It's Rosary Month!

Some Catholics may know that October is the month dedicated to the Holy Rosary. Pope Leo XIII made it so.

Nor are you only spectators of the difficulty of the situation, but your charity, like Ours, is keenly wounded; for it is one of the most painful and grievous sights to see so many souls, redeemed by the blood of Christ, snatched from salvation by the whirlwind of an age of error, precipitated into the abyss of eternal death. Our need of divine help is as great today as when the great Dominic introduced the use of the Rosary of Mary as a balm for the wounds of his contemporaries.

That great saint indeed, divinely enlightened, perceived that no remedy would be more adapted to the evils of his time than that men should return to Christ, who "is the way, the truth, and the life," by frequent meditation on the salvation obtained for Us by Him, and should seek the intercession with God of that Virgin, to whom it is given to destroy all heresies. He therefore so composed the Rosary as to recall the mysteries of our salvation in succession, and the subject of meditation is mingled and, as it were, interlaced with the Angelic salutation and with the prayer addressed to God, the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. We, who seek a remedy for similar evils, do not doubt therefore that the prayer introduced by that most blessed man with so much advantage to the Catholic world, will have the greatest effect in removing the calamities of our times also. Not only do We earnestly exhort all Christians to give themselves to the recital of the pious devotion of the Rosary publicly, or privately in their own house and family, and that unceasingly, but we also desire that the whole of the month of October in this year should be consecrated to the Holy Queen of the Rosary. We decree and order that in the whole Catholic world, during this year, the devotion of the Rosary shall be solemnly celebrated by special and splendid services. From the first day of next October, therefore, until the second day of the November following, in every parish and, if the ecclesiastical authority deem it opportune and of use, in every chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin -- let five decades of the Rosary be recited with the addition of the Litany of Loreto. We desire that the people should frequent these pious exercises; and We will that either Mass shall be said at the altar, or that the Blessed Sacrament shall be exposed to the adoration of the faithful, Benediction being afterwards given with the Sacred Host to the pious congregation. We highly approve of the confraternities of the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin going in procession, following ancient custom, through the town, as a public demonstration of their devotion. And in those places where this is not possible, let it be replaced by more assiduous visits to the churches, and let the fervor of piety display itself by a still greater diligence in the exercise of the Christian virtues.

-Supremi Apostalatus Officio, no. 7&8

The Neon Mysteries

In another post I wrote that Pope John Paul II had "screwed around with the Rosary".

To understand my statement, one must view from a scholarly standpoint what the Rosary actually is. There are those who rightly say that the Rosary is a part of the small "t" tradition of the Church, and therefore can be changed. That doesn't mean to say that it should be changed.

What I mean by this is that while I feel smoking my pipe and wearing my kilt and having picnics are all fine to do, I shouldn't do these things in Church because they are wildly inappropriate. The same goes for changing the Rosary.

If JPII wanted the faithful to meditate on the public ministry of Jesus Christ, there are better ways to do so rather than changing traditions. But as has been poined out by a regular reader, the Pope is well within his rights to do so.

But.

The Pope is also the defender of the Catholic Church and its Traditions and traditions. He also has the duty to hand down the unadulterated Faith to others.

So now let's look at the Rosary's history a bit.

Way back in the day, the faithful prayed all 150 psalms. (Try getting some Catholics today to pray one decade of the Rosary...!) As we move into the Middle Ages, people had trouble learning all the psalms, and they longed for a way to do it, so at some point to help these folks, the tradition began of saying 150 Pater Nosters, and in time it eventually became 150 Ave Maria's.

This tradition of saying 150 Ave Maria's was already well under way for hundreds of years by the time Saint Dominic Gusman came along and was told by the Blessed Mother at the church at Prouille "Wonder not that you have obtained so little fruit by your labors, you have spent them on barren soil, not yet watered with the dew of Divine Grace. When GOD willed to renew the face of the earth, He began by sending down on it the fertilizing rain of the Angelic Salutation. Therefore preach my Psalter composed of 150 Angelic Salutations and 15 Our Fathers, and you will obtain an abundant harvest".

It was thereafter known as Our Lady's Psalter. "Psalter" because as I explained, the Rosary is modeled off of the Breviary, with it's 150 Ave Maria's in place of the 150 Psalms. But when John Paul the Innovator decided to add mysteries to the Rosary, by adding 50 Ave's, the whole structure of the traditional Rosary is screwed up.

Hence, JPII screwed with the Rosary. If you don't like my choice of words, remember it could have been much worse.

So we can see that now with the new mysteries suggested by JPII, we have 200 Ave's instead of the traditional 150. But this is no great surprise, for in this great time of Catholic awakening since Vatican II, priests and religious don't even say the 150 psalms anymore because the VII genuises omitted some of the psalms in the newer form of the Breviary.

So, let's get back to small "t" traditions in the post Vatican II era and changing the Rosary. History has shown that whenever the Novus Ordites want to attack capital "T" Tradition, they always go after the small "t" traditions, and during our post Vatican II springtime we have seen it time and again. They went after Latin, Chant, the Mass (!), the Eucharistic fast, Communion on the tongue, Communion kneeling, they removed Prime from the Breviary for whatever reason, they instituted altar girls and EMHC's, they allowed women in the Sanctuary, and they threw out saints because they claimed there wasn't enough proof they existed.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

When you attack traditions, you attack the Traditions handed down by the Apostles themselves, and you breakdown traditional devotion and piety. When you change traditions you change the religion. If you don't think that is the case, have a look around at the havoc that has been wrought in the Church the last forty years.

And that true believers, is why changing the Rosary is a bad idea.

Ok?

Queering The Rosary

If John Paul II hadn't screwed around with the Rosary to begin with, I'm sure this type of thing never could have been imagined.

But of course homosexuals have a history of doing things that never could have been imagined before, so who knows?

This sickens me, especially that these colon cowboys take Mary's Psalter of all things and twist it to their own wicked ends. Our Blessed Mother gave us the Holy Rosary to meditate on the lives of Jesus and Mary and they pervert it, just like they pervert everything else they touch. I just don't know what to say.

From California Catholic Daily

When Oakland’s Bishop Salvatore Cordileone visited Berkeley’s Jesuit School of Theology at the Graduate Theological Union on September 22, he was greeted by approximately 20 protestors. The protestors were seminarians and faculty from the theological union’s schools. The bishop was there to commemorate the merging of the Jesuit school with Santa Clara University. The protesters were there to oppose Bishop Cordileone for his defense of natural marriage.

According to the QueerToday.com website, protestors included Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, president of the Starr King (Unitarian Universalist) School of Ministry; Rev. Roland Stringfellow, the organizer of the GTU’s Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies; Rev. Sanna Reinholtzen, a Lutheran minister; and graduate student Eugene McMullan, apparently a Catholic.

According to the Bay Area Reporter, Mr. McMullan is the founder of Catholics for Marriage Equality. There is more than one organization with that name; presumably they mean the one in the bay area. On August 13, the BAR published an article called “Pray for Equality Outside St. Mary‘s.“ The article began: “The recently formed Catholics for Marriage Equality will be holding a prayer vigil outside St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco Saturday, August 15, which is the feast of the Assumption. Organizer Eugene McMullan noted that on the Assumption, the Catholic Church celebrates Mary being bodily raised into heaven. Catholics for Marriage Equality will be praying the rosary while contemplating the Relational Mysteries.”

Many Catholics, even devout ones, may be excused for never having heard of the “Relational Mysteries.” That’s because they exist nowhere except on the agenda of homosexual activists. According to the June 2009 issue of “Impact“, the international newsletter of the Metropolitan Community Church, under the heading “Queering the Rosary,” the “relational mysteries” were devised by Mr. McMullan.

A crystal-clear description of purpose of the “Relational Mysteries” was given in the online calendar of the New Spirit/MCC Church in Berkeley. The entry was for an event held on Sunday, May 31, 2009, and reads: “GTU doctoral student Eugene McMullan and Reverend Jim Mitulski will lead a two part class on "Praying the Queer Rosary," based on stories from the bible which depict Queer Families or Relationships. The class will include a brief history of the rosary, introduction to Catholic devotions, sharing of stories, and praying together.”

The MCC is an overtly homosexual activist church; that was its founding purpose, so it is not surprising to see such an event held there. Unfortunately, the homosexual activists have managed to introduce the “relational mysteries” into at least one Catholic parish as well. The September 13 web bulletin of Berkeley’s Newman Hall - Holy Spirit Parish announces: “Praying the Rosary in solidarity with LGBT Catholics. Join us Sept. 17, 7:30-9:00 p.m. in the lounge as we explore the Relational Mysteries: Fidelity—Ruth's pledge to Naomi (Ruth 1:16-18); Grief—The parting of David and Jonathan (I Sam 20:35-42); Intercession—Esther intercedes for her people (Est 4:9-5:2); Restoration—the raising of Lazarus (John 11:38-44); and Discipleship—the two encounter Christ on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). The group will be co-facilitated by Mike Campos and Eugene McMullan, Ph.D. students at the Graduate Theological Union.”

One may ask just how these biblical events fit in to the homoactivist agenda. The process is defined as “eisegesis” (the interpretation of a text by reading into it one's own ideas) as opposed to “exegesis,” and it seems to be an ecumenical practice among religious homosexual activists. For example, the relationship between Ruth and Naomi will be interpreted as a lesbian one. The relationship between Saul, David, and Jonathon was interpreted by Episcopal Reverend John Kirkley, one of the nominees to be the next Episcopal suffragan bishop of Los Angeles, as a “Biblical Love Triangle.” The raising of Lazarus was the subject of a homily at San Francisco’s Most Holy Redeemer by Fr. Donal Godfrey, the executive director of University Ministry at USF. He titled his homily “The Call to Come Out.”

Pray for the unborn!

Memphis, Tenn., Mar 28, 2008 / 03:29 am (CNA).- The Saint Michael the Archangel Organization is attempting to organize one million people in the United States to pray the Rosary for unborn babies on Saturday, May 3.

Organizers of the prayer event, called One Million Rosaries for Unborn Babies, are asking participants to pray during the same 60-minute time span, beginning at 9 a.m. Eastern Time.

Patrick Benedict, President of the Saint Michael the Archangel Organization, said, "The primary way to stop the killing of unborn babies is not by way of politics and is not by way of education."

“The person battling the ‘Culture of Death’ is primarily in a spiritual battle and needs to use spiritual weaponry,” he continued.

“The Rosary is a powerful spiritual weapon, and I hope there will be at least one million people in the United States taking hold of their Rosaries on May 3.”

The organization is asking Pope Benedict XVI to re-establish the practice of offering prayers such as the Hail Mary and the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel after Mass. The organization also asks that these prayers be offered for the intention of ending the surgical and non-surgical killing of unborn babies.

Participants can register for the event at www.SaintMichaelTheArchangelOrganization.org