The Rockin Traddy

SSPX Not In Schism - Diocese of Scranton

2012-01-17T09:37:00.003-05:00

For those of you on the fence regarding the SSPX, allow me to give you some information which was apparently ignored by the modernists of the Scranton Diocese when they decided it was bad for your soul to attend the SSPX Mass.

This comes from the website Renew America

April 10, 2007

Cardinal Castrillón: SSPX not in schism

Catholics who attend SSPX masses not schismatic

By Brian Mershon

From the March 31 issue of The Remnant

Darío Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos has repeatedly affirmed that the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) is not a case of formal schism on at least five separate occasions in public interviews, as recently as March 17 and over the past 2-1/2 years. Msgr. Camille Perl, long-time secretary for the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei (PCED), has repeatedly affirmed in personal letters that such Catholics incur no penalty and no sin for merely fulfilling one's Sunday obligation at a church or chapel served by the SSPX.

"Signs of the Times" Show SSPX Not Schismatic

The primary question this article will attempt to answer, through a reading of "the signs of the times" as the Second Vatican Council encouraged us to do, is what the present attitude and position of the Church is, as viewed through many recent articles and correspondence from the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei (PCED), and particularly, Cardinal Castrillón.

Are Catholics who attend SSPX chapels out of necessity truly attempting to be "more Catholic than the pope?"

Cardinal Castrillón's most recent interview with an Italian journalist published on March 17, 2007, repeats this affirmation that while there may be a danger of schism and/or heresy for some priests and bishops within the SSPX, theirs is not a formal schism.

Cardinal Castrillón: Church Esteems Fruitful Life of Archbishop Lefebvre

Catholic journalist Simone Ortolani published this most recent interview on the Nihil Obstat Catholic website. His Eminence re-emphasized that the motu proprio easing restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass was with the pope for his action, just as Msgr. Michael Schmitz of the Institute of Christ the King said in two recent interviews. Ortolani asked Cardinal Castrillón if Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre would be rehabilitated by the Church. Cardinal Castrillón's response follows:

Retracing the complete life story of Archbishop Lefebvre, we are certain of the great esteem and appreciation of the Church for him. He was considered worthy of being an Archbishop, Apostolic Delegate, Superior General of his religious congregation; by speaking to people who knew him during the exercise of his ministry, the fecundity of his life is discovered.

Yet, with the same clarity, according to the most genuine tradition of the Church, it cannot be accepted that a bishop may consecrate another bishop without pontifical mandate, or that the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Councils, and in particular for their importance, in Ecumenical Councils, can be disputed.

Archbishop Lefebvre — it is important to stress this — signed the documents of the Second Vatican Council, even though he was critical towards them, either regarding the texts, or regarding their interpretation. read more...

Bambera Disapproves - Diocese Of Scranton

2012-01-13T13:44:00.003-05:00

Well done! But only after many letters were written to the Bishop does he exhibit any backbone.

The bishop of the Diocese of Scranton is publicly expressing his disapproval with the University of Scranton for allowing a former U.S. congresswoman who supported abortion access bills to speak on campus.

Marjorie Margolies, who represented a suburban Philadelphia congressional district from 1993-1995, is the keynote speaker for a Jan. 28 program for women who want to run for office. The "Ready to Run" program is a partnership with the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University and is advertised as a non-partisan event for women who want to run for office, work on a campaign or learn more about the political system.

Bishop Joseph C. Bambera asked that the university withdraw the invitation to Margolies, and the university refused, according to a diocesan news release. Efforts to reach a university spokesman were not immediately successful this morning.

Read more: http://citizensvoice.com/bishop-expresses-disappointment-in-university-s-invitation-to-speaker-1.1257261#ixzz1jMiedf3w

The Way To Receive Approval? - Diocese Of Scranton

2012-01-13T09:10:00.005-05:00

Wow. Sandro Magister has a post today about the Vatican's supposed approval of the Neocatechumenal Way's mess...uh, "mass". If this happens, if these Protestants in Catholic clothing are able to get their "liturgy" approved it will set back the all of the good things we have seen in the past few years regarding getting the liturgy back on track. Does anyone else find it curious that Archbishop Annibale Bugnini the chief architect of the post conciliar liturgical reform was instrumental in forming the theological mind of The Way's co-founder Carmen Hernandez? Did you also know it was Bugnini, along with the two co-founders that came up with the name Neocatechumenal Way?

Of course, the Neocatechumenal Way has it's talons into the Scranton Diocese. Former Bishop of Scranton Joseph Martino praised the NW and allowed them to flourish, and be sure that the latest man sitting on the big chair welcomes them enthusiastically as well. These progressives can concoct anything they want, call it a "mass" and the Bishops accept it. But try getting your child baptized by a priest of the Diocese in the Traditional manner and they act as if you are asking for an offering of gold. Try asking for the Old Mass at your parish. Try to find a priest in this Diocese that has Traditional leanings that hasn't been harassed by the powers that be in some way.

Progressives do as they please. The rest of us are made to feel as though we are trouble makers for expecting the church to do as she has always done, but not recently mind you - condemn heresies, show us the way and save our souls. But that's too much to ask.

ROME, January 13, 2012 – As on other occasions in the past, this January as well, on Friday the 20th, Benedict XVI will meet in the audience hall of the Vatican with thousands of members of the Neocatechumenal Way, with their founders and leaders, the Spaniards Francisco "Kiko" Argüello and Carmen Hernández.

One year ago, at the audience of January 17, 2011, the pope told the enthusiastic audience that the thirteen volumes of the catechism in use in their communities had received the longed-for approval, after a very lengthy examination begun in 1997 by the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, and after numerous corrections had been introduced, with about 2000 references to parallel passages of the official catechism of the Catholic Church.

Next January 20, however, the leaders and members of the Way expect from the supreme authorities of the Church an even more ardently desired "placet." The official and definitive approval of what is their most visible, but also most controversial, distinctive trait: the way in which they celebrate the Mass. Read more....

Santorum Is Latin For "Strong Pro Life Conservative So He'll Never Get The Votes Of The Typical Catholics In The Pews" - Diocese Of Scranton

2012-01-11T13:12:00.007-05:00

Will a "Traddie" be the next President? That's the question asked by ThePathLessTaken blog.

I make no predictions, we'll just have to see how he does in the upcoming primaries. But he'd better improve on yesterdays sorry results.

Blimey! Is it conceivable that a ‘Traddie’ will be the next president of America, and go with his six kids to live in The White House? There can only be one person that fits the description of goes-to-a-Mass-in-Latin, home schools all six of his kids, and is also running for president: Rick Santorum. The question is; might he home-school in The White House? Until recently, conservative Catholic Santorum has been under the radar. And in all honesty, when I heard a description of him I thought, ‘that can’t be, there must be some mistake, no one who is Catholic-of-a-traditional-mindset and totally pro-life could ever even think of becoming the president of America!’ Like a lot of ‘Traditional Catholics’, I endure my Holden-Caulfield’esque inferiority complex and I often think that the highest positions in politics are somehow off-limits to us devout Catholics. Thank you, Santorum, for proving me and your cynics wrong. read more....

My Epiphany! - Diocese Of Scranton

2012-01-09T13:05:00.005-05:00

I went to Mass with my family yesterday to a small parish in Luzerne County. The retired priest that offered up the Mass did a good job, he actually read the words written in the book and everything, unlike the normal parish priest from this particular church, whom I have seen on several occasions making stuff up as he goes along.

I sat there hoping for a good 'ole theologically sound homily from the seasoned veteran priest.

My hopes were dashed.

The Deacon, proudly wearing his rainbow colored stole proceeded to explain to us how the United States and it's penchant for racism and warfare has kept the Epiphany, or as he called it "God's Peace" at bay.

Deacon started out by reminding us that it is an election year. I thought maybe he was going to inform the congregation about voting pro life.

Instead he went on a diversity and social justice tirade.

Did you know that American hatred for Native Americans brought us the War of 1812? Never mind that pesky Britain was up to it's old tricks.
Did you know, that the US got into WWII because we were racist against Asian people? Were we racist against white Germans and Italians as well I suppose?
And again the same charge was made for Korea and Vietnam.
And of course we hate Mexicans, Muslims, and Arabs.

Not too much about the actual Epiphany, just the Deacons take on why we will never achieve God's peace.

We're all racists.

Thanks Deacon.

I'm curious if anywhere in the Diocese of Scranton if any priest OTHER than the FSSP and SSPX priests blessed Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh, the Epiphany Water and Chalk? Did any of you priests set up times to go and do the traditional blessings of your parishioners homes? If not, why?

God Bless You!

Wake Up, America - Diocese of Scranton

2011-12-29T13:52:00.003-05:00

Who currently is the bigger threat to our liberty and way of life? Tehran or Washington D.C.?

“There is no nation on earth powerful enough to accomplish our overthrow. Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence. I must confess that I do apprehend some danger. I fear that they may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants and fail properly to scrutinize their conduct; that in this way they may be made the dupes of designing men and become the instruments of their own undoing.” - Daniel Webster

NDAA Bill Passes. What Next?

2011-12-19T13:05:00.004-05:00

Democratic Germany 1934, on the basis of the new law, concentration camp Dachau was opened to protect society from ‘internal threats’.

First they came for the commies: the people did nothing.

Then trade unionists: the people did nothing.

Liberals were incarcerated: the people did nothing.

Homosexuals and the mentally impaired were next.

Then the Jews and the Gypsies. Eventually all people were candidates: but then it was too late.

Thank you Congress, for the NDAA bill.

Is More Of This On The Way?

2011-12-19T12:33:00.003-05:00

Probably. Evil is positioning itself. Stand up! Don't let it happen. This is only more of the ongoing assault on our liberties.

Read about it here

Newt Has The Answers

2011-11-03T10:51:00.001-04:00

Friday Morning

2011-10-20T09:19:00.004-04:00

Well Traddy is off to have surgery Friday morning, so any prayers you have to offer would be grand! See you back here in a few days, God willing.

Saint Camillus is the patron saint of the sick. He was born in 1550 in Chieti in the Abruzzi region of Italy. He was a soldier and many sources say that as a young man he struggled with gambling, which was a common activity of the soldiers as they were traveling or simply to pass the time. At certain point in his life he came to a crossroads and the Lord touched His heart and underwent a deep inner conversion.

In 1582, when he was only 32 years old, he founded a society that would care for the sick and the poor. This society established hospitals and they cared for the sick with greatest care. It was devotion of love, which he carried out until his death in Rome in 1614. He is the patron saint of nurses, of the sick and of hospitals.

Dear friends, each of us, like Saint Camillus, is in need of conversion. Perhaps we need a moment of grace, a moment of great conversion, and of turning back to the Lord. Perhaps we are simply in need of that daily conversion, that daily turning to Christ. Conversion is all about turning from the ways of the world, and turning toward Christ; it is about turning away from our will, and turning toward of the will of Christ; it is about turning away from darkness, and turning toward the light of Christ; it is about turning from sin and death, and turning toward life in Christ. Yes, we need this at all times. Perhaps God may grant us a big moment, and that is very good, but let us pray that, through the intercession of Saint Camillus, we may each and every day turn to Christ and be converted in our hearts. One small step every day, and God willing, we will arrive at the great goal, the kingdom of God, our place of rest. Saint Camillus, pray for us! Amen.

+++++++

Hippie Utopia!

2011-10-14T12:30:00.002-04:00

Ugh. I can smell the patchouli from here.

‘I’ve been here for 12 days, and I’ve put on 5 pounds,’ he said, sitting on the ground in front of a handmade sign that said ‘Class War Ahead.’ ‘I’m eating better than I do at home.’

All he had to do was amble toward a ramshackle cluster of tables and boxes in the middle of the park and, without paying a cent, grab a slice of pizza or a warm slab of homemade vegan casserole. Last Thursday he had encountered ‘a bunch of Katz’s Deli sandwiches,’ he said. ‘That was good.’

[. . .]

Tom Hintze, 24, was volunteering in Zuccotti Park last week. ‘Just now there was a big UPS delivery,’ he said. ‘We don’t know where it comes from. It just appears, and we eat it.’

Ah! The Utopia they wish for. "It just appears, and we eat it." Read more about the fleabaggers.

Novus Ordo - New Translation

2011-10-05T12:46:00.004-04:00

I attended a Novus Ordo Mass in Luzerne county recently. The priest there obviously has gained a dispensation from Rome, allowing him to not read a single line from the sacramentary. He just happily made stuff up as he went along.

Makes you wonder if certain priests are even going to be phased by the new translation. I mean, if they can't be bothered to read the old old one, what's going to make them read the new one?

What has YOUR Novus Ordo parish done to prepare for the new translation of the Mass? Have you even heard about it? Leave comments.

Lesbian Parents Adopt Boy - Now He's A Girl!

2011-10-04T12:32:00.001-04:00

Read all about it here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2043345/The-California-boy-11-undergoing-hormone-blocking-treatment.html#ixzz1ZSSMbzPC

Pray For Us Saint John The Baptist

2011-08-29T12:00:00.003-04:00

Today is the feast of the beheading of Saint John the Baptist.

Here is the event as recorded in Matthew 14:1-12

[1] At the time Herod the Tetrarch heard the fame of Jesus. [2] And he said to his servants: This is John the Baptist: he is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works shew forth themselves in him. [3] For Herod had apprehended John and bound him, and put him into prison, because of Herodias, his brother's wife. [4] For John said to him: It is not lawful for thee to have her. [5] And having a mind to put him to death, he feared the people: because they esteemed him as a prophet.
[6] But on Herod's birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced before them: and pleased Herod. [7] Whereupon he promised with an oath, to give her whatsoever she would ask of him. [8] But she being instructed before by her mother, said: Give me here in a dish the head of John the Baptist. [9] And the king was struck sad: yet because of his oath, and for them that sat with him at table, he commanded it to be given. [10] And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.
[11] And his head was brought in a dish: and it was given to the damsel, and she brought it to her mother. [12] And his disciples came and took the body, and buried it, and came and told Jesus.

Iran Destroys Bibles

2011-08-26T11:56:00.003-04:00

This is not the beginning of this sort of persecution, and it certainly isn't the end. Expect it even here. Pray.

(CNSNews.com) – A Shi’ite cleric affiliated with the Iranian regime has warned about the “danger” of Christianity spreading in the Islamic republic. This come amid reports of an anti-Christianity propaganda campaign and the seizure of thousands of Bibles.

According to Mohabat News, an independent Iranian Christian news agency, Ayatollah Hadi Jahangosha expressed concern about “the spread of Christianity among our youth,” citing the availability of Christian satellite television programs, books and objects.

“Everyone in society should feel responsibility in this matter and play his or her role in spreading of pure Islam and fight false and distorted cultures,” Mohabat quoted him as saying during a presentation on Mahdism – the belief in the so-called “hidden” or 12th imam, prophesied to emerge at a time of future chaos.

Last week, Mohabat reported that authorities had seized 6,500 pocket-sized Bibles in northwestern Iran. It quoted a parliamentary advisor, Majid Abhari, as telling the Mehr news agency that Christian missionaries were out to deceive Iranians, particularly the youth.

“They have begun a huge campaign by spending huge sums and false propaganda for deviating the public,” Abhari said. “The important point in this issue that should be considered by intelligence, judicial and religious agencies is that all religions are strengthening their power to confront Islam, otherwise what does this huge number of Bibles mean?”

Mohabat recalled previous incidents of Bibles being seized, including one last February, when Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and security officials in a routine inspection of a bus near the Iran-Turkey border found 600 New Testaments, which they destroyed along with confiscated alcohol in a public burning.

A similar incident in the same area last October also saw officials seize and burn Bibles, it said.

In a third incident, in June 2010, Bibles were found in a town near the border with Iraq. Mohabat said the official IRGC Web site at the time accused the U.S. in neighboring Iraq of conspiring to smuggle Bibles into Iran.

The Barnabas Fund, an organization working with Christian minorities in Islamic societies, reports that Iranian authorities have been waging an anti-Christian propaganda campaign through state media in recent weeks.

“Last month, offensive caricatures depicting Christ and Christians were published in the [IRGC mouthpiece] magazine Javan,” it said.

“False and insulting stories about Christians have also appeared in government media. One such article that was published on the website Youth Online alleged that women evangelists were going into stores, using shopping as a pretext to enter into conversation with staff, and then suggesting sexual liaisons and insulting Islam.”

‘Islamic justice and equity’

Iran’s government claims to uphold religious freedom, noting that the constitution recognizes Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, as permitted religious minorities.

When Iran went before the U.N. Human Rights Council early last year for a routine rights review, its official submission stated that those three minorities, “within the limits of the law, are free to perform their religious rites and ceremonies, and to act according to their own canon in matters of personal affairs and religious education.”

“The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and all Muslims are duty-bound to treat non-Muslims in conformity with ethical norms and the principles of Islamic justice and equity, and to respect their human rights,” it added.

When Iran in 2008 hosted a conference on “Religion in the Modern World,” attended by former U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan and other dignitaries, the Tehran Times in an op-ed said Iran’s hosting of the event showed that its “ancient tradition of showing respect for different cultures and religions is still alive and well.”

“The reality on the ground in Iran is quite different from what is being propagated by certain countries and organizations in their disinformation campaigns,” it said.

“Due to the country’s religious and cultural traditions, in Iran there is no sign of the religious extremism and intolerance that have opened wounds in certain Muslim states and allowed the enemies to present a negative image of Islam to the world.”

Despite such claims, however, reports of religious persecution persist, including most recently the case of a pastor who has been sentenced to death for apostasy.

The Iranian Bible Society’s offices have been shut for decades, and authorities do not allow publishing or reprinting of Bibles in Iran.

Because of this, according to Mohabat, the only solution for Christians needing Farsi-language Bibles is to have them smuggled across the borders from neighboring countries.

One organization that provides Bibles for Iranians is Elam Ministries, which says it printed and distributed 100,000 Bibles and 100,000 New Testaments in 2010.

“Despite the limited support, well over a million New Testaments have been made available in recent years, and up to half a million whole Bibles,” the organization says on its Web site. “And despite the ferocious hostility of the government in Iran to the Bible, brave Christians there have risked their lives to see their fellow country men can read the Scriptures. Some are in prison now for their work.”

Elam was founded in 1988 by senior Iranian church leaders in Britain “with the vision of reaching Iran and the Persian speaking world for Christ.”

It says that at the time of the Islamic revolution in 1979, there were fewer than 500 known Iranian Christians from a Muslim background.

“Today the most conservative estimate is that there are at least 100,000 believers in the nation.”

Clergy AND First Responders Banned From 9/11 Ceremony

2011-08-26T09:31:00.001-04:00

Are the Bishops going to say anything about this?

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the decision by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to ban the clergy from speaking at the 9/11 ceremony next month:

After the Twin Towers were leveled on 9/11 ten years ago, two steel beams in the shape of a cross were found; they were subsequently moved to St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church. Last month, when it was announced that the World Trade Center cross was being moved to its new home at the 9/11 Memorial Museum, American Atheists sued on church-state grounds to stop it.

Almost everyone, including non-believers, were critical of this mean-spirited gambit by American Atheists. Among those who could not summon the courage to condemn it was Mayor Bloomberg; without criticizing these activists on moral grounds, he simply affirmed their constitutional right to sue. But when it comes to granting the clergy their constitutional right to freedom of speech on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, he does not equivocate: he simply elects to ban them.

The reason given for this grand act of censorship is spurious: Bloomberg’s office says the focus should be on the families who lost their loved ones. According to this logic, when the clergy are invited to speak at public events, or to open ceremonies with an invocation, they are detracting—not adding—to the overall theme. There is little doubt that if the families were asked about the propriety of allowing the clergy to speak, most would gladly say yes.

Mayor Bloomberg should reverse his decision, allowing a priest, minister, rabbi and imam to make a short statement. This nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, thus the rationale for the presence of the first three clergymen; the inclusion of an imam—to the exclusion of the clergy of other religions—can be justified on the basis of a goodwill gesture to the Muslim community. Aside from kooks, is there anyone who would object to this proposal?

Contact Bloomberg’s Press Secretary, Stu Loeser: sloeser@cityhall.nyc.gov

More On Altar Girls

2011-08-25T09:32:00.002-04:00

Just the other day I posted on the travesty that are altar girls. Here is an opinion piece appearing in the UK's Catholic Herald by William Oddie.

The 1994 statement permitting girl servers was a mistaken tactical retreat which led to a fall in priestly vocations. It’s time to withdraw it

Undoing the damage will take time: the sooner the Church starts to clear up the mess, the better

By William Oddie

The rector of the Catholic Cathedral of Phoenix, Arizona, has decided that girls will no longer be allowed as altar servers (though they will continue elsewhere in the diocese). His reason is simple: he thinks that an all-male sanctuary promotes vocations to the priesthood. “The connection between serving at the altar and priesthood is historic,” he says: “it is part of the differentiation between boys and girls, as Christ established the priesthood by choosing men. Serving at the altar is a specifically priestly act.” I’m not sure, to be pedantic, that that’s entirely orthodox (in the context of the Mass, only the priest himself performs specifically priestly acts), but one knows exactly what he means: what the server does is intimately related to the Eucharistic action and can be seen as an intrinsic part of it: the server is a kind of extension of the priest himself; if there were no servers, the priest would do what they do. According to Fr Lankeit, 80 to 95 percent of priests served as altar boys.

The question is, why shouldn’t that happen when there are also girl servers? There are two reasons: firstly because the causal link between servers and priestly vocations is weakened if some or most of the servers in the sanctuary are excluded from it. But secondly because as soon as girls appear, the supply of altar boys tends simply to dry up.

The first time this occurred to me was in the house of friends with whom I was staying in France. One of the guests at dinner one evening was Archbishop André Vingt-Trois of Tours (now Cardinal Archbishop of Paris). The subject of conversation at one point was the way in which, in the local Parish Church, presumably in an attempt to involve women in the celebration of the Mass, not only were all the readers women but so also were all the servers girls; my wife (not I) compared it to a farmyard, with the priest as the cock strutting about in the middle of a flock of hens. Archbishop Vingt-Trois said that the priest may have had no choice over the all-girls serving team: “Once the girls arrive, he said, the boys disappear: you can’t see them for dust” (his explanation was much more graphic in French). And he was adamant that though there were, of course other factors contributing to the decline in priestly vocations, the decline in the number of all-male sanctuaries was certainly one of them.

I suspect, though there’s no way to prove this, that many if not most Catholics, once they think about it, will have the feeling that this is either obviously true, or at the very least a plausible hypothesis. For what it’s worth, the US website Catholic Answers carried out a poll in which they asked the question “does having girl altar boys help with vocations to the priesthood?”

The answers were as follows:

YES, Girl Altar Boys help Vocations To The Priesthood: 2.98%
NO, Girl Altar Boys don’t Help Vocations To The Priesthood: 64.29%
Girl Altar Boys, Have No Effect At All On Vocations To The Priesthood: 32.74%
Voters: 168

It’s a pretty small sample, of course: but I would be surprised if it’s not true that almost nobody thinks that girl servers help vocations to the priesthood, that of the remainder, about two thirds think it doesn’t help, and another third thinks it makes no difference. If the question had been asked differently: if the question had been “does an all-male sanctuary foster vocations to the priesthood?”, I suspect that more than that two thirds would have replied “yes”, since historically it has observably done so. In the US, only one diocese now restricts serving at the altar to boys and men, Lincoln, Nebraska, and it is apparently the case that vocations there are higher than elsewhere.

The late Pope was opposed to the practice, and didn’t allow it in his own diocese of Rome: so why on his watch, in 1994, was the rule that only men and boys could serve at the altar (which had been firmly reimposed by Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul himself) relaxed? It’s a puzzler. Some say it was inevitable since, especially in the US, it was already being widely defied: but all kinds of things the Church is against are indulged in defiantly by disobedient Catholics, and the Church quite rightly doesn’t give an inch. One theory is that it was a tactical retreat to avoid legal action. As the writer David L Sonnier explains it,

Take a moment to recall the circumstances under which this practice was allowed. We lived in a hostile political climate in 1994; the politicians in Washington were condemning the Catholic Church for not ordaining women, and ridiculing the Church for Her stand against abortion. It seemed that according to these critics at the highest level of the Clinton administration, the Catholic Church would not be qualified to address the issue of abortion until women were ordained.

In 1994 a document from the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts gave some room for the novel practice of “female altar servers” under political pressure from the U.S., but nevertheless insisted that “the obligation to support groups of altar boys will always remain…” due, of course, to the relationship between service at the altar and future vocations. Has there been any such support for “groups of altar boys?”

Well, no: of course there hasn’t, because as soon as the girls appeared, the “groups of altar boys”, as Archbishop Vingt-Trois put it, couldn’t be seen for dust. But could the document be withdrawn? It won’t be easy: there are already so many girl servers. But they tend to disappear when they grow up. And though no bishop may impose them on his priests, he does have the right to forbid them. This is the paradox; he may not impose girls—but he still may impose boys, as may any of his priests.

And this could be the time to start: radical feminism is much less of a threat than it was, and may be confronted more readily than it could, say, in the US in the eighties. I remember vividly arranging my notes before delivering a lecture on feminist theology in the General (Episcopalian) Seminary in New York, in 1983. I was approached by a male seminarian, who said simply, “Oh Dr Oddie, I just wanted to tell you, since I know your views, how much we admire your courage in coming here to explain them”. “I need courage”, I replied, slightly alarmed: “Oh yes”, he said, and disappeared. And so it proved: I was heckled repeatedly, but I think I gave as good as I got, and the evening was an exhilarating one in the end.

The church has not entirely given in on this, and little by little, girl servers could be phased out: a final date could perhaps be announced for this to be achieved, diocese by diocese, parish by parish. The tradition is still solidly there, beneath the surface. As David L Sonnier puts it,

Let’s take it one point at a time. First of all, the Holy Father does not allow Girl Altar Boys within his own Diocese of Rome. That should be enough to give pause to a number of people who currently see nothing wrong with the practice.…

Second, this practice of placing girls at the altar has absolutely nothing to do with Vatican II and was condemned in the strongest of terms twice following the council. In 1970 Pope Paul VI said in Liturgicae Instaurationes, “In conformity with norms traditional in the Church, women (single, married, religious), whether in churches, homes, convents, schools, or institutions for women, are barred from serving the priest at the altar.”

And in 1980 Pope John Paul II stated in Inaestimabile Donum, “There are, of course, various roles that women can perform in the liturgical assembly: these include reading of the Word of God and proclaiming the intentions of the Prayer of the Faithful. Women are not, however, permitted to act as altar servers.”
That is the tradition of the Church to which we should now return. To begin with, that 1994 statement by the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts (I bet you’d never heard of them) should be simply withdrawn. Why not? Its issue was a huge mistake, whose consequences have been disastrous: It’s time now to begin to repair the damage. It may take some time: so the sooner we start the better. Any priest who reads this can start on Sunday: a bishop could get on the phone today.

Progress!

2011-08-23T14:26:00.004-04:00

I don't believe it's a secret that I am not a fan of altar girls. Especially when I attend a Mass somewhere and there is only one young person serving at the altar, and it's a girl. And what really pops my buttons is if there is an altar girl in cassock and surplice. She might as well be dressed like for the Pope, for how ridiculous she looks.

In 1983, seeking the ruination of the priesthood apparently, Canon Law was changed to allow for girls to serve at the altar. The reasoning was that the church had already opened to women other positions that were closed to them such as lector, cantor, etc. and it was deemed an anomaly to restrict young girls from serving.

As Jesus said "By their fruits you will know them." And we have certainly seen the fruits of this corruption of the Altar. Serving at the altar had been a training ground for priests. Now look at our once full seminaries. Altar girls are not the only reason ordinations are down, the secularization of the world is another. But you get my point. Reserve to men what always was reserved to men. Time isn't supposed to cause changes in a supposedly unchangeable church.

The church is suffering from a lack of masculinity, in many cases when you attend the NO Mass specifically you will see one male priest, 3 female EMHC's, two female altar girls, a female lector and cantor. Thats 7 girls roaming around the once sacred sanctuary and one guy. A good ratio? I think not.

That's why I was so pleased to see this article. Read. Enjoy. Discuss.

Girls no longer will be allowed as altar servers during Mass at the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, SS. Simon and Jude.
The Rev. John Lankeit, rector of the cathedral, said he made the decision in hopes of promoting the priesthood for males and other religious vocations, such as becoming a nun, for females.

Made up primarily of fifth- through eighth-graders the altar-server corps in American churches has included girls since 1983 in many places. Girls and boys regularly serve together at churches throughout the Phoenix Catholic Diocese.

Bishops and pastors always have had the option of restricting the role to boys, but only one diocese, Lincoln, Neb., and scattered parishes have done so. Before 1983, when church law was revised, girls were not allowed to serve.

At SS. Simon and Jude Cathedral in Phoenix, the girls will be offered the role of sacristan, the person who prepares the church and the altar area before Mass.

Lankeit said 80 to 95 percent of priests served as altar boys, but he could not state the percentage of altar servers who go on to be priests.

He made the decision on his own, he said, even though the cathedral is recognized as the home church of Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted and is used for some important church events.

"He leaves these decisions to me," Lankeit said.

SS. Simon and Jude is believed to be the first church in the diocese of Phoenix to ban girls from serving Mass, according to the diocese.

Altar servers have a direct role in the Catholic Eucharistic ceremony, assisting the priest, and are the only lay people directly involved throughout the entire service. Other lay people may serve as lectors or Eucharistic ministers, helping the priest distribute communion.

"The connection between serving at the altar and priesthood is historic," Lankeit said. "It is part of the differentiation between boys and girls, as Christ established the priesthood by choosing men. Serving at the altar is a specifically priestly act."

There appears to be little if any research connecting altar service to a later decision to enter the priesthood - or connecting other types of service for girls to religious life as a nun. Anecdotally, the Diocese of Lincoln, Neb., is one of the stronger dioceses in developing new priests.

The Rev. Kieran Kleczewski, pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas in Avondale and director of the diocese Office of Worship, does not expect other parishes following the cathedral's policy just because it is the cathedral.

"That's not the way things work in our diocese," he said. "The pastor has the authority over the parish's liturgical practices."

Kleczewski allows girls to serve Mass and has no plans to change.

Lankeit said there had been little reaction to his decision so far, but it was unlikely to sit well with many Catholics, especially those who have daughters who wish to serve.

"It is a shame on how the church continues to abuse the females," said Bob Lutz of Phoenix, a Catholic with three grown daughters. "Church attendance is shrinking now, and this adds more fuel to the fire on how females are treated as second-class citizens."

Carole Bartholomeuax of Phoenix, who attended St. Joan of Arc parish, said girls outnumbered boys as altar servers there.

"I believe Mary Magdalene set the example for women to be altar servers. I am so sorry to hear of this going backwards," she said, adding that she still loves her church, "warts and all."

But Michael Clancy, who heads the diocesan men's group, said girls never were supposed to be allowed to serve, based on his understanding of the rules of the Mass.

The Fall Of Europe Begins

2011-08-23T10:13:00.002-04:00

Troubling numbers and facts from Soeren Kern at the Hudson Institute: “Islamic mosques are being built more often in France than Roman Catholic churches, and there now are more practising Muslims in the country than practicing Catholics.

Nearly 150 new mosques currently are under construction in France, home to the biggest Muslim community in Europe. The mosque-building projects are at various stages of completion, according to Mohammed Moussaoui, the president of the Muslim Council of France (CFCM), who provided the data in an August 2 interview with the French radio station RTL.

The total number of mosques in France has already doubled to more than 2,000 during just the past ten years, according to a research report “Constructing Mosques: The Governance of Islam in France and the Netherlands.” France’s most prominent Muslim leader, Dalil Boubakeur, who is rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, recently called for the number of mosques in the country to be doubled again – to 4,000 – to meet growing demand.

By contrast, the Roman Catholic Church in France has built only 20 new churches during the past decade, and has formally closed more than 60 churches, many of which are destined to become mosques, according to research conducted by La Croix, a Roman Catholic daily newspaper based in Paris.

Although 64% of the French population (or 41.6 million of France’s 65 million inhabitants) identifies itself as Roman Catholic, only 4.5% (or 1.9 million) of those actually are practising Catholics, according to the French Institute of Public Opinion (or Ifop, as it is usually called).

By way of comparison, 75% (or 4.5 million) of the estimated 6 million mostly ethnic North African and sub-Saharan Muslims in France identify themselves as “believers” and 41% (or 2.5 million) say they are “practising” Muslims, according to an in-depth research report on Islam in France published by Ifop on August 1. The report also says that more than 70% of the Muslims in France say they will be observing the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in 2011.

Taken together, the research data provides empirical evidence that Islam is well on its way to overtaking Roman Catholicism as the dominant religion in France.

As their numbers grow, Muslims in France are becoming far more assertive than ever before. A case in point: Muslim groups in France are now asking the Roman Catholic Church for permission to use its empty churches as a way to solve the traffic problems caused by thousands of Muslims who pray in the streets.

In a March 11 communiqué addressed to the Church of France, the National Federation of the Great Mosque of Paris, the Council of Democratic Muslims of France and a Muslim activist group called Collectif Banlieues Respect called on the Catholic Church – in a spirit of inter-religious solidarity, of course – to make its empty churches available to Muslims for Friday prayers, so that Muslims do not have to "pray in the streets" and be "held hostage to politics."

Every Friday, thousands of Muslims in Paris and other French cities close off streets and sidewalks (and by extension, close down local businesses and trap non-Muslim residents in their homes and offices) to accommodate overflowing crowds for midday prayers. Some mosques have also begun broadcasting sermons and chants of "Allah Akbar" via loudspeakers in the streets.

The weekly spectacles, which have been documented by dozens of videos posted on Youtube.com (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here), have provoked anger and disbelief. But despite many public complaints, local authorities have declined to intervene because they are afraid of sparking riots.

The issue of illegal street prayers was catapulted to the top of the national political agenda in France in December 2010, when Marine Le Pen, the charismatic new leader of the far-right National Front party, denounced them as an "occupation without tanks or soldiers."

During a gathering in the east central French city of Lyon on December 10, Le Pen compared Muslims praying in the streets to Nazi occupation. She said: "For those who want to talk a lot about World War II, if it is about occupation, then we could also talk about it [Muslim prayers in the streets], because that is occupation of territory. It is an occupation of sections of the territory, of districts in which religious laws apply. It is an occupation. There are of course no tanks, there are no soldiers but it is nevertheless an occupation and it weighs heavily on local residents."

Many French voters agree. In fact, the issue of Muslim street prayers – and the broader question of the role of Islam in French society – has become a major issue ahead of the 2012 presidential elections. According to a survey by Ifop for the France-Soir newspaper, nearly 40% of French voters agree with Len Pen's views that Muslim prayer in the streets resembles an occupation. Another opinion poll published by Le Parisien newspaper shows that voters view Le Pen, who has criss-crossed the country arguing that France has been invaded by Muslims and betrayed by its elite, as the candidate best suited to deal with the growing problem of runaway Muslim immigration.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose popularity was at 25% in July – worse than any predecessor less than a year ahead of a re-election bid, according to the TNS-Sofres polling group – has been spooked by Le Pen's advance in the opinion polls. He now seems determined not to allow Le Pen to monopolize the issue of Islam in France.

Sarkozy recently called Muslim prayers in the street "unacceptable" and said that the street cannot be allowed to become "an extension of the mosque." He also warned that the overflow of Muslim faithful on to the streets at prayer time when mosques are packed to capacity risks undermining the French secular tradition separating state and religion.

Interior Minister Claude Guéant on August 8 told Muslims who have been praying on the streets of Paris that they should utilize a disused barracks instead. "Praying in the street is something that is not acceptable," Guéant said. "It has to stop."

Meanwhile, France ushered in Ramadan by inaugurating a new mega-mosque for 2,000 worshipers in Strasbourg, where the Muslim population has reached 15%. Construction also continues apace of a new mega-mosque in Marseille, France's second-largest city where the Muslim population has reached 25% (or 250,000). The Grand Mosque – which at more than 8,300 square meters (92,000 square feet) will accommodate up to 7,000 worshippers in a vast prayer hall – is designed to be the biggest and most potent symbol of Islam's place in modern France.

Boubakeur, of the Grande Mosque of Paris, says the construction of even more mosques – paid for by French taxpayers – would ease the "pressure, frustration and the sense of injustice" felt by many French Muslims. "Open a mosque and you close a prison," says Boubakeur.

But Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has implied that the construction of mosques and minarets actually is part of a strategy for the Islamization of Europe. Publicly repeating the words of a 1912 poem written by the Turkish nationalist poet Ziya Gökalp, Erdogan said: "The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers."

Reflecting on the retreat of Catholicism and the rise of Islam in France, Archbishop Giuseppe Bernardini, an Italian Franciscan who heads the Izmir archdiocese in Turkey, and who has lived in the Islamic world for more than 40 years, has recounted a conversation he once had with a Muslim leader, who told him: "Thanks to your democratic laws, we will invade you. Thanks to our religious laws, we will dominate you."

Are you ready to take action, or will you continue to pretend that this isn't happening?

Tradition at World Youth Day

2011-08-23T09:44:00.005-04:00

Did you know that the Mass Of All Times was celebrated at World Youth Day?

No?

Well it was.

Usually one finds at WYD abundant hugging, rock messes, birkenstocks, communion in the hand, and any number of liturgical abuses.

Times, they are a-changing.

The Walsingham Project

2011-08-22T12:30:00.004-04:00

Once considered "Mary's Dowry", the nation of England has spiraled into the dustbin of spirituality. After 1500 years of Catholic faith and morals, King Henry VIII, formerly a champion of the Church split with Rome and formed his own church with himself as the head.

Now today the Anglican church in England and worldwide is literally falling apart. They have gay and women bishops, they have taken the most liberal of stances on matters of faith and morals, and now, even their priests and congregations (thank God) have seen their errors and are leaving en masse and returning to the Catholic Church.

And they have another issue to deal with in England.

Islam threatens to become the dominate religion on the island.

Will the English take up the defense of their ancient religion of Catholicism? Or will they allow Islam to finish the conquest they were denied during the crusades? Never before has Islam been so close to a Euro Caliphate as they are now. We must pray for them. And for us , because we face the same threat in America.

From the Walsingham web-site:

Europe and the West are in the death-throes of de-Christianization. Islam is blazing in from a tortured Middle East and either firing up Europeans with their vigorous creeds, or launching a conscious conquest by population increase.

Humanly speaking, the situation is irremediable. Except... Two hundred years of visions, prophecies and observations may hold the key to the salvation of the once Christian west. Raymond and Theresa de Souza have assembled a brief but gripping study of the situation.

Their conclusion? The conversion of England.

Click the link above to visit The Walsingham Project.

Happy Monday!

2011-08-22T11:02:00.001-04:00

Something to start your week.

After the year 1900, toward the middle of the 20th century, the people of that time will become unrecognisable. When the time for the Advent of the Antichrist approaches, peoples minds will grow cloudy from carnal passions, and dishonour and lawlessness will grow stronger. Then the world will become unrecognisable. Peoples appearances will change, and it will be impossible to distinguish men from women due to there shamelessness in dress and style of hair. These people will be cruel and will be like wild animals because of the temptations of the Antichrist. There will be no respect for parents or elders, love will disappear, and Christian pastors, bishops, and priests will become vain men, completely failing to distinguish the right hand way from the left. At that time the morals and traditions of Christians and the Church will change. People will abandon modesty, and dissipation will reign. Falsehood and greed will attain great proportions, and woe to those who pile up treasures. Lust, adultery, homosexuality, secret deeds and murder will rule in society.

-- St. Nilus, 430 AD

Refreshing

2011-08-22T09:51:00.003-04:00

Traddy attended a Novus Ordo Mass at a Novus Ordo parish this Sunday. I am always interested to hear what the priest will say after the Gospel, and whether it will be a homily or a sermon.

Or both.

I got both. The anonymous priest, (to protect him from chancery retribution) did a fine job of explaining to the people Matthew 16:19, which is about the founding of the One Church. This priest was careful in how he worded it, but he almost fully upheld the dogma of outside the Catholic Church there is no salvation.

Bully for him, and if I knew the man smoked a pipe, I would send him 1/2 a pound of my special blend.

Pray for him and those like him. They are persecuted in this diocese when they explain to parishioners the fullness of the truth of the Catholic Church.

Pray

2011-08-22T09:42:00.001-04:00

I have it on good authority that something long awaited for shall soon be coming from Rome. Perhaps it shall come about in mid-September. Be prayerful and watch.

I'll Have Cherry, Please!

2011-08-06T06:04:00.004-04:00

Waitaminit.

Didn't Obama and his criminal gang just get done telling us that in order to avoid a stock market crash and a reduction in our credit rating, that we had to increase their credit limit?

More Kool-Aid for you, or just a bigger glass?

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/05/us-official-says-sp-reconsidering-us-credit-downgrade/

Wow

2011-08-05T22:56:00.002-04:00

Never thought I'd write this: "Thank you Huffington Post."

It seems that even Dear Leader's strongest allies are seeing the truth.

Verboten!

2011-08-05T22:47:00.003-04:00

Sorry, but there will be no more anonymous comments on this blog. While I deeply love to read the insults hurled at me by leftist, progressive sissy boys, I'm gonna have to put an end to it. Sorry.

I'll Bet A Diocese Of Scranton Ordination Looks Nothing Like This

2011-07-20T22:40:00.003-04:00

This is his Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke ordaining priests for the Institute of Christ the King.

Bambera Statement

2011-07-20T22:09:00.005-04:00

No mention of the abuse Rigali did nothing about until after a grand jury investigated those abuse claims, Bishop Bambera? Way to dance around the biggest scandal in the American Church in the 21st Century.

Here's the suspended priests and the years of their ordination. If I had the names of the victims, I would have posted those.

Rev. Philip Barr (1948)
Rev. John Bowe (1973)
Rev. George Cadwallader (1992)
Rev. Paul Castellani (1996)
Rev. Michael Chapman (1982)
Msgr. John Close (1969)
Msgr. Francis Feret (1962)
Rev. Mark Fernandes (2004)
Msgr. Michael Flood (1968)
Rev. Mark Gaspar (1998)
Rev. Joseph Glatts (1966)
Rev. Steven Harris (1980)
Rev. Daniel Hoy (1948)
Msgr. Joseph Logrip (1972)
Rev. Andrew McCormick (1982)
Rev. Zachary Navit (1994)
Rev. Leonard Peterson (1967)
Rev. Robert Povish (1990)
Rev. John Reardon (1973)
Rev. Thomas Rooney (1991)
Rev. Peter Talocci (1986)

Almost forgot, here's Bambera's statement:

"As required by Church Law, Cardinal Rigali submitted his resignation upon his 75th birthday in April 2010. Today's acceptance of the Cardinal's resignation by the Pope affords us the opportunity to reflect on the Cardinal's service to the Diocese of Scranton.

"While the time he spent as our Diocesan Administrator was short, it was significant as the Cardinal served us well during a period of profound transition in our Diocesan history. We are grateful for the Cardinal's leadership and his presence during his 16-plus visits to our region over a nine-month period of time in 2009-2010.

"Cardinal Rigali selflessly shared his gifts and talents with us as our Diocese began to navigate through a rather unique and challenging period of transformation and change.

"On a personal note, I am grateful to Cardinal Rigali for the advice, care and example he has provided to me during the past year and half. I wish him good health and happiness as he opens a new chapter in his life and extend a prayer of thanksgiving to God for the gift of his ministry to the Church and his life of service to His people.

"In recognition of the appointment of Archbishop Charles Chaput, I invite you to join me in offering prayers for the faithful of the Philadelphia Archdiocese and their new shepherd."

Would Bambera still be Bishop if Chaput were named administrator? What do you think?

Did You See This On The News?

2011-07-20T21:47:00.002-04:00

From our friend Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs

We should take small comfort that the "extremists" Obama's Department of Homeland Security are referring to in this report are activated Musims, jihadists, and not the DHS usual pablum (ie grandmas, vets, patriots, and tea partiers.) Hey, for Obama's DHS that's huge.

A new intelligence report from the Department of Homeland Security issued yesterday warns "violent extremists have, in fact, obtained insider positions," and that "outsiders have attempted to solicit utility-sector employees" for damaging physical and cyber attacks.How did that happen and why wasn't DHS all over this before they got inside? Too busy groping 6 year olds at the airports and patting down 70 year old nuns in wheelchairs?

What appears to be missing from this report is that devout Muslims aka extremists have also obtained insider positions in the White House, the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice etc.

New Terror Report Warns of Insider Threat to Utilities ABC News

DHS bulletin: "Extremists have, in fact, obtained insider positions.

Sabotage by an insider at a major utility facility, including a chemical or oil refinery, could provide al Qaeda with its best opportunity for the kind of massive Sept. 11 anniversary attack Osama bin Laden was planning, according to U.S. officials.

A new intelligence report from the Department of Homeland Security issued Tuesday, titled Insider Threat to Utilities, warns "violent extremists have, in fact, obtained insider positions," and that "outsiders have attempted to solicit utility-sector employees" for damaging physical and cyber attacks.

"Based on the reliable reporting of previous incidents, we have high confidence in our judgment that insiders and their actions pose a significant threat to the infrastructure and information systems of U.S. facilities," the bulletin reads in part. "Past events and reporting also provide high confidence in our judgment that insider information on sites, infrastructure, networks, and personnel is valuable to our adversaries and may increase the impact of any attack on the utilities infrastructure."

In the materials recovered after the Navy SEAL operation that killed Osama bin Laden in May, officials found evidence bin Laden sought to repeat the carnage of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on or around its ten year anniversary.

"The only way you can actually kill the large scale number of Americans that [bin Laden] literally was calculating was through the use of this critical infrastructure," Chad Sweet, former DHS chief of staff and co-founder of the Chertoff Group, told ABC News.

After gaining access to such sites, causing mayhem could be relatively easy, according to former White House counter-terrorism advisor and ABC News consultant Richard Clarke.

"There are a lot of very sensitive facilities where someone can get a job on the inside, get access to a control room, flip a switch, which causes an electric power grid to short circuit, causes a pipeline to explode," Clarke said.
[...]
'I am Taking This Plant Hostage

U.S. officials were stunned last year in Yemen with the arrest of an alleged American recruit to al Qaeda, Sharif Mobley, of New Jersey, who had been employed as five different U.S. nuclear power plants in and around Pennsylvania after successfully passing federal background checks.

"If someone is determined, and has the right access, they could do damage that would affect thousands of lives," Sweet said.

Al Qaeda has already put out the word in its online magazine, Inspire, for "brothers of ours who have specialized expertise and those who work in sensitive locations that would offer them unique opportunities to wreak havoc on the enemies of Allah."

Homosexual Ideology, Satanic Pride

2011-07-20T21:37:00.004-04:00

By Luis Sergio Soliemo

June 11, 2011 saw one more parade to glorify the vice of homosexuality. Dubbed, Europride or Eurogaypride, it was held in Rome, once known as the Eternal City, the center of Catholicism. The expression, "homosexual pride" summarizes the essence of the homosexual ideology. Let us see how.

Pride and revolt against God

Sin is a revolt against the order established by God and, therefore, a revolt against the Creator Himself. The more this revolt becomes manifest, the greater is the sin.

Man can sin out of weakness and feel shame for his sin and desire to make amends; or he can sin with special malice and take pride in his sin. In this case, revolt against the Creator becomes more manifest; for, as Saint Thomas says, "[it] is characteristic of pride to be unwilling to be subject to any superior, and especially to God."[1]

For this reason, the holy Doctor presents "pride or self-love as the beginning of every evil."[2] According to Scripture, "pride is the beginning of all sin."[3]

Pride, the sin of Lucifer

Theologians commonly believe that the sin of Lucifer and of the evil angels was one of pride. Indeed, having no physical body, they could not be carried away by concupiscence as with man. Therefore, their sin had to be one of the spirit.

Two passages from Scripture are usually mentioned to describe this sin. The first is from Isaias:

How have you fallen from the heavens, O morning star [Lucifer],[4] son of the dawn! How are you cut down to the ground, you who mowed down the nations! You said in your heart: "I will scale the heavens; above the stars of God I will set up my throne; I will take my seat on the Mount of Assembly, in the recesses of the North. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will be like the Most High!"[5]

The second is from Prophet Jeremias:

Long ago you broke your yoke, you tore off your bonds, and you said: I will not serve.[6]

The homosexual ideology's Luciferian pride

To take pride in practicing the homosexual vice and to proclaim this in public in the streets and squares of the world's leading cities is a sin of the spirit, a challenge to the Law of God. It is a denial of reality as such and an adhesion to a utopia and to a pathological fantasy.

It is a manifestation of Lucifer's pride and a repetition of his desperate cry of revolt, "I will not serve."

Hatred of the Catholic Church

Let us return to Rome's "Europride." Italian newspapers and Internet blogs published hundreds of photos from the march. What stands out most—even more than the wild display of lust and the semi-naked bodies and obscene postures and gestures—is the hatred shown against the Catholic Church.

A homosexual sacrilegiously presented himself posing as Our Lord Jesus Christ in dark glasses.

The offenses against the Sovereign Pontiff could not be more vile: a large banner at the front of the march showed a photomontage depicting the Pope with woman's hair, wearing socks and skimpy lingerie. Below, the words, "[She] wears Prada but is a friend of Satan."[7]

Another banner showed a cartoon of Benedict XVI wearing a Nazi medal, holding a crosier with the Nazi symbol, and below the words, "Nazinger [Nazi+Ratzinger] attacks gays." Another banner read, "Ratzinger, love your neighbor but not as Hitler." And yet another, "Real Hell: The Vatican, mental Guantanamo."

Many homosexuals dressed up as bishops or priests in a ridiculous and debauched manner.

Destruction of the notion of good and evil

During the parade, the denial of all morality came across not just through the general in-your-face sexual license but also in scenes such as that reported on under the title, "Rome's Europride amid Angels, Devils and Spouses," by Italy's ANSA News Agency. It carried a picture of two men kissing, one dressed as a devil, with horns and a trident and the other like a good angel, with white wings and halo.[8]

The kissing "devil" and "angel" aptly represent the ultimate goal of the homosexual ideology: the complete denial of the difference between good and evil, right and wrong. Freed from morals and reason, man's will shall become the only rule; good will simply mean what gives pleasure to our instincts and senses; and evil, anything that crosses us.

"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil"

Does this not remind us of the Prophet Sophonias and his rebuke to those "that say in their hearts: The Lord will not do good, nor will he do evil"?[9]

Unto them is the warning of the Prophet Isaias: "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness."[10]

Here is where the satanic pride of the homosexual ideology leads us: it transforms light into darkness and darkness into light and wants to impose this darkness on the world, through the dictatorship of law and the propaganda coming from liberal media.

[1] Summa Theologica, I-II, q. 84, a. 2, ad 2. See also: Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, Revolution and Counter-Revolution, Chap. VII, 3, at http://www.tfp.org/tfp-home/books/revolution-and-counter-revolution.html.

[2] Ibid., ad 3.

[3] Ecclesiasticus [Sirach]:10:15.

[4] St. Jerome translated "morning star" into Latin as Lucifer, following the Greek translation of the Hebrew made by the Seventy: "phophorós", light bearer.

[5] 14:12-14.

[6] 2:20.

[7] We use "she" because the original Italian says "amica", girl friend, and not "amico," boy friend. "Il fotomontaggio del Papa in mutande e reggicalze. E, sotto, la scritta: ‘Veste Prada ma è amica di Satana.'" Grazia Maria Coletti, "Lady Gaga lo ringrazia Alemanno fischiato Europride, comizio della popstar al circo Massimo. Al corteo fotomontaggi del Papa in reggicalze" in Il Tempo, June 12, 2011, 05:30, at http://www.iltempo.it/politica/2011/06/12/1264536-lady_gaga_ringrazia_alemanno_fischiato.shtml?refresh_ce.

[8]ANSA, "Europride a Roma tra Angeli, diavoli e spose," Updated: Sat, 11 Jun 2011 22:16:00 GMT, at http://notizie.it.msn.com/fotostory/gallery.aspx?cp-documentid=158209692&page=14

[9] 1:12.

[10] 5:20.

10 AM Announcement

2011-07-19T09:05:00.007-04:00

UPDATE: Watch LIVE here.

In one hour there will be a press conference in Philadelphia to announce our new Archbishop.

I have been told our new man has been in Philadelphia since Saturday.

There will be a Mass at the Basilica at 12 noon with our new Archbishop who is scheduled to be installed September 8.

I wonder if Monsignor Bambera celebrated a Mass after he was named Scranton's next Bishop?

All in all this is very good news for us in the Diocese of Scranton.

Thanks For The Giggle

2011-07-19T00:52:00.003-04:00

This made me laugh:

Reverend James E. McGahagan, from Administrator, Saint Andrew Parish, Wilkes-Barre, to Pastor, Saint Andrew Parish, Wilkes-Barre.

Because he's done such a wonderful job there.

St Michael's Pastor O'Leary Accused

2011-07-19T00:30:00.003-04:00

This reminds me of the scandal with the Society of Saint John. Anyone remember Rev. Carlos Urrutigoity and Rev. Eric Ensey and the fun we endured? Is this an opening to rid himself of these pesky traditionalists for Bishop Bambera?

It would seem that Saint Michael the Archangel Pastor Father Michael O'Leary allegedly furnished alcohol to a minor. Saint Michael's is of course, the only location one may attend a licit celebration of the Old Mass anywhere near Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Pray for this priest, as Satan seems especially committed these days to attacking our priests, and for the victims. Let's hope that furnishing alcohol was the worst of the crimes.

Diocesan statement follows.

Diocese of Scranton

Statement Regarding Father Michael O’Leary, F.S.S.P.

On Sunday, July 17, 2011, Diocesan officials were informed that Fr. Michael O’Leary, a member of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, allegedly furnished alcohol to two individuals, including an underage young adult and a minor. The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter is a Clerical Society of Apostolic Life in the Church, established by Pope John Paul II in 1988 to offer the Traditional Latin Rite of the Mass and the sacraments to the faithful. At the time the incident was reported, Fr. O’Leary was serving as Pastor at St. Michael the Archangel Parish, Scranton, where Masses are offered in the Traditional Latin Rite. He has served in that capacity since January 2010. Diocesan officials have spoken with the parents of the two individuals and reported the matter to law enforcement. The incident was also reported to the appropriate superiors from the Fraternity of St. Peter. Fr. O’Leary has been removed from ministry and from St. Michael’s Parish pending the outcome of the investigation. Diocesan officials remain committed to fully cooperating with law enforcement in the investigation.

Requests for further information can be made to Fr. Eric Flood, North American District Superior, Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, at (570) 842-4000, extension 0.

Tamra Sexton

2011-07-18T22:13:00.004-04:00

Anyone interested in "friending" John Corapi's accuser?

http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000581533911

Seems she runs her own "ministry", the online catholic network.

Who To Replace Rigali?

2011-07-18T21:41:00.006-04:00

Despite several fingers and toes being crossed in the Bishop's residence, I can say with some certainty that our Bishop Bambera is not on the short list to replace Cardinal Rigali.

In fact it won't be an Italian.

Sorry, Father Sica. I know how important that is to you and your cronies who fought for Bambera.

The Holy Father, not too happy with the Bishops in this country, has been on a roll replacing scandal ridden or dead wood Bishops with men of virtue and holiness.

Watch tomorrow for His Holiness to name Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput to head the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Scranton lost with the recent feel good appointment of Bambera, but now Philadelphia wins with the appointment of a conservative who publicly defends the faith.

More to come.....

Thank You, Mohammed!

2011-07-14T13:02:00.005-04:00

This week's attacks are brought to you courtesy of the Prophet Mohammed!

2011-07-13 (Pattani, Thailand) - Two Buddhist brothers working as construction workers are brutally murdered by Muslim gunmen.

2011.07.13 (Mumbai, India) - An opera house and two other commercial areas are targeted by Religion of Peace bombers. Twenty-one are killed and over a hundred more maimed.

2011.07.13 (Tagab, Afghanistan) - Five French soldiers guarding a local council meeting are among six killed by a Shahid suicide bomber.

2011.07.12 (Abu Ghraib, Iraq) - A Fedayeen suicide bomber takes out two Iraqis.

2011.07.12 (Bajaur, Pakistan) - Women and children are among the casualties when radicals send a shell into a family home.
2011.07.11 (Maiduguri, Nigeria) - Hardliners detonate a bomb under a van, killing three occupants.

Check out The Religion of Peace for more info.

Breastfeeding Offends Muslims!

2011-07-14T09:37:00.004-04:00

You read it here first, folks. When are we going to realize that multiculturalism doesn't work? You are always going to have some loss of liberty in order to appease some other person who finds what you do "offensive". I've just about had enough.

How about you?

Read the story here

"Nobody Can Out Debate Him"

2011-07-14T09:04:00.005-04:00

How about my 3 year old Nancy? I bet she could.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/nobody-can-out-debate-him-pelosis-creepy-obama-worship-on-debt-crisis/

Obama Tells The Truth!

2011-07-13T12:01:00.001-04:00

Obama admits his administration is the "most pro-gay in history".

Oh no, really?

A Proper Sanctuary

2011-07-06T10:02:00.004-04:00

In stark contrast to the destruction most of the sanctuaries in this Diocese have gone through "in accordance with Vatican II", there is a church, The Brompton Oratory in London, which stands as a wonderful example of the actual changes to the sanctuary that were called for by the council:

I know that there are those of you that have never seen a church look like this. Get the scoop here.

The Asolute Latest on Father Corapi

2011-07-06T09:27:00.001-04:00

Terrible. Terrible.

http://www.societyofourlady.net/

July 5, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

From: Rev. Gerard Sheehan, SOLT Regional Priest Servant Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Robstown, Texas

Fr. John A. Corapi submitted his resignation from the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity ("SOLT") early in June. SOLT is a Society of Apostolic Life of Diocesan Right with its regional office in Robstown, Texas.

While SOLT does not typically comment publicly on personnel matters, it recognizes that Fr. John Corapi, through his ministry, has inspired thousands of faithful Catholics, many of whom continue to express their support of him. SOLT also recognizes that Fr. Corapi is now misleading these individuals through his false statements and characterizations. It is for these Catholics that SOLT, by means of this announcement, seeks to set the record straight.

A woman, well known to Fr. John Corapi, mailed SOLT a signed letter detailing allegations of Fr. Corapi's sexual activity with adult women, abuse of alcohol and drugs, improper sacramental practices, violation of his promise of poverty, and other wrongdoing.

After receiving the allegation, SOLT formed a three person fact-finding team to ensure that it handled this matter in accordance with canonical norms. The team included a priest-canonist, a psychiatrist, and a lawyer. Two were members of religious orders, and one was a lay Catholic. Two were men, and one was a woman. All three have national reputations and substantial experience in ecclesiastical processes related to priest disciplinary issues.

As the Society was engaging this team, Fr. Corapi filed a civil lawsuit against his principal accuser. He contended that she had defamed him and breached her contract. The contract, according to Corapi's lawsuit, contained a provision binding the woman to silence about him. He offered the woman $100,000 to enter this agreement.

SOLT's fact-finding team subsequently learned that Fr. Corapi may have negotiated contracts with other key witnesses that precluded them from speaking with SOLT's fact-finding team. Many of these witnesses likely had key information about the accusations being investigated and declined to answer questions and provide documents.

When the fact-finding team asked Fr. Corapi to dismiss the lawsuit, to forbear from foreclosing his mortgage, and to release her and other individuals from their contractual obligations to remain silent about him, he refused to do so and, through his canonical advocate, stated: "It is not possible for Father Corapi to answer the Commission's questions at this time."

SOLT's fact-finding team has acquired information from Fr. Corapi's e-mails, various witnesses, and public sources that, together, state that, during his years of public ministry:

He did have sexual relations and years of cohabitation (in California and Montana) with a woman known to him, when the relationship began, as a prostitute; He repeatedly abused alcohol and drugs; He has recently engaged in sexting activity with one or more women in Montana; He holds legal title to over $1 million in real estate, numerous luxury vehicles, motorcycles, an ATV, a boat dock, and several motor boats, which is a serious violation of his promise of poverty as a perpetually professed member of the Society.

SOLT has contemporaneously with the issuance of this press release directed Fr. John Corapi, under obedience, to return home to the Society’s regional office and take up residence there. It has also ordered him, again under obedience, to dismiss the lawsuit he has filed against his accuser.

SOLT's prior direction to Fr. John Corapi not to engage in any preaching or teaching, the celebration of the sacraments or other public ministry continues. Catholics should understand that SOLT does not consider Fr. John Corapi as fit for ministry.

Father Sheehan will not be available for comments as he is attending the SOLT General Chapter from July 5-23.

Bishop Paprocki Rocks!

2011-04-28T09:34:00.004-04:00

A local ordinary with the fortitude to do whats right and good for the souls under his care. Bravo and thank you! Let us pray to God that we will see more like him!

Bishop Paprocki authorizes St. Michael Prayer after Masses

His Excellency the Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki, Bishop of Springfield in Illinois, has authorized the public recitation of the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel - originally composed by the Holy Father Pope Leo XIII in 1886 - following the dismissal at the end of Mass and before the recession.

He announced this authorization to the priests of the Diocese at a dinner preceding the Chrism Mass Tuesday evening and to the people of the Diocese at the conclusion of the Chrism Mass.

Prayer cards with the text of the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel were distributed after every Mass with the newly blessed and consecrated oils to be place in the pews of the parish churches throughout the Diocese.

In a letter to parish leaders accompanying the cards, Bishop Paprocki explained the reason he has authorized this practice. He wrote: One of Satan’s greatest assets is his camouflage, the belief that he doesn’t exist. Disbelief in Satan and the forces of evil leave us unable to resist them. That is why it is good to remember the Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel. We need to remember that each time we pray we work to defeat our real enemies, not each other, but rather the devil and his evil spirits...

In recent years, a number of parishes have begun reciting the prayer once more, and many individual Catholics have kept up the practice. Both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have urged the faithful to pray it daily, and especially after Mass.On the back of the prayer cards to be placed in the pews, Bishop Paprocki explains his vision for the Diocese, using some of the homily he preached at the Masses of Welcome celebrated in each of the Diocese's seven deaneries:

I envision a local Church where Catholics seek to grow in holiness, attend Mass every Sunday and participate regularly in the sacramental life of the Church. I see Catholics, who love God with all their heart, mind and soul and love their neighbors as themselves. I see the faithful who bear witness to Jesus Christ in their daily lives and promote respect for all human life from conception to natural death.

I envision an abundance of vocations with priests sufficient to staff and serve our parishes with virtuous commitment. I see dedicated deacons, nuns, brothers and lay people teaching the faith, caring for the sick, reaching out to the poor and dying. I see communities where family life is valued, homes where mothers and fathers love their children and whose children love them. In short, I envision God's kingdom already foreshadowed in the life of the Church and a foretaste of the heavenly banquet in the Eucharistic feast.

Everything that I have described is attainable. The only real obstacle in our lives is sin. Original sin is our inherited condition. The spiritual treasures of paradise were forfeited by our human ancestors. While Jesus Christ's death and resurrection have restored the gifts of heavenly treasures for us, we also have to recognize that the devil, Satan, is real, and he will do everything in his power to deflect us from our goal, which is eternal life with Christ in His kingdom. This reality should not frighten us nor lead us to despair, for Christ is more powerful than Satan.

Prayer and the sacraments are an essential part of what Saint Paul called the "armor of God" in his letter to the Ephesians. The Saint Michael prayer can help us "stand against the deceits of the devil" (Ephesians 6:11) by "taking the shield of faith" (Ephesians 6:16). God permits us to be tempted by the devil but gives us the grace to resist him through prayer in our daily lives. We can and should say the prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel at church with the assembly or on our own during the day for spiritual protection for ourselves and for others.

May God bless our diocese and our mission with every grace we need to grow in faith, hope and love. May Saint Michael the Archangel protect us from all evil, harm and temptation.

Goings On

2011-04-26T14:41:00.002-04:00

I certainly hope that all of you have had a truly blessed and holy Easter!

So tell me about the abuses you witnessed around the Diocese. Any women getting their feet washed? Any Easter Vigils at 5pm? Keep the news flowing!

And did you all see this? The news bit about how our new Bishop has been "accessible"?

There was a great comment on the fluff piece Mark Guydish wrote. From Rebel4God: "Are you kidding me? The Wilkes-Barre area seems to be in a "no-go" zone in this diocese. There has been absolutely no apology or effort to make amends for the abuse of members of the diocese for various incursions of misabuse. This diocese is a spiritual desert unless you live in Scranton. Priests are upset with the changes soon to come in the new Roman Missal, and the Catholic poplulation has not moved (as stated in this article) but have rather chosen to either not go to mass and put up with all the negativity, or just merely scorn the Church for lack of forthrightness, compassion and concern as it regards to the issues facing the average parishioner. I love my faith, but have had to turn to on-line resources for spiritual nourishment from various Catholic websites. And forget calling any of the offices at the diocescan center as no one ever returns phone calls. I suppose that is because everyone (at the center) are busy answering to the media!"

Yes indeed, a no-go zone. Take away the Old Mass, and even when one is arranged, the Diocese will not allow it. Dirty pool, Bishop Bambera.

And of course not to be outdone, the Citizens Voice had to speak with the Bishop as well, and oddly enough, as Catholic identity shrivels away, the Bishop is actually proud of the 4 "Catholic" universities in our Diocese! I kid you not!

However, I was heartened that the Bishop has called the new translation of the Novus Ordo "a beautiful translation".

Pentecost comes June 12, and with it, comes his Excellence's plan for the Diocese which has been based on your letters. I hope you are all writing in charity.

That's all for now. Enjoy your leftover kielbassi and ham this Easter week!

Good Friday

2011-04-22T08:55:00.002-04:00

O My people, what have I done to thee? Or wherein have I afflicted thee? Answer Me. Because I led thee out of the land of Egypt, thou hast prepared a Cross for thy Savior.

Because I led thee out through the desert forty years: and fed thee with manna, and brought thee into a land exceeding good, thou has prepared a Cross for thy Savior.

What more ought I to have done for thee, that I have not done? I planted thee, indeed, My most beautiful vineyard: and thou has become exceeding bitter to Me: for in My thirst thou gavest Me vinegar to drink and with a lance thou hast pierced the side of thy Savior.

O holy God!
O holy God!
O holy strong One!
O holy strong One!
O holy immortal One, have mercy on us.
O holy immortal One, have mercy on us!

For thy sake I scourged Egypt with its first-born: and thou didst deliver Me up to be scourged.

I led thee out of Egypt having drowned Pharaoh in the Red Sea: and thou to the chief priests didst deliver Me.

I opened the sea before thee: and thou with a spear didst open My side.

I went before thee in a pillar of cloud: and thou didst lead Me to the judgment hall of Pilate.

I fed thee with manna in the desert; and thou didst beat Me with blows and scourges.

I gave thee the water of salvation from the rock to drink: and thou didst give Me gall and vinegar.

For thy sake I struck the kings of the Chanaanites: and thou didst strike My head with a reed.

I gave thee a royal scepter: and thou didst give My head a crown of thorns.

I exalted thee with great strength: and thou didst hang Me on the gibbet of the Cross.

O my people, what have I done to thee? Or wherein have I afflicted thee? Answer me

Bambera VS Voris!

2011-04-13T23:05:00.005-04:00

Would anyone like to see a debate between his Grace the Bishop of Scranton, and Michael Voris this weekend?

I don't know what topic they would debate, maybe ecumenism. I would pay money to see that.

Mother Angelica would take them both out though, don't you think?

Good night, dear readers! :-)

Tried and True

2011-04-13T10:21:00.003-04:00

The Baltimore Catechism, that is. As a young lad, the Baltimore Catechism was the book that taught me my faith in a clear, concise manner. Straight forward and no beating around the bush, it is the tried and true catechism of the Catholic Church. No other catechism is needed.

In clear, no nonsense terms it tells you the truth. If you commit a mortal sin and die without confession, you go to Hell. That's pretty clear, huh?

But in modern times, clear and concise is frowned on. What if it offends someone? The book shelves are heavy with "catechisms" with inclusive language and new definitions, meant to confuse and coddle rather than teach and enlighten.

And now every year, the modernist rock concert/pentecostal service know as "World Youth Day" will soon be upon us, and with it will come yet another catechism.

But this one condones he use of contraception.

Yes, you read that correctly.

On page 420 in the Italian language version of YouCat, it clearly says:

“Q. Puo una coppia christiana fare ricorso ai metodi anticoncezionali?” (Can a Christian couple have recourse to contraceptive methods?)

“A. Si, una coppia cristiana puo e deve essere responsabile nella sua facolta di poter donare la vita.” (Yes, a Christian couple can and should be responsible in its faculty of being able to give life).

The hip, cool catechism, entitled YouCat (because it's all about YOU!) will be given to all the unfortunates attending WYD, along with a sleeping bag, map, and "other" accessories. Condoms perhaps?

When Bishops allow people with evil intentions onto church property to give talks, that is bad enough. Now we have church officials actually printing books with doctrinal error that have the approval of the Bishops! Granted, they say that it was a "translation error", but what really happened was that they got caught. Now they are trying to fix it. Supposedly the error will not appear in the English language edition.

If it was an error, great, just fix it. Or better yet, just cancel publication. We don't need another catechism. Hand out the Baltimore, because somehow a hundred years ago the church was able to write and print doctrinally sound books without "mistakes", something we can't seem to duplicate in our modern times.

Here's the link to the news story.

What's A Traditional Catholic?

2011-04-12T20:21:00.003-04:00

Just found this on the internets and had a good chuckle. If any of the following describes you, you might be well on your to irritating the people that work in the chancery.

A traditional Catholic is not a person who "prefers" the old Latin Mass. Neither are they people who simply passed Catechism class.

They are people who adhere to a type of spirituality that is largely lost in the 21st Century Catholic Church.

Truthfully, it's easier to describe their outward signs than their character: the old Latin Mass is the biggest identifier... though there are certainly traditional Catholics who are marooned in Novus Ordoland; there are likewise non-traditional Catholics who go to the TLM.

Trads are people who listen to Catholic Radio... skeptically. They might have a blog. They can list their "top-five" favorite Ecumenical Councils... none of which will rhyme with "Attican Shoe". Their friends think they're fuddy-duddys. They've got Holy Water fonts in all the bedrooms and by the front door.

They quote the Douay Rheims bible. They have an opinion on offering Mass in baroque vestments while in a gothic chapel. They're tired of tinfoil hat jokes. They may not like Bishop Williamson, but concede that sometimes he's right, and when he's right, he's really right. They can tell you about Assisi. When they're at a Novus Ordo Mass, they've got their hands folded like a Catholic during the Our Father.

The women have an extra mantilla in the van-- just in case. The men have an opinion on the best type of pipe tobacco for any occasion. The boys have their own cassock and surplice hanging in the closet. The girls know how to play Dies Irae on the organ. They wear a t-shirt while they go swimming so their brown scapular doesen't float away. They're willing to drive an hour to go to Mass... every Sunday.

They know the confession times of at least 4 churches. They invite priests over to play cards and smoke cigars. They pray to saints that you think may not really exist. They ask you to finish the sentence when you say "John Paul the Great"... the great what? They might own a live chicken. When they're at a Novus Ordo Mass, everyone watches them to figure out why they're hitting themselves during the "Lamb of God".

They're kneel after Mass to pray... and miss out on the fun gladhanding with Father by the parish gift shop. They scoff when they pass the Masonic Lodge. They cross themselves when they pass a Catholic church. They mutter something about the "poor souls" when they pass a cemetary. They mutter something about St. Michael when an ambulance passes them. Their girls' first names are Mary. Their boys' middle names are Mary. Cappa Magna doesn't sound like a drink at Starbucks to them. They'll tell you at length why being "charitable" isn't always being nice and friendly.

It's complicated. Trads are not easily defined. You just kind of know them when you see them.

More School Closings

2011-04-12T12:31:00.002-04:00

Remember way back when, when Diocesan officials told us if they spent $500,000 and followed the recommendations of the "professionals" that they could save the school system?

Well, they're still closing schools. 4 more schools will close at the end of the year.

Then next year they will realize they need to close 4 more and then 4 more. Till eventually they will have two schools for the entire Diocese. And then no one will go them because they aren't close enough. They are working towards their own demise.

The Bishop said “It’s unsustainable,”

He should be upfront, just close the system down because he is right, it is unsustainable.

Read the Citizen's Voice article here

My Response

2011-04-12T09:04:00.005-04:00

Allright, so let's have a look at this letter from this post. The letter is from Father Brian Clarke, Vicar General on behalf of Bishop Bambera to the organizers of the Michael Voris talk.

After concerns regarding Mr. Voris were brought to the Bishop’s attention, we at the Diocese were asked to look into the situation. It was expressed to us by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) that there have been a number of controversies which have occurred as a result of Mr. Voris’ presentations.

What were the specifics? If you are going to give public scandal you better back it up with exactly what the issues are, Father. This is a cowardly response and bad methodology. The USCCB has for years been taking money from faithful Catholics and giving it to pro-abortion causes through the CCHD, and let's not forget that RealCatholicTV helped to bring the USCCB and their support of this grave evil into the spotlight. So I'm guessing the USCCB would not consider themselves supporters of Mr. Voris or his work.

We next contacted Mr. Voris’ home diocese, the Archdiocese of Detroit, for their opinion. We were given a statement referring to St. Michael ’s Media and Real CatholicTV, both focusing on the opinions of Mr. Voris. Neither enterprise has been granted approval by the Archdiocese which referred to a lack of cooperation and issues of non-compliance with basic archdiocesan protocols as well as those of the USCCB.

Seriously? You contacted the Archdiocese of Detroit? The Archdiocese of Detroit has, since the beginning of St. Michael's Media been quietly, and in some cases loudly been working to discredit Mr. Voris and RealCatholicTV. If you want to read about the soap opera that is the Archdiocese of Detroit, go here. But be warned, it is a scandalous tale of heresy, homosexuality, and one of the worse cases of poor judgement by a Pope in history.

Since Mr. Voris’ own bishop has not given approval or endorsement to his opinions, allowing him to speak at a diocesan facility would imply that Bishop Bambera is endorsing his views.

These are not opinions, but Catholic teaching. If any one of you chancery guys spent 5 minutes to watch one of his episodes before you trashed his reputation you would know that. Bad form.

And my other question about this is did you chancery guys check with the USCCB about Sarah Bendoraitis? Did you check with her home diocese to find out if her work was supported by them? Are you saying then, that the Bishop supports the views of pro-abortion lesbian Sarah Bendoraitis to whom he did give permission to speak at the University of Scranton? It sounds that way to me.

...the Bishop has an obligation to safeguard Catholic teaching...

Well then he'd better get serious about it and really work to safeguard Catholic teaching, but personally I don't think he's up for the job. Or maybe he just needs a better staff making his decisions for him. Maybe if he'd watch an episode or two of RealCatholic TV he'd have a better idea of what that teaching actually is, that way he knows what he's safeguarding.

Plus there's no mention if Bishop Bambera has accepted the invitation of the organizers to come and hear Mr. Voris speak this Saturday. Maybe he can send Father Pilarz from the U, who served as the watchguard for the faith during the Sarah Bendoraitis talk, who just sat there and did nothing as she pushed her heretical views on Catholics at a Catholic University.

Maybe he'll go, since he did such a bang up job last time.

Same 'Ole

2011-04-12T00:26:00.005-04:00

Would anyone like to join me in sending Bishop Bambera some boots? It's getting awfully deep in that Chancery office. Anyone know his shoe size?

The letter to the Bishop:

April 8, 2011
Dear Bishop Bambera,

We are writing you to request a meeting with you in order to discuss the Michael Voris talk. Out of respect for you and obedience to your office of Bishop we cancelled all of this weekend’s events. However, the official reason given for these last-minute cancellations by the Diocese was inadequate. We would like to give you the opportunity to listen to our story and understand why we are so eager to host Michael Voris and are intending to still have him speak in a secular venue. We are available to meet with you anytime this weekend.

I understand that you might not have had adequate time to properly investigate Michael Voris and therefore were only able to make a judgement based on snippets of information. I am confident that if you and your office were to speak with Michael Voris directly or view his videos and listen to his podcasts in their entirety, you would find that Michael is completely faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church. Michael has encouraged us to give his phone number (xxx-xxx-xxxx) to you so that you may speak to him directly and clarify any misconceptions you may have about his views.

We look so forward to hearing from you and meeting with you. This event has been rescheduled and Michael Voris will be speaking to the public. If you intend to truly resolve this situation and make us aware of serious errors that Mr. Voris teaches, then please contact us immediately.

Yours truly, Paul and Kristen Ciaccia

And the reply:

Sent: Sat, Apr 9, 2011 1:35 pm
Subject: Response from Bishop Bambera

Mr. and Mrs. Ciaccia,

I have been asked by Bishop Bambera to respond on his behalf regarding the cancellation of Michael Voris as a guest speaker in the Diocese of Scranton. After concerns regarding Mr. Voris were brought to the Bishop’s attention, we at the Diocese were asked to look into the situation. It was expressed to us by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) that there have been a number of controversies which have occurred as a result of Mr. Voris’ presentations.

We next contacted Mr. Voris’ home diocese, the Archdiocese of Detroit, for their opinion. We were given a statement referring to St. Michael ’s Media and Real CatholicTV, both focusing on the opinions of Mr. Voris. Neither enterprise has been granted approval by the Archdiocese which referred to a lack of cooperation and issues of non-compliance with basic archdiocesan protocols as well as those of the USCCB.

It is because of these responses in conjunction with other concerns that Bishop Bambera chose not to allow Mr. Voris to speak at any diocesan institution. Since Mr. Voris’ own bishop has not given approval or endorsement to his opinions, allowing him to speak at a diocesan facility would imply that Bishop Bambera is endorsing his views. Bishop Bambera chose to exercise the same caution shown by the Archdiocese of Detroit.

While this may be disappointing to you and others in the Diocese of Scranton, the Bishop has an obligation to safeguard Catholic teaching especially when a speaker from outside the Diocese with whom the Bishop is unfamiliar is expressing personal opinions.

Sincerely yours, Fr. Brian Clarke
Vicar General

It's 12:30 and I need to go beddy-bye. I'll comment on this later today if all goes well. Good night and God Bless Ya!

One More Try!

2011-04-11T15:45:00.002-04:00

Michael Voris, S.T.B. will be appearing this Saturday to give his re-scheduled talk. Genetti's in Wilkes-Barre is the location, and the time is 6:30pm. The talk is free and open to the public.

The Diocese of Scranton has been notified that this talk is taking place, and the organizers have courteously invited Bishop Bambera to attend.

RealCatholicTV Response

2011-04-11T14:10:00.001-04:00

By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them

2011-04-09T22:19:00.011-04:00

There are two factions at odds in the Catholic Church today. The growing minority is headed by our Holy Father in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI, whose “reform of the reform” is working towards bringing the unyielding Faith of our fathers back to forefront of the Church.

Then there is the other faction. Led by tambourine players, womyn priests, faithless nuns, heretical priests, and yes, even wayward Bishops. This is the group that pushes the touch-feely “Barney Catholicism”, the “I’m ok, you’re ok” philosophy. The “…lets all revel in our relativism and be happy cuz god, she loves us” philosophy.

Michael Voris, S.T.B. can be counted among the former group, a man whose uncompromising faithfulness to the true Magisterium of the Catholic Church has made him a marked man of sorts.

I had a chance to speak to Michael Friday evening from his studios in Ferndale Michigan just as he was walking off the set of Monday’s new “The Vortex”, one of the shows Michael produces and presents on Real Catholic TV. At 48, Voris, president and founder of St. Michael’s Media, is among the scores of Catholics who simply weren’t taught the true faith growing up.

Voris graduated from Notre Dame in 1983 with a degree in Communications and concentrated studies in history and politics. Equally impressive is his theological education. He not only trained as a young man in theology at the doctrinally-sound St. Joseph’s Seminary in New York, but in April of 2009, he received his Sacred Theology Baccalaureate (STB) from Sacred Heart Major Seminary/Angelicum in Rome, graduating Magna Cum Laude.

He then spent a number of years working as a CBS affiliate anchor, producer and reporter in various markets, and won multiple Emmy Awards for his work in broadcast news. Working in the secular media provided him with not only the technical knowledge to produce excellent television programming, but a profound grasp of the need to produce programs that leave the viewer improved spiritually rather than merely entertained.

On May 8, 2006, he opened St. Michael’s Media, a new state-of-the-art digital television studio, dedicated to the archangel who Scripture promises will lead the victorious battle against Satan at the end of time (Rev 12:07). Mr. Voris was booked to speak at Marywood University this weekend but was then unceremoniously cancelled. When the organizers found another venue, St. Paul’s school in Scranton, the Diocese of Scranton intervened and released the following:

The Diocese of Scranton has determined that Mr. Voris will not be allowed to speak in a Diocesan or parish facility. After these engagements were scheduled, the Diocese became aware of concerns about this individual’s views regarding other religious groups. In videos posted on the Internet, Mr. Voris makes comments that certainly can be interpreted as being insensitive to people of other faiths. The Catholic Church teaches us to respect all people, regardless of their faith tradition.

Although the Diocese shares Mr. Voris’ support of efforts to protect human life, his extreme positions on other faiths are not appropriate and therefore the Diocese cannot host him.

Which leads us to where we currently stand today – here is my interview with Michael Voris, S.T.B.

RT Hello Mr. Voris, thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to address the people of the Diocese of Scranton.

MV Oh no problem it’s my pleasure. It’s good for everybody to have a clear understanding of everything.

RT Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. It’s been a week of ups and downs concerning your speaking engagement in the Diocese, first it was on and then off. What was your initial reaction when Marywood University decided to cancel you for good? Before the Diocese banned you, that is. How were you informed?

MV Marywood had cancelled me and then, how it was relayed to me by Paul (the organizer) was that Marywood said ok, then they cancelled it, then they said ok again, then it was permanently cancelled. If I have the structure correct there. The person who was keeping in touch with everything was Paul the organizer I haven’t received any kind of official notification or anything about anything from Marywood or the Diocese or anybody for that matter…

My initial reaction to the Marywood thing is that I went to Notre Dame and of course during the whole Obama fiasco appearing every time or people with an anti-catholic agenda or bad Catholics are invited to the Catholic Universities to speak we keep hearing “well what they say isn’t necessarily something we endorse, but in the name of academic freedom, we need to hear all sides of this, that and the other.” And I’ve always kind of thought that was a joke, that they don’t really mean. I don’t mean just Marywood, I mean anybody who subscribes to propping up someone who doesn’t believe in the faith or who will tear down the faith either directly or by their presence. I’ve never believed that this whole academic freedom thing was anything more than a smokescreen to get people up on a Catholic stage, in varying degrees of nuance, to try to destroy the faith. Weaken the faith, destroy it, present alternative views to it that are not Catholic in any sense. And I’ve seen with my own eyes, now this is the first time I’ve personally run into this kind of animus. It’s amazing to me that the same people who continually preach “no hate” and “tolerance” and all this are the very people who exercise this kind of thing.
I also find it kind of puzzling on the Marywood side of things, I’d like to ask somebody, what is it exactly that you’ve heard me say or anything on Real Catholic TV that would cause such a hate filled response on your part? For an academic community to refuse to let somebody speak is…if you’re going to play that game of academic freedom and let the whole spectrum of views be heard, it strikes me as extraordinarily hypocritical to say “…we want all views to be heard except this one over here because we don’t agree with it”. I guess my question would be how can they possibly call it anything other than hypocritical? And two, what exactly is it that you’ve heard me say that was so intolerable that you have to break your own code of academic freedom?

RT How did you react after the Diocesan statement banning you from speaking in any Diocesan or parish facility?

MV Well I think that’s extremely unfortunate that a Bishop of the Church would give the impression, whether it was him or his staff, that what I repeat of church teaching is somehow unfit for a Catholic to hear. There is an implication there that is very disturbing. VERY disturbing. Especially in light of the fact of this Sarah person (Benoraitis) that he gave permission to. You have to see everything in the big picture. If somebody is determined by the Bishop to be fit to talk to a Catholic group with all of this woman’s track record, and her clearly obvious Catholic animus and then to say that what she says is ok for a Catholic audience but what I say or what someone like me would say is not fit, then that’s very troubling in the soul to hear something like that.

RT What would you say to Bishop Bambera? Now I know that the actual Diocesan statement is very vague, it says “The Diocese of Scranton has determined” Who’s the “diocese” in this case? I made phone calls today to the Bishop’s office, to the communications office, and no one wants to talk about it. No one wants to take responsibility for it. Maybe you share my view, that whether he wrote it or not, that the buck stops with the Bishop. So what would you say to Bishop Bambera?

MV I’m not so sure it’s what I would say, it’s what I would ask. I would ask a series of questions, because the Bishop, or the Bishop’s staff, in the name of the Bishop, the Bishops staff undertook a number of steps which has lead to this series of events. I would say “Your Excellency, I am confused and I have a good number of questions for you. Because I and so many people in the Scranton area, from what I’m hearing, are very confused and a few answers would be helpful.”

The first question I would ask and would like an answer to is “Do you stand by the statement that was released by the Diocese in your name?”

Two is “If you stand by that statement, could you please explain it? Because it is so vague as to have no real meaning to it. It sounds personally demeaning to me. Coupled with the action of letting a pro abort lesbian talk on another campus but denying me to talk at this one, that seems to heighten the level of demeaning against me. So could you clear up in my mind why this is the case?

Number three, “What is it exactly that I’ve said, and when I say exactly, I mean EXACTLY what is it I have said that is so problematic that a pro abort lesbian gets to speak but I don’t?” I’m guessing it would be probably, we have, I don’t know, 300 hundreds hours maybe, that’s a relatively good guess, we have around 300 hours of recorded video of programs and talks and retreats and that sort of thing on our website that I have delivered the lions share of. How much of this 300 hours has whoever made this determination, actually watched? If there was something problematic in that, another question is, why didn’t someone from the Diocese simply pick up the phone and call me? We get emails and phone calls from people everyday. We get dozens and dozens and dozens of people, everything we say is out there in the world for anyone to see and watch. And they hear it and if they have a question they call us. Why can’t someone on your staff do that? Particularly in light of the fact that a decision has been made against the context of letting a pro abortion lesbian speak when I was being refused. Her whole body of work was known to the public, known to the Bishop, he wrote a document, saying he had expressed concerns, so her body of work was known to him personally. Was my body of work known to him personally? And if it is, how much of it is? If there is a question that arose, what was the question?

Why didn’t someone call? Why wouldn’t someone call and say ‘…hey, what’s going on here’? That’s troubling to me and it seems that a lot of people, at least from what I understand are running into this same thing. It seems like a decision is made without reference to the major players or the parties involved and a decision is simply made and then executed and formulated in a way so that no one is held accountable for it and no one is willing to talk about it. That tactic is troubling. So that’s what I would also ask the Bishop, “Are you aware that these types of tactics are being used in your name?”

Another thing that was personally troubling to me was the sense that what I had said was somehow characterized as being insensitive? I’m not sure what it said in that little section…

RT “In videos posted on the internet, Mr. Voris makes comments that certainly can be interpreted as being insensitive to people of other faiths.”

MV Well I could interpret that comment as being insensitive to me. Then should he therefore retract it? Interpretation is kind of "...beauty is in the eye of the beholder". I believe that Jesus saying to the Pharisees "Woe to you you brood of vipers, you hypocrites, how can you escape damnation?" I think that might be able to be interpreted as insensitive. I simply don’t buy that. I simply don’t buy that. Personally, I don’t believe this is a matter of people being insensitive to other faiths, they just don’t like the content of the message, and are using the way the message is said as the excuse to squelch the message and I firmly believe that.

Be cause now, all of these questions are out there. When someone delivers a statement, and someone says, ”…this is the way it is” that statement should be pretty clear. And there shouldn’t be people walking away with a lot of questions, except some little minor things. You shouldn’t release something and then cause a whole hornet’s nest of other questions and charges and counter charges and it doesn’t seem like a good way to run the candy store. Let’s put it that way.

RT Looking forward, do you have any future plans in the Diocese?

MV Yes, Paul and his wife are planning on doing something, I’m coming in next weekend. They’re just running around organizing that now.

RT Our talk would have been a bit different if you were still coming in tomorrow, so I wanted to go back to what I originally wanted to talk to you about and I’ll tie it in to the recent events. On a recent episode of The Vortex you spoke about the people having to take responsibility for carrying on the true faith since many of our Shepherds are incapable of doing it themselves. Now that you have experienced the Scranton style of shepherding, can you elaborate on that for the people of our Diocese?

MV Sure. I think it’s, again, I can’t vouch for how involved Bishop Bambera was, so I can’t speak directly to him as a man, but some functionary of his at the Scranton chancery made a decision about this talk on Church property. Whether he knows this or not, I would come back and ask these functionaries “Why do you think Catholics want to bring people in to speak?” That should sort of be a red flag for you. If they were being fed, they wouldn’t need to turn to outside sources to feed them. They should ask themselves the question “What is the attraction of Real Catholic TV?” Or for that matter, any of these other organizations and outfits that so many Catholics are turning to on the internet.

The usual channels for the distribution of the faith are becoming irrelevant to Catholics who actually care about learning the faith. That’s not my doing, that’s not your doing, that’s the doing of the people that have been responsible for those channels the last 30 or 40 years. They have used those channels to choke off the delivery of the Faith in an authentic, life-affirming, changing fashion. And because of that, people are now turning to other sources. It speaks a disturbance of the soul on the part of the people who do this, that they choke one off outlet, and they cut another one off at the knees. They want control of the message of the faith but what they have controlled is preventing people from finding out the true faith They have gotten a watered down version of the Faith. They present a type of a Faith or a version of the Faith or a flavor of the Faith, that really, really isn’t the Faith. It smacks of the Faith, it has a bit of the odor of the Faith, but that’s about it. And because of that, people who really want to know about the Faith turn to other sources.

In one sense, it’s kind of like Totalitarian regimes when they cut off one source of the truth people go and find other sources, they develop an underground press, you simply cannot conquer the innate desire within human beings to want to know the truth because that is the innate desire placed there by Almighty God. That’s what inspires people to move toward him and you cannot choke that off. Cannot defeat it. Half truths, false truths and that sort of stuff, you cannot expect that people are going to be remain content. It never happens, and it never will happen. Now you will kill off a lot of people’s spiritual life, but you won’t kill off everyone’s spiritual life.

And that seems to be the lesson the people that operate in this fashion simply have not learned.

Catholic Definition Day

2011-04-08T12:03:00.004-04:00

Just in case you were wondering I have decided to have "Catholic Definition Day". Here is the definition for today:

Heretic – a baptized person who rejects a dogma of the Catholic Church. Heretics are
automatically excommunicated from the Church (ipso facto) without any declaration for rejecting an authoritative teaching of the Faith.

Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum (# 9), June 29, 1896:
“No one who merely disbelieves in all (these heresies) can for that reason regard himself
as a Catholic or call himself one. For there may be or arise some other heresies, which are
not set out in this work of ours, and, if any one holds to a single one of these he is not a
Catholic.” The Papal Encyclicals, by Claudia Carlen, Raleigh: The Pierian Press, 1990,Vol. 2 (1878-1903), Vol. 2 (1878-1903), p. 393.

Pope St. Pius X, Editae Saepe (# 43), May 26, 1910: “It is a certain, well-established fact that
no other crime so seriously offends God and provokes His greatest wrath as the vice of
heresy.” The Papal Encyclicals, Vol. 3 (1903-1939), p. 125.

Now heresy is not the same as "apostasy". The apostate abandons fully the faith of Christ. The heretic still maintains his faith in some fashion. So someone who rejects Christ and becomes a Mohammedan for instance would be an apostate. Someone who rejects some dogma of the Church but remains "Catholic" is a heretic.

Hope this helps!

Not The Same Church

2011-04-08T09:24:00.004-04:00

Here's the latest from banned Catholic speaker Michael Voris over at RealCatholicTV.com. With the advent of the new "Liturgical Dance Ensemble" over at Marywood, we can clearly see the designs these people have set for our Diocese. Don't let it happen here. Be strong, stay informed, and be vocal in your opposition to heresy.

What's Next?

2011-04-08T08:52:00.004-04:00

I received a comment to this post about the Bambera Doctrine. This comment was from two of the organizers of the Michael Voris talks that were to be held this weekend, but that the Diocese decided they had to cancel.

Response to Diocese of Scranton's Banning of Michael Voris:

As faithful Catholics who respect and value Church authority and the virtue of obedience, we are both shocked and saddened that such a short-sighted mindset has afflicted our local Church leadership. In a day when diversity is prized above all, we stand in stunned amazement that our leaders cannot read the signs of the times and would not extend a pastoral welcome of tolerance, inclusiveness and justice to Mr. Voris.

Michael Voris is an accomplished Catholic layman, a multiple Emmy Award winning journalist who is confident and comfortable in communicating the truths of our Catholic Faith. He has spoken in dozens and dozens of Church locations all around the world, where he has been warmly received by both bishops and laity alike.

Our events were open to all as we simply wanted to celebrate our Catholic Faith. Now, because of a refusal on the part of Catholic College Marywood to subscribe to the tenets of academic freedom, and a glaring amount of intolerance and prejudice on the part of diocesan leaders, we are being forced to abandon our Catholic "home" properties, not to mention the injustice done to Michael Voris’ character. We ask Bishop Bambera to enter into dialogue with us regarding this matter.

Because Michael Voris is an orthodox Catholic, faithful to the Magesterium and all the teachings of the Holy Catholic Church, it would be a shame for us to re-schedule our events at a secular site. However, thanks to the publicity being generated by the actions of those who operate out of fear and rash judgments, we would look forward to an even more successful event with larger crowds than originally planned.

The re-scheduled events will be posted as soon as they are finalized. For more information and questions you may contact Paul and Kristen Ciaccia at 570-814-1863 or learnthefaith@yahoo.com.

Bravo for the organizers!

No Oppposition!

2011-04-07T21:48:00.004-04:00

That's apparently the Bambera Doctrine. No opposition to modernism, progressivism, or the liberal agenda will be tolerated. But if you're abortion lovin' Senator Bobby Casey, you are certainly welcome in the Cathedral to take Communion right under Bambera's nose, though.

Today the Diocese posted this on their website:

The Diocese of Scranton has determined that Mr. Voris will not be allowed to speak in a Diocesan or parish facility. After these engagements were scheduled, the Diocese became aware of concerns about this individual’s views regarding other religious groups. In videos posted on the Internet, Mr. Voris makes comments that certainly can be interpreted as being insensitive to people of other faiths. The Catholic Church teaches us to respect all people, regardless of their faith tradition.

Although the Diocese shares Mr. Voris’ support of efforts to protect human life, his extreme positions on other faiths are not appropriate and therefore the Diocese cannot host him.

This is an absolute outrage! Michael Voris stands with the true Magisterium of the Church and to blacklist him from speaking throughout the entire Diocese is a disgrace.

It shows us just how scared these modernists are of the truth and the lengths this new Bishop will go to to maintain the status quo.

More to follow...

Marini Rocks!

2011-04-07T09:07:00.005-04:00

Pay close attention Bishop Bambera, and Diocese of Scranton priests, to this interview. The Papal Master of Ceremonies explains how the Papal Liturgies are to be examples to all priests everywhere. The liturgy is not open to you or some "director of worship's" need to express yourselves. From the Poland Sunday magazine Niedziela.

Wlodzimierz Redzioch: – What does the collaboration between Benedict XVI and his Master of Ceremonies look like? Does the Pope decide about everything?

Msgr. Guido Marini: – At first, I would like to stress that the celebrations the Holy Father presides over are to be the points of reference for the whole Church. The Pope is the highest priest the one who offers the sacrifice of the Church, the one who shows the liturgical teaching through celebrations – the point of reference for all.Considering this explanation it is easier to understand what the style of collaboration between the Papal Master of Ceremonies and the Holy Father should be. One should act in the way to make the papal liturgies the expressions of his authentic liturgical orientation. Therefore, the Papal Master of Ceremonies must be a humble and faithful servant of the liturgy of the Church. I have understood my work in the Office of Papal Liturgical Celebrations in this way since the very beginning.
– We all can see the changes introduced to the liturgical celebrations by Benedict XVI. How can we synthesize these changes?

– I think that these changes can be synthesized in the following way: first of all, these are changes made in accordance with the logic of development of continuity with the past. So we do not deal with breaking with the past and juxtaposing with the former pontificates. Secondly, the introduced changes serve to evoke the true spirit of liturgy like the Second Vatican Council wanted, ‘The “subject” of the liturgy’s intrinsic beauty is Christ himself, risen and glorified in the Holy Spirit, who includes the Church in his work.’

– Celebrations directed towards the cross, Holy Communion received directly by mouth and while keeling, longer moments of silence and meditation – these are the most visible liturgical changes introduced by Benedict XVI. Unfortunately, many people do not understand the theological and historical meanings of these changes and what is worse, they can see them as ‘return to the past.’ Can you briefly explain the meanings of these changes?

– To tell you the truth our office has received many testimonies of the faithful who have favourably received the changes introduced by the Pope because they see them as the authentic renewal of the liturgy. As for the significance of some changes I will say a few synthetic reflections. Celebrating towards the cross stresses the correct direction of liturgical prayer, i.e. towards God; during prayers the faithful are not to look at themselves but should direct their eyes towards the Saviour. Giving hosts to people kneeling aims to giving value to the aspect of adoration both as the fundamental element of celebration and the necessary attitude while facing the mystery of God’s real presence in the Eucharist. During the liturgical celebration prayer assumes various forms: words, songs, music, gestures and silence. Furthermore, moments of silence let us participate truly in the act of worship, and what’s more, from the inside evoke every other form of prayer.

– The Pope attaches importance to the liturgical vestments. Is it a matter of pure aestheticism?

– In order to understand better the Pope’s ideas concerning the meaning of the beauty as an important element of liturgical celebrations I would like to quote the apostolic exhortation ‘Sacramentum caritatis, ’This relationship between creed and worship is evidenced in a particular way by the rich theological and liturgical category of beauty. Like the rest of Christian Revelation, the liturgy is inherently linked to beauty: it is veritatis splendor. […] This is no mere aestheticism, but the concrete way in which the truth of God’s love in Christ encounters us, attracts us and delights us, enabling us to emerge from ourselves and drawing us towards our true vocation, which is love. The truest beauty is the love of God, who definitively revealed himself to us in the paschal mystery. […] The beauty of the liturgy is part of this mystery; it is a sublime expression of God’s glory and, in a certain sense, a glimpse of heaven on earth. Beauty, then, is not mere decoration, but rather an essential element of the liturgical action, since it is an attribute of God himself and his revelation.’

– Benedict XVI has changed his pastoral staff – currently he is using the cross-shaped staff. Why?

– I would like to remind you that till the pontificate of Pope Paul VI popes did not use crosiers at all; on special occasions they carried a ferula (cross-shaped staff). Pope Montini, Paul VI, introduced a cross-shaped crosier. And so did Benedict XVI till the Pentecost Sunday of 2008. Since then he has been using ferula because he thinks that it is more suitable for the papal liturgy.

– Why is it so important that the Church preserves using Latin in the liturgy?
– Although the Second Vatican Council introduced national languages it recommended using Latin in the liturgy. I think it is for two reasons that we should not give up Latin. Above all, we have a great liturgical legacy of Latin: from the Gregorian chant to polyphony as well as ‘testi venerandi’ (sacred texts) that Christians have used for ages. Besides, Latin allows us to show catholicity and universality of the Church. We can experience this universality in a unique way in St Peter’s Basilica and during other international gatherings when men and women from all continents, nationalities, languages, sing and pray in the same language. Who will not feel at home when being at church abroad can join his/her brothers in the faith at least in some parts by using Latin?
– Do you agree that the faith of priest is expressed in the liturgy in a special way
– I have no doubts about it. Since the liturgy is the celebration of Christ’s mystery here and now the priest is called to express his faith in a twofold way. Firstly, he should celebrate with eyes of the one that looks beyond the visible reality to ‘touch’ what is invisible, i.e. God’s presence and work. It is ‘ars celebrandi’ (art of celebration) that lets the faithful check whether the liturgy is only a performance, spectacle for the priest or whether it is a vivid and attractive relation with Christ’s mystery. Secondly, after the celebration the priest is renewed and ready to follow what he has experienced, i.e. make his life a celebration of Christ’s mystery.

Breaking News!

2011-04-06T21:21:00.002-04:00

Catholic speaker and host of www.realcatholictv.com Michael Voris's speaking engagement which was to be held at Marywood University this coming Saturday has been CANCELED!

According to my sources Mr. Voris' work has been deemed "Too controversial" by the university.

But not to be undone by Marywood, a supposed "Catholic institution", the talk will now take place at Saint Paul's school located at 1527 Penn Avenue in Scranton. The talk will begin at 6:30pm.

I'll have more on this travesty by the Marywood officials soon. Stay tuned here.

First Obama Campaign Ad of 2012!

2011-04-06T09:33:00.001-04:00

Right on the money? You decide!

Dogma! Part Deux

2011-04-06T09:16:00.006-04:00

Two days ago I started a Lenten series based on the Dogmas of the Church. Today I present part two.

II. God the Creator

All that exists outside God was, in its whole substance, produced out of nothing by God.
God was moved by His goodness to create the world.
The world was created for the glorification of God.
The Three Divine Persons are one single, common principle of creation.
God created the world free from exterior compulsion and inner necessity.
God has created a good world.
The world had a beginning in time.
God alone created the world.
God keeps all created things in existence.
God, through His Providence, protects and guides all that He has created.
The first man was created by God.
Man consists of two essential parts - a material body and a spiritual soul.
The rational soul per se is the essential form of the body.
Every human being possesses an individual soul.
God has conferred on man a supernatural destiny.
Our first parents, before the fall, were endowed with sanctifying grace.
In addition to sanctifying grace, our first parents were endowed with the preternatural gift of bodily immortality.
Our first parents in Paradise sinned grievously through transgression of the Divine probationary commandment.
Through sin our first parents lost sanctifying grace and provoked the anger and the indignation of God.
Our first parents became subject to death and to the dominion of the devil.
Adam's sin is transmitted to his posterity, not by imitation but by descent.
Original sin is transmitted by natural generation.
In the state of original sin man is deprived of sanctifying grace and all that this implies, as well as of the preternatural gifts of integrity.
Souls who depart this life in the state of original sin are excluded from the Beatific Vision of God.
In the beginning of time God created spiritual essences (angels) out of nothing.
The nature of angels is spiritual.
The evil spirits (demons) were created good by God; they became evil through their own fault.
The secondary task of the good angels is the protection of men and care for their salvation.
The devil possesses a certain dominion over mankind by reason of Adam's sin.

Thank You, Vatican II!

2011-04-05T12:42:00.003-04:00

This travesty is the closing mess from the 2011 National "Catholic" Educational Conference held in Los Angeles. They actually had super dissenting, rolemodel for IHM Marywood nuns everywhere, "Sister" Joan Chittister, as a keynote speaker. "Sister" Joan speaks and writes constantly against Church teaching on issues such as homosexuality and the ordination of women. So we have a manifest heretic addressing Catholic educators from around the country.

Maybe this is why Catholic education is so bad nowadays.

Sign Of The Times

2011-04-05T09:10:00.004-04:00

Who at Marywood could be working so hard to refuse Catholic speaker Michael Voris his speaking engagement this weekend? Maybe a dissenting IHM sister? Someone involved in the so-called "Liturgical Dance Ensemble"? A modernist priest? Keep your eyes here.

Calling All Men!

2011-04-04T23:34:00.004-04:00

Do you know what it is means to be a real man?

Do you know what it takes to be a real Catholic man?

Join us at Our Lady of Victory, Pole 26, Harvey’s Lake on April 9th at 10 AM to hear Michael Voris speak on the topic – Real Catholic Men: Strength and Honor! (If you are planning to attend, please call Paul at 592-0264).

What makes a man a real Catholic man is his practice of VIRTUE.

The word “virtue” comes from the Latin word "vir" which means man, male (as opposed to mankind or humanity).

From the days of the Ancients, masculinity has always been associated with virtue and vice versa.

Virtue is also associated with Heaven. Without virtue, you may never hope to see God in the Face.

Presented by Real Catholic TV and St. Michaels Media and sponsored by The Guardians of the Redeemer. (Visit realCatholicTV.com)

Dogma!

2011-04-04T22:35:00.006-04:00

Or, what you as a Catholic must believe.

A "Dogma" is an article of faith which has been revealed by God, and which the Magisterium of the Holy Catholic Church has presented to be believed.

Since there seems to be confusion about what Catholics believe I thought this Lenten season would be a good time for us to review that which we must believe.

The following De Fide statements comprise "Our Catholic Faith without which it is impossible to please God" (The Council of Trent, Session V, explaining the correct interpretation of Hebrews 11: 6). These positive "articles of faith" have the function of fundamental principles which the faithful accepts without discussion as being certain and sure by virtue of the authority of God, Who is absolute truth (Council of the Vatican). They represent the mind of Christ as St. Paul says:

1 Cor. 2:16. But we have the mind of Christ.
Hebrews 13:8. Jesus Christ yesterday, and today: and the same for ever.

Since Our Catholic Faith comes from God, they are not open for debate, and they are not reversible.

The Christian is called to adhere to Christ and His teaching integrally; the unity of faith is the dominant motif of divine revelation on which St. Paul insists energetically, when he writes:

1 Cor. 1:10. I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you: but that you be perfect in mind and in the same judgement.

There is, then, no place for "pick and choose" in the truths proposed to the Faith of Christians by the Infallible Teaching Church for they are bound in Heaven by God Himself. If something is decreed on earth and is also bound in Heaven, that thing must be the truth. Otherwise, God is no longer the Truth, which is contrary to the Gospel:

Matthew 16:19. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in Heaven.

The Catholic Church is infallible because it is :

1 Tim 3:15. the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of the truth.

If a baptized person deliberately denies or contradicts a dogma, he or she is guilty of the sin of heresy and automatically becomes subject to the punishment of excommunication. And that also includes ccd teachers, rcia teachers, priests, sisters, bishops, cardinals, and yes, even the Pope.

And bloggers, too!

I. The Unity and Trinity of God

God, our Creator and Lord, can be known with certainty, by the natural light of reason from created things.
God's existence is not merely an object of rational knowledge, but also an object of supernatural faith.
God's Nature is incomprehensible to men.
The blessed in Heaven possess an immediate intuitive knowledge of the Divine Essence.
The immediate vision of God transcends the natural power of cognition of the human soul, and is therefore supernatural.
The soul, for the immediate vision of God, requires the light of glory.
God's Essence is also incomprehensible to the blessed in Heaven.
The divine attributes are really identical among themselves and with the Divine Essence.
God is absolutely perfect.
God is actually infinite in every perfection.
God is absolutely simple.
There is only one God.
The one God is, in the ontological sense, the true God.
God possesses an infinite power of cognition.
God is absolute veracity.
God is absolutely faithful.
God is absolute ontological goodness in Himself and in relation to others.
God is absolute moral goodness or holiness.
God is absolute benignity.
God is absolutely immutable.
God is eternal.
God is immense or absolutely immeasurable.
God is everywhere present in created space.
God's knowledge is infinite.
God's knowledge is purely and simply actual.
God's knowledge is subsistent.
God knows all that is merely possible by the knowledge of simple intelligence.
God knows all real things in the past, the present and the future.
By the knowledge of vision, God also foresees the future free acts of rational creatures with infallible certainty.
God's Divine Will is infinite.
God loves Himself of necessity, but loves and wills the creation of extra-divine things, on the other hand, with freedom.
God is almighty.
God is the Lord of the heavens and of the earth.
God is infinitely just.
God is infinitely merciful.
In God there are three Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Each of the three Persons possesses the one (numerical) Divine Essence.
In God there are two internal divine processions.
The Divine Persons, not the Divine Nature, are the subject of the internal divine processions (in the active and in the passive sense).
The Second Divine Person proceeds from the First Divine Person by generation, and therefore is related to Him as Son to Father.
The Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and from the Son as from a single principle through a single spiration.
The Holy Ghost does not proceed through generation but through spiration.
The relations in God are really identical with the Divine Nature.
The Three Divine Persons are in one another.
All the ad extra activities of God are common to the three Persons.

Taking It Back

2011-04-04T21:29:00.003-04:00

Michael Voris, who will be speaking this weekend at Marywood University has two great new videos up. I present them here for your edification.

Quote Of The Day

2011-04-03T16:56:00.003-04:00

"The devil has always attempted, by means of heretics, to deprive the world of the Mass..." St. Alphonsus

Did they succeed at Vatican II?

Personal Ordinariat?

2011-04-03T12:30:00.003-04:00

Happy Sunday!

Even while our own short-sighted Bishop Bambera has forbidden faithful Catholics from attending the Society of Saint Pius X in Pittston, it seems the real authority in the matter, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, is working on a solution with the Lefabvrists.

I'll get back to the Pope in a second.

Does Bishop Bambera go out of his way to instruct the faithful to not attend the Orthodox? Or a Baptist Church? Or a Mosque?

No. No. And no.

But he will go out of his way to instruct the faithful to avoid the Society.

Go and visit the Protestants and do damage to your soul, but stay away from those other Catholics over there. We accept all the religions, all the sects, all the cults, but not those Catholics. Foolishness.

Anyway, back to the Pope and those terrible SSPXers.

The Pope is considering a personal ordinariat for the Society, which is basically a non-geographic diocese. This would secure for the Society a freedom from the local Bishops, and surely this will grate on his Excellence. But eventually I think that will need to change, as it certainly would need to include a change to the Constitution of the Church, which I don't see happening.

Anyway, things are moving along, keep a close eye on how they progress.

"Let them alone: they are blind, and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit." Matthew 15:14

A Call To Action

2011-04-03T11:44:00.003-04:00

You must watch this video to understand what is transpiring around the world concerning Islam. Soon it will be the dominate religion (cult) in the world. What are we going to do about it?

While you're at it, watch this one too.
Islam overtakes France

At Least 12 Dead In Afghanistan

2011-04-01T16:09:00.001-04:00

And here's another shining example of the peaceful and oh so tolerant Muslims.

We spend billions and billions of dollars to build them a nation they could never even imagine and for what? We should just get out and leave these animals where we found them - in the 6th century.

Read here..

What's In A Name?

2011-04-01T12:38:00.004-04:00

Would you start a Victorian Dance Ensemble if you would never be able to go to a Victorian ball and dance? Would you start a Victorian Dance Ensemble if you knew that Victorian Dance was considered a "dancing abuse"?

Well, that's apparently what some of the IHM "sisters" at Marywood University have done. No, they won't be dressed up like Scarlett O'Hara.

They have started a "Liturgical Dance Ensemble". The Diocese of Scranton, while having its share of liturgical abuses has been relatively unscathed by "liturgical dance".

It would seem our new Bishop is looking to fix that oversight.

At a Christmas concert held at the cathedral of all places, two supposedly Catholic nuns sashayed to and fro about the cathedral in an attempt to highlight their spirituality and creativeness.

Plus it has come to my attention that the good sisters have been prancing during actual Masses, but I have not been able to confirm this.

With few exceptions, the Holy See has said "no" to liturgical dance. James Akin, in his book Mass Confusion, notes that the Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship, in an authoritative 1975 document, cited specific cultures in which liturgical dance has enhanced the liturgy and reflected the religious values of those cultures. But liturgical dance has never been part of the liturgical tradition of the Latin Church, and never been deemed appropriate in the West. The documents states: "Conciliar decisions have often condemned the religious dance because it conduces little to worship and because it could degenerate into disorders." The document adds that pseudo-ballet, or "interpretive dance," which has been tried in liturgy, is also prohibited.

So what's the point?

Why bother starting a "Liturgical Dance Ensemble" if you know you cannot dance liturgically?

Similarly, why would start an organization called "Women Priests" when you know a woman cannot be a priest? There's something more at work here.

Breaking News!

2011-04-01T07:00:00.005-04:00

Wow, never thought I'd see this! The beatification of John Paul II which was scheduled for May 1 has been postponed. Pope Benedict has called it off due to "irregularities" concerning the so-called single miracle needed.

Indefinately.

Read the story here!

Thanks to Athanasius Contra Mundum for the heads up.

Friend Me!

2011-03-31T12:12:00.002-04:00

If you have Facebook, you can connect with me there as well. Here is my page . Be my friend!

Planned Falsehoods

2011-03-30T21:54:00.002-04:00

Voris Comes To Scranton!

2011-03-30T19:19:00.003-04:00

As followers of this blog will attest, I have posted several videos from Michael Voris of Real Catholic TV. And how could I not? His passion for bringing the truth of authentic Catholicism into our homes via the internet has truly been an inspiration and a blessing.

Now, he's coming to Scranton! Saturday April 9 he will make two appearances, one at a men's conference during the day, and the other that evening at Marywood. I will be speaking with Michael the week before the event, so I will be sure to keep you up to date on all the latest information.

Please be sure to keep Mr. Voris in your prayers as their are those among us claiming fidelity to the Church and the Holy Father who do not want him here spreading the truth.

These are dangerous times...

Support Father Corapi!

2011-03-26T21:13:00.000-04:00

Statement of Santa Cruz Media, Inc. Relative to Fr. Corapi’s Suspension

Santa Cruz Media, Inc. is the owner of all of Fr. John Corapi’s intellectual property and the DVDs, CDs, and books that flow from it. We are a secular corporation and not affiliated with the Catholic Church in any way. As such, we are not under the jurisdiction of any bishop or other official in the Catholic Church, although we have the utmost respect for Church authority.

We fully support Rev. John Corapi in this terrible trial, not surprisingly having begun on Ash Wednesday. Through the sacrifice and struggle of the desert and all of the dark moments that this entails, we are confident that the glory of the risen Lord will shine forth from the power of the Resurrection and Easter.

We have consulted with a number of canon lawyers. They have assured us that the actions of the Bishop of Corpus Christi, Texas are, on several points of canon law, illicit. It is our fervent hope that The Dallas Charter will be changed because of false accusations like this. There is no evidence at this time that Fr. Corapi did anything wrong, only the unsubstantiated rant of a former employee, who, after losing her job with this office, physically assaulted me and another employee and promised to "destroy" Father Corapi. We all continue to pray for this person, and we ask you to do the same.

We sincerely believe that the work Fr. Corapi has done is of greatest value to the Church, hence hated by the devil. We fully intend to make Fr. Corapi’s material available as a service to the Church and the world for as long as we possibly can.

The Church provides no financial support to Fr. Corapi. He has to pay for his own legal representation, medical costs, food, housing, etc. We have never accepted donations or charitable contributions of any kind. We are supporting Father’s efforts to defend himself. Your purchase of products from Santa Cruz Media helps provide the funding for Father's continued work as well as the legal expenses he continues to incur as a result of these malicious allegations.

Father Corapi and all of us here at Santa Cruz Media, Inc. greatly appreciate your kindness, support, and prayers. Please continue to pray for Father Corapi and his accuser, as well as all priests who find themselves in this unfortunate situation.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Bobbi Ruffatto
Vice President of Operations
Santa Cruz Media, Inc.

It's Not That Bad In Scranton!

2011-03-23T17:27:00.004-04:00

Church closings got you down? It could be worse as this former Dominican Church in the Netherlands can attest to. It is now a bookstore. At least it's not a Mosque, right?

Pro-Choice Catholics

2011-03-23T09:15:00.004-04:00

Just a quick blog post this snowy morning to introduce this idea to you:

You cannot be both "Catholic" and "Pro-Choice".

Understand?

Democrats, particularly in northeastern Pennsylvania LOVE to claim fidelity to both. I see more "Obama 08" bumper stickers in the parking lots of Catholic churches than anywhere else.

These folks are for all intents and purposes heretics.

Oh NO! Not the "H" word! We don't use that word in our modern touchy-feely Catholic church anymore.

Maybe it's time it made a comeback.

Webster defines heretic as

a dissenter from established religious dogma; especially : a baptized member of the Roman Catholic Church who disavows a revealed truth.

So we see that someone who advances teachings that are contrary to the Catholic faith is a dissenter, and can also rightly be called a heretic. If you publicly disagree with the Church, go to pro abortion rallies, put a pro abortion bumper sticker on your car, work for or vote for a pro abortion candidate, you place yourself outside Holy Mother Church and are a heretic. When you commit a grave sin such as promoting murder, you commit a mortal sin (remember those?) and you separate yourself from the Church.

So stop and think when you are attending your next Mass of the travesties taking place in that very same church. All the profanations of Our Lord as his precious body is handed out to heretics who go to Mass and receive Him with grave sin on their souls. Make an extra act of reparation to Our Lord for this.

And pray for the self professed "pro-choice Catholics" that they beg God for forgiveness and repent of their sins.

Then they may be called "Catholic".

Father Corapi Update

2011-03-22T13:53:00.004-04:00

These allegations must be very serious with compelling evidence in order for the powers that be to remove Father Corapi's priestly faculties as well. Is that typical when one is accused in the Church today?

The following is from a press release concerning the cancellation of a fund raiser Father Corapi was due to speak at this Saturday.

“The Diocese of Corpus Christi has informed the Conference of its concerns with regard to Fr. John Corapi, SOLT. The superiors of the Society of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity (SOLT), headquartered in the Diocese of Corpus Christi, have notified the diocese that Fr. Corapi has been placed on administrative leave and has had all of his priestly faculties removed. The superiors of SOLT have further advised the diocese that this action was taken after SOLT received allegations of misconduct on Fr. Corapi’s part, but that these allegations do not appear to involve minors or claims of criminal activity.”

Traitors!

2011-03-22T13:17:00.006-04:00

This tape was presented to the Department of Justice earlier today. I'm sure Eric Holder won't touch this like he wouldn't touch the New Black Panther Party case. These are his people.

Ridiculous!

2011-03-21T15:25:00.009-04:00

That's what I thought when I learned that Father John Corapi, one of the lone voices of actual orthodoxy in the Catholic Church has been placed on Administrative leave (presumably by the head of his religious order) due to a letter sent by a former employee accusing the well-known priest of several things. Here is the release from Father Corapi's website:

On Ash Wednesday I learned that a former employee sent a three-page letter to several bishops accusing me of everything from drug addiction to multiple sexual exploits with her and several other adult women. There seems to no longer be the need for a complaint to be deemed “credible” in order for Church authorities to pull the trigger on the Church’s procedure, which was in recent years crafted to respond to cases of the sexual abuse of minors. I am not accused of that, but it seems, once again, that they now don’t have to deem the complaint to be credible or not, and it is being applied broadly to respond to all complaints. I have been placed on “administrative leave” as the result of this.

I’ll certainly cooperate with the process, but personally believe that it is seriously flawed, and is tantamount to treating the priest as guilty “just in case”, then through the process determining if he is innocent. The resultant damage to the accused is immediate, irreparable, and serious, especially for someone like myself, since I am so well known. I am not alone in this assessment, as multiple canon lawyers and civil and criminal attorneys have stated publicly that the procedure does grave damage to the accused from the outset, regardless of rhetoric denying this, and has little regard for any form of meaningful due process.

All of the allegations in the complaint are false, and I ask you to pray for all concerned.

It seems to me that Satan finally found someone evil enough to do his work for him, as he had been trying to destroy John Corapi years before he ever decided to don the stole. Let's not forget Father Corapi's own words "Priests will always be the number one target for the simple reason: no priests, no Eucharist".

In today's "modern" church, upon the placement of an accusation, an accused priest is placed on immediate leave, damaging their credibility and doing much unseen damage to the priest. Do the Bishops care? Not at all. The Bishops are like scared rabbits when it comes to the threat of lawsuit. So scared as a matter of fact, that they throw their priests under the bus quicker than they'd give the Catholic funeral to a public sinner like Ted Kennedy.

But if a priest is giving scandal with an adult as is the accusation here, that is far a different matter than if the priest is sinning with children. Whenever children are involved, an immediate suspension is called for. But not in cases of adults. But that's just my opinion. Gunshy Bishops over-reacting to any accusation.

And also don't forget there have been hundreds of false accusations in the United States by unscrupulous people urged on by dirt bag lawyers, all trying to hop on the Catholic Church gravy train.

Also you must understand that even in the hierarchy of the Church in America there are well placed people that hate Father Corapi for his teaching as certainly as there are spineless priests who refuse to call out their superiors for heterodoxy or pastoral negligence. There are certainly people in the Church reveling in this latest development as we speak.

Please pray for all concerned, and most especially for Father Corapi during his time of suffering, please pray that the truth, for good or bad will be known, and that the evil will be displaced.

Those of us that know him, also know of his strong devotion to our Blessed Mother. She will not abandon him.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T09:30:00.007-04:00

Since this is Saint Patrick's Day, and since there is still misinformation about why Catholics "pray" to Saints, I thought this would be a good day to examine this Catholic devotion.

First a definition: "To pray," as a verb, has two very distinct meanings:

1 : to make a request in a humble manner
2 : to address God or a god with adoration, confession, supplication, or thanksgiving

It is only in this first sense that Catholics "pray" to saints. "To pray" is simply to ask, and it is a common English word.

But when speaking of the Saints, it is very important to remember that all worship is God's alone. All grace comes from God alone. Only Christ can save us. Please read these three sentences again; they are core Catholic doctrine as taught for 2,000 years.

OK, so why pray to saints? We pray to saints to ask them to pray for us, in the same way you might pray for me if I ask and I would pray for you if you ask. Christians are called to pray for each other: James 5:16 "Pray one for another... The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." It's what we do.

We do not pray to the Saints in place of God. We ask them to pray for us TO God.

One Mediator:

Yes, there is only one Mediator between us and God the Father Almighty, and that is Jesus Christ. But by praying to the Saints, by asking for their intercession, we are not violating Christ's loan mediatorship, as some say Timothy indicates

"For there is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus"

(1 Tim. 2:5).

Because then we have this immediately prior:

"I desire therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men: [2] For kings, and for all that are in high station: that we may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all piety and chastity. [3] For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, [4] Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

Be not afraid to pray to the Saints, they are our friends and intercessors, and really, who doesn't need one of those. Find one, learn about them, and pray to them, asking for their help. A good place to start is with your own first name. Find out which saint you were named after and pray.

Anyone ever heard of Saint Rockin'?

The REAL History of the Crusades Part Two

2011-03-17T09:12:00.002-04:00

Urban II gave the Crusaders two goals, both of which would remain central to the eastern Crusades for centuries. The first was to rescue the Christians of the East. As his successor, Pope Innocent III, later wrote:

How does a man love according to divine precept his neighbor as himself when, knowing that his Christian brothers in faith and in name are held by the perfidious Muslims in strict confinement and weighed down by the yoke of heaviest servitude, he does not devote himself to the task of freeing them? ...Is it by chance that you do not know that many thousands of Christians are bound in slavery and imprisoned by the Muslims, tortured with innumerable torments?

"Crusading," Professor Jonathan Riley-Smith has rightly argued, was understood as an "an act of love"—in this case, the love of one’s neighbor. The Crusade was seen as an errand of mercy to right a terrible wrong. As Pope Innocent III wrote to the Knights Templar, "You carry out in deeds the words of the Gospel, ‘Greater love than this hath no man, that he lay down his life for his friends.’"

The second goal was the liberation of Jerusalem and the other places made holy by the life of Christ. The word crusade is modern. Medieval Crusaders saw themselves as pilgrims, performing acts of righteousness on their way to the Holy Sepulcher. The Crusade indulgence they received was canonically related to the pilgrimage indulgence. This goal was frequently described in feudal terms. When calling the Fifth Crusade in 1215, Innocent III wrote:

Consider most dear sons, consider carefully that if any temporal king was thrown out of his domain and perhaps captured, would he not, when he was restored to his pristine liberty and the time had come for dispensing justice look on his vassals as unfaithful and traitors...unless they had committed not only their property but also their persons to the task of freeing him? ...And similarly will not Jesus Christ, the king of kings and lord of lords, whose servant you cannot deny being, who joined your soul to your body, who redeemed you with the Precious Blood...condemn you for the vice of ingratitude and the crime of infidelity if you neglect to help Him?

The reconquest of Jerusalem, therefore, was not colonialism but an act of restoration and an open declaration of one’s love of God. Medieval men knew, of course, that God had the power to restore Jerusalem Himself—indeed, He had the power to restore the whole world to His rule. Yet as St. Bernard of Clairvaux preached, His refusal to do so was a blessing to His people:

Again I say, consider the Almighty’s goodness and pay heed to His plans of mercy. He puts Himself under obligation to you, or rather feigns to do so, that He can help you to satisfy your obligations toward Himself.... I call blessed the generation that can seize an opportunity of such rich indulgence as this.

It is often assumed that the central goal of the Crusades was forced conversion of the Muslim world. Nothing could be further from the truth. From the perspective of medieval Christians, Muslims were the enemies of Christ and His Church. It was the Crusaders’ task to defeat and defend against them. That was all. Muslims who lived in Crusader-won territories were generally allowed to retain their property and livelihood, and always their religion. Indeed, throughout the history of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, Muslim inhabitants far outnumbered the Catholics. It was not until the 13th century that the Franciscans began conversion efforts among Muslims. But these were mostly unsuccessful and finally abandoned. In any case, such efforts were by peaceful persuasion, not the threat of violence.

The Crusades were wars, so it would be a mistake to characterize them as nothing but piety and good intentions. Like all warfare, the violence was brutal (although not as brutal as modern wars). There were mishaps, blunders, and crimes. These are usually well-remembered today. During the early days of the First Crusade in 1095, a ragtag band of Crusaders led by Count Emicho of Leiningen made its way down the Rhine, robbing and murdering all the Jews they could find. Without success, the local bishops attempted to stop the carnage. In the eyes of these warriors, the Jews, like the Muslims, were the enemies of Christ. Plundering and killing them, then, was no vice. Indeed, they believed it was a righteous deed, since the Jews’ money could be used to fund the Crusade to Jerusalem. But they were wrong, and the Church strongly condemned the anti-Jewish attacks.

Fifty years later, when the Second Crusade was gearing up, St. Bernard frequently preached that the Jews were not to be persecuted:

Ask anyone who knows the Sacred Scriptures what he finds foretold of the Jews in the Psalm. "Not for their destruction do I pray," it says. The Jews are for us the living words of Scripture, for they remind us always of what our Lord suffered.... Under Christian princes they endure a hard captivity, but "they only wait for the time of their deliverance."

Nevertheless, a fellow Cistercian monk named Radulf stirred up people against the Rhineland Jews, despite numerous letters from Bernard demanding that he stop. At last Bernard was forced to travel to Germany himself, where he caught up with Radulf, sent him back to his convent, and ended the massacres.

It is often said that the roots of the Holocaust can be seen in these medieval pogroms. That may be. But if so, those roots are far deeper and more widespread than the Crusades. Jews perished during the Crusades, but the purpose of the Crusades was not to kill Jews. Quite the contrary: Popes, bishops, and preachers made it clear that the Jews of Europe were to be left unmolested. In a modern war, we call tragic deaths like these "collateral damage." Even with smart technologies, the United States has killed far more innocents in our wars than the Crusaders ever could. But no one would seriously argue that the purpose of American wars is to kill women and children.

By any reckoning, the First Crusade was a long shot. There was no leader, no chain of command, no supply lines, no detailed strategy. It was simply thousands of warriors marching deep into enemy territory, committed to a common cause. Many of them died, either in battle or through disease or starvation. It was a rough campaign, one that seemed always on the brink of disaster. Yet it was miraculously successful. By 1098, the Crusaders had restored Nicaea and Antioch to Christian rule. In July 1099, they conquered Jerusalem and began to build a Christian state in Palestine. The joy in Europe was unbridled. It seemed that the tide of history, which had lifted the Muslims to such heights, was now turning.

Massive Attack

2011-03-16T23:10:00.003-04:00

Here is another video from our friend Michael Voris on the Old Mass and our Holy Father's attempt to re-establish it across the Church. I too have been told that the Novus Ordo will not be around in 50 years. How lucky for me that I was chosen to be one of the faithful to suffer the slings and arrows of years of liberal theology and bad liturgy, and that I fought the good fight to restore what never should have been denied to me and my Catholic brethren.

The quote that hit home for me from the video was "Many of them (Bishops) have since thrown up roadblocks and made things difficult for priests that began offering the Mass. Nothing official mind you, that's not how this group works. Never official, never out in the open. But nonetheless always working behind the scenes in loud and powerful whispers."

Reminds me of a specific time when something was arranged at a Wilkes-Barre parish and a certain nameless and not yet named Bishop went out of his way to ensure our plans fell through. What this Pope was thinking when he made this person our Bishop is beyond me. But it is our duty as Catholics to pray for his soul and pray that he and our Diocese stay loyal to the Pope and follow his wishes.

"Kill Them Where You Find Them"

2011-03-16T19:20:00.006-04:00

What do you get when you take a muslim and let him break into a house full of Jews?

You get a dead family and a three month old baby with her head cut off and the triumphant muslims partying in the streets and passing out candy.

If you haven't heard about this atrocity, don't be surprised. Very few have and the main stream media seems intent on keeping it quiet.

It doesn't fit into their narrative of Muslims being fuzzy, warm, and peaceful.

From Atlas Shrugs

On Friday night at 10:30 pm the terrorists entered the house through the living room picture window. They did not notice the 6-year-old boy sleeping on the couch and continued on to the bedroom where they slashed the throats of the father and newborn baby who were sleeping there. The mother came out of the bathroom and was stabbed on its threshold. The evidence shows that she tried to fight the terrorists. They then slashed the throat of the 11-year old-son who was reading in bed. They did not notice the 2-year old asleep in his bed, but murdered the 3-year old with two stabs to his heart. After that, they locked the door, exited through the window and escaped.

The 12-year-old daughter returned home at 00:30 and found the door locked. She asked a neighbor, Rabbi Yaakov Cohen, of the Itamar Yeshiva, to help her. He brought a weapon with him once he noticed tracks and mud near the house. The two woke up the 6-year old sleeping in the living room by calling through the window and when he opened the door, the Rabbi returned to his home. When she entered the bedrooms, the young daughter saw the horrific bloodsoaked scene and ran out of the house screaming. The neighbor ran back and fired several shots in the air to alert security personnel. Within a short time, large police and IDF forces arrived and began intensive searches to see if the terrorists were still in the community. At 03:30 a.m., military trackers discovered footprints leading to the Arab village of Avrata.

Here is the link to the photographs if you would to see what Muslim peacefulness looks like.

Volume 4, Book 52, Number 41:

Narrated Abdullah bin Masud:
I asked Allah's Apostle, "O Allah's Apostle! What is the best deed?" He replied, "To offer the prayers at their early stated fixed times." I asked, "What is next in goodness?" He replied, "To be good and dutiful to your parents." I further asked, what is next in goodness?" He replied, "To participate in Jihad in Allah's Cause." I did not ask Allah's Apostle anymore and if I had asked him more, he would have told me more.

Oh sweet Islam, continue to bring us peace!

UPDATE: It seems that Glenn Beck is the only person in the mainstream media talking about this.

The REAL History of the Crusades

2011-03-15T16:29:00.002-04:00

By Thomas F. Madden

Misconceptions about the Crusades are all too common. The Crusades are generally portrayed as a series of holy wars against Islam led by power-mad popes and fought by religious fanatics. They are supposed to have been the epitome of self-righteousness and intolerance, a black stain on the history of the Catholic Church in particular and Western civilization in general. A breed of proto-imperialists, the Crusaders introduced Western aggression to the peaceful Middle East and then deformed the enlightened Muslim culture, leaving it in ruins. For variations on this theme, one need not look far. See, for example, Steven Runciman’s famous three-volume epic, History of the Crusades, or the BBC/A&E documentary, The Crusades, hosted by Terry Jones. Both are terrible history yet wonderfully entertaining.

So what is the truth about the Crusades? Scholars are still working some of that out. But much can already be said with certainty. For starters, the Crusades to the East were in every way defensive wars. They were a direct response to Muslim aggression—an attempt to turn back or defend against Muslim conquests of Christian lands.

Christians in the eleventh century were not paranoid fanatics. Muslims really were gunning for them. While Muslims can be peaceful, Islam was born in war and grew the same way. From the time of Mohammed, the means of Muslim expansion was always the sword. Muslim thought divides the world into two spheres, the Abode of Islam and the Abode of War. Christianity—and for that matter any other non-Muslim religion—has no abode. Christians and Jews can be tolerated within a Muslim state under Muslim rule. But, in traditional Islam, Christian and Jewish states must be destroyed and their lands conquered. When Mohammed was waging war against Mecca in the seventh century, Christianity was the dominant religion of power and wealth. As the faith of the Roman Empire, it spanned the entire Mediterranean, including the Middle East, where it was born. The Christian world, therefore, was a prime target for the earliest caliphs, and it would remain so for Muslim leaders for the next thousand years.

With enormous energy, the warriors of Islam struck out against the Christians shortly after Mohammed’s death. They were extremely successful. Palestine, Syria, and Egypt—once the most heavily Christian areas in the world—quickly succumbed. By the eighth century, Muslim armies had conquered all of Christian North Africa and Spain. In the eleventh century, the Seljuk Turks conquered Asia Minor (modern Turkey), which had been Christian since the time of St. Paul. The old Roman Empire, known to modern historians as the Byzantine Empire, was reduced to little more than Greece. In desperation, the emperor in Constantinople sent word to the Christians of western Europe asking them to aid their brothers and sisters in the East.

That is what gave birth to the Crusades. They were not the brainchild of an ambitious pope or rapacious knights but a response to more than four centuries of conquests in which Muslims had already captured two-thirds of the old Christian world. At some point, Christianity as a faith and a culture had to defend itself or be subsumed by Islam. The Crusades were that defense.

Pope Urban II called upon the knights of Christendom to push back the conquests of Islam at the Council of Clermont in 1095. The response was tremendous. Many thousands of warriors took the vow of the cross and prepared for war. Why did they do it? The answer to that question has been badly misunderstood. In the wake of the Enlightenment, it was usually asserted that Crusaders were merely lacklands and ne’er-do-wells who took advantage of an opportunity to rob and pillage in a faraway land. The Crusaders’ expressed sentiments of piety, self-sacrifice, and love for God were obviously not to be taken seriously. They were only a front for darker designs.

During the past two decades, computer-assisted charter studies have demolished that contrivance. Scholars have discovered that crusading knights were generally wealthy men with plenty of their own land in Europe. Nevertheless, they willingly gave up everything to undertake the holy mission. Crusading was not cheap. Even wealthy lords could easily impoverish themselves and their families by joining a Crusade. They did so not because they expected material wealth (which many of them had already) but because they hoped to store up treasure where rust and moth could not corrupt. They were keenly aware of their sinfulness and eager to undertake the hardships of the Crusade as a penitential act of charity and love. Europe is littered with thousands of medieval charters attesting to these sentiments, charters in which these men still speak to us today if we will listen. Of course, they were not opposed to capturing booty if it could be had. But the truth is that the Crusades were notoriously bad for plunder. A few people got rich, but the vast majority returned with nothing.

The 4 Stages Of Islamic Conquest

2011-03-08T00:01:00.002-05:00

Step One: Infiltration

Muslims begin moving to non-Muslim countries in increasing numbers and the beginning of cultural conflicts are visible, though often subtle.

First migration wave to non-Muslim “host” country.
Appeal for humanitarian tolerance from the host society.
Attempts to portray Islam as a peaceful & Muslims as victims of misunderstanding and racism (even though Islam is not a ‘race’).
High Muslim birth rate in host country increase Muslim population.
Mosques used to spread Islam and dislike of host country & culture.
Calls to criminalize “Islamophobia” as a hate crime.
Threatened legal action for perceived discrimination.
Offers of “interfaith dialogue” to indoctrinate non-Muslims.

How many nations are suffering from Islamic infiltration? One? A handful? Nearly every nation? The Islamic ‘leadership” of the Muslim Brotherhood and others wish to dissolve each nation’s sovereignty and replace it with the global imposition of Islamic sharia law. Sharia law, based on the koran, sira and hadith, condemns liberty and forbids equality and is inconsistent with the laws of all Western nations. As the author and historian Serge Trifkovic states:

“The refusal of the Western elite class to protect their nations from jihadist infiltration is the biggest betrayal in history.”

Latin. And Why You Should Learn It.

2011-03-03T21:20:00.005-05:00

The world's major religions have their sacred languages -- Judaism with its Hebrew, Islam with Arabic, Hinduism with Sanskrit. Christianity is no different, and benefits from a sacred language's ability to unify all in the common liturgy as Christ desired that we be as one. Another benefit is that Latin, aside from at Vatican City, is considered a "dead language" whose words can't change meaning over time (though actually it's not a "dead language," strictly speaking; new words are added to keep up with technology and it is the official language of a country). But that it is not commonly used in a profane way is an exceedingly important fact in light of the problems of politicized language and the absolute importance of Truth.

Latin is, contrary to popular belief, still the language of the Church, and the documents of Vatican II require it to be retained for the Mass (Gregorian Chant, too, is to be not only retained, but given "pride of place"! See Vatican II's document, "Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy"; "Instruction on the Liturgy," Congregation of Rites, 16 October 1964; "Instruction on Music in the Sacred Liturgy," Sacred Congregation of Rites, 5 March 1967; "Iubilate Deo," Preface, Pope Paul VI, 14 April 1974; "General Instruction on the Roman Missal," Roman Missal, 1975, 3rd ed.; and "Fidelity to Doctrinal Foundations Must Guide All Liturgical Renewal," Address to US Bishops, 9 October 1998).

Sadly, we've lost much since the "reformers" with their "spirit of Vatican II" have tried to strip away our common language and cultural heritage. It used to be that a Catholic could go to Mass anywhere in the world -- China, India, Italy, Mexico, Australia -- and experience the same Mass in the same way. The American could look at the Chinese man in the pew next to him and know that both are "on the same page," hearing the Latin but each understanding in his own language. They might not be able to speak to each other after Mass, but both of them, during the liturgy, were participating in the same supernatural Sacrifice, praying with the angels in the same language and in a manner thousands of years old. If needed, each could have his Missal, the former his "Latin-English Missal," the latter his "Latin-Chinese Missal," and follow along. Now, in the Novus Ordo liturgy with its predominant abuses of Vatican II documents, the American and Chinese man would each have to have buy a different Missal for every parish he visited which had a different language than his own.

And consider a world where our priests are no longer trained solidly in the Latin language! Some will become Bishops and Cardinals. Some will have to meet in huge Councils with Bishops from other countries. Some will have to meet in Conclaves to elect the next Pope. How will the Bishops and Cardinals from Pakistan, the Netherlands, Malaysia, and Lichtenstein be able to even communicate to do the Church's business without a common language?

No, Pope Pius IX had it right when he said in Officiorum Omnium:

For the Church, precisely because it embraces all nations and is destined to endure until the end of time... of its very nature requires a language which is universal, immutable, and non-vernacular.

And so was Pope Pius XII, when he wrote in Mediator Dei:

The use of the Latin language prevailing in a great part of the Church affords at once an imposing sign of unity and an effective safeguard against the corruption of true doctrine.

Since even the documents of Vatican II have been ignored and Latin stripped from our liturgy, since dissidents have won a few generations and have denied us the luxury of growing up with our cultural birthright, we must make a conscious effort to reclaim our unifying heritage and pass it on to our children. Please, expose yourself and your children to Ecclesiastical Latin, to chant, to traditional hymns and Catholic art. Give yourself and your children what was denied to you and what makes life much more beautiful and rich. No layman is expected to make a huge study of Latin Grammar or to be able to carry on conversations in the language, but the ability to recognize a few basic prayers and phrases, to be able to recognize the Latin and chants of those parts of the Mass which never change -- these things are basic to our culture and bring on a flood of mental and emotional associations. Do your soul a favor and attend only the Traditional Latin Mass. Support the ancient liturgy at all times! And, by all means, encourage your children -- especially your sons -- to study Latin in school.

Also, next time you see our Bishop, ask him what he has against Latin.

And Tradition.

And the Old Mass.

And lacey vestments.

And altar boys.

And Gregorian Chant.

And communion on the tongue.

And veiling the chalice.

And, oh you get the point.

Islam's Top Ten List

2011-03-03T12:59:00.002-05:00

Ten Obvious Reasons Why
Islam is NOT a Religion of Peace

#1 14,000 deadly terror attacks committed explicitly in the name of Islam in just the last eight years. (Other religions combined for perhaps a dozen or so).

#2 Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, had people killed for insulting him or criticizing his religion. This included women. Muslims are told to emulate the example of Muhammad.

#3 Muhammad said in many places that he has been "ordered by Allah to fight men until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is his messenger." In the last nine years of his life, he ordered no less than 65 military campaigns to do exactly that.

Muhammad inspired his men to war with the basest of motives, using captured loot, sex and a gluttonous paradise as incentives. He beheaded captives, enslaved children and raped women captured in battle. Again, Muslims are told to emulate the example of Muhammad.

#4 After Muhammad died, the people who lived with him, and knew his religion best, immediately fell into war with each other.

Fatima, Muhammad's favorite daughter, survived the early years at Mecca safe and sound, yet died of stress from the persecution of fellow Muslims only six months after her father died.

Fatima's husband Ali, who was the second second convert to Islam and was raised like a son to Muhammad, fought a civil war against an army raised by Aisha, Muhammad's favorite wife - and one whom he had said was a "perfect woman." 10,000 Muslims were killed in a single battle, waged less than 25 years after Muhammad's death.

Three of the first four Muslim rulers (caliphs) were murdered. All of them were among Muhammad's closest companions. The third caliph was killed by allies of the son of the first (who was murdered by the fifth caliph a few years later, then wrapped in the skin of a dead donkey and burned). The fourth caliph (Ali) was stabbed to death after a bitter dispute with the fifth. The fifth caliph went on to poison one of Muhammad's two favorite grandsons. The other grandson was later beheaded by the sixth caliph.

The infighting and power struggles between Muhammad's family members, closest companions and their children only intensified with time. Within 50 short years of Muhammad's death, even the Kaaba, which had stood for centuries under pagan religion, lay in ruins from internal Muslim war...

And that's just the fate of those within the house of Islam!

#5 Muhammad directed Muslims to wage war on other religions and bring them under submission to Islam. Within the first few decades following his death, his Arabian companions invaded and conquered Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and Zoroastrian lands.

A mere 25 years after Muhammad's death, Muslim armies had captured land and people within the borders of over 28 modern countries outside of Saudi Arabia.

#6 Muslims continued their Jihad against other religions for 1400 years, checked only by the ability of non-Muslims to defend themselves. To this day, not a week goes by that Islamic fundamentalists do not attempt to kill Christians, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists explicitly in the name of Allah.

None of these other religions are at war with each other.

#7 Islam is the only religion that has to retain its membership by threatening to kill anyone who leaves. This is according to the example set by Muhammad.

#8 Islam teaches that non-Muslims are less than fully human. Muhammad said that Muslims can be put to death for murder, but that a Muslim could never be put to death for killing a non-Muslim.

#9 The Qur'an never once speaks of Allah's love for non-Muslims, but it speaks of Allah's cruelty toward and hatred of non-Muslims more than 500 times.

#10 "Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!"
(The last words from the cockpit of Flight 93)

Thanks to our friends at www.thereligionofpeace.com

Update On The Disgrace

2011-02-24T18:25:00.002-05:00

Here's a video of baby Joseph obviously responding to stimulation, proving the helpless baby boy is not in a vegetative state.

Disgrace in Canada

2011-02-24T11:12:00.004-05:00

Absolutely terrible. And this is what Herr Obama has given us. Pray for this family and their baby boy.

Let me say as the father of a healthy 13 month old boy, that I would be making my last stand right next to my son, shotgun in hand if some judge 'ordered' me to consent to his murder.

Appeal to your congressmen and Senators to repeal Obamacare before this travesty happens to you or someone you love.

The parents of a Canadian boy ordered off life support by government health officials have been denied a request to transfer the 13-month-old to the Children’s Hospital of Michigan.

London Health Sciences Centre in Ontario, Canada, was advised Thursday by the Michigan hospital that the boy would not be transferred.

Moe Maraachli and his wife, Sana Nader, of Windsor, Ontario, wanted the Michigan hospital to perform a tracheotomy on their son Joseph, who is currently kept alive by a respirator. The boy suffers from a rare, progressive neurological disease which, Canadian doctors say, has left him in a vegetative state beyond recovery.

The Children’s Hospital of Michigan told Fox News it is not “commenting on any matters surrounding the case.”

Joseph’s parents believed that if the Detroit hospital had accepted the child and conducted the operation, in which doctors would place a breathing tube in his windpipe, he could be cared for at home.

Canadian health care allocation officials already ruled that Joseph had to be taken off life support and allowed to die in the hospital. A Canadian judge then ruled that Maraachli had to give his consent to having the breathing tube removed by Monday. He refused.

Maraachli says turning off life support could cause his son to choke and suffocate. He told Fox News on Wednesday that the doctors at London Health Sciences Centre have said the “best treatment” is to “let him die… I don’t know what kind of treatment that [is].”

The family believes this procedure will allow Joseph to breathe on his own, and thereby be able to go home and likely die there.

Doctors are now asking the Canadian government to allow them to remove the breathing tube without the family’s consent. The Ontario hospital contends that a tracheotomy would be painful for the boy, despite their argument that Joseph is in a vegetative state.

Officials at the Ontario hospital appeared to be cooperating with the transfer request and sent Joseph’s full medical record to Children’s Hospital of Michigan on Monday.

“Our focus at this time is supporting the family by providing compassionate and dignified care, and comfort to both the patient and his parents,” the hospital said on its website.

Fox News' Molly Hennenberg contributed to this report.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/02/24/canadian-family-life-support-battle-denied-request-hospital-transfer/#ixzz1EtTDy5G3

Prayers Please

2011-02-23T06:53:00.002-05:00

Going to a funeral for a family member this morning. Prayers for his soul would be greatly appreciated.

Bet you a paczki I will not hear the term "Purgatory" uttered once today.

Réquiescat in pace.

2011-02-21T13:40:00.002-05:00

"Of all human evils death is the most grievous, by which human life is destroyed...". -- St. Thomas Aquinas, Compendium Theologiae, lib. 1 cap. 227

We've had a death in the family, and I ask for your prayers for this good man's soul.

Grant, O God, that while we lament the departure of this Thy servant, we may always remember that we are most certainly to follow him. And give us grace to prepare for that last hour by a good life, that we may not be surprised by a sudden and unprovided death, but be ever watching, that, when Thou callest, we may, with the Bridegroom, enter into eternal glory: through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The "3P's"

2011-02-21T13:30:00.003-05:00

I like to try to keep people up to date on the goings on across the nation when time permits, and some blaring info has been receiving my attention for sometime now.

The shortage of food and the rise in food prices. In America.

Prepare now to take care of your families in times of crisis should this become more than an inconvenience. Some of you will be able to absorb the extra costs, but some of you will not.

According to Mark McLoran of Agro-Terra, the Earth’s population is currently growing by 70-80 million people per year. Between 2000 and 2012, the earth’s population will jump from six billion to seven billion. We’re expected to add another billion people by 2024. So demand for food is growing… and it’s growing fast.

However, supply is falling. Up until the 1960s, mankind dealt with increased food demand by increasing farmland. However, starting in the ‘60s we began trying to meet demand by increasing yield via fertilizers, irrigation, and better seed. It worked for a while (McLoran notes that between 1975 and 1986 yields for wheat and rice rose 32% and 51% respectively).

However, in the last two decades, these techniques have stopped producing increased yields due to their deleterious effects: you can’t spray fertilizer and irrigate fields ad infinitum without damaging the land, which reduces yields. McLoran points out that from 1970 to 1990, global average aggregate yield grew by 2.2% a year. It has since declined to only 1.1% a year. And it’s expected to fall even further this decade.

Thus, since the ‘60s we’ve added roughly three billion people to the planet. But we’ve actually seen a decrease in food output. Indeed, worldwide arable land per person has essentially halved from 0.42 hectares per person in 1961 to 0.23 hectares per person in 2002.

It’s also worth noting that diets have changed dramatically in the last 30 years.

For example, in 1985 the average Chinese consumer ate 44 pounds of meat per year. Today, it’s more than doubled to 110 pounds. That in of itself is impressive, but when you consider that it takes 17 pounds of grain to generate one pound of beef, you begin to see how grain demand can rise exponentially to population growth with even modest changes to diet.

Make no mistake, agriculture is at the beginning of a major multi-year bull market. We’ve got rapidly growing demand, reduced production, and decade low inventories.

This is an absolute recipe for disaster.

Time to utilize the "3P's".

Prayer. Penance. Prepare. Rinse and repeat.

Ordain Women!

2011-02-07T19:43:00.002-05:00

That's what the buses in London will read when Pope Benedict visits this September. The kicker to this whole thing, is that these Pagan yahoos claim to loyal to the Pope!

From Reuters
Pope Benedict will be confronted by posters on London's famous red buses during his trip to the British capital next month which will call for the ordination of women priests.

Protests are planned throughout his four-day trip to England and Scotland, the first papal visit since John Paul II's pastoral visit in 1982 and the first-ever official papal visit to Britain.
One group of women, Catholic Women's Ordination (CWO), will have its message plastered on the side of the buses as they travel along key routes, including past Westminster Hall, at the Palace of Westminster, where the pope is set to deliver a speech to Britain's civic society on September 17.
The group has paid 15,000 pounds ($23,130) for 15 buses to carry the message "Pope Benedict - Ordain Women Now!" for a month.
"We do not want to be disruptive, but I think the church has got to change or it will not survive," CWO spokeswoman Pat Brown told Reuters.
"I am quite hopeful at the moment because I think the church is in disarray."
It also hopes to protest outside Lambeth Palace during a meeting between the pope and Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, spiritual head of the Church of England, the Anglican mother church.
Set up in 1993, the CWO describes itself as loyal to the Roman Catholic Church, campaigning from within for inclusivity and the ordination of women.
It was angered by a Vatican document last month which mentioned the ordination of women amid sweeping revisions of its laws against child sex abuse. The Vatican later denied accusations it viewed the two issues as equally criminal.
The CWO has also launched a group "Catholic Voices for Reform" to coincide with the pope's visit to counter "Catholic Voices," a media-friendly group which has the backing of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.
They will go head-to-head on controversial matters such as child abuse, women's ordination, married priests, homosexuality and the way the church is run.
CWO will not be taking part in the main demonstration against the pope's visit, which is being organized under the umbrella banner "Protest the Pope," which includes humanists, secularists and gay rights campaigners.
Tens of thousands of Catholics are expected to attend the three major public events in Glasgow, London and Birmingham, with many lining the streets to greet the pope in his Popemobile.
(Editing by Steve Addison)

Latin Mass Seminar!

2011-01-27T20:55:00.005-05:00

What are you doing February 19th? Nothing yet? Good. Cuz you're gonna want to be sure you are at Saint Michael's on Jackson Street in Scranton from 10-3.

Why? The super fellows from the Knights of Columbus Council 14s29 are sponsoring a seminar on the Latin Mass, which includes several presentations on the Mass, a Missa Cantata, and lunch.

So if you've had questions about the Traditional form of the Mass, this would be a great start for you. I'll have more as the date approaches, but be sure to mark your calendars now!

Greetings and Salutations!

2011-01-14T16:22:00.002-05:00

I must apologize to my readers for not updating the blog over the past two months. I hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas, and are turning your thoughts to the approach of Lent.

I have been trying with some success to get a business up and running, and with the children and my full time job besides, I have barely time to eat my meatloaf let alone blog! lol!

Keep me in your prayers, I have need of them currently, and rest assured you all are in mine. I will resume the blog shortly, but perhaps not until Lent.

In the meantime, I see where our well-meaning Bishop has asked for your ideas about the Diocese. I have a few. And I'm gonna let them know. I suggest you do the same.

God Bless!

Muslims Attack Iraq Catholic Church - 52 Dead

2010-11-01T12:37:00.004-04:00

I ask you all to offer your prayers for the 52 dead including 2 priests and at least one child at Our Lady Of Deliverance Catholic Church in Iraq. Muslims attacked the church and took the congregation hostage. The church was stormed by the Iraqi Security Forces, by the time the smoke cleared, there were 52 dead, 56 wounded.

We recognize the continued attacks on Christians in the Middle East as an attempt to remove the Church of Christ from the Middle East, and they intend to do so by killing or terrorizing the Christian population to the point that they leave their homelands.

From the Catholic News Service:

Syrian Catholic Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan was in Canada when the blasts occurred. In an e-mail to Catholic News Service Nov. 1 while he was en route to Baghdad, he criticized the lack of security for Christian places of worship and called on "Iraqi parties to overcome their personal and confessional interests and look for the good of the Iraqi people who have elected them."

"There are a few churches and Christian institutions left in Baghdad, not so great a number that it is not unreasonable for them to be protected, security-wise," he said, noting that the security being provided by the government is "far less than what we have hoped for and requested."

"Christians are slaughtered in Iraq, in their homes and churches, and the so-called 'free' world is watching in complete indifference, interested only in responding in a way that is politically correct and economically opportune, but in reality is hypocritical," said the patriarch, who served as bishop of the New Jersey-based Syrian-rite diocese in the United States and Canada from 1995 until his election as patriarch in 2009.

The patriarch demanded "that the U.S. Congress, the United Nations, the International Commission for Civil Rights and the League of Arabic States" condemn the actions at the church and "take the appropriate action to defend innocent Christians brutally singled out because of their religion, in Iraq and some other Middle Eastern countries."

Pope Benedict was less forceful in his remarks, asking that people of good will to act together for peace in the Middle East.

What do you think?

A Call To The Faithful

2010-10-22T09:29:00.004-04:00

Thanks to Mr. Vacula (of all people!) for pointing this article out to me. A very fine article on a hit piece done on Archbishop Nienstedt for promoting Catholic teaching and for calling on Catholics to be 100% authentic Catholics, which is a constant theme of this blog. It also delves into the paganistic world in which we live today and how society is regressing not progressing as they claim.

Check it out

There is a concerted effort to paint those who adhere to faithful, classical, orthodox Christianity and, most particularly, faithful Catholic Christianity, as "backward." The Christian understanding of marriage and family is not some outdated notion of a past era but the framework for a future of true freedom. It is courageous Bishops like Archbishop John Nienstedt who are paving the path to authentic progress.