President Trump stands with the Oppressed Cuban people. Does Prevost?

President Trump: We will not rest until Cubans have freedom 

President Trump is looking at Cuba (see here) as he continues his work to purge the hemisphere of Deep State government now that the sociopath Raul Castro has been indicted. 

Readers of this Blog will recall how,  beginning with Francis, the sociopathic dictator was welcome at the Vatican.  See here and here.

Pope Pius IX described socialism as a "fatal pest" and an "infamous doctrine" that fundamentally opposes the Church and natural law. 

Pope Pius XI explicitly addressed socialism in his 1931 encyclical, Quadragesimo Anno, asserting forcefully that, "No one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist."

The Holy See has actively maintained diplomatic relations with the murderous Marxist-Leninist Cuban government. Reports indicate that the Cuban government has sought the Pope's diplomatic assistance to encourage the easing of U.S. embargoes.

Indeed it seems that Raul Castro, a Marxist-Leninist murdering dictator is afforded more respect by Leo XIV than he seems willing to grant to President Trump and the United States as it stands with the oppressed people of the now indicted thug to our South.

Pray.

The murderous Castro regime's victims - See here.

The Apostasy will begin with priests who betray the Gospel for Satanic Marxism

As noted here: "The Virgin revealed that the priests who betray the Gospel for Satanic Marxism would begin the Great Apostasy."

Readers of this Blog know full well that I've been sounding the alarm for some 36 years. See this post for example and here.

We are witnessing the gradual emergence of a new humanitarian religion which proposes man, instead of God, as the object of worship. This "religion for progress," as Teilhard de Chardin referred to it, is anti-supernatural. Robert Hugh Benson describes it in his classic "The Lord of the World" thusly: 

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

Marxism was an expression of the humanitarian religion. It worshipped society and the state symbols of the party: Lenin, Stalin and Mao. National Socialism deified the state and its Fuhrer Adolph Hitler. Today the United States is moving toward Socialism and that "..supreme religious deception..that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 675).

Albert Drexel, in Ein Neuer Prophet? (Stein am Rhein: Christiana, 1971) explains that: "The modernism or neo-modernism within Christianity, and especially within the Roman Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council, is above all characterized by a turning away from the supernatural and an exclusive predilection for this world, the Aggiornamento of Pope John XXIII interpreted one-sidedly and hence misapplied. Teilhard's ideology was was a definitive precondition for this. Inasmuch as he turned his back to the past, fused God and the supernatural with the process of a universal evolutionism, and proclaimed religion to be an active participation in a progressive development ending in Point Omega, the basis was given for a humanist cult of the secular." (p. 115).

In the New World Order, man will no longer believe in a God whom he cannot control. Man will worship himself and his new leader who will, like Hitler, be deified: the man spoken of by Saint Paul as the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition. This world ruler will not tolerate anyone who adores any god other than himself. As Romano Guardini has noted, "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.." (The Lord, p. 513).

Pray to the Immaculata. The Man of Sin will soon reveal himself.  And his False Prophet will be there to welcome him with open arms.

None of this could have happened without first conspiring to remove Pope Benedict XVI in order to begin the creation of a Modernistic church. The Dark Church foretold by Anne

Catherine Emmerich.  See here.

Who is really weaponizing the Eucharist?

 

From Bishop Samuel Aquila:

"Jesus counseled the disciples to enter 'through the narrow gate,' since the road that leads to destruction is broad and 'those who enter through it are many,' but the road that leads to life is narrow and 'those who find it are few' (Mt. 7:13-14).

Those of us who have followed the news in the last week or so know that the press has declared that the U.S. Bishops are planning to ban President Biden from Communion, allegedly ignoring the Vatican’s guidance. Of course, that is not true when one looks at the details of what we discussed at our June meeting and what Cardinal Ladaria said in his letter to the bishops.

The bishops were asked by Cardinal Ladaria, who heads the Vatican’s doctrine office, to build consensus about how to respond to Catholics who hold public positions and who insist on receiving Holy Communion after publicly committing grave sins. After hours of discussion, the bishops voted 168 to 55 to draft a document that addresses both this issue and the broader question of what places any person in a state of not being able to receive Communion. The document, which will be drafted and then discussed regionally in the coming months, will strive to make the Church’s teachings on the Eucharist and worthily receiving the Lord more widely known.

Despite the efforts made to clearly communicate that the document is 'not meant to be disciplinary in nature, nor is it targeted at any one individual or class of persons,' 60 Catholic lawmakers released a letter one hour after our vote justifying their support for legalized abortion and arguing that the bishops have 'weaponized the Eucharist.'

This is deflecting the blame for the situation. Instead of accepting their own responsibility to understand and follow Church teaching, these politicians are the ones who are 'weaponizing the Eucharist' by insisting that they remain in good standing despite publicly committing grave sins and continuing to receive Communion. Everyone with common sense understands that their claim of being in communion with the Church is false. One cannot say one believes something, do the complete opposite and then credibly say that they are in communion with a Church that believes what they did is evil.

To add another layer to this, many bishops – including myself – have been privately dialoguing with Catholic politicians on abortion and other issues for years, urging them to refrain from Communion if they won’t change their immoral political positions. Unfortunately, many – but not all – of these public figures have chosen political expediency over the Gospel. They value their political party and their power more than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They do not serve as a leaven of the Gospel in society, but rather build a culture of death. They cite the importance of following their consciences but fail to explain how their conscience is a properly formed conscience. Instead, they adopt a form of relativism that says, 'truth is different for every person.'

As Jesus said to the disciples, the road that leads to eternal life is narrow and those who attempt to take the wide road are headed for destruction. We see this in St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, where he warns that some people had received the Eucharist in a state of grave sin and became sick or died. “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (1 Cor. 11:27-30).

Drawing on St. Paul, the Church’s teaching for every Catholic about worthily receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus is that one “must be in the state of grace. Anyone aware of having sinned mortally must not receive communion without having received absolution in the sacrament of penance” (Catechism 1415)..."

In the words of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger:

"Presenting oneself to receive Holy Communion should be a conscious decision, based on a reasoned judgment regarding one’s worthiness to do so, according to the Church’s objective criteria, asking such questions as: 'Am I in full communion with the Catholic Church? Am I guilty of grave sin? Have I incurred a penalty (e.g. excommunication, interdict) that forbids me to receive Holy Communion? Have I prepared myself by fasting for at least an hour?' The practice of indiscriminately presenting oneself to receive Holy Communion, merely as a consequence of being present at Mass, is an abuse that must be corrected." 

See Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1395

Related reading here

Bishop Thomas Daly: How much more can the People of God put up with?

From The Spokesman Review:

"Light streamed into Bishop Thomas Daly’s office one recent afternoon as he spoke, in sometimes blunt terms, about the widening scandal of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in the United States.

'It’s a moral crisis,' Daly said. 'We have degenerate behavior, hypocrisy and now cover-up. My thought is, How much more can the people of God put up with?’ 

As the leader of the Spokane diocese since 2015, Daly has the final say on some investigations into abuse by clergy. He talked to The Spokesman-Review in late October following a wave of headlines about sexual abuse in all ranks of the Roman Catholic Church.

It began anew in June, when allegations emerged that Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, D.C., had sexually abused minors and adult seminarians over the course of decades. Pope Francis accepted McCarrick’s resignation in July. And then in August, the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office released a grand jury report finding that church leaders had covered up the abuse of more than 1,000 people over a 70-year period, prompting investigations in several other states.

Sexual abuse scandals have rocked the church for nearly 17 years. After the Boston Globe exposed a systemic cover-up in that city’s archdiocese in 2002, similar reports emerged across the country and the world, forcing the church to pay billions of dollars in settlements and establish reporting and prevention programs. The Spokane diocese is among those with a history of predator priests – revelations that sent it into bankruptcy in the early 2000s and dogged it for more than a decade.

The diocese has responded to new allegations in the aftermath of the bankruptcy. Last year, for example, Daly sanctioned a retired priest who had been 'credibly accused' of raping an altar boy in Spokane in the 1980s..."

As I warned in the pages of The Wanderer back in 2002, Canon 1040 of the Code of Canon Law states that: "Persons who are affected by a perpetual impediment, which is called an irregularity, or a simple impediment, are prevented from receiving orders."

Irregularities arise either from defect (ex defectu) or from crime (ex delicto).  It seems clear that a homosexual inclination, which the Church teaches is "intrinsically disordered," would constitute an irregularity ex defectu. And, as Father Heribert Jone, O.F.M. Cap., J.C.D. explains: "An irregularity is not a penalty, but a means to safeguard the dignity of the clerical state and office by excluding those who are unqualified for the service of the altar."

In fact, when asked by a Bishop if it is licit to confer priestly ordination to men with manifest homosexual tendencies, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments replied with a letter signed by Jorge Cardinal Medina Estevez which stated that, "Ordination to the diaconate and the priesthood of homosexual men or men with homosexual tendencies is absolutely inadvisable and imprudent and, from the pastoral point of view, very risky. A homosexual person, or one with a homosexual tendency is not, therefore, fit to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders."

And we've witnessed this firsthand as homosexual predators have satisfied their perverse appetites by sexually abusing teenage boys.

Bishop Daly has said it well: How much more can the People of God put up with?

Sister Lucia Caram wants to dethrone Our Lady...

As Father William Saunders notes here:

"We as Catholics firmly believe that Mary is 'ever virgin.' The Catechism of the Catholic Church asserts, 'The deepening of faith in the virginal motherhood led the Church to confess Mary's real and perpetual virginity even in the act of giving birth to the Son of God made man.'

This statement reflects a more precise dogmatic statement issued at the First Lateran Council: 'If anyone does not, according to the holy Fathers, confess truly and properly that holy Mary, ever virgin and immaculate, is Mother of God, since in this latter age she conceived in true reality without human seed from the Holy Spirit, God the Word Himself, who before the ages was begotten of God the Father, and gave birth to Him without injury, her virginity remaining equally inviolate after the birth, let him be condemned.'"

Sister Lucia Caram does not embrace this teaching.  This sham Catholic has said that, "Mary likely had sex with husband Joseph – much like any 'normal couple' would."

Father Bernard Kunkel, who died in 1969 and who was the pastor of St. Cecilia's in Bartelso, Illinois, waged an almost impossible fight for purity and modesty. Even then the customary clothing was indecent. Here are some some of the things he wrote in  1969 issues of Divine Love magazine and in an issue of the 1957 Marylike Crusader:

"One of the strange phenomena of history is the fact that the Devil has succeeded so well in keeping concealed the existence of the corrupting Body of Satan, with its long-range program for the destruction of the Church. Catholics just do not seem to be aware that, as soon as Christ instituted His Church---His Mystical Body---the Devil likewise organized his anti-church, his corrupting body. St. Augustine, St. John, St. Paul and other Saints have referred to it, as well as Pope Leo XIII and other Church leaders. The corrupting body of Satan still exists in our time and is very well organized in its efforts to use the modem fashions, filthy literature, indecent movies, pagan TV shows, drugs, drink, etc. to break down morality among Catholics in order eventually to destroy the Church and Christianity. Its most effective weapon was to be corruption from within.

"Since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Satan has been able to use the weapon of impurity very effectively In the 16th century he used as his tools the founders of the two Parent-Protestant religions in Germany and England, Martin Luther and King Henry VIII. The first founder entered a sacrilegious marriage, the second an adulterous one. Our Mother Most Chaste being dethroned from their hearts, there was no other logical course for them, than to exile Her from their man-made churches and from the hearts of their millions of followers. But the devil could not hope to corrupt completely Christ's Mystical Body, the Catholic Church, unless he could first succeed in dethroning Mary, the Mother Most Chaste, from the hearts of Catholics. 

"Our Blessed Mother, in all Her apparitions, is fully covered. At Fatima in 1917 she appeared in a world that was beginning to cut sleeves and necklines and to curtail skirts. Shouldn't she, the model for girls also in the 20th century, show some signs of following the modern trend? True, as Heavenly Queen, she is attired in queenly robes. Even so, she could do a little cutting on the sleeves, neckline and skirt. Why so determined to cling to the traditional standards? Why doesn't she give the modern girl a break, and give some sign that she approves a little cutting here and there?

"The answer is, because she does not approve of the modern trend of uncovering those parts of the body as the chest, upper arms, shoulders, and the thighs. She disapproves. In fact, she came down from Heaven to earth to warn against this disrobing trend. Listen to what she revealed to little ten year old Jacinta of Fatima, while Jacinta lay dying in a hospital in Lisbon, Portugal in 1920: 'Certain fashions will be introduced which will offend Our Divine Lord very much. Those who serve God ought not to follow these fashions. The Church has no fashions. Our Lord is always the same.' And she also revealed to Jacinta that 'the sins that lead most souls to hell are the sins of the flesh.'

"The devil seeks, therefore, to destroy that veneration which the faithful have always paid to Mary's chaste and virginal Body through which Christ entered this world. For centuries he has sought to find a way to remove Mary as their perfect model of chastity and modesty. Only then could he hope to bring about that mass corruption which might lead Catholics to his 'world religion'---the impure worship of the body and unrestrained sex gratification. 

"This is apparently what Satan attempted through his agents, the powers of corruption, during the French Revolution. For, on Dec. 10, 1793 an angry mob rushed into the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, seized the statue of the Blessed Virgin on the altar, and dashed it to the floor. Hatred against the Mother of God? Quite evidently. But their hatred was directed chiefly against the Virgin with modest attire, the model of purity and modesty. This is clear from their subsequent action of enthroning on the altar in Mary's place a nude woman, the Goddess of Reason.' To this day Paris remains the capital of the semi-nude fashion world.

"But why should women be the first victim of the Devil's plot? Because women have a much more delicate sense of modesty, and that is exactly why the devil strives first to destroy this feminine sense of modesty which makes womanhood the guardian of chastity in the world.

"Even with the success of the French Revolution, the demon of lust was too cunning to reveal immediately his full program of moral destruction to be carried out by his human agents. To escape detection, he must develop it gradually. Had the entire program been unfolded at once, Christian women would have risen up in open rebellion."

And there you have it.  Demoniacs such as Sister Lucia Caram have always sought to dethrone Our Lady, Perpetually a Virgin.  These sons and daughters of Hell, having abandoned the Church's Dogma (and in many cases their own commitment toward celibacy), are most anxious to replace the Immaculata with the "Goddess of Reason."

The Spirit of lust becomes for these children of the demon the new "normal."

Consecrated virginity becomes, in their sick minds, something "abnormal."

I would post this at my parish's Facebook Page (Saint Mary's in Orange, Massachusetts), but my posts defending the Church's perennial teaching have been deemed "too controversial" and I have been blocked by a small clique of progressives.

No doubt these bright lights would embrace Sister Caram and her views, much as they embraced Father Jose Antonio Bermudez and his promotion of CCHD which provides monies for pro-abortion, pro-sodomite groups.*


*  See here.

Actor Robert Pattinson asked to have sex with dog for new movie...

Daily Star reports:

"Robert Pattinson got the mother of all requests on his latest film.

The Twilight star, who used to date Kristen Stewart, told US TV host Jimmy Kimmel that he was asked to 'pleasure a dog' for his latest film Good Time.

R-Patz, 31, plays a New York criminal fighting to save his little brother in one night of chaos in the highly-anticipated film."

And there are those who doubt that America has become a haunt of demons!

In his excellent and prophetic book Trousered Apes, Professor Duncan Williams documented extensively the banishment of God from society in the West and said that as a result, "the Western world and its culture is saturated with violence and animalism....We are teaching savagery and are naively appalled at the success of our instruction."

Professor Williams continues, "What shocks an audience today will be acceptable tomorrow and thus the contemporary dramatist [or reality show producer, my note] is constantly impelled to seek further excesses to gratify a warped taste which he has himself implanted in the public mind....The whole modern cult of violence and animalism is in essence an admission of defeat.  Since we cannot be men to any idealistic extent, let us lapse into barbaric animalism but, still clinging to vestiges of a past which we hate but cannot escape, let us clothe our defeat in high-sounding terms: 'alienation,' 'cult of unpleasure,' 'realism,' and similar jargon.  Yet all this fashionable phraseology cannot conceal the fact that the Emperor has no clothes....The contemporary playwright or producer might well take as his motto, Apres moi, la secheresse (After me, the drought), and congratulate himself that he is writing before a morbid public appetite demands scenes of such repellent realism that actors and actresses will have to be killed on stage in order to satisfy it."

Just prior to the Reign of Antichrist, Venerable Bartholomew Holzhauser tells us that, "During this unhappy period there will be laxity in divine and human precepts. Discipline will suffer. The Holy Canons will be completely disregarded, and the clergy will not respect the law of the Church. Everyone will be carried away and led to believe and to do what he fancies, according to the manner of the flesh. They will ridicule Christian simplicity ; they will call it folly and nonsense, but they will have the highest regard for advanced knowledge...As a result no principle at all- however holy, authentic, ancient, and certain it may be, will remain free of censure, criticism, false interpretations, modifications, and delimitation by man.

These are evil times a century full of dangers and calamities. Heresy is everywhere, and the followers of heresy are in power, almost everywhere. Bishops, prelates, and priests say that they are doing their duty, that they are vigilant and that they live as befits their state of life. In like manner therefore they all seek excuses. But God will permit a great evil against His Church; Heretics and tyrants will come suddenly and unexpectedly; they will break into the Church while Bishops prelates and priests are asleep. They will enter Italy and lay Rome waste; they will burn down the churches and destroy everything."


The Reign of Antichrist will witness a celebration of sin and perversion the likes of which few can imagine. Pleasure is the new principle par excellence. If pleasure can justify homosexual behavior (and increasingly that is what our sin-sick society is saying), then other deviant forms of sexual activity which are viewed as pleasurable by some will also be logically justified. This will include pedophilia, pederasty, ephebophilia, gerontophilia, necrophilia, sadism, masochism and bestiality.

The New Sodom.  Presided over by a counterfeit church overshadowing the True Church.

Recommended reading, CCC, 675.

With a new priest, perhaps Saint Mary's Parish in Orange, Massachusetts will come to understand that masculinity is not a disease

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been ostracized at the Parish where I attend Holy Mass because I have exposed the liberal agenda there to funnel monies to pro-abortion and pro-homosexualist groups via the "Catholic Campaign for Human Development" - CCHD.

Although I attempted to register at the Parish and to volunteer in Parish Ministry, I was excluded.  Such has been the hatred toward me that when I attempted to post an article on the Parish Facebook Page regarding the objectively heretical statements of Francis (See here), the article was deleted and a parishioner, whose identity remains unknown, responded by writing, "Hi Paul.  I would appreciate it if you would not post this link on our page."

Because this parish has succumbed to liberal ideology and misandry, authentic men are not welcome.  Only those who adhere to liberal "Catholicism" and an effeminized Church are welcome to register and/or participate in parish ministry.  All others need not apply.  And the same parish that couldn't welcome me because I oppose the Cult of Softness, is looking for volunteers:

As this article explains:

"Though the New Evangelization has been a major effort in the Catholic Church for over forty years, it has failed to stem the disastrous losses of the faithful in the U.S. The New Evangelization is faltering: since 2000, 14 million Catholics have left the faith, parish religious education participation of children has dropped by 24%, Catholic school attendance has dropped by 19%, baptisms of infants has dropped by 28%, baptism of adults has dropped by 31% and sacramental Catholic marriages have dropped by 41%. Something is desperately wrong with the Church’s approach to the New Evangelization.

The New Emangelization Project has documented that a key driver of the collapse of Catholicism in the U. S. is a serious and growing Catholic “man-crisis”. One third of baptized Catholic men have left the faith and the majority of those who remain “Catholic” neither know nor practice the faith and are not committed to pass the faith along to their children. Recent research shows that large numbers of young Catholic men are leaving the faith to become “Nones”, men who have no religious affiliation.The growing losses of young Catholic men will have a devastating impact on the U.S. Catholic Church in the coming decades, as older Catholic men pass away and young men fail to remain and marry in the Church, accelerating the devastating losses that have already occurred.

While there are massive cultural forces outside of the Church (e.g. secularism, pluralism, anti-Christian bias, radical feminism, pornography, media saturation, etc.) and missteps within the Church (e.g. failure to make men a priority, sex abuse scandals, homosexuality in the priesthood, etc.) that have contributed to the Catholic “man-crisis”, the New Emangelization Project has conducted dozens of interviews with top Catholic men’s evangelists[4] that suggest that a core reason for the “man-crisis” is that bishops and priests have not yet made the evangelization and catechesis of men a clear priority. Men are being ignored by the Church."

Apparently Saint Mary's Parish in Orange, Massachusetts has been okay with this.  Hatred can rationalize such discrimination.

Now that the Parish has a new priest who appears to be faithful, not to mention less hostile toward men and masculinity, with the help of God's grace, things will change.

Faithful Catholics: Stand with Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Caffarra and other legitimate shepherds against the forces of Ecclesiastical Masonry

Cardinal Carlo Caffarra has reminded us that we have entered the time of the final battle between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan, between the Culture of Truth and the Culture of the Lie.

Caffarra said that legalized abortion comes from the “culture of the lie” where the “crime” of murdering a human being is seen as a “good.”

Abortion is a “sacrilegious act,” he said, adding that it is the “profoundest negation of the truth of man.”

“The reason why man should not shed the blood of man is that man is the image of God. Through man, God dwells in His creation. This creation is the temple of the Lord, because man inhabits it. To violate the intangibility of the human person is a sacrilegious act against the Sanctity of God. It is the Satanic attempt to generate an ‘anti-creation.’ By ennobling the killing of humans, Satan has laid the foundations for his ‘creation’: to remove from creation the image of God, to obscure his presence therein,” he said.

The Cardinal said Homosexual “marriage” also comes from the “culture of the lie” since it “denies entirely the truth of marriage” as it comes from the “mind of God the Creator.”

“The Divine Revelation has told us how God thinks of marriage: the lawful union of a man and woman, the source of life. In the mind of God, marriage has a permanent structure, based on the duality of the human mode of being: femininity and masculinity. Not two opposite poles, but the one with and for the other,” he said.

“The union between a man and woman, who become one flesh, is human cooperation in the creative act of God,” he added.

Satan, in pushing the lies of abortion and homosexuality, is attempting to destroy the two most important pillars of creation, the “human person” created in the image of God and the “conjugal union” between a man and woman.

This is solid Catholic teaching in preparation for this final battle between the Children of Mary and the Children of Lucifer.

By contrast, Masonic forces, led by Francis, would have us believe that Faithful Catholics have been obsessed with abortion and homosexuality.

But how can the defense of "the two most important pillars of creation" be justly labelled "obsessive"?  Why then would Francis assert such a thing? Because the Devil is pursuing a divide and conquer strategy even within the Church.

At Fatima, Pope Benedict XVI called abortion and same-sex "marriage" some of the most "insidious and dangerous" threats facing the world today.

And so they are.  Which is why faithful Catholics need to stand with Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Caffarra and other legitimate shepherds and against the forces of Freemasonry within the Church.

The hidden hand of masonry here.

Francis: The hell with Canon Law, the hell with the mind of the Church, I declare most marriages invalid

Francis has asserted that most sacramental marriages are "invalid." See here.

The Church, unlike Francis who seems to be having a mental breakdown, accepts every marriage as valid until proven otherwise.

This is a matter of Canon Law.  The Code of Canon Law, which Francis should familiarize himself with, States CLEARLY:

"Marriage possesses the favor of law; therefore, in a case of doubt, the validity of a marriage must be upheld until the contrary is proven." (c. 1060).

Francis, who has admitted to suffering from mental illness, would appear to suffer as well from delusions of grandeur, believing himself wiser than the mind of the Church while dispensing with Church Law.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, shield the faithful from this nonsense.  Saint Michael, defend the Church.

Pope Francis: Do you want to pray the Creed?

Dorothy Sayers, in her classic work Creed or Chaos, reminds us that, "The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man — and the dogma is the drama.

That drama is summarised quite clearly in the creeds of the Church, and if we think it dull it is because we either have never really read those amazing documents, or have recited them so often and so mechanically as to have lost all sense of their meaning.  The plot pivots upon a single character, and the whole action is the answer to a single central problem: What think ye of Christ?

The Church's answer is categorical and uncompromising, and it is this: That Jesus Bar-Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth, was in fact and in truth, and in the most exact and literal sense of the words, the God "by Whom all things were made."  His body and brain were those of a common man; His personality was the personality of God, so far as that personality could be expressed in human terms.  He was not a kind of dæmon or fairy pretending to be human; He was in every respect a genuine living man.  He was not merely a man so good as to be "like God" — He was God…This is the dogma we find so dull — this terrifying drama of which God is the victim and hero.

If this is dull, then what, in Heaven's name, is worthy to be called exciting?  The people who hanged Christ never, to do them justice, accused Him of being a bore — on the contrary; they thought Him too dynamic to be safe.  It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround Him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified Him "meek and mild," and recommended Him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies.  To those who knew Him, however, He in no way suggested a milk-and-water person; they objected to Him as a dangerous firebrand."

For authentic Christians then, the Creeds are essential.  They are our response to the question, "What think ye of Christ?"

But for Pope Francis, the Creed seems to be of little importance.  As related here, when challenged on some of his views (which many consider far to the left), Francis responded, "..if they want me to recite the Creed, I can!"

First of all, the Creed is a prayer.  It should be prayed and not simply recited.  Secondly, we should possess the desire to pray the Creed, and not simply recite it as some sort of formula to convince others that we really believe.

It was Archbishop Fulton Sheen who cautioned, "The modern man must decide for himself whether he is going to have a religion with thought or a religion without it. He already knows that thoughtless policies lead to the ruin of society, and he may begin to suspect that thoughtless religion ends in confusion worse confounded.

The problem is simple. The modern man has two maps before him: one the map of sentimental religion, the other the map of dogmatic religion. The first is very simple. It has been constructed only in the last few years by a topographer who has just gone into the business of map making and is extremely adverse to explicit directions. He believes that each man should find his own way and not have his liberty taken away by dogmatic directions. The other map is much more complicated and full of dogmatic detail. It has been made by topographers who have been over every inch of the road for centuries and know each detour and each pitfall. It has explicit directions and dogmas such as, 'Do not take this road - it is swampy,' or 'Follow this road; although rough and rocky at first, it leads to a smooth road on a mountaintop.'

The simple map is very easy to read, but those who are guided by it are generally lost in a swamp of mushy sentimentalism. The other map takes a little more scrutiny, but it is simpler in the end, for it takes you up through the rocky road of the world's scorn to the everlasting hills where is seated the original Map Maker, the only One who ever has associated rest with learning: 'Learn of Me...and you shall find rest for your souls.'

Every new coherent doctrine and dogma add to the pabulum for thought; it is an extra bit of garden upon which we can intellectually browse; it is new food into which we can put our teeth and thence absorb nourishment; it is the discovery of a new intellectual planet that adds fullness and spaciousness to our mental world. And simply because it is solid and weighty, because it is dogmatic and not gaseous and foggy like a sentiment, it is intellectually invigorating, for it is with weights that the best drill is done, and not with feathers.

It is the very nature of a man to generate children of his brain in the shape of thoughts, and as he piles up thought on thought, truth on truth, doctrine on doctrine, conviction on conviction, and dogma on dogma, a very coherent and orderly fashion, so as to produce a system complex as a body and yet one and harmonious, the more and more human he becomes. When, however, in response to false cries for progress, he lops off dogmas, breaks with the memory of his forefathers, denies intellectual parentage, pleads for a religion without dogmas, substitutes mistiness for mystery, mistakes sentiment for sediment, he is sinking back slowly, surely, and inevitably into the senselessness of stones and into the irresponsible unconsciousness of weeds. Grass is broad-minded. Cabbages have heads - but no dogmas."

A religion with thought or a religion without it.  Which do you think Francis advances?

Related reading here.

Cardinal Cottier has forgotten that mercy and anger alike are with God

The Catholic Herald reports:

"In being a minister of God’s mercy and a guide on the path to holiness, the Catholic Church must develop better ways to 'accompany' people in their family life and not simply condemn those who fail, said a diverse group of theologians, including the former theologian of the papal household.

Cardinal Georges Cottier, who served as the papal theologian from 1989 to 2005, said, 'In rigorism, there is an innate brutality that is contrary to the delicacy with which God guides each person.'

La Civilta Cattolica, a Jesuit journal reviewed at the Vatican prior to publication, published an interview last Thursday with Cardinal Cottier about mercy and the upcoming Synod of Bishops on the family.

The cardinal said he was certain that the Year of Mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis would influence the synod’s work, which has the task of proclaiming God’s plan for the human family and assisting all Catholics – including those in what the church would define as 'irregular' situations – to grow in holiness.

'Some people have been scandalised by the Church because of a negative judgment issued in an impersonal and soulless way,' Cardinal Cottier said. 'They have felt driven away, rejected in a serious manner.'

While the Church’s ministers must uphold Church teaching, he said, 'this must be presented and explained in a language that clearly transmits the maternal concern of the church.'

'Through the voice of its pastors,' Cardinal Cottier said, 'the Church always must demonstrate that it is guided by the requirements of divine mercy.'"

And what of the requirements of divine justice?   On that subject the Cardinal is silent.  Anyone who, like Cardinal Cottier, believes that the Church suffers from "rigorism," is not in touch with reality.  Quite the contrary is true.  The Church suffers today not from rigorism but from laxity.  And this is driving people out of the Church today as it has driven them from those churches which have embraced liberalism and modernism.  The fruit of this laxity is Catholics who decide to sleep in on Sunday morning with the mindset, "What do I need Mass for, God will save me in His mercy. I am basically a good person."

Oscar Romero, the martyred Archbishop of San Salvador, once 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 are secured in their sinful state, betrays the gospels call...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! That is the Church's authentic preaching."

While there are so many good and faithful priests who do preach on the reality of sin and the need for reconciliation, there are those who have no love for the souls under their care. As a consequence, these priests neglect the souls entrusted to them and make no attempt to stress the reality of sin and the need for ongoing conversion.

When Jesus began His public ministry, He did so with the word "repent" (Matthew 4:17). And He advised the woman caught in adultery to "sin no more" (John 8:11). Likewise, in the case of the man cured at the Pool of Bethesda, Jesus advised him to "sin no more lest something worse befall thee" (John 5:14). Was Jesus guilty of "rigorism"? When queried on the subject of how many would be saved, Jesus replied "few" because the "gate" to Heaven is "narrow" (Matthew 7:13-14). And while no one can pinpoint the precise meaning of the word "few," still, it is sobering that Jesus chose the image of a narrow gate.

Jesus is likened in the gospel to a stern master who has lazy servants flogged and murderous ones put to death (Matthew 21:41; Luke 12:47). And while it is true that Jesus is Mercy, He is also Justice. And for every parable illustrative of His mercy, there are three or four threatening divine retribution.

The Judgment Day is always described as a day of wrath and never as a day of rejoicing (Proverbs 11:4; Zephaniah 1:15; Sirach 5:10; Romans 2:5; Revelation 6:17). Why is this? If everyone (or even a large segment of mankind) is headed for Heaven, why does Sacred Scripture refer to the Judgment Day as a day of wrath?

The smug, self-satisfied "we-are-all-saved-already" attitude found in so many Catholic parishes is the result of the sin of presumption. Because there are priests who are betraying Jesus by refusing to preach on the reality of sin and the reality of Hell, a spiritual dry-rot has infected much of the Church. This is why nearly everyone receives Holy Communion at Mass but nearly no one goes to Confession.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church has this to say about presumption: "There are two kinds of presumption. Either man presumes upon his own capacities, (hoping to be able to save himself without help from on high), or he presumes upon God's almighty power or his mercy (hoping to obtain his forgiveness without conversion and glory without merit)." (CCC, 2092).

The words of Sacred Scripture remind us that such an attitude is very, very wrong: "Of forgiveness be not overconfident, adding sin upon sin. Say not:' Great is his mercy; my many sins he will forgive.' For mercy and anger alike are with him; upon the wicked alights his wrath." (Sirach 5:5-7).

Cardinal Cottier has forgotten this truth.

Catholic school in Toronto: Boy must be allowed to share bathroom with girls

Writing for LifeSiteNews, Pete Baklinski notes how, "Girls in first grade in a Toronto Catholic school will be sharing a washroom this year with a biological boy whose lesbian parent has chosen to identify him as a 'girl.'

A mother whose young daughter attends the school in the Toronto Catholic District School Board is concerned about the implications of allowing a biological boy to share her daughter’s washroom and changing room, especially as the boy moves into puberty. The mother, under condition of anonymity, shared her concerns with Phil Lees, president of Public Education Advocates for Christian Equity (P.E.A.C.E.), who published a report on his website.

“My greatest concern is that its going to lead to confusion in the minds of children of faith about what’s right or wrong for them,” Lees told LifeSiteNews.

The mother related how the boy attended junior kindergarten with her daughter two years ago. At the end of the year, the lesbian parent withdrew the boy. Now, after a one-year absence, she has reenrolled her child in grade one, claiming he must now be treated as a 'girl.'

The lesbian parent allegedly told the principal that under the federal 'gender identity' Bill C-279, along with the provincial 'gender identity' Bill 33 (Toby’s Law), her child could not be discriminated against and must be allowed to use whatever washroom he chooses.

Bill C-279, which life-and-family leaders warned would open society to a host of “problematic sexual activities,” stalled in the Senate in June 2013 prior to its third and final reading. Parliament being prorogued two months later had the effect of killing all legislation being considered by the government, including Bill C-279. The fate of the bill has yet to be determined.

The lesbian parent used the two bills to insist her biological boy use the girl’s facilities, even though the bills contain nothing about bathroom usage. The lesbian parent was not content with the suggestion to let the boy use the single stall handicap washroom or the teacher’s washroom.

The mother told Lees that the principal instructed the children and parents that the biological boy was now to be treated as a “girl” at the request of the parent.

When the mother approached the principal with her concerns, the principal expressed surprise that the matter was a concern for anyone. The principal heard the mother’s concerns and brought them to the attention of the superintendent of education. The matter has not yet been resolved.

LifeSiteNews asked the Toronto Catholic District School Board for comment, but did not receive a response by press time.

Lees told LifeSiteNews that the mother is 'deathly afraid of being targeted' by activists if she were to go public with her concerns.

According to the mother, even school staff are afraid to say anything about the situation for fear of losing their job or being dragged before a human rights tribunal.

Lees told LifeSiteNews that he believes 'LGBT' activists are using the woman and her boy as a 'test case' to advance the homosexual agenda in Catholic schools.

While Lees said he has “no problem” with persons who express themselves in a way different from their biological makeup, he does have a problem when they force everyone else to comply with their demands.

Lees said the case emphasizes what happens when society rejects God’s ways, such as the creation of human beings as male and female, and replaces them with man-made laws and norms that run contrary to the created order.

'Man desires to rule and to be god,' he said.

'The reasons why we have these problems in our schools is because for the last two or three generations, people of faith have withdrawn. People of faith have become so busy with other aspects of their lives and they don’t know how to reengage.'  See here.

___________________________________________________________

Deacon Keith Fournier, in an article for Catholic Online a few years ago, wrote: "The 'Gender Identity Movement' is dangerous. It is a part of a broader Cultural Revolution which substitutes an entirely different view of the dignity of the human person, human freedom, human flourishing, human sexuality, marriage and the family and the moral basis of a free society than that which formed Western Civilization."  See here.

Indeed Pope Benedict XVI, in a Christmas Address given in 2008, denounced the contemporary notion that gender is a malleable definition and said, "The Church speaks of the human being as man and woman, and asks that this order is respected."


Fr. Vincent Miceli, S.J., has noted that, "It has been a special scar on the worst pagan cultures and the worst idolatrous religions that they openly attacked the gender identities of the sexes.  They celebrated sexual indulgence, sexual experimentation, sexual symbols, fertility rites, temple prostitution, seasonal sex orgies, sexual abuse and enslavement of young women, girls and boys....But sex is not an accidental characteristic of man and woman.  A human person without sex is a monstrous abstraction.  Sex entails the very identity of each person; sex plunges to the deepest mystery of each person.  Hence the sexes and the vocations pertaining thereto are not interchangeable.  Each person is called to serve God and his fellowman, accepting gladly the sex with which one is endowed and the vocation attached to that sex." (The Antichrist, P. 231).

In the comments section of a previous post, Mr. Michael Cole noted how, "Homosexuals, lesbians and transsexuals are often afflicted by evil spirits. Gender confusion is often a sign of demonic possession. Fr. Malachi Martin recounts the story of a possessed transsexual in his bestselling book 'Hostage to the Devil.' In the chapter titled 'The Virgin and the Girl-Fixer,' he writes, 'At one moment, Father Gerald, the exorcist, was bending over the possessed, Richard/Rita, who had sunk his teeth into his own instep. In the next instant, the glaze in Richard/Rita's eyes broke, melting into a lurid gleam of mockery. Greenish. The teeth loosened their grip on the instep. The mouth opened, baring gums and throat, the tongue protruded, quivering on a stream of gray foam bubbles. The whole face was furrowed in irregular lines, as Richard/Rita broke into peals of laughter. Great buffeting gusts of mocking, jeering, Schadenfreude laughter. Laugter pouring from a belly of amused scorn and contemptuous hate.'"

How quickly we forget this.  Gender confusion represents something more than a cultural revolution.  It is often the result of demonic possession.  The more a culture rejects the Living God and His Commandments, the more it sinks into an abyss of depravity.

"The Liturgy, with its different moments and symbols, cannot ignore silence.."

The following Instruction is taken from the Vatican website:

OFFICE FOR THE LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF

Periods of Silence within the Eucharistic Celebration

 

Number 45 of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (Third and Emended Typical Edition, 2008) prescribes:

Sacred silence also, as part of the celebration, is to be observed at the designated times. Its purpose, however, depends on the time it occurs in each part of the celebration. Thus within the Act of Penitence and again after the invitation to pray, all recollect themselves; but at the conclusion of a reading or the homily, all meditate briefly on what they have heard; then after Communion, they praise and pray to God in their hearts. Even before the celebration itself, it is commendable that silence be observed in the church, in the sacristy, in the vesting room, and in adjacent areas, so that all may dispose themselves to carry out the sacred action in a devout and fitting manner.

Paragraph 30 of the Liturgy Constitution, Sacrosanctum Concilium, likewise prescribes: “And at the proper times all should observe a reverent silence.”

Number 56 of the General Instruction specifies better the importance of silence within the Liturgy of the Word, while number 78 makes the same clear for the Liturgy of the Eucharist: “The Eucharistic Prayer demands that all listen to it with reverence and in silence.” Number 84 then underscores the importance of the observance of silence as a means of good preparation for the reception of Holy Communion: “The priest prepares himself by a prayer, said quietly, that he may fruitfully receive Christ’s Body and Blood. The faithful do the same, praying silently.” Finally, the same attitude is proposed for the period of thanksgiving after Communion: When the distribution of Communion is finished, as circumstances suggest, the priest and faithful spend some time praying privately.¹ If desired, a psalm or other canticle of praise or a hymn may also be sung by the entire congregation. (n. 88)

In several other paragraphs of the General Instruction similar directives concerning silence are repeated, such that silence is an integral part of the liturgical celebration.

The Servant of God John Paul II had recognized that, in actual practice, the directive of the Second Vatican Council concerning sacred silence, a directive later included in the General Instruction, was not always faithfully observed. He writes: “One aspect that we must foster in our communities with greater commitment is the experience of silence. . . . The Liturgy, with its different moments and symbols, cannot ignore silence.” (Spiritus et Sponsa, n. 13, emphasis in original)

 

Here we can recall a text of the then-theologian and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger:

We are realizing more and more clearly that silence is part of the liturgy. We respond, by singing and praying, to the God who addresses us, but the greater mystery, surpassing all words, summons us to silence. It must, of course, be a silence with content, not just the absence of speech and action. We should expect the liturgy to give us a positive stillness that will restore us.²

 

Consequently, the observance of the moments of silence envisioned by the liturgy is of great importance. These moments of silence are as much an integral part of the ars celebrandi (art of celebrating) of the ministers as is participatio actuosa (active participation) on the part of the faithful. Silence in the liturgy is the moment in which one listens with greater attention to the voice of God and internalizes His word, so that it bears the fruit of sanctity in daily life.

---

¹It is worth noting that the original Latin text which the English renders as “privately” is actually “secreto,” better translated as “quietly” or “in silence.”²The Spirit of the Liturgy (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000), 209.

Recently, I noted how Saint Vincent de Paul Parish in Baldwinville, Massachusetts [Diocese ofWorcester, Mass], will not provide silence to devout Catholics who wish to pray and prepare before Mass - so that they may be properly disposed to receive the Blessed Sacrament . 

The "pastor" of St. Vincent de Paul Parish, Father Francis Roberge, apparently left a comment at this Blog in which he asserted that I will be "ostracized" for politely reminding a group of women who were talking loudly in front of the tabernacle that silence should be observed before Mass.  Father Roberge also implied that my fraternal correction [and it was certainly fraternal and respectful] "crosses a line" and "is also illegal."

Just how does one respond to an individual who presents himself as mentally unbalanced?  I did what I thought best.  I contacted the Saint Joseph Foundation to address this matter of liturgical abuse.

Please pray for Father Roberge and Saint Vincent de Paul Parish.  The atmosphere there will never be spiritually sound as long as there is no silence and reverence in the House of God and as long as those who insist on sound doctrine or liturgical rubrics are treated as criminals.

The faithful deserve better!

 

Father Jonathan Joseph Slavinskas: My vocation began with Bishop Timothy J. Harrington

We've seen how Father Jonathan Joseph Slavinskas, newly ordained for the Diocese of Worcester, has had high praise for Father Joseph Coonan.  For him, Father Coonan was a "great influence" who "nourished" his vocation.  Fr. Slavinskas has also said that his vocation began with Bishop Timothy J. Harrington.  One can only hope that he doesn't share the late Bishop's attitude toward dissent from the Church's authoritative teaching.  For Bishop Timothy J. Harrington did tolerate dissent while he served as Bishop of Worcester.

In a letter to Catholic apologist Richard Blanchard dated March 25, 1986, Bishop Harrington, responding to a petition signed by Mr. Blanchard and members of his orthodox Catholic group TACM (The Active Church Militant) which requested that Sister Anna Marie Kane, S.S.J. be asked to resign from the Office for Women, Bishop Harrington responded:


"Dear Mr. Blanchard,

The petition, signed by twenty-seven individuals, requesting that Sister Anna Marie Kane, S.S.J. be asked to resign as soon as possible from the Office for Women of this Diocese has arrived.

This response is to inform you, and through you, the other twenty-six signators, that I shall not accede to your request.

In September, 1984, I appointed Sister Anna Marie Kane to her position as Vicar for Religious and Director of the Office for Women.  At that time, I also invited her to be a member of my administrative cabinet.  Sister has fulfilled her responsibilities with competence and sensitivity.

I ask you and the other petitioners to ponder your witness to the sacredness of the human person, as you threaten to denounce a person publicly, if your will is not done.."

A copy of this letter was cycled to Sister Anna Marie Kane. 

Bishop Harrington was concerned with "the sacredness of the human person"?  Really?  Then how could he honestly say that Sister Anna Marie Kane had been fulfilling her responsibilities with "competence and sensitivity" when she had stated publicly that, "Abortion is a delicate and complex reality. We must continue our struggle of respecting other's choices even if we don't agree with them."

Sacredness of the human person?  Pope John Paul II, in his Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) would refute the ethical relativism behind the radical view "that in a modern and pluralistic society people should be allowed complete freedom to dispose of their own lives as well as of the lives of the unborn.." (Evangelium Vitae, No. 68).

Sister Kane was also a member of the executive board of the National Assembly of Women Religious and S.I.G.M.A. - Sisters in Gay Ministry Associated.  Both the N.A.R.W. and S.I.G.M.A. were radical feminist groups which supported advocacy of the homosexual and lesbian lifestyle, abortion and contraception.  Sister Kane was also supportive of women's ordination.

Richard Blanchard and the other petitioners  were not threatening Sister Anna Marie Kane.  Nor were they insisting that their will be done.  They were asking for her resignation because she was opposing the will of Christ Jesus as made known by His Church through the teaching office of the Magisterium.  In his Encyclical Letter Humani Generis, Pope Pius XII said that, "...God has given to His Church a living Teaching Authority to elucidate and explain what is contained in the deposit of faith only obscurely and implicitly.  This deposit of faith our Divine Redeemer has given for authentic interpretation not to each of the faithful, not even to theologians, but only to the Teaching Authority of the Church."

This is why Richard Blanchard and others were asking for Sister Kane's resignation.  They were not insisting that their will be done.  They were objecting to the fact that Sister Kane had taken this attitude with regard to Church teaching; that she was insisting that her will be done.

Bishop Harrington was not only dissent-friendly.  He was routinely sarcastic toward those who had the audacity to question his toleration of dissent and his refusal to use his authority to uphold Catholic teaching, especially in the area of sexual morality.

If Bishop Harrington was the inspiration for Jonathan Slavinskas' vocation, we must keep Fr. Slavinskas in our prayers.

"My children, prepare, for the hour of the Antichrist has come.."

For some years I have been warning that the Man of Sin is already with us; waiting in the wings to assume control over a One-World government, a Satanic State.  Just a few weeks ago, on Facebook, I said that the Son of Perdition is about to reveal himself.

Now comes this prophetic utterance from another child of Mary:


"Children of My Heart, it is the Last Hour. As the last tears of My Mercy fall upon the earth, the new tears of My Justice begin to fall. They are both tears proceeding from My Sacred Heart, a Heart of Love. The first tears [of Mercy] call you back to Myself to purify you in My love; the second tears [of Justice] fall so as to purify the earth, and restore it in My love.


And now the painful hour has come. My sons and daughters, do not bow your heads in fear, but in courage and joy, stand up and declare that you are children of the Most High. Pick up your cross and follow Me into the Glory of Eternal Life… for your resurrection comes.

The tears of Justice now begin to fall, and each one will cause the earth to shake and strongholds to tremble. Jesus Christ, the True and Faithful One, comes riding upon the White Horse of Justice. Can you not hear its hooves, already shaking the earth? Beloved—do not be afraid, but raise your eyes to the skies and watch for Him who comes to strengthen you, for the hour of your Passion has come. And I will be with you; you will know and feel My presence. I will be with you. I will be with you.

My children, prepare, for the hour of the Antichrist has come, and his moment will burst upon the world like a thief in the night. Remember, children, that Satan is a liar and a murderer from the beginning. Thus, the son of perdition, the true son of Satan, will copy his unholy father. He will lie at first, and then become the murderer he truly is. For your part, I will keep you safe in the Refuge of My Sacred Heart. That is, safe from His lies. You will know the truth, and thus, you will know the way to go. And he will persecute you. But I will raise you up on the last Day, while the son of perdition will be cast into the depths of the lake of fire.

And know this: time is so very short, that even some of you who watch and pray will be taken by surprise. Thus, I call you again to join your heart and hands with My Mother. That is, to listen to her words and direction, and second, to pray the Most Holy Rosary that I have given you through her as a signal grace and weapon for these days. You cannot even begin to understand the power, grace, and protection I afford you through this most holy prayer, precisely because it emerges as a living flame bursting from her Immaculate Heart, leaping into the flames of My Sacred Heart.

Lastly, My children, you must come out of Bablyon. You must be done with all her ways. You must cast off her chains and break her snares. In this way, I will be able to accomplish through you all I have planned from the beginning of time." Message given to Mark Mallett, May 18th, 2012.  See full post here.

On October 13, 1996, the anniversary of the last apparition at Fatima, Our Lady told Father Stefano Gobbi: "There appeared in the sky a great sign: signum magnum.  I am the great sign which appeared in the sky: I am the Woman Clothed with the Sun, with the moon beneath my feet, and with a crown of twelve stars upon my head.  A great sign in the terrible struggle against all the forces of evil, which have joined together against God and against his Christ.  And so, close to the great sign of the Woman Clothed with the Sun, there appears also that of the Red Dragon, of the ancient serpent, of Satan, who is now manifesting himself in all his extraordinary power.  It appears that the great Dragon has won his victory, because he has led humanity to build a civilization without God; he has spread everywhere the cult of money and pleasure; he has seduced minds with pride and with errors; he has violated souls with sin and evil; he has hardened hearts with egoism and hatred; he has corrupted all the nations of the earth with the cup of lust and impurity.  Satan has succeeded in bringing his wicked kingdom upon the entire world.  But in the furious struggle of these last times, this struggle between heaven and earth, between the heavenly spirits and the demons, between the Woman and the Dragon, I appear as a great sign of my greatest victory -

A great sign of the victory of God over every form of atheism, theoretical and practical, of good over every form of evil and sin, of love over every form of violence and hatred, of truth over every form of error and falsehood.

For this great victory, I have formed for myself the cohort of all my little children who, from every part of the world, have responded to me with a yes...I invite you to walk along the road of prayer and penance, of confidence and of your very great abandonment.."

Does Clark University celebrate lesbian rape?

As this Blog has noted, Clark University's Dean of Students, Denise Darrigrand, places the definition of heterosexism alongside other terms such as rape, sexual assault and stalking.  See here.  Heterosexism is defined as: "..the systematic, day-to-day, institutional mistreatment of gay, lesbian, transsexual and bisexual people by a heterosexually dominated culture. At its core, heterosexism assumes that heterosexual relationships represent the norm and are, therefore, implicitly superior to gay, lesbian, transsexual or bisexual relationships. Out of heterosexism stems homophobia which is the fear and/or hatred of gays, lesbians, transsexuals and bisexuals because of their sexual orientations."

Translation, if you believe that heterosexual relationships are the norm, you are not only discriminatory, but you may be a danger toward homosexuals and lesbians.  One Clark student left a comment at this Blog which serves to illustrate the logic at work here.  The student wrote, "..knowing that 'corrective rape' or the practice of a man raping a lesbian to 'cure her' exists leads me to believe that there is a link between heterosexism, homophobia, and rape or sexual assault."

But Clark University isn't concerned with all rape apparently.  In fact, the university, which has become a hotbed of radical homosexual agitprop and Christianophobic propaganda, supports Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues, a play which celebrates lesbian rape.  In one scene, a twenty-four-year-old woman gets a thirteen-year-old girl drunk and rapes her.  This is presented as a good thing.  The victim later says, "If it was rape, it was a good rape.  I'll never need to rely on a man."

At their website, Women for Faith and Family explain their concerns over the Vagina Monologues: "It is extremely difficult to know how one might address such a matter as 'V-Day' in the most productive way - not least because to even name this performance involves our using the very language that the perpetrators intend to desensitize us to. Thus, ironically, we are forced to participate, at some level, in the very degradation and violence against the human person to which we object. I believe this is part of the plan. It considerably compounds the difficulty of criticizing it.


"That is by no means the only irony - or contradiction - involved in the V-Day movement (of which performance of the V-Monologues is the keystone). As you doubtless know, V-Day projects claim to be fighting abuse of women. But the verbally pornographic 'monologues' are themselves abusive of women - they attack the concept of womanhood itself, and destroy the integrity of the human person. Thus it actually contributes to violence against women, while claiming to be fighting it".

"1. Reducing women essentially to one body part is hardly pro-woman. It distorts sexuality, objectifies women and, ironically, promotes attitudes towards women and sexuality precisely like those that lead to sexual violence against women.

"2. This performance does not even represent real 'voices of women', as it claims in order to give it a ring of authenticity. The author, Eve Ensler, says she based her contemptible creation on her personal interviews with 200 women - indeed, the V-Monologues are usually represented as the authentic voices of women 'telling their own stories' (e.g., Father Timothy Clancy, SJ's editorial enclosed).

"But Ensler herself acknowledges that she freely interpreted her 'data'.

"3. The stated goal of V-Day is to stop all violence against women, and the income from the plays allegedly is given to agencies that help stop 'violence' (the "V" in "V-Day" also stands for violence) against women. But this, too, is a sham. Ensler employs a full time staff of ten to manage her "V-Day" movement; and donations are often given to dubious (or worse) groups (a set-up similar to Catholics for a Free Choice).

a. Planned Parenthood groups have produced the play (e.g. Planned Parenthood, Eureka, California: the web-site notice is enclosed).

b. In at least one instance a battered women's shelter that had been selected to receive a donation from the V- Monologues refused to accept it after learning what the performance was about. (Reported in Texas A&M's News Source - Feb. 12, 2002: 'V-Day stirs controversy'.)

c. The liberation of Afghan women is one of Ensler's causes. However, as we have seen recently, the 'aid' to Afghan women has included provision of abortion services. While we were not able to establish that Ensler's 'V-Day' has actually given any aid at all to Afghan women, it is clear that not all 'aid' is beneficial.

"4. The V-Monologues promote particular sexual pathologies: lesbianism and pedophilia. One 'voice' - that of a 13-year-old girl - vividly describes how she was seduced by a 24-year-old woman. She says, 'if it was a rape, it was a good rape'. This section reportedly led to objections even by feminists sympathetic to the production, leading one reporter to wonder whether this scene might be expurgated from the version being performed on more than 543 college campuses this year. Whether or not the producers do self-censor this scene (as may be likely especially in the context of recent pedophila scandals), it is entirely consistent with the rest of the production.

"Vagina Monologues is destructive, pornographic, deforming agit-prop deliberately and cynically aimed at young women - in particular at young Catholic women - a form of victimization that it is perilous to ignore. It contradicts at the deepest level the truth of creation; it is profoundly anti-Catholic, anti-God; and a contemptible assault on the very nature of the human person".

Why would Clark University promote such a play?

By its own admission, the Worcester Commission for Women has a problem with the Church's teaching authority

At its website, the Worcester Commission for Women states that, "The Commission for Women shall serve as an advisory board to the resident bishop of Worcester in regard to women’s issues. It shall function as a liaison between women in the diocese and the resident bishop, raising and promoting awareness of the evolving role of women in the church and society. The commission shall strive to bond together the women of the diocese through spiritual, educational and social programs.


In its history, the commission has examined many issues affecting women and their relationship with their church. This has been accomplished through study, meetings and conferences and through its occasional column, “Concerning Women,” published in the Catholic Free Press.

Inclusive language, the problem of women and homelessness, the possibility of women’s ordination to the Permanent Diaconate, the history of women in the church and in the bible, and women’s spirituality have been the major issues..." (See here).

Now, Rome has already rejected most inclusive language.  As this article explains, "The Holy See...rejected most inclusive language, especially where the references had philosophical and theological significance. Examples of such texts are Psalm 1, where "happy the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked" was translated "happy the one," or Psalm 22, where "I am worm and no man" was rendered "I am a worm and no mortal." Such uses of man have deep anthropological significance with respect to Adam (man) and messianic significance referring prophetically to Christ (the New Adam and Son of Man).


What Rome has permitted is some mild inclusive language in cases where a mixed group of individuals (as opposed to an all male group like the apostles) is meant.."

By continuing to agitate for inclusive language, the Worcester Commission for Women is signaling its rejection of the Church's teaching authority.  When a matter is settled by Rome, faithful Catholics do not continue to act as if the matter were still open to debate.

And what of the ordination of women to the Permanent Diaconate?  Gerhard Ludwig Muller, Professor of Dogmatic Theology in Munich, explains in his scholarly work entitled "Priesthood and Diaconate" (Ignatius Press) that the consecration of deaconesses in the early Church was not an ordination of women to the diaconate.  He writes:


"The institutionalization of charitable services performed by widows in the Christian community, of the assistance rendered by women during baptismal ceremonies, and of liturgical functions in a convent of consecrated virgins is apparent from the beginning of the third century in the ecclesiastical  neologism: diaconissa/diacona.  For Koine Greek, unlike Latin, could not construct the female form of 'servant' by a change of ending, but could only indicate it with the feminine article (cf. Rom 16:1).  Aside from that, we also encounter the title diaconissa (and, similarly, presbyterissa and episcopissa) as a designation for the wives of deacons - for example, in papal instructions or conciliar canons that admonish higher clerics to practice celibacy, in the sense of continence. 

Although there are records of the liturgical installation of deaconesses dating back to the fourth century, one must not overlook the fact that the selfsame authors who testify to this practice also make clear that the consecration of deaconesses was not the ordination of women to the diaconal ministry; on the contrary, it was a question of a different ecclesiastical office.

To the early Church it was clear that, without prejudice to the various degrees of bishop, presbyter, and deacon, which assumed a definitive form in the transition to the postapostolic age, these ministries owe their existence to the historical initiative of the apostles and to the special presence of the Holy Spirit in the foundational phase of the Church; whereas the latter, so-called nonsacramental consecrations were introduced by ecclesiastical authorities and thus are not matters of divine law but only of Church law." (pp. 48-49).

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches clearly that: "Deacons share in Christ's mission and grace in a special way. The sacrament of Holy Orders marks them with an imprint ('character') which cannot be removed and which configures them to Christ, who made himself the 'deacon' or servant of all. Among other tasks, it is the task of deacons to assist the bishop and priests in the celebration of the divine mysteries, above all the Eucharist, in the distribution of Holy Communion, in assisting at and blessing marriages, in the proclamation of the Gospel and preaching, in presiding over funerals, and in dedicating themselves to the various ministries of charity." (CCC, 1570).  And again: "Since the Second Vatican Council the Latin Church has restored the diaconate 'as a proper and permanent rank of the hierarchy,' while the Churches of the East had always maintained it. This permanent diaconate, which can be conferred on married men, constitutes an important enrichment for the Church's mission. Indeed it is appropriate and useful that men who carry out a truly diaconal ministry in the Church, whether in its liturgical and pastoral life or whether in its social and charitable works, should 'be strengthened by the imposition of hands which has come down from the apostles. They would be more closely bound to the altar and their ministry would be made more fruitful through the sacramental grace of the diaconate.'" (CCC, 1571).

Women cannot receive Holy Orders.  Period.  End of story.  The Sacrament of Holy Orders is conferred in the degrees of Bishop, Presbyter, and Deacon (See Lumen Gentium Nos. 18-29).  Tradition in its entirety has always firmly held that all degrees of ordination are essentially rooted in one sacrament, as being a repraesentatio Christi capitis [a representation of Christ the Head].  That the Worcester Commission for Women continues to agitate for women to be ordained to the Permanent Diaconate says it all.  This Commission is not committed to the Church's teaching or her teaching authority.

Dei Verbum of the Second Vatican Council teaches authoritatively that, "the task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whether written or handed on, has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ. This teaching office is not above the word of God, but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on, listening to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously and explaining it faithfully in accord with a divine commission and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it draws from this one deposit of faith everything which it presents for belief as divinely revealed.


It is clear, therefore, that sacred tradition, Sacred Scripture and the teaching authority of the Church, in accord with God's most wise design, are so linked and joined together that one cannot stand without the others, and that all together and each in its own way under the action of the one Holy Spirit contribute effectively to the salvation of souls."

I guess members of the Commission for Women aren't familiar with this teaching of Vatican II.  Maybe they simply consider themselves to be some sort of ersatz Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith?

"One of the difficulties is that they appear in many disguises..."

Today is St. Padre Pio's birthday.  It is mine as well.  With the spiritual battle intensifying all around us as more and more abandon the Faith of our Fathers, I thought I would post the following thoughts on spiritual warfare from some of our Church's great prayer-warriors:


"Spiritual combat is another element of life which needs to be taught anew and proposed once more to all Christians today. It is a secret and interior art, an invisible struggle in which we engage every day against the temptations, the evil suggestions that the demon tries to plant in our hearts." - Pope John Paul II.


"Whatever the less discerning theologians may say, the devil, as far as Christian belief is concerned, is a puzzling but real, personal and not merely symbolical presence. He is a powerful reality, the 'prince of this world,' as he is called by the New Testament, which continually reminds us of his existence, a baneful superhuman freedom directed against God's freedom. This is evident if we look realistically at history, with its abyss of ever-new atrocities which cannot be explained by reference to man alone. On his own, man has not the power to oppose Satan, but the devil is not second to God, and united with Jesus we can be certain of vanquishing him. Christ is 'God Who is near to us,' willing and able to liberate us: that is why the Gospel really is 'Good News.' And that is why we must go on proclaiming Christ in those realms of fear and unfreedom." - Pope Benedict XVI.


“No one wants to believe in evil, really, above all, not in an evil being, an evil spirit. Everyone wants to abolish the idea. To admit the existence of evil means a responsibility, and no one wants that responsibility. That is the opening through which the evil spirit crawls, stilling all suspicions, making everything seem normal and natural. This is the “thought,” the unwariness of the ordinary human being which amounts to a disinclination to believe in evil. And if you do not believe in evil, how can you believe in or ever know what good is?” - Father Malachi Martin.


"The Devil fears the Virgin Mary more, not only than men and angels but, in a certain sense, than God himself. It is not that the wrath, the power and the hatred of God are not infinitely greater than those of the Blessed Virgin, since Mary's perfections are limited: it is because, in the first place, Satan, being proud, suffers infinitely more from being overcome and punished by the little, humble servant of God, her humility humiliating him more than the divine power; and secondly, because God has given Mary such great power over devils that, as they have often been obliged to admit, in spite of themselves, through the mouths of possessed persons, they are more afraid of one of her sighs of grief over some poor soul, than of the prayers of the saints, and more daunted by a single threat from her than by all their other torments" - Monsignor Leon Cristiani.

"We need to be especially alert to the evil subtlety of Satan. His one desire is to keep people from having a mind and heart disposed to their Lord and God. . .He wants to extinguish the light of the human heart, and so he moves in by means of worldly busyness and worry." - St. Francis of Assisi.


"The Devil does not want to lose this battle. He takes on many forms. For several days now, he has appeared with his brothers who are armed with batons and pieces of iron. One of the difficulties is that they appear in many disguises. There were several times when they threw me out of my bed and dragged me out of my bedroom. I am patient, however, and I know Jesus, Our Lady, my Guardian Angel, St. Joseph and St. Francis are always with me." - St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina.