"..it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name." - Revelation 13: 16, 17.
Related reading here and here.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
"I foretold to you the great chastisement which would strike..."
On October 13, 1994, Our Lady told Fr. Gobbi, "I foteold to you the great chastisement which would strike this poor humanity which has become pagan and built a new civilization without God, and which is threatened with violence, by hatred, by war, and which is running the risk of destroying itself by its own hands. My extraordinary interventions, which I have worked in order to bring humanity back onto the road of conversion and of its return to the Lord, have been neither accepted nor believed. So it is now that you find yourselves at the vigil of the great trial which I foretold to you: it will be the supreme manifestation of the divine justice and mercy. Fire will descend from heaven,* and humanity will be purified and completely renewed, so as to be ready to receive the Lord Jesus who will return to you in glory...
I also foretold to you the great crisis which would take place in the Church, because of the great apostasy which has entered into her, caused by an ever wider diffusion of errors, by her interior division, by opposition to the Pope and by the rejection of his Magisterium. This most beloved Daughter of mine mus live the hours of her agony and of her sorrowful passion. She will be abandoned by many of her children. The impetuous wind of persecution will blow against her, and much blood will be shed, even by my beloved sons."
* See here.
The persecution is intensifying....
All around the world we are witnessing a supreme effort to sanitize the public square of religious belief and to present Christianity as "backward" and even "oppressive." At Eastern Michigan University, a graduate student is expelled for refusing to argue in support of the homosexual lifestyle. In England, officials mock the Holy Father and ridicule Church teaching.
Fr. Vincent Miceli, S.J., saw this coming so many years ago. He said, "...in the West the conflict between the children of the New Humanism and the faithful is escalating in ferociousness. The spirit ruling in the great cities is avaricious, luxurious, self-dependent, irreligious, arrogant, ungodly, falsely liberal and sacrilegious. The offspring of the New Humanism are agnostics, atheists, apostates, lovers of this world with tastes, opinions, habits immersed in materialism, with hearts riveted to the vagaries of this time, minds moulded by vanities of passing pleasure, with thoughts rising no higher than personal comforts and gains, with a haughty contempt for the Church, her ministers, her sacraments, her devotions, her lowly faithful, with a lust for rank and station, an ambition for the splendor and fashions of the world, an affectation for refinement, a dependence upon their own powers of reason, an habitual self-esteem and finally with an utter insensibility to the heinous sins they are committing against God and man."
Enter the Man of Sin.
Fr. Vincent Miceli, S.J., saw this coming so many years ago. He said, "...in the West the conflict between the children of the New Humanism and the faithful is escalating in ferociousness. The spirit ruling in the great cities is avaricious, luxurious, self-dependent, irreligious, arrogant, ungodly, falsely liberal and sacrilegious. The offspring of the New Humanism are agnostics, atheists, apostates, lovers of this world with tastes, opinions, habits immersed in materialism, with hearts riveted to the vagaries of this time, minds moulded by vanities of passing pleasure, with thoughts rising no higher than personal comforts and gains, with a haughty contempt for the Church, her ministers, her sacraments, her devotions, her lowly faithful, with a lust for rank and station, an ambition for the splendor and fashions of the world, an affectation for refinement, a dependence upon their own powers of reason, an habitual self-esteem and finally with an utter insensibility to the heinous sins they are committing against God and man."
Enter the Man of Sin.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
"...it will be the greatest collapse since the fall of the Roman Empire..."
Before the Man of Sin comes to power, we will experience economic collapse. Already we are approaching an Economic Depression the likes of which few can imagine. The Obama administration continues to sell the lie that we have entered a recovery. But the economic figures refute that lie. Bob Chapman says, "First 6 months of 2010, Americans will continue to live in the 'unreality'...the period between July and October is when the financial fireworks will begin. The Fed will act unilaterally for its own survival irrespective of any political implications (source is an insider at FED meetings)....In the last quarter of the year we could even see Martial Law, which is more likely for the first 6 months of 2011. The FDIC will collapse in September 2010. Wall Street believes there is a 100% chance of crash in bond market....The dollar will be devalued by the end of 2010."
Harry Dent says, "A very likely second crash by late 2010. The coming depression starts around the summer of 2010..." Lyndon Larouche says, "The crisis is accelerating and will become worse week by week until the whole system grinds into a collapse, likely sometime this year. And when it does, it will be the greatest collapse since the fall of the Roman Empire."
The Wall Street Journal (February of 2010) had this to say: "You are witnessing a fundamental breakdown of the American dream, a systemic breakdown of our democracy and our capitalism, a breakdown driven by the blind insatiable greed of Wall Street: Dysfunctional government, insane markets, economy on the brink. Multiply that many times over and over and see a world in disarray."
Our Lady to Fr. Stephano Gobbi,
November 15, 1990,
Malvern PA
"I announce to you that the hour of the great trial is on the point of arriving. The great trial has arrived for your country. How many times, as a concerned and sorrowing mother, have I endeavored to urge my children to follow the path of conversion and of return to the Lord. I have not been listened to. You have continued to walk along the way of rejection of God, and of His law of love. Sins of impurity have become ever more widespread, and immorality has spread like a sea which has submerged all things.
Homosexuality, a sin of impurity which is against nature, has been justified; recourse to the means of preventing life have become commonplace, while abortions - these killings of innocent children, that cry for vengeance before the face of God - have spread and are performed in every part of your homeland.The moment of divine justice and of great mercy has now arrived.
You will know the hour of weakness and of poverty; the hour of suffering and defeat; the purifying hour of the great chastisement. The great trial has arrived for your Church. How great is your responsibility, O Pastors of the Holy Church of God! You continue along the path of division from the Pope and of the rejection of his Magisterium; indeed, in a hidden way, there is in preparation a true schism which could soon become open and proclaimed...And then, there will remain only a small faithful remnant, over which I will keep watch in the garden of my Immaculate Heart.The great trial has arrived for all humanity. The chastisement, predicted by me at Fatima and contained in that part of the secret which has not yet been revealed, is about to take place. The great moment of divine justice and of mercy has come upon the world."
Harry Dent says, "A very likely second crash by late 2010. The coming depression starts around the summer of 2010..." Lyndon Larouche says, "The crisis is accelerating and will become worse week by week until the whole system grinds into a collapse, likely sometime this year. And when it does, it will be the greatest collapse since the fall of the Roman Empire."
The Wall Street Journal (February of 2010) had this to say: "You are witnessing a fundamental breakdown of the American dream, a systemic breakdown of our democracy and our capitalism, a breakdown driven by the blind insatiable greed of Wall Street: Dysfunctional government, insane markets, economy on the brink. Multiply that many times over and over and see a world in disarray."
Our Lady to Fr. Stephano Gobbi,
November 15, 1990,
Malvern PA
"I announce to you that the hour of the great trial is on the point of arriving. The great trial has arrived for your country. How many times, as a concerned and sorrowing mother, have I endeavored to urge my children to follow the path of conversion and of return to the Lord. I have not been listened to. You have continued to walk along the way of rejection of God, and of His law of love. Sins of impurity have become ever more widespread, and immorality has spread like a sea which has submerged all things.
Homosexuality, a sin of impurity which is against nature, has been justified; recourse to the means of preventing life have become commonplace, while abortions - these killings of innocent children, that cry for vengeance before the face of God - have spread and are performed in every part of your homeland.The moment of divine justice and of great mercy has now arrived.
You will know the hour of weakness and of poverty; the hour of suffering and defeat; the purifying hour of the great chastisement. The great trial has arrived for your Church. How great is your responsibility, O Pastors of the Holy Church of God! You continue along the path of division from the Pope and of the rejection of his Magisterium; indeed, in a hidden way, there is in preparation a true schism which could soon become open and proclaimed...And then, there will remain only a small faithful remnant, over which I will keep watch in the garden of my Immaculate Heart.The great trial has arrived for all humanity. The chastisement, predicted by me at Fatima and contained in that part of the secret which has not yet been revealed, is about to take place. The great moment of divine justice and of mercy has come upon the world."
"...it will seem as if the enemies of Christ and of His Holy Church...were about to triumph.."
Long ago a Catholic Bishop prophesied a time when scandals "will be but too rife."
Many believe the Man of Sin is already among us. Even Vatican officials believe that "certain forces" are out to destroy the Catholic Church because the Church alone stands in the way of a demonic World Order. There is hatred for the Pope. Even within the Church, there are those who are working to scatter.*
Bishop George Michael Wittman was given the following prophecy: "Woe is me! Sad days are at hand for the Holy Church of Jesus Christ. The Passion of Jesus will be renewed in the most dolorous manner in the Church and in her Supreme Head. In all parts of the world there will be wars and revolutions, and much blood will be spilled. Distress, disasters, and poverty will everywhere be great, since pestilential maladies, scarcity, and other misfortunes will follow one another. Violent hands will be laid on the Supreme Head of the Catholic Church; bishops and priests will be persecuted, and schisms will be provoked, and confusion reign amid all classes. Times will come, so pre-eminently bad, that it will seem as if the enemies of Christ and of His Holy Church, which He founded with His blood, were about to triumph over her. But the priesthood will remain firm and resolute, and good people will adhere faithfully to that body. A general separation will be made. The wheat shall be winnowed, and the floor swept. Secret societies will work great ruin, and exercise a marvellous monetary power, and through that many will be blinded, and infected with most horrible errors; however, all this shall avail naught. Christ says, He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who gathereth not with Me, scattereth. Scandals will be but too rife, and woe to those by whom they come! Although the tempest will be terrible, and will turn many in their passage, nevertheless they cannot shake the rock whereon Christ has founded His Church: 'Portae inferi non prevalebunt.'.. The faithful sheep will gather together, and in unions of prayer will offer potent resistance to the enemies of the Catholic Church. Yes, yes, the flock will become small..."
* Priest calls the Mystical Body of Christ "insidiously evil."
Many believe the Man of Sin is already among us. Even Vatican officials believe that "certain forces" are out to destroy the Catholic Church because the Church alone stands in the way of a demonic World Order. There is hatred for the Pope. Even within the Church, there are those who are working to scatter.*
Bishop George Michael Wittman was given the following prophecy: "Woe is me! Sad days are at hand for the Holy Church of Jesus Christ. The Passion of Jesus will be renewed in the most dolorous manner in the Church and in her Supreme Head. In all parts of the world there will be wars and revolutions, and much blood will be spilled. Distress, disasters, and poverty will everywhere be great, since pestilential maladies, scarcity, and other misfortunes will follow one another. Violent hands will be laid on the Supreme Head of the Catholic Church; bishops and priests will be persecuted, and schisms will be provoked, and confusion reign amid all classes. Times will come, so pre-eminently bad, that it will seem as if the enemies of Christ and of His Holy Church, which He founded with His blood, were about to triumph over her. But the priesthood will remain firm and resolute, and good people will adhere faithfully to that body. A general separation will be made. The wheat shall be winnowed, and the floor swept. Secret societies will work great ruin, and exercise a marvellous monetary power, and through that many will be blinded, and infected with most horrible errors; however, all this shall avail naught. Christ says, He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who gathereth not with Me, scattereth. Scandals will be but too rife, and woe to those by whom they come! Although the tempest will be terrible, and will turn many in their passage, nevertheless they cannot shake the rock whereon Christ has founded His Church: 'Portae inferi non prevalebunt.'.. The faithful sheep will gather together, and in unions of prayer will offer potent resistance to the enemies of the Catholic Church. Yes, yes, the flock will become small..."
* Priest calls the Mystical Body of Christ "insidiously evil."
Friday, April 23, 2010
Ontario's proposed sex-ed program prepared by active lesbian...
Canada: Educating children in immodesty and perversity
The plan, as this article details, is extremely graphic and was prepared by Education Minister Kathleen Wynne, who lives a lesbian lifestyle with her same-sex partner. The goal is to desensitize children with graphic descriptions of sex and "alternative lifestyles" while robbing them of their innocence. The proposed plan would constitute an act of violence and child abuse and a usurpation of parental rights.
Christians [and others of good will who oppose homosexuality] who object to their children being indoctrinated in perversity, will not be allowed to opt out. The persecution intensifies.
This is extremely disturbing. Vatican II teaches us that, in raising children, the responsibility of parents is primary: "Since parents have given life to their children, they have a very grave duty to educate them, and so are to be recognized as their primary and principal educators" (GE, No. 3). And Pope John Paul II, explaining the conciliar teaching more fully in Familiaris consortio No. 36, says that: "The right and duty of parents to give education is essential, since it is connected with the transmission of human life; it is original and primary with regard to the educational role of others, on account of the uniqueness of the loving relationship between parents and children; and it is irreplaceable and inalienable, and therefore incapable of being entirely delegated to others or usurped by others."
Canon Law is also very clear on this matter. Canon 793, 1., states that: "Parents as well as those who take their place are obliged and enjoy the right to educate their offspring; Catholic parents also have the duty and the right to select those means and institutions through which they can provide more suitably for the Catholic education of the children according to local circumstances" and Canon 1136 says that: "Parents have the most serious duty and the primary right to do all in their power to see to the physical, social, cultural, moral and religious upbringing of their children."
This inalienable right of parents has been recognized by the United States Supreme Court. In 1922, the State of Oregon attempted to enact legislation that would have forced all children to attend the public schools within that state. But the Supreme Court overturned that decision and established that "The child is not the mere creature of the state; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations."
The proposed sex-ed program constitutes child abuse. Why are the media in this country not covering this story? I thought they were concerned about the welfare of children?
"Another abuse occurs whenever sex education is given to children by teaching them all the intimate details of genital relationships, even in a graphic way. Today this is often motivated by wanting to provide education for 'safe sex', above all in relation to the spread of AIDS. In this situation, parents must also reject the promotion of so-called 'safe sex' or 'safer sex', a dangerous and immoral policy based on the deluded theory that the condom can provide adequate protection against AIDS. Parents must insist on continence outside marriage and fidelity in marriage as the only true and secure education for the prevention of this contagious disease.
One widely-used, but possibly harmful, approach goes by the name of 'values clarification'. Young people are encouraged to reflect upon, to clarify and to decide upon moral issues with the greatest degree of 'autonomy', ignoring the objective reality of the moral law in general and disregarding the formation of consciences on the specific Christian moral precepts, as affirmed by the Magisterium of the Church. Young people are given the idea that a moral code is something which they create themselves, as if man were the source and norm of morality.
However, the values clarification method impedes the true freedom and autonomy of young people at an insecure stage of their development. In practice, not only is the opinion of the majority favoured, but complex moral situations are put before young people, far removed from the normal moral choices they face each day, in which good or evil are easily recognizable. This unacceptable method tends to be closely linked with moral relativism, and thus encourages indifference to moral law and permissiveness." (The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality, Nos 139, 140).
The plan, as this article details, is extremely graphic and was prepared by Education Minister Kathleen Wynne, who lives a lesbian lifestyle with her same-sex partner. The goal is to desensitize children with graphic descriptions of sex and "alternative lifestyles" while robbing them of their innocence. The proposed plan would constitute an act of violence and child abuse and a usurpation of parental rights.
Christians [and others of good will who oppose homosexuality] who object to their children being indoctrinated in perversity, will not be allowed to opt out. The persecution intensifies.
This is extremely disturbing. Vatican II teaches us that, in raising children, the responsibility of parents is primary: "Since parents have given life to their children, they have a very grave duty to educate them, and so are to be recognized as their primary and principal educators" (GE, No. 3). And Pope John Paul II, explaining the conciliar teaching more fully in Familiaris consortio No. 36, says that: "The right and duty of parents to give education is essential, since it is connected with the transmission of human life; it is original and primary with regard to the educational role of others, on account of the uniqueness of the loving relationship between parents and children; and it is irreplaceable and inalienable, and therefore incapable of being entirely delegated to others or usurped by others."
Canon Law is also very clear on this matter. Canon 793, 1., states that: "Parents as well as those who take their place are obliged and enjoy the right to educate their offspring; Catholic parents also have the duty and the right to select those means and institutions through which they can provide more suitably for the Catholic education of the children according to local circumstances" and Canon 1136 says that: "Parents have the most serious duty and the primary right to do all in their power to see to the physical, social, cultural, moral and religious upbringing of their children."
This inalienable right of parents has been recognized by the United States Supreme Court. In 1922, the State of Oregon attempted to enact legislation that would have forced all children to attend the public schools within that state. But the Supreme Court overturned that decision and established that "The child is not the mere creature of the state; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations."
The proposed sex-ed program constitutes child abuse. Why are the media in this country not covering this story? I thought they were concerned about the welfare of children?
"Another abuse occurs whenever sex education is given to children by teaching them all the intimate details of genital relationships, even in a graphic way. Today this is often motivated by wanting to provide education for 'safe sex', above all in relation to the spread of AIDS. In this situation, parents must also reject the promotion of so-called 'safe sex' or 'safer sex', a dangerous and immoral policy based on the deluded theory that the condom can provide adequate protection against AIDS. Parents must insist on continence outside marriage and fidelity in marriage as the only true and secure education for the prevention of this contagious disease.
One widely-used, but possibly harmful, approach goes by the name of 'values clarification'. Young people are encouraged to reflect upon, to clarify and to decide upon moral issues with the greatest degree of 'autonomy', ignoring the objective reality of the moral law in general and disregarding the formation of consciences on the specific Christian moral precepts, as affirmed by the Magisterium of the Church. Young people are given the idea that a moral code is something which they create themselves, as if man were the source and norm of morality.
However, the values clarification method impedes the true freedom and autonomy of young people at an insecure stage of their development. In practice, not only is the opinion of the majority favoured, but complex moral situations are put before young people, far removed from the normal moral choices they face each day, in which good or evil are easily recognizable. This unacceptable method tends to be closely linked with moral relativism, and thus encourages indifference to moral law and permissiveness." (The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality, Nos 139, 140).
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Ontario Premier says Catholic schools must teach sex ed to six-year-olds
Why would the State want to insist upon sex education for Catholic children? Because the State is waging a spiritual war against chastity and innocence. As Randy Engel so eloquently put it in The Wanderer years ago, "Is it any wonder that the state must wage war against the family? For the state requires not individuals who dream, and think, and pray, but rather what has come to be called 'the mass man' - rootless, unaffirmed, a reactor - a mere reed blowing in the wind - a thing to be manipulated, to be used, to be disposed of, but never, never, to be loved, for the giant has no heart. And since the modern state has no heart, that which men previously have done out of love, must now be done out of fear, and hatred, and brute force." (March 6, 1980).
Contrast this perverted attitude with the teaching of the Church: "Love is a gift of God, nourished by and expressed in the encounter of man and woman. Love is thus a positive force directed toward their growth in maturity as persons. In the plan of life which represents each person's vocation, love is also a precious source for the self-giving which all men and women are called to make for their own self-realization and happiness. In fact, man is called to love as an incarnate spirit, that is, soul and body in the unity of the person. Human love hence embraces the body, and the body also expresses spiritual love. Therefore, sexuality is not something purely biological, rather it concerns the intimate nucleus of the person. The use of sexuality as physical giving has its own truth and reaches its full meaning when it expresses the personal giving of man and woman even unto death....
Educating children for chastity strives to achieve three objectives: (a) to maintain in the family a positive atmosphere of love, virtue, and respect for the gifts of God, in particular the gift of life; (b) to help children to understand the value of sexuality and chastity in stages, sustaining their growth through enlightening word, example, and prayer; (c) to help them understand and discover their own vocation to marriage or to consecrated virginity for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven in harmony with and respecting their attitudes and inclinations and the gifts of the Spirit." (The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality, Nos. 3, 22, issued by the Pontifical Council for the Family).
The anti-Christian State wants to impose a sex education which radically separates sex from the idea of covenanted love of man and woman. The anti-Christian State wants rootless men and women for whom sex becomes merely an exercise in satisfying the self-centered appetite instead of a gift of self to another. Again, as The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality explains, "In some societies today, there are planned and determined attempts to impose premature sex information on children. But, at this stage of development, children are still not capable of fully understanding the value of the affective dimension of sexuality. They cannot understand and control sexual imagery wihtin the proper context of moral principles and, for this reason, they cannot integrate premature sexual information with moral responsiiblity. Such information tends to shatter their emotional and educational development and to disturb the natural serenity of this period of life. Parents should politely but firmly exclude any attempts to violate children's innocence because such attempts compromise the spiritual, moral, and emotional development of growing persons who have a right to their innocence." (No. 83).
To deprive children of their right to innocence is an act of violence.
Contrast this perverted attitude with the teaching of the Church: "Love is a gift of God, nourished by and expressed in the encounter of man and woman. Love is thus a positive force directed toward their growth in maturity as persons. In the plan of life which represents each person's vocation, love is also a precious source for the self-giving which all men and women are called to make for their own self-realization and happiness. In fact, man is called to love as an incarnate spirit, that is, soul and body in the unity of the person. Human love hence embraces the body, and the body also expresses spiritual love. Therefore, sexuality is not something purely biological, rather it concerns the intimate nucleus of the person. The use of sexuality as physical giving has its own truth and reaches its full meaning when it expresses the personal giving of man and woman even unto death....
Educating children for chastity strives to achieve three objectives: (a) to maintain in the family a positive atmosphere of love, virtue, and respect for the gifts of God, in particular the gift of life; (b) to help children to understand the value of sexuality and chastity in stages, sustaining their growth through enlightening word, example, and prayer; (c) to help them understand and discover their own vocation to marriage or to consecrated virginity for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven in harmony with and respecting their attitudes and inclinations and the gifts of the Spirit." (The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality, Nos. 3, 22, issued by the Pontifical Council for the Family).
The anti-Christian State wants to impose a sex education which radically separates sex from the idea of covenanted love of man and woman. The anti-Christian State wants rootless men and women for whom sex becomes merely an exercise in satisfying the self-centered appetite instead of a gift of self to another. Again, as The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality explains, "In some societies today, there are planned and determined attempts to impose premature sex information on children. But, at this stage of development, children are still not capable of fully understanding the value of the affective dimension of sexuality. They cannot understand and control sexual imagery wihtin the proper context of moral principles and, for this reason, they cannot integrate premature sexual information with moral responsiiblity. Such information tends to shatter their emotional and educational development and to disturb the natural serenity of this period of life. Parents should politely but firmly exclude any attempts to violate children's innocence because such attempts compromise the spiritual, moral, and emotional development of growing persons who have a right to their innocence." (No. 83).
To deprive children of their right to innocence is an act of violence.
Marc Faber: Governments will bankrupt us....
"When he broke open the third seal, I heard the third living creature cry out, "Come forward." I looked, and there was a black horse, and its rider held a scale in his hand. I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures. It said, "A ration of wheat costs a day's pay, and three rations of barley cost a day's pay. But do not damage the olive oil or the wine." (Revelation 6: 5-6).
"I shall strike the shepherds, I shall disperse the flock..."
From a prophecy given to Don Bosco:
"Now Heaven's voice is addressed to the Shepherd of shepherds. You are now in conference with your advisors. The enemy of the good does not stand idle one moment. He studies and practices all his arts against you. He will sow discord among your consultors; he will raise up enemies amongst my children. The powers of the world will belch forth fire, and they would that the words be suffocated in the throats of the custodians of my law. That will not happen, they will do no harm but to themselves. You must hurry. If you cannot untie the knots, cut them. If you find yourself hard pressed, do not give up but continue until the head of the hydra of error is cut off. This stroke will make the world and Hell beneath it tremble, but the world will be safe and all the good will rejoice. Keep your consultors always with you, even if only two. Wherever you go, continue and bring to an end the work entrusted to you. The days fly by, your years will reach the destined number; but the great Queen will ever be your help, as in times past, so in the future She will always be the exceeding great fortress of the Church.
"Ah, but you, Italy, land of blessings! Who has steeped you in desolation! Blame not your enemies, but rather your friends. Can you not hear your children asking for the bread of faith and finding only those who smash it to pieces? What shall I do? I shall strike the shepherds, I shall disperse the flock, until those sitting on the throne of Moses search for good pastures and the flock listens attentively and is fed.
"Of the flock and over the shepherds My hand will weigh heavy. Famine, pestilence, and war will be such that mothers will have to cry on account of the blood of their sons and of their martyrs dead in a hostile country.
"And to you, Rome, what will happen! Ungrateful Rome, effeminate Rome, proud Rome! You have reached such a height that you search no further. You admire nothing else in your Sovereign except luxury, forgetting that you and your glory stands upon Golgotha. Now he is old, defenseless, and despoiled; and yet at his word, the word of one who was in bondage, the whole world trembles.
"Rome! To you I will come four times.
"The first time, I shall strike your lands and the inhabitants thereof.
"The second time, I shall bring the massacre and the slaughter even to your very walls. And will you not yet open your eyes?
"I shall come a third time and I shall beat down to the ground your defenses and the defenders, and at the command of the Father, the reign of terror, of dreadful fear, and of desolation shall enter into your city.
"But My wise men have now fled and My law is even now trampled underfoot. Therefore I will make a fourth visit. Woe to you if My law shall still be considered as empty words. There will be deceit and falsehood among both the learned and the ignorant. Your blood and that of your children will wash away your stains upon God's law. War, pestilence and famine are the rods to scourge men's pride and wickedness. O wealthy men, where is your glory now, your estates, your palaces? They are the rubble on the highways and byways.
"And your priests, why have you not run to "cry between the vestibule and the Altar," begging God to end these scourges? Why have you not, with the shield of faith, gone upon the housetops, into the homes, along the highways and byways, into every accessible corner to carry the seed of My word? Know you that this is the terrible two-edged sword that cuts down My enemies and breaks the Anger of God and of men?"
In our own time, the germ ideas of a one-world religion are already being sowed. And this false humanitarian religion will burst into poisonous flower when enough hearts have grown cold and have abandoned the true religion. As Jane Le Royer explained in prophecy: "When the time of the Antichrist is near, a false religion will appear which will be opposed to the unity of God and His Church. This will cause the greatest schism the world has ever known."
Can you not see the emerging signs? How do we find the Church today? The Mystical Body of the Crucified One - the Holy Catholic Church - is climbing Calvary, carrying a heavy cross. She is experiencing the hour of abandonment and betrayal. Her body is being tormented by the scourges of sin which strike at it and by numerous sacrileges which open up deep wounds in it. A Catholic priest openly calls her "evil" just as the Pharisees suggested Our Lord was evil and demon possessed (Matthew 11:18; 12: 24). And his parishioners applaud.
Indeed, Our Lady told Father Gobbi,"The hour of Calvary has arrived for the Church, called to offer herself in holocaust and to be immolated on the cross of her bloody martyrdom. The hour of Calvary has arrived for this poor humanity, which is already beginning to live the painful hours of its chastisement..' (Rome, May 1, 1994).
But too many are proud. Their eyes blinded by sin and egoism. Like the Pharisees before them, they are incapable of reading the signs of the times because their spiritual eyes are closed. They cannot hear the Spirit because their ears are closed. They cannot feel the promptings of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus because their hearts are closed. Such people cannot endure sound teaching but have itching ears and will continue to accumulate teachers who suit their own likings, teachers who will cater to their lusts by providing them with myths (2 Timothy 4: 3, 4).
And still so many of our shepherds remain silent like mute dogs. They have not begged God to end these scourges. They have not wept between the vestibule and the altar. They have not taken up the shield of faith to protect their flocks. Their judgment will be all the more severe, for God expects more from His ministers (Luke 12: 48).
Now is the hour of decision. Will we stand with the Holy Father and the Holy Roman Catholic Church. Or will we rise up as did the parishioners at Saint Michael's Parish in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts and shout "Crucify Him!"? Will we remain fortes in fide or will we desert Our Lord Who alone has the words which lead to eternal life? (John 6: 68).
There can be no sitting on the fence. We must choose between the Mystical Body of Christ and the Mystical Body of Antichrist.
Related reading here.
"Now Heaven's voice is addressed to the Shepherd of shepherds. You are now in conference with your advisors. The enemy of the good does not stand idle one moment. He studies and practices all his arts against you. He will sow discord among your consultors; he will raise up enemies amongst my children. The powers of the world will belch forth fire, and they would that the words be suffocated in the throats of the custodians of my law. That will not happen, they will do no harm but to themselves. You must hurry. If you cannot untie the knots, cut them. If you find yourself hard pressed, do not give up but continue until the head of the hydra of error is cut off. This stroke will make the world and Hell beneath it tremble, but the world will be safe and all the good will rejoice. Keep your consultors always with you, even if only two. Wherever you go, continue and bring to an end the work entrusted to you. The days fly by, your years will reach the destined number; but the great Queen will ever be your help, as in times past, so in the future She will always be the exceeding great fortress of the Church.
"Ah, but you, Italy, land of blessings! Who has steeped you in desolation! Blame not your enemies, but rather your friends. Can you not hear your children asking for the bread of faith and finding only those who smash it to pieces? What shall I do? I shall strike the shepherds, I shall disperse the flock, until those sitting on the throne of Moses search for good pastures and the flock listens attentively and is fed.
"Of the flock and over the shepherds My hand will weigh heavy. Famine, pestilence, and war will be such that mothers will have to cry on account of the blood of their sons and of their martyrs dead in a hostile country.
"And to you, Rome, what will happen! Ungrateful Rome, effeminate Rome, proud Rome! You have reached such a height that you search no further. You admire nothing else in your Sovereign except luxury, forgetting that you and your glory stands upon Golgotha. Now he is old, defenseless, and despoiled; and yet at his word, the word of one who was in bondage, the whole world trembles.
"Rome! To you I will come four times.
"The first time, I shall strike your lands and the inhabitants thereof.
"The second time, I shall bring the massacre and the slaughter even to your very walls. And will you not yet open your eyes?
"I shall come a third time and I shall beat down to the ground your defenses and the defenders, and at the command of the Father, the reign of terror, of dreadful fear, and of desolation shall enter into your city.
"But My wise men have now fled and My law is even now trampled underfoot. Therefore I will make a fourth visit. Woe to you if My law shall still be considered as empty words. There will be deceit and falsehood among both the learned and the ignorant. Your blood and that of your children will wash away your stains upon God's law. War, pestilence and famine are the rods to scourge men's pride and wickedness. O wealthy men, where is your glory now, your estates, your palaces? They are the rubble on the highways and byways.
"And your priests, why have you not run to "cry between the vestibule and the Altar," begging God to end these scourges? Why have you not, with the shield of faith, gone upon the housetops, into the homes, along the highways and byways, into every accessible corner to carry the seed of My word? Know you that this is the terrible two-edged sword that cuts down My enemies and breaks the Anger of God and of men?"
In our own time, the germ ideas of a one-world religion are already being sowed. And this false humanitarian religion will burst into poisonous flower when enough hearts have grown cold and have abandoned the true religion. As Jane Le Royer explained in prophecy: "When the time of the Antichrist is near, a false religion will appear which will be opposed to the unity of God and His Church. This will cause the greatest schism the world has ever known."
Can you not see the emerging signs? How do we find the Church today? The Mystical Body of the Crucified One - the Holy Catholic Church - is climbing Calvary, carrying a heavy cross. She is experiencing the hour of abandonment and betrayal. Her body is being tormented by the scourges of sin which strike at it and by numerous sacrileges which open up deep wounds in it. A Catholic priest openly calls her "evil" just as the Pharisees suggested Our Lord was evil and demon possessed (Matthew 11:18; 12: 24). And his parishioners applaud.
Indeed, Our Lady told Father Gobbi,"The hour of Calvary has arrived for the Church, called to offer herself in holocaust and to be immolated on the cross of her bloody martyrdom. The hour of Calvary has arrived for this poor humanity, which is already beginning to live the painful hours of its chastisement..' (Rome, May 1, 1994).
But too many are proud. Their eyes blinded by sin and egoism. Like the Pharisees before them, they are incapable of reading the signs of the times because their spiritual eyes are closed. They cannot hear the Spirit because their ears are closed. They cannot feel the promptings of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus because their hearts are closed. Such people cannot endure sound teaching but have itching ears and will continue to accumulate teachers who suit their own likings, teachers who will cater to their lusts by providing them with myths (2 Timothy 4: 3, 4).
And still so many of our shepherds remain silent like mute dogs. They have not begged God to end these scourges. They have not wept between the vestibule and the altar. They have not taken up the shield of faith to protect their flocks. Their judgment will be all the more severe, for God expects more from His ministers (Luke 12: 48).
Now is the hour of decision. Will we stand with the Holy Father and the Holy Roman Catholic Church. Or will we rise up as did the parishioners at Saint Michael's Parish in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts and shout "Crucify Him!"? Will we remain fortes in fide or will we desert Our Lord Who alone has the words which lead to eternal life? (John 6: 68).
There can be no sitting on the fence. We must choose between the Mystical Body of Christ and the Mystical Body of Antichrist.
Related reading here.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Put the blame where it really belongs - on the abuser
From The Catholic Register
By Dorothy Pilarski
I got a call one day from a good friend who was disturbed by how some of her family and friends might respond to a television program. I did not see the program, but it was about the sex scandal in the Catholic Church.
Here’s how I respond to well meaning friends, family and associates who try to enlighten me about the problems in the Church.
First, I always agree with my opponent. “Sexual abuse is terrible whether it is inside the Church or inside a family.”
Second, I like to state: “While the Church is supernatural (having existed for over 2,000) years, it is also made up of humans with a fallen nature (original sin). Each of the individuals involved in sex abuse or its cover up will be judged by God individually.”
Third, I have in the past apologized on the behalf of the Church. Once when a woman told me about some bad experience she had, I said: “I trust what you said is true, and on the behalf of the Catholic Church I apologize for that priest’s behaviour. Will you forgive us and come back?” (That only works in specific situations). Many Church leaders, including Pope Benedict XVI, have come out and formally apologized for these transgressions.
Fourth, my favourite, is the analogy of family. The Church is just like a family. There are things that happen within families that are embarrassing and painful. For example, say your Uncle Bill did something really terrible, do you judge the entire clan by his actions? Do you invite Uncle Bill to the wedding? Do you leave the family or divorce yourself from it because of Uncle Bill? Do you stop associating with Uncle Bill’s friends, professional colleagues or organization he may have worked for?
Sex abuse happens in schools. Do people take their children out of school because of it? Do they judge the educational system and the curriculum because of sex offenders?
Sex abuse happens in families. Do we reject the institution of family or marriage because a grave sin occurred in it? Sex abuse, I think between father and daughter is the gravest. Do we deem all fathers as being “bad”?
Of course not. That would be ridiculous.
Of course sex abuse is evil and hideous, but using it to attack the Church is, in my mind, a tactic of the devil. I suspect there are priests and bishops right now in hell or purgatory because of their lives on Earth. But I am sure that there are many, many, many holy priests who do not receive the love and respect they deserve because of the transgressions of their brothers in Christ.
I like to think of the analogy of a woman who used to have an abusive husband, hating all men and not being able to enter into a relationship with any man because of her emotional scars. Counselling her to love men would be difficult and would require healing.
Our job as Catholics is to defend the Church rationally and intelligently, not stand around with our tails between our legs, compliantly agreeing with whatever we see or hear on television.
Our most valuable treasures in the Church are the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist.
People should be reminded that if they focus on the sacraments, they will be given the grace to work through all their spiritual challenges. Whenever I am tempted or attacked, or whenever someone pushes my buttons, I know the first thing I have to do is run to the sacrament of Reconciliation. Our focus should be on Jesus and not on the transgressions of sinners!
Finally, I am reminded of the words of Henri J.M. Nouwen, who wrote:
“Over the centuries the Church has done enough to make any critical person want to leave it. Its history of violent crusades, pogroms, power struggles, oppression, excommunications, executions, manipulation of people and ideas, and constantly recurring divisions is there for everyone to see and be appalled by.*
“Can we believe that this is the same Church that carries in its centre the Word of God and the sacraments of God’s healing love? Can we trust that in the midst of all its human brokenness the Church presents the broken body of Christ to the world as food for eternal life? Can we acknowledge that where sin is abundant grace is superabundant, and that where promises are broken over and over again God’s promise stands unshaken? To believe is to answer yes to these questions.”
(Dorothy Pilarski, a professional speaker and consultant, can be reached at http://www.dorothypilarski.com/.)
Related reading here and here.
* Militant atheists are fond of reminding us that there have been people who committed acts of violence "in the name of religion." And of course this is true. But the Church always condemned such abuses in her teaching. But far more violence has been committed under the banner of atheism. As historian Paul Johnson put it, "Certainly, mankind without Christianity conjures up a dismal prospect. The record of mankind with Christianity is daunting enough....The dynamism it has unleashed has brought masacre and torture, intolerance and destructive pride on a huge scale, for there is a cruel and pitiless nature in man which is sometimes impervious to Christian restraints and encouragements. But without these restraints, bereft of these encouragements, how much more horrific the history of these last 2,000 years must have been!....In the last generation, with public Christianity in headlong retreat, we have caught our first, distant view of a de-Christianized world, and it is not encouraging." (A History of Christianity, p. 517).
Yes, there have been men who were "impervious to Christian restraints." But the Church may not be held responsible for this. Christianity is not the failure here. Rather those who failed to live up to the demands of the Gospel are to blame. But to the extent that such men committed acts of violence "in the name of religion," may we not justly conclude that such men were really atheists?
Atheism can be either speculative or practical. The practical atheist is one whose words and actions suggest that he does not really believe in God or following His holy will.
But nothing can match the barbaric record of violence under atheistic humanism. Which is what Mr. Johnson means when he writes, "In the last generation, with public Christianity in headlong retreat, we have caught our first, distant view of a de-Christianized world, and it is not encouraging.."
The Church is unfailingly holy even when her members sin.
By Dorothy Pilarski
I got a call one day from a good friend who was disturbed by how some of her family and friends might respond to a television program. I did not see the program, but it was about the sex scandal in the Catholic Church.
Here’s how I respond to well meaning friends, family and associates who try to enlighten me about the problems in the Church.
First, I always agree with my opponent. “Sexual abuse is terrible whether it is inside the Church or inside a family.”
Second, I like to state: “While the Church is supernatural (having existed for over 2,000) years, it is also made up of humans with a fallen nature (original sin). Each of the individuals involved in sex abuse or its cover up will be judged by God individually.”
Third, I have in the past apologized on the behalf of the Church. Once when a woman told me about some bad experience she had, I said: “I trust what you said is true, and on the behalf of the Catholic Church I apologize for that priest’s behaviour. Will you forgive us and come back?” (That only works in specific situations). Many Church leaders, including Pope Benedict XVI, have come out and formally apologized for these transgressions.
Fourth, my favourite, is the analogy of family. The Church is just like a family. There are things that happen within families that are embarrassing and painful. For example, say your Uncle Bill did something really terrible, do you judge the entire clan by his actions? Do you invite Uncle Bill to the wedding? Do you leave the family or divorce yourself from it because of Uncle Bill? Do you stop associating with Uncle Bill’s friends, professional colleagues or organization he may have worked for?
Sex abuse happens in schools. Do people take their children out of school because of it? Do they judge the educational system and the curriculum because of sex offenders?
Sex abuse happens in families. Do we reject the institution of family or marriage because a grave sin occurred in it? Sex abuse, I think between father and daughter is the gravest. Do we deem all fathers as being “bad”?
Of course not. That would be ridiculous.
Of course sex abuse is evil and hideous, but using it to attack the Church is, in my mind, a tactic of the devil. I suspect there are priests and bishops right now in hell or purgatory because of their lives on Earth. But I am sure that there are many, many, many holy priests who do not receive the love and respect they deserve because of the transgressions of their brothers in Christ.
I like to think of the analogy of a woman who used to have an abusive husband, hating all men and not being able to enter into a relationship with any man because of her emotional scars. Counselling her to love men would be difficult and would require healing.
Our job as Catholics is to defend the Church rationally and intelligently, not stand around with our tails between our legs, compliantly agreeing with whatever we see or hear on television.
Our most valuable treasures in the Church are the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist.
People should be reminded that if they focus on the sacraments, they will be given the grace to work through all their spiritual challenges. Whenever I am tempted or attacked, or whenever someone pushes my buttons, I know the first thing I have to do is run to the sacrament of Reconciliation. Our focus should be on Jesus and not on the transgressions of sinners!
Finally, I am reminded of the words of Henri J.M. Nouwen, who wrote:
“Over the centuries the Church has done enough to make any critical person want to leave it. Its history of violent crusades, pogroms, power struggles, oppression, excommunications, executions, manipulation of people and ideas, and constantly recurring divisions is there for everyone to see and be appalled by.*
“Can we believe that this is the same Church that carries in its centre the Word of God and the sacraments of God’s healing love? Can we trust that in the midst of all its human brokenness the Church presents the broken body of Christ to the world as food for eternal life? Can we acknowledge that where sin is abundant grace is superabundant, and that where promises are broken over and over again God’s promise stands unshaken? To believe is to answer yes to these questions.”
(Dorothy Pilarski, a professional speaker and consultant, can be reached at http://www.dorothypilarski.com/.)
Related reading here and here.
* Militant atheists are fond of reminding us that there have been people who committed acts of violence "in the name of religion." And of course this is true. But the Church always condemned such abuses in her teaching. But far more violence has been committed under the banner of atheism. As historian Paul Johnson put it, "Certainly, mankind without Christianity conjures up a dismal prospect. The record of mankind with Christianity is daunting enough....The dynamism it has unleashed has brought masacre and torture, intolerance and destructive pride on a huge scale, for there is a cruel and pitiless nature in man which is sometimes impervious to Christian restraints and encouragements. But without these restraints, bereft of these encouragements, how much more horrific the history of these last 2,000 years must have been!....In the last generation, with public Christianity in headlong retreat, we have caught our first, distant view of a de-Christianized world, and it is not encouraging." (A History of Christianity, p. 517).
Yes, there have been men who were "impervious to Christian restraints." But the Church may not be held responsible for this. Christianity is not the failure here. Rather those who failed to live up to the demands of the Gospel are to blame. But to the extent that such men committed acts of violence "in the name of religion," may we not justly conclude that such men were really atheists?
Atheism can be either speculative or practical. The practical atheist is one whose words and actions suggest that he does not really believe in God or following His holy will.
But nothing can match the barbaric record of violence under atheistic humanism. Which is what Mr. Johnson means when he writes, "In the last generation, with public Christianity in headlong retreat, we have caught our first, distant view of a de-Christianized world, and it is not encouraging.."
The Church is unfailingly holy even when her members sin.
An economic collapse is iminent...
"The world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes." - Benjamin Disraeli before the British House of Commons.
"They [international bankers] are driving toward complete control of the world's long-range monetary policy and principal world markets for their own profit. They foment foreign wars to aid this objective." - Curtis B. Dall.
"They [international bankers] are driving toward complete control of the world's long-range monetary policy and principal world markets for their own profit. They foment foreign wars to aid this objective." - Curtis B. Dall.
How serious is the sin of scandal when committed by a priest?
In recent posts I have examined Father James Scahill's blasphemous assertion that the Holy Catholic Church is "insidiously evil." Just how serious is the sin of scandal when committed by a priest? St. Alphonsus De Liguori, a Doctor of the Church and a moral theologian, explains that, "The Lord ordained in Leviticus that for the sin of a single priest a calf should be offered, as well as for the sins of the entire people. From this Innocent III concludes that the sin of a priest is as grievous as the sins of the whole people. The reason is, says the Pontiff, that by his sin the priest leads the entire people into sin ('Unde conjicitur quod peccatum Sacerdotis totius multitudinis peccato coaequatur, quia Sacerdos in suo peccato totam fecit delinquere multitudinem' - In Consecr. Pont. s. I.) And, long before, the Lord himself said the same: 'If the priest that is anointed shall sin, he maketh the people to offend.' Hence, St. Augustine, addressing priests, says, 'Do not close heaven: but this you do if you give to others a bad example to lead a wicked life.' Our Lord said one day to St. Bridget, that when sinners see the bad example of the priest, they are encouraged to commit sin, and even begin to glory in the vices of which they were before ashamed. Hence our Lord added that worse maledictions shall fall on the priest than on others, because by his sinful life he brings himself and others to perdition.'...says St. John Chrysostom, the life of the priest is the root from which the people, who are the branches, receive nutriment. St. Ambrose also says that priests are the head from which virtue flows to the members, that is, to seculars. The whole head is sick, says the Prophet Isaias;...from the sole of the foot unto the top of the head there is no soundness therein. St. Isidore explains this passage in the following words: 'This languishing head is the priest that commits sin, and that communicates his sin to the whole body.' St. Leo weeps over this evil, saying, 'How can health be found in the body if the head be not sound?' Who, says St. Bernard, shall seek in a sink the limpid water of the spring? Shall I, adds the saint, seek counsel from the man that knows not how to give counsel to himself? Speaking of the bad example of princes, Plutarch says, that it poisons not a single cup, but the public fountain; and thus, because all draw from the fountain, all are poisoned. This may be said with greater truth of the bad example of priests; hence Eugene III has said that bad Superiors are the principal causes of the sins of inferiors...St. Bernardine of Sienna writes that many, seeing the bad example of the scandalous ecclesiastic, begin even to waver in faith, and thus abandon themselves to vice, despising the sacraments, hell, and heaven." (St. Alphonsus De Liguori, Dignity and Duties of the Priest, pp. 142-144, 149).
Canon 1364 of the Code of Canon Law: "...an apostate from the faith, a heretic or a schismatic incurs automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication and if a cleric, he can also be punished by the penalties mentioned in can. 1336.."
Canon 1364 of the Code of Canon Law: "...an apostate from the faith, a heretic or a schismatic incurs automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication and if a cleric, he can also be punished by the penalties mentioned in can. 1336.."
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Authentic reform: An aspiration to moral perfection
Authentic reform.
Pope Benedict XVI, Address to the members of the Congregation for the Clergy on the occasion of their Plenary Assembly, March 16, 2009:
Heartfelt and Total Adherence to a New Form of Life
The missionary dimension of the priesthood is born from the priest's sacramental configuration to Christ. As a consequence it brings with it a heartfelt and total adherence to what the ecclesial tradition has identified as apostolica vivendi forma. This consists in participation in a "new life", spiritually speaking, in that "new way of life" which the Lord Jesus inaugurated and which the Apostles made their own.
In Every Authentically Priestly Heart: the Aspiration to Moral Perfection
Through the imposition of the Bishop's hands and the consecratory prayer of the Church, the candidates become new men, they become "presbyters". In this light it is clear that the tria munera are first a gift and only consequently an office, first a participation in a life, and hence a potestas. Of course, the great ecclesial tradition has rightly separated sacramental efficacy from the concrete existential situation of the individual priest and so the legitimate expectations of the faithful are appropriately safeguarded. However, this correct doctrinal explanation takes nothing from the necessary, indeed indispensable, aspiration to moral perfection that must dwell in every authentically priestly heart.
Year for Priests 2009-2010
Precisely to encourage priests in this striving for spiritual perfection on which, above all, the effectiveness of their ministry depends, I have decided to establish a special "Year for Priests" that will begin on 19 June and last until 19 June 2010. In fact, it is the 150th anniversary of the death of the Holy Curé d'Ars, John Mary Vianney, a true example of a pastor at the service of Christ's flock. It will be the task of your Congregation, in agreement with the diocesan Ordinaries and with the superiors of religious institutes to promote and to coordinate the various spiritual and pastoral initiatives that seem useful for making the importance of the priest's role and mission in the Church and in contemporary society ever more clearly perceived.
God: the Only Treasure People Desire to Find in a Priest
The priest's mission, as the theme of the Plenary Assembly emphasizes, is carried out "in the Church". This ecclesial, communal, hierarchical and doctrinal dimension is absolutely indispensable to every authentic mission and, alone guarantees its spiritual effectiveness. The four aspects mentioned must always be recognized as intimately connected: the mission is "ecclesial" because no one proclaims himself in the first person, but within and through his own humanity every priest must be well aware that he is bringing to the world Another, God himself. God is the only treasure which ultimately people desire to find in a priest.
The Priest: An Expert in Divine Intimacy
The mission is "communional" because it is carried out in a unity and communion that only secondly has also important aspects of social visibility. Moreover, these derive essentially from that divine intimacy in which the priest is called to be expert, so that he may be able to lead the souls entrusted to him humbly and trustingly to the same encounter with the Lord. Lastly, the "hierarchical" and "doctrinal" dimensions suggest reaffirming the importance of the ecclesiastical discipline (the term has a connection with "disciple") and doctrinal training and not only theological, initial and continuing formation.
Uninterrupted Ecclesial Tradition
Awareness of the radical social changes that have occurred in recent decades must motivate the best ecclesial forces to supervise the formation of candidates for the ministry. In particular, it must foster the constant concern of Pastors for their principal collaborators, both by cultivating truly fatherly human relations and by taking an interest in their continuing formation, especially from the doctrinal and spiritual viewpoints. The mission is rooted in a special way in a good formation, developed in communion with uninterrupted ecclesial Tradition, without breaks or temptations of irregularity. In this sense, it is important to encourage in priests, especially in the young generations, a correct reception of the texts of the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council, interpreted in the light of the Church's entire fund of doctrine. It seems urgent to recover that awareness that has always been at the heart of the Church's mission, which impels priests to be present, identifiable and recognizable both for their judgement of faith, for their personal virtues as well as for the habit, in the contexts of culture and of charity.
The Deepest Expectations of the Human Heart
As Church and as priests, we proclaim Jesus of Nazareth Lord and Christ, Crucified and Risen, Sovereign of time and of history, in the glad certainty that this truth coincides with the deepest expectations of the human heart. In the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, that is, of the fact that God became man like us, lies both the content and the method of Christian proclamation. The true dynamic centre of the mission is here: in Jesus Christ, precisely. The centrality of Christ brings with it the correct appreciation of the ministerial priesthood, without which there would be neither the Eucharist, nor even the mission nor the Church herself.
A Timely Warning
In this regard it is necessary to be alert to ensure that the "new structures" or pastoral organizations are not planned on the basis of an erroneous interpretation of the proper promotion of the laity for a time in which one would have "to do without" the ordained ministry, because in that case the presuppositions for a further dilution of the ministerial priesthood would be laid and possible presumed "solutions" might come dramatically to coincide with the real causes of contemporary problems linked to the ministry.
Pope Benedict XVI, Address to the members of the Congregation for the Clergy on the occasion of their Plenary Assembly, March 16, 2009:
Heartfelt and Total Adherence to a New Form of Life
The missionary dimension of the priesthood is born from the priest's sacramental configuration to Christ. As a consequence it brings with it a heartfelt and total adherence to what the ecclesial tradition has identified as apostolica vivendi forma. This consists in participation in a "new life", spiritually speaking, in that "new way of life" which the Lord Jesus inaugurated and which the Apostles made their own.
In Every Authentically Priestly Heart: the Aspiration to Moral Perfection
Through the imposition of the Bishop's hands and the consecratory prayer of the Church, the candidates become new men, they become "presbyters". In this light it is clear that the tria munera are first a gift and only consequently an office, first a participation in a life, and hence a potestas. Of course, the great ecclesial tradition has rightly separated sacramental efficacy from the concrete existential situation of the individual priest and so the legitimate expectations of the faithful are appropriately safeguarded. However, this correct doctrinal explanation takes nothing from the necessary, indeed indispensable, aspiration to moral perfection that must dwell in every authentically priestly heart.
Year for Priests 2009-2010
Precisely to encourage priests in this striving for spiritual perfection on which, above all, the effectiveness of their ministry depends, I have decided to establish a special "Year for Priests" that will begin on 19 June and last until 19 June 2010. In fact, it is the 150th anniversary of the death of the Holy Curé d'Ars, John Mary Vianney, a true example of a pastor at the service of Christ's flock. It will be the task of your Congregation, in agreement with the diocesan Ordinaries and with the superiors of religious institutes to promote and to coordinate the various spiritual and pastoral initiatives that seem useful for making the importance of the priest's role and mission in the Church and in contemporary society ever more clearly perceived.
God: the Only Treasure People Desire to Find in a Priest
The priest's mission, as the theme of the Plenary Assembly emphasizes, is carried out "in the Church". This ecclesial, communal, hierarchical and doctrinal dimension is absolutely indispensable to every authentic mission and, alone guarantees its spiritual effectiveness. The four aspects mentioned must always be recognized as intimately connected: the mission is "ecclesial" because no one proclaims himself in the first person, but within and through his own humanity every priest must be well aware that he is bringing to the world Another, God himself. God is the only treasure which ultimately people desire to find in a priest.
The Priest: An Expert in Divine Intimacy
The mission is "communional" because it is carried out in a unity and communion that only secondly has also important aspects of social visibility. Moreover, these derive essentially from that divine intimacy in which the priest is called to be expert, so that he may be able to lead the souls entrusted to him humbly and trustingly to the same encounter with the Lord. Lastly, the "hierarchical" and "doctrinal" dimensions suggest reaffirming the importance of the ecclesiastical discipline (the term has a connection with "disciple") and doctrinal training and not only theological, initial and continuing formation.
Uninterrupted Ecclesial Tradition
Awareness of the radical social changes that have occurred in recent decades must motivate the best ecclesial forces to supervise the formation of candidates for the ministry. In particular, it must foster the constant concern of Pastors for their principal collaborators, both by cultivating truly fatherly human relations and by taking an interest in their continuing formation, especially from the doctrinal and spiritual viewpoints. The mission is rooted in a special way in a good formation, developed in communion with uninterrupted ecclesial Tradition, without breaks or temptations of irregularity. In this sense, it is important to encourage in priests, especially in the young generations, a correct reception of the texts of the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council, interpreted in the light of the Church's entire fund of doctrine. It seems urgent to recover that awareness that has always been at the heart of the Church's mission, which impels priests to be present, identifiable and recognizable both for their judgement of faith, for their personal virtues as well as for the habit, in the contexts of culture and of charity.
The Deepest Expectations of the Human Heart
As Church and as priests, we proclaim Jesus of Nazareth Lord and Christ, Crucified and Risen, Sovereign of time and of history, in the glad certainty that this truth coincides with the deepest expectations of the human heart. In the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, that is, of the fact that God became man like us, lies both the content and the method of Christian proclamation. The true dynamic centre of the mission is here: in Jesus Christ, precisely. The centrality of Christ brings with it the correct appreciation of the ministerial priesthood, without which there would be neither the Eucharist, nor even the mission nor the Church herself.
A Timely Warning
In this regard it is necessary to be alert to ensure that the "new structures" or pastoral organizations are not planned on the basis of an erroneous interpretation of the proper promotion of the laity for a time in which one would have "to do without" the ordained ministry, because in that case the presuppositions for a further dilution of the ministerial priesthood would be laid and possible presumed "solutions" might come dramatically to coincide with the real causes of contemporary problems linked to the ministry.
The Kasama Project praises Father James Scahill
In a Blog post which may be found here, the Kasama Project has high-praise for Father James Scahill. The Kasama Project, as explained here, is "..a United States-based network of people organized to support a Communist project for the forcible overthrow and transformation of all existing social conditions." The organization was founded by Mike Ely, an activist formerly with the Revolutionary Communist Party USA.
Indeed many individuals and groups with a revolutionary agenda are falling behind the heretical Roman Catholic priest including the Billerico Project, a radical homosexual activist group which includes Catholic priests as members. This is all the more disturbing since the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in its Letter to Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons," had this to say: "All support should be withdrawn from any organizations which seek to undermine the teaching of the Church, which are ambiguous about it, or which neglect it entirely. Such support, or even the semblance of such support, can be gravely misinterpreted."
Fr. Scahill and those who stand with him are not celebrating the teachings of Christ. They are revolutionaries seeking to dethrone God, the Church and the world of sacred values. They are deluded souls preparing the way for the Son of Perdition who will weave together his totalitarian rule of heresy, sedition, revolution, schism and every evil movement to employ these most effectively against the Church.
Indeed many individuals and groups with a revolutionary agenda are falling behind the heretical Roman Catholic priest including the Billerico Project, a radical homosexual activist group which includes Catholic priests as members. This is all the more disturbing since the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in its Letter to Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons," had this to say: "All support should be withdrawn from any organizations which seek to undermine the teaching of the Church, which are ambiguous about it, or which neglect it entirely. Such support, or even the semblance of such support, can be gravely misinterpreted."
Fr. Scahill and those who stand with him are not celebrating the teachings of Christ. They are revolutionaries seeking to dethrone God, the Church and the world of sacred values. They are deluded souls preparing the way for the Son of Perdition who will weave together his totalitarian rule of heresy, sedition, revolution, schism and every evil movement to employ these most effectively against the Church.
Message to Father James Scahill: a humble mea culpa and not an arrogant vestra culpa is necessary...
Father James Scahill of Saint Michael's Parish in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts has just said, "My life's purpose is to celebrate the teachings of Christ but in order to do that - in order to rebuild his Church - we must acknowledge and atone for our mistakes." See here:
http://stmichaelsel.org/PDFS/FrScahill%20OpeningStatement%204-18-10.pdf
It would appear, then, that Father Scahill has failed in his life's purpose. For he has referred to the Mystical Body of Christ as "insidiously evil." The Church which is the unblemished bride of the unblemished lamb.
Father Scahill says he wants to help "rebuild the Church." He can best accomplish this by rebuilding his own faith life. Rather than arrogantly issuing a vestra culpa (your fault), Father Scahill would do well to issue a humble mea culpa (my fault). His failure to notify the proper authorities with regard to Father Richard Lavigne's "bothering children" and having sleepovers at the rectory has been documented. His public calumny against Pope Benedict XVI constitutes [objectively speaking] a mortal sin. His reference to the unblemished Church as "insidiously evil" constitutes an act of blasphemy.
In Catholic moral theology,blasphemy, which can be either directly against God or indirectly against Him by blaspheming the Church or her saints, is a sin against the virtue of religion; Aquinas terms it a sin against faith. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (which Fr. Scahill should familiarize himself with) teaches us that: "Blasphemy is directly opposed to the second commandment. It consists in uttering against God - inwardly or outwardly - words of hatred, reproach, or defiance; in speaking ill of God; in failing in respect toward him in one's speech; in misusing God's name. St. James condemns those 'who blaspheme that honorable name [of Jesus] by which you are called.' The prohibition of blasphemy extends to language against Christ's Church, the saints, and sacred things..." (2148).
It is admirable to want to "rebuild the Church." But one must always begin an authentic reform by reforming one's own life. One cannot, after all, pass along to others faith, hope and charity when one does not possess these theological virtues himself.
http://stmichaelsel.org/PDFS/FrScahill%20OpeningStatement%204-18-10.pdf
It would appear, then, that Father Scahill has failed in his life's purpose. For he has referred to the Mystical Body of Christ as "insidiously evil." The Church which is the unblemished bride of the unblemished lamb.
Father Scahill says he wants to help "rebuild the Church." He can best accomplish this by rebuilding his own faith life. Rather than arrogantly issuing a vestra culpa (your fault), Father Scahill would do well to issue a humble mea culpa (my fault). His failure to notify the proper authorities with regard to Father Richard Lavigne's "bothering children" and having sleepovers at the rectory has been documented. His public calumny against Pope Benedict XVI constitutes [objectively speaking] a mortal sin. His reference to the unblemished Church as "insidiously evil" constitutes an act of blasphemy.
In Catholic moral theology,blasphemy, which can be either directly against God or indirectly against Him by blaspheming the Church or her saints, is a sin against the virtue of religion; Aquinas terms it a sin against faith. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (which Fr. Scahill should familiarize himself with) teaches us that: "Blasphemy is directly opposed to the second commandment. It consists in uttering against God - inwardly or outwardly - words of hatred, reproach, or defiance; in speaking ill of God; in failing in respect toward him in one's speech; in misusing God's name. St. James condemns those 'who blaspheme that honorable name [of Jesus] by which you are called.' The prohibition of blasphemy extends to language against Christ's Church, the saints, and sacred things..." (2148).
It is admirable to want to "rebuild the Church." But one must always begin an authentic reform by reforming one's own life. One cannot, after all, pass along to others faith, hope and charity when one does not possess these theological virtues himself.
The enemies of the Church want to destroy belief in the divinity of Christ...
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).
Already the signs of hatred and persecution are emerging. In East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, a Catholic priest who called the Mystical Body of Christ "insidiously evil" received a standing ovation. The cancer of infidelity has made such inroads even into the Church. These Sons of Satan will welcome the Man of Sin. They will celebrate him. They will adore him. And they will do so because they do not really belong to Christ.
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).
Already the signs of hatred and persecution are emerging. In East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, a Catholic priest who called the Mystical Body of Christ "insidiously evil" received a standing ovation. The cancer of infidelity has made such inroads even into the Church. These Sons of Satan will welcome the Man of Sin. They will celebrate him. They will adore him. And they will do so because they do not really belong to Christ.
Monday, April 19, 2010
As the Man of Sin approaches....
"We are living in the days of the Apocalypse - the last days of our era...The two great forces of the Mystical Body of Christ and the Mystical Body of Antichrist are beginning to draw up the battle lines for the catastrophic contest." - Archbishop Fulton John Sheen.
Related reading here.
Related reading here.
Our Lady warned us that the work of the Devil would infiltrate even into the Church...
"As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by My Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests."
"The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres...churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.
"The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them" - Our Lady to Sister Agnes Sasagawa, Akita, Japan October 13, 1973.
"The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres...churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.
"The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them" - Our Lady to Sister Agnes Sasagawa, Akita, Japan October 13, 1973.
Parishioners stand behind dissident priest Father James Scahill who calumniated Pope Benedict XVI
WWLP 22News is reporting that parishioners at Saint Michael's Parish in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts gave dissident priest Father James Scahill a standing ovation after he gave his homily yesterday, the first since he called upon Pope Benedict XVI to step down. Even though Fr. Scahill has calumniated the Holy Father, even though he has referred to the Mystical Body of Christ as "insidiously evil," even though he knew about Father Richard Lavigne molesting childen and didn't act on it, he has his supporters.
This should not come as a surprise. Even within the Catholic Church, charismatic individuals can inspire a cult-following. Religious communities (and a parish is a religious community) can fall victim to the cult phenomenon. In his book "Cults, Sects, and the New Age," Father James LeBar, who has served as a Consultant on Cults for the Archdiocese of New York, notes, "...to be sure,..cultic behavior is possible at any time in any place. It has also been demonstrated that some legitimate actions of Catholic Church groups can be carried to excess, so that the cult label is applied....Church leaders must be vigilant to make sure that cultic practices do not creep into otherwise legitimate groups." (p. 99).
As I noted in a previous post, the Catholic Church is the Mystical Body of Christ. This is the authentic and authoritative teaching of Vatican II: "The head of this body is Christ. He is the image of the invisible God and in him all things came into being. He is before all creatures and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body which is the Church." (Lumen Gentium, No. 7). But Father Scahill has referred to Christ's Body as "insidiously evil." This statement constitutes heresy* as it is a clear statement accusing Christ Jesus Himself of being "evil." Heresy is the post-baptismal denial or doubt by a Catholic of any truth that must be believed as part of Divine Revelation (See Canon 751 of the Code of Canon Law). Heresy, if formal, is the deliberate resistance to God's authority, punishable by automatic excommunication (See Canon 1364).
Competent ecclesiastical authorities need to initiate an investigation into the ministry of Father James Scahill and the parish he serves. Let's all pray that this matter will be treated with the seriousness it deserves. It is not enough to call Father Scahill's remarks "unfortunate." They are more than that. They are heretical.
* "The Church...is held, as a matter of faith, to be unfailingly holy. This is because Christ, the Son of God, who with the Father and the Spirit is hailed as 'alone holy,' loved the Church as his Bride, giving himself up for her so as to sanctify her; he joined her to himself as his body and endowed her with the gift of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God. The Church, then, is 'the holy People of God,' and her members are called 'saints.'" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 823).
This should not come as a surprise. Even within the Catholic Church, charismatic individuals can inspire a cult-following. Religious communities (and a parish is a religious community) can fall victim to the cult phenomenon. In his book "Cults, Sects, and the New Age," Father James LeBar, who has served as a Consultant on Cults for the Archdiocese of New York, notes, "...to be sure,..cultic behavior is possible at any time in any place. It has also been demonstrated that some legitimate actions of Catholic Church groups can be carried to excess, so that the cult label is applied....Church leaders must be vigilant to make sure that cultic practices do not creep into otherwise legitimate groups." (p. 99).
As I noted in a previous post, the Catholic Church is the Mystical Body of Christ. This is the authentic and authoritative teaching of Vatican II: "The head of this body is Christ. He is the image of the invisible God and in him all things came into being. He is before all creatures and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body which is the Church." (Lumen Gentium, No. 7). But Father Scahill has referred to Christ's Body as "insidiously evil." This statement constitutes heresy* as it is a clear statement accusing Christ Jesus Himself of being "evil." Heresy is the post-baptismal denial or doubt by a Catholic of any truth that must be believed as part of Divine Revelation (See Canon 751 of the Code of Canon Law). Heresy, if formal, is the deliberate resistance to God's authority, punishable by automatic excommunication (See Canon 1364).
Competent ecclesiastical authorities need to initiate an investigation into the ministry of Father James Scahill and the parish he serves. Let's all pray that this matter will be treated with the seriousness it deserves. It is not enough to call Father Scahill's remarks "unfortunate." They are more than that. They are heretical.
* "The Church...is held, as a matter of faith, to be unfailingly holy. This is because Christ, the Son of God, who with the Father and the Spirit is hailed as 'alone holy,' loved the Church as his Bride, giving himself up for her so as to sanctify her; he joined her to himself as his body and endowed her with the gift of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God. The Church, then, is 'the holy People of God,' and her members are called 'saints.'" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 823).
Sunday, April 18, 2010
When will the media acknowledge the fact that the sexual abuse of children is not a "Catholic problem"?
Pope Benedict XVI met with a group of clerical abuse victims and promised them that the Catholic Church will continue to implement "effective measures" to protect young people in the future. Meanwhile, the sexual abuse of children across other segments of society continues to be largely ignored by the media. And this only serves to suggest that the media are not so much concerned with the welfare of children as they are with unfairly portraying the abuse of children as a "crisis in the Church."
The 2002 John Jay report tabulated a total of 4,392 priests and deacons in the U.S. against whom allegations of sexual abuse were considered by their dioceses to have been substantiated. Most of these were incidences of homosexual misconduct - somewhere between 80-90 percent of all cases. Dr. Thomas Plante of Stanford University and Santa Clara University has said that, "available research suggests that approximately 2 to 5% of priests have had a sexual experience with a minor" which "is lower than the general adult male population that is best estimated to be closer to 8%."
In her report prepared for the U.S. Department of Education entitled "Educator Sexual Misconduct: A Synthesis of Existing Literature," Charol Shakeshaft explains that, "This analysis indicates that 9.6 percent of all students in grades 8 to 11 report contact and/or noncontact educator sexual misconduct that was unwanted." (p. 25). And then Ms. Shakeshaft puts this percentage in a proper perspective:
"To get a sense of the extent of the number of students who have been targets of educator sexual misconduct, I applied the percent of students who report experiencing educator sexual misconduct to the population of all K-12 students. Based on the assumption that the AAUW surveys accurately represent the experiences of all K-12 students, more than 4.5 million students are subject to sexual misconduct by an employee of a school sometime between kindergarten and 12th grade. Possible limitations of the study would all suggest that the findings reported here under-estimate educator sexual misconduct in schools." (p. 26).
Full Shakeshaft report may be found here.
Where are children safer: in the Catholic Church or in the public schools? Who are they safer with: a Catholic priest or a male within the general population?
The numbers tell the story. But the media do not. The statistics do not lie. But a biased media has been known to.
What a shame that those who produce our media do not believe that people deserve the full truth. Until they do, how many more children will have to suffer because of the lack of scrutiny and the denial within the media that the sexual abuse of children is a societal problem?
The 2002 John Jay report tabulated a total of 4,392 priests and deacons in the U.S. against whom allegations of sexual abuse were considered by their dioceses to have been substantiated. Most of these were incidences of homosexual misconduct - somewhere between 80-90 percent of all cases. Dr. Thomas Plante of Stanford University and Santa Clara University has said that, "available research suggests that approximately 2 to 5% of priests have had a sexual experience with a minor" which "is lower than the general adult male population that is best estimated to be closer to 8%."
In her report prepared for the U.S. Department of Education entitled "Educator Sexual Misconduct: A Synthesis of Existing Literature," Charol Shakeshaft explains that, "This analysis indicates that 9.6 percent of all students in grades 8 to 11 report contact and/or noncontact educator sexual misconduct that was unwanted." (p. 25). And then Ms. Shakeshaft puts this percentage in a proper perspective:
"To get a sense of the extent of the number of students who have been targets of educator sexual misconduct, I applied the percent of students who report experiencing educator sexual misconduct to the population of all K-12 students. Based on the assumption that the AAUW surveys accurately represent the experiences of all K-12 students, more than 4.5 million students are subject to sexual misconduct by an employee of a school sometime between kindergarten and 12th grade. Possible limitations of the study would all suggest that the findings reported here under-estimate educator sexual misconduct in schools." (p. 26).
Full Shakeshaft report may be found here.
Where are children safer: in the Catholic Church or in the public schools? Who are they safer with: a Catholic priest or a male within the general population?
The numbers tell the story. But the media do not. The statistics do not lie. But a biased media has been known to.
What a shame that those who produce our media do not believe that people deserve the full truth. Until they do, how many more children will have to suffer because of the lack of scrutiny and the denial within the media that the sexual abuse of children is a societal problem?
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