Tuesday, February 09, 2016

Come to Norcia, Italy, for two weeks this July!


While you're there, study St. Paul's Letter to the Hebrews, and enjoy visiting Italy! See the Summer Program for 2016, "The Transcendent Christ: St. Paul's Letter to the Hebrews" Albertus Magnus Center for Scholastic Studies. Participate in a seminar, and hear lectures by the 'masters' of theology, who are this year members of the monastery of St. Benedict in Norcia, with a keynote by Fr. Cassian Folsom. Cost is only 900 Euros, with texts included. Norcia is a small town in the beautiful mountain region of southeastern Umbria near Perugia. Registration deadline is May 16, 2016.

Also, see the photographs posted HERE, including images of the local wine of choice.


[Hat tip to P.K.]
Posted by at 2 comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,

Monday, February 08, 2016

For the record: Alan W. Down on US foreign policy and religious liberty

Alan W. Dowd, "Not to be trusted" (The american Legion, January 19, 2016). Interesting.
Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels: ,

Fr. Perrone: Why should Catholics make reparation for their sins during Lent?

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" [temporary link] (Assumption Grotto News, February 7, 2016) [emphasis mine]:
You were pre-warned of Lent’s approach and we are soon made to face it. I want this coming season to be profitable for you. A word needs be said about the meaning of it all.

Why do we go through the annual exercise of Lent? Among the plausible answers is that this is a time to meditate on the Lord’s Passion. This is a “traditional” response to Lent, and it has a long list of saints that stands behind it. Modern attempts to make sense of Lent have done away with this aspect of it because the emphasis on the sufferings and redemptive death of Christ–even in the Mass as the sacrifice of Calvary renewed–has been obscured, if not denied. Just as we have a long period of celebration of the Resurrection in the Easter season so we have a lengthy season devoted to the memory of the Lord’s Passion. This reason for having Lent should remain. Moreover, it has great power to deepen our union with Christ.

Another motive for the Forty Days is to make reparation for our sins by penitential practices. Here again, the notion of causing oneself inconvenience, of denying some good things to oneself, of taking on some form of self-punishment in compensation for wrongdoing is very far from the modern self-absorbed mind. We ought to realize, however, that unless we do penance in reparation we will be made to pay the debt of sin’s temporal punishments in the life hereafter. This kind of reparative Lenten practice then is a form of justice to God whose honor has been derogated by sin.

Yet another reason for Lent has to do with making substantive spiritual betterment of oneself. This need not be something discreditable or unworthy of our Lenten goals. As long as a supernatural intention is present in our minds we can and should seek to improve ourselves through fasting and other forms of penance.

A whole other question is how effective such practices may be in the long run and whether or not, once Lent will have passed, our old, bad ways will return. To respond to this one should note that self improvement is always a difficult thing to access for oneself. We may seem, after Lent is over, to be going back to our former selves without any discernible and lasting change having taken place. God alone, however, is the One to make the true evaluation of our efforts, weighing them justly. We cannot accurately estimate them. One should not be reluctant to practice good works or to impose self disciplines because of the seeming futility of their  effectiveness in the long run. Recall that there is merit for all works done in a state of grace and it is this “weight” of our good deeds which constitutes their essential value–not the discernible and measurable effects they have for our improvement.

Some Lenten things for the record. Ash Wednesday is a day of fast and abstinence from meat. Blessed ashes will be given at the beginning of the two Masses, 7:30 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Distribution will also take place at noon, but without a Mass. All Fridays of Lent are strictly binding as meatless days. Every Friday there will be the K of C Fish Fry in the gym from 4:00 until 7:00. I will be giving talks there on the Psalms, sharing with the people some of the richness that I have discovered in teaching my home school course. These talks will be in the gym, during the last part of the fish dinner. Only those dining there will be able to hear the talks. Stations of the Cross will follow these meals at 7:30 (note the new time). Friday evening Mass will succeed the Stations, sometime around 7:45. Thursday is the commemoration of Our Lady of Lourdes, a special day in view of our Lourdes Grotto. If it is opportune, we will pray the rosary at the Grotto on that day. This will be announced at Mass.

Fr. Perrone
Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels: , , , ,

Sunday, February 07, 2016

Substantial interview with Bp Athanasius Schneider on SSPX, women and foot washing, consecrating Russia, anti-pastoral bishops, and more

As always, Bishop Schneider offers an amplitude of ecclesiastical red meat (appropriately before Lent!) in this exclusive interview with Rorate Caeli (February 1, 2016). Some quotable quotes here, which, if I had time, I would excerpt for you; but just read it. Very good, as always.
Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels: , , , , , ,

Tridentine Masses coming this week to metro Detroit and east Michigan


Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , ,

Thursday, February 04, 2016

Fr. Perrone on the commodification of human beings in porn and abortion, as reflected in the McDonaldization of death

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" [temporary link] (Assumption Grotto News, January 31, 2016):
Funeral customs are fast a-changing in our time. Speaking recently with a local funeral director, I was shocked to learn about the new thinking of how we bid adieux to the dead, viz. with increased indifference and quick dismissal. It’s so very inconvenient to have someone’s death interfere with whatever one happens to be busy about. The old obsequies of making visits to the funeral home to “pay one’s respects,” of comforting the mourners, of praying for the happy repose of the departed, of taking time off from other demanding necessities in order to perform these corporal works of mercy–all that is fast vanishing from American life. In its place, according to my funeral director friend, is something like this. No funeral home visitation; no flowers or Mass offerings; the quickview scan of the online bio of the deceased with its ready-at-hand link to register a brief word of sympathy; cremation for the corpse; and, often, no funeral service or requiem Mass. Moreover, the strictly forbidden retention of the deceased’s cremains or, worse, their scattering to the four winds, is becoming more prevalent. In short, we’re making rapid disposal of the dead, just as we had avoided contact with them as living persons in their last years of life, allowing them to rot in a nursing home or hospice facility. (Even that fate is now become accounted as fortunate since the administration of painkilling drugs in high doses can speed along the death processes so as to avoid all the inconveniences of what we had been accustomed to call one’s “final illness.”)  
What’s caused these new customs, these new ways of thinking about the dead and the process of dying? For one thing, we’re all on life’s fast track. We have now no time to be bothered by the death (or even the life) of anybody else when we’re so busy getting done whatever we must do–or even–whatever we think advantageous to ourselves–even our own pleasures and idle leisure. And what’s behind that selfish preoccupation? A number of things. The indoctrination of Selfism has long been forming our attitudes, succeeded to convince us that only the Great I am worthy of myself, my time, my deeds; only my goals are important; only what I want–morally good or bad–is what I must have; and whatever may interfere with these ‘goals’–God and religion included–must be set aside. And how did we arrive at this?  
Among the contributing causes to this attitude and way of living is the ever increasing use of porn which reduces the human person to so many body parts for exploitation and titillation of the senses. The fact that the “models” who so shamelessly expose themselves for public viewing are real people with minds and consciences, with souls that have human feelings–these facts have been put out of mind with porn use. Other people are toys. They can be bought, used, abused and are disposable. This contributes to estimate that the bodies of the deceased are as so much useless trash. 

Another thing that has shaped our thinking about the body is our relative unconcern over the hideousness of crushing and dismembering babies in the womb. Killing babies or–worse yet–selling its surviving parts as ‘spares’ for the living or as ingredients for cosmetics–is regarded as a social good. But it’s an old heresy which regards the human body this way where it was said that only a person’s spirit, (soul) counts. The body is unimportant. This specious premise, which at first glance may seem an ascetical, spiritual perspective, is in fact a way of so denigrating the body as to make utilitarian use of it without a care to any moral considerations of it or even to consider the meaning of the human person as a unity, a totality, of spirit and body.  
Our world is changing fast, and with it our thinking about who (or what) we are. Necessarily we will think about God and the Catholic faith differently (and not for the better). We are transhumanizing, becoming something else. Monsters, I would say, caricatures of what we were made to be–the image of God–and of what we were privileged to become as Christians–children of God and Christs-in-miniature.  While we may not be able at large to stop these horrible denigrating ways of inhumanity, we can retain the consciousness of our human dignity and our Christian vocation to holiness and refuse to go with the flow. Keeping ourselves unsullied by all the filth this fallen world offers and by the devout practice of the Catholic life is a goal within the reach of all of us. 
Fr. Perrone
Posted by at 4 comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, February 03, 2016

How was the 16th Amendment 'ratified'? "103 consecutive years of legalised theft because what LOLA wants LOLA Gets"

Brought to you from the ever-endaring Amateur Brain Surgeon at www.letmecarveonyou.com (February 3, 2016), featuring, of course, LOLA (Legalised Oligarchy's Larcenous Aeaeae):


Or, as ABS but it in single breath:
The establishment wanted to take your money and spend it on their projects because they have always known how to spend it more wisely than you because y'all are acerebral limaceous lackeys who are not concerned with international business and international corporations and international banking but are selfishly focused of your faith and your family and y'all are easily denuded of your possessions by men who speak of national exceptionalism and so today we celebrate our One Hundred and Third consecutive year of being picked clean by the usurious establishment via the magic of a non-existent amendment.
Whew! He's breathing again now! (I think.) Read more >>

[Hat tip to ABS Ministries]
Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels: , , ,

Monday, February 01, 2016

Hour-long Catholic critique of the Alpha program


Some people aren't going to like this at all. "The Tyranny of Emotion" (Mic'd Up, January 29, 2016) includes a discussion with Michael Hichborn of the Lepanto Institute about the Alpha program being implemented in many places and notably in Detroit; and Dr. Jay Boyd, who offers an in-depth discussion of Sherry Waddell's Forming Intentional Disciples with some cautions.

The upshot seems concisely expressed in the question: why are Catholics embracing these 'watered-down' and 'protestantized' sorts of programs when excellent Catholic alternatives exist, such as Servant of God, Fr. John Hardon's Marian Catechist Apostolate, now under the sponsorship of Cardinal Burke? Not to mention all the hazards of emotionally-charged low-information evangelization with potentially misleading components. Food for thought. One can hardly say "food for feeling," can we!

Update: William J. Cork, D.Min., "Is ALPHA for Catholics??," offers a fairly detailed outline and critique of Alpha, arguing that it promotes (a) an individualistic Christianity, (b) a congregationalist ecclesiology, (c) an evangelical perspective on the sacraments, as well as (d) a charismatic agenda. The author concludes:
Despite the commendable intent of Alpha to evangelize the unchurched by facilitating an initial encounter with Jesus Christ, we must conclude that even with a Catholic supplement, it remains deficient, and cannot be recommended for Catholic use. Alpha does not fulfill the expectations for Catholic catechesis and evangelization, and presents what Catholics must see as an impoverished and distorted Gospel. It is not "basic Christianity," but is Charismatic Protestantism. To tack Catholic elements to be tacked onto the end, especially issues of Church and Sacrament, denies the integral nature of Christian revelation.
Posted by at 12 comments:
Labels: , , , ,

Sunday, January 31, 2016

"Of all the post-conciliar popes, Benedict was the one who finally blinked"


Fr. Karl Rahner with Fr. Joseph Ratzinger during Vatican II
~ Breakin' the law! Breakin' the law! Look, mom, no clerics! ~

A provocative response to those rejecting a favorable comparison of Benedict with Pope Francis. By traditionalist journalist, Michael Matt, "Benedict & Francis: Two Peas in a Papal Pod?" (Remnant, January 26, 2016). Matt offers an educated guess as to why Benedict abdicated, or had to abdicate, suggesting that packs of liberal wolves hounded him out of office. (What pressures they brought to bear, God only knows.) He compares Benedict, whose Summorum Pontificum and lifting of the SSPX excommunications outraged many, with the direction Francis has taken things, asking: "What would life be like right now without the powerful spiritual bulwarks (and human consolation!) provided by hundreds of traditional Mass centers around the world, established as a direct result of [Summorum Pontificum]?" Could anyone in his right mind contend that the escalating crisis in the Church today would not have been exponentially worse, he asks, were it not for those bulwarks thrown up by Benedict? "They got rid of [Benedict] for a reason, which the St. Gallen Group now brazenly admits," writes Matt. "Of all the post-conciliar popes, Benedict was the one who finally blinked. And history may well reveal that the reign of Pope Benedict helped undermine the very Modernist revolution which, ironically enough, Benedict himself had had a hand in a half century earlier," he adds. (Remember, back when Fr. Joseph Ratzinger worked along side Karl Rahner, and was a peritus at Vatican II under Cardinal Frings?) There's much more to it than this bit here, but check it out. Food for thought.

[Hat tip to JM]
Posted by at 3 comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,

Tridentine Community News - Diocese of Marquette, MI, issues new norms for Sacred Music; BBC Radio on demand recording of EF Vespers at London Oratory; TLM Mass times


"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"

Tridentine Community News by Alex Begin (January31, 2016):
January 31, 2016 – Sexagésima Sunday

Diocese of Marquette, Michigan Issues New Norms for Sacred Music

Former Diocese of Marquette, Michigan Ordinary, [Arch]bishop Alexander Sample, now Archbishop of Portland, Oregon, is well-known for his devotion to the Sacred Liturgy in both the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms. One of his most significant acts as bishop of that diocese was the publication on January 21, 2013 of “Rejoice in the Lord Always”, a pastoral letter on Sacred Music which explained the sorts of music that are appropriate for Holy Mass.

Current Marquette Ordinary, Bishop John Doerfler has expanded upon that work with the publication this past Tuesday, January 26 of “Sing to the Lord, All the Earth! An Instruction on Sacred Music in Divine Worship”. Targeted at celebrations of the Ordinary Form, the document directs that all parishes in the diocese will, by December 31, 2020, implement a series of norms, highlights of which follow:
  • All parishes and schools will learn to chant the Ordinary parts of the Mass in English that are found in the Roman Missal, and they will be sung by the congregation some of the time throughout the year.
  • All parishes and schools will learn to chant the [Latin] Kyrie, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei from the Missa Jubiláte Deo, and they will be sung by the congregation some of the time throughout the year.
  • All parishes and schools will learn to chant the Communion Antiphon in English to a very simple tone that everyone can sing, and the Communion Antiphon will be sung at every Sunday Mass. A hymn may be sung after the Communion Antiphon while the congregation is receiving the Blessed Sacrament.
  • A Diocesan Hymnal will be used to ensure the musical quality and doctrinal integrity of the Sacred Music. The hymnal will include a broad repertoire of hymns from classical to contemporary.
  • Once the diocesan hymnal is implemented, no other hymnal may be used.
Overall this is quite a commendable initiative, with the possible exception of the mandated hymnal. No one hymnal can ever hope to include all of the hymns suitable for the entire liturgical year. However, if the effort is to set a baseline standard to eliminate inappropriate music currently being used, then it is an understandable step. Poor quality sacred music is one of the main turn-offs and causes of desacralization of Catholic worship today. Conversely, requiring reverent and doctrinally sound music can only help to improve the Sensus Cathólicus of the faithful.

BBC Radio On Demand Recording of Extraordinary Form Vespers at the London Oratory

This column has many times made mention of the truly exceptional liturgical experience that is Vespers at the Brompton Oratory in London, England. A paid professional choir – among the best in the world – sings Vespers in the Extraordinary Form every Sunday at 3:30 PM, accompanied by a polyphonic Office Hymn and Magníficat. A gaggle of priests and brothers tend to the ceremonies in the sanctuary. The service concludes with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament [omitted in this particular broadcast], followed by a procession to a massive Side Altar dedicated to the Blessed Mother [photo below by Oratory Assistant Music Director Charles Cole], at which a polyphonic setting of the seasonal Marian antiphon is sung.


You now have the opportunity to listen to one of these magnificent Vespers services on-line: Through Sunday, February 21, 2016 a London Oratory Vespers broadcast is available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06vs27l. If you appreciate sacred music, you will find much to enjoy in this recording. It’s the gold standard to which every other choir serving traditional liturgy can aspire.

The broadcast is part of the BBC’s Choral Evensong series, which features similar services from Catholic and Anglican churches across the U.K.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week
  • Mon. 02/01 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat (St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop & Martyr)
  • Tue. 02/02 7:00 PM: High Mass at St. Josaphat (Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
  • Tue. 02/02 7:00 PM: High Mass at Holy Name of Mary (Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary) – Blessing of Candles and Procession precedes Mass
  • Fri. 02/05 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat (Sacred Heart of Jesus) [First Friday]
  • Sun. 02/07: No Mass at OCLMA/Academy of the Sacred Heart – Mass resumes at 9:45 AM the following Sunday, February 14
[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@detroitlatinmass.org. Previous columns are available at http://www.detroitlatinmass.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Albertus (Detroit), Academy of the Sacred Heart (Bloomfield Hills), and St. Alphonsus and Holy Name of Mary Churches (Windsor) bulletin inserts for January 31, 2016. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,

Tridentine Masses coming this week to metro Detroit and east Michigan


Tridentine Masses This Coming Week
    Sunday

  • Sun. 01/31 7:30 AM and 10:00 AM: Low Mass (Confessions 45 minutes before and after Masses) at St. Joseph's Church, Richmond [NB: See note at bottom of this post about SSPX sites.]* (Sexagesima Sunday - 2nd class)
  • Sun. 01/31 8:00 and 10:30AM Low Mass (Confessions 1/2 hour before Mass: call beforehand) at St. Ann's Church, Livonia [NB: See note at bottom of this post about SSPX sites.]* (Sexagesima Sunday - 2nd class)
  • Sun. 01/31 9:30 AM: High Mass at St. Josaphat, Detroit (Sexagesima Sunday - 2nd class)
  • Sun. 01/31 9:30 AM: High Mass at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Sexagesima Sunday - 2nd class)
  • Sun. 01/31 9:45 AM: High Mass at OCLMA/Academy of the Sacred Heart, Bloomfield Hills (Sexagesima Sunday - 2nd class)
  • Sun. 01/31 2:00 PM: High Mass at St. Alphonsus Church, Windsor, Canada (Sexagesima Sunday - 2nd class)
  • Sun. 01/31 3:00 PM High Mass St. Matthew Catholic Church, Flint (Sexagesima Sunday - 2nd class)

    Monday

  • Mon. 02/01 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Ignatius of Antioch - 3rd class)
  • Mon. 02/01 8:00 AM: Low Mass (Confessions 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM) at St. Joseph's Church, Richmond [NB: See note at bottom of this post about SSPX sites.]* (St. Ignatius of Antioch - 3rd class)
  • Mon. 02/01 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat, Detroit (St. Ignatius of Antioch - 3rd class)
  • Mon. 02/01 7:00 PM: High Mass (usually) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Ignatius of Antioch - 3rd class)

    Tuesday

  • Tue. 02/02 7:00 AM High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Purification of the Belssed Virgin Mary - 2nd class)
  • Tue. 02/02 8:00 AM: Low Mass (Confessions 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM) at St. Joseph's Church, Richmond [NB: See note at bottom of this post about SSPX sites.]* (Purification of the Belssed Virgin Mary - 2nd class)
  • Tue. 02/02 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Holy Name of Mary, Canada (Purification of the Belssed Virgin Mary - 2nd class)
  • Tue. 02/02 7:00 PM: Low Mass (usually) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Purification of the Belssed Virgin Mary - 2nd class)

    Wednesday

  • Wed. 01/03 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Feria - 4th class, or or St. Blaise - 4th class)
  • Wed. 01/03 8:00 AM: Low Mass (Confessions 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM) at St. Joseph's Church, Richmond [NB: See note at bottom of this post about SSPX sites.]* (Feria - 4th class, or or St. Blaise - 4th class)
  • Wed. 01/03 7:00 PM: High Mass (usually) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Feria - 4th class, or or St. Blaise - 4th class)

    Thursday

  • Thu. 01/04 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Andrew Corsini - 3rd class, or or Jesus Christ the High Priest - 3rd class)
  • Thu. 01/04 8:00 AM: Low Mass (Confessions 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM) at St. Joseph's Church, Richmond [NB: See note at bottom of this post about SSPX sites.]* (St. Andrew Corsini - 3rd class, or or Jesus Christ the High Priest - 3rd class)
  • Thu. 01/04 7:00 PM: Low Mass (usually) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Andrew Corsini - 3rd class, or or Jesus Christ the High Priest - 3rd class)

    Friday

  • Fri. 01/05 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Agatha - 3rd class, or Sacred Heart of Jesus - 3rd class)
  • Fri. 01/05 8:00 AM: Low Mass (Confessions 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM) at St. Joseph's Church, Richmond [NB: See note at bottom of this post about SSPX sites.]* (St. Agatha - 3rd class, or Sacred Heart of Jesus - 3rd class)
  • Fri. 01/05 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat, Detroit (St. Agatha - 3rd class, or Sacred Heart of Jesus - 3rd class)
  • Fri. 01/05 7:00 PM: Low Mass (usually) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Agatha - 3rd class, or Sacred Heart of Jesus - 3rd class)

    • Saturday

  • Sat. 01/06 8:00 AM: Low Mass (Confessions 1/2 hour before Mass: call beforehand) at St. Ann's Church, Livonia [NB: See note at bottom of this post about SSPX sites.]* (St. Titus - 3rd class, or Immaculate Heart of Mary - 3rd class)
  • Sat. 01/06 8:00 AM: Low Mass (Confessions 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM) at St. Joseph's Church, Richmond [NB: See note at bottom of this post about SSPX sites.]* (St. Titus - 3rd class, or Immaculate Heart of Mary - 3rd class)
  • Sat. 01/06 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Titus - 3rd class, or Immaculate Heart of Mary - 3rd class)
  • Sat. 01/06 6:00 PM Tridentine Mass at SS. Cyril & Methodius Slovak Catholic Church, Sterling Heights (St. Titus - 3rd class, or Immaculate Heart of Mary - 3rd class)

    Sunday

  • Sun. 01/07 7:30 AM and 10:00 AM: Low Mass (Confessions 45 minutes before and after Masses) at St. Joseph's Church, Richmond [NB: See note at bottom of this post about SSPX sites.]* (Quinquagesima Sunday - 2nd class)
  • Sun. 01/07 8:00 and 10:30AM Low Mass (Confessions 1/2 hour before Mass: call beforehand) at St. Ann's Church, Livonia [NB: See note at bottom of this post about SSPX sites.]* (Quinquagesima Sunday - 2nd class)
  • Sun. 01/07 9:30 AM: High Mass at St. Josaphat, Detroit (Quinquagesima Sunday - 2nd class)
  • Sun. 01/07 9:30 AM: High Mass at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Quinquagesima Sunday - 2nd class)
  • Sun. 01/07 9:45 AM: High Mass at OCLMA/Academy of the Sacred Heart, Bloomfield Hills (Quinquagesima Sunday - 2nd class)
  • Sun. 01/07 2:00 PM: High Mass at St. Alphonsus Church, Windsor, Canada (Quinquagesima Sunday - 2nd class)
  • Sun. 01/07 3:00 PM High Mass St. Matthew Catholic Church, Flint (Quinquagesima Sunday - 2nd class)

    * NB: The SSPX chapels among those Mass sites listed above are posted here because the Holy Father has announced that "those who during the Holy Year of Mercy approach these priests of the Fraternity of St Pius X to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation shall validly and licitly receive the absolution of their sins." These chapels are not listed among the approved parishes and worship sites on archdiocesan websites.

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , ,

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Rome's "Family Day" - Defiant Catholic Laity against "same-sex unions", despite little support from the Vatican

As reported by Rorate Caeli today, the "Cirinnà Bill" being debated in the Italian Parliament to allow "same-sex unions" in that central nation of Catholicism managed to bring Catholics from all over Italy to Rome this Saturday.


"The image from the Circo Massimo is unmistakable: on this 'Family Day', a huge multitude of Italian families (including many friends of this blog) gathered to protest the government's support of the counternatural bill."

Update: Antonio Socci, "The Surprises From The Holy Spirit" (Libero", January 31, 2016), translated by Francesca Romana for Rorae Caeli. Excerpts from Socci's article:
There are those who are green with envy at yesterday’s immense and momentous Family Day, which, for the first time in Italian history filled up Rome’s Circo Massimo with no union, political or industrial organizational backing and no paid travel expenses. These were people who went to the Circo Massimo at their own expense, with enormous sacrifices, for an ideal, for their children, faced with a political class that has thrown ideals under the bus, seeing as it is only motivated by power. A political class that is quite incapable of representing these people and in reality, was never given any power by the electorate.

There are “ envious individuals” in the “Palaces of Power” (political, ideological and journalistic), but even in the palaces of ecclesiastical power, who did all they possibly could to defuse Family Day.

Suffice to say that in yesterday’s Osservatore Romano, there wasn’t even a line on the first page dedicated to this extraordinary event (the same in “La Repubblica,” Bergoglio’s other newspaper).

What were they observing at the Osservatore Romano not to have even noticed the mass of Christian people arriving in Rome? ....

The Argentine Pope made his debut in 2013 by saying that a shepherd has to take on the odour of his sheep, but yesterday’s event showed [clearly]that Bergoglio loves the perfume of the Scalfarian “parlours”* not the odour of the Christian flock....

Unfortunately yesterday, Pope Francis’ absence was very evident and his aloofness palpable. He was remembered [at the event] and most certainly a sign from him would have been welcomed with immense joy, but he didn’t even send a greeting to Family Day. And at his general audience that morning, not a word was mentioned about the Christian populace gathered together on the other side of the City.
Posted by at 2 comments:
Labels: , , , , ,

Another terrific discussion in Download: "Tradition under fire"


Yes indeed: another excellent Download, a half-hour panel discussion this time of the Anglican Ordinariate, Summorum Pontificum, and the "blowback" and fallout the Church has witnessed -- partricularly for Summorum Pontificum -- from both clerics and laity who identify the post-Vatican II regnum as a rejection of pre-Vatican II tradition: "Tradition Under Fire" (Church Militant, January 29, 2016). A bit of Anglican history about the Book of Common Prayer, a bit of Catholic history about the liturgical changes spanning the last five decades, and a fine discussion of what is at stake.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,

Thursday, January 28, 2016

The charity, the comedy, the fantasy


Our underground correspondent from an Atlantic seaboard city that knows how to keep its secrets, Guy Noir - Private Eye, recently called my attention to Stephen Glover's article, "Forgive me, but I find this hysteria a little over the top: STEPHEN GLOVER says the Second Coming would scarcely attract as much attention as Bowie's death" (Daily Mail, January 12, 2016), and commented:
What a terrific piece, even as it charitably identifies the Anglican grand poobah as "over-egging the pudding." Haha!

On reading that I thought, 'It's an unsolicited miracle, really, wrought just for me, that Francis has not waded into with eulogizing humdinger of his own!' So then I googled 'Francis & Bowie,' and laughed again, on discovering that the ever-fizzy KJL had managed to concoct a Francis/Bowie connection to fill any perceived vacuum.
Namely, this: Kathryn Jean Lopez, "Pope Francis and David Bowie: An Unexpected Duet: Great Fantasy is to start over, be born again. The fantasy is real...." (Aleteia, January 15, 2016). Noir muses:
It's all nice, and it's all comical. Which is in the end nice, I guess....
Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels: , , , ,

A Jewish Catholic convert publishes shocking open letter to Pope Francis

Pinchus Feinstein, "An Open Letter to Pope Francis" (On the Contrary, January 20, 2016):
His Holiness, Pope Francis
Vatican City
January, 2016

Dear Holy Father

I am a Jew. I have the assurance, as did Menachem Mendel Schneerson of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, of direct descent from King David on my father’s side (my mother, I was assured was descended of Hillel).

I am 74-years-old. I converted to the Roman Catholic Church at the age of 17 in the last year of the pontificate of Pope Pius XII. I did so because I was under the conviction that I had to accept and have faith that Jesus Christ was my savior, and I believed it. And I believed that I had to be a baptized member of his Church to have a chance of salvation. So I converted and was baptized in the Catholic Church, and then I was confirmed.

Over the years I have contributed tens of thousands of dollars to both Peters’ Pence (the pope’s own treasury about which you of course must be very familiar), and my local parish and diocese.

During that time I attended thousands of Masses, hundreds of holy hours and novenas, said thousands of rosaries, and made hundreds of trips to the Confessional.

Now in 2015 and 2016 I have read your words and those of your “Pontifical Commission.” You now teach that because I am a racial Jew, God’s covenant with me was never broken, and cannot be broken. You don’t qualify that teaching by specifying anything I might do that would threaten the Covenant, which you say God has with me because I am a Jew. You teach that it’s an unbreakable Covenant. You don’t even say that it depends on me being a good person. Logically speaking, if God’s Covenant with me is unbreakable, then a racial Jew such as I am can do anything he wants and God will still maintain a Covenant with me and I will go to heaven.

Your Pontifical Commission wrote last December, “The Catholic Church neither conducts nor supports any specific institutional mission work directed towards Jews…it does not in any way follow that the Jews are excluded from God’s salvation because they do not believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Israel and the Son of God.” 

You are the Pontiff. I believe what your Commission teaches under your banner and in your name, and what you declared during your visit to the synagogue in January. As a result, I no longer see any point in getting up every Sunday morning to go to Mass, say rosaries, or attend the Rite of Reconciliation on Saturday afternoon. All of those acts are superfluous for me. Predicated on your teaching, I now know that due to my special racial superiority in God’s eyes, I don’t need any of it.

I don’t see any reason now as to why I was baptized in 1958. There was no need for me to be baptized. I no longer see why there was a need for Jesus to come to earth either, or preach to the Jewish children of Abraham of his day. As you state, they were already saved as a result of their racial descent from the Biblical patriarchs. What would they need him for?

In light of what you and your Pontifical Commission have taught me, it appears that the New Testament is a fraud, at least as it applies to Jews. All of those preachings and disputations to the Jews were for no purpose. Jesus had to know this, yet he persisted in causing a lot of trouble for the Jews by insisting they had to be born again, they had to believe he was their Messiah, they had to stop following their traditions of men, and that they couldn’t get to heaven unless they believed that he was the Son of God.

Your holiness, you and your Commission have instructed me in the true path to my salvation: my race. It’s all I need and all I have ever needed.God has a covenant with my genes. It’s my genes that save me. My eyes are open now.

Consequently, you will be hearing from my lawyer. I am filing suit against the papacy and the Roman Catholic Church. I want my money back, with interest, and I am seeking compensatory and punitive damages for the psychological harm your Church caused me, by making me think I needed something besides my own exalted racial identity, in order to go to heaven after I die. 

I am litigating as well over the time that I wasted that I could have spent working in my business, instead of squandering it worshipping a Jesus that your Church now says I don’t need to believe in for my salvation. Your prelates and clerics told me something very different in 1958. I’ve been robbed!

Sincerely,
Pinchus Feinstein
2617646 Ocean View Ave.
Miami Beach, Florida 33239

P.S. I'm transmitting this letter to Hoffman, an ex-AP reporter from New York, in the expectation that he will bring it to the attention of those who should know about it. I am transmitting it to him in the form of a dream, but nevertheless, it represents the feelings of many victims of your robber Church.—Pinch 

Copyright ©2016 by Michael Hoffman. All Rights Reserved
www.revisionisthistory.org  

[Hat tip to L.S.]
Posted by at 9 comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)