear pink in Lent?

VOCATIONS TO THE PRIESTHOOD, MY MOST HUMBLE EVALUATION AS A FORMER VOCATION DIRECTOR…

Young boys and men are not attracted to this, although a woman might be:

With the recovery of the Traditional Latin Mass, I have seen many boys and young men willing to serve it and become interested in the priesthood. This attracts healthy young men to the seminary:

 Press title for news story:

Vatican data shows ‘uninterrupted decline’ in vocations since Francis became pope in 2013

My comments:

Under Pope Francis, we have seen a reversal in the number of young men interested in pursuing a vocation to the priesthood. 

Why is that? It is plain, simple and out in the open for everyone to see and know why. The liberal implementation of the spirit of Vatican II has been highly destructive of Church tradition, piety, liturgy, catechesis and a balanced view of the feminine and masculine aspects of the Church and her ministry. 

I know of no dioceses or religious orders that embraced the most liberal implementation of Vatican II which are prospering with eager applicants for a vocation to the priesthood or religious life, none whatsoever. And those who are applying for a liberal, heterodox view of Catholicism give me a moment of pause. 

What Pope Francis has recaptured by canceling the papacies of St. Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI is the malaise of the late 1960’s and 70’s where the sexual revolution of that time (tame compared to today’s off-the-rails revolution) killed vocations, inspired immature priests and nuns to experiment with sex and then leave to get married or have partnerships with same sex people. All of this eroded any sense of vocations and that the Church had anything to teach the world as  Vatican II asked that we dialogue with the world and listen to contrary voices and apologize for the Catholic Church’s dogmatism and corruption that led to the Great Schism and Protestant Reformation.

Celibacy was thought to become optional, ordained priests could get married and women would soon be ordained. 

Anything that smacked of the pre-Vatican II Church’s emphasis on truth, piety and fixed beliefs had to be challenged and anyone interested in the priesthood or religious life nostalgic for the 1950’s version of Catholicism was to be weeded out as rigid and pre-Vatican II, the ultimate sins of the post-Vatican II Church.

Pope Francis has recovered much of this 1960’s and 70’s ugliness and a Church of the ugly as symbolized by the raping of traditional church buildings and making them look more Presbyterian than most Presbyterian Churches.

But the ugliness was truly the war against the pre-Vatican II Church and thinking its style of being Church was a 2,000 year disaster. 

Pope Francis, though, has recovered the feminine ethos of ministry but imposed on men. It is fine for women to be feminine but when men are feminine one sees that a man is going against his nature to be a man. 

And of course, women want to be men and a femininity that embraces masculinity, especially in a liturgical setting, such as the priestesshood, is astoundingly ugly and off-putting as is an effeminate man in the ordained priesthood, especially in a liturgical setting. 

This shows up in a touchy-feely form of ministry, where empathy is emotional and tear laden and liturgy makes a man into a woman in terms of ethos and gender bending ritual styles. 

What healthy boy and man wants to be feminine? 

That is why the older form of the liturgy and the Church as she was prior to Vatican II attracted so many men to the priesthood. Yes, some should have been screened out and the system of formation of strictness and discipline, if removed, showed that these men often had not internalized the discipline and were still children in an adult body and would do as they pleased when pre-Vatican II strictures were removed and a disciplined lifestyle built on asceticism was removed for a more personal self discovery which led into license to do what had been forbidden by discipline. 

That could have been addressed and should have been addressed but we need not make men into women. 

But what is clear, the post-Vatican II Church encouraged a freedom built upon internalized maturity but with no real consequences if a priest or nun completely failed in the public promises they made. 

That doesn’t encourage anyone to consider a vocation.