Fr. Ray Blake has an interesting analysis of an Italian Communist thinker and the bearing his ideas may have on the thinking of the "shadow synod," or those teutonic bishops hell-bent on getting their way in the upcoming Synod. The title of his piece is "Change a Culture, Keep the Doctrine" (Fr. Ray Blake's Blog, October 1, 2015).
The upshot? You need have no fear that doctrine will be changed. It won't. But what the teutonic clique has learned ever since the Rhine flowed into the Tiber during Vatican II is that you don't exactly need to change doctrine to get your way. All you need to do is change the culture. How do you do that? By changing the language. Getting bishops and priests and other Catholics to sideline doctrine (it's not going to change anyway, so what of it?) and concentrate on talking about "pastoral provisions," "mercy," "compassion," etc. It's a lot like what Christopher Ferrara talks about under the heading of "viruses." Things like "religious liberty," "ecumenism" and "dialogue" are not doctrinal novelties. You can't really make accusations of "heresy" stick in reference to Vatican II documents, no matter what some traddies suggest. Rather, they are "viruses." What does he mean? New emphases that cannot be stated in clear propositions but can muster a shift in Catholic culture. "Dialogue" suggests all sorts of things. It is rich with an impressive plethora of connotations. Without casting a single shadow on any doctrine, it can shift us away from Tridentine "triumphalism" to a culture of relativism in which we no longer talk about the Catholic Church as the Church outside of which there is no salvation. That just doesn't sit well anymore. Like hell. Who talks about hell and the devil anymore. It's like brining up sex and politics in polite company: simply rude. These ideas needs finessing. Thus we're off and running.
Read the lives of the saints. Read Holy Scripture. Read St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine. And, above all, pray; and I mean spend some serious time everyday in prayer and meditation. Communicate with God almighty. This will keep you grounded, unlike synodical reports, as entertaining as they may be.
[Hat tip to Sir A.S.]
Monday, October 05, 2015
Sunday, October 04, 2015
Don't you wish some cardinals would just stay away from the media sharks?
Cindy Wooden, "Stable gay relationship is better than a 'temporary' one, says Cardinal Schönborn" (Catholic Herald, September 11, 2015). You think there might have been something more significant for the cardinal to address on September 11th, or, heck, any day ...
Why politics, whether secular or ecclesial, shouldn't become the focus of our lives
Everyone knows how secular politics can become all-consuming, especially as election time nears. Radio talk shows and TV shows have already been talking about the Republican debates, and even a possible debate on the Democrat side, as though it's a cliff hanger from the latest soap opera.
And the elections are over a year away. I know a few retired people who get so wrapped up in elections that they follow politics on television almost round the clock.
What made politics such an all consuming thing? There almost seems to be a sort of messianic mania that seizes many people every four years or so. But it's a serious distortion of life to see everything as reducible to politics. This strikes me as a sort of sickness, and I've seen it in Mr. Obama, when he's inclined to turn every occasion, whether it's related to foreign diplomacy or a domestic news-event, as an opportunity to campaign.
I'm not sure this is a result of a statist mentality, but it could be related -- the view that the state is of all-consuming importance. But clearly there are other important things in life, from baseball games, or taking the wife out on a date, to the salvation of one's soul. The Catholic principle of subsidiarity somewhat speaks to this, if only obliquely -- that there are other spheres of life besides the state where decisions can and should be made, and in fact can be made more effectively.
The same sort of manic obsession with politics can take hold of our minds also in the ecclesial sphere. Hanging on every word uttered during an in-flight interview by Pope Francis, or by a gay CDF agent who exploited the upcoming synod as an opportunity to "come out" and have his day in the lime light, or what the "shadow synod" is planning by way of sabotaging or hijacking the synod ... All these sorts of "news" are fodder for the media mills to be spun this way or that by excited newsmakers and interpreted by various supporters and critics of this side or that.
This is not to say that politics, whether secular or ecclesial, are not important. Events and decisions that can have momentous import for our lives unfold in that sphere. Yet these a regular quotidian diet of news about such politics can also serve as a distraction from other still-more important things in our lives.
Life goes on. Marriages, families, schools, church, work -- all these go on. And they're important too. In fact, in some ways they are more important. Think about those of the previous generation, parents or grandparents, and others -- friends and loved ones -- who have passed from this world to their eternal reward. What was it about their lives that was most ultimately most important? Was it really all that important who was president or pope during their lives? Wasn't it more important how they lived, how they treated their families, friends, and enemies, how courageous and dependable they were in the performance of their duties, simply and without fuss? Wasn't it more important whether they were morally upright, forgiving, merciful and just than who they had as a senator or bishop? Wasn't the most important thing of all the question whether they managed to make what Catholics call "a good death" and not being caught dead in a state of mortal sin?
What is our purpose here? Why did God place us here on earth? He created us because He loves us and wants us to spend eternity with Him in the fellowship of the Holy Trinity. But that requires seeing this life, not as an end-in-itself where the one who dies with the most toys wins, but as a probationary phase, a testing period in which we have the opportunity to cooperate with God's grace and have our say in where we hope to spend eternity.
This doesn't mean that we must always go around being solemn about everything. Far from it. St. Philip Neri was never solemn. But he was serious. Even when he used turned the cardinal's cap that was given to him into a football to kick around with some kids. But it means, as C.S. Lewis once wrote, "that our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously—no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner—no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbour he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat — the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden." (The Weight of Glory, p. 9)
[As a footnote, let me add that I will continue posting articles about current events in the secular and religious political world; but I encourage all my readers to take these things, as I do, cum magno grano salis -- that is, with a large grain (or boulder) of salt!]
What made politics such an all consuming thing? There almost seems to be a sort of messianic mania that seizes many people every four years or so. But it's a serious distortion of life to see everything as reducible to politics. This strikes me as a sort of sickness, and I've seen it in Mr. Obama, when he's inclined to turn every occasion, whether it's related to foreign diplomacy or a domestic news-event, as an opportunity to campaign.
I'm not sure this is a result of a statist mentality, but it could be related -- the view that the state is of all-consuming importance. But clearly there are other important things in life, from baseball games, or taking the wife out on a date, to the salvation of one's soul. The Catholic principle of subsidiarity somewhat speaks to this, if only obliquely -- that there are other spheres of life besides the state where decisions can and should be made, and in fact can be made more effectively.
The same sort of manic obsession with politics can take hold of our minds also in the ecclesial sphere. Hanging on every word uttered during an in-flight interview by Pope Francis, or by a gay CDF agent who exploited the upcoming synod as an opportunity to "come out" and have his day in the lime light, or what the "shadow synod" is planning by way of sabotaging or hijacking the synod ... All these sorts of "news" are fodder for the media mills to be spun this way or that by excited newsmakers and interpreted by various supporters and critics of this side or that.
This is not to say that politics, whether secular or ecclesial, are not important. Events and decisions that can have momentous import for our lives unfold in that sphere. Yet these a regular quotidian diet of news about such politics can also serve as a distraction from other still-more important things in our lives.
Life goes on. Marriages, families, schools, church, work -- all these go on. And they're important too. In fact, in some ways they are more important. Think about those of the previous generation, parents or grandparents, and others -- friends and loved ones -- who have passed from this world to their eternal reward. What was it about their lives that was most ultimately most important? Was it really all that important who was president or pope during their lives? Wasn't it more important how they lived, how they treated their families, friends, and enemies, how courageous and dependable they were in the performance of their duties, simply and without fuss? Wasn't it more important whether they were morally upright, forgiving, merciful and just than who they had as a senator or bishop? Wasn't the most important thing of all the question whether they managed to make what Catholics call "a good death" and not being caught dead in a state of mortal sin?
What is our purpose here? Why did God place us here on earth? He created us because He loves us and wants us to spend eternity with Him in the fellowship of the Holy Trinity. But that requires seeing this life, not as an end-in-itself where the one who dies with the most toys wins, but as a probationary phase, a testing period in which we have the opportunity to cooperate with God's grace and have our say in where we hope to spend eternity.
This doesn't mean that we must always go around being solemn about everything. Far from it. St. Philip Neri was never solemn. But he was serious. Even when he used turned the cardinal's cap that was given to him into a football to kick around with some kids. But it means, as C.S. Lewis once wrote, "that our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously—no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner—no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbour he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat — the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden." (The Weight of Glory, p. 9)
[As a footnote, let me add that I will continue posting articles about current events in the secular and religious political world; but I encourage all my readers to take these things, as I do, cum magno grano salis -- that is, with a large grain (or boulder) of salt!]
Fr. Perrone: 10 points about the Rosary (N.B. - Very interesting!)
Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" [temporary link] (Assumption Grotto News, October 4, 2015):
This is the month of the Holy Rosary and I want to make ten brief points about it that you may find interesting. I’ll enumerate them so as to fit it as much as I can in a short space, a little departure from my accustomed fustian.
1. In the public recitation, the Hail Marys dovetail but can even slightly overlap because these prayers are not so much deliberate repetitions but a stream of sound over which the meditation of the mysteries are meant to predominate, much like the connecting links which join the beads. Saying the rosary with too deliberate an emphasis on each word might even be an impediment to a more thoughtful concentration on the mysteries. The continual sounding of the Hail Marys forms background music for the delight of the Holy Virgin’s ears (reminding Her of Annunciation day when She first heard the Archangel’s greeting) while the mind considers some aspect of the mystery announced for each decade.
2. The physical chain of the rosary is a tactile thing that ought to be used, at least by the leader in a group recitation (though it’s use is advisable for all participants). This feeling of the rosary beads in the hand is–besides being a counting device–a symbolic contact with Our Lady since the blest beads form a sacramental.
3. Catholics today are losing the practice of repetitive prayer – the rosary being the principal one. Litanies and pious aspirations are also, I fear, passé for many. One should not dismiss these kinds of prayer from the warning of the Gospel about the vanity of the mindless repetition of prayers. The bible itself offers examples of litanies as well as descriptions of insistent and repetitive prayer (think here of the man in the parable who knocks pertinaciously on the door to rouse his sleepy neighbor until he should answer). The analogy of lovers is apropos: there’s no limit to the repetition of loving words between them.
4. Secondary prayers that are often attached to the rosary are not, strictly speaking, necessary. After each decade, for example, there’s the laudable custom of saying the Fatima prayer, “ O my Jesus, forgive us our sins...” Since this addition was requested by Holy Mary Herself, there’s excellent reason for adding it, but the rosary would still be valid without it. Moreover, prayers often said at the end, “Hail, Holy Queen, the versicle and response, and final prayer are not necessary, though certainly good to include. Prayers for the Pope are necessary only for gaining the plenary indulgence (one Our Father & Hail Mary are minimally required), but even in public recitation these may be done privately rather than aloud.
5. At the start of the rosary there are the three ‘little’ Hail Marys which are often announced as being “for an increase of faith, hope, and charity.” Nothing wrong with that. I myself do not say this because I offer them for chastity and don’t want to limit their purpose.
6. The rosary is the only prayer I can think of that heaven asked to be said daily. (The Lord’s Prayer, of course, does ask for “daily bread” but there’s no command that it be said daily. That being said, however, it’s expected that you say this prayer many times every day.) Since Mary Herself asked for the daily rosary, I can’t figure how some Catholics omit it.
7. Because the holy names of Jesus and Mary are so often repeated in saying the rosary, bowing the head [need] not be observed each time. Ditto for the Glory be to the Father which, in other contexts, would direct one to bow the head.
8. The Hail Mary and the Lord’s Prayer have not been updated in the English language. Thus, the archaic forms are still to be observed: ‘the Lord is with Thee;” hallowed be Thy name;” etc. There might be some dispute in the case of the Glory be prayer since it does have an official new form for use in the Divine Office said in English. Arguably this new form applies only to the Divine Office and not elsewhere.
9. Moslems were defeated in history from dominating Christian lands through the wide use of the rosary. The alarming spread of Islamic people and religion in Christian territory with the imposition of the anti-Christian laws and even persecution of Christians may well be due to the lapse in saying the rosary.
10. Rosary beads should be made of noble but not necessarily precious materials. Anything for which the Church’s blessing is sought ought to have a certain nobility that indicates its sacred use. Personally speaking, I’m appalled over some rosaries I’ve been asked to bless that are cheaply made or that look more like toys than holy objects. One ought to use fine things as instruments of prayer.
Fr. Perrone
Tridentine Community News - The Seven Sorrows Devotion, All-Male Altar Server Programs Attract More Volunteers, Ordination of Deacon John Tonkin on October 17, Tridentine Mass schedule
"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"
Tridentine Community News by Alex Begin (October 4, 2015):
October 4, 2015 - External Solemnity of Our Lady of the Rosary
The Seven Sorrows Devotion
Popularized by the Servite order since the 17th century, and indeed continuing to this day at the Servites’ Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica in Chicago, the devotion to the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary unites us with the sufferings of our Blessed Mother. Various lengthy novenas exist, but the simplest, most basic form of the devotion is provided below.
The Blessed Virgin Mary grants seven graces to the souls who honor her daily by saying seven Hail Marys and meditating on her tears and dolors (sorrows). The devotion was passed on by St. Bridget.THE SEVEN GRACESAll-Male Altar Server Programs Attract More VolunteersTHE SEVEN SORROWS
- I will grant peace to their families.
- They will be enlightened about the divine mysteries.
- I will console them in their pains, and I will accompany them in their work.
- I will give them as much as they ask for as long as it does not oppose the adorable will of my divine Son or the sanctification of their souls.
- I will defend them in their spiritual battles with the infernal enemy, and I will protect them at every instant of their lives.
- I will visibly help them at the moment of their death; they will see the face of their Mother.
- I have obtained from my divine Son, that those who propagate this devotion to my tears and dolors will be taken directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness since all their sins will be forgiven, and my Son and I will be their eternal consolation and joy.
(Say one Hail Mary while meditating on each Sorrow.)
- The prophecy of Simeon (St. Luke 2: 34, 35)
- The flight into Egypt (St. Matthew 2: 13, 14)
- The loss of the Child Jesus in the temple (St. Luke 2: 43-45)
- The meeting of Jesus and Mary on the Way of the Cross
- The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus
- The taking down of the Body of Jesus from the Cross
- The burial of Jesus
[Above content taken from the Seven Sorrows Devotion prayer card issued by Our Lady of the Rosary Library (www.olrl.org).]
Fr. John Hollowell, pastor of Annunciation and St. Paul’s Churches in Brazil, Indiana, published an informal study of the effect of switching to all-male altar server programs in Ordinary Form parishes. While the sample size is admittedly small, it confirms what Extraordinary Form communities have long experienced: a challenging, all-male altar server program has no trouble attracting volunteers. His conclusion: “The average parish surveyed, when switching from co-ed servers to male-only saw their server numbers grow 450%.”
Ordination of Deacon John Tonkin on October 17
Another local vocation to the priesthood reaches its culmination on Saturday, October 17: Deacon John Tonkin, a native of Windsor, will be ordained to the sacred priesthood for the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem at 10:00 AM at St. James the Greater Church in Charles Town, West Virginia. The ordaining prelate will be Bishop Athanasius Schneider. Monsignor Andrew Wadsworth, a liturgical expert and co-founder of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in formation in Washington, DC will be the ceremonial coordinator. Wassim Sarweh will be a member of the choir.
A small group from metro Detroit and Windsor will be attending. Please e-mail the address at the bottom of the page if you would like to share a rental car from Washington Dulles Airport on Friday afternoon, October 16, and returning Saturday afternoon, October 17.
Tridentine Masses This Coming Week
- Mon. 10/05 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat (St. Placid & Companions, Martyrs)
- Tue. 10/06 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Holy Name of Mary (St. Bruno, Confessor)
- Sat. 10/10 10:00 AM: High Mass at Felician Sisters’ Convent Chapel, Livonia, MI (St. Francis Borgia, Confessor) – Celebrant: Canon Ed Gardner, ICRSP
- Sun. 10/11: No Mass at OCLMA/Academy of the Sacred Heart
Tridentine Masses coming to metro Detroit and east Michigan this week
Tridentine Masses This Coming Week
-
Sunday
- Sun. 10/04 9:30 AM: High Mass at St. Josaphat, Detroit (19th Sunday after Pentecost - 2nd class, or External Solemnity of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary - 2nd class)
- Sun. 10/04 9:30 AM: High Mass at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (19th Sunday after Pentecost - 2nd class, or External Solemnity of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary - 2nd class)
- Sun. 10/04 9:45 AM: High Mass at the Chapel of the Academy of the Sacred Heart, Bloomfield Hills (19th Sunday after Pentecost - 2nd class, or External Solemnity of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary - 2nd class)
- Sun. 10/04 2:00 PM: High Mass at Holy Name of Mary, Canada (19th Sunday after Pentecost - 2nd class, or External Solemnity of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary - 2nd class)
- Sun. 10/04 3:00 PM High Mass St. Matthew Catholic Church, Flint (19th Sunday after Pentecost - 2nd class, or External Solemnity of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary - 2nd class)
Monday
- Mon. 10/05 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Feria - 4th class, or St. Placid & Companions - 4th class)
- Mon. 10/05 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat, Detroit (Feria - 4th class, or St. Placid & Companions - 4th class)
- Mon. 10/05 7:00 PM: High Mass (usually) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Feria - 4th class, or St. Placid & Companions - 4th class)
Tuesday
- Tue. 10/06 7:00 AM High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Bruno - 3rd class)
- Tue. 10/06 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Holy Name of Mary, Canada (St. Bruno - 3rd class)
- Tue. 10/06 7:00 PM: Low Mass (usually) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Bruno - 3rd class)
Wednesday
- Wed. 10/07 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Our Lady of the Rosary - 2nd class)
- Wed. 10/07 7:00: High Mass (usually) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Our Lady of the Rosary - 2nd class)
Thursday
- Thu. 10/08 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Bridget of Sweden - 3rd class)
- Thu. 10/08 7:00 PM: Low Mass (usually) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Bridget of Sweden - 3rd class)
Friday
- Fri. 10/09 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. John Leonardi - 3rd class)
- Fri. 10/09 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat, Detroit (St. John Leonardi - 3rd class)
- Fri. 10/09 7:00 PM: Low Mass (usually) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. John Leonardi - 3rd class)
- Sat. 10/10 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Francis Borgia - 3rd class)
- Sat. 10/10 10:00 AM: High Mass at Felician Sisters' Convent Chapel, Livonia, MI (St. Francis Borgia, Confessor - 3rd class)
Sunday
- Sun. 10/11 9:30 AM: High Mass at St. Josaphat, Detroit (20th Sunday after Pentecost - 2nd class)
- Sun. 10/11 9:30 AM: High Mass at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (20th Sunday after Pentecost - 2nd class)
- Sun. 10/11 No Mass at OCLMA/Chapel of the Academy of the Sacred Heart, Bloomfield Hills (20th Sunday after Pentecost - 2nd class)
- Sun. 10/11 2:00 PM: High Mass at St. Alphonsus Church, Windsor, Canada (20th Sunday after Pentecost - 2nd class)
- Sun. 10/11 3:00 PM High Mass St. Matthew Catholic Church, Flint (20th Sunday after Pentecost - 2nd class)
Saturday
Saturday, October 03, 2015
October Synod preview: turbulence ahead
Michael Voris, "The Curtain Rises" (Video + transcript) (Church Militant, October 2, 2015):
Related:
It's almost here. The curtain is beginning to rise on the Synod Showdown. By this weekend all the delegates will be assembled in Rome, and the great clash will be underway.Read More, or watch the video >>
Of course, those clerics and their fan boys who are agitating for change keep dismissing all the talk of showdown and clashes and arguments. They want to downplay it as much as possible. But for those who have been paying close attention to all the behind-the-scenes drama (and the not-so-behind-the-scenes drama), it's very clear that the dynamite has been laid, and all that's left is for the match to be struck.
There are cardinals and bishops and archbishops present in Rome who have made quite clear that they support giving Holy Communion to divorced and remarried Catholics. There are others who have openly lobbied for not only homosexuality to be welcomed and celebrated as a great gift to the Church, but others who actually have publicly stated the Church should begin marrying homosexual men and women. These agitators are looking for a way to overthrow Church teaching in practice while keeping up the appearance, at least in most cases, of not hurting it.
Related:
- "Gay CDF Priest 'Comes Out,' Declares Church Must Change" (CM, October 3, 2015).
- "Developing: Vatican Responds to Gay CDF Priest" (CM, October 3, 2015)
Friday, October 02, 2015
A call to battle for MEN, from Bishop Olmsted
His Eminence, Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of Phoenix, "INTO THE BREACH: An Apostolic Exhortation to Catholic Men, my Spiritual Sons in the Diocese of Phoenix" - Not to be missed!
[Hat tip to Sir A.S.]
Read more >> This is absolutely wonderful stuff, from the heart of a true shepherd!“And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall
and stand in the breach before me for the land…”
Ezekiel 22:30
I begin this letter with a clarion call and clear charge to you, my sons and brothers in Christ: Men, do not hesitate to engage in the battle that is raging around you, the battle that is wounding our children and families, the battle that is distorting the dignity of both women and men. This battle is often hidden, but the battle is real. It is primarily spiritual, but it is progressively killing the remaining Christian ethos in our society and culture, and even in our own homes.
The world is under attack by Satan, as our Lord said it would be (1 Peter 5:8-14). This battle is occurring in the Church herself, and the devastation is all too evident. Since AD 2000, 14 million Catholics have left the faith ....
One of the key reasons that the Church is faltering under the attacks of Satan is that many Catholic men have not been willing to “step into the breach” – to fill this gap that lies open and vulnerable to further attack. A large number have left the faith, and many who remain “Catholic” practice the faith timidly and are only minimally committed to passing the faith on to their children.....
I offer this Exhortation as an encouragement, a challenge, and a calling forth to mission for every willing man in the Diocese of Phoenix: priests and deacons, husbands, fathers and sons, grandfathers and widowers, young men in preparation for your vocation – that is, each and every man. With this Exhortation, I want to clarify for you the nature of this mission from Christ, for which I will rely on the clear guidance of the Holy Scriptures, the Magisterium of the Church, and the example of the saints.
[Hat tip to Sir A.S.]
Heartless crybaby homofascists destroy Christian family's livelihood
"State Takes Legal Action to Seize $135K From Bakers" (Church Militant, October 1, 2015)
The "love" that dare not speak its name, which has become the "love" that won't shut up, is now going after soft targets, like cowardly mass murdering shooters with assault rifles going after sitting-duck targets in "gun free zones" (like schools) where they won't meet resistance, or, better, like Planned Parenthood, with the support of tax dollars, going after even softer targets like babies in their mother's wombs.
The same-sex couple who were previous customers of Aaron and Melissa Klein and their bakery, and were refused only their request of catering a cake in celebration of their same-sex "wedding," have decided, instead of walking down the street to another bakery, to behave like veritable crybabies and claim $150,000 in "psychological" and "emotional" damages for being refused a ... "wedding" cake. "It's THE LAW!" cry their cold-blooded fans. Let 'em suffer, Christian bigots! Serves 'em right. And so ... the "love" that dare not speak its name, which has become the "love" that won't shut up, has become the "love" that hates Christians so much that it's willing to destroy their livelihood and bury a loving family and all their kids in oceans of financial debt. All out of the "love" of their tender sodomitical hearts.
Thus "liberalism" shows its true illiberal colors. The promoters of sexual "tolerance" and "rights" have become the most ruthlessly repressive jack-booted thugs in recent history, hellbent on depriving others their religious rights. Only the cowardly crybabies won't face their opponents in the ring, but hide behind their new homofascist laws, their money-grubbing lawyers, and their water-carriers in the drive-by media, whining like crybabies that their f-e-e-l-i-n-g-s were hurt because their were turned down a cake. (Let them try a Muslim bakery in Dearborn, Michigan, and see what happens.) The pattern is all too familiar to any student of history, from the French Revolution, which devoured its own children, to the Bolshevik Revolution, which outdid the French by slaughtering upwards of 50 million people according to the Rousseauian dictum, "they must be compelled to be free." Plato was right: democracies teetering on the edge of anarchy can quickly collapse into totalitarian tyrannies.
The "love" that dare not speak its name, which has become the "love" that won't shut up, is now going after soft targets, like cowardly mass murdering shooters with assault rifles going after sitting-duck targets in "gun free zones" (like schools) where they won't meet resistance, or, better, like Planned Parenthood, with the support of tax dollars, going after even softer targets like babies in their mother's wombs.
The same-sex couple who were previous customers of Aaron and Melissa Klein and their bakery, and were refused only their request of catering a cake in celebration of their same-sex "wedding," have decided, instead of walking down the street to another bakery, to behave like veritable crybabies and claim $150,000 in "psychological" and "emotional" damages for being refused a ... "wedding" cake. "It's THE LAW!" cry their cold-blooded fans. Let 'em suffer, Christian bigots! Serves 'em right. And so ... the "love" that dare not speak its name, which has become the "love" that won't shut up, has become the "love" that hates Christians so much that it's willing to destroy their livelihood and bury a loving family and all their kids in oceans of financial debt. All out of the "love" of their tender sodomitical hearts.
Thus "liberalism" shows its true illiberal colors. The promoters of sexual "tolerance" and "rights" have become the most ruthlessly repressive jack-booted thugs in recent history, hellbent on depriving others their religious rights. Only the cowardly crybabies won't face their opponents in the ring, but hide behind their new homofascist laws, their money-grubbing lawyers, and their water-carriers in the drive-by media, whining like crybabies that their f-e-e-l-i-n-g-s were hurt because their were turned down a cake. (Let them try a Muslim bakery in Dearborn, Michigan, and see what happens.) The pattern is all too familiar to any student of history, from the French Revolution, which devoured its own children, to the Bolshevik Revolution, which outdid the French by slaughtering upwards of 50 million people according to the Rousseauian dictum, "they must be compelled to be free." Plato was right: democracies teetering on the edge of anarchy can quickly collapse into totalitarian tyrannies.
Fr. Perrone: reflections on peace and quiet, technology and nature
Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" [temporary link] (Assumption Grotto News, September 27, 2015):
I look for and long for the quiet that I find so sparingly here. When I am able to talk to God in the quiet moments of the night and in the dark I am at peace. That sacred time readjusts soul and body Godwardly, and I am better able to face the disturbances that inevitably come with the day.
The works of God–nature–are harmonious to man, even though they can be intrusive at times. The artificial things man has made bring unrest mentally and physically and a distraction of mind from the spiritual things that ought always to be lodged in the best part of our souls. Since we were not made to accommodate too much of the intrusive commotion that we do make, we’re not living well, not as we were intended to be on this earth. I’d say that the result of these many forms of artificial surroundings must mean that our happiness must be diminished. Surely, happiness comes not from any one thing, and misery can be felt by anyone, even without the contrivances of modern life. But I think that our alienation from God and even from the rhythms of nature itself bring on a harm that is different from other things that have traditionally brought unhappiness to mankind, such as hunger, heat and cold. The sadness of modern life, urged on by the noises of life, creates an existential kind of unhappiness, the feeling of isolation, emptiness, an alienation from our Creator.
It may not be all too reliable for an aging person such as myself to make valid comparison of the present with times gone by since everyone of any time can look back nostalgically on the “good old days.” If my analysis be true, however, I would be saying that things are different in this present time from former times. There’s now a certain absence of contentment and of simplicity in living, with the result that life’s pure joys are hard to come by. Merely to be calm and complacent, passing the time of day: that’s not a common experience any longer. I wonder whether children growing up today are being deprived of that very stabilizing experience which is–seems to me–so important for a young, developing life. If it be true that they are being flung into a dizzying world of sound and other sensual stimulation and consigned to remain in such a world without respite, I fear they are destined to become very unhappy people with the symptoms of mental and spiritual pathology deeply restlessness with unhappiness, spiritual dryness and unbelief. Saint Paul said that we have here no lasting city; our citizenship is in heaven, the home we’re meant to inhabit for eternity. But the good things God made for us to know and experience in this life are meant to make us long for the things of heaven, a kind of hint, a suggestion, of the immensely greater things He has prepared for those who seek and love Him. As I indicated, we’re seeing and tasting less and less of God’s good things but we’re filling up on the pablum and waste products of human making. God is put off; we think not about Him nor do we hope to be with Him.
I try to remain a calm person in this aimless and zany world. I need to do it for the good of my soul. I can’t stop the street noise outside my window but I can turn away from a lot of the other upsetting things that our modern life offer me. Switching off the media, sitting still, refusing the beckoning curiosity to investigate many things, cooling the heat of ambition to be “doing something” when nothing of the kind is called for in my duties: putting aside these and similar things helps dispose me for a better spiritual life and helps temper the lure of sinful attractions.
I write about these things not for me. I already try to live this way. My thoughts turn to you, many of whom by necessity are plunged into a very active and distracting world and thus are compelled to live in a dangerous spiritual environment. How can you be prayerful people? How can you keep your faith and not give up hope for eternal life? How will you even be able to avoid the grave sins that the modern world sets before your eyes and ears all day–and night–long? And, if it’s hard for you to be persevering, how will it be for the upcoming generation? The old saying was that Christians must be in the world but not of the world. Seems now that in order to be unworldly we also need to be at least somewhat apart from world–not from God’s world, but the artificial world of human construction. I want you to be happy people, not so much with grinning faces as with radiant souls, immersed in God’s grace. I think that’s a more extraordinary accomplishment nowadays, reserved only for those who are determined to pull away from much of the junk offerings of modern life. The Lord said, ‘Come to Me and you will find rest.’ You will only find Him when you put off looking for everything else.
Fr. Perrone
P.S. Next Sunday after the noon Mass there will be a dramatized life story of Saint John Vianney performed by the wonder-working Leonardo de Fillippis. This is a real treat for you and I hope you all come out to see and hear this wonderful and inspiring story so expertly portrayed by a very talented man.
Thursday, October 01, 2015
"Nancy 'The Theologian' Pelosi tears the throat out of a reporter asking about big-business abortion"
As Fr. Z notes HERE. Start at about 14:00. It is only about a minute long:
She says she's a "devout practicing Catholic." But she won't field the most basic of questions about the natural right to LIVE when it comes to the most vulnerable of tiny, little human beings. The report's question is, she says, an "ideological question" that has no place in the halls of political policy and diplomacy............
Did you understand what she just said? It tells us all we need to ever know about the liberal shibboleths about "human rights" and "tolerance." Contemporary Democratic liberalism is about as tolerant as cold-hearted jack-boot-shod Gestapo agents pounding on your door.
She says she's a "devout practicing Catholic." But she won't field the most basic of questions about the natural right to LIVE when it comes to the most vulnerable of tiny, little human beings. The report's question is, she says, an "ideological question" that has no place in the halls of political policy and diplomacy............
Did you understand what she just said? It tells us all we need to ever know about the liberal shibboleths about "human rights" and "tolerance." Contemporary Democratic liberalism is about as tolerant as cold-hearted jack-boot-shod Gestapo agents pounding on your door.
Prayer requests
Please pray for:
- Recovery: for Mike, the heart transplant patient, who was again on the road to recovery until this past week when he was infected with a respiratory virus.
- Safety: for our friends in NC, where two have already died in the state from incessant rainstorms, and they are expecting upwards of 12-18 more inches of rain in the next few days.
- Success: for a friend whose fascinating Catholic conversion story is being evaluated for publication.
- Healing: for Noriko, the sister of my deceased Japanese adopted brother, who is suffering from a recurrence of cancer.
Concelebration with cameras? In persona Christi? Have they no shame?
I can remember a Lutheran bishop telling me how impressed he was when he was touring a European cathedral and was told not to take pictures because a Catholic Mass was underway. Isn't this a new low. Oh, but there's an excuse? They're only processing in and not yet celebrating Mass in one photo? And the Consecrated Host is not on the altar in the other? No sacrilege, then? Whew, what a relief!
What's driving the liberal fans of Pope Francis insane
The graphic here is photo-shopped, though the meeting was (as everyone knows) real enough. Amusing, isn't it?
Micahel Brendan Dougherty, "Why the media lost its mind over Kim Davis meeting Pope Francis"(The Week, October 1, 2015):
Micahel Brendan Dougherty, "Why the media lost its mind over Kim Davis meeting Pope Francis"(The Week, October 1, 2015):
There's very little evidence that Pope Francis knows the details about Kim Davis. It's unclear if he has much to say about her stand against issuing licenses for same-sex marriages in Kentucky's Rowan County, her subsequent jail time, or even her Evangelical faith. Before the now infamous secret meeting between Francis and Davis — which the Vatican won't confirm or deny — the pope all but acknowledged his ignorance to a reporter: "I can't have in mind all cases that can exist about conscientious objection." And the reported details of their encounter suggest that it was routine and quick: an embrace, words of encouragement, and a gift of blessed rosaries.[Hat tip to JM]
But the whole world is mad. Why? Because the pope is a prop. In the hands of our nation's true clerical class — journalists — this particular pope's function is to demoralize and shame the bad Catholics, i.e., the conservative ones. The previous pope's function was to symbolize their wicked intransigence.
Pope Francis is supposed to be the cool pope. He humiliates traditionalist cardinals. He embraces transexuals. If he occasionally says stuff against gay marriage, well, so what? Like Barack Obama in the 2008 election, sometimes you say what you have to say. But we know where his heart is. He embraces the marginalized and despised.
The pope gets used. That tear-jerking moment when the pope embraced that 5-year-old girl who is trying to keep her parents in the country? That was planned out in advance.
But this prop accomplished what no upstanding playwright would script. He met someone the scribes really do despise. He embraced that hick. [emphasis added]
"BOMBSHELL - SECRET PARALLEL SYNOD"
"Papal Post-Synod Document ALREADY being drafted by Jesuit group to allow communion for divorced and other aberrations" (Rorate Caeli, October 1, 2015):
- The Claim:
Summary: Italian journalist Marco Tosatti reveals that A SECRET PARALLEL SYNOD has been established in Rome, a cabal composed almost exclusively by Jesuits, with the occasional Argentinian presence (easy to guess who), to draft the necessary post-synodal documents to implement whatever the Pope wants to implement. And they will implement it, no matter what, as the secret committee to draft the Annulment reforms has shown; what everyone supposed was true in fact is true: the Synodal process is a sham.
- The Reality: Well, we shall see ...
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