More government lies...

Tucker on the government lies following the FBI raid on Trump's home here.

"Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ....Therefore, putting away falsehood, let everyone speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of another." (Ephesians 4: 15, 25).

When communicating with others, we all have certain responsibilities.  For example, we all have a responsibility to submit ourselves to truth when communicating.  Dr. Germain Grisez explains that, “As creatures, human persons are utterly dependent on God.  Their freedom and action presuppose realities whose meaning and value cannot be changed.  Therefore, human fulfillment requires knowing and conforming to the truth, and especially to the truth about what is good.  But since genuine community is cooperation in seeking common fulfillment, it depends on submission to truth. Consequently, since all parties to communication should be open to genuine community, they should submit themselves to truth.  The alternative is pursuing what they want regardless of truth, caring about no common good beyond themselves, and so, while using means of communication, failing to promote genuine community.”

The Eighth Commandment does not say, "You shall not bear false witness unless you have a really good reason."  Rather, the Commandment calls on us to be honest because, as God's children, we are called to imitate our Father who can neither deceive nor be deceived (Job 12: 16).  The Lord hates lying lips (Proverbs 12: 22); He hates a lying tongue (Proverbs 6: 17); He destroys those who speak falsehood (Psalm 5: 6).

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that, "The eighth commandment forbids misrepresenting the truth in our relations with others.  This moral prescription flows from the vocation of the holy people to bear witness to their God who is the truth and wills the truth.  Offenses against the truth express by word or deed a refusal to commit oneself to moral uprightness: they are fundamental infidelities to God and, in this sense, they undermine the foundations of the covenant." (2464).  And again: "Christ's disciples have "put on the new man, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."274 By "putting away falsehood," they are to "put away all malice and all guile and insincerity and envy and all slander." (2475)

How serious is a lie when it is made under oath?

"False witness and perjury. When it is made publicly, a statement contrary to the truth takes on a particular gravity. In court it becomes false witness. When it is under oath, it is perjury. Acts such as these contribute to condemnation of the innocent, exoneration of the guilty, or the increased punishment of the accused. They gravely compromise the exercise of justice and the fairness of judicial decisions." (2476). 

In 2477 the Catechism explains that:  "Respect for the reputation of persons forbids every attitude and word likely to cause them unjust injury. He becomes guilty....of calumny who, by remarks contrary to the truth, harms the reputation of others and gives occasion for false judgments concerning them."

Calumny is a lie told about someone, accusing him of something of which he is not guilty.  It is a sin against charity and justice.  It is more or less serious depending on the importance of the object of the slanderous lie and also on the evils caused to the victim."

The lying media, propaganda servant of the Deep State (read the Democratic Party), isn't interested in respecting the demands of truth.  Those who serve the Father of Lies imitate his example with their lies,  with their calumnies. 

Saying no to lying tyrants

Increasingly, Americans are waking up and standing up to petty tyrants who want to impose their mandates and their deathvax*. See here.

Americans are also waking up to the propaganda of the State-run media and its brainwashing. Not to mention its censorship.

Total control of the means of communication is necessary for a dictatorship, or emerging dictatorship, so that through mass communication the individual may be propagandized and molded into conditioned responses.  It is necessary to destroy the individual's ability to figure things out for himself.  And as this ability atrophies, the individual is inundated with entertainments [think of Juvenal and his comment about bread and circuses] which prevent him from reflecting on the fact that his authorities are deceitful and manipulative.

The dictatorship wants, the dictatorship needs, to reduce the individual to being an apathetic machine devoid of independent, critical thought.  The individual is subjected to a process of "massification" until he or she is completely dependent upon the State.  It was Hitler's boast that: "..sixty thousand men have outwardly become almost a unit, that actually these men are uniform not only in ideas, but that even the facial expression is almost the same.  Look at these laughing eyes, this fanatical enthusiasm, and you will discover how a hundred thousand men in a movement become a single type."

Look around you.  Listen.  And you will hear the conditioned responses of non-thinking automatons, brainwashed by the State-run media.  Such people use the same catch phrases  and merely regurgitate the same useless bile fed to them by the Moloch State. 

Join those of us who are saying "enough"!  

* Deathvax in Massachusetts.  See here.

Lying and homicide: The marks of the Devil and today's Democratic Socialist Party

Writing for The Wanderer last year, Rey Flores noted that, "The Democrats really do not understand the American people at all, at least not the sane ones. It’s probably not so much that they do not understand people like you and me, but that they refuse to try and accept the reality which so justly keeps backfiring on them every time they think they’ve got us beat.

From the ludicrous Russian collusion fairytales to the Supreme Court nominations and hearings, Democrat socialists, which are one and the same, have no agenda to make America better. They have proven to be the party of absolutely nothing other than hate, lies, and spite. Their hatred for outsider President Trump is greater than any love any of them may have ever had — but it’s very doubtful — for our nation and her people.

They are embarrassingly still smarting from the smashing defeat of Hillary Clinton in 2016 and have had no sleep ever since. The news and entertainment media, and the social media tech giants, which are basically extensions of the Democrat National Committee (DNC), have been working overtime, plotting their next move against our president.

Again, remember that when they are going after Trump, they are coming after all of us. This means everyone from millionaire socialist Bernie Sanders, to America-hater Kamala Harris and that sodomite mayor from Indiana who bears an uncanny resemblance to Mad Magazine mascot Alfred E. Neuman. They are all way off the charts.

Then there’s former Vice President Joe Biden who has spent more than half of his adult life in public office and still has the gall to announce that unless he becomes president, the country will continue to fail. It’s exactly people like Biden who have had more than enough chances to lead, but instead they just become another do-nothing D.C. swamp creature.

It’s interesting how the left has declared war against rich, old white guys, yet two of their strongest contenders — which isn’t saying much with that whole bunch — are both rich and old white guys. I know others have pointed this irony out, but I think it’s worth repeating just to rub their hypocritical noses in that steaming hot pile of you-know-what that they just made on the front lawn of our political system.

While it’s fun to watch the leftists make complete fools of themselves, it’s no laughing matter when they are enacting all types of legislation taking abortion extremism into entirely new hellish realms.

What the Democrats are doing now in states like New York, Illinois, and Virginia is taking their rage out on the unborn citizens of our country. The passage of recent infanticide laws in those states further proves that Democrats’ main strategy in the 2020 races is mainly to “out-abort” each other.

As we have all watched in horror, this isn’t just about aborting innocent children in the womb — these bloodthirsty savages on the left have officially crossed the line from abortion into infanticide. Thank God for the leadership in states like Alabama and Georgia who are countering the tide of human sacrifice going on in other parts of our country!

When a nation can rationalize the kinds of abortion and infanticide laws which are worsening at every step Democrats take today, I say it’s time to take the fight to them at every level. Where are the activist judges on our side? Why is it that we have allowed things to get as ugly as they are when it comes to defending and protecting the sanctity of human life?

Since 2016, many Americans have joined the #WalkAway movement which has seen countless citizens walk away from the Democrat left and join the Republican Party. Now just to make it clear, I’m not a big fan of political parties, but in today’s political climate, I think it’s easy to see which side of the aisle we need to stand on as Catholics and other God-fearing Christians.
2020 is right around the corner. If you think it’s a long way off and that we still have time to be complacent and still win, you are sorely mistaken. Now is the time to make sure that you and everyone who sides with us is registered to vote. Now is the time to start raising awareness about the dreadful future that awaits us if these crooked Democrats steal the election.

Get Busy!"

Lying and homicide, the marks of the Devil (See John 8). These two marks are enshrined within today's Democratic Party.

The Moloch State, which the Democratic Party serves and which is being prepared for the arrival of the Man of Sin, will not tolerate Christian opposition to abortion and homosexuality.    As Fr. Miceli explains, "..a religious pagan state that claims total jurisdiction over man is a state directed by demons through the actions of rulers who justify their tyranny by having recourse to their Moloch god.  Such a state provides its subjects not with law and justice, but with order - a man-centered, oppressive, demonic order.  It begets the totalitarian state.  The modern world everywhere is succumbing to the power of such a Moloch state.  For secular, rational and occult humanism denies that there is any really transcendent, higher-than-human voice of authority that cares for man.  Secular and occult humanists are at one in denying the true God.  They are at one in divinizing man, the secularist through science, the occultist through demonic powers.  Both seek power.  The secularist seeks political power in the name of humanity; the occultist seeks the power of the underworld in the name of humanity.  Both seek power for their own benefit.  And both eventually come together to create the super-instrument of power, the modern omnicompetent state which claims absolute authority over the life and death of each citizen."

We know what we have to do.  As Mr. Flores has said, "get busy."  Pray, witness to the truth of the Gospels, resist the Democratic Party with its Satanic platform. And those pseudo-Catholics who pretend at serving Christ while voting for the Party of the Devil.

Lying and homicide: The marks of today's Democratic Party

Writing for The Wanderer, Rey Flores notes that, "The Democrats really do not understand the American people at all, at least not the sane ones. It’s probably not so much that they do not understand people like you and me, but that they refuse to try and accept the reality which so justly keeps backfiring on them every time they think they’ve got us beat.

From the ludicrous Russian collusion fairytales to the Supreme Court nominations and hearings, Democrat socialists, which are one and the same, have no agenda to make America better. They have proven to be the party of absolutely nothing other than hate, lies, and spite. Their hatred for outsider President Trump is greater than any love any of them may have ever had — but it’s very doubtful — for our nation and her people.

They are embarrassingly still smarting from the smashing defeat of Hillary Clinton in 2016 and have had no sleep ever since. The news and entertainment media, and the social media tech giants, which are basically extensions of the Democrat National Committee (DNC), have been working overtime, plotting their next move against our president.
Again, remember that when they are going after Trump, they are coming after all of us. This means everyone from millionaire socialist Bernie Sanders, to America-hater Kamala Harris and that sodomite mayor from Indiana who bears an uncanny resemblance to Mad Magazine mascot Alfred E. Neuman. They are all way off the charts.

Then there’s former Vice President Joe Biden who has spent more than half of his adult life in public office and still has the gall to announce that unless he becomes president, the country will continue to fail. It’s exactly people like Biden who have had more than enough chances to lead, but instead they just become another do-nothing D.C. swamp creature.

It’s interesting how the left has declared war against rich, old white guys, yet two of their strongest contenders — which isn’t saying much with that whole bunch — are both rich and old white guys. I know others have pointed this irony out, but I think it’s worth repeating just to rub their hypocritical noses in that steaming hot pile of you-know-what that they just made on the front lawn of our political system.
While it’s fun to watch the leftists make complete fools of themselves, it’s no laughing matter when they are enacting all types of legislation taking abortion extremism into entirely new hellish realms.

What the Democrats are doing now in states like New York, Illinois, and Virginia is taking their rage out on the unborn citizens of our country. The passage of recent infanticide laws in those states further proves that Democrats’ main strategy in the 2020 races is mainly to “out-abort” each other.

As we have all watched in horror, this isn’t just about aborting innocent children in the womb — these bloodthirsty savages on the left have officially crossed the line from abortion into infanticide. Thank God for the leadership in states like Alabama and Georgia who are countering the tide of human sacrifice going on in other parts of our country!

When a nation can rationalize the kinds of abortion and infanticide laws which are worsening at every step Democrats take today, I say it’s time to take the fight to them at every level. Where are the activist judges on our side? Why is it that we have allowed things to get as ugly as they are when it comes to defending and protecting the sanctity of human life?

Since 2016, many Americans have joined the #WalkAway movement which has seen countless citizens walk away from the Democrat left and join the Republican Party. Now just to make it clear, I’m not a big fan of political parties, but in today’s political climate, I think it’s easy to see which side of the aisle we need to stand on as Catholics and other God-fearing Christians.
2020 is right around the corner. If you think it’s a long way off and that we still have time to be complacent and still win, you are sorely mistaken. Now is the time to make sure that you and everyone who sides with us is registered to vote. Now is the time to start raising awareness about the dreadful future that awaits us if these crooked Democrats steal the election.

Get Busy!"

Lying and homicide, the marks of the Devil (See John 8). These two marks are enshrined within today's Democratic Party.

The Moloch State, which the Democratic Party serves and which is being prepared for the arrival of the Man of Sin, will not tolerate Christian opposition to abortion and homosexuality.    As Fr. Miceli explains, "..a religious pagan state that claims total jurisdiction over man is a state directed by demons through the actions of rulers who justify their tyranny by having recourse to their Moloch god.  Such a state provides its subjects not with law and justice, but with order - a man-centered, oppressive, demonic order.  It begets the totalitarian state.  The modern world everywhere is succumbing to the power of such a Moloch state.  For secular, rational and occult humanism denies that there is any really transcendent, higher-than-human voice of authority that cares for man.  Secular and occult humanists are at one in denying the true God.  They are at one in divinizing man, the secularist through science, the occultist through demonic powers.  Both seek power.  The secularist seeks political power in the name of humanity; the occultist seeks the power of the underworld in the name of humanity.  Both seek power for their own benefit.  And both eventually come together to create the super-instrument of power, the modern omnicompetent state which claims absolute authority over the life and death of each citizen."

We know what we have to do.  As Mr. Flores has said, "get busy."  Pray, witness to the truth of the Gospels, resist the Democratic Party with its Satanic platform.

The Athol Daily News: Fake News to Trump bash

In an editorial entitled, "Taking children away from their parents unforgivable," The Athol Daily News engages in fake news, asserting that: " Neither the Obama nor George W. Bush administrations separated migrant children from their parents, and if families were detained at the border, they were held together."

Really?  As The Daily Caller notes:

"The media and political class become more and more outraged over the Trump administration’s decision to detain and prosecute immigrants illegally crossing the border.

Lost in the debate is any acknowledgment that President Obama’s administration also used detention facilities.

Current U.S. immigration laws, when enforced, have the consequence of temporarily separating adults who arrive with children into separate detention facilities in order to prosecute the adults.

The policy of prosecuting immigrants for crossing the border illegally has been in place for multiple administrations. The Obama administration prosecuted half a million illegal immigrants and similarly separated families in the process. So did the Bush administration.

The Athol Daily News has long had a bias in favor of the Democratic Party and in opposition to Conservative principles.  The paper routinely bashes President Trump.

Residents of Athol who are Republican or who support President Trump should simply boycott the paper.

Francis caught in a lie..

Breaking from Fox News:

VATICAN CITY –  Pope Francis received a victim's letter in 2015 that graphically detailed sexual abuse at the hands of a priest and a cover-up by Chilean church authorities, contradicting the pope's recent insistence that no victims had come forward, the letter's author and members of Francis' own sex- abuse commission have told The Associated Press.

The fact that Francis received the eight-page letter, obtained by the AP, challenges his insistence that he has "zero tolerance" for sex abuse and cover-ups. It also calls into question his stated empathy with abuse survivors, compounding the most serious crisis of his five-year papacy.

The scandal exploded last month when Francis' trip to South America was marred by protests over his vigorous defense of Bishop Juan Barros, who is accused by victims of covering up the abuse by the Rev. Fernando Karadima. During the trip, Francis callously dismissed accusations against Barros as "slander," seemingly unaware that victims had placed him at the scene of Karadima's crimes.


On the plane home, confronted by reporters, the pope said: "You, in all good will, tell me that there are victims, but I haven't seen any, because they haven't come forward."

But members of the pope's Commission for the Protection of Minors say that in April 2015, they sent a delegation to Rome specifically to hand-deliver a letter to the pope about Barros. The letter from Juan Carlos Cruz detailed the abuse, kissing and fondling he says he suffered at Karadima's hands, which he said Barros and others witnessed and ignored.


Four members of the commission met with Francis' top abuse adviser, Cardinal Sean O'Malley, explained their objections to Francis' recent appointment of Barros as a bishop in southern Chile, and gave him the letter to deliver to Francis.

__________________

And so Francis the "humble," Francis the "merciful," is lying.

Surprised?

This is racism? Democrats need to stop lying...

A call to stop the politics of personal destruction here.

Francis: Our Lady of Fatima was lying or mistaken...

Francis is at it again.  This time he is implying that the Mother of God at Fatima was either lying or mistaken.  He asserted in an interview that:

"The smallest sins are the sins of the flesh, because the flesh is weak...The most dangerous sins are those of the mind."

But Our Lady of Fatima said that: "More souls go to Hell because of sins of the flesh than for any other
reason."  See here.


Sister Lucia, the last living Fatima seer, said this refers primarily to sins against
chastity, also called sins of impurity. The reason for this statement is not because sins against chastity are the most grievous sins, but the most common and, as Sr Lucia stated,
"because of conscience, " since sins of impurity are less likely to be repented of than other sins.

Why? 1) because the sense of injustice committed, which is the primary stimulus to
repent of one's sins, is not strongly felt when engaging in them, with the exception of
adultery;

2) There is a greater sense of shame when committing certain impure acts and hence greater difficulty confessing them in the sacrament of confession, or even repenting of them in one's heart;

3) Sexual activity of all kinds is presented by our post-Christian —
even anti-Christian — popular culture as natural and good, and sexual abstinence is even taught to be unhealthy. The sixth commandment, relating to chastity, has always been
called "the difficult commandment." Today, with pornography everywhere and women and girls dressing more immodestly than ever, it can almost be called "the impossible
commandment." However, Jesus assures us: "What is impossible with men is possible with God." (Lk 18:27) We may add that all who invoke the Blessed Virgin Mary for help in
overcoming sins of impurity, will receive the grace to do so, as she herself has revealed to St Bridget of Sweden and various other saints. And those who strive to live chaste lives know from experience, when sins of impurity are humbly repented of and confessed, a
great burden is removed from our consciences, and we experience that peace of soul that the world and carnal indulgence cannot give.

Clearly, Francis is repudiating the clear and unambiguous message from Our Lady of Fatima. For him, "sins below the belt" aren't really that serious.  They are "the smallest sins."

There was government surveillance of Trump and his team...

As noted here:

"Members of the Donald Trump transition team, possibly including Trump himself, were under U.S. government surveillance following November’s presidential election, House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) told reporters Wednesday."

The so-called "mainstream media" is nothing more than a network of propagandists and manipulators who have succumbed to fanaticism.  In their zeal to manipulate the citizenry, they have abandoned any semblance of fairness and objectivity.  See here.

Then candidate and now President Donald Trump and his team were surveilled by the Obama administration.  See here.

But don't expect an apology from the propagandists and manipulators.

Father Jose Antonio Bermudez, Saint Mary's Parish in Orange and CCHD

In a parish bulletin from Saint Mary's Parish in Orange, Massachusetts back in November of 2013, which may be found here, we read:

"Collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human

Development (CCHD) needs your help. CCHD was founded to end the cycle of poverty throughout America by funding organizations that help individuals help themselves. With a tradition of improving education, housing, and community economic development,
CCHD continues to make a positive impact in communities nationwide."

The fact that this promotion of CCHD appeared in the Saint Mary's Parish bulletin with the blessing of the former "pastor," Father Jose Antonio Bermudez, only serves to highlight the fact that the priest is duplicitous and given over to the demonic.

We read here (from Reform CCHD Now):

"Since 2009, we have been working to shine the light on the problem of Catholic funds going to organizations that promote abortion, birth control, homosexuality and even Marxism."

Wikipedia notes:

"CCHD has at times been subject at times to criticism, with allegations that some CCHD-funded organizations were promoting abortion, contraception and radical politics, and that the CCHD was a force of internal corruption within the USCCB.."

When I informed Father Jose Antonio Bermudez about its promotion of dissenting groups and Marxism, he responded (in November of 2011):

I still have the email correspondence from this priest-liar, who maintained a facade of holiness while promoting CCHD.  Even after admitting there was reason for concern and promising that "the material has been removed from the Church building," he continued to promote CCHD after I left the parish in 2011.

Not long ago, I returned to the parish and was ostracized by Father Bermudez and his inner circle.  Now I can better understand why.

The Catechism, speaking of lying, has this to say:

2482 "A lie consists in speaking a falsehood with the intention of deceiving." The Lord denounces lying as the work of the devil: "You are of your father the devil, . . . there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

2483 Lying is the most direct offense against the truth. To lie is to speak or act against the truth in order to lead someone into error. By injuring man's relation to truth and to his neighbor, a lie offends against the fundamental relation of man and of his word to the Lord.

2484 The gravity of a lie is measured against the nature of the truth it deforms, the circumstances, the intentions of the one who lies, and the harm suffered by its victims. If a lie in itself only constitutes a venial sin, it becomes mortal when it does grave injury to the virtues of justice and charity.

2485 By its very nature, lying is to be condemned. It is a profanation of speech, whereas the purpose of speech is to communicate known truth to others. The deliberate intention of leading a neighbor into error by saying things contrary to the truth constitutes a failure in justice and charity. The culpability is greater when the intention of deceiving entails the risk of deadly consequences for those who are led astray.

2486 Since it violates the virtue of truthfulness, a lie does real violence to another. It affects his ability to know, which is a condition of every judgment and decision. It contains the seed of discord and all consequent evils. Lying is destructive of society; it undermines trust among men and tears apart the fabric of social relationships

I'm not surprised that Father Bermudez, who has given himself over to lying while promoting the CCHD, would treat me with contempt.  Every liar hates to be exposed.

Pray for this deeply troubled priest and a parish which has been, under his failed leadership, failing miserably.

Related reading: Obama thanked CCHD for helping him become president.  See here.

Si palam res est, repetitio injuria non est...

In an article which may be found here, Cardinal Christoph Schonborn is quoted as having said that, "The truth will set you free...Without the truth, one cannot experience Jesus’ mercy....But it must be truth in its proper form. One must speak the truth without injury.”

Really?  Here again is the lie that we must, at all costs,  avoid a "negative polemic."

Dr. Dietrich von Hildebrand refutes this intellectual sophistry.  He writes, "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....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).

Si palam res est, repetitio injuria non est: "To say what everybody knows is no injury."

In one of his last homilies, Archbishop Oscar Romero, the martyred Archbishop of San Salvador [whom Francis claims to admire], said: "A preaching that does not point out sin is not the preaching of the gospel. A preaching that makes sinners feel good so that they become entrenched in their sinful state, betrays the gospel's call. A preaching that does not discomfit sinners but lulls them in their sin leaves Zebulun and Naphtali in the shadow of death. A preaching that awakens, a preaching that enlightens -- as when a light turned on awakens and of course annoys a sleeper -- that is the preaching of Christ, calling, "wake up! Be converted!" this is the church's authentic preaching. Naturally, such preaching must meet conflict, must spoil what is miscalled prestige, must disturb, must be persecuted. It cannot get along with the powers of darkness and sin."

We've had enough of a preaching which leaves Zebulun and Naphtali in the shadow of death.  We've had enough of a Cotton-Candy Catholicism which offers Chicken-Soup Homilies and asinine theatrics rather than the solid meat of sound preaching and liturgical reverence.  Sadly, so many of our priests haven't caught on to this.  And so they continue to spoon-feed us the unsatisfying pablum.

The time for lying is over.  I have been saying this for years.  Back in 2009, Archbishop Charles Chaput noted that, "40 years of American Catholic complacency and poor formation are bearing exactly the fruit we should have expected...We can't talk about following St. Paul and converting our culture until we sober up and get honest about what we've allowed ourselves to become.  We need to stop lying to each other..."

The lying must stop.  For this to happen, we need priests and Bishops who fear God more than they do men.  Cowards will not lead us out of the valley of death.  Only shepherds who have the spiritual strength, the Cardinal Gift of Fortitude, to brave the risk of worldly criticism, will be able to lead the American Catholic Church out of the valley of the Culture of Death and back on the road to the Civilization of Love which Pope John Paul II spoke of so often.

Why have so many priests succumbed to fear?  Why is it that their preaching no longer points out sin?  Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange provides us with an answer:


"The reason for this is not difficult to find.  A sermon is the result of the combined effort of all the priest's powers; it reveals his entire person; it is his struggle against the vices of the surrounding world."  In other words, if the preaching is unsound, it is because the priest's spiritual life is unsound.  Fr. Lagrange continues, "Everything in the priest cooperates in his preaching - study, reflection, his powers to compose and revise, the activity of his intellect, his imagination, his memory, his feelings, his voice.  Therefore, when he preaches, the priest stands exposed for all to study; some will be attracted, others will not.  Some will accept what he says, others will simply criticize.  So if the priest approaches his task from the human angle, he will say to himself: 'I cannot afford to lose my reputation; people of weight in the parish who take offense easily must be spared their feelings and not provoked; I must proceed warily so as not to incur criticism.'  In that way Christian eloquence is invaded by a profane eloquence in which the preacher looks after his own interests, not the glory of God or the saving of souls." (The Priest In Union With Christ, p. 156).

I've never been a fan of lying.  And this because Our Lord tells us that the Devil is the Father of all lies (John 8:44),  If it's lying you want, this Blog is not for you.  Forty years of lying has wrought so much damage to the American Catholic Church.  Archbishop Chaput is right, we are merely reaping the fruit of what we've planted.  St. Paul tells us that, "...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.." (Galatians 5: 22).  But what fruit have we witnessed in the American Catholic Church?  The Church has been infected with dry-rot as so many Catholics have succumbed to the works of the flesh.

We need heroic shepherds.  Men who, like Blessed Miguel Pro, S.J., are willing to give their very lives for the Catholic Church and her teaching.

If anyone is inclined to listen to the ramblings of this faithless Cardinal, I would remind them that this is the same confused individual who asserted that, "We should give more consideration to the quality of homosexual relationships."  See here.

The day is fast approaching when the haters of God will demand that Christians be killed for opposing their immorality

In his Encyclical Arcanum Divinae (On Christian Marriage), Pope Leo XIII wrote, "...Our wish is rather to speak about that family union of which marriage is the beginning and the foundation. The true origin of marriage, venerable brothers, is well known to all. Though revilers of the Christian faith refuse to acknowledge the never-interrupted doctrine of the Church on this subject, and have long striven to destroy the testimony of all nations and of all times, they have nevertheless failed not only to quench the powerful light of truth, but even to lessen it. We record what is to all known, and cannot be doubted by any, that God, on the sixth day of creation, having made man from the slime of the earth, and having breathed into his face the breath of life, gave him a companion, whom He miraculously took from the side of Adam when he was locked in sleep. God thus, in His most far-reaching foresight, decreed that this husband and wife should be the natural beginning of the human race, from whom it might be propagated and preserved by an unfailing fruitfulness throughout all futurity of time. And this union of man and woman, that it might answer more fittingly to the infinite wise counsels of God, even from the beginning manifested chiefly two most excellent properties - deeply sealed, as it were, and signed upon it-namely, unity and perpetuity. From the Gospel we see clearly that this doctrine was declared and openly confirmed by the divine authority of Jesus Christ. He bore witness to the Jews and to His Apostles that marriage, from its institution, should exist between two only, that is, between one man and one woman; that of two they are made, so to say, one flesh; and that the marriage bond is by the will of God so closely and strongly made fast that no man may dissolve it or render it asunder. "For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be in one flesh. Therefore now they are not two, but one flesh. What, therefore, God bath joined together, let no man put asunder." (No. 5).


Men might actually believe that they have the right to change the definition of marriage, but this is merely symptomatic of an illusion which is rooted in pride. As such, it represents a form of insanity. Men are not free to change God's eternal law to suit their own pleasures. Recall the teaching of Pope Pius XI in his famous Encyclical "On Christian Marriage":

"First of all, let this remain the unchanged and unshakable foundation: Matrimony was neither established nor restored by man but by God. It has been protected, strengthened, and elevated not by the laws of men, but by those of God, the author of human nature, and of Christ who restored that same nature. Consequently, these laws cannot be changed according to men's pleasure, nor by any agreement of the spouses themselves that is contrary to these laws. This is the teaching of Sacred Scripture (see Gen 1:27; 2:22f.; Mt 19:3ff.; Eph 5:23ff.); this is the constant, universal tradition of the Church; this is the solemn definition of the holy Council of Trent, which in the words of Sacred Scripture teaches and reasserts that the permanent and indissoluble bond of matrimony, its unity and strength, have their origin in God."

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nos. 1603-1605, explain marriage in the order of creation:

"The intimate community of life and love which constitutes the married state has been established by the Creator and endowed by him with its own proper laws. . . . God himself is the author of marriage." The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator. Marriage is not a purely human institution despite the many variations it may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures, social structures, and spiritual attitudes. These differences should not cause us to forget its common and permanent characteristics. Although the dignity of this institution is not transparent everywhere with the same clarity, some sense of the greatness of the matrimonial union exists in all cultures. "The well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life."

God who created man out of love also calls him to love the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being. For man is created in the image and likeness of God who is himself love. Since God created him man and woman, their mutual love becomes an image of the absolute and unfailing love with which God loves man. It is good, very good, in the Creator's eyes. And this love which God blesses is intended to be fruitful and to be realized in the common work of watching over creation: "And God blessed them, and God said to them: 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.'"

Holy Scripture affirms that man and woman were created for one another: "It is not good that the man should be alone." The woman, "flesh of his flesh," his equal, his nearest in all things, is given to him by God as a "helpmate"; she thus represents God from whom comes our help. "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh." The Lord himself shows that this signifies an unbreakable union of their two lives by recalling what the plan of the Creator had been "in the beginning": "So they are no longer two, but one flesh."

Again, we may choose to reject these truths. But in so doing, we lose our grip on sanity as it were. In the words of the late (great) F.J. Sheed:

"..if we see anything - ourself or some other man, or the Universe as a whole or any part of it - without at the same time seeing God holding it there, then we are seeing it all wrong. If we saw a coat hanging on a wall and did not realize that it was held there by a hook, we should not be living in the real world at all, but in some fantastic world of our own in which coats defied the law of gravity and hung on walls by their own power. Similarly if we see things in existence and do not in the same act see that they are held in existence by God, then equally we are living in a fantastic world, not the real world. Seeing God everywhere and all things upheld by Him [such as marriage, my note] is not a matter of sanctity; but of plain sanity, because God is everywhere and all things are upheld by Him...To overlook God's presence is not simply to be irreligious; it is a kind of insanity, like overlooking anything else that is actually there." (Theology and Sanity, p.6).

Americans have, for the most part, embraced this insanity.  It is a madness which results from living in grave sin. Increasingly, the mind of those who reject God's Commandments becomes immersed in darkness until such point that they can no longer hear or discern the Word of God.

Having embraced a Theology of Lust, these haters of God will soon turn to violence.  The day is coming when anyone who opposes their filth will be killed.

Lying and homicide are the two chief marks of the Devil and those who serve him.  Having embraced the lie (Romans 1:25), servants of the Father of lies will soon embrace murder.

Brian Williams and Hillary Clinton have demonstrated their contempt for the American people

The New Orleans Advocate reports:

"NBC News anchor Brian Williams, who apologized on the air Wednesday night for lying about an experience covering the Iraq War, is now facing scrutiny over his gripping accounts of Hurricane Katrina, the disaster that burnished his nightly news bona fides almost a decade ago.

Williams’ account of seeing a body float by in the French Quarter — which remained largely dry — and even a claim of catching dysentery from drinking Katrina floodwaters have raised eyebrows among bloggers and elsewhere since he took it on the chin this week over a claim that he rode in a helicopter that was downed by a rocket-propelled grenade in Iraq."

Jesse Walker, at his Hit and Run Blog, recalls a story which some of us conservatives remember all too well. He notes that, "Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on [March 25, 2008, that] she made a mistake when she claimed she had come under sniper fire during a trip to Bosnia in 1996 while she was first lady.

In a speech in Washington and in several interviews last week Clinton described how she and her daughter, Chelsea, ran for cover under hostile fire shortly after her plane landed in Tuzla, Bosnia.

Several news outlets disputed the claim, and a video of the trip showed Clinton walking from the plane, accompanied by her daughter. They were greeted by a young girl in a small ceremony on the tarmac and there was no sign of tension or any danger.

"I did make a mistake in talking about it, you know, the last time and recently," Clinton told reporters in Pennsylvania where she was campaigning before the state's April 22 primary. She said she had a "different memory" about the landing.

In her speech, Clinton had claimed: "I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."

Lying to promote one's own image and to manipulate others.  And this from two individuals who spend their lives in the pursuit of influencing public opinion.

In Man Against Mass Society, Gabriel Marcel writes, "In spite of everything that can be said to the contrary, is not the real and deep purpose of propaganda after all that of reducing men to a condition in which they lose all capacity for individual reaction? In other words, whether the men in control of propaganda intend this or not, is it not of the very nature of propaganda to degrade those whose attitudes it seeks to shape? And is it possible to be unaware of the fact that propaganda presupposes, in these men in control, a fundamental contempt for the rest of the human race? If we really attach any value at all to what a man is in himself, to his authentic nature, how can we assume the responsibility of passing him through the flattening-out machinery of propaganda?

What we ought to enquire into, however, is the nature of this contempt. There are, of course, fine shades of distinction that analysis ought to bring out: but is there any essential difference between the attitude of someone like Goebbels, for instance, and that of a chief of Communist propaganda? In both cases we are faced with a radical and cynical refusal to recognize the competence of individual judgment, an impatience with what appears, from this point of view, the intolerable presumptuousness of the individual. It is also broadly noteworthy that even the sense of truth cannot fail gradually and unconsciously to be destroyed in those who assume the task of manipulating opinion. It would require a very uncommon degree of simple-mindedness in a professional propagandist for him to remain very long convinced that his truth was the whole truth. Such simple-mindedness is only conceivable in a fanatic." (pp. 50-51).

But fanaticism is precisely what we find in the Democratic Party and those liberals who pretty much dominate every corner of the mainstream media which long ago buried any remains of journalistic integrity and objectivity.

This is nothing less than a moral tragedy. When communicating with others, we all have certain responsibilities.  For example, we all have a responsibility to submit ourselves to truth when communicating.  Dr. Germain Grisez explains that, “As creatures, human persons are utterly dependent on God.  Their freedom and action presuppose realities whose meaning and value cannot be changed.  Therefore, human fulfillment requires knowing and conforming to the truth, and especially to the truth about what is good.  But since genuine community is cooperation in seeking common fulfillment, it depends on submission to truth. Consequently, since all parties to communication should be open to genuine community, they should submit themselves to truth.  The alternative is pursuing what they want regardless of truth, caring about no common good beyond themselves, and so, while using means of communication, failing to promote genuine community.”

This is exactly what Brian Williams and Hillary Clinton have shown.  They care not so much for the common good as they do for their own good and their desire to control and manipulate others.

Douglas Pochini and calumny

'Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ....Therefore, putting away falsehood, let everyone speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of another." (Ephesians 4: 15, 25).



When communicating with others, we all have certain responsibilities.  For example, we all have a responsibility to submit ourselves to truth when communicating.  Dr. Germain Grisez explains that, “As creatures, human persons are utterly dependent on God.  Their freedom and action presuppose realities whose meaning and value cannot be changed.  Therefore, human fulfillment requires knowing and conforming to the truth, and especially to the truth about what is good.  But since genuine community is cooperation in seeking common fulfillment, it depends on submission to truth. Consequently, since all parties to communication should be open to genuine community, they should submit themselves to truth.  The alternative is pursuing what they want regardless of truth, caring about no common good beyond themselves, and so, while using means of communication, failing to promote genuine community.”

The Eighth Commandment does not say, "You shall not bear false witness unless you have a really good reason."  Rather, the Commandment calls on us to be honest because, as God's children, we are called to imitate our Father who can neither deceive nor be deceived (Job 12: 16).  The Lord hates lying lips (Proverbs 12: 22); He hates a lying tongue (Proverbs 6: 17); He destroys those who speak falsehood (Psalm 5: 6).

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that, "The eighth commandment forbids misrepresenting the truth in our relations with others.  This moral prescription flows from the vocation of the holy people to bear witness to their God who is the truth and wills the truth.  Offenses against the truth express by word or deed a refusal to commit oneself to moral uprightness: they are fundamental infidelities to God and, in this sense, they undermine the foundations of the covenant." (2464).  And again: "Christ's disciples have "put on the new man, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."²⁷⁴ By "putting away falsehood," they are to "put away all malice and all guile and insincerity and envy and all slander." (2475)

How serious is a lie when it is made under oath?


"False witness and perjury. When it is made publicly, a statement contrary to the truth takes on a particular gravity. In court it becomes false witness. When it is under oath, it is perjury. Acts such as these contribute to condemnation of the innocent, exoneration of the guilty, or the increased punishment of the accused. They gravely compromise the exercise of justice and the fairness of judicial decisions." (2476). 

In 2477 the Catechism explains that:  "Respect for the reputation of persons forbids every attitude and word likely to cause them unjust injury. He becomes guilty....of calumny who, by remarks contrary to the truth, harms the reputation of others and gives occasion for false judgments concerning them."

Calumny is a lie told about someone, accusing him of something of which he is not guilty.  It is a sin against charity and justice.  It is more or less serious depending on the importance of the object of the slanderous lie and also on the evils caused to the victim.  In my last post, see here, I noted how Kaliko Estates, LLC, a landlord company, is seeking to evict my mother because of her legitimate complaints regarding maintenance issues as well as being billed for water and sewer services in violation of Massachusetts law.  The Property Manager has falsely accused my mother - under oath no less - of pounding on walls. 

As part of his response to her age discrimination complaint, Mr. Pochini asserted (under oath) that former tenants who lived next to my mother moved out because she was pounding on walls.  Unfortunately for Mr. Pochini, in another section of his response, he admits - without realizing the contradiction in his testimony - that he received a phone call that these tenants were moving out, that he had no advance knowledge of this fact, and that they were behind in their rent.  In other words, they were attempting to flee their unit because they were behind in their rent!

It should be noted that these tenants never called the police to complain about noise nor did they contact this property manager.

Later in his response, he asserts that, "In April of 2013 Kaliko Estates LLC proceeded to lease Unit 10 to a single woman, living alone, and occasionally having her children and grand-children over to visit.  The 'Wall Pounding' became worse....Shortly after her move in, I received a call from our new tenant that she could no longer live under this stress and wanted to move out and break her lease.."

Again, this woman has never called the police.  In fact, she invited my mother to a party last September!  A strange thing for someone to do if they have complained about incessant noise and are so stressed that they want to break their lease!  Later last year, at Christmas, the tenant in Unit 10 sent my mother a Christmas card (actually including my name as well) and presented her with a gift (see attached photos).


Those of us who haven't lost our faith and who battle it out in the trenches know full well that all is not well.  "Erit enim tempus, cum sanam doctrinam non sustinebunt, sed ad sua desideria coacervabunt sibi magistros, prurientes auribus. Et a veritate quidem auditum avertent, ad fabulas autem convertentur." (2 Timothy 4: 3-4).

And that time is now. New Age philosophies are spreading throughout the Church. Homosexuality and lesbianism are celebrated. Even in some Catholic parishes. Intoxicated with their own knowledge and learning, those who have succumbed to friendship with the world tell us that we must leave behind the "old complexes" and reject 'backward thinking' so that we may evolve into more "civilized" beings who may then build an earthly paradise. These misguided souls are not interested in knowledge for the sake of truth, but for power and possession.

We live in a society that is turned on its head; A society in which good becomes evil and evil becomes good.  Abortion, the killing of innocents, is extolled as a good.  Homosexuality, a sin which cries to Heaven for vengeance, is called "gay," merely an "alternative lifestyle."  Catholics who stand with the Magisterium are deemed to be harmful to the community while those who dissent from Church teaching are praised and given top posts within the Church. 

The words of Isaiah condemn our sin-sick society:

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who change darkness into light, and light into darkness, who change bitter into sweet, and sweet into bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own sight, and prudent in their own esteem!" (Isaiah 5: 20, 21).

The man who started Kaliko Estates believed that "To whom much is given, much will be required." (Luke 12: 48).  See here.  I wonder if those who now run the company he started also believe this? 

Update: The retaliatory eviction failed.  The landlord agreed to waive use and occupancy for the summer.  It was revealed during the May 9th hearing that Kaliko Estates had been violating Massachusetts security deposit law for three and a half years.

Kaliko Estates Unit 10

 

The Worcester Diocese and its fruits....

As Protect the Pope has noted, "In 2005 Fr John Dear wrote an article that promoted dissent on the ordination of women, and the authority of the hierarchical Church."

Small surprise then that the Worcester Diocese, which has become a moral sewer, would publish an article written by Tony Magliano (in this week's "Catholic" Free Press) which complains that Fr. Dear has not received "the full support from his superiors for his prophetic ministry."

Magliano quotes Fr. Dear as saying that Archbishop Michael Sheehan of Santa Fe, New Mexico removed his priestly faculties simply because of his prayer vigils for peace at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Lying is a sin Father.

The "Catholic" Free Press, on its masthead, cites John 8:32 to the effect that the truth shall set us free.  One has to marvel at the newspaper's refusal to offer its readers the fullness of Catholic truth or even basic honesty.  Margaret Russell and her crew should read Inter Mirifica (especially Nos. 14, 15).

Meanwhile the Associated Press is reporting that:

"The longtime pastor of a Lancaster Roman Catholic church has been placed on leave while an investigation into a 40-year-old allegation of sexual misconduct involving a child is conducted.

Worcester Bishop Robert McManus announced to parishioners at Immaculate Conception on Sunday that the Rev. Edward Lettic had been placed on leave because ‘‘a credible allegation of misconduct.’’

Lettic has been pastor of Immaculate Conception since 1993 and has served as a priest in the diocese since he was ordained in 1973. McManus says it is the first allegation of misconduct against Lettic.

Lettic has also worked at churches in Worcester, Douglas and Auburn.

The Worcester district attorney’s office is reviewing the allegation.

No one answered the phone at the church and Lettic could not be reached."

Folks, in one of his last homilies, Archbishop Oscar Romero, the martyred Archbishop of San Salvador, said: "A preaching that does not point out sin is not the preaching of the gospel. A preaching that makes sinners feel good so that they become entrenched in their sinful state, betrays the gospel's call. A preaching that does not discomfit sinners but lulls them in their sin leaves Zebulun and Naphtali in the shadow of death. A preaching that awakens, a preaching that enlightens -- as when a light turned on awakens and of course annoys a sleeper -- that is the preaching of Christ, calling, "wake up! Be converted!" this is the church's authentic preaching. Naturally, such preaching must meet conflict, must spoil what is miscalled prestige, must disturb, must be persecuted. It cannot get along with the powers of darkness and sin."


We've had enough of a preaching which leaves Zebulun and Naphtali in the shadow of death.  We've had enough of a Cotton-Candy Catholicism which offers Chicken-Soup Homilies and asinine theatrics rather than the solid meat of sound preaching and liturgical reverence.  Sadly, so many of our priests haven't caught on to this.  And so they continue to spoon-feed us the unsatisfying pablum.

The time for lying is over.  I have been saying this for years.  Back in 2009, Archbishop Charles Chaput noted that, "40 years of American Catholic complacency and poor formation are bearing exactly the fruit we should have expected...We can't talk about following St. Paul and converting our culture until we sober up and get honest about what we've allowed ourselves to become.  We need to stop lying to each other..." (See here).

The lying must stop.  For this to happen, we need priests and Bishops who fear God more than they do men.  Cowards will not lead us out of the valley of death.  Only shepherds who have the spiritual strength, the Cardinal Gift of Fortitude, to brave the risk of worldly criticism, will be able to lead the American Catholic Church out of the valley of the Culture of Death and back on the road to the Civilization of Love which Pope John Paul II spoke of so often.

Why have so many priests succumbed to fear?  Why is it that their preaching no longer points out sin?  Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange provides us with an answer:


"The reason for this is not difficult to find.  A sermon is the result of the combined effort of all the priest's powers; it reveals his entire person; it is his struggle against the vices of the surrounding world."  In other words, if the preaching is unsound, it is because the priest's spiritual life is unsound.  Fr. Lagrange continues, "Everything in the priest cooperates in his preaching - study, reflection, his powers to compose and revise, the activity of his intellect, his imagination, his memory, his feelings, his voice.  Therefore, when he preaches, the priest stands exposed for all to study; some will be attracted, others will not.  Some will accept what he says, others will simply criticize.  So if the priest approaches his task from the human angle, he will say to himself: 'I cannot afford to lose my reputation; people of weight in the parish who take offense easily must be spared their feelings and not provoked; I must proceed warily so as not to incur criticism.'  In that way Christian eloquence is invaded by a profane eloquence in which the preacher looks after his own interests, not the glory of God or the saving of souls." (The Priest In Union With Christ, p. 156).

I've never been a fan of lying.  And this because Our Lord tells us that the Devil is the Father of all lies (John 8:44),  If it's lying you want, this Blog is not for you.  Forty years of lying has wrought so much damage to the American Catholic Church.  Archbishop Chaput is right, we are merely reaping the fruit of what we've planted.  St. Paul tells us that, "...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.." (Galatians 5: 22).  But what fruit have we witnessed in the American Catholic Church?  The Church has been infected with dry-rot as so many Catholics have succumbed to the works of the flesh.

We need heroic shepherds.  Men who, like Blessed Miguel Pro, S.J., are willing to give their very lives for the Catholic Church and her teaching.

Bishop McManus needs to man up.

Cardinal Carlo Martini has chosen to dissent from the Church's teaching and to engage in lying

In my last post, I noted how Cardinal Carlo Martini says [in his new book], "I disagree with the position of those in the Church, that take issue with civil unions..It is not bad, instead of casual sex between men, that two people have a certain stability..."  Besides demonstrating his personal loss of faith, the retired Cardinal provides us with further evidence that the homosexual agenda has made significant inroads within the Church.  But that hardly comes as news.  Back in 1995, reporter Edwin Thomas of Micromega magazine carried out an unusual survey.  Every evening for several weeks, Mr. Thomas would go for a walk in the area surrounding Saint Peter's Basilica.  Mr. Thomas reported that he was approached by 64 churchmen, "of all kinds, from seminarians to the secretary of a nunciature."

Now the Church has spoken loudly and clearly many times over, condemning in her official and authoritative teaching, homosexual acts.  So for Cardinal Martini to suggest that "it is not bad" for two men [or women] to engage in sexual relations is nothing short of demonic.  And that this retired renegade, who by his own words reveals himself to have been infected by the poison from Hell, to suggest that homosexual relationships can be "stable," is simply incredible.

Dr. Rick Fitzgibbons of the Catholic Medical Association, in an interview with zenit which may be found here,  was asked, "Is the opinion of the APA on same-sex unions and adoption consistent with the research on the medical and psychiatric difficulties in those with same-sex attractions and on the developmental needs of children"?  To which Dr. Fitzgibbons responded:  "No. The APA has chosen to ignore the significant medical research which has documented serious psychiatric and medical illnesses associated with those same-sex attractions and behaviors. This research and that on the needs of children for a father and a mother have been reviewed in several important recent papers from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine and the University of Utah School of Medicine.

The peer-reviewed literature demonstrates that an inability to maintain committed relationships and rampant promiscuity are the norm in the homosexual lifestyle. To illustrate this, one recent study in Amsterdam, by Xiridou, demonstrated that 86% of the new cases of AIDS came from those in committed relationships, and that those in casual relationships averaged between 16-28 sexual partners per year."

When asked, "What else does the research show in regards to psychiatric and medical health risks for those living the homosexual lifestyle?"  Dr. Fitzgibbons responded: "Well-designed research studies have shown that many psychiatric disorders are far more prevalent, three to five times, in teen-agers and adults with same-sex attraction [SSA]. These include major depression, suicidal ideation and attempts, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, conduct disorder, low self-esteem in males and sexual promiscuity with an inability to maintain committed relationships...It is important to note that "homophobia" is not the cause of these disorders, as many of these studies were done in cultures in which homosexuality is widely accepted."

Cardinal Martini, at such an advanced age, has chosen to dissent from the teaching of the Lord Jesus and to engage in lying.

Pray for him.

Another lying atheist exposed: "Catholic Internet Watch" Blog created by a virulently anti-Catholic atheist

In the comments section of my post "Persecution?  What persecution?", Mr. Michael Cole, writing about an individual who has been attacking myself and other orthodox Catholics at the Blog "Catholic" Internet Watch, writes:

"Brian Bridson is "Scout." At another Blog, this atheist from the UK writes:


Excommunication and Defection from the Catholic Church

First of all, there is a very real difference between excommunication and defection. Excommunication is an action taken by the Roman Catholic Church that comes close to fully removing you from the Church, but, in typical Catholic fashion, they leave you with the option of repenting and reclaiming your good standing with the Church. So even if you are excommunicated, you are still counted as a member of the flock.

Defection is different. Also known as Actus formalis defectionis ab Ecclesia catholica, grants the person seeking it the right to have their name removed from records of the Catholic Church and nullifies your baptismal certificate. Of course, when seeking Actus formalis defectionis ab Ecclesia catholica, it would be good to include the rationale for your defection. You will also want to know where and when you were baptized.

I first called the priest servicing the Church in which I was baptized to inform him that I would be pursuing the issue. He spoke with the bishop about it and confirmed that all I need to do is provide the priest with a letter, stating my intention to defect, with my baptismal information and reasons for defection. He will then take the letter to the Bishop of the Diocese, have it processed, and I will receive a letter in the mail confirming my defection.

Below is the text, minus personally identifiable information, that I provided to the priest stating my intention to defect (submitted Monday, March 21, 2011):

My name is Brian Bridson. I was baptized at xxxx Catholic Church, in xxxx, Ontario, during late August or early September in xxxx. Becoming Catholic, much less confession, communion and confirmation, were never decisions I made myself; I never chose to be Catholic.

Due to the fact that I never chose to be Catholic, and because I believe that not once has any evidence for the existence of any gods, much less the Christian or Catholic one, I hereby request a formal defection from the Catholic Church (Actus formalis defectionis ab Ecclesia catholica).

Please send record of my formal defection from the Catholic Church to the address below:


Brian Bridson

xxxxxxxxxx


Thank you for submitting my Actus formalis defectionis ab Ecclesia catholica.

Brian Bridson

It is short and simple, but all that was needed. Don’t forget to sign (include your signature in) your letter. I will post the letter I receive from the Church when I get it."

http://philosophershaze.com/?page_id=7


There are links to many atheist and secular humanist websites at this blog of his. And in a post on "Catholislam," one of his tags is "catholic internet watch," which, surprise - is the title of his new anti-Catholic blog.

I've copied all of this should he decide to delete the pages. More on the atheist Brian Bridson here:

http://philosophershaze.com/?page_id=127


Here's what Brian Bridson - the "grandson of three Catholic grandparents" - has to say about the Church in his post entitled "Catholislam":

The catholic church isn’t interested in educating its followers, much less encouraging them to be able to have genuine conversations with atheists and agnostics. This attitude is summed up rather nicely by Suzanne Scotconi of the archdiocese of Toronto, who said that “We rather like the weak ones.” (See this post for more information about Scotconi’s remark.) What the church really wants in a bunch of mindless sheep that are too scared to think for themselves and who are unable to have honest, genuine conversations with others who haven’t drank their kool-aid.

And what does this do? Well, with great ignorance comes great misunderstanding. These sheep, especially the good ones who have given over the entire substance of their being to this vampiric organization, become unable to enter into honest dialogues with those who have competing or greatly different outlooks on the world. And this misunderstanding, as it grows, often leads to open animosity towards these various “others”.

Don’t forget though – this is a church of understanding.

Then think about the manner in which the church treats members of the TBLGQ communities. In fact, the contempt is so great for these people that in the UN the church, via the Vatican, tried to strike down a motion that would designate them as having special status under international human rights legislation. And why would they seek to deny ensuring this discriminated group of individuals be given special status? Because their “holy book” tells them that these people are akin to evil monsters; swine even.."

Full anti-Catholic post here:

http://philosophershaze.com/?p=2125


Now, Mr. Bridson (a.k.a. "Scout") just left another post at his new Blog "Catholic" Internet Watch, in which he writes: "A commenter at Paul Anthony Melanson's gay-hating La Salette Journey blog is claiming that I am Brian Bridson. This is not true, and there are no reasonable grounds for such a suspicion outside of the frenziedly paranoid, intellectually dysfunctional little Catholic bubble inhabited by the La Salette Journey set. I left them a comment to correct the mistake, although I rather expect it to be deleted."
Now astute readers of this Blog - and this would exclude mindless atheists such as Brian Bridson - know full well that I have no hatred whatsoever for homosexual persons.  Only the sin of homosexuality.  Astute individuals will also find it interesting that Brian Bridson says that he grew up in London "during the 1980s and 1990s."  In fact he uses the exact phrase which "Scout" uses at "Catholic" Internet Watch: "Growing up in London during the 1980s and 1990s."  In a post at that Blog dated October 26, 2011, "Scout" (a.k.a. Brian Bridson) writes:

"Some complain Catholic Internet Watch is "anti-Catholic". It is not. I am the grandson of three Catholic grandparents and count Catholics amongst my friends. Real anti-Catholic prejudice is something I deplore. Growing up in London during the 1980s and 1990s, I remember the suspicion against Catholics at the time of the IRA bombing campaign.

Critics ask me, "Why focus just on Catholics?" It is true that narrow-mindedness can be found amongst the members of other belief systems. I could start a blog called "Protestant Internet Watch", "Muslim Internet Watch" or "Atheist Internet Watch" and find much of legitimate concern to blog about. If I wanted to be even-handed, I could do an "Everybody Internet Watch" and devote each week to a different misbehaving group.

The fact of the matter is, though, that my time and knowledge is limited, and as the old dictum goes, "it is best to write about what you know best". I believe I am, or hope I am, well-placed to study Catholic internet goings-on because I was immersed in that world for a while myself. But that does not make me "anti-Catholic". In fact, I admire the more beautiful aspects of Catholicism, and was at one time very personally interested in the religion on a positive level.

What eventually turned me off was the effect Catholicism has on so many of its followers. That is why Catholic Internet Watch was born. The internet is a largely anonymous forest where you can often best gauge what people are really like and what they are really thinking. It is here that I learnt about the darker side of the collective Catholic mind, and I believe it has to be exposed if people are to become aware of the problem that exists. In many ways, the Catholic leadership fails to deal with or even encourages bad thinking and bad behaviour, and this is also something that needs to be exposed." (See here).

Mr. Bridson has his own anti-Catholic agenda.  And he is obviously willing to lie and deceive to advance that agenda.  Manipulation is manipulation.  And Mr. Bridson (a.k.a. "Scout"), is a manipulator.

Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts: Why would it have us believe that funding for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development won't be used to promote dissent from Catholic teaching?

Once again, the Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts is promoting the "Catholic" Campaign for Human Development.  This is most alarming since the CCHD, an organization which was inspired by radical agitator Saul Alinsky, a Marxist who dedicated his Rules for Radicals to Lucifer, whom he called "the first radical," is an umbrella organization and/or a front for various groups which dissent from the Church's authentic teaching. Especially in the area of sexual morality.


According to American Life League's Michael Hichborn, "..no less than fifty organizations (one-fifth of all CCHD grantees from 2009) are, in some capacity, engaged in pro-abortion or pro-homosexual causes." See here.

At its website, the Springfield Diocese asserts that, "The activity for which funding is requested must conform to the moral and social teachings of the Catholic Church. Organizations that receive CCHD funds must not participate in or promote activities that contradict the moral and social teachings of the Catholic Church and must in no way work against the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ priorities to defend human life and dignity, strengthen family life and the institution of marriage, and foster diversity. For example, organizations that support or promote same-sex marriage, discrimination, capital punishment, abortion, euthanasia, or punitive measures towards immigrants are not eligible for CCHD funding.

The organization must be fully nonpartisan when engaging in political activities. Organizations engaged in partisan political activity are not eligible." (See here).

But, as this website documents in its 2010-2011 CCHD Grants Report:

For a number of years, there has been concern with the grants that CCHD distributes. There have been specific complaints that a significant portion of the grants have been given to organizations working in direct contradiction to Church teaching.

In 2009, American Life League joined with several other concerned organizations to form the Reform CCHD Now Coalition. In March of 2010, the coalition sent a report on CCHD to each bishop, showing that, in 2009–2010, 51 out of 237 groups receiving CCHD funding either directly or through coalition membership promoted abortion, birth control, homosexuality, and/or Marxism. Thus, 21% of the groups funded by CCHD were involved in such work.

As a result of this activity, CCHD conducted an internal effort to revamp its grant process and ensure that all grantees adhered to strict guidelines. The results were published in a CCHD Renewal Document.

2010–2011 Grantees

In January, 2011, CCHD published its list of 2010-2011 grantees. At that time, American Life League reviewed the list and was disappointed to see that many of the offending organizations were still on the list and, in fact, others have been added.

The attached report documents that, of the 218 organizations funded by CCHD, 14 are directly involved in activities contrary to Church teaching and 40 are actively involved in coalitions with such activities. Thus, 54 groups (24%) funded by CCHD are involved in anti-Catholic work.

The number, and percentage, of offending organizations has actually INCREASED in the last year —from 51 to 54 groups and from 21% to 24%.

These 54 organizations received a total of $1,863,000 of the $7,608,000 distributed in CCHD grants in 2010-2011."

The number and percentage of offending/dissenting organizations receiving CCHD monies has actually increased since 2009.  In 2011, 14 organizations funded by CCHD are directly involved in activities which are contrary to Catholic teaching and another 40 are actively involved and associated with coalitions in support of such activities.

And the Diocese of Springfield would have us believe that such is not the case.  Perhaps diocesan officials should meditate very carefully upon the eigth chapter of the Gospel of John verse 44.   In a speech given on March 21, 2009 in Detroit, Archbishop Charles Chaput, having been asked to examine what November 2008 and its aftermath can teach Catholics about American culture, the state of American Catholicism and the kind of Pauline discipleship necessary today, said that, "November showed us that 40 years of American Catholic complacency and poor formation are bearing exactly the fruit we should have expected. Or to put it more discreetly, the November elections confirmed a trend, rather than created a new moment, in American culture."

 And noting that there was no question about President Barack Obama’s views on abortion "rights," embryonic stem cell research and other "problematic issues," His Excellency said that, "Some Catholics in both political parties are deeply troubled by these issues. But too many Catholics just don’t really care. That’s the truth of it. If they cared, our political environment would be different. If 65 million Catholics really cared about their faith and cared about what it teaches, neither political party could ignore what we believe about justice for the poor, or the homeless, or immigrants, or the unborn child. If 65 million American Catholics really understood their faith, we wouldn’t need to waste each other’s time arguing about whether the legalized killing of an unborn child is somehow ‘balanced out’ or excused by three other good social policies.”


Then His Excellency offered a stunning indictment of American "Catholicism":

"We need to stop over-counting our numbers, our influence, our institutions and our resources, because they’re not real. We can’t talk about following St. Paul and converting our culture until we sober up and get honest about what we’ve allowed ourselves to become. We need to stop lying to each other, to ourselves and to God by claiming to ‘personally oppose’ some homicidal evil -- but then allowing it to be legal at the same time." See full text here.

Let's all pray that the Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts will take these words to heart and stop lying to faithful Catholics.

Related reading here and here.

"We need to stop lying to each other..."

In one of his last homilies, Archbishop Oscar Romero, the martyred Archbishop of San Salvador, said: "A preaching that does not point out sin is not the preaching of the gospel. A preaching that makes sinners feel good so that they become entrenched in their sinful state, betrays the gospel's call. A preaching that does not discomfit sinners but lulls them in their sin leaves Zebulun and Naphtali in the shadow of death. A preaching that awakens, a preaching that enlightens -- as when a light turned on awakens and of course annoys a sleeper -- that is the preaching of Christ, calling, "wake up! Be converted!" this is the church's authentic preaching. Naturally, such preaching must meet conflict, must spoil what is miscalled prestige, must disturb, must be persecuted. It cannot get along with the powers of darkness and sin."


We've had enough of a preaching which leaves Zebulun and Naphtali in the shadow of death.  We've had enough of a Cotton-Candy Catholicism which offers Chicken-Soup Homilies and asinine theatrics rather than the solid meat of sound preaching and liturgical reverence.  Sadly, so many of our priests haven't caught on to this.  And so they continue to spoon-feed us the unsatisfying pablum.

The time for lying is over.  I have been saying this for years.  Back in 2009, Archbishop Charles Chaput noted that, "40 years of American Catholic complacency and poor formation are bearing exactly the fruit we should have expected...We can't talk about following St. Paul and converting our culture until we sober up and get honest about what we've allowed ourselves to become.  We need to stop lying to each other..." (See here).

The lying must stop.  For this to happen, we need priests and Bishops who fear God more than they do men.  Cowards will not lead us out of the valley of death.  Only shepherds who have the spiritual strength, the Cardinal Gift of Fortitude, to brave the risk of worldly criticism, will be able to lead the American Catholic Church out of the valley of the Culture of Death and back on the road to the Civilization of Love which Pope John Paul II spoke of so often.

Why have so many priests succumbed to fear?  Why is it that their preaching no longer points out sin?  Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange provides us with an answer:


"The reason for this is not difficult to find.  A sermon is the result of the combined effort of all the priest's powers; it reveals his entire person; it is his struggle against the vices of the surrounding world."  In other words, if the preaching is unsound, it is because the priest's spiritual life is unsound.  Fr. Lagrange continues, "Everything in the priest cooperates in his preaching - study, reflection, his powers to compose and revise, the activity of his intellect, his imagination, his memory, his feelings, his voice.  Therefore, when he preaches, the priest stands exposed for all to study; some will be attracted, others will not.  Some will accept what he says, others will simply criticize.  So if the priest approaches his task from the human angle, he will say to himself: 'I cannot afford to lose my reputation; people of weight in the parish who take offense easily must be spared their feelings and not provoked; I must proceed warily so as not to incur criticism.'  In that way Christian eloquence is invaded by a profane eloquence in which the preacher looks after his own interests, not the glory of God or the saving of souls." (The Priest In Union With Christ, p. 156).

I've never been a fan of lying.  And this because Our Lord tells us that the Devil is the Father of all lies (John 8:44),  If it's lying you want, this Blog is not for you.  Forty years of lying has wrought so much damage to the American Catholic Church.  Archbishop Chaput is right, we are merely reaping the fruit of what we've planted.  St. Paul tells us that, "...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.." (Galatians 5: 22).  But what fruit have we witnessed in the American Catholic Church?  The Church has been infected with dry-rot as so many Catholics have succumbed to the works of the flesh.

We need heroic shepherds.  Men who, like Blessed Miguel Pro, S.J., are willing to give their very lives for the Catholic Church and her teaching.

This is not a time for cowards.  We need men of holy stubborness which, in spiritual terms, is called perseverance.