"...this desire to stifle the voice of God is rather carefully planned.."

John Henry Cardinal Newman, who was truly a prophet, warned more than a hundred years ago of the desolation which we are experiencing today: "Surely there is at this day a confederacy of evil, marshalling its hosts from all parts of the world, organizing itself, taking its measures, enclosing the Church of Christ in a net, and preparing the way for a general apostasy from it..."


It is no secret today that the enemies of the Church want to destroy belief in the divinity of Christ. For, as Fr. Vincent Miceli, S.J., explained, "Once the liturgy is humanized, Christ the Center and Object of it becomes the humanist par excellence, the liberator, the revolutionary, the Marxist ushering in the millenium; he ceases to be the Divine Redeemer. We must be alerted to those who plan, by convincing us to abandon our sacred forms, at length to seduce us into denying our Christian faith altogether. The Church is attacked by these Sons of Satan, in and outside her fold, because she is a living form, the sacrament - sign and instrument - of communion with God and of unity among all men; because she is the visible body of Religion. Hence these shrewd masters of sedition know that when her sacred forms go, religion will also go. Violate the lex orandi and you must inevitably destroy the lex credendi. That is why they rail against so many devotions as superstitions, why they propose so many alterations and changes, a tactic cleverly calculated to shake the foundations of faith...."

The Devil hates the Eucharist and never ceases to attack Our Eucharistic Lord.  He uses variations on gnosticism, symbolism and modernism to attack the authentic teaching of the Magisterium on the Holy Eucharist.  As the spiritual war continues to escalate all around us, Satan's attacks against the Eucharist will multiply.  There will even be physical manifestations of this hatred.  These attacks will intensify and reach a crescendo with the Man of Sin.  St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Doctor of the Church, explains that: "The devil has always managed to get rid of the Mass by means of the heretics, making them precursors of the Antichrist who, above all else, will manage to abolish, and in fact will succeed in abolishing, as a punishment for the sins of men, the Holy Sacrifice of the altar, precisely as Daniel had predicted." ("Le Messa e l'Officio Strapazzati" in Opere Ascetiche).

The Devil hates the Eucharist because, as St. Francis de Sales said, "Our Savior has instituted the most august sacrament of the Eucharist, which contains his flesh and blood in their reality, so that whoever eats of it shall live forever.  Therefore, whoever turns to it frequently and devoutly so effectively builds up his soul's health that it is almost impossible for him to be poisoned by evil affection of any kind."  The Devil hates the Eucharist because, "Surely such a stroke of love should be enough to awaken anyone from the slumber of indifference.  Let such a one reflect upon this Mystery and say to himself: 'It is God Almighty who will come down upon the altar at the words of consecration; I shall hold Him in my hands, and converse with Him, and receive Him into my breast.'" (St. John of Avila).  The Devil hates the Eucharist because, "The proper effect of the Eucharist is the transformation of man into God." (St. Thomas Aquinas).

It was Pope John Paul II who wrote, in Crossing the Threshold of Hope, "What else are the sacraments (all of them!) if not the action of Christ in the Holy Spirit?  When the Church baptizes, it is Christ who baptizes; when the Church absolves, it is Christ who absolves; when the Church celebrates the Eucharist, it is Christ who celebrates it: 'This is my body.'  And so on.  All the sacraments are an action of Christ, the action of God in Christ.  And therefore it is truly difficult to speak of the silence of God.  One must speak, rather, of the desire to stifle the voice of God...this desire to stifle the voice of God is rather carefully planned.  Many will do just about anything so that His voice cannot be heard, so that only the voice of man will be heard." (p. 126).

That certain men should strive to stifle the voice of God should not surprise us. Such men are only carrying out the wishes of their master (John 8: 44).

"...a confederacy of evil..."

The Archbishop of Madrid has filed a complaint with the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) after a group of 50 young people stormed the chapel of the Somosaguas university campus to protest against the Catholic Church.


According to a statement of the Archbishopric of Madrid, a group of 50 young people, mostly women, broke up on 10th March 2011 in the afternoon in the chapel of the Somosaguas Campus of the University Complutense of Madrid shouting slogans against the Church, the Pope and the Christian faith through a megaphone.

In its statement, the Archbishopric of Madrid informs that the group surrounded the altar in the chapel and read texts and phrases that, they said, were from Christian authors speaking about women. Then they read a Manifesto which included declarations against the Church and its teachings. Some of the women removed their clothes from the waist up and chanted slogans against the Church.

Student protestors, numbering around 70, shouted insults against the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI and priests in general.  Two of the young women who stood on the altar are said to have boasted about their homosexual tendencies.*

This attack on the chapel which lasted between 15 and 20 minutes was photographed and filmed by people who accompanied the group, LaVozLibre reports. Moreover, the group left their posters in the chapel.

The Archbishopric of Madrid and Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) in a statement condemned the events. The Archbishopric points out that "these actions are an assault on freedom of religion and a desecration of a sacred place, which involve sanctions within canon law if those committing them are baptized."  See here.

It was Cardinal Newman who predicted the desolation of our own time writing, "Surely there is at this day a confederacy of evil, marshalling its hosts from all parts of the world, organizing itself, taking its measures, enclosing the Church of Christ in a net, and preparing the way for a general apostasy from it...this evil apostasy and all its tokens and instruments are of the Evil One and savour of death."

Incidents such as the one described above in Spain are becoming ever more common.  Even in the United States with the Rainbow Sash movement.  The Fathers of the Church warned so long ago that in the last days, as the end draws near, the Church founded by Christ will be subjected to a fiercer and more diabolical persecution than any she has previously suffered through.

It was Fr. Vincent Miceli, S.J., who said that, "The West has lost its transcendent motive for 'fighting the good fight,' for finishing an honourable course.  Not having kept the faith, it is now morally paralyzed, incapable of projecting a cogent politics of peace with dignity.  Its politics falter; events are out of control; things fall apart.  With the escalation of violence, crime, confusion, wars and rumors of wars emanating from religious apostasy and political disengagement, the stage is being set for the Coming of Antichrist.."

And when the Man of Sin does arrive?  Do you suppose Christian that he will permit you to worship Jesus?  Do you suppose that he will tolerate the Holy Mass?  No.  He will suppress the Mass for three and a half years.  And he will set up his throne within the temple of God and demand that worship which belongs to God alone.


*  See related story here.

Protest the Pope Supporters Express Their Desire to Commit Violence Against Pope Benedict XVI

Deacon Nick Donnelly has a post detailing how Protest the Pope supporters have expressed their desire to engage in violence against the Vicar of Christ, Pope Benedict XVI.


As I said in a previous post, "John Henry Cardinal Newman, who was truly a prophet, warned more than a hundred years ago of the desolation which we are experiencing today: "Surely there is at this day a confederacy of evil, marshalling its hosts from all parts of the world, organizing itself, taking its measures, enclosing the Church of Christ in a net, and preparing the way for a general apostasy from it..."

It is no secret today that the enemies of the Church want to destroy belief in the divinity of Christ. For, as Fr. Vincent Miceli, S.J., explained, "Once the liturgy is humanized, Christ the Center and Object of it becomes the humanist par excellence, the liberator, the revolutionary, the Marxist ushering in the millenium; he ceases to be the Divine Redeemer. We must be alerted to those who plan, by convincing us to abandon our sacred forms, at length to seduce us into denying our Christian faith altogether. The Church is attacked by these Sons of Satan, in and outside her fold, because she is a living form, the sacrament - sign and instrument - of communion with God and of unity among all men; because she is the visible body of Religion. Hence these shrewd masters of sedition know that when her sacred forms go, religion will also go. Violate the lex orandi and you must inevitably destroy the lex credendi. That is why they rail against so many devotions as superstitions, why they propose so many alterations and changes, a tactic cleverly calculated to shake the foundations of faith...."

We are approaching the day prophesied by Romano Guardini in The Lord, "One day the Antichrist will come: a human being who introduces an order of things in which rebellion against God will attain its ultimate power. He will be filled with enlightenment and strength. The ultimate aim of all aims will be to prove that existence without Christ is possible - nay rather, that Christ is the enemy of existence, which can be fully realized only when all Christian values have been destroyed.." (p. 513).

Inflated in their rebellion against the God-Man, the Sons of Satan, those committed toward the atheistic program of attacking the Church from without and undermining it from within in preparation for the Man-God, will continue to intensify their persecution of craftiness and subversion until it reaches its culmination in an explosion of hate-filled rage which will bear much blood and death. Father Livio Fanzaga, writing about the Antichrist, says that, "Catholicism alone will resist him. How then do we destroy this superstition which alone obstructs the world's self-revelation? How do we destroy this superstition which divides mankind and which prevents man from being truly brotherly and free? The true Antichrist is revealed in the replies to these questions. Here is perceived his profound being as the man of iniquity. He will not tolerate the idea of men who adore any god other than himself. His intolerance obliges him to make an exception to his pacifism and his philosophy of non-violence. He is the greatest pacifist in the history of the human race, but because peace and justice really reign on earth he will make an exception to kill and destroy the great superstition of Catholicism, once and for all time..." (Wrath of God: The Days of the Antichrist, p. 124).

I've warned time and again of the intellectual insecurity of the atheist and where it eventually leads.

"Whatever the motives for atheist bloodthirstiness, the indisputable fact is that all the religions of the world put together have in 2,000 years not managed to kill as many people as have been killed in the name of atheism in the past few decades.

It's time to abandon the mindlessly repeated mantra that religious belief has been the greatest source of human conflict and violence. Atheism, not religion, is the real force behind the mass murders of history.” (Dinesh D'Souza, "Atheism, Not Religion is the Real Force Behind the Mass Murders of History," The Christian Science Monitor, November 21, 2006; See here).

BBC engages in pro-homosexual agitprop and anti-Catholicism....again

As this Zenit article makes clear, "The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is not known to be one of the Catholic Church's closest friends. Although it has a worldwide reputation for high quality programming, the vast state-funded broadcaster has often been accused of treating the Church and the Catholic faith unfairly at best, and maliciously at worst.

Many examples back up this accusation, beginning with a number programmes over the past 10 years that have been blasphemous and highly offensive to Catholics.

In 2003, the BBC broadcast -- to a large international audience -- a documentary entitled "Sex and the Holy City," which intentionally misrepresented the Church and its teaching on condoms and AIDS. Two years later, it aired 'Jerry Springer the Opera,' a blasphemous and very offensive programme that ridiculed Jesus and the faith in general. Earlier, the BBC had spent £2 million ($3.13 million) on a program called 'Popetown' -- an animated series set in the Vatican that mocked the Church and included plotlines about bestiality. Due to protests, it was banned in Britain but broadcast overseas and sold in Britain on DVD.

The BBC has also been accused of failing in other areas when it comes to Catholicism. The persecution of Catholics in the Middle East or Asia is rarely covered or warranted adequate attention; the immense good work that Catholic priests, religious and laity do around the world is generally passed over; and the Church's invaluable contribution to Western culture tends to be disparaged in favour of focusing on the sins of Church members in the past.

The BBC has also been blamed for more subtle instances of anti-Catholic bias. Discussion panels, news reports and web articles tend to focus on the sensational; they also often comprise contributions from secular figures or dissenting Catholics but hardly ever from orthodox Catholics who will properly convey the Church's teaching.

The corporation's treatment of clergy not infrequently involves interrogations by disparaging and dismissive presenters who seem to view them as guilty until proven innocent. Stephen Glover, a non-Catholic British newspaper columnist, wrote how a BBC television interviewer, quizzing English Archbishop Vincent Nichols in 2007, 'treated him like a member of some extreme sect, interrupting him continually, and sneering at him as though he were a half-wit.'

Most of this bias is attributed to a predominantly secular mindset in the corporation that embraces, or is sympathetic to, the culture of death, whether it be abortion, radical feminism, the homosexual agenda, euthanasia, or unethical science such as embryonic stem cell research. 'The BBC," Glover once wrote, "represents a materialist, mechanistic consensus which has rejected God, and deludes itself that science is capable of providing a complete explanation of existence.'

Even one of the BBC's most accomplished journalists, Andrew Marr, admitted the difficulty the corporation has in offering unbiased coverage. 'The BBC is not impartial or neutral,' he told a secret summit of BBC executives in 2006. 'It's a publicly funded, urban organisation with an abnormally large number of young people, ethnic minorities and gay people. It has a liberal bias not so much a party-political bias. It is better expressed as a cultural liberal bias.'

At that same meeting, one veteran BBC executive was reported in the British press as saying there was 'widespread acknowledgement that we may have gone too far in the direction of political correctness' and that much of this mentality is 'so deeply embedded in the BBC's culture, that it is very hard to change it.' It was also reported that 'nearly everyone' at the summit agreed the Bible could be thrown into the bin on a comedy show, but not the Koran for fear of offending Muslims."

Now BBC Radio 4 has broadcast a play about John Cardinal Newman written by Stephen Wyatt and entitled "Gerontius." This play regurgitates the hateful and calumnious accusation that Cardinal Newman was a closet homosexual, an asinine notion which has already been thoroughly refuted by the Cardinal's biographer Father Ian Ker.

In 1989, two Harvard-educated homosexuals, Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen, wrote a book entitled "After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear & Hatred of Gays in the 90s." This book was to be a "gay manifesto for the 1990s." In their own words, "The campaign we outline in this book, though complex, depends centrally upon a program of unabashed propaganda, firmly grounded in long established principles of psychology and advertising.' (p. XXVIII). Part of this propaganda campaign was the idea of depicting great personages from the past as having been homosexual to gain acceptance for homosexuality. The idea was that people would associate homosexuality with greatness. Which is no doubt why the historically anti-Catholic BBC would present a play portraying the great Cardinal Newman as a closeted homosexual.

If the BBC is really interested in exploring for skeletons in closets, it need look no further than to its first Director General, Mr. John Reith. Mr. Reith had pro-fascist sympathies. In fact, after the National Socialists exterminated dissidents within Germany, Reith wrote, “I really admire the way Hitler has cleaned up what looked like an incipient revolt.” Mr. Reith also had an admiration for Benito Mussolini.

When can we expect a BBC program which examines these issues?

Is John H. Garvey wiser than Cardinal Newman?

Catholic University of America announced Tuesday that John H. Garvey, dean of Boston College Law School, has been hired to serve as its 15th president. Mr. Garvey's appointment is sowing controversy for obvious reasons. In the past, he has argued that, "No school that regulates ideas can justly call itself a university." See here.


The late Fr. Vincent P. Miceli, who was a classically-educated Jesuit scholar and a brilliant philosopher, would have disagreed. For he explained that, "The trouble with this understanding of academic freedom is that it takes for granted as a truth what is a falsity, indeed a complete illusion, namely, that academic freedom is absolutely immune from any reasonable bounds, limitations or restrictions. No human freedom is absolutely immune to restriction. Freedom is no longer freedom when it is reduced to being the unhindered pursuit of one’s whims and desires. This is especially true of freedom exercised in the field of philosophy where conflict with the authentic and infallible teachings of the Church is foreseeable. A true understanding of academic freedom, therefore, is in order so as to distinguish it clearly from academic license.

Academic freedom derives from the rational nature of man. It is rooted in the intellectual activity of man whereby he is called to a dominion and stewardship of the universe through a conquest of truth. Positively, then, academic freedom is a generous guarantee to the unimpeded access to the evidence of truth in any given science. Thus, academic freedom is always bounded by the canons and axiomatic truths of each discipline of learning. Thus, again positively, academic freedom is both purposive and responsible. It has its own built-in rules; its requirements are conditioned by pre-defined directions towards the truth of its particular science. The moral right to academic freedom arises from the inviolability of the proper action necessary to its scientific achievements of truth, founded on man’s connatural inner dynamism of the human intelligence’s hunger for truth. Negatively, academic freedom means at the very least the immunity from unreasonable restrictions, both from within and from outside the academic community, of the right to communicate the results of one’s researches through lectures and publications, and the right to be immune from unreasonable restriction in the pursuit of the teaching profession.

We are now in the position to ask, ‘How is academic freedom violated?’ Scholars, scientists and philosophers hold that whenever one of their members ventures consciously and freely to teach as truths doctrines that contradict the clearly established dogmas or unconditional truths of their disciplines, then such a member of the university is abusing his academic freedom, putting it at the service of stupidities or known falsehoods instead of using it to advance the horizons of truth. Now every science has its dogmas, theology, philosophy and all the natural sciences. Dogmas are not only the ultimate answers to some fundamental questions; they also prompt further questioning and research, leading thus to enlarged, more profound truth....a Catholic university that allows professors and lecturers to attack the authentic teachings of the Church, whether they are infallibly defined or not, is not faithful to the best canons of scholarship, nor to the Church or its own students who have a right in justice to receive the divinely revealed truths in their pristine purity." (The Antichrist, pp. 166-167).

Many Catholic institutions have devaluated the faith and have become enslaved to a narrow (and conceptually flawed) notion of academic freedom. And why have these institutions sold out to secularism? Again, Fr. Miceli, S.J., explains: "Gradually, over the years the essential purpose of the Catholic university has been radically changed. Lusting after secular academic excellence, huge student bodies, expensive science complexes, notoriety, publicity, political clout and financial power, the leaders of Catholic universities somehow lost sight of the unearthly purpose and spirit of the Catholic university. Thus, in today’s Catholic university, intellectualism is preferred to Catholicism; scientism to faith, relativism to truth, immanentism to transcendence, subjectivism to reality, situationism to moral integrity and anarchism to authority. The essential purpose of the Catholic university has de facto been changed, despite the lip service that is still paid to the original Catholic ideal. Conduct flows from convictions and when the conduct is consistently depraved [Such as allowing controversial plays like the Vagina Monologues, my note] it is because the convictions have been corrupted. For example, Judas, forerunner of the Antichrist, had radically changed his deepest convictions about the person and mission of Christ before he sold his Lord for thirty pieces of silver. No virtuosity at contorted rationalization can mask the massive turning away from the Catholic ideal that has taken place in the Catholic universities of the United States. The light and love of the world have made tragic advances against the light and love of Christ." (The Antichrist, p. 161).

Mr. Garvey, who seems to have succumbed to such contorted rationalization, may believe that there is no conflict between a university’s Catholic identity and having professors and speakers on campus whose views and positions are in conflict with Catholic teaching. But Cardinal Newman would have disagreed: "It is no sufficient security for the Catholicity of a university, even that the whole of Catholic theology should be professed in it, unless the Church breathes her own pure and unearthly spirit in it, and fashions and moulds its organization, and watches over its teaching, and knits together its pupils, and superintends its actions....It cannot but be that if left to themselves, they will, in spite of their profession of Catholic truth, work out results more or less prejudicial to its interests. Nor is this all: such institutions may become hostile to the revealed truth in consequence of the circumstances of their teaching as well as of their end. They are employed in the pursuit of liberal knowledge, and liberal knowledge has a special tendency, not necessary or rightful, but a tendency in fact, when cultivated by beings such as we are, to impress us with a mere philosophical theory of life and conduct, in the place of Revelation....It is not that you will at once reject Catholicism, but you will measure and proportion it by an earthly standard. You will throw its highest and most momentous disclosures into the background; you will deny its principles [such as the authentic meaning of academic freedom, my note], explain away its doctrines, rearrange its precepts, and make light of its practices, even while you profess it....This intellectualism first and chiefly comes into collision with precept, then with doctrine, then with the very principle of dogmatism.." (John Henry Cardinal Newman, The Idea of a University, Image Books, N.Y., 1959, pp. 223-225).


How prophetic Cardinal Newman was. In its Instruction on the Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian, No. 40, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith tells us that, "The Church ‘is like a sacrament, a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among all men’ (LG, 1). Consequently, to pursue concord and communion is to enhance the force of her witness and credibility. To succumb to the temptation of dissent, on the other hand, is to allow the ‘leaven of infidelity to the Holy Spirit’ to start to work." Faithful Catholics understand this. And they understand what Pope John Paul II meant when he said (in his Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor, No. 113) that: "While exchanges and conflicts of opinion may constitute normal expressions of public life in a representative democracy, moral teaching certainly cannot depend simply upon respect for a process: indeed, it is no way established by following the rules and deliberative procedures typical of a democracy. Dissent, in the form of carefully orchestrated protests and polemics carried on in the media, is opposed to ecclesial communion and to a correct understanding of the hierarchical constitution of the People of God. Opposition to the teaching of the Church’s Pastors cannot be seen as a legitimate expression either of Christian freedom or of the diversity of the Spirit’s gifts."

Dissent in the Church leads to polarization and destroys peace within the Church. Faithful Catholics who refuse to accept a dissenting view must resist it for the sake of restoring an authentic peace, a peace which Pope John XXIII taught: "is not completely untroubled and serene; it is active, not calm and motionless. In short, this is a peace that is ever at war. It wars with every sort of error, including that which falsely wears the face of truth; it struggles against the enticements of vice, against those enemies of the soul, of whatever description, who can weaken, blemish, or destroy our innocence or Catholic faith." (Ad Petri cathedram, AAS 51 (1959) 517, PE, 263.93).

The darkness continues to spread. But there will always remain a remnant. For "the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:5).

Kristine Maloney, Spokeswoman for Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts: Advancing a false understanding of academic freedom

In a Catholic News Service article entitled "Catholic identity debate*," Kristine Maloney, spokeswoman for the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, advances a false understanding of academic freedom. Responding to criticisms over some of the speakers who have appeared at that institution and whose positions and views have been contrary to Catholic teaching, Ms. Maloney was quoted as having said, "We really don’t think these criticisms are fair, especially when they come from special interest groups...that try to force everyone into a very narrow version of Catholic teaching that doesn’t always fit within the depth of the Catholic traditions...We don’t see a conflict with our Catholic identity if we have a speaker on campus who may have views that are in conflict with Catholic teachings....We’re committed to a Jesuit tradition which doesn’t suppress educational issues and intellectual debate."

Nice try Kristine. But your argument doesn’t wash. The late Fr. Vincent P. Miceli, who was a classically-educated Jesuit scholar and a brilliant philosopher, explained that, "The trouble with this understanding of academic freedom is that it takes for granted as a truth what is a falsity, indeed a complete illusion, namely, that academic freedom is absolutely immune from any reasonable bounds, limitations or restrictions. No human freedom is absolutely immune to restriction. Freedom is no longer freedom when it is reduced to being the unhindered pursuit of one’s whims and desires. This is especially true of freedom exercised in the field of philosophy where conflict with the authentic and infallible teachings of the Church is foreseeable. A true understanding of academic freedom, therefore, is in order so as to distinguish it clearly from academic license.

Academic freedom derives from the rational nature of man. It is rooted in the intellectual activity of man whereby he is called to a dominion and stewardship of the universe through a conquest of truth. Positively, then, academic freedom is a generous guarantee to the unimpeded access to the evidence of truth in any given science. Thus, academic freedom is always bounded by the canons and axiomatic truths of each discipline of learning. Thus, again positively, academic freedom is both purposive and responsible. It has its own built-in rules; its requirements are conditioned by pre-defined directions towards the truth of its particular science. The moral right to academic freedom arises from the inviolability of the proper action necessary to its scientific achievements of truth, founded on man’s connatural inner dynamism of the human intelligence’s hunger for truth. Negatively, academic freedom means at the very least the immunity from unreasonable restrictions, both from within and from outside the academic community, of the right to communicate the results of one’s researches through lectures and publications, and the right to be immune from unreasonable restriction in the pursuit of the teaching profession.

We are now in the position to ask, ‘How is academic freedom violated?’ Scholars, scientists and philosophers hold that whenever one of their members ventures consciously and freely to teach as truths doctrines that contradict the clearly established dogmas or unconditional truths of their disciplines, then such a member of the university is abusing his academic freedom, putting it at the service of stupidities or known falsehoods instead of using it to advance the horizons of truth. Now every science has its dogmas, theology, philosophy and all the natural sciences. Dogmas are not only the ultimate answers to some fundamental questions; they also prompt further questioning and research, leading thus to enlarged, more profound truth....a Catholic university that allows professors and lecturers to attack the authentic teachings of the Church, whether they are infallibly defined or not, is not faithful to the best canons of scholarship, nor to the Church or its own students who have a right in justice to receive the divinely revealed truths in their pristine purity." (The Antichrist, pp. 166-167).

For Ms. Maloney, faithful Catholics who insist with Pope John Paul II that "the right of the faithful to receive Catholic doctrine in its purity and integrity must always be respected" (Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor, No. 113), are trying to "force everyone into a very narrow version of Catholic teaching." This charge is particularly ironic since the College of the Holy Cross, like many other Catholic institutions which have devaluated the faith, has become enslaved to a narrow (and conceptually flawed) notion of academic freedom. And why have these institutions sold out to secularism? Again, Fr. Miceli, S.J., explains: "Gradually, over the years the essential purpose of the Catholic university has been radically changed. Lusting after secular academic excellence, huge student bodies, expensive science complexes, notoriety, publicity, political clout and financial power, the leaders of Catholic universities somehow lost sight of the unearthly purpose and spirit of the Catholic university. Thus, in today’s Catholic university, intellectualism is preferred to Catholicism; scientism to faith, relativism to truth, immanentism to transcendence, subjectivism to reality, situationism to moral integrity and anarchism to authority. The essential purpose of the Catholic university has de facto been changed, despite the lip service that is still paid to the original Catholic ideal. Conduct flows from convictions and when the conduct is consistently depraved [Such as allowing controversial plays like the Vagina Monologues, my note] it is because the convictions have been corrupted. For example, Judas, forerunner of the Antichrist, had radically changed his deepest convictions about the person and mission of Christ before he sold his Lord for thirty pieces of silver. No virtuosity at contorted rationalization can mask the massive turning away from the Catholic ideal that has taken place in the Catholic universities of the United States. The light and love of the world have made tragic advances against the light and love of Christ." (The Antichrist, p. 161).

Holy Cross officials, who have succumbed to such contorted rationalization, may believe that there is no conflict between a university’s Catholic identity and having speakers on campus whose views and positions are in conflict with Catholic teaching. But Cardinal Newman would have disagreed:

"It is no sufficient security for the Catholicity of a university, even that the whole of Catholic theology should be professed in it, unless the Church breathes her own pure and unearthly spirit in it, and fashions and moulds its organization, and watches over its teaching, and knits together its pupils, and superintends its actions....It cannot but be that if left to themselves, they will, in spite of their profession of Catholic truth, work out results more or less prejudicial to its interests. Nor is this all: such institutions may become hostile to the revealed truth in consequence of the circumstances of their teaching as well as of their end. They are employed in the pursuit of liberal knowledge, and liberal knowledge has a special tendency, not necessary or rightful, but a tendency in fact, when cultivated by beings such as we are, to impress us with a mere philosophical theory of life and conduct, in the place of Revelation....It is not that you will at once reject Catholicism, but you will measure and proportion it by an earthly standard. You will throw its highest and most momentous disclosures into the background; you will deny its principles [such as the authentic meaning of academic freedom, my note], explain away its doctrines, rearrange its precepts, and make light of its practices, even while you profess it....This intellectualism first and chiefly comes into collision with precept, then with doctrine, then with the very principle of dogmatism.." (John Henry Cardinal Newman, The Idea of a University, Image Books, N.Y., 1959, pp. 223-225).

How prophetic Cardinal Newman was.

In its Instruction on the Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian, No. 40, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith tells us that, "The Church ‘is like a sacrament, a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among all men’ (LG, 1). Consequently, to pursue concord and communion is to enhance the force of her witness and credibility. To succumb to the temptation of dissent, on the other hand, is to allow the ‘leaven of infidelity to the Holy Spirit’ to start to work." Faithful Catholics understand this. And they understand what Pope John Paul II meant when he said (in his Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor, No. 113) that: "While exchanges and conflicts of opinion may constitute normal expressions of public life in a representative democracy, moral teaching certainly cannot depend simply upon respect for a process: indeed, it is no way established by following the rules and deliberative procedures typical of a democracy. Dissent, in the form of carefully orchestrated protests and polemics carried on in the media, is opposed to ecclesial communion and to a correct understanding of the hierarchical constitution of the People of God. Opposition to the teaching of the Church’s Pastors cannot be seen as a legitimate expression either of Christian freedom or of the diversity of the Spirit’s gifts."

Dissent in the Church leads to polarization and destroys peace within the Church. Faithful Catholics who refuse to accept a dissenting view must resist it for the sake of restoring an authentic peace, a peace which Pope John XXIII taught: "is not completely untroubled and serene; it is active, not calm and motionless. In short, this is a peace that is ever at war. It wars with every sort of error, including that which falsely wears the face of truth; it struggles against the enticements of vice, against those enemies of the soul, of whatever description, who can weaken, blemish, or destroy our innocence or Catholic faith." (Ad Petri cathedram, AAS 51 (1959) 517, PE, 263.93).

In the Catholic News Service article, Chaz Muth describes the Cardinal Newman Society, which works to restore a Catholic identity at many institutions which have become Catholic in name only, as a "self-appointed watchdog group." This is really quite insulting and betrays a profound ignorance of who the lay faithful are. In his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici, No. 9, Pope John Paul II reminds us that: "Through Baptism the lay faithful are made one body with Christ and are established among the People of God. They are in their own way made sharers in the priestly, prophetic and kingly office of Christ. They carry out their own part in the mission of the whole Christian people with respect to the Church and the world." John Paul reminds us in the same document that "Because the lay faithful belong to Christ, Lord and King of the Universe, they share in his kingly mission and are called by him to spread that kingdom in history" (No. 14). The lay faithful who make up the Cardinal Newman Society are not "self-appointed watchdogs." They are members of the Mystical Body of Christ who, individually and collectively, have been called by Christ to promote and defend His kingdom in history. This vocation is not only a right but a duty. Hence we read in canon 212 of the Code of Canon Law that, "In accord with the knowledge, competence and preeminence which they possess, they [the Christian faithful] have the right and even at times a duty to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church, and they have a right to make their opinion known to the other Christian faithful, with due regard for the integrity of faith and morals and reverence toward their pastors, and with consideration for the common good and the dignity of persons."

I call upon the College of the Holy Cross to admit that it has succumbed to a false understanding of academic freedom. Until it does, and until the Church once again "breathes her own pure and unearthly spirit in it," the College of the Holy Cross will never be authentically Catholic. She will only be an earthly counterfeit.

* This article may be found in the April 17, 2009 edition of The Catholic Free Press, p. 5.

Pax Christi: Preparation for a New Age

Pax Christi, which is now being introduced to parishes throughout the Worcester Diocese, has long been a vessel for promoting dissent from Church teaching and New Age occultism. As explained by the Wanderer Forum Foundation:

"Pax Christi has been a conduit for New Age for some time, featuring its messengers and filtering its message via its publications and annual meetings. In 1983, the year Mary Lou Kownacki, O.S.B., wrote about the meditation expert Eknath Easwaran (see above) she edited for Pax Christi a Reflection Guide on the U. S. Bishops ' Pastoral, The Challenge of Peace: God's Promise and Our Response. Still available and quoted frequently in Pax Christi pamphlets, it is related to this evaluation on two points: 1) it offers as a source for "reflection" a poem The Hundredth Monkey about nuclear disarmament with a notation: "(Vision books) - no copyright. Author wants everyone to read and distribute freely." It is written by Ken Keyes, Jr., without further identification. But who is he? - briefly, Keyes is the founder of Ken Keyes College, Coos Bay, Ore., that specializes in New Age workshops on the "Science of Happiness." His "Living Love Books," and they are numerous and best-sellers in New Age bookstores, are based on transformation and higher consciousness. And, 2) it recommends Global Education Associates for anyone "working for a new world order."

In 1985, Global Education Associates' co-founder Patricia Mische delivered the keynote address, "Disarming the Heart/Disarming the Nations" at the Pax Christi national assembly. She and her husband, Gerald, are GEA cofounders and also co-authors of the book, Toward a Human World Order, Beyond the National Security' Straitjacket, which advances the whys and wherefores for a new world order. The Misches are endorsers of the Planetary Initiative for the World We Choose and their GEA is listed as a participatory organization.

Their book, endorsed by New Agers Robert Muller and the late Rene Dubos along with several other Planetary Citizens including Fr. Theodore Hesburgh, discloses the strategic role "consciousness raising" plays in developing a receptiveness to interdependence in contradistinction to national sovereignty. And, it discloses the role of Religious orders, especially of women in "catalyzing a consciousness of world-order priorities." These women, from many different congregations, "constitute a national network of networks as members of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious." The LCWR "recognizing the planetary dimensions of today's world . . . established a Justice and Peace Commission as a step toward raising the consciousness of the 130,000 women thev represent ' ' (emphasis added). The LCWR officials." the Misches continue, "are active in many international programs, including Vatican-based operations - a strategic position from which to influence also the thinking of other Church networks around the world" (pp. 307-308).

The influence Pax Christi exercises in this consciousness raising network should not be underestimated. Its 1990 Annual Report lists 359 Religious communities as corporate sponsors. (Additional references are found in our documentation, "Consciousness Raising and the Erosion of Religious Life," $2.50 single copies.) In 1986 Patricia Mische's name appeared on the slate of candidates Pax Christi was recommending for a position on its National Council.
An interview with the New Ager Robert Muller on "Peace in Our Day" was a feature in the December, 1985 issue of Pax Christi magazine. And the 1988 spring issue carried an interview with New Ager Elise Boulding on "Imagining a World at Peace." She is an endorser of both Planetary Citizens and Planetary Initiative, and that same year was one of the keynoters at the Pax Christi national assembly devoted to "New Genesis: World Without Violence." New Genesis is the title of Robert Muller's book (see above). And in 1989s summer issue. Pax Christi included an interview with Fr. Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O., on centering prayer titled, "Transforming Daily Life." Fr. Keating, as documented above was the president of "Temple of Understanding," a New Age project, in 1984.

The guidelines he offers are of the same pattern as the Eastern meditation techniques suggested by Dolores Leckey and Mary Lou Kownacki: In a straight chair with your back erect and supported, gently close your eyes and use a simple prayer, hymn or musical selection "to center yourself," then "turn your attention to the God present within." Choose a sacred word and repeat it a few times. This, he writes, is a "receptive method of prayer" that "refreshes even if it seems to be trying, or painful or boring." That is a strange admission. And his "God present within" is centered on self rather than "the love of God" which the Vatican letter to all the bishops instructs is the "sole object of Christian contemplation" (31).

Pax Christi, during its 1989 assembly on "Food for the Journey, Spiritually for the Long Haul," for the first time publicly introduced New Age spirituality practices. This assembly held at Jesuit Seattle University opened with a blessing of the four corners of the earth given by an American Indian shaman and followed by a "Sanctification of Our Space" ritual-style dance. The next day's sessions began with a "Sacred Circle Dance" in which all participated. This was presented as an ancient dance learned at a Dance Camp in Scotland "dedicated to enabling new creative patterns of evolution in consciousness." (Complete documentation is available in our report, Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi.) Sr. Kathleen Pruitt, C.S.J.P. (Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace), from the Seattle Archdiocese and then chairman of Pax Christ's National Council, was the principal coordinator of this assembly In 1990 she was elected vice-president of Pax Christi International, which in 1983 was listed among the original endorsers of Planetary Initiative.

For the full text of the Wanderer article, go here.

In this week's edition of The Catholic Free Press - page 7, Sue Malone and Charlotte Stanley (who serve as co-chairpersons of Pax Christi Central Mass), describe the dissenting organization - which has deep ties to Call To Action - as merely a "peace and justice" organization: "The nonviolent work of Pax Christi is done through a process of prayer, study and action at the personal, local, national and international levels with an emphasis on addressing the root causes of violence." Sounds innocuous enough. Until you dig a little deeper:

As explained here, Pax Christi is both a leftist organization and nationally-recognized dissent group. Pax Christi has strong ties to another well-recognized dissent group - Call to Action. As explained here, Bishop Fabian W. Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska, has described the Call to Action movement [of which Pax Christi is part and parcel] as one which is, "..often disguised as a sincere effort to 'renew' the Catholic Church" but which masks "a hidden agenda and poison fruit which the noisier dissenters never tire of offering to their unsuspecting victims."

And as Elizabeth Drennan notes in her excellent article:"The CTA [Call to Action]/lesbian pro-abortion Feminist's Prayer to the Four Great Spirits is also part of RENEW 2000 materials (Called to Lead, book 2). In this prayer/exercise, participants stand in a circle, arms outstretched, and pray to the "Great Spirits of the Four Directions, North, South, East, and West" and "to the Great Spirit of All That Is Below" — which is actually in the text of RENEW 2000, along with its author's name: Diann Neu, the lesbian-feminist CTA speaker. Alarmingly, the idea of prayer to the "four directions" which Neu teaches RENEW 2000 participants is also an intrinsic part of WICCA (witchcraft) worship of the goddess, Gaia, according to WICCA web sites."

More than a hundred years ago, John Henry Cardinal Newman predicted the desolation of our time: "Surely there is at this day a confederacy of evil, marshalling its hosts from all parts of the world, organizing itself, taking its measures, enclosing the Church of Christ in a net, and preparing the way for a general apostasy from it. Whether this very apostasy is to give birth to Antichrist or whether he is still to be delayed we cannot know; but at any rate this evil apostasy and all its tokens and instruments are of the Evil One and savour of death." (John Henry Cardinal Newman, Discussions and Arguments on Various Subjects, London, Longmans, Green and Co., 1888, p. 60).

Richard Bennett has said that, "The goal of the New Age Movement has consistently been to bring in the Age of Aquarius when all will recognize 'the God within themselves'. A major step towards this in the words of the New Age prophetess Alice Bailey, is 'the regeneration of the churches.' Her vision was that… 'The Christian church in its many branches can serve as a St. John the Baptist, as a voice crying in the wilderness, and as a nucleus through which world illumination may be accomplished.' In a word, she desired the time when the 'Christian churches' would embrace the New Age concepts of illumination and self-realization. The New Age plan to bring in world peace cannot fully establish the Golden Age of Aquarius until Biblical Christianity is outlawed or destroyed.

Why is it suddenly so important for Pax Christi, a dissent group which is immersed in New Age spirituality. to be introduced to parishes throughout the Worcester Diocese?

What do you think?