Who is he to judge?

Given that Cardinal Kasper has pronounced that Francis, Bishop of Rome has pronounced that "half of all marriages are invalid" I pronounce with the same authority that half of all ordinations are invalid.

The Usual Suspects - Take notice

Don't even think of it.

Joanne McGarry, Requiescat in pace

Go forth from this world, O Christian soul, in the name of God the Father almighty, who created you; in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, who suffered and died for you; in the name of the Holy Spirit, who sanctified you; in the name of the glorious and holy Mother of God, the Virgin Mary; in the name of blessed Joseph, her illustrious spouse; in the name of the angels, archangels, thrones, domi­nations, principalities, powers, virtues, cherubim and seraphim; in the name of the patriarchs and prophets; in the name of the holy apostles and evangelists; in the name of the holy martyrs and confessors; in the name of the holy monks and hermits; in the name of the holy virgins and of all the saints of God. May peace come to you today, and may your home be in holy Sion. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Joanne McGarry was Executive Director of the Catholic Civil Rights League and a regular columnist in the Catholic Register. Joanne passed on to the Lord on Divine Mercy Sunday. She was an inspiration to this writer. 

I can imagine that Our Lord greeted her and said, "I know you, my mother has told me all about you, well done good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of thy Lord."

ONTARIO READERS!

Sign here!

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/ontario-catholic-teachers-union-must-withdraw-from-pride-parade.html

He is Risen, indeed

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain

Father, into your hands I commit my spirit

Hoc est enim corpus meum.

Maria Divine Mercy - "...In contradiction with Catholic theology"

STATEMENT OF ARCHDIOCESE OF DUBLIN

ON THE ALLEGED VISIONARY “MARIA DIVINE MERCY”

 

Requests for clarification have been coming to 

the Archdiocese of Dublin concerning the 

authenticity of alleged visions and messages 

received by a person who calls herself “Maria 

Divine Mercy” and who may live in the 

Archdiocese of Dublin.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin wishes to state 

that these messages and alleged visions have 

no ecclesiastical approval and many of the 

texts are in contradiction with Catholic 

theology.

These messages should not be promoted 

or made use of within Catholic Church 

associations.

Father's folly

You've probably read about or watched the video on YouTube of the priest in Ireland, Father Ray Kelly, bursting into song at a wedding Mass with a play on Leonard Cohen's H-Word ballad. It is Lent after all but it seems that Father Kelly was so caught up in his narcissistic display of liturgical degenerative disorder, that he totally forgot that fact at least. I can't comment lest I write something which I will regret. Instead, sit back and listen to Louie Verrecchio's parody, "What's it to you?"

Tradwriter 7: What's it to you? from Louie Verrecchio on Vimeo.

Passiontide: A liturgical loss in the New Lectionary

Working in both the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms of the Roman Rite every weekend, I can appreciate more and more what went wrong after the Council. One glaring example came just yesterday. The "Ordo" for Canada referred to the tradition of "veiling" the cross and statues for the last two weeks of Lent, what is known in the Mass up to 1969, as Passiontide. Yesterday in the Ordinary Form, it is called the Fifth Sunday of Lent, whereas traditionally, it is the First Sunday of Passiontide; we are to enter more deeply into Our Lord's passion in these last days up to the Triduum.

Walking into the Toronto church where I sing the Sunday Anticipated Mass on Saturday evening, I was pleased once again to see the main crucifix, altar crucifix and every statue and picture veiled. But why? What does it mean and what is the point of it in the Ordinary Form and the new Lectionary, other than some "tradition?"

The Gospel in the Ordinary Form for Year A on the Fifth Sunday of Lent is the raising of Lazarus. In Year B, we hear from the Gospel of St. John about grain falling on good ground and in Year C, it is the woman caught in adultery. All of these are important; all are beautiful words of Our Lord, but they are not about his passion - yet we veil out of some tradition for which we know nothing.

Add caption

The First Sunday of the Passion in the traditional annual lectionary of the Roman Missal is from St. John's Gospel. He shows us the growing hatred of the Sanhedrin for Jesus. The Jews who ought to have recognised in Jesus, the Son of God, greater than Abraham and the prophets, because He is eternal, disregarded the meaning of His words. They insulted Our Blessed Lord, the Messias, whom they declared to be a possessed by a devil, a blasphemer whom they would stone to death. The Gospel concludes with "Abraham your father rejoiced that he might see My day: he saw it and was glad. The Jews therefore said to Him: Thou art not yet fifty years old: and hast Thou seen Abraham? Jesus said to them: Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham was made, I am. They took up stones therefore to cast at Him: but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple." The passion of Jesus by His own has begun.  

St. Augustine commented that Jesus "hid Himself" not by hiding in the crowd but by invoking His divinity and becoming invisible in their midst. However, Our Blessed Lord, hid Himself, the Church in her liturgical actions has hidden the Lord by veiling the crucifix. If the Lord is hidden, then the glory of His saints must also be hidden. 

Our liturgical action of veiling is because of this Gospel on the First Sunday of Passiontide. This is why in your parish which offers the reformed liturgy is done. Now, you know why.

This Gospel has been relegated to Thursday in the Fifth Week of Lent. How long can we continue to abide this impoverishment and symbolism. 


  

St Elias the Prophet Church destroyed - Three Brampton Churches burned

A raging inferno earlier today completely destroyed St. Elias the Prophet Church in Brampton, Ontario this morning, northwest of Toronto. Police say that arson is not suspected. In October 2012, Archangel Michael and St. Tekla Coptic Orthodox Church suffered over $100,000.00 damage when a molotov cocktail was thrown through a window.  In May of 2012, St. Jerome's Catholic Church was hit by a pipe bomb.

Really?

One city, three churches?

Coincidence?

St. Elias the Prophet Church

Archangel Michael and St.Tekla Coptic Orthodox Chruch

 

St. Jerome Catholic Church

Bishop Michael Pearce Lacey, Requiescat in pace

A few years ago, my Knights of Columbus Council organised our region's annual Clergy Appreciation Dinner and my Grand Knight gave me the honour of picking up and driving home His Excellency, Michael Pearce Lacey, Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus of Toronto. Bishop Lacey has gone home to the Lord in his 97th year, on April 2, the anniversary of the death of John Paul II and incidentally, my own father 25 years ago.

Bishop Lacey always came to our dinners and spoke; he was still going strong that night at the age of 94. He spoke about being alone in his condominium since his sister had died. He took up painting there but he also had a little ministry going. Every day at 11:00 AM, Bishop Lacey would celebrate Mass and the other retired Catholics in his condo would attend and a few others from time-to-time. He also was friends with and loved those children at Animus Productions just below this post. He always spoke about them and even visited their little house chapel and celebrated Mass there!


Driving him home that evening after dinner, we came by York Mills Road and Loretto Abbey and he spoke about his sisters who were Sisters there and how sad he was that there were so few now. He perked right up when I told him that there were Sisters but you had to hunt for them in places like Nashville and Ann Arbor and Cambridge, habited, prayerful Sisters in new orders rising from the ashes of the old. That made him happy to know that there was a restoration. He then spoke about the last forty years. He had been appointed pastor at Transfiguration of Our Lord Parish and was to build the church. After that. Archbishop Pocock appointed Father Lacey as Rector of St. Michael's Cathedral and put him in charge of the liturgical innovations of the Archbishop Bugnini's Concilium. Sitting in the passenger seat he said to me, "Oh we went to this seminar by the Domnicans and another plenary and all these conferences ... we were so enthused!" He suddenly became very quiet and I said, "Is everything okay, Your Excellency?" After a few seconds of more silence, he opined, "I think we went too far." 

Bishop Lacey was a good man and a good and faithful bishop. He spoke to me of his early vocation and his desire to always be a faithful priest and serve the Lord. On Our Lady's alleged appearing at Medjugorje, I expect he now knows one way or the other on its authenticity and on the matters of the liturgy and sacred architecture, he was clearly caught up in the unfortunate zeitgeist sweeping through Canada and the rest of the Catholic world, which I know for a fact, he regretted.

Bishop Michael Pearce Lacey, may the angels lead you into paradise; may the martyrs come to welcome you and take you to the holy city, the new and eternal Jerusalem. May choirs of angels welcome you and lead you to the bosom of Abraham; and where Lazarus is poor no longer may you find eternal rest.

The Life of St. Andre

For your viewing pleasure --  

The Life Of St. Andre Bessette from Animus Productions on Vimeo.

A road begun at First Communion

What wonderful joy in Ottawa this past week on the Solemnity of St. Joseph with the consecration of the new Auxilliary Bishop of Ottawa, His Excellency Christian Reisbeck of the Companions of the Cross.  One of the unique circumstances of the evening was the presence of the His Excellency Thomas Dowd, Auxilliary Bishop of Montreal and the revelation that came from it. Not only are these two Canada's youngest, but they are the youngest bishops in North America and to to top it off, they attended the same elementary school in Ottawa and were in the same First Communion class!

The West Runs for "Gay Rights" and Stammers at the Islamic Terror of Boko Haram

ABIJA, Nigeria -- Ignatius Kaigama, the Archbishop of Jos and President of the Nigerian Bishops' Conference responded to the European criticism of Nigeria and defended the support for the new federal law against "gay marriage." Last January, the Bishops thanked President Goodluck Jonathan for the new law for the protection of marriage and against “gay marriage". Since then, the Church of Nigeria has been in the crossfire of criticism. And for many a western Church leader, it is embarrassing to have to defend it.

Values ​​of the Bible Can Never be Discrimination

Archbishop Kaigama stressed that the position of the Church in Nigeria corresponds exactly to the teaching of the Catholic Church.  He said, "We defend the moral values ​​of the Bible, the tradition of the Nigerian people."  "The defense of the moral value of the Bible can never be discrimination," said the chairman of the Bishops' Conference of the most populous African country.

The archbishop also criticized the one-sidedness of the West, "though always with you when it comes to the so-called gay rights in Nigeria you run, but to the ongoing terror attacks by the Islamic militia Boko Haram you only stammer”. He went on to say that "Constantly new violence, burned and mutilated bodies, women and children who are killed in a terrible rhythm: this is the emergency afflicting our country, but nothing from Europe on this. But for “gay rights” the EU, the European Parliament and other international institutions will mobilize.”

"Even women Who Cannot Read, Use the Morning after Pill from the West"

"In all the villages of Nigeria, there are women who have no education and girls who do not attend school. They cannot read or write, but they have the morning after pill. When they are questioned, they know which pill they have when to take abort. How can that be? Who tells them that and gives them the morning after pill, pushing it into her hand? It is the western governmental and non-governmental organizations that impose their ideas on us. And these 'values' mean birth control. This is worth much money and effort from the West. And why do they do that? To ensure that our government gets international economic aid, they must accept this Western policy. But that is called coercion. A culture and a mentality are imposed that is not ours, for us Nigerians not despise life." They attempt this by way of an ideological indoctrination but specifically from the outside to manipulate the minds of the people in Nigeria.

"We won’t give in to the West   just because it has Money to Blackmail Us"

To the law against "gay marriage" said Archbishop Kaigama: "We say very clearly: We don't hate anybody. We respect homosexuals as people, and we support them when their rights are violated as human beings. The Church has there then and defends them. But we also say quite clearly that homosexual acts are contrary to nature. They flatly contradict what we defend. Powerful organizations who blackmail our government would like us to legalize gay marriage.  And when they say that there are occasional homosexual tendencies in Africa, we say quite clearly that they are aberrations. We respect the dignity of marriage between a man and a woman. We will not give in to the West, just because it has money with which it can put pressure on us,” said Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi

Image: Tempi

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

HT: The Eponymous Flower

Translation edited: by Vox Cantoris

Link to Katholisches...

Cardinal Burke on Kasper! --

"I trust that the error of his (Kasper's) approach will become clearer."

Holy Father; Consecration now, it is late, but not too late!

More Cardinals will call out Kasper for his falsity

Rome, March 15 (TMNews) - "From Bologna with love, stop." This is the title of an interview with the Cardinal Archbishop of Bologna Carlo Caffara, a past rooted in Communion and Liberation, published today by the sheet. "Peroration of Cardinal Caffara after the consistory and the relationship Kasper," is the subtitle. "Do not touch the marriage of Christ. Do not judge a case, you do not bless a divorce. Hypocrisy is not merciful."

On the proposal of the Cardinal Walter Kasper about the possibility of readmitted to communion, after a period of penance, divorziarti remarried couples who request it, Caffara states: "If the Church admits to 'Eucharist, however, must give a judgment of legitimacy the second union. E 'logical. But then - as was wondering - what about the first marriage? Second, it is said, can not be a true second marriage, since bigamy is against the word of the Lord. And the first? And 'loose? But the popes have always taught that the power of the Pope does not come to this: the ratified and consummated marriage, the Pope has no power. The proposed solution leads to think that is the first marriage, but there is also a second form of cohabitation that the Church legitimate. then c 'is an exercise of human sexuality extramarital that the Church considers legitimate. But with this you deny the backbone of the Church's teaching on sexuality. At this point one might ask, and why not approve the free cohabitation? And why not relationships between homosexuals? ".

Traditional Mass banned in Costa Rica!

Below is the report from Una Voce Costa Rica.

A law is only as good as its enforcement.  

Official Communiqué: Tridentine Mass Banned in Costa Rica

[para la traducción al Castellano pincha aquí]

Official Communiqué

- To the Confused Catholics of Costa Rica and Abroad -

The purpose of this statement is to present a summarized report of the situation in Costa Rica, particularly in the Archdiocese of San José, in relation to the Mass of Ages, also called the Tridentine Mass, Traditional Latin Mass or Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.
Una Voce Costa Rica, member of the Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce, a federation with recognition from the Holy See, has been working in recent years for all Catholics in Costa Rica to enjoy what in the letter accompanying the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum of His Holiness Benedict XVI was called "a precious treasure to be preserved " .

Former Archbishop 
 Hugo Barrantes

 

A massive, looming threat

Matt C.Abbott column

A 'massive, looming threat' to the Church; Catholic film critic on 'Passion' vs. 'Son of God'

March 11, 2014

The following is a good letter to the editor, written by Father Brian W. Harrison, O.S., of St. Louis, Mo., that appears (in slightly abbreviated form) in the February 2014 issue of Inside the Vatican magazine.

Dear Dr. [Robert] Moynihan,

In your latest Letter from Rome, commenting on the new appointments to the College of Cardinals, you report rather nonchalantly that "[Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig] Müller is also known for having said that the Church's position on admitting to divorced and remarried Catholics to the sacrament of Communion is not something that can or will be changed. But other German Church leaders, including Cardinal Walter Kasper, have recently gone on record saying the teaching may and will be changed."

Your brief, matter-of-fact report on this controversy reminds me of the tip of an iceberg. It alludes to, but does not reveal the immensity of, a massive, looming threat that bids fair to pierce, penetrate and rend in twain Peter's barque – already tossing perilously amid stormy and icy seas. The shocking magnitude of the doctrinal and pastoral crisis lurking beneath this politely-worded dispute between scholarly German prelates can scarcely be overstated. For what is at stake here is fidelity to a teaching of Jesus Christ that directly and profoundly affects the lives of hundreds of millions of Catholics: the indissolubility of marriage.

The German bishops have devised a pastoral plan to admit divorced and remarried Catholics to Communion, whether or not a Church tribunal has granted a decree of nullity of their first marriage. Cardinal-elect Müller, as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has not only published a strong article in L'Osservatore Romano reaffirming the perennial Catholic doctrine confirmed by John Paul II in Familiaris Consortio; he has also written officially to the German bishops' conference telling them to rectify their heterodox pastoral plan. But the bishops, led by their conference president and by Cardinal Kasper, are openly defying the head of the CDF, and predicting that the existing doctrine and discipline will soon be changed!

Think of the appalling ramifications of this. If German Catholics don't need decrees of nullity, neither will any Catholics anywhere. Won't the world's Catholic marriage tribunals then become basically irrelevant? Will they eventually just close down? And won't this reversal of bimillennial Catholic doctrine mean that the Protestants and Orthodox, who have allowed divorce and remarriage for century after century, have been more docile to the Holy Spirit on this issue than the true Church of Christ? Indeed, how credible, now, will be her claim to be the true Church? On what other controverted issues, perhaps, has the Catholic Church been wrong and the separated brethren right?

And what of Jesus' teaching that those who remarry after divorce commit adultery? Admitting them to Communion without a commitment to continence will lead logically to one of three faith-breaking conclusions: (a) Our Lord was mistaken in calling this relationship adulterous – in which case he can scarcely have been the Son of God; (b) adultery is not intrinsically and gravely sinful – in which case the Church's universal and ordinary magisterium has always been wrong; or (c) Communion can be given to some who are living in objectively grave sin – in which case not only has the magisterium also erred monumentally by always teaching the opposite, but the way will also be opened to Communion for fornicators, practicing homosexuals, pederasts, and who knows who else? (And, please, spare us the sophistry that Jesus' teaching was correct 'in his own historical and cultural context,' but that since about Martin Luther's time that has all changed.)

Let us make no mistake: Satan is right now shaking the Church to her very foundations over this divorce issue. If anything, the confusion is becoming even graver than that over contraception between 1965 and 1968, when Paul VI's seeming vacillation allowed Catholics round the world to anticipate a reversal of perennial Church teaching. If the present Successor of Peter now keeps silent about divorce and remarriage, thereby tacitly telling the Church and the world that the teaching of Jesus Christ will be up for open debate at a forthcoming Synod of Bishops, one fears a terrible price will soon have to be paid.

Archbishop Sample's Homily

Did Archbishop Sample let them "dress him up?" as we've been lectured to recently about Benedict XVI? 

There are those who will distort the truth and deny their own history; they proffer a Church that is a rupture with itself. Others, like Archbishop Sample understand the truth.

God bless this Archbishop.

The battle we face goes on, we will not give up. Long Live Papa Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Emeritus

Perhaps the professional clericalists that head universities and alleged Catholic cable networks which have the temerity to say "don't get me wrong, I loved Pope Benedict, but look at how they dressed him up" and then continue to affront others that actually have read him might want to view this 51 minutes by Father Calvin Goodwin, FSSP who quotes considerably from Joseph Ratzinger and says himself, "we should not underestimate the situation we are in."

While this writer in no way endorses the actions of any of the four bishops consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre, it does not mean that what they may say from time to time is not correct:

“But blind obedience is ridiculous! What are we lambs to do when the Shepherd is struck and the sheep are scattered ? Pretend all is well. and let ourselves be devoured by wolves in the name of obedience ? What can one say to such people? They are wilfully ignorant in the belief that wilful ignorance is a virtue! Where does such a mindset come from ? What error crept into the Church to make Catholics switch off their minds? Richard Williamson, SSPX

Enough!

Cardinal Dolan: Pope Francis Wants Church to Study Gay Unions

BY TOM CURRY

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York said Sunday that Pope Francis believes the Catholic Church needs to examine why some states are choosing to legalize civil unions of gay couples. But the pontiff has not expressed approval of such unions, Dolan said.

“He didn't come right out and say he was for them,” Dolan said in an exclusive interview on NBC’s Meet the Press. What the pope has said, according to Dolan, is that church leaders need to “look into it and see the reasons that have driven them…. Rather than quickly condemn them… let's just ask the questions as to why that has appealed to certain people…."

Dolan said he himself believes that marriage between one man and one woman is “not something that's just a religious, sacramental concern…it's also the building block of society and culture. So it belongs to culture. And if we water down that sacred meaning of marriage in any way, I worry that not only the church would suffer, I worry that culture and society would.”

On the pontiff’s views on capitalism and disparities of wealth, Dolan said it was “terrible hyperbole” for commentator Rush Limbaugh to refer to Pope Francis as a Marxist.

The Catholic Church is “always concerned about excesses on the left, which is collectivism, socialism, communism, and excesses on the right, which is unfettered, cut-throat capitalism,” Dolan said. “Somewhere in between is the via media, which will come to a fair, equitable, just, economic system.”

Pope John Paul II, having lived under a Communist regime in Poland, “was a bit more sensitive to the excesses on the left. Francis, he's a bit more sensitive about the excesses to the right.” As Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis lived under right-wing regimes in Argentina for much of his life.

Francis saying what we need to hear: priest

More Rosicanism: Trying to explain the "delicate" matter

Extremely relevant commentary from Squeaker. 

My question, why do so many statements of the Pope need explaining? 

The Church has no business talking about "civil unions" and trying to mask it as if it were all about a "son looking after his mother" or some other arrangement and that the State has a responsibility. We are not stupid, we know what this is about. The Church sanctioning civil unions of same sex persons as a substitute to so-called "same sex marriage." The State can do what it wants with this issue but it is not for the Church to give any credence to it. The CDF under then Cardinal Ratzinger made it abundantly clear.

All protections for people in "same-sex" relationships or other "family" relationships are all there in law already. Powers of Attorney for either personal care or property, wills, real estate titles, contracts. All there, already in contract law.

This is a sham and we are in grave trouble as Catholics when high-profile clericalists start trying to square a circle and refer to such a thing as "delicate."

The last year has not been easy, the next is going to be worse. We are in for a rough ride and it is  not going to get better.

The Pope declared that the papacy is an institution and that future popes could resign too. I can't wait, heck; let's have three, it has happened before, after all.

Go and read the whole piece over at SoCon. There are a few in Rome and elsewhere that need a lesson from the CDF.

Fr. Rosica doing PR for the Vatican

Posted on March 8th, 2014 by Squeaker in Uncategorized

Yesterday, I reflected on the usefulness of the Holy Father’s interviews.  I reported an article by CNN that distorted the Holy Father’s latest interview statements. If you read the CNN article in question, you’ll get this excerpt of damage control from the Vatican spokesman:

“The Pope did not choose to enter into debates about the delicate matter of gay civil unions,” said the Rev. Thomas Rosica, a consultant to the Vatican press office.