"Many unnatural acts are being committed in the name of love.."

Our Lady of America warned Sister Mary Ephrem (Mildred Neuzil) that:
  
Many unnatural acts are being committed in the name of love. This evil is being disguised and tolerated as an intrinsic right like any other. Even some of My priests and consecrated virgins are being caught up into this web of evil, not realizing its terrible consequences. … there are those in high places in the Church who disobey and refuse respect to my Son‟s Vicar on earth. These betray the teachings inspired by the Divine Spirit sent by my Son to be with the Church „til the end of time. …There are those who teach false doctrines, and those who repudiate the Holy Sacraments. They are filled with intellectual pride. And so refusing to follow my humble Son, they are being destroyed together with those who misguidedly follow them down the path of error and falsehood." 


Today, homosexual acts, which are unnatural, are being promoted "in the name of love."  Professor Chai Feldblum, a homosexual activist, has said that, "Real change will come when the public recognizes gay love not just as morally neutral, but as morally good, to the same extent that straight love is good."

Father Albert Hebert, S.M., in his important book "Prophecies: The Chastisement and Purification," writes, "Today, persons great and lowly commit sin, deny it and even blasphemously call it virtue.  For example, active homosexuals and lesbians call their perverse practices 'love' and demand the legal status of normal married man and wife...That is wickedness which calls for destruction." (p. 79).

Is there really any doubt that the world is calling for chastisement?  In January of 1957, Our Lady told Sister Mary Ephrem: "The hour grows late. My Son's patience will not last forever. Help me hold back His anger, which is about to descend on sinful and ungrateful men. Suffering and anguish, such as never before experienced, is about to overtake mankind. It is the darkest hour. But if men will come to me, my Immaculate Heart will make it bright again with the mercy which my Son will rain down through my hands. Help me save those who will not save themselves. Help me bring once again the sunshine of God's peace upon the world."


Again, on December 20, 1959, Sister Ephrem writes, "Our Lady came to me again on December 20, 1959. These were her words to me as I understood them: 'O my child, tell your spiritual father that I come again to warn and to plead. Oh, penance, penance! How little my children understand it! They give me many words, but sacrifice themselves they will not. It is not me they love but themselves. Oh, what blindness, sweet child, what blindness! How it pierces my heart!

―See, I weep, but my children show me no compassion. They behold the sword in my heart but will make no move to withdraw it. I give them love; they give me only ingratitude.

―Weep, then, dear child, weep with your Mother over the sins of men. Inter-cede with me before the throne of mercy, for sin is overwhelming the world and punishment is not far away.'" (Our Lady of America, see here).

Do we hear God's voice today?  Do we hear the voice of His sorrowful Mother, pleading for us to reconcile with her Son?  Or have we become so secularized that we seek to extinguish the spirit while despising prophecies in direct violation of the exhortation of the Holy Spirit through St. Paul (1 Thess 5: 19-21)?

When a mother weeps, things are serious.  Very serious.  How close are we to chastisement?  The exact hour we may not know.  But if we are spiritually awake, the signs are growing very alarming.

The Diocese of Bathurst, New Brunswick: Committed to challenging the faithful?

In an article entitled "Don't Devalue the Faith" from the EWTN website which may be found here, Bert Ghezzi writes, "'Envision Industrial Collapse.' So reads the bumper sticker on my godson Michael's car. I envision myself shaking him and chanting, 'Michael, if industry collapsed, you...would...have...no...car!' Currently, Michael is involved in the environmental movement. He makes time to attend lectures on eliminating noise pollution and recycling. (I wonder if I could interest him in recycling alternative rock music as Mozart. That would be a start at eliminating real noise pollution!) Michael has taken off from school to walk across Ohio, demonstrating his commitment to keeping the earth green.

Don't get me wrong. There's something very healthy about Michael's involvement. Caring for creation is good stewardship. That's not all. Michael's commitment itself is also very healthy It is an expression of the innate idealism of youth. Psychologists tell us that teens naturally want an ideal to live for. William Damon, for example, says that teens he studied were eager to serve others. They also craved challenges and responded positively to the discipline of moral principles. Like all young people, my godson is looking for something worth giving his life for. When he finds it, he will be ready to pay the price.

All that our youthful idealists need is to be pointed in the right direction. To the Lord. To the Church. If that's to happen, our kids need to hear the hard, costly Gospel. They will find the demand that they take up their cross and follow Jesus appealing. A watered-down Gospel will not attract their attention. A softened, warm-fuzzy message may even repel them.

Paul Lauer, the dynamic editor of You! magazine for Catholic teens, says parents must challenge their kids. The demands of the Gospel drew Paul himself from the false ideals of Zen and rock to Christ. 'We must challenge young people,' he says, 'to channel their abundant energy for good, for God, for the Church and the world. Young people have enough energy to climb tall mountains of faith, hope and love. If all we offer them are little molehills, they'll simply go somewhere else for their challenges-to punk rock, drugs or satanism.'

So parents must see to it that their kids hear the good news that will cost them something. How to do it is the question. Here are some suggestions.

We can hold up the example of Mary and the saints. The Church gives them to us to show us that it can be done-that ordinary humans can live the extraordinary life Christ demands.

We can encourage our teens to respond to invitations to serve others. Several pastors I know sponsor summer teen-action programs. They give the teens the opportunity to travel during the summer to serve the
poor in Appalachia. All the kids have to do is work hard all winter to earn the money to pay for their travel and housing. One experience like that can challenge and change a kid for life.

We can give our kids a specific challenge, like embracing the ideal of chastity Molly Kelly, who annually speaks to 50,000 teens about sexual morality, says that when kids hear the truth they recognize it and embrace it freely.

We must also show our kids that we are living for Christ by our example. And we must tell them about it in our own words. We must ask ourselves, 'Have I put Christ first in my life?' so that our kids will make that same choice someday And we must hold fast to our commitment even when the going gets rough."

Excellent advice no?  Now Eudist Father Donat Gionet (God love him) was trying to do just this when he courageously spoke out against abortion and homosexuality.  He was trying to inspire his listeners - both young and old - by preaching hard Gospel truths.  And he was quickly punished by the Diocese of Bathurst, New Brunswick.

Now remember what Bert Ghezzi said about teens?  "A watered-down Gospel will not attract their attention.  A softened, warm-fuzzy message may even repel them."  This applies not only to teens but to adults as well.  Wasn't that the whole point of Thomas Reese's book on the suicide of liberal Christianity?  Spiritual pablum, what I refer to as Cotton Candy Catholicism, a sacharrin spirituality without any real substance, offers the faithful no reason to get out of bed in the morning.  If sin is a thing of the past and dogma is irrelevant, what do I need the Mass for?  Why should I care to listen to anything the priest has to say?  The snooze button on the alarm clock is all the more attractive.
Fr. Gionet [who is still spiritually awake unlike many of his colleagues] gets it.  Fr. Wesley Wade, the vicar general of the Bathurst Diocese, does not.  Which is why he accused Fr. Gionet of "pastoral insensitivity."  Meanwhile, Fr. Wade has freely acknowledged that, "There's no question...there has been a decrease in church population over the years."  See here.

That trend will no doubt continue.  If Catholics want to hear a secular "gospel," they don't have to attend Mass within the Bathurst Diocese.  They have merely to turn on their television sets where that "gospel" is preached 24 hours a day. 

The Archdiocese of Boston says it is committed to evangelization, but what sort of evangelization?

In an essay on the meaning of evangelization, Father Vincent Miceli, S.J. wrote, "Being the work of God and man in cooperation, it must ever be a thrilling and awesome adventure.  We can say, however, that this sanctifying activity proclaims Christ to those who do not know Him, preaches the Gospel to them through catechesis and missionary sermons, confers Baptism and other sacraments and tirelessly exhorts converts to scale the heights of sanctity.  Jesus Christ, Himself, the Good News of God, was the very first and greatest evangelizer.  He proclaimed an absolute Kingdom of God, making everything else relative.  He proclaimed salvation, namely liberation from sin, Satan, death, a liberation that bestowed upon sinners returned to God grace, resurrection in immortality and glorification in the triune God.  He proclaimed the price man must pay for his salvation, namely that men must gain Heaven by violence, i.e., through a life of penance, toil, and suffering accepted in the spirit of the Suffering Servant of God.  And above all He proclaimed that man must undergo that interior renewal which the Gospel calls metanoia, that is the radical change of heart and mind which destroys 'the old man of sin' and creates 'the new man of grace.'"

Fr. Miceli then explains that there are obstacles to evangelization.  He writes, "St Thomas Aquinas teaches that three things are necessary for a soul to find, follow and embrace Christ.  First, a person must know what he ought to believe.  Second, he must know what he ought to desire.  Third, he must know what he ought to do.  Now ignorance is the first great obstacle to evangelization.  Catholics, therefore, should grow in a profound knowledge of their Faith through a constant reading and reflection on the Gospels and a faithful following of the teachings of the Magisterium.  Only thus will they come to appreciate the Catholic Faith as a gift of God that is true, good and beautiful.  They then will be moved by the Holy Spirit to bring non-Catholics to share this gift from God with them..."

Finally, surveying the Catholic Church in the United States, Fr. Miceli writes, "Unfortunately, the fact is that the Church in the United States, instead of being the crusading, courageous, evangelizing society Christ founded it to be, has become a cream-puff chaplaincy to the converted - and because of this attitude is failing to hold on even to these...How are we to stir up again the spirit of evangelization?  Pope Paul VI in Evangelii Nuntiandi gives us our marching orders:

'On us particularly, the pastors of the Church, rests the responsibility for reshaping with boldness and wisdom, but in complete fidelity to the content of evangelization, the means that are most suitable and effective for communicating the Gospel message to the men and women of our times.'" (Fr. Vincent P. Miceli, citing Pope Paul VI in Evangelii Nuntiandi, No. 40).

Note this passage.  What does Pope Paul VI mean by "complete fidelity to the content of evangelization"?  The Holy Father means that pastors of the Church must offer the men and women of our times what Pope Benedict XVI has said is the entire plan of God.  That is to say, the full content of Catholic teaching - including, and especially, those hard truths which the world does not want to hear but which faithful Catholics must share with hurting souls who wander about without a shepherd.  This is what evangelization is all about!

But it would seem that the Archdiocese of Boston has something else in mind when it refers to evangelization. Joe Sacerdo writes:

"It’s pretty bad in Boston. The Archdiocese of Boston, where 'relativism' remains a household word, has flip-flopped yet again becoming the 'John Kerry' of firm decision-making by now firmly backing a Catholic Mass to celebrate Gay Pride.


First the Archdiocese was allowing Mass for the purpose of celebrating and commemorating Gay Pride at St. Cecilia’s in Boston. Then they said it had to be cancelled, but there would be a Mass in the future to welcome the community, but not specifically gays and lesbians. Now, the 'Mass marking gay pride is back on' with the full endorsement of the archdiocese. This hit the Monday morning news after Catholic bloggers including us revealed how for years St. Cecilia’s has been sponsoring speakers who support gay marriage, in direct opposition to Catholic teachings.

Here’s the statement issued by the archdiocese on June 19:

June 19, 2011 – Archdiocese of Boston statement regarding prayer service at St. Cecilia Parish Boston

'The Archdiocese of Boston is committed to evangelization and to being a welcoming Church for all of God’s people. St. Cecilia’s is a wonderful example of the exceptional parishes in the Archdiocese which seek to serve the Catholic faithful with grace, dignity, respect, compassion and love and being devoted to the Gospel and Christ’s saving ministry.

The reports that the Mass, originally scheduled for June 19th, was cancelled are not accurate. Rather the Mass was postponed. As indicated in the statement of the Archdiocese on June 10, a Mass welcoming the wider community of the faithful, including gays and lesbians, will be held. The Mass has been rescheduled to Sunday, July 10th at 11am.

We respect the desire of those individuals organizing and participating in the prayer service. We know that the postponement of the June 19th Mass has been disappointing to them. Our hope and prayer is that we can come together as one community of Catholics sharing in the Lord’s divine love for each of us.'

How can St. Cecilia’s be devoted to the Gospel and Christ’s saving ministry if they they’ve been promoting gay marriage for years?


Mass day in and day out is intended to commemorate Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Why is any Mass being hijacked to celebrate Gay Pride at all, let alone any category of sinners–adulterers, those engaging in pre-marital sex, liars, etc.? Is the archdiocese that ill-informed about the purpose of Catholic Mass and Gay Pride that they still don’t understand this?" (Full post here).

Indeed.  To which I would add: How can the Archdiocese seriously suggest that it is "committed to evangelization" when it permits a Catholic parish under its authority to undermine Church teaching through a "rainbow ministry" and dissident speakers who have agitated for same-sex "marriage" and "Gay Pride"?  In what way is this "complete fidelity to the content of evangelization" and the "entire plan of God"?

What is going on at St. Cecilia's may be called evangelization.  But it is far from the authentic evangelization of the Church, an evangelizaton which exhorts people to reach for the heights of sanctity under the guidance of the teaching Magisterium.  Instead, it may be called an evangelization for Hell.  An education in the ways of pride and degradation.