A corporal work of mercy.

A corporal work of mercy.
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Tuesday, 23 July 2013

Rape and atrocities on a young Christian in Qusair

2013-07-02

ASIA/SYRIA - Rape and atrocities on a young Christian in Qusair

Qusair (Agenzia Fides) - Mariam was a 15-year-old Christian from Qusair, a city of the governorate in Homs, 35 km south of the capital. The city, which had become a stronghold of the Syrian rebels, was reconquered by the troops of the regular army at the beginning of June. Mariam’s story - sent to Fides thanks to the report of two Catholic priests - is a sign of the brutality of the conflict and the extreme vulnerability of religious minorities. Mariam's family was in town when militants linked to the jihadist group "Jabhat al-Nusra" conquered and occupied it.
While her family was able to escape, Mariam was taken and forced into an Islamic marriage.
Fides sources point out that, through social networks, the fatwa was widespread in Syria produced by Yasir al-Ajlawni - A Salafi sheikh of Jordanian origin, resident in Damascus - who declared lawful, for opponents of the regime of Bashar al-Assad, rape committed against "any non-Sunni Syrian woman." According to the fatwa to capture and rape Alawi or Christian women is not contrary to the precepts of Islam.
The commander of the battalion "Jabhat al-Nusra" in Qusair took Mariam, married and raped her. Then he repudiated her. The next day the young woman was forced to marry another Islamic militant. He also raped her and then repudiated her. The same trend was repeated for 15 days, and Mariam was raped by 15 different men. This psychologically destabilized her and made her insane. Mariam, became mentally unstable and was eventually killed.
"These atrocities are not told by any International Commission" say to Fides two Greek-Catholic priests, Fr. Issam and Fr. Elias who have just returned to town. The two are collecting the cry's and complaints of many families. "Who will do something to protect civilians, the most vulnerable?" they ask. As reported to Fides, the two have just celebrated a Mass to consecrate again the Catholic church of St. Elias in Qusair.
The church was ransacked and desecrated by the guerrillas, and had become a logistic and residential base for rebel groups. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 02/07/2013)

Stop the name-calling of our Catholic brethren!

The persistent use of "rad-trad" or "mad-trad" or even by a prelate referring to them as those "holy Catholics" flies in the face of what our beloved Benedict tried to do and in the face of "oecumenism."  Those who persist in this are not doing the work of the Lord but are buying into a narrative that is divisive and destructive and is from the Father of Lies. As I wrote previously, there is an incredible amount of hostility to the one-half of one-per-cent of Catholics who attend the traditional liturgy in general and the chapels of the SSPX in particular.  Here, courtesy of Rorate is a statement from the Diocese of Richmond in Virginia where the Society is building their new seminary. The link includes an misinformed statement previously made and corrected; here is the link to Richmond Catholic, where this appears.



Seminary
Diocesan statement regarding article on the Society of St. Pius X
A recent article in the Catholic Virginian on the Society of St. Pius X and the seminary it is constructing in Buckingham County contained inaccuracies.
The article correctly stated that the society was founded in 1970 by the late French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary is one of several seminaries operated by the society. The society is not in regular communion with the Holy See (or the Bishop of Richmond).
These points need to be clarified:
◾The seminary is currently located in Winona, Minnesota and is relocating to Buckingham County. Mass is not regularly offered at the Buckingham location at present.
◾Our former Holy Father, Benedict XVI, never personally declared that doctrinal differences stand in the way of regularizing the canonical status of the society; nonetheless, the regularization has yet to take place.
◾ The Masses offered by priests of the society are valid. Other Sacraments celebrated in the chapels of the society are considered valid, with the exception of Penance and Matrimony, which are, at best, doubtfully valid.
◾ It is not clear that the society is in schism, and it is not properly called a “sect.” In recent years the Holy See has recognized the society’s expressed desire for regular communion with the Roman Pontiff and the Church he shepherds, and the Holy See’s dialogue with the society since 2009 demonstrates the Church’s commitment to unity.
Several additional points should be made when discussing the Society of St. Pius X:
◾ It is necessary to distinguish between the priests, brothers, and sisters of the society, on the one hand; and the lay faithful who attend Mass at society chapels, on the other hand. The former are clearly in an irregular status. In regard to the lay faithful who attend Mass at society chapels, there has never been a statement by the Holy See that these people are in schism. In fact, the Holy See acts toward them as it does toward all the Catholic lay faithful.
◾ It’s also necessary to distinguish between acts that are invalid and those that are illicit. Acts are illicit when they go against the Church’s law. Still, acts that are canonically illicit may be valid, and, in the case of the society, the ministerial acts of their priests may be illicit and still be considered valid by the Church.
◾ Finally, a comment should be made regarding the Sunday Mass obligation of Catholics. The faithful do not properly fulfill their Sunday Mass obligation in chapels of the society, as the celebration of the Eucharist presupposes not only communion with the Lord, but also communion with the Church He founded, and the hierarchy who govern the Church by Divine mandate.
The Church’s unity is best served when the whole truth is communicated. We regret the errors in the article. Let us pray for restoration of the unity of all Christians in Christ, and that the Society of St. Pius X will be reconciled with ecclesiastical authority.

Friday, 19 July 2013

Real or imagined?

For your Friday penance. 

Dear Father Pastor,
I was reading that when Pope Francis was Archbishop of Buenos Aires he approved a Eucharistic miracle which had occurred in his diocese. What do think, Father; isn't this wonderful that our new Holy Father has such love for the Real Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ, body, blood, soul and divinity in the Holy Eucharist? Doesn't this just fill you with joy, Father Pastor?

My dear child,
This really in not the Church's teaching on real presence.  In fact, since around the 12th. century with the Beregarius controversy, this kind of a crass realism was rejected out-rightly.  The Church has never really defined what real presence means, all it asserts is that Christ is truly present in the form of bread and wine which is changed at an ontological level, not at a literal physical level.  The Church also states that Christ is truly present in the Scriptures proclaimed (again, not at a physical level) in the office of the priest (again not at a physical level other than  that by our baptism and our communion we become the living presence of Christ), and equally important, as the community assembled.  for the first 1000 years, the corpus verum or real presence meant the assembled people of God, and the Eucharist was the corpus mysterium or the mystical body of Christ.  through a lot of medieval worldviews, this got changed.  the Church has been actively trying to restore this more balanced understanding of the real presence.  this was expounded very well in the Vatican 2 documents, subsequent documents, and even as recently as the new Roman Missal, thus the practice of everyone remaining standing as the real body of Christ until everyone has come to the table not just to receive the Eucharist which too narrow a scope, but to be the Eucharist. As St. Augustine said in the 5th century, we already are the Eucharist the living presence of Christ coming to manifest that reality and to continue to become more fully the living real presence.  As St. Augustine also said on the nature of the Eucharist, we say amen to what we are, the living real presence.  Such documents, though enticing and seemingly congruent with our theology in truth are not and undermine the very nature and purpose and essence of who we are called to be.  It objectifies the Eucharist which was never meant to be objectified as tomorrow evening's celebration reminds us that the real presence of the Eucharist is made manifest in washing of the feet.

Father Pastor.

Thursday, 18 July 2013

Ridicule the Radical

A theologian from Australia makes comments on CNS about why people might not attend the Traditional Latin Mass and suddenly everyone is gleefully saying "see, I told you; you're the problem; you are why I won't go." In fairness, the CNS interview was clearly edited and may not have been an accurate reflection of her views, particularly given the recent liturgical conference and her presence there; however, people are using her comments for their own agenda. A radio show on catholic issues talks about those "radical traditionalists" whomever they may be and then they charge there critics as being "uncharitable." They say how nasty those people are and the perception is to "stay away" from the Latin Mass because of them. A prelate speaks at a Theology-on-Tap and refers to some as "those pure Catholics" in a derogatory manner bereft of the clarity as to who they are and why such a term be used. Some well known bloggers of national exposure and other self-published pretenders and catholic media pundits use phrases such as rad-trads or mad-trads in a manner that would make Saul Alinsky smile from his eternity, if he could. Perhaps they do it innocently, perhaps knowingly; if it is the former it shows how they have been so subliminally influenced by the rotting culture; if it is the latter, then they are at least committing an act against charity; something of course that they are the first to cry out against.


These examples are just a few of those being used to bash some Catholics over the head with the radical rule-book writer's preferred method - ridicule. It's even happened in addresses to seminary rectors where the keynote speaker chose to demonise the seminarians of today and their desire, or should I say in his own words, "affectation" for liturgical excellence and theological orthodoxy. They like to say that it is Catholics who follow the Church's tradition who do it the most harm, that these "pure Catholics" whomever they may be, are the problem in the Church. 

Balderdash!

If you don't attend Mass it's your fault. If you don't embrace the liturgical patrimony of the Church that's your business and if you don't attend because you think some people dress funny or have too many kids or seem to devout or sometimes complain about the state of the Church, then that is your problem, not theirs. It is your soul and your lack of joy, not theirs that is the problem. It is your responsibility, not theirs. 

Frankly, there is precious little, if anything that any one individual or group of "trads" can do that would make the reception of the Latin Mass by some any worse. The truth is, it is hated - the Mass that is in its traditional form. Those in chanceries and seminaries and elsewhere who shun the traditional liturgy and theology don't do it because of something that a blogger writes or how someone dresses for Mass or whether or not an opinion is given on a matter of liturgy. Those "holy Catholics," whomever they may be, belong to the same Catholic Church, but who are they? Are they Catholics who prefer the Extraordinary of the Ordinary Form in diocesan churches? Are they Catholics who desire the Ordinary Form in Latin or Gregorian chant ad orientem, the actual first standard according to the GIRM? Are they those who prefer, as is their right, to receive Holy Communion on the tongue or kneeling and are ridiculed for it? Are they our Catholic brothers and sisters who attend chapels of the Society of the St. Pius X? Are they people who believe that the Seat of Peter is vacant? Are these not all baptised Catholics and spiritual children of the bishop and your brothers and sisters?  

There is division in the Church, there has been for decades, centuries, even two millenia; this is no surprise. Dealing with the here and now at least, it is obvious how acute it has become. It shows something greater though, this attack over the last few months on people who might prefer traditional liturgy and theology; it shows how much that the traditional liturgy and theology of the Catholic faith is hated. Yes, hated.


Taking Toronto as just one example; on a typical Sunday, no more than 500 - 600 people attend the traditional Latin Mass and that includes those who attend at the SSPX chapel.  In the Dioceses of Hamilton, London and St. Catharines, perhaps another 200-300 at the most and taking Ottawa and any others into account in the Province of Ontario, maybe 1000 Catholics on Sunday attend the traditional liturgy. One thousand out of 4,000,000 of whom only about 18% actually go to Mass. 


One thousand little people, plus or minus a few hundred.


Really.


One would have to ask then, why all this ridicule; what do they fear?


Perhaps it is this report by Michael Voris and the upcoming "real" decline of Catholics in the United States of America; Canada is no different; Europe is already there. Perhaps they know already what Voris knows and that has all of them so worked up. The actuarial tables and demographics don't lie. 


They have traded the church of truth for the church of nice and exchanged a sacrifice for a meal, worship for community, the truth for a lie. 


As time goes on the lines are going to intersect; there are already more priests ordained in France in traditional orders from diocesan seminaries. In twenty years or less, the Mass in France will be the traditional liturgy. The FSSP grows throughout America. Seminarians across North America are learning the Usus Antiquior by themselves. 


Indeed, these Catholic Alinskyites have seen the future and they hate what they see.


We see it too and we are filled with joy.


Maranatha!




Saturday, 13 July 2013

Two pictures

Have you ever noticed the difference between the women who protest for the murder of babies in the womb of their mothers and those who stand up for life?

The top picture is from this past week in Austin, Texas; I mean, really girls, do you think any of you would really ever, ever come to the circumstance where you would actually "need" an abortion?  Glad to see you shaved for the occasion, though. 



Photo: The scene in Austin, Texas has become bizarre as State Senator Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth) and her pro-abortion supporters continue to fight against pro-life legislation.

Young children have been spotted holding vulgar signs any adult would be ashamed to possess, and the chant "Hail Satan" can be heard echoing through the capitol.

Pray.

photo credit: AP


Friday, 12 July 2013

Pray for the people of Egypt - CAUTION DISTURBING IMAGE

Oh, Family Most Holy; Jesus, Mary and Joseph, who fled to this ancient land where you were provided safety and refuge and from where God would call out His Son, 
intercede for this ancient people that they may find peace and security within their land; 
grant mercy and eternal rest we beseech you O Lord, to those Christian martyrs and bring your justice to those who would commit such acts; we ask this in the name of the same Jesus. Amen.

+ + + 

The picture is extremely disturbing, it must be shown, the world must awake to this evil. May God grant our Christian brother, Magdy Lamaey, eternal rest; may his martyrdom be the seed of conversion of those who would commit such evil.

كل يوم شهيد، كل يوم قديس
لاجل اسم الله المتأنس، يسوع المسيح
Every day a martyr, a Saint for each day the name of God almetans, Jesus Christ (Translated by Bing)
القتل ذبحا
صورة شهيد المسيح : مجدى لمعى
السن ٥٩
المكان الشيخ زويد شمال سيناء / مصر
قتله الجهاديون من اتباع المخلوع محمد مرسي بعد ان قيدوه بالسلاسل وقطعوا رقبته عن جسمه بالسكين
ربنا موجود والرب ينيح نفس عم مجدى فى فردوس النعيم ويكلله بالمجد على قدر تعبه وآلمه
ان كنا نتألم معه لكى نتمجد ايضا معه ( رسالة رومية ٨: ١٧ )

martyr of the Christ: Magdy Lamaey Age 59
Location Sheikh Zowayed North Sinai / Egypt
Jihadists followers of ousted Mohamed Morsi killed him after they tied him up with chains and cut his neck from his body with a knife
R.I.P
القتل ذبح 
صورة شهيد المسيح : مجدى لمعى
السن ٥٩
المكان الشيخ زويد شمال سيناء / مصر
قتله الجهاديون من اتباع المخلوع محمد مرسي بعد ان قيدوه بالسلاسل وقطعوا رقبته عن جسمه بالسكين
ربنا موجود والرب ينيح نفس عم مجدى فى فردوس النعيم ويكلله بالمجد على قدر تعبه وآلمه
ان كنا نتألم معه لكى نتمجد ايضا معه ( رسالة رومية ٨: ١٧ )

martyr of the Christ: Magdy Lamaey Age 59
Location Sheikh Zowayed North Sinai / Egypt
Jihadists followers of ousted Mohamed Morsi killed him after they tied him up with chains and cut his neck from his body with a knife
R.I.P

Thursday, 11 July 2013

Perversion of our children - the proud are brought down

The Catholic Church is right about sexual morality. Of all the perversions, none are worse than those which affect children. These crimes cry out to God for justice and those who participate in them, especially if they be Catholic clergy such as Raymond Lahey and many others, have committed grave crimes against the children and against the God. As our Lord tell us in the Gospel of Luke; "It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he be cast into the sea, than that he should scandalise one of these little ones." One crime of this nature by any Catholic cleric is too many; but when that happens the Church is mocked and crucified by those who perpetuate it themselves. When God gives someone the ability to be a His minister or a civil leader or an educator the culpability for these crimes is severe. The gift of leadership is from God, it is either used for the betterment of His people or for personal gain; God will not be mocked. We, as Catholics are disgusted when these crimes are committed and covered up by those who serve Christ and His Church. One is too many, but make no mistake; those who commit these heinous crimes outside the Church are in greater numbers and ever increasing, thanks to the Internet.
MICHELE MANDEL - Wynne adviser free on bail, can never be truly free again
Benjamin Levin, Justin Trudeau, Kathleen Wynne
In the middle of the picture above is Justin Trudeau, a Catholic and son of former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau. Poor Justin, he's inherited the worst of both of his parents, his father's morals and his mother's brains. Trudeau lusts to be Prime Minister of Canada and is now leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. He once said, "I always say, if at a certain point, I believe Canada was really the Canada of Stephen Harper - that we were going against abortion, and we were going against gay marriage, and we were going backwards in 10,000 different ways - maybe I would think about making Quebec a country."

To Trudeau's left, is Kathleen Wynne, the Premier of the Ontario. Premier Wynne has three children and at the age of 37 she came "out" as a lesbian, left her husband and children and is now "married" to a woman. Wynne was Minister of Education in the previous Ontario Government under Premier Dalton McGuinty, another Catholic.

The shoulder to Wynne's left is that of former Ontario Premier, Socialist Bob Rae. enough said.

Now, what about the little man on the right of Justin.

His name is Benjamin Levin. Little Benny in his white hat and shorts looking like a little adolescent boy is a tenured professor at the University of Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. He was also a member of the transition team for Premier Wynne when she took power from Dalton McGuinty. When Wynne was Minister of Education, Benny was Assistant Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Education and the two of them conspired with the Catholic Premier to foist upon the children and parents of Ontario a new education curriculum. Evangelical Pastor Charles McVety said of this curriculum; "It is unconscionable to teach eight-year old children same-sex marriage, sexual orientation and gender identity. It is even more absurd to subject sixth graders to instruction on the pleasures of masturbation, vaginal lubrication and 12 year-olds lessons on oral sex and anal intercourse."

Yes, that's right; Levin and Wynne and McGuinty were going to force this on Ontario's children and families. Now that Wynne is Premier this vile child corrupting, homosexualist and perverted anti-family curriculum is again on the horizon.

Yet, sometimes one can be a little too smart, a little too cocky, a little too arrogant and a little too filled with "pride." One is reminded of the words of Our Lady in the Magnificat, "He hath shewed His mighty arm; He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. He hath put down the might from their seat."

You see, this Levin, 61 and a married man (to a woman, imagine that, poor dear she is) was arrested after an investigation that included cooperation with police in New Zealand, in fact, it was police there that broke the case. He was charged with two counts of distributing child pornography and one count each of making child pornography, counselling to commit an indictable offence and arrangement of a sexual offence against a child under 16. Two new charges of possessing and accessing child pornography have now been laid.

Mr. Raymond Lahey whilst bishop
Levin is presumed innocent until he is proven guilty in the courts. His solicitor is Clayton Ruby who will vigorously defend this alleged pervert; Ruby is an activist out of the school of Saul Alinsky and is known for his anti-Catholic views.

Like Raymond Lahey, we have no business with child pornography on our computers. If it is there, we are guilty of a crime. If you make child porn, you are guilty of a serious crime. Unless it was planted, then what defence is there? The courts will settle this; but as with Mr. Lahey, the sentence will not be enough. Other than SUN News, where is the secular media and who is asking the questions about the link between his alleged predilection for child porn and his work as an educator and policymaker in the Ontario Government? Not that he did both, but the bias and influence of this man and other like him working within the bowels of government? Undemocratic. Unaccountable. Evil men and women.

This alleged pervert conspired to foist a curriculum which was pornographic and corrupting on Ontario's children under the current lesbian Premier who deserted her family for her own sexual selfishness. Nobody can sit there and say that there is no link between the planning of this curriculum and the selfish sexual desires of those who propagate it. We've known this for years, we've said it and for doing so, we are labelled as intolerant and threatened with human rights complaints.  So be it. 

The picture of the three amigos was taken on June 30, 2013 at Toronto's Gay Pride Parade, two weeks before the alleged perverts arrest. A picture speaks a thousand words.
Yes, the Catholic Church is right;  yes, there is a connection between this alleged pervert's criminal actions and the corruption of our children by our government and their homosexual and perverted heterosexual allies.

Believe it.

Mugshot of Benjamin Levin

Monday, 8 July 2013

I could have written this

Why We Need to "Criticize" What's Going on in the Church

I enjoy watching Michael Voris on the Vortex, and I’ve never found him “negative” – though he gets that criticism often enough. I get it myself! I am sometimes accused of having nothing good to say - always complaining about what's going on in the liturgy and the sacraments and the everyday practice (or non-practice) of the faith, and criticizing the bishops and priests who either don't do anything to remedy the problems or else actively contribute to them.

Read the rest here!

Sunday, 7 July 2013

Summorum Pontificum - Deo Gratias!

On this day, Sunday, July 7, 2013, may Catholics in the Greater Toronto Area and south western Ontario rejoice. 

The Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite begins in London, Ontario. Father Juan Tomas, FSSP was also recently ordained to the Holy Priesthood for the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. Thanks be to God and Father Tomas' parents, he is from the Archdiocese of Toronto, the first from here since prior to the Novus Ordo ordained in the traditional rite! 

From New Liturgical Movement

SATURDAY, JULY 06, 2013


A First Mass and a "New" Salve Regina


This past Wednesday, Fr. Juan Tomás, a newly ordained priest of the Fraternity of St. Peter. celebrated his first solemn Mass in the Borghese Chapel of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. Palestrina's Mass Tu es Petrus was sung for the Ordinary; the final piece, however, was a setting of the Salve Regina written by the very first master of the Borghese Chapel, Ugolino, in the first decades of the 17th century. The piece has never been transcribed before, and so I believe this is the first recording of it ever made. Hopefully, the choir which sang the Mass, the Concerto Romano, conducted by maestro Alessandro Quarta, will do a professional recording of it at some in the future; this is the second time I have been present for a Mass sung by them, and do not hesitate to say that they are probably one of the best choirs in the world. At their website, you can hear several short recordings of some of their performances.

Wednesday, 3 July 2013

Traditional Latin Mass to begin at London, Ontario!

On Sunday, July 7, 2013, the sixth anniversary of Summorum Pontificum the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite begins in London, Ontario under the pastoral care and kindness of His Excellency, Bishop Ronald Fabbro and the coordination and priestly zeal and service of Father Paul Nicholson, assisted by five other diocesan priests.  The Mass will be at 2:00 P.M. every Sunday and will be a full sung Missa Cantata utilising the St. Edmund Campion Hymnal. This is a tremendous grace from God to the people of the Diocese of London. May God bless abundantly Bishop Ronald Fabbro and Father Paul Nicholson

For more information, please visit the blog at:



Te Deum laudamus!