"The Anti-Church whose centre is malice, error, falsehood, hypocrisy..."

From Francis the False Prophet:

"Championing the cause of the poor, Pope Francis on Sunday lamented that "the wealthy few" enjoy what, "in justice, belongs to all" and said Christians cannot remain indifferent to the growing cries of the exploited and the indigent, including migrants."


What is the "Social Gospel"?

Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich was shown this secular humanism which would disguise itself as Christianity:


"...this church was born without a Saviour, good works without faith, the communion of the unbelieving with the appearance but not the reality of virtue; in a word, the anti-Church whose centre is malice, error, falsehood, hypocrisy, tepidity, and the cunning of all the demons of the period... Its mysteries are to have no mysteries and, consequently, its action is temporal, finite, full of pride and presumption, a teacher of evil clothed in specious raiment."

An authentic charity always places God first. We read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church that, "Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God" (1822).

Proponents of the Social Gospel attempt to reverse this order. They would have us put man first and God (if at all) after. For some 40 years now Catholics have been subjected to a watered-down Catholicism which seeks to replace many basic truths of the Faith with an emphasis on the temporal. It was Bishop Fulton John Sheen who said that the unrepentant sinner turns to 'social justice" to ease his conscience.

The results? In the words of Stephen Brady, President of Roman Catholic Faithful, "By direct promotion of, or by simply ignoring the use of the birth control pill by the faithful, the corrupt Hierarchy has purchased the souls of millions of Catholics who now live as unrepentant sinners. These compromised Catholics are, for the most part, the ones who are pro-choice, pro-homosexual, and represent the liberal wing of the Church that accept all the sinful innovations that have now found a home in the local parish. This sodomite sexual revolution, aided by the abortifacient pill, has brought on all of society's ills, including unchecked abortion, adultery, fornication, out-of-wedlock pregnancy, divorce, sexually transmitted disease like AIDS, and the complete breakdown of the family. This compromised morality, winked at by the Church Hierarchy, has brought about the corruption of every segment of society. The moral guidepost, known as the Catholic Church, has been so weakened by the current Church leadership, that any true moral guidance offered by a Bishop is now ignored."

We have seen this repeatedly. When a faithful Bishop or other member of the Church's hierarchy speaks out against sin, he almost inevitably receives criticism. Especially from the Main Stream Media. Recall what happened when Cardinal Francis Arinze spoke out against the evils of our day (abortion, contraception, sodomy etc) - all of which are destroying the family - in an address given at Georgetown University.

The Social Gospel is not the true Gospel of Christ. It is a counterfeit which has been constructed to pave the way for the Man of Sin.

Francis, who is silent about the cover-up of sexual abuse, especially with regards to Cardinal McCarrick See here, continues to advance an agenda which is anything but the supernatural faith of Roman Catholicism.  See here.

Pray...Pray!

The Church in eclipse...

From Michael Brown over at Spirit Daily:

"Missed amid the growing and understandable uproar over sexual abuse in the clergy — and of late, among the hierarchy — is that it’s part of an overall intensification everywhere in all segments of culture and society of evil. Darkness is rising and deepening.

This is true in our families, at the workplace, on the road, on the internet, in stores, and yes in church. Discord. Dissatisfaction. Antagonism.

Where there are evil spirits, those spirits are gaining momentum — power.

It’s part of the test of the times in which we live and can largely be traced to the 1940s-to-1960s, when such spirits began to move through music, entertainment, academia, sexual mores, art, education, media, personal relationships, families, politics, science — especially science — and oh yes religions of humankind in a major way.

That intensification has been noticeably ratcheted up (in a big way) in the past few months and will continue to vitiate our institutions.

Its most overt manifestation is in pride — arrogance — which, in our dear, beleaguered, and targeted clergy, manifested as an elitism, a distance from the flock, a feeling of elevation, when it is the Host — not the priest — who should be elevated; it grew as a throne-like chair replaced the tabernacle behind the altar; it manifested in intellectuality; it manifested (this clerical superiority) in the feeling, at its incredible extreme, that Catholic youngsters (altar boys, seminarians) were there for sexual service.

Arrogance does not come in a much greater form than that — nor does evil — and the situation was widespread.

While many Catholic commentators now toss back and forth names of cardinals and bishops, of Vatican policies, of who knew what, of what new rules and regulations should be put in place, in how the matter should be adjudicated — discussing bishops as if this is politics — they miss the key wellspring: that simple invasion of demons.

There would be no such surprise — and no traumatic discouragement — if such folks had not dismissed the mysticism that predicted it.

One can take the example of Our Lady of LaSalette.

Virtually never mentioned by the Catholic “media” and “intelligentsia,” by the “pundits,” by the Church critics (a harsh sort, these days), the LaSalette revelations had foreseen that the day would come when “the Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay.”

She had said the “holy places” would be “in a state of corruption.”

She prophesied that “many convents are no longer houses of God, but the grazing grounds of Asmodeas [a major demon, especially of the New Age] and his like.” (Did not many nuns — many convents — turn modernistic and New Age?)

It warned, did LaSalette, that many people, “even priests,” would  “not have been guided by the good spirit of the Gospel which is the spirit of humility, charity, and zeal for the glory of God.”

And what about that crisis: the rarity in even spotting a nun in habit in our time.

Churches, said LaSalette, “will be locked up and desecrated.”

Another crisis: closed parishes, with some churches turned into condos, museums, ballrooms, theaters, or even bars; in one case, a strip club!

Now, some of this pertained to what happened under Communism; some, what occurred under Hitler. Remember, it was uttered in 1846.

But it also clearly pertained to the long-term future and, it appears, our own era. At the root: the rise of a False Church within the True Church, one built not on the charisms of Christ but intellectual pretension.

Don’t you wish our Church would have heeded the Blessed Virgin Mary when she said, “May those in charge of religious communities be on their guard against the people they must receive, for the devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders.”

And so came the flood of homosexuals in clerical subterfuge — often, deceived themselves.

“The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the holy mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity,” said Our Lady of LaSalette — her words falling upon far too many deaf ears.

No wonder some of the messages from LaSalette were officially approved and others — such as those above — held in limbo or dismissed.

“The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence,” said the Blessed Mother, so very wisely, with such prescience.

Have we not borne witness to this?

How many, inside and outside the Church, have been blinkered by the enemy — have developed a false intelligence (based on man, instead of God, Who is not theology but Spirit).

“Woe to the priests and those dedicated to God who by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives are crucifying my Son again!” Our Lady said — while also offering great encouragement to the many good priests and followers of the Faith, for this great onslaught of evil will in the end be defeated — soundly.

So why the surprise? Scripture predicts the same.

Why the discouragement?

But now, said the prophecy, Enoch and Eli will come, “filled with the Spirit of God. They will preach with the might of God, and men of good will will believe in God, and many souls will be comforted. They will make great steps forward through the virtue of the Holy Spirit and will condemn the devilish lapses.”

The Mystical Church will supplant the False One that, in too many parishes, took over the altar. Piety will replace intellectualism.

And so it is: the great promise — and certainty — of the future is that as great as darkness is, greater will be the Light. No matter how dark, all it takes is a little illumination.

The darker it is, the brighter, in the end, one day, it will get. We are going through a good breakdown, a breakdown of falsity, a purification.

Oh, the Church, the predicted crisis, the dilemmas that are a surprise and shock only to those who dismissed prophecy.

The Church will survive, fully rebound, even prosper — once, after these trials (more to come!), it returns to the simplicity, prayerfulness, and humility of Jesus."

Related reading here

Francis sows confusion regarding judging...

Vatican Insider reports:

"..according to Pope Bergoglio "we often judge others. And we are led to believe that we are not doing so. Each one of us might think, “But, I never judge, I do not make myself a judge,” Francis observes. How many times - the Pope adds - the topic of our conversations is judging others! By saying “this is not good”, “But who made you judge?” the Pope asks. “Judging others is a bad thing, because the Lord is the only judge”.

Francis, setting himself in opposition to Sacred Scripture, would have us believe that all judging is wrong.

But He is wrong.  He would have us believe that the Holy Spirit, the true Author of Sacred Scripture, is wrong and that love of enemies means condoning vice and sin.

In the words of Dr. Germain Grisez, one of the finest moral theologians of our time, "It might seem to follow that love must accept everyone, even enemies, just as they are, and to affirm them even in the error or sin which is present in them. But the law of love does not require indiscriminate affirmation of everything about other persons (see Saint Thomas Aquinas, S.t., 2-2, q.34, a.3). One's love must be like Jesus'. He loves sinners and brings them into communion with himself in order to overcome their error and sin. When the scribes and pharisees bring a woman caught in adultery to Jesus, he not only saves her from being stoned to death but warns her not to sin again (see John 8:3-11). In a true sense, Jesus is not judgmental, he sets aside the legalistic mentality, readily forgives sinners, does not condemn the world, and points out that those who refuse to acknowledge their sinfulness are self-condemned by the truth they violate (see John 3:16-21). But he realistically recognizes sinners as sinners and never accepts error as truth...Similarly, if Christians' love of neighbor is genuine, it not only permits but REQUIRES THEM both to 'hold fast to what is good' and to 'hate what is evil' (Romans 12:9)."

And again, according to Dr. Grisez, "Vatican II neatly formulates the prohibition against judging others" 'God alone is the judge and searcher of hearts; for that reason, he forbids us to make judgments about the internal guiltof anyone' (Gaudium et Spes, No. 28). This norm, however, does not preclude JUDGMENTS necessary for determining that one should try to dissuade others from committing sins or to encourage them to repent if they have sinned."


Judging isn't always sinful. It is only sinful when we judge another's interior dispositions, when we judge their soul. But we are entirely free to judge words, ideas and actions which fail to hold up when placed in the Lumen Christi (Light of Christ). Sacred Scripture (which Francis obviously opposes) makes this abundantly clear: "should you not judge those inside the Church"? (1 Corinthians 5:12), and again: "the saints will judge the world and angels" (1 Corinthians 6:2-3), and again: "the spiritual man judges all things" (1 Corinthians 2:15), and again: "Let prophets speak and the others judge" (1 Corinthians 14:29).

Not all judging is sinful. This is just common sense. Our legal system is structured in such a way that when a person commits a crime, he or she is tried before a judge and sentenced (judged) if found guilty. Likewise, it is our right (and duty) to judge words, ideas and actions which are not in conformity with the Gospels or which fail to conform to the Magisterial teaching of Christ's Church and to expose these as fallacious and/or sinful. In so doing, we are not rendering a judgment against a person. We are following the teaching of the great Saint Augustine (Bishop, Father and Doctor of the Church), who said: "Interficere errorem, diligere errantem" - kill the error, love the one who errs. This killing of what is sinful or erroneous is necessary if our charity - our love of neighbor - is to be genuine. Otherwise, our love is counterfeit. It is a fraud.

Signs of the demonic in the Vatican...

Lifesite News reports:

"Would Pope Francis say anything about this year’s Vatican nativity scene — which was so clearly meant as a nod to the LGBT lobby — when he paid it a visit on New Year’s Eve?

He spoke not a word of course, but instead blessed it and chuckled as a few dignitaries, responsible for what some have called a “hideous” and “sacrilegious” crèche, gave him a guided tour.

And yet something very eerie and ominous happened that evening.

At exactly the same time as the Pope left St. Peter’s Basilica and walked to the crèche in St. Peter’s Square, a squabble of about 500 seagulls suddenly flew up from behind the basilica and circled around the crèche.

They swarmed above the nativity scene, squawking and squealing for about the exact time it took for the Pope to walk from the basilica to the crèche. They then disappeared into a night sky lit up by an almost full moon."

Remember the incident with violent seagulls four years ago?  If not, go here.

Signs continue to emerge as the Counterfeit Church, the Mystical Body of Antichrist, continues to metastasize within the Church founded by the Lord Jesus.

__________________


Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich was a Roman Catholic Augustinian Canoness Regular of Windesheim, mystic, Marian visionary, ecstatic and stigmatist. Excerpts from The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

"I saw again the strange big church that was being built there in Rome. There was nothing holy in it. I saw this just as I saw a movement led by Ecclesiastics to which contributed angels, saints, and other Christians. But there in the strange big church all the work was being done mechanically according to set rules and formulae. Everything was being done according to human reason …I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines, and opinions. There was something proud, presumptuous, and violent about it, and they seemed very successful. I di not see a single Angel nor a single saint helping in the work. But far away in the background, I saw the seat of the cruel people armed with spears, and I saw a laughing figure which said: "Do build it as solid as you can; we will pull it to the ground. I saw again the new and odd-looking church which they were trying to build. There was nothing holy about it … People were kneading bread in the crypt below … but it would not rise, nor did they receive the body of our Lord, but only bread. Those who were in error, through no fault of their own, and who piously and ardently longed for the Body of Jesus were spiritually consoled, but not by their communion. Then my Guide (Jesus) said: "This is Babel".
"I saw deplorable things: they were gambling, drinking, and talking in church; they were also courting women. All sorts of abominations were perpetrated there. Priests allowed everything and said Mass with much irreverence. I saw that few of them were still godly… All these things caused me much distress."

"Then I saw the connection between the two Popes and the two temples. I am sorry that I have forgotten the numbers, but I was shown how weak the one had been in adherents and human support, but how strong in courage to overturn so many gods (I knew the number) and to unite so many different forms of worship into one; and, on the contrary, how strong in numbers and yet how irresolute in action was the other since, in authorizing the erection of false temples, he had allowed the only true God, the only true religion to be lost among so many false gods and false religions. It was also shown me that those pagans humbly adored gods other than themselves, and that they would have been willing to admit in all simplicity the only God, the Most Holy Trinity. Their worship was preferable to that of those who adore themselves in a thousand idols to the total exclusion of Our Lord. The picture was favorable to the early ages, for in them idolatry was on the decrease, while in our days it is just the contrary. I saw the fatal consequences of this counterfeit church; I saw it increase; I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city. I saw the ever-increasing tepidity of the clergy, the circle of darkness ever widening. And now the vision became more extended. I saw in all places Catholics oppressed, annoyed, restricted, and deprived of liberty, churches were closed, and great misery prevailed everywhere with war and bloodshed. I saw rude, ignorant people offering violent resistance, but this state of things lasted not long. Again I saw in vision St. Peter’s undermined according to a plan devised by the secret sect while, at the same time, it was damaged by storms; but it was delivered at the moment of greatest distress. Again I saw the Blessed Virgin extending her mantle over it."

The Church in eclipse...

From Mary Ann Kreitzer, over at Les Femmes:


"The historic solar eclipse that cut across America on August 21 is being seen by many as an apocalyptic omen, and this notion is strengthened when we consider that the apparition of Our Lady of La Salette—who prophesied a worldwide apocalyptic eclipse of the Faith—received its glorious approbation from Pope Leo XIII, on August 21, 1879.

On August 21 that year, Pope Leo XIII formally granted a canonical coronation to the image of Our Lady of La Salette. The coronation was the high point of a special ceremony in which the Basilica of La Salette was consecrated. The statue of Our Lady was solemnly crowned by the Papal Legate, the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, before a vast assembly of bishops, priests and lay people.

http://traditioninaction.org/religious/a061_Knock_3.html

Meanwhile, it was on the same day that Pope Leo lavished this blessing on La Salette that the Blessed Virgin was making her appearance at Knock, Ireland. As relayed by first-hand witnesses, Our Lady appeared in the village of Knock on August 21, 1879, surrounded by a luminous glow, though not delivering any message. It appeared that her appearance at Knock was an endorsement of the pope's approval of La Salette. This clearly was the message of Our Lady of Knock. She was even looking in the direction of La Salette and Rome during the apparition, as if to ratify the pope's approbation.

Moreover, appearing with the Blessed Virgin at Knock was St. Joseph to her right, and also St. John dressed as a bishop and holding a book of the Gospel, which many understand to signify the Book of Apocalypse which he famously penned. It was as if he was validating the apocalyptic message of La Salette, which stated that "The Church will be in eclipse" and that "Rome will lose the Faith and will become the seat of Antichrist." 

The appearance of St. Joseph with Our Lady appears to carry an apocalyptic message in itself, since St. Joseph—the Patron of the Universal Church—is also the model for the Holy Family, which today is being viciously attacked by the ruling fathers in Rome. It is no secret that since the election of Pope Francis in 2013, there has been a concerted effort underway to dissolve marriage and dignify cohabitation, and to strengthen this infidelity by allowing divorced people living in adultery to receive Communion. (Amoris Laetita) Cardinal Carlo Caffara reported that Sr. Lucy of Fatima told him that "the final battle between the Lord and the reign of Satan will be about marriage and the family"  (Voce di Padre Pio, March 2008), and Lucy's words are certainly being fulfilled in our time. 

Rome indeed has "become the seat of Antichrist," referencing the diabolical disorientation that now deludes the Vatican hierarchy. The Church in our time has truly lapsed into spiritual darkness unto the misguiding of the modern world, as prophesied by Our Lady at La Salette: "The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay."

Much of this spiritual diminution has come through the errors of Communism that have now spread throughout the world. Our Lady of Fatima warned that if Russia was not consecrated to her Immaculate Heart, the same would later emerge as a global power to deceive the west with "the operation of error to believe lying." (2 Thess. 2:10)

This too is ominously tied to August 21, since this is the eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary—the same Immaculate Heart to which Russia was never consecrated. And to think that the historic solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, occurred during the centennial of Our Lady's apparitions at Fatima!

Our Lady's prediction at Fatima has come to pass right on target, even to the point that Rome is now advancing the communistic one-world agenda of Antichrist. With this, we have seen the universal implementation of Marxist principles [spiritual clench fist], through which the laity has been empowered to undermine hierarchical authority and assume priestly functions as lectors and extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist. The ugly hand of Communism has truly reached in to desecrate the Body of Christ, which all ties with the La Salette prophecy that the spirit of Antichrist would reign in the Eternal City.

The rare solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, is certainly a sign of the times, but it could very well portend to a total world eclipse that is coming. Already the pestilent cloud of Socialism is obscuring the light throughout the Church and world, but without a concerted effort on the part of the Vatican hierarchy to uphold the light of tradition, the world will go into total darkness, whereby it will truly "be in dismay."

The best we can do is to keep our candles lit in the darkness and let this light shine before men. (Mt. 5:16) Our Lady at La Salette offered the remedy to offset the darkness of these times, when she said: "Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see. For now is the time of all times, the end of all times."

______________________________

Freemasons have long conspired to overthrow the Church.  And 100 years ago, they exclaimed that Lucifer would rule the Vatican by 2017.  See here.

Masonic forces seek to subvert the Church from within and to create a "new church" created in the image and likeness of man.  The new humanitarian religion will result from a quiet revolution within the Church. We've all seen the results of this revolution.  Just last weekend, Father Piotr Pawlus attacked Our Precious Lord, asserting that He has defects, imperfections.

This new religion will be anti-supernatural.  And it will embrace the Socialistic New World Order and the Reign of Antichrist.  This is the false church Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich saw in her visions.

Father Emmanuel Barbier, a well-known anti-modernist and anti-masonic author, transcribed a document dated April 3, 1844, in which a high-ranking leader of Italian masonic forces called Nubius explains to another highly-placed mason how the quiet revolution will work.  He writes, "Now then, in order to ensure a pope in the required proportions, we must first of all prepare a generation worthy of the kingdom of which we dream...

Cast aside the old men and men of a mature age; go to the youth, and if possible, even to children...It is to the youth that we must go, it is the youth that we must lead, unperceived by them, under the flag of the secret societies.  In order to advance with prudent steps on this dangerous but sure way, two things are absolutely necessary.  You must have the simplicity of doves and the prudence of the serpent...Never pronounce before them a word of impiety or impurity: Maxima debetur puero reverentia...Once your reputation has been established in colleges, high schools, universities, and seminaries, once you have gained the confidence of professors and students, make sure that especially those who enter the ranks of the clergy be pleased with your meetings...

Such reputation will give your doctrine access to the young clergy and to convents.  In a few years, this clergy will naturally have invaded all functions: they will govern, administer, judge, from the Sovereign's council, be called to choose the Pontiff who must reign; and this Pontiff, like most of his contemporaries, will be more or less imbued with Italian and humanitarian principles that we will start placing in circulation...Let the clergy move forward under your standard always believing they are advancing under the banner of the apostolic Keys.  Cast your net like Simon Bar Jonas; spread it to the bottom of sacristies, seminaries, and convents, rather than casting it to the bottom of the sea; if you do not precipitate anything, we promise you a catch even more miraculous than his...

You will have fished a revolution dressed in the Pope's triple crown and cape, carrying the cross and the flag, a revolution that will need only a small stimulus to set fire to the four corners of the earth." (Nubius, Secret Instructions on the Conquest of the Church, excerpted from Les infiltrations maconiques dans l'Eglise, Paris/Brussels: Desclee de Brouwer, 1901, p. 5).

The Church is in eclipse.  The filth of Satan has infiltrated to the highest levels of the Church.  More than one third of our priests will be lost to the Dragon.

Pray unceasingly.  Consecrate yourselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  The Man of Sin is about to reveal his identity to the world.  The Man of Filth Jesus spoke of in the the Fifth Chapter of the Gospel of John, verse 43.

My father and I spoke often of the La Salette warning.  Which is why I created this Blog in 2004.  Dad went to be with the Lord on September 19, 2000.  See here.

The significance of that date will not be lost on devout Catholics who now form the Remnant Church.

Cardinal Joseph Tobin: A welcome which includes Gospel Truths is backhanded, meaning insincere or counterfeit

Life Site News is reporting that:

"Cardinal Joseph Tobin told the New York Times that it would have been 'backhanded' of him to mention anything about sin to the 'LGBT pilgrims' who he personally welcomed to a Cathedral Mass last month.

On Sunday, May 21, the Cardinal was on hand at Newark’s Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart to personally welcome homosexuals on a so-called 'LGBT Pilgrimage.'

When asked by the New York Times if he should have used the event to call the 'LGBT pilgrims' out of sin, Cardinal Tobin replied: 'That sounds a little backhanded to me.'

'It was appropriate to welcome people to come and pray and call them who they were. And later on, we can talk,' he said.

The Cardinal said that to 'combine his welcome with a criticism would not have been a full welcome at all.'

Cardinal Tobin is one of a growing number of priests and prelates who now challenge the Catholic Church’s perennial teaching on the meaning and purpose of human sexuality.

What Cardinal Tobin doesn't mention, and this is most significant, is that a Bishop's vocation is primarily one of witnessing to the truth, without which authentic joy is impossible,  for joy is a gift of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5).

Pope John Paul II, in his book entitled "Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way," in a chapter entitled simply "The Shepherd," writes, "Christian tradition has adopted the biblical image of the shepherd in three forms: as the one who carries the lost sheep on his shoulders, as the one who leads his flocks to green pastures, and as the one who gathers his sheep with his staff and protects them from danger.

In all three images there is a recurring theme: The shepherd is for the sheep, not the sheep for the shepherd.  He is bound so closely to them, if he is a real shepherd, that he is ready to lay down his life for the sheep (John 10:11).  Every year during the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth week of Ordinary Time, the Liturgy of the Hours presents Saint Augustine's long sermon 'On the Shepherds.'  With reference to the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, the bishop of Hippo strongly rebukes evil shepherds, who are concerned not for the sheep but only for themselves.  'Let us see how the word of God, that flatters no one, addresses the shepherds who are feeding themselves, not the sheep.  'You take the milk, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed my sheep.  The weak you have not strenghtened, the sick you have not healed, the crippled you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought; any strong one you have killed; and my sheep are scattered because there is no shepherd.'" (pp. 63-64).

And in the chapter entitled "Courageous in Faith," the Holy Father, citing Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski, writes, "'The bishop has the duty to serve not only through his words and through the liturgy, but also through offering up his sufferings.'  Cardinal Wyszynski returned to these thoughts again on another occasion: 'Lack of courage in a bishop is the beginning of disaster.  Can he still be an apostle?  Witnessing to the Truth is essential for an apostle.  And this always demands courage.'  These words are also his: 'The greatest weakness in an apostle is fear.  What gives rise to fear is lack of confidence in the power of the Lord; this is what oppresses the heart and tightens the throat.  The apostle then ceases to offer witness.  Does he remain an apostle?  The disciples who abandoned the Master increased the courage of the executioners.  Silence in the presence of the enemies of a cause encourages them.  Fear in an apostle is the principal ally of the enemies of the cause'...Truly, there can be no turning one's back upon the truth, ceasing to proclaim it, hiding it, even if it is a hard truth that can only be revealed at the cost of great suffering.  'You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free' (John 8:32): this is our duty and our source of strength!  Here there is no room for compromise nor for an opportunistic recourse to human diplomacy.  We have to bear witness to the truth, even at the cost of persecutions, even to the shedding of our blood, like Christ Himself..." (pp. 190-191).

A Bishop has a vocation to discern between good and evil, truth and falsehood, and to judge what is evil and false and to denounce it.  The Bishop's vocation is not to sit back out of laziness or fear or both, letting his flock be torn to pieces by rapacious wolves why saying, "Who am I to judge."

Pray for Cardinal Tobin.  Pray that the Holy Spirit will fill him with the Cardinal Virtue of Fortitude.

Mercy never overrides justice...

Father Robert McTeigue, SJ writes: "Very often, I hear folks speak of mercy as if it were a cancellation of justice. On this view, “justice” means, “you have to pay off your debt—or else.” “Mercy”, then, says, “About that debt—never mind!” And who wouldn’t breathe a sigh of relief when told that one’s debt has been dismissed, made irrelevant? That’s an appealing, even tempting image of justice and mercy, especially if you’ve ever been deeply in debt. Unfortunately, such a view tragically distorts justice and mercy. If left uncorrected, such a view runs the risk of making us unable to see or feel what is, to borrow a phrase from C.S. Lewis, “the weight of glory.” In other words, the roots of human dignity and the very character of God may be obscured by such a facile, beguiling, and impoverished view of mercy and justice."

Sadly many Catholics have succumbed to such a false notion of mercy. 

Pope John Paul II, speaking to workers at the Solvay factory back in the 1980s, reminded his listeners that mercy does not cancel out the objective requirements of justice.  He said:


                          "You know, in fact, that Christian love animates justice,
                            inspires it, discovers it, perfects it, makes it feasible, respects
                            it, elevates it, surpasses it; but it does not exclude it, does not
                            absorb it, does not replace it, but rather presupposes it and demands
                            it, because true love, true charity, does not exist without justice.
                            Is not justice perhaps the minimum measure of charity?"

                          

Forgiveness is not a matter of overlooking sin.  While forgiveness can anticipate contrition, reconciliation always requires contrition.  And such contrition is only genuine if it involves the will and a real effort at making amends, insofar as this is possible.  Therefore, authentic mercy (unlike its counterfeit which is preached at so many parishes) does not condone or ignore the evil which it forgives.

Again, Pope John Paul II: "Christ emphasizes so insistently the need to forgive others that when Peter asked Him how many times he should forgive his neighbor He answered with the symbolic number of 'seventy times seven,' meaning that he must be able to forgive everyone every time. It is obvious that such a generous requirement of forgiveness does not cancel out the objective requirements of justice. Properly understood, justice constitutes, so to speak, the goal of forgiveness. In no passage of the Gospel message does forgiveness, or mercy as its source, mean indulgence towards evil, towards scandals, towards injury or insult. In any case, reparation for evil and scandal, compensation for injury, and satisfaction for insult are conditions for forgiveness. (Dives in misericordiae, No. 14).

This counterfeit mercy is attractive to those who want nothing less than a license to perpetrate wrongs on others while demanding forgiveness from those they have offended without first repenting of their wrongdoing.

But where there are bonds of friendship or love, as D. Dietrich von Hildebrand explains, "..it is strictly required by the logos of the relationship that our partner shall recognize and regret the wrong he has done to us....Most certainly we must forgive him...but here we must desire that he recognize and repent of his wrong, not merely for his own good but for the sake of our relationship itself - of the restoration of that intimate union of hearts which essentially demands the clearing up of all misunderstandings and the healing of all disharmonies.."

We can never achieve true peace by ignoring objective evils.  Dr. von Hildebrand explains that, "the attitude of rancorous enmity is not the only antithesis to the Christian spirit of forgiveness.  Another attitude opposed to it is that of simply ignoring the wrong inflicted upon us, as though nothing had happened.  This aberration may result from laziness, from faintness of heart, or from a sickly, mawkish clinging to outward peace.  We hold our comfort too dear to fight it out with our aggressor; or again, we feel terrified at the thought of any tension or hostility, and fear lest a sharp reaction on our part should exasperate the adversary; or perhaps we yield just out of respect for the abstract idol of peace.  This is  akind of behavior far remote from the genuine love of peace or from a genuine spirit of forgiveness.  It can never achieve the true harmony of peace, but at best a superficial cloaking of enmity, a mood of false joviality which drags our souls towards the peripheral...Also, people who behave thus fail to consider the moral damage that their supineness is likely to inflict on others.  It is very often necessary to draw a person's attention to the wrong he has done to us - in fact, necessary for his own good.  To pass over it in silence may easily encourage him in his bad dispositions."

This used to be understood by nearly all Christians.  But today, ignorance of the Scriptures has infected even many of our clergy.  In the Gospel of Luke, Our Lord says, ",,if your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him; and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, and says, 'I repent,' you must forgive him." (Lk 17: 3, 4).

If he repents.  The word "if" in this sentence makes this a conditional statement.  Those of you who have studied philosophy or mathematics know that a conditional statement is often used to assert a connection of some sort between the antecedent and consequent.  For example, an equation which states "if X = 5 and Y = 3, then X times Y = 15 represents a conditional statement.  When Jesus says, "If your brother sins [against you] and if he repents, forgive him," He is saying that authentic reconciliation involves, first of all, repentance for wrongs committed. 

Reconciliation is not possible otherwise.  Only what Dr. von Hildebrand so eloquently refers to as a "superficial cloaking of enmity."  As Christians, we are called to an authentic Christian spirit of forgiveness.  We are not called to live a lie.  While we must always forgive those who have wronged us, glossing over wrongs committed or pretending they never happened is not the road toward authentic reconciliation.

The counterfeit church prophesied by Blessed Emmerich has arrived

From The Stumbling Block:


"The world is reacting to the latest spate of Catholic attacks from the man in white.  Most will agree with him on contraception.  Many will be furious about countries, borders, and the true freedom of the Gospel.  All of them will feel a despair somewhere deep within their souls.  Faithful voices are clear-headed and angry.  The respectable catholic press has closed ranks with some contempt for decent people.

Does it make your skin crawl to hear Francis say, ‘Blessed Paul VI?’

I’m not the only Christian who feels discouraged and helpless in the face of this statist political tool, ‘Pope Francis.’  The entire world and its machine honor him as Pope and perhaps he is, but it really doesn’t matter because he’s not Catholic.  He’s not part of the Church Militant.  Many may read this and say it’s sedevacantism, but its not.  I’m not claiming to know Francis’ actual status.  I’m simply saying that spiritually what difference does it make to God when you’re in the Hell line anyway?  If you’re standing in the Hell line does Christ consider you part of his Church?  No.  He doesn’t.

You may ask, “Are you saying Francis is going to Hell?”  Well, he’s a heretic and despite what so many ‘catholics’ say today, Heaven is for the faithful departed.  Simply put, Francis is a pope who teaches heresy.  Do the conditions exist for canonical heresy?  I don’t know, but I suggest any canonist who continues to dismiss the Pope’s heresy should place himself before the throne of God.

Contraceptive sex is not a moral response to any possible negative consequence of birth, much less so for a trumped-up political and faux-scientific health reason.

It is not unChristian or anathema for a politician to protect and control a country’s borders

It’s sacrilege for Lutherans to receive Holy Communion if their consciences happen to approve.

These things are all blatantly heretical and there are many, many more. Don’t spin me about context, formality and interpretive angles. The Church cannot be led by a heretic.  It will only die and it surely is dying.  It doesn’t matter if if someone funds a new building to teach Human Ecology at Fordham.

The Church Militant is being smothered by an official parasite Church.  Francis has made the reality even more stark.  Today everywhere is China.  There is the state church and the true Church.  But unlike the Chinese underground Church in our time, we can no longer look to another land for a vicar who speaks the truth.  Still, that doesn’t mean we can forget Christ or the Church’s doctrine.

We now have a false and organized Church.  We also have a group of faithful who either sinfully enable the false part of the Church or refuse to resist it.  Are they part of the Church Militant?  Well, that’s not very militant.

The question is:  How do we, the true and faithful Church, respond to a false Church and its unCatholic Pope?  What does God want us to do?  I can think of two things:

We must shore up and organize into a group which preserves the teachings and the economy of God’s grace in union with the Church.

We must never honor anything falsely.  We must never ever treat something or someone pretending to be Catholic like part of the Church.  WE ARE NOT THAT.  THAT IS NOT US.

In doing so, we need to call for Francis to be removed or step down simply on the grounds that he is not a believer.  He’s not Catholic.  To do so would be the appropriate and measured amount of honor we should give him as Christians.  It’s impossible for the Church to be led by a Protestant, if he can even be called that, and it has dire need for a faithful leader today and always.  We must have no fear of being called schismatics and heretics by schismatics and heretics, no matter who they are.  Christ was calumniated the same way.

Catholics don’t worship popes.  They are led by popes to Christ.  Francis should be removed and replaced by a Catholic Pope.

In all things we need to draw the line. Build the wall.  Then we can attach the arches and spires.  The Church is a living thing.  It can always slowly rise up again through a crack in the bleak and crumbling sidewalk."

Well said...

For more than 25 years now, I have been warning anyone who would listen about the counterfeit church being fashioned in the image and likeness of man and subject to doctrines of demons.  This church, the Mystical Body of Antichrist, has now become more open and therefore more visible under the pontificate of Francis.  This church, a work of the Devil within the True Church, is making itself known during this month's Synod.

Here is what Blessed Emmerich saw.

The Masonic plan to elect a false pope to deliver the Church up to sin explained here.

In the end, this Dark Church will fail. God has other plans.  But Jesus's promise that the Gates of Hell will not prevail against
His Church does not mean that the Adversary will not have much success in pulling a significant portion of the Church down with him.

Remain under the sure refuge which is the Immaculata.  The Turis Davidica will protect your faith.  Pray the Rosary daily.  Consecrate yourself and your loved ones to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  Place yourself under Our Savior's Precious Blood.  Remain in the Sacraments.  Do Penance.

The Demon has launched his final campaign against Our Savior, His sinless Mother and her children.

The False Prophet, foretold by Archbishop Fulton John Sheen is here; a modern-day Judas who will lead others to worship the man-God*


* John 5:43

The Diocese of Worcester and authentic charity

Not long ago, Bishop Robert McManus said that, "At the beginning of Lent, Pope Francis warned us that indifference to God and to neighbor is a real danger in the modern world. The Holy Father urged us to use Lent as a time of interior renewal to reject indifference toward others and to shun a dangerous withdrawal into ourselves. Love, he wrote, conquers indifference."

This is the same Bishop who ignores letters from faithful Catholics expressing concern over doctrinal dissent and liturgical abuse. The same Bishop who callously rescinded Robert Spencer's invitation to speak at the Catholic Men's Conference in Worcester. The same Bishop who has ignored my letters expressing interest in discerning a vocation to the ministerial priesthood. See here for example.

The same Bishop who laughed when I told him my "pastor" wouldn't allow me to have a Mass said for my departed father.

The same Bishop who had too much to drink one day, struck another vehicle, and simply took off- a hit and run as they call it- which resulted in his arrest.
Indifference to God and neighbor IS a real danger in the "modern world."
If only the Bishop could pay more than lip service to this truth. Maybe more of the clerics who serve under him would also catch on.

Oremus.

In his Encyclical Letter Caritas In Veritate, Pope Benedict XVI wrote, Charity is at the heart of the Church's social doctrine. Every responsibility and every commitment spelt out by that doctrine is derived from charity which, according to the teaching of Jesus, is the synthesis of the entire Law (cf. Mt 22:36- 40). It gives real substance to the personal relationship with God and with neighbour; it is the principle not only of micro-relationships (with friends, with family members or within small groups) but also of macro-relationships (social, economic and political ones). For the Church, instructed by the Gospel, charity is everything because, as Saint John teaches (cf. 1 Jn 4:8, 16) and as I recalled in my first Encyclical Letter, “God is love” (Deus Caritas Est): everything has its origin in God's love, everything is shaped by it, everything is directed towards it. Love is God's greatest gift to humanity, it is his promise and our hope."

The Worcester Diocese is not thriving. In fact, it is gradually disintegrating. Parishes are closing.  Many are deserting the Church.  They sense the lack of commitment toward authentic charity.  Many just don't feel welcome.

The Diocese of Worcester is betraying love.  It operates as more of a private clique where a few individuals determine who is welcome at the table and who is not.  Who gets the sacraments and who does not.  Who gets to apply for the priesthood and who doesn't. Who may participate in the life of a parish and who may not.

Saint Gregory the Great said that, "The proof of love is in the works.  Where love exists, it works great things.  But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist."

Related reading: A deacon who sows hatred.

Third Secret of Fatima fully revealed?

Third Secret of Fatima fully revealed?



Text in Portuguese:

January 4, 1944

Agora vou revelar o terceiro fragmento do segredo;
Esta parte é a apostasia na Igreja!
Nossa Senhora mostrou-nos uma vista do um indivi-
duo que eu descrevo como o ' Santo Padre ', em frente de uma multidão
que estava louvando-o.
Mas havia uma diferença com um verdadeiro Santo Padre, o olhar
do demonio, êste tinha os olhos do mal.
Então depois de alguns momentos vimos o mesmo Papa entrando
a uma igreja, mas esta igreja era a igreja do inferno, não há modo
para descrever a fealdade dêsse lugar, parecia como uma fortaleza feita
de cimento cinzento, com ângulos quebrados e janelas semelhantes a olhos,
tinha un bico no telhado do edificio.
Em seguida levantamos a vista para Nossa Senhora que nos
disse Vistes a apostasia na Igreja, esta carta pode ser aberta por O Santo
Padre, mas deve ser anunciada depois de Piu XII e antes de 1960.
No reinado de Juan Pablo II a pedra angular da tumba de Pedro
deve ser removida e transferida para Fatima.
Porque o Dogma da fé não é conservado em Roma, sua autori-
dade será removida e entregada a Fatima.
A catedral de Roma deve ser destruida e uma nova construida
em Fatima.
Se 69 semanas depois de que esta ordem é anunciada, Roma continua sua abom-
inação, a cidade será destruida.
Nossa Senhora disse-nos que êsto está escrito, Daniel 9 24-25 e Mateus 21 42-44




Translation to English:

January 4, 1944

Now iIwill reveal the third part of the secret;
This part is the apostasy in the Church!
Our Lady showed us a vision of some-
one who I describe as the ' Pope ', standing in front of a praising
multitude.
But there was a difference with a real Pope, the evil
look, this one had eyes of evil.
Then after a few moments we saw the same Pope entering
a church, but this church was like the church of hell, there is no
way to describe the ugliness of this place, it seemed like a fortress made
of gray cement, with broken angles and windows like eyes, there was a beak on top of the building.
We then looked up at Our Lady who said to us
you have seen the apostasy in the Church, this message can be opened by The Holy
Father, but must be announced after Pius XII and before 1960.
During the pontificate of John Paul II the cornerstone from Peter's tomb
must be removed and transferred to Fatima.
Because the Dogma of faith is not preserved in Rome, her
authority will be removed and given to Portugal.
The cathedral of Rome must be destroyed and a new one built in
Fatima.
If 69 weeks after this command is announced Rome continues it's abomi-
nation, the city will be destroyed.
Our Lady told us this is written, Daniel 9 24-25 and Mathew 21 42-44

This dovetails with other significant Catholic prophecies.

Our Lady told Fr. Stefano Gobbi of the Marian Movement of Priests:

"I am weeping because the Church is continuing along the road of division, of loss of the true faith, of apostasy and of errors which are being spread more and more without anyone offering opposition to them. Even now, that which I predicted at Fatima and that which I have revealed here in the third message confided to a little daughter of mine (i.e. Sister Lucia) is in the process of being accomplished. And so, even for the Church the moment of its great trial has come, because the man of iniquity will establish himself within it and the abomination of desolation will enter into the holy temple of God." (To the Priests, Our Lady's Beloved Sons, No. 362, September 15, 1987, p. 572.)

And again:"The black beast like a leopard indicates Freemasonry; the beast with the two horns like a lamb indicates Freemasonry infiltrated into the interior of the Church, that is to say, ecclesiastical Masonry, which has spread especially among the members of the hierarchy. This Masonic infiltration, in the interior of the Church, was already foretold to you by me at Fatima, when I announced to you that Satan would enter in even to the summit of the Church. If the task of Masonry is to lead souls to perdition, bringing them to the worship of false divinities, the task of ecclesiastical Masonry on the other hand is that of destroying Christ and his Church, building a new idol, namely a false christ and a false church." (To the Priests, Our Lady's Beloved Sons, No. 406, June 13, 1989, p. 649)

The false church Our Lady refers to was also foretold by Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824), a German Augustinian nun, stigmatist, and miracle-worker, who subsisted entirely on water and Holy Communion for many years. Venerable Emmerich received numerous visions of the future crisis in the Church and the infiltration of the Masons. In her visions, she describes men in aprons destroying the Church with a trowel, The Masons wear aprons and their symbol is the Mason's trowel. The following excerpts are from page 565 of the Life of Anne Catherine Emmerich, Vol. 1, by Rev. K.E. Schmöger, Tan Books, 1976:


"I saw St. Peter's. A great crowd of men was trying to pull it down whilst others constantly built it up again. Lines connected these men one with another and with others throughout the whole world. I was amazed at their perfect understanding." The demolishers, mostly apostates and members of different sects, broke off whole pieces and worked according to rules and instructions. They wore WHITE APRONS bound with blue riband. In them were pockets and they had TROWELS stuck in their belts. The costumes of the others were various."There were among the demolishers distinguished men wearing uniforms and crosses. They did not work themselves but they marked out on the wall with a TROWEL where and how it should be torn down. To my horror, I saw among them Catholic Priests. Whenever the workmen did not know how to go on, they went to a certain one in their party. He had a large book which seemed to contain the whole plan of the building and the way to destroy it. They marked out exactly with a TROWEL the parts to be attacked, and they soon came down. They worked quietly and confidently, but slyly, furtively and warily. I saw the Pope praying, surrounded by false friends who often did the very opposite to what he had ordered..."


We have witnessed the gradual emergence of this false church within Christ's Church. And that which this false church proposes is a new religion in which man, and not God, is the object of worship. And all will be accomplished in the name of humanitarianism. Through one of his characters in his prophetic book The Lord of the World, Fr. Robert Hugh Benson describes this humanitarian religion:


"Humanitarianism...is becoming an actual religion itself, though anti-supernatural. It is a pantheism. Pantheism deifies all nature, God is the world, but naturally, man above all is God since he is the highest expression of nature. It is a religion devoid of the 'super' natural, because since God is nature itself, there is no longer a distinction between Creator and creature. The creature is God* and hence arbitrator of his own destiny and establishes the moral law for himself. Nature, and man is its highest expression, has all the divine attributes. Humanitarianism is a religion devoid of the supernatural. It is developing a ritual under Freemasonry; it has a creed, 'God is man'; and the rest. It has, therefore, a real food of a sort to offer religious cravings: it idealizes, and yet makes no demands upon the spiritual faculties. Then, they have the use of all the churches except ours, and of all the Cathedrals; and they are beginning at last to encourage sentiment. Then they may display their symbols and we may not: I think they will be established legally in another ten years" (Introduction, p. xvii).


*Genesis 3:5.
We must watch and pray. Prayer [and especially Holy Mass and the Rosary] is the most fundamental weapon for the great battle of the end times. In the words of Fr. Livio Fanzaga, "When man will glorify himself and proclaim the Antichrist as God made man, the supernatural principle will be preserved only by those who cling to the divine presence in prayer....In the time of Antichrist, the power of suggestion will cloud reason. Only those who intimately experience the supernatural in prayer will have the strength to acknowledge God's existence, despite the apparent evidence to the contrary."

Does Pope Francis offer an authentic Gospel or the "Social Gospel"?

Back in December of 2012, I wrote, "The "Social Gospel" is more concerned about an earthly future than eternity

Standing before a statue of Mary near the Spanish Steps on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Benedict XVI reminded his listeners that the Gospel is the good news of freedom from sin, that it is "the proclamation of the victory of grace over sin, of life over death."  Proponents of the "social gospel" have forgotten this.  The mission of the Church is not to eradicate poverty or social injustice.  As Dr. Dietrich von Hildebrand explains, while "a deep interest in the earthly welfare of our neighbor is a central duty of the Christian and an essential demand of the love of neighbor," still, "it is definitely no part of the message of Christ that there is to be no more poverty, no more war, that the earth is to become a natural paradise."

Proponents of the "social gospel" fail to understand, as Dr. Hildebrand reminds us, that "..the primary task of the Church is the proclamation of the divine Revelation, the protection of it against all heresies, the the sanctification of the soul of the individual, the securing of his eternal salvation - this is the spreading of the kingdom of God on earth, and not the attempt to build up an earthly paradise." (Essay entitled This-Worldliness).

Dr. Hildebrand explains that, "...the motive of many for eliminating poverty (which itself is not morally wicked, but only a morally relevant evil) is not rooted in the spirit of Christ or His Gospel, but in a humanitarian ideal.  The widespread tendency today to demand everything as a right and to refuse to accept any gifts is surely no manifestation of a Christian spirit.  There is in reality a clear, sharply delineated difference between justice and love.  Justice can and should be protected and demanded by state law; but love of neighbor could never be demanded by any law.  For it is a duty before God, and no state law could or should prescribe it or enforce it.  Love of neighbor presupposes the fulfillment of the claims of justice, but it goes far beyond this.  The words of the Gospel, 'if someone asks you to go one mile, go two miles with him,' clearly go far beyond the sphere of justice.  Of course, it is a pharisaical hypocrisy to the demands of justice as if one were giving alms.  But it is a terrible pride not to want to accept any alms, and to demand that which comes as a gift.  The true Christian should be happier to receive alms and to be grateful for them, than simply to receive what he has a right to.  When he receives a gift he is happy not only over the good which is the gift, but also over the goodness of the giver; and he experiences it as a great source of happiness that he can and should be grateful."

Priests and deacons who have succumbed to the distortions of the "social gospel" seldom, if ever, preach against sin or remind their listeners of the reality of Hell.  Dr. Hildebrand addresses this fact saying that, "this-worldly tendency can be detected in various pastoral letters, and above all in countless sermons.  One speaks more about the fight against poverty and for social justice and world peace - in a word, more about improving the world - than about offending God by our sins, sanctifying the individual, about heaven and hell, eternity and the hope of eternal union with God in the beatific vision.  The this-worldly tendency emphasizes the earthly future more than eternity..." (This-Worldliness).

The true Christian, in the Creed, proclaims: Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum, et vitam venturi saeculi - 'We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come."  But proponents of the "social gospel" have largely abandoned such a hope and prefer instead to embrace a humanitarian religion and to work for an earthly "utopia."  Robert Hugh Benson, in his classic work entitled The Lord of the World, describes this humanitarian religion:

"Humanitarianism..is becoming an actual religion itself; though anti-supernatural.  It is a pantheism.  Pantheism deifies all nature, God is the world, but naturally, man above all is God since he is the highest expression of nature.  It is a religion devoid of the 'super' natural, because since God is nature itself, there is no longer a distinction between Creator and creature.  The creature is God and hence arbitrator of his own destiny and establishes the moral law for himself....Humanitarianism is a religion devoid of the supernatural.  It is developing a ritual under Freemasonry; it has a creed, 'God is man'; and the rest.  It has, therefore, a real food of a sort to offer religious cravings: it idealizes and yet makes no demands upon the spiritual faculties..." (Introduction, p. xvii).

The Church's mission is not to solve poverty.  In fact, Jesus said that we would always have the poor with us (Mark 14: 7).  The Church's mission is the salvation of souls.  When a crowd of people went searching for Jesus and found Him on the other side of the Sea of Galilee, they said to Him, 'Rabbi, when did you come here?'  And Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.  Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you; for on Him has God the Father set His seal."  The crowd said to Him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?"  And Jesus answered them: "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him who He has sent." (John 6: 25-29).

The work of God is believing in Him whom the Father has sent.  Jesus reveals Himself as the Bread of Life.  He reveals in the synagogue who He is, where He comes from and the good things He has in store for those who believe in Him: faith, the Eucharist and eternal life.

Proponents of the 'social gospel" have forgotten that "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4: 4).  Crippled by distorted humanitarian ideals, such confused souls forget Our Lord's injunction to "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things (food, drink, clothing etc) shall be yours as well." (Matthew 6: 33).

Now, we have this from another blogger regarding Pope Francis' Urbi et Orbi message.

Ask yourself: Does Pope Francis offer an authentic Gospel message or the Social Gospel?

Pope Francis advances a counterfeit charity based on a "live and let live" philosophy

"For generations now, we have denied the food of revealed truth to our
children; and we have permitted the moral polluters to dump their garbage
into our culture with abandon. Why then, are we surprised that ours
has become a stunted and sick society?" - Patrick J. Buchanan

The times are growing very dark.  Everywhere signs are emerging which point to the appearance of the Man of Sin.  A Brazilian heavy metal band is announcing the Age of Antichrist (see here).  We have a Pontiff who preaches a "live and let live" philosophy (see here) which is nothing less than a counterfeit charity.

As Joseph Pronechen explains here, "Live and let live. Be nice. Be nonjudgmental. We must be more tolerant. So the sayings go.

'America, it is said, is suffering from intolerance,' wrote Servant of God Archbishop Fulton Sheen in his prophetic 1931 essay 'A Plea for Intolerance....It is not. It is suffering from tolerance: tolerance of right and wrong, truth and error, virtue and evil, Christ and chaos. Our country is not nearly so overrun with the bigoted as it is overrun with the broad-minded.'

But shouldn’t we be tolerant? Isn’t that charitable?

'Real love involves real hatred,' countered Archbishop Sheen. 'Whoever has lost the power of moral indignation and the urge to drive the buyers and sellers from the temples has also lost a living, fervent love of truth. Charity, then, is not a mild philosophy of live and let live.'

Adds Father Andrew Apostoli of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, EWTN host and vice postulator of Archbishop Sheen’s cause, 'You can’t tolerate evil teachings and distortions of values against God’s laws and natural law to be accepted by society.'

It’s a daily challenge for many when confronted with today’s morally bankrupt political correctness masquerading as real tolerance.


True Tolerance
So how is a Catholic to walk the narrow road of true Christian tolerance with genuine love of neighbor and not stumble along the wide road of politically correct tolerance?
First, 'Love is not tolerance,' Archbishop Sheen wrote. 'Christian love bears evil, but it does not tolerate it. It is not broad-minded about sin.'

Then the archbishop made an important distinction. 'Tolerance applies to the erring, intolerance to the error,' he noted. 'Tolerance does not apply to truth or principles. About these things we must be intolerant.'

We condemn the sin, but not the sinner, as Father Apostoli puts it: “That’s the kind of distinction Bishop Sheen is making. We have to be tolerant toward the person who many be weak, confused, mistaken in good faith or may even be deliberately promoting distortions.”
____________________________________________________________________________

In his book "Apologetics: A Philosophic Defense and Explanation of the Catholic Religion," Monsignor Paul J. Glenn, Ph.D, S.T.D., writes, "Let Catholic apologists..not surrender the cause of Christ...by a milk-and-water philosophy of tolerance. Tolerance is for external conduct; it is not for the mind; the mind cannot tolerate error for an instant." (p. 278). And this because error and truth are not "equally good." In other words, we must always strive to tolerate people [including those who disagree with us; and our worst enemies], but we cannot tolerate error. Differing opinions are not equally valid.

And in his important work "The New Tower of Babel," Dr. Dietrich von Hildebrand explains that, "Although the dethronement of truth manifests itself in the most drastic and radical way in Nazism and Bolshevism, unfortunately many symptoms of this spiritual disease are also to be found in democratic countries. For example, in discussions we sometimes hear the following argument: 'Why should your opinion be more valid than mine? We are equal and have the same rights. It is undemocratic to pretend that your opinion is preferable.' This attitude is extremely significant because it reveals the complete absence of the notion of truth, the tacit elimination of truth as the determining norm for the value of an opinion....The immanent theme of every opinion is truth; the only thing that matters here is whether or not it is in conformity with reality..This brings us to another slogan disclosing the dethronement of truth. It is the often repeated statement 'It is true for me, but it may not be true for you.' The truth of a proposition is essentially objective; a truth which as such would be valid for one person only is a contradiction in terms. A proposition is true or false, but it can never be true for one person and false for another. The statement that a certain action is morally good may be true or false; but if it is true, it can never be false for any other person.." (pp. 56-58).

Some might be tempted to believe that the rejection of error and falsehood [ and here, again, we are speaking of ideas not persons] is something "negative" and even cult-like. But such is simply not the case. Again, Dr. Hildebrand explains: "Perhaps never before has there been as much intellectual fraud as there is today. In the mass media - and even in discussions on university campuses - this intellectual fraud appears chiefly as the manipulation of slogans designed to bluff the hearer or reader, and prevent him from thinking clearly. For a typical example, let us consider how the terms positive and negative are now most often used to discredit the refutation of pernicious errors and to give credit to the most shallow speculations. The intellectual swindlers who play such an important role in public discussions will often denominate as 'positive' propositions and attitudes they favor. They thereby seek to forestall questions of truth and value by enveloping their prejudices in a vague suggestion of 'creativity,' 'originality,' 'openness,' 'unaggressiveness.' This is the device of the cuttlefish. The moment one tries to grasp it, it emits a murky substance to confuse and deceive.
In reality, the popular slogan usages of positive and negative is a distortion of the genuine meanings of the terms. In proper usage they can refer to existence and nonexistence or to value and disvalue. They can refer to desirability and undesirability, or to answers to questions and demands, or to results of tests and inquiries. But when these terms are applied to attitudes of mind or to theses - by way of suggesting an evaluation - an intellectual fraud is committed; for they are then being used to evoke vague associations that distract from the question that alone matters - namely: Is this attitude objectively called for? Or: Is this thesis true?...It is the nature of truth to exclude every contradiction of itself. Thus, the rejection of errors and falsehoods can never be separated from the affirmation of truth. The one implies the other...

To give the impression that affirmations are 'positive' and denials 'negative' is to misrepresent completely the nature of judgments and propositions. This abuse of the language transforms the terms positive and negative into deceptive slogans and thus amounts to an intellectual swindle..." (The Charitable Anathema, pp. 45-47).

We live in evil times.  And at a time when the Church needs sound moral and intellectual guidance, we have a shepherd who appears to subscribe to an Epicurean philosophy.

Strange days.  Evil days.  The diabolical disorientation grows.  The Age of Antichrist nears.

"Unless the overwhelming majority of our citizens have a change of heart, and the courage and strength to implement it, our once-Christian country will succumb to the final agony of moral death.."

Writing for The Maryfaithful some years back, Dr. James Brendan Smith warned that, "Unless the overwhelming majority of our citizens have a change of heart, and the courage and strength to implement it, our once-Christian country will succumb to the final agony of moral death in which we find ourselves today.  The greatest evil of our time is not in the vocal and widely publicized minority who openly defy the laws of God as well as those of our country, but the silent millions who, by their silence, permit these evils to be perpetrated.  With all the sophisticated , scientific apparatus and innovations which have been designed to make life easier for us, we have indulged ourselves more than any other group in history, to the point where we have become a nation of conditioned laboratory animals that respond to the tinkle of a bell.  A Paris designer says 'wear this' and we wear it; the movie reviewer says 'see this film' and we see it; the columnist recommends a certain erotic book, so we read it; the self-proclaimed theologian says, 'contraception under certain circumstances is not wrong,' so we practice it; the eminent physician says, 'Abortion in certain instances is morally right,' so we go along with this erroneous thinking and are indifferent to the passage of laws permitting abortion; the educator says, 'teach the children about sex through sex education programs in schools,' so we allow our children to attend such classes without bothering to find out the composition of these programs, some of which are utterly despicable.  Our goals are comfort, convenience and pleasure.  Let someone else shoulder the responsibility, and let principles be damned...

We have allowed ourselves to be so hopelessly misled that we now condemn, ridicule, and penalize virtue, while rewarding evil.  We have decided that our plan for the universe is better than God's so, while priding ourselves on the scientific achievements which prolong life, we suppress the natural forces that produce life.  In our pitiable self-righteousness we abolish capital punishment for the arch-criminal convicted of horrible atrocities but we murder innocent, defenseless infants in their mother's wombs.  We consigned the principles given to us by Almighty God Himself, on which our Church and our country were founded, to the most remote recesses of our minds..."

Now, things were far better when Dr. Smith penned those words.  Since then, we have witnessed a further explosion of immorality as well as the wicked attempt to justify same-sex acts and same-sex "marriage."  If we love America, if our patriotism is something more than a cheap facade, we must first pray and then work untiringly to create a moral climate where truth and righteousness is at home.  For God's Word [despised by those who have lost their faith and who practice a counterfeit "patriotism") says clearly that, "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach [disgrace] to any people." (Proverbs 14:34).

If we truly love America, we will recall the words of Abraham Lincoln given on March 30, 1863, when he issued a historic Proclamation Appointing a National Fast Day:


"...it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history: that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord: And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisement in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.."All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the nation will be heard on high and answered with blessing no less than the pardon of our national sins and the restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace..."

Lincoln's words are a warning.  Shall we heed them?