Vatican makes statement on appointment of Bishop of Osorno, Chile

It seems that Rome has decided to speak:

(Vatican Radio) The vice-director of the Holy See Press Office, Father Ciro Benedettini, has issued the following statement concerning the nomination of Bishop Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid as Bishop of Osorno, Chile:

"Prior to the recent appointment of His Excellency Msgr. Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid as bishop of Osorno, Chile, the Congregation for Bishops carefully examined the prelate’s candidature and did not find objective reasons to preclude the appointment."

Roma locuta, causa finita est.

Terri Schinder - May our sister rest in the peace of Christ our Lord

The events of ten years ago today are not far from me. Terri Schiavo died ten years ago today; correction, Terri was murdered ten years ago today by her estranged husband, supported by the courts of the State of Florida and that of the United States of America. 

At the time, my own mother was 89 and she would die 18 months later. I cared for my mother in my home until the day she died with assistance from my sister and paid caregivers. I will never regret the sacrifice made out of love. The Schindler family never had that opportunity. It was taken away from them along with the life of their daughter. Nightly, we would watch the drama unfolding on Fox or EWTN, the drama of a murder taking place live while most went about their business and cared not.

The Bishop of the diocese where Terri and the family resided failed in his moral duty. Matt C. Abbott includes in his column today the letter sent from Terri's brother to Bishop Lynch. This is the same Bishop Lynch who, in January 2015 said; “Therefore, I do not wish to lend our voice to notions which might suggest that same-sex couples are a threat incapable of sharing relationships marked by love and holiness and, thus, incapable of contributing to the edification of both the church and the wider society."

Blindness in one area leads to blindness in many.

Terri's brother Bobby has laboured for this past decade building the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network. Bobby Schindler pens a poignant recollection at Lifenews. Included is an artists rendition of what the beautiful woman above looked like on the last day of her life according to his memory. 

A few days later the world would watch another death and another example of suffering. 

Both of them were redemptive. 

Cardinal Sins

The example of true humility and mercy by a kind and humble prelate

The sad and vile commentary in some secular media and a Catholic newspaper in the United States today using "Catholic" in their title against the order of two bishops stands in direct contrast to the real Cardinal Burke who is, in fact, a gentle and prayerful and humble pastor. The St. Louis Dispatch picked up on the article. I do not suggest reading it as the commentators are from the pit of Hell and it is not much better at the so-called "Catholic" paper. 

The criticisms are based on the an interview published in LifeSiteNews a few days ago. The Cardinal is correct. Someone who commits murder cannot be absolved of it by giving to a food bank or being nice. It is mortal sin. Sodomy and adultery are also mortal sin. Neither can they be absolved by being nice to puppies.

Let us pray for Cardinal Burke. He is a giant of a man and yet as gentle as a dove. He is the true example of masculinity in the priesthood and humility amongst prelates. Others in Rome should learn from him. Thank you Cardinal Burke for your steadfastness in the faith.

When the news of the rumours of the removal of Raymond Cardinal Burke from the Apostolic Signature broke a few months ago, I wrote the recollection of a story in The Lion of Rome. Published in Celebrate Life Magazine, it was originally titled "Coming Out of Sodom" and was written in 2011 based on the author's actual conversion in 1998 in La Crosse. 

Here is the story now since removed from the magazine; I have not published the man's name.

***

For 12 years, my life was centered on same-sex relations. I lived it: the nightlife, the drugs and the impurities. Now, because of my good bishop, I am Catholic and happy. As best as I can determine, my same-sex attraction began in reaction to my father, who was a violent alcoholic. He often drank, came home to throw things around the house and abuse my mother in addition to threatening me and my brother. I thought he hated us. Consequently, I didn't want to be anything like him.

In my sorrow, I started looking for the love of my father in the arms of other men. At age 17, a predator took advantage of me under the teacher/pupil dynamic and I became completely mixed up about human sexuality. Over the years, one thing led to another until I moved in with a man more than 20 years my senior.

Before we go any further, it is important to realize a major cause of same-sex attraction disorder. As a former insider of the community, I can tell you that the so-called gay rights/abortion rights coalition is a proximate result of the contraceptive mentality which was predicted 40 years ago by Pope Paul VI in Humanae Vitae. People abusing one another as sexual objects brought about a mainstream culture of death that tolerates and advocates all kinds of adultery and child abuse, including abortion. This selfish mentality also led to human embryonic stem cell research and euthanasia.

Return to my Father

From 1990 to 1994, I went to Mass off and on. In 1995, I told my "partner" that I couldn't go anymore because I was very angry with the Church. I boxed up all my crucifixes and Bibles and dropped them off at the office of the bishop of La Crosse, Wisconsin with a letter renouncing the Catholic faith.

To my surprise, Bishop Raymond Burke replied with a kind letter expressing his sadness. He wrote that he would respect my decision and notify the parish where I had been baptized. Ever so gently, Bishop Burke said that he would pray for me and look forward to the time when I would reconcile with the Church.

As one of Wisconsin's most outspoken "gay" activists, I thought, "What arrogance!" Then I replied to Bishop Burke with a letter accusing him of harassment. I told him that his letters were unwelcome and I asked how he could dare to write to me.

My efforts failed to put him off. Bishop Burke sent one more letter assuring me that he wouldn't write again — but if I should want to reconcile with the Church, he would welcome me back with open arms.

Indeed, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit never gave up on me. Within a few years, I spoke to a good priest, who intensely added to Bishop Burke's prayers every day in August 1998.

On August 14, the feast of Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe and the vigil of our Blessed Mother's Assumption, divine mercy penetrated my soul at a Chinese restaurant — of all places. Little did I know as I entered that restaurant with my "companion" of over eight years that the Lord would seize me that very afternoon and bring me to another place outside of Sodom, to the very judgment seat of His healing mercy, the holy Sacrament of Penance.

The priest I had consulted was there. As I gazed across the room at him, an inner voice spoke to my heart. It was gentle, radiant and clear inside my soul. The voice told me, "This priest is an image of what you can still become, if you will only return to Me."

On the way home, I solemnly told my companion, "I need to return to the Catholic Church." Although he was tearful, he lovingly responded, "Eric, I've known that for a long time. Do what you need to do in order to be happy. I knew all along that this day would come."

Next, I called Bishop Burke's office. His secretary knew me well by then, so I told her that I wanted Bishop Burke to be the first to know that I was returning to the Church — that I was preparing for the Sacrament of Penance. She asked me to hold. When she returned, she announced that Bishop Burke wanted to schedule a meeting.

Afterwards, I confessed my sins to a local, humble, devout Catholic pastor of souls and received absolution.

As an essential part of my recovery, a good Catholic family gave me shelter until I could find my own home.

A month after my reconciliation to God and the Church, I went to Bishop Burke's office, where he embraced me. He asked if I remembered the belongings I had turned over to him with my letter of renunciation. Of course I remembered and Bishop Burke had saved them in the diocesan archives because he believed that I would return.

For two years, I wondered if the mystical message meant that I was supposed to become a priest. Finally, I realized that I was not called to the priesthood. After all, the Vatican rules that men who have a well-established inclination to homosexuality may not be admitted to Holy Orders or monastic communities. Rather, the priest I saw at the restaurant was an image of what I could become — faithful and holy through the sacraments. Like all persons — single, married and religious — I am called to chastity. It is enough for me to try and get to heaven. Therefore, I strive to faithfully live the single vocation.

Ever since my mystical experience, I rejoice because of Raymond Burke, now the prelate of Saint Louis, Missouri. While some malign Archbishop Burke for his fidelity to God, Church and all souls, I say that he is a true shepherd of the faithful and a present-day Athanasius. I tell you that he remains a mentor and an inspiration to me. Although my own biological father rejected me, Archbishop Burke became my spiritual father by lovingly representing our Father in heaven. Like the Divine Persons of the Holy Trinity, Archbishop Burke was and is absolutely faithful to me.

The key to happiness

Despite the blessing of Archbishop Burke and priests like him, I want to stress that there are others who lead souls away from eternal life and happiness.

For example, when I recently went to confession, a priest told me something that is both a contradistinction from and a contradiction of the truth that Archbishop Burke taught me.

The apostate priest told me:

You're gay and the Church calls us to accept our sexuality. I am an ethicist — a scholar. And the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is very close to this position — and this is the position — am I going too fast for you? If you are attracted to members of the same sex, that is natural for you. And for you to deny that and resist that is to go against natural law. I believe, as an ethicist, that you can have a male roommate and be intimate — of course without genital expression. But if you do slip in that regard, it would not be a mortal sin.

This is the type of advice that convinced me to leave the Church. I heard it all too often from Protestants and various Catholic priests during the 1980s. I heard every heresy about sexuality and our Lord. Today, since I am separated from the "gay community," I only hear such heresies from older priests in their fifties and sixties, but not priests in their forties or younger. Bad bishops and bad priests have led so many people astray about same-sex attraction alone. Yet there is no new gospel or scholarship and this spiritual malpractice must end.

As someone who suffered in the state of mortal sin for many years, I assure you that there is no happiness outside of the moral order. The only authentic response to the challenge of same-sex attraction and sin is the truth in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

In addition to God's teachings and grace, there is visible help on earth. For those who suffer from same-sex attraction, Father John Harvey established the Courage Apostolate and Encourage, which ministers to their families and friends. It is endorsed by the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family. Through Courage, strugglers find the support and healthy friendships necessary to holiness and happiness, a way fully consonant with the culture of life. See more about Courage retreats, conferences and resources at www.couragerc.net or call its New York City office at the Church of Saint John the Baptist, 212-268-1010.

"The voice of the faithful must sound the alarm"

www.fatherpaulnicholson.com

Vatican embraces Masonic-Marxist environmentalist "Earth Hour"

To counter these communists and lying Freemasons in the Vatican the Vox homestead shall be lit up for the hour inside and out.

I just can't wait for that Environmental Manifesto, I mean, Encyclical.

Meanwhile, Asia Bibi remains on death row in Pakistan.

St Peter's Basilica to go dark for Earth Hour

St Peter's Basilica - EPA

28/03/2015 14:21

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(Vatican Radio) St Peter’s Basilica will go dark for one hour Saturday evening, joining once again the international "Earth Hour" effort to raise awareness about climate change. 

The annual initiative, which began in 2007, invites cities around the world to turn off the lights on their national monuments and public buildings, as well as in offices, shops and homes, to help raise awareness about the need to adopt more environmentally sound practices.

Earth Hour is being observed 28 March in major cities across the world, from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30, local time in each country. This year in Rome, the Great Synagogue and the Great Mosque will join the initiative for the first time.

Kasper's heresy and the Pope's fawning - Shall we, "Chiacchierare?"

Every once in a while something comes along that puts many pieces of the puzzle together.

Remember these words?

"In these days, I have been able to read a book by a cardinal—Cardinal Kasper, a talented theologian, a good theologian—on mercy. And it did me such good, that book, but don't think that I'm publicizing the books of my cardinals. That is not the case! But it did me such good, so much good ... Cardinal Kasper said that hearing the word mercy changes everything." [1]

The book in question is the one by Cardinal Kasper who brought to the fore the scandal at the Synod on the Family. It is from where those that worked to manipulate the Synod in an adulterist and homosexualist conspiracy to undermine the faith and defame the Holy Eucharist found their footing and leadership

Now we read that Pope Francis is upset about "gossip and chatter." I dare say that there is a lot more that he should be upset about and it begins with the man whom he praised.

In 1967, this same German Kasper said:

"The God who is enthroned over the world and history as a changeless being is an offence to man. One must deny him for man’s sake, because he claims for himself the dignity and honour that belong by right to man…. We must resist this God, however, not only for man’s sake, but also for God’s sake. He is not the true God at all, but rather a wretched idol. For a God who is only alongside of and above history, who is not himself history, is a finite God. If we call such a being God, then for the sake of the Absolute we must become absolute atheists. Such a God springs from a rigid worldview; he is the guarantor of the status quo and the enemy of the new." [2]

In this same book that the Pope has praised, Kasper writes more carefully:

"On the basis of its metaphysical starting point, dogmatic theology has difficulty speaking of a compassionate God. It has to exclude the possibility that God suffers with his creatures in a passive sense; it can only speak of pity and mercy, in the active sense that God opposes the suffering of his creatures and provides them assistance. The question that remains is whether this satisfactorily corresponds to the biblical understanding of God, who suffers with his creatures, who as misericors has a heart with the poor and for the poor. Can a God who is conceived so apathetically be really sympathetic? Pastorally, this conception of God is a catastrophe. For a so abstractly conceived God appears to most people to be very distant from their personal situation." [3]

The Pope has thrown his papacy and our lives as Catholics in with this masonic and modernist heretic. What kind of plot is this? Did the Pope not know this about these statements by Kasper before he praised him? Surely he knows it now.

The praise given by the Holy Father to this book did not go unnoticed. Kasper himself shared a revealing anecdote during a public interview at Fordham University in May 2014. He related that after Pope Francis had publicly praised his book an “older cardinal” had insisted: "Holy Father, you should not recommend this book! There are many heresies in it!" The Pope smiled as he told Kasper the story, and reassured him "It goes in one ear and out the other!"[4]

Will Pope Francis now distance himself from Kasper for the sake of Christ's faithful? 

Until the Pope himself puts an end to the scandal and heresy the chattering is going to continue and in fact, grow to a crescendo! 

Read the rest at Culture Wars : The Sodomy Synod from where the quotes and footnotes have been received.

[1] Full Text: Pope Francis’ Angelus Address, 17 March 2014, The Catholic World Report, [Accessed 27 November 2014], http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Blog/2091/full_text_pope_francis_first_angelus_address.aspx

[2] “Gott in der Geschichte”, Gott heute: 15 Beiträge zur Gottesfrage, (Mainz, 1967) Translation of passage taken from “The New Pastoral Approach of Cardinal Kasper to the divorced and “remarried””, 12 April 2014, Documentation Information Catholique Internationales, [Accessed 2 December 2014], http://www.dici.org/en/documents/the-new-pastoral-approach-of-cardinal-kasper-to-the-divorced-and-remarried/

Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life

[3] Walter Kasper, Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life, trans. William Madges (New York, 2014), p11

[4] David Gibson, Cardinal Kasper is the 'pope's theologian', National Catholic Reporter, 3 June 2014, [Accessed 25 November 2014],http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/cardinal-kasper-popes-theologian

Can't you just feel the joy?

Who are these pharisaical, self-absorbed and neo-promethean pelagians that our dear Holy Father keeps talking about?

Below is a quote from the homily of March 26, the Thursday in the Fifth Week of Lent when the Gospel that should have been read last Sunday in the Ordinary Form as it was in the Extraordinary Form was read.

"They did know how to rejoice, because they lost the meaning of joy that only comes from faith. Our father Abraham was able to rejoice because he had faith: he was made just in faith."

Isn't this what we would expect from Luther and the sola-scriptura, sola-fide folks?

There was so much meat in that Gospel and he came up with joy?

All these modernists and their talk of joy. They call you names unjustly and then they want you to be joyful. It is a real stumbling block for me. 

I apologise if this is disrespectful to the Vicar of Christ, but when he starts acting like he is, I will too. Promise.

Cardinal Koch tells the German Bishops not to do as some did under the "Nazis"

Vatican cardinal tells German bishops: We can’t adapt the faith to the times like Christians did under the Nazis 

ROME, March 26, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An influential Swiss cardinal at the Vatican has warned Germany’s bishops that the Church cannot merely adapt itself to the times as some Christians did in order to support the Nazis.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/vatican-cardinal-tells-german-bishops-we-cant-adapt-the-faith-to-the-times

Would Pope Leo XIII have approved of bloggers?

We've heard lately from Pope Francis about "chiacchierare" translated as gossipy chat and from the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Nichols chastising in the press his priests for speaking to the press. Previously he and others have chastised bloggers (myself) and we have seen the example of the Bishops of Metuchen and Boise in their persecution and chastisement respectively, of two faithful Catholic women.

Brother Alexis Bugnolo is a consecrated man of private vows observing the Rule of St. Francis and is resident in Rome. He is the Editor and Publisher of The Franciscan Archive and the blog, From Rome. With Brother's permission, I have reposted this. Oh, to have the time to mine the riches of these Encyclicals past which make up the Magisterial teaching of the Church.

I imagine that if Pope Leo XIII had bloggers back then, he would have approved of blogs.

From his Encyclical Letter, Sapientiae Christianae, of January 10, 1890

14. But in this same matter, touching Christian faith, there are other duties whose exact and religious observance, necessary at all times in the interests of eternal salvation, become more especially so in these our days. Amid such reckless and widespread folly of opinion, it is, as We have said, the office of the Church to undertake the defense of truth and uproot errors from the mind, and this charge has to be at all times sacredly observed by her, seeing that the honor of God and the salvation of men are confided to her keeping. But, when necessity compels, not those only who are invested with power of rule are bound to safeguard the integrity of faith, but, as St. Thomas maintains: “Each one is under obligation to show forth his faith, either to instruct and encourage others of the faithful, or to repel the attacks of unbelievers.”(12) To recoil before an enemy, or to keep silence when from all sides such clamors are raised against truth, is the part of a man either devoid of character or who entertains doubt as to the truth of what he professes to believe. In both cases such mode of behaving is base and is insulting to God, and both are incompatible with the salvation of mankind. This kind of conduct is profitable only to the enemies of the faith, for nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good. Moreover, want of vigor on the part of Christians is so much the more blameworthy, as not seldom little would be needed on their part to bring to naught false charges and refute erroneous opinions, and by always exerting themselves more strenuously they might reckon upon being successful. After all, no one can be prevented from putting forth that strength of soul which is the characteristic of true Christians, and very frequently by such display of courage our enemies lose heart and their designs are thwarted. Christians are, moreover, born for combat, whereof the greater the vehemence, the more assured, God aiding, the triumph: “Have confidence; I have overcome the world.”(13) Nor is there any ground for alleging that Jesus Christ, the Guardian and Champion of the Church, needs not in any manner the help of men. Power certainly is not wanting to Him, but in His loving kindness He would assign to us a share in obtaining and applying the fruits of salvation procured through His grace.

15. The chief elements of this duty consist in professing openly and unflinchingly the Catholic doctrine, and in propagating it to the utmost of our power. For, as is often said, with the greatest truth, there is nothing so hurtful to Christian wisdom as that it should not be known, since it possesses, when loyally received, inherent power to drive away error. So soon as Catholic truth is apprehended by a simple and unprejudiced soul, reason yields assent. Now, faith, as a virtue, is a great boon of divine grace and goodness; nevertheless, the objects themselves to which faith is to be applied are scarcely known in any other way than through the hearing. “How shall they believe Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? Faith then cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”(14) Since, then, faith is necessary for salvation, it follows that the word of Christ must tie preached. The office, indeed, of preaching, that is, of teaching, lies by divine right in the province of the pastors, namely, of the bishops whom “the Holy Spirit has placed to rule the Church of God.”(15) It belongs, above all, to the Roman Pontiff, vicar of Jesus Christ, established as head of the universal Church, teacher of all :hat pertains to morals and faith.

16. No one, however, must entertain the notion that private individuals are prevented from taking some active part in this duty of teaching, especially those on whom God has bestowed gifts of mind with the strong wish of rendering themselves useful. These, so often as circumstances demand, may take upon themselves, not, indeed, the office of the pastor, but the task of communicating to others what they have themselves received, becoming, as it were, living echoes of their masters in the faith. Such co-operation on the part of the laity has seemed to the Fathers of the Vatican Council so opportune and fruitful of good that they thought well to invite it.“All faithful Christians, but those chiefly who are in a prominent position, or engaged in teaching, we entreat, by the compassion of Jesus Christ, and enjoin by the authority of the same God and Saviour, that they bring aid to ward off and eliminate these errors from holy Church, and contribute their zealous help in spreading abroad the light of undefiled faith.”(16) Let each one, therefore, bear in mind that he both can and should, so far as may be, preach the Catholic faith by the authority of his example, and by open and constant profession of the obligations it imposes. In respect, consequently, to the duties that bind us to God and the Church, it should be borne earnestly in mind that in propagating Christian truth and warding off errors the zeal of the laity should, as far as possible, be brought actively into play.

_________________

12. Summa theologiae, IIa-IIae, qu. iii, art. 2, ad 2m. 

13. John 16:33.

14. Rom. 10:14, 17. 

15. Acts 20:28.

16. Constitution Dei Filius, at end. 

Cardinal Müller : Delegated decisions on the family to bishops' conferences is an "anti-Catholic idea"

The French Magazine, Famille Chrétienne, is carrying an interview this morning with Gerhard Ludwig Cardinal Müller, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

This is only an excerpt from the interview with the rest in French requiring a registration. However, in this short question and answer, the Prefect states quite clearly that those in Germany such as Cardinal Marx who take the attitude that they are "not a subsidiary of Rome" are engaging in an "absolutely anti-Catholic idea." Cardinal Müller continues with general comments about the role of Episcopal Conferences that dioceses are not subsidiaries of the secretariat of an episcopal conference and that President "is nothing more than a technical moderator," and certainly not a little pope!

It appears that Cardinal Marx is becoming more isolated and exposed for what is, when it comes to the Church in Germany, a schismatic mentality 

The translation of the article is below with emphasis:



Cardinal Müller: "The bishop is to be a martyr by the word"
26/03/2015 - Par Jean-Marie Dumont

In this exclusive interview, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, answers questions raised in the Church at the Synod on the family. 

In a book of interviews on family, recently published in Italy and the United States, you encourage Christians to "choose the prophetic courage of martyrdom." Why?

The Church is not a philanthropic organisation. To say that we respect the views of all, we want good to all, is not enough. Present the Gospel as a single therapeutic message is not very difficult, but does not meet the requirement of Jesus. "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and if we speak all kinds of evil against you because of me," Jesus said. The first apostles, Church Fathers, the great bishops of the Church's history have so often sailed facing headwinds. How could it be otherwise for us?

Some doctrinal or disciplinary decisions on marriage and the family can they be delegated to the bishops' conferences?

 

This is an absolutely anti-Catholic idea that does not respect the catholicity of the Church. Episcopal conferences have authority over certain issues, but not a magisterium next to the Magisterium, without the pope and without communion with the Bishops. This is an absolutely anti-Catholic idea.

Recently, a German bishop said the Episcopal Conference he leads was not a "subsidiary of Rome". What about you?

An episcopal conference is not a particular council, much less an ecumenical council. The president of an Episcopal Conference is nothing more than a technical moderator, and as such has no special teaching authority. To hear that a Bishops' Conference is not a "subsidiary of Rome" gives me the opportunity to recall that the dioceses are not subsidiaries of the secretariat of an episcopal conference or diocese whose Bishop presides over the Episcopal Conference. This attitude makes the risk of waking some polarisation between the local churches and the universal Church, exceeded in the councils Vatican I and Vatican II. The Church is not a set of national churches, including the presidents would vote to elect their leader at the universal level.

No gossip and chatter

One day after the release of the interview with Cardinal Burke on LifeSiteNews, Pope Francis, on March 25 at the general audience in Rome said, "There is no need of this, not of chatter!" - in Italian he said "chiacchierare," translated by Vatican Radio as "gossip and chatter." 

Is the Holy Father concerned about Cardinal Burke's clarity? If so, then is at least equally concerned about Cardinal Kasper's confusion? Is he concerned about bloggers and Catholics who express their views in accord with Canon 212 §3. 

Has the Pope come to the realisation that the reason for Cardinal Burke's clarity is Kasper's confusion and the tolerance of it from him, the Bishop of Rome? Cardinal Burke is correct, there is much confusing and it is alarming. It has been created by those who seem to have too much influence over this Pope. 

Let us be clear, it is not those who believe in the Magisterial teaching of the Church who have created the confusion and this chiacchierare, it is those who would subvert the Magisterial teaching. The scandal is that it is happening right under the nose of the Bishop of Rome himself, the Pope.

Perhaps His Holiness was familiar with the interview of Cardinal Burke as when asked which saints we should be invoking for the family today, the first with whom Cardinal Burke responded was the anything but "irregular," Holy Family.

So indeed, let us pray as the Pope asks but it is up to him as to whether or not there will be less chiacchierare.

Courtesy of Father Allen J. MacDonald of Southern Orders:

+ + +

I would like for this prayer, and the whole Synod journey, to be animated by the compassion of the Good Shepherd for His flock, especially for persons and families that, for different reasons, are “troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd” (Mt 9:36). So, sustained and animated by the grace of God, the Church can be ever more committed, and ever more united, in the witness of the truth of the love of God and of His mercy for the families of the world, excluding none, whether within or outside the flock.

I ask you, please, to not neglect your prayer. All of us – the Pope, Cardinals, Bishops, priests, religious, lay faithful – we are all called to pray for the Synod. There is need of this, not of chatter! (chiacchierare) I also invite those who feel far away, or who are not accustomed to do so, to pray. This prayer for the Synod on the Family is for the good of everyone.

Here is the prayer:

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,

In you we contemplate

The splendour of true love,

We turn to you with confidence.

Holy Family of Nazareth,

Make our families, also,

Places of communion and cenacles of prayer,

Authentic schools of the Gospel,

And little domestic Churches.

Holy Family of Nazareth

May our families never more experience

Violence, isolation, and division:

May anyone who was wounded or scandalized

Rapidly experience consolation and healing.

Holy Family of Nazareth,

May the upcoming Synod of Bishops

Re-awaken in all an awareness

Of the sacred character and inviolability of the family,

Its beauty in the project of God.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,

Hear and answer our prayer. Amen.

Cardinal Nichols chastises priests and bloggers and lays flowers at hindu god

One wonders what Cardinal Nichols is afraid of. He has chastised five-hundred priests in England who felt it necessary sign a letter restating their "unwavering fidelity to the traditional doctrines regarding marriage and the true meaning of human sexuality, founded on the Word of God and taught by the Church’s Magisterium for two millennia.” Father Alexander Lucie-Smith gives his reasons quite clearly on why he signed the letter. As a moral theologian and a parish priest witnessing what has been occurring he expressed his "worry about the future."

Cardinal Nichols states that "Every priest in England and Wales has been asked to reflect on the Synod discussion. It is my understanding that this has been taken up in every diocese, and that channels of communication have been established."

Perhaps, His Eminence's "understanding" is not correct. Perhaps the established "channels of communication" have been closed. Perhaps these priests have, to their horror. concluded that they had no other choice but to declare publicly their faith. Did they conclude that they were not being listened to by their bishops? Did they determine that there was some kind of collusion with the likes of Kasper and Marx and Bonny and others to change the teaching of the Church and debase the Holy Eucharist by allowing the divorced and civilly remarried and those engaged in other sexual practices to receive. 

Bloggers bad, Hindus good

This is the same Cardinal Nichols who said that "Pope Francis understands this (love) in practical terms. He has already identified two kinds of behaviour that destroy love in the Church. They are complaining and gossiping. He is a practical man. He knows that we live in a society in which complaining and gossip is a standard fare. They sell newspapers and attract us to blogs because we love hear complaints and to read gossip. But Pope Francis is clear: they should have no place in the Church."

On another occasion, as preserved on the web page of Diocese of Westminster, The Most Rev Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, made an official visit to the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Europe’s first traditional Hindu temple in Neasden, north London. Archbishop Nichols was greeted by the  Mandir’s spiritual leader, Yogvivek Swami, ( Head Sadhu, BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha - UK & Europe) and the Trustees of the Mandir. He was welcomed in traditional Hindu style – with a red vermillion mark applied to the forehead and the tying of a sacred thread on the wrist, symbolising friendship and goodwill.  Yogvivek Swami guided the Archbishop around the Mandir complex, including the sanctum sanctorum.  He then moved to the deity of Shri Nilkanth Varni (Bhagwan Swaminarayan) where he joined Yogvivek Swami in praying for world peace and harmony.

Damian Thompson at the Telegraph reported that "After wagging an admonishing finger to the incoming Traditionalist Anglicans that they may not "pick and choose," Archbishop Nichols chooses to go to Europe's first Hindu temple to receive a pagan blessing. 

Did Cardinal Nichols show real respect for the gentleman in saffron robes by preaching to him Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen from the dead or did he allow our brother to be left in sin worshipping false gods?

Synod warning

Archbishop Nichols chastises his priest for being faithful, states that bloggers should be silent or put out of the Church, offers flowers to a pagan god and receives a so-called blessing from a pagan priest's smudge mark. Did Cardinal Nichols and Bishop Petersen of Boise, who chastised a State Senator in Idaho regarding this same false religion to false gods, studied together the Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita?

These priests and we simple lay Catholics are not alarmists. We witnessed last October and we see the same shenanigans being played out leading up to this year's Ordinary Synod on the Family. Damian Thomson has written today in the Spectator that Cardinal Nichols' attempt at silencing these men will "backfire." He has posted the names of the five-hundred priests so as to "keep an eye on what happens to them."

Cardinal Burke said yesterday that "confusion is spreading in an alarming way." It is spreading because of these kinds of comments and the behaviour of Cardinal Nichols.

At his Wednesday audience on March 25, the Pope said that there is a need for more prayer and not "gossip and chatter." If exposing to the light the comments and attitudes of these Cardinals is "gossip and chatter" then we have a very big problem on our hands.

Rather than chastise these priests, His Eminence should be applauding their faithfulness to Christ and championing the truth. 

This is this just the latest example of a clericalist bullydom first to the laity in Toronto, Patterson and Boise and now extending to priests in England.

Raymond Cardinal Burke: "Confusion is spreading in an alarming way"

In an exclusive interview on LifeSiteNews, Raymond Cardinal Burke spoke again of the "manipulation" that was taking place at the Synod on the Family and he warns that confusion is spreading amongst the faithful on the matters of divorce and homosexuality.

He is also not afraid to call out those who have sown this confusion and that they have gone unpunished.

More and more over the next months will Catholics need to listen to the words of this churchman who speaks with clarity and truth. 

God bless Raymond Cardinal Burke for his faithfulness and fatherly care for all of us.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/exclusive-interview-cardinal-burke-says-confusion-spreading-among-catholics

Out of the rot and confusion of Germany's bishops comes a voice of Truth

There can be no denying the literal evil coming out of the hierarchy and the Church in Germany. The power that these men wield because of their wealth and the influence which this gives them upon many around the world and in Rome is disturbing.

In a report on March 23 in the Catholic Herald, Cardinal Walter Kasper urged that "We should all pray" for the Holy Spirit's guidance over the Synod "because a battle is going on." Kasper made his remarks in English presenting his new book to be published by the Paulist Press, Pope Francis's Revolution of Tenderness and Love. I can't wait to stand in line to get this bestseller. The Cardinal went on to say that “Hopefully, the synod will be able to find a common answer, with a large majority." On the matter of doctrine, Kasper said that he hopes there "will not be a rupture with tradition, but a doctrine that is a development of tradition." 

Does this man seriously think that God is going to answer prayers that will undermine doctrine or that doctrine is determined by a majority vote? 

On the matter of doctrine that it be a "development of tradition" according to Kasper, where have we heard this kind of talk before?

“Will this Pope re-write controversial Church doctrines? No. But that isn't how doctrine changes. Doctrine changes when pastoral contexts shift and new insights emerge such that particularly doctrinal formulations no longer mediate the saving message of God's transforming love, Doctrine changes when the Church has leaders and teachers who are not afraid to take note of new contexts and emerging insights. It changes when the Church has pastors who do what Francis has been insisting: leave the securities of your chanceries, of your rectories, of your safe places, of your episcopal residences go set aside the small-minded rules that often keep you locked up and shielded from the world.”

I'd like to be able to attribute that quote properly; the problem is, I really don't know who said it first. As far as can tell, it first appeared in the September 25, 2013 edition of the National Catholic Reporter and was written by Richard Gaillardetz. On the other hand, it has been used a number of times in lectures given by Father Thomas J. Rosica CSB as can be found in this report at LifeSiteNews and the accompanying video without attribution to Gaillardetz.

There is no doubt that the thinking of Kasper is in line with the quote above by whomever said it first. Doctrine changes when that doctrine that is a "development of tradition" and it "changes when pastoral contexts shift and new insights emerge."

Kasper is a Protestant. His thinking is heretical. There can be no doubt about it any longer and those that give credence to this man in Rome, no matter who they are, are like unto him. When you lie down with pigs you end up covered in mud is an apt expression.

Germany's Religious viewpoint

Meanwhile, Niedziela in Poland is carrying a report from Radio Watykańskie that German men and women religious are demanding changes to the Church's teaching on sex, marriage and homosexuality. The statement of the twenty-two thousand nuns and religious calls for the church to change its approach to sexuality and in this matter expressed more confidence in the faithful than the Church. The Church must be open as is the Orthodox Church and should bless divorcees, allowing them to receive communion. The Church should also bless same-sex couples and communion should not be denied them. German monks are inclined to the opinion that many of these would aspire to the Christian way of life and a faithful partnership for life, but cannot accept the fact that the Church requires them to maintain sexual abstinence. "How homosexuals would be considered as beloved children of God, if the Catholic Church does not bless them in their quest for a fulfilling partnership," the authors ask rhetorically. They blame the Magisterium of the Church for widening the gap between the doctrine and the everyday life of the laity.

Cardinal Marx's schismatic comments

Not long ago, we had Cardinal Marx stating; "We are no subsidiaries of Rome, Each conference of  bishops is responsible for pastoral care in its culture, and must, as its most proper task, preach the Gospel on our own. We cannot wait for a synod to tell us how we have to shape pastoral care for marriage and family here." 

Cardinal Marx is simply a new Luther! Combined with Cardinal Kasper's comments that Africans "should not tell us too much what we have to do," it becomes quite clear to all that these Germans are planning a schism one way or another as I wrote about previously.

Well, not all Germans it seems, thanks to the LORD. 

Cardinal Cordes reprimands Marx

Rorate Caeli blog is now joined by other news services reporting on a March 7, 2015 letter to Tagespost from Paul Josef Cardinal Cordes an 80 year-old Cardinal and former Curia official. Cardinal Cordes commented on Marx's "theological blurriness" and that, "as a social ethicist Cardinal Marx may know much about the dependency of branches of large corporation but in an ecclesiastical context, such statements should rather be rather left to the village pub." 

The Cardinal went on to say that the Church in Germany is "unfit to work against growing secularism." Cardinal Cordes lamented that in Cardinal Marx's comments, the idea of communion – among bishops, and with the Bishop of Rome – was sorely lacking, “even though the bishops expressly promised 'unity with the College of Bishops under the Successor of Peter' during their episcopal consecration. The sentence: 'We cannot wait for a synod to tell us how we have to shape pastoral care for marriage and family here' is not imbued with a spirit of 'Communio'.”

As reported in the NCRegister, the Cardinal “Particularly deplorable are the statements during the press conference that the 'new solutions' – everyone knows what is meant – can be theologically justified,” Cardinal Cordes wrote. “Does he want to say that the dogma of the inseparability of marriage becomes intolerable because of the life situations of remarried people? 

These "new solutions" proposed by Kasper and Marx align directly with the statement above on changing doctrine due to new "development" or "new insights."

Catholics, wake up!

We cannot sit by and allow these men to undermine the beauty of the Truth of Christ as expressed in the Magisterial teaching of the Church in some false form of mercy which we hear about daily.

There is indeed a "battle going on" and Kasper will not win it.