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Thursday, 6 November 2014

The Athanasius Interview

Here, in its entirety, is the Polonia Christiana interview with Bishop Athanasius Schneider using their translation. 

Such intelligence. Such clarity. Such pastoral care. Another Joseph Ratzinger in discourse and thought; intellectual but clear, complex and simple at the same time. He holds nothing back and says it in a way that the common man or woman can clearly see the truth. 

May the LORD bless abundantly this beautiful bishop.

Against Pharisees

Data publikacji: 2014-11-05 07:00
Data aktualizacji: 2014-11-04 11:22:00


Bp Atanazy Schneider w Poznaniu. Fot. Piotr Łysakowski

The Church and the world do urgently need intrepid and candid witnesses of the whole truth of the commandment and of the will of God, of the whole truth of Christ’s words on marriage. Modern clerical Pharisees and Scribes, those bishops and cardinals who throw grains of incense to the neo-pagan idols of gender ideology and concubinage, will not convince anyone to either believe in Christ or to be ready to offer their lives for Christ - said + Athanasius Schneider Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana, Kazakhstan in interview with Izabella Parowicz. 


Here, in its entirety, is the interview conducted by C

Your Excellency, what is Your Excellency’s opinion about the Synod? What is its message to families?



During the Synod there had been moments of obvious manipulation on the part of some clerics who held key positions in the editorial and governing structure of the Synod. The interim report (Relatio post disceptationem) was clearly a prefabricated text with no reference to the actual statements of the Synod fathers. In the sections on homosexuality, sexuality and “divorced and remarried” with their admittance to the sacraments the text represents a radical neo-pagan ideology. This is the first time in Church history that such a heterodox text was actually published as a document of an official meeting of Catholic bishops under the guidance of a pope, even though the text only had a preliminary character. Thanks be to God and to the prayers of the faithful all over the world that a consistent number of Synod fathers resolutely rejected such an agenda; this agenda reflects the corrupt and pagan main stream morality of our time, which is being imposed globally by means of political pressure and through the almost all-powerful official mass media, which are loyal to the principles of the world gender ideology party. Such a synod document, even if only preliminary, is a real shame and an indication to the extent the spirit of the anti-Christian world has already penetrated such important levels of the life of the Church. This document will remain for the future generations and for the historians a black mark which has stained the honour of the Apostolic See. Fortunately the Message of the Synod Fathers is a real Catholic document which outlines the Divine truth on family without being silent about the deeper roots of the problems, i.e. about the reality of sin. It gives real courage and consolation to Catholic families. Some quotations: “We think of the burden imposed by life in the suffering that can arise with a child with special needs, with grave illness, in deterioration of old age, or in the death of a loved one. We admire the fidelity of so many families who endure these trials with courage, faith, and love. They see them not as a burden inflicted on them, but as something in which they themselves give, seeing the suffering Christ in the weakness of the flesh. … Conjugal love, which is unique and indissoluble, endures despite many difficulties. It is one of the most beautiful of all miracles and the most common. This love spreads through fertility and generativity, which involves not only the procreation of children but also the gift of divine life in baptism, their catechesis, and their education. … The presence of the family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in their modest home hovers over you”.



Those groups of people who had been expecting a change in the Church’s teaching with regard to the moral issues (e.g. allowing divorced and remarried people to receive Holy Communion or granting any form of approval for homosexual unions) were probably disappointed by the content of the final Relatio. Isn’t there, however, a danger that questioning and discussing issues that are fundamental for the Church’s teaching may itself open doors for serious abuses and for similar attempts to revise this teaching in the future?



In fact a Divine commandment, in our case the sixth commandment, the absolute indissolubility of the sacramental marriage, a Divinely established rule, means those in a state of grave sin cannot be admitted to Holy Communion. This is taught by Saint Paul in his letter inspired by the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 11, 27-30, this cannot be put to the vote, just as the Divinity of Christ would never be put to a vote. A person who still has the indissoluble sacramental marriage bond and who in spite of this lives in a stable marital cohabitation with another person, by Divine law cannot be admitted to Holy Communion. To do so would be a public statement by the Church nefariously legitimizing a denial of the indissolubility of the Christian marriage and at the same time repealing the sixth commandment of God: “Thou shalt not commit adultery”. No human institution not even the Pope or an Ecumenical Council has the authority and the competency to invalidate even in the slightest or indirect manner one of the ten Divine commandments or the Divine words of Christ: “What therefore God has joined together, let man not separate (Math 19:6)”. Regardless of this lucid truth which was taught constantly and unchangingly - because unchangeable - through all the ages by the Magisterium of the Church up to our days as for instance in “Familiaris consortio” of Saint John Paul II, in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and by Pope Benedict XVI, the issue of the admissibility to Holy Communion of the so called “divorced and remarried” has been put to the vote in the Synod. This fact is in itself grievous and represents an attitude of clerical arrogance towards the Divine truth of the Word of God. The attempt to put the Divine truth and the Divine Word to a vote is unworthy of those who as representatives of the Magisterium have to hand over zealously as good and faithful rules (cf. Math 24, 45) the Divine deposit. By admitting the “divorced and remarried” to Holy Communion those bishops establish a new tradition on their own volition and transgressing thereby the commandment of God, as Christ once rebuked the Pharisees and Scribes (cf. Math 15: 3). And what is still aggravating, is the fact that such bishops try to legitimize their infidelity to Christ’s word by means of arguments such as “pastoral need”, “mercy”, “openness to the Holy Spirit”. Moreover they have no fear and no scruples to pervert in a Gnostic manner the real meaning of these words labeling at the same time those who oppose them and defend the immutable Divine commandment and the true non-human tradition as rigid, scrupulous or traditionalist. During the great Arian crisis in the IV century the defenders of the Divinity of the Son of God were labeled “intransigent” and “traditionalist” as well. Saint Athanasius was even excommunicated by Pope Liberius and the Pope justified this with the argument that Athanasius was not in communion with the Oriental bishops who were mostly heretics or semi-heretics. Saint Basil the Great stated in that situation the following: “Only one sin is nowadays severely punished: the attentive observance of the traditions of our Fathers. For that reason the good ones are thrown out of their places and brought to the desert” (Ep. 243).



In fact the bishops who support Holy Communion for “divorced remarried” are the new Pharisees and Scribes because they neglect the commandment of God, contributing to the fact that out of the body and of the heart of the “divorced remarried” continue to “proceed adulteries” (Math 15: 19), because they want an exteriorly “clean” solution and to appear “clean” as well in the eyes of those who have power (the social media, public opinion). However when they eventually appear at the tribunal of Christ, they will surely hear to their dismay these words of Christ: “Why are you declaring my statutes and taking my covenant in your mouth? Seeing you hate instruction, and cast my words behind you, … when you have been partaker with adulterers” (Ps 50 (49): 16-18).



The final Relatio of the Synod also unfortunately contains the paragraph with the vote on the issue of Holy Communion for “divorced remarried”. Even though it has not achieved the required two third of the votes, there remains nevertheless the worrying and astonishing fact that the absolute majority of the present bishops voted in favor of Holy Communion for the “divorced and remarried”,  a sad reflection on the spiritual quality of the catholic episcopacy in our days. It is moreover sad, that this paragraph which hasn’t got the required approval of the qualitative majority, remains nevertheless in the final text of the Relatio and will be sent to all dioceses for further discussion. It will surely only increase the doctrinal confusion among the priests and the faithful, being in the air, that Divine commandments and Divine words of Christ and those of the apostle Paul are put at the disposal of human decision making groups. One Cardinal who openly and strongly supported the issue of Holy Communion for “divorced and remarried” and even the shameful statements on homosexual “couples” in the preliminary Relatio, was dissatisfied with the final Relatio, and declared impudently: “The glass is half-full”, and analogously he said that one has to work that next year at the Synod it will be full. We must believe firmly that God will dissipate the plans of dishonesty, infidelity and betrayal. Christ holds infallibly the rudder of the boat of His Church in midst of such a big storm. We believe and trust in the very ruler of the Church, in Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the truth.



We are currently experiencing a culmination of aggression against the family; this aggression is accompanied by a tremendous confusion in the area of science about human and human identity. Unfortunately, there are certain members of Church hierarchy who, while discussing these matters, express opinions that contradict the teaching of Our Lord. How should we talk with those people who become victims of this confusion in order to strengthen their faith and to help them towards salvation?



In this extraordinarily difficult time Christ is purifying our Catholic faith so that through this trial the Church will shine brighter and be really light and salt for the insipid neo-pagan world thanks to the fidelity and the pure and simple faith firstly of the faithful, of the little ones in the Church, of the “ecclesia docta” (the learning church), which in our days will strengthen the “ecclesia docens” (the teaching Church, i.e. the Magisterium), in a similar way as it was in the great crisis of the faith in the IV century as Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman stated: “This is a very remarkable fact: but there is a moral in it. Perhaps it was permitted, in order to impress upon the Church at that very time passing out of her state of persecution the great evangelical lesson, that, not the wise and powerful, but the obscure, the unlearned, and the weak constitute her real strength. It was mainly by the faithful people that Paganism was overthrown; it was by the faithful people, under the lead of Athanasius and the Egyptian bishops, and in some places supported by their Bishops or priests, that the worst of heresies was withstood and stamped out of the sacred territory. … In that time of immense confusion the divine dogma of our Lord's divinity was proclaimed, enforced, maintained, and (humanly speaking) preserved, far more by the "Ecclesia docta" than by the "Ecclesia docens;" that the body of the Episcopate was unfaithful to its commission, while the body of the laity was faithful to its baptism; that at one time the pope, at other times a patriarchal, metropolitan, or other great see, at other times general councils, said what they should not have said, or did what obscured and compromised revealed truth; while, on the other hand, it was the Christian people, who, under Providence, were the ecclesiastical strength of Athanasius, Hilary, Eusebius of Vercellæ, and other great solitary confessors, who would have failed without them” (Arians of the Fourth Century, pp. 446, 466).



We have to encourage ordinary Catholics to be faithful to the Catechism they have learned, to be faithful to the clear words of Christ in the Gospel, to be faithful to the faith their fathers and forefathers handed over to them. We have to organize circles of studies and conferences about the perennial teaching of the Church on the issue of marriage and chastity, inviting especially young people and married couples. We have to show the very beauty of a life in chastity, the very beauty of the Christian marriage and family, the great value of the Cross and of the sacrifice in our lives. We have to present ever more the examples of the Saints and of exemplary persons who demonstrated that in spite of the fact that they suffered the same temptations of the flesh, the same hostility and derision of the pagan world, they nevertheless with the grace of Christ led a happy life in chastity, in a Christian marriage and in family. The faith, the pure and integral Catholic and Apostolic faith will overcome the world (cf. 1 John 5: 4).



We have to found and promote youth groups of pure hearts, family groups, groups of Catholic spouses, who will be committed to the fidelity of their marriage vows. We have to organize groups which will help morally and materially broken families, single mothers, groups who will assist with prayer and with good counsel separated couples, groups and persons who will help “divorced and remarried” people to start a process of serious conversion, i.e. recognizing with humility their sinful situation and abandoning with the grace of God the sins which violate the commandment of God and the sanctity of the sacrament of marriage. We have to create groups who will carefully help persons with homosexual tendencies to enter the path of Christian conversion, the happy and beautiful path of a chaste life and to offer them eventually in a discrete manner a psychological cure. We have to show and preach to our contemporaries in the neo-pagan world the liberating Good News of the teaching of Christ: that the commandment of God, and even the sixth commandment is wise, is beauty: “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Ps 19(18): 7-8).



During the Synod, Archbishop Gądecki from Poznań and some other distinguished prelates were publicly expressing their disagreement with the fact that the results of the discussions departed from the perennial teaching of the Church. Is there a hope that, amid this confusion, there will be an awakening of members of clergy and those faithful who were so far unaware of the fact that, in the very Church’s bosom, there are people who undermine the teaching of Our Lord?



It is certainly an honor for Polish Catholicism that the President of the Catholic episcopate, His Excellency Archbishop Gądecki, defended with clarity and courage the truth of Christ about marriage and human sexuality, thus revealing himself to be a true spiritual son of Saint John Paul II. Cardinal George Pell characterized the liberal sexual agenda and the alleged merciful and pastoral support of Holy Communion for “divorced remarried” during the Synod very aptly, saying that this is only the tip of the iceberg and a kind of a Trojan horse in the Church.



That in the very bosom of the Church, there are people who undermine the teaching of Our Lord became an obvious fact and one for the whole world to see thanks to the internet and the work of some Catholic journalists who were not indifferent to what was happening to the Catholic faith which they consider to be the treasure of Christ. I was pleased to see that some Catholic journalists and internet bloggers behaved as good soldiers of Christ and drew attention to this clerical agenda of undermining the perennial teaching of Our Lord. Cardinals, bishops, priests, Catholic families, Catholic young people have to say to themselves: I refuse to conform to the neo-pagan spirit of this world, even when this spirit is spread by some bishops and cardinals; I will not accept their fallacious and perverse use of holy Divine mercy and of “new Pentecost”; I refuse to throw grains of incense before the statue of the idol of the gender ideology, before the idol of second marriages, of concubinage, even if my bishop would do so, I will not do so; with the grace of God I will choose to suffer rather than betray the whole truth of Christ on human sexuality and on marriage.



The witnesses will convince the world, not the teachers, said Blessed Paul VI in “Evangelii nuntiandi”. The Church and the world do urgently need intrepid and candid witnesses of the whole truth of the commandment and of the will of God, of the whole truth of Christ’s words on marriage. Modern clerical Pharisees and Scribes, those bishops and cardinals who throw grains of incense to the neo-pagan idols of gender ideology and concubinage, will not convince anyone to either believe in Christ or to be ready to offer their lives for Christ. Indeed “veritas Domini manet in aeternum” (Ps 116: the truth of the Lord remains forever) and “Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebr 13: 8) and “the truth will set you free” (John 8: 32). This last phrase was one of the favorite biblical phrases of Saint John Paul II, the pope of the family.  We can add: the revealed and unchangeably transmitted Divine truth about human sexuality and marriage will bring true freedom to the souls inside and outside the Church. In midst of the crisis of the Church and the bad moral and doctrinal example of some bishops of his time Saint Augustine comforted the simple faithful with these words: “Whatsoever we bishops may be, you are safe, who have God for your Father and His Church for your mother“ (Contra litteras Petiliani III, 9, 10).





+ Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana, Kazakhstan.



This interview was published in the latest issue of “Polonia Christiana” magazine.

Wednesday, 5 November 2014

Rotting Fish in the Rhine and Tiber

There is an old saying, "the fish rots from the head down.

Hilary White at LifeSiteNews reports on a Die Zeit interview with Cardinal Reinhard Marx, head of the German Bishops' Conference.  

How many more excuses are we going to hear when the truth is staring right at us?

Fierce wind blowing from Kazakhstan


Hats off to Toronto Catholic Witness and for daily scouring of the Polish press. This is not something which you will read in the Catholic Register or Tablet.

Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Kazakhstan has called the recent Synod on the Family a "manipulation." with a "prefabricated text" containing a "radical neo-pagan ideology." He accuses Rome for the first time in Church history of publishing a "heterodox text" at "an official meeting of Catholic bishops under the guidance of a pope" notwithstanding that the original text was only an interim report. He accuses those behind it of displaying "an attitude of clerical arrogance" and of being neo "pharisees and scribes."

He goes on to talk about this being a "purification" and gives credit to Catholic journalists and bloggers for being "good soldiers of Christ."

Please visit Toronto Catholic Witness for a more complete summary of the translation where you can find an link to the original Polish and their complete translation. 

Baloney from Bologna

More about what is going terribly wrong in Rome.

Ecumenism Rewritten by Enzo Bianchi and Alberto Melloni

The leaders of the “school of Bologna” have a very ambitious new project in the works: a history of the movement for Christian unity aimed at a thorough reform of the Catholic Church, starting with the dismantling of the papacy in its current form. They believe they have an ally in Pope Francis

by Sandro Magister

ROME, November 3, 2014 – At the end of October, Pope Francis received a delegation of Old Catholic bishops of the Union of Utrecht.

Numerically this is a very small group, but it is the bearer of a model of Church that pleases not a few progressive Catholics. It recognizes a primacy of honor for the pope, but it does not accept that he is infallible or has jurisdiction over the bishops. It has its bishops elected by a synod composed of clergy and laity. At Mass it gives Eucharistic communion to all, as long as they are baptized in one of the various Christian confessions. It administers collective absolution of sins. It allows second marriages for the divorced.

Tuesday, 4 November 2014

Church Modernists fiddle whilst Christians burn - literally!

While the likes of Kasper, Rosica, Forte and others continue in their desire to grant Holy Communion to the divorced and remarried with no annulment and to active sodomites, Christians lose their lives for no other reason than that they are Christians.

These repugnant clerics who would not know the "scent of the people" have refused to go the "periphery" to find where their filthy first-world problems mean nothing as the Times of India reports: 

Christian couple burned alive in Pakistan for allegedly desecrating the Quran

LAHORE: In a gruesome incident, a Christian couple was on Tuesday thrashed and burned alive by a group of angry Muslims in Pakistan's Punjab province for allegedly desecrating the Quran.
The horrific crime was reported from the villages of Kot Radha Kishan of Kasur district, some 50 kilometres from here.
A large number of police personnel were deployed in the villages to provide security to the minority community.
Emaneul Sarfraz, a relative of the deceased couple, said that his cousins, Shahzad Masih, 35, and his wife Shamah, 31, had been working in the kiln of Muhammad Yousuf Gujjar for sometime near Chak (village) 59.
"The couple along with their four children wanted to leave the kiln as Yousuf was not paying their remuneration. He demanded Rs 5,00,000 from them, if they wanted to quit.
"Two days ago, after an exchange of words Yousuf locked the couple along with their children in a room," Emaneul said.
He further said that an announcement was made today from two mosques of Chak 59 that Shahzad Masih and his wife had committed blasphemy by burning the pages of Quran.
"A large number of Muslims led by area clerics reached the kiln and dragged the couple out of the room after breaking into it.
They first tortured them and then threw them in the kiln.
No one from the crowd listened to the couple, who were pleading that they were innocent as Yousuf had levelled false allegation of blasphemy against them to settle money dispute," Emanuel said adding, "Thank God they did not burn the couple's children".
He alleged that police from the nearby post had reached there on time but did not intervene seeing the charged mob.
"We have taken some 50 people into custody in connection with the killings and raids were underway to arrest more including the kiln owner," Jawad Qamar, police chief of Kasur district, said.
Qamar also denied the incident had taken place in police presence.
Human Liberation Commission Pakistan chairman Aslam Sahotra said he visited the district headquarters hospital in Kasur and saw the remains of couple.

"It was all ashes and some bones of the couple which is left to bury," he said.

Sunday, 2 November 2014

Clerical "swindlers"

There must be no let up in the next year of opposition to the sodomite mafia operating within the Catholic Church. Make no mistake about it; Cardinal Kasper, Archbishop Forte, Thomas Rosica, CSB, and the rest of their ilk will not cease in trying to undermine Catholic doctrine and faith. Those who undermined the true problems of the family at the Synod from Hell were initially trying to push Holy Communion for the adulterous, those divorced and remarried without a decree of nullity. They played their filthy hands -- it was also about sodomy and it was about sacrilege.

The Pope himself must defend the truth against these that do the work of the evil one, whom he speaks about frequently.

Toronto Catholic Witness has provided us with the clarity of Cardinal Muller in the Polish press and that of the Croatian Bishops, something totally lacking from most or our Shepherds in Canada.

Here, courtesy of Rorate Caeli Blog is a column by Juan Manuel de Prada of Spain:



UN LÍO SINODAL - A SYNODAL MESS
Juan Manuel de Prada
ABC
October 25, 2014

Considering that all persons, as God's creatures, have valuable gifts and qualities, what is the reason for this special mention of homosexuals?

It was asked of Catholics that we make a mess [lío], but at the moment all that they got was getting us caught up in the mess; and some joker could even add (and he would not be wrong) that they have made la picha un lío ["a big mess"]. In the relatio of the synod on the family, among other great pearls, there are sophistries and nonsense of this level: "Homosexual persons have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community." In order to uncover the nonsensical and at the same time sophistical nature of this affirmation, it is enough to replace "homosexual" with "fat", "black", "blond", "dedicated to the cultivation of mushrooms," or "with gastric ulcer"; any title or expression, that is, that complements the noun "persons" is good enough, from which it follows that any person can have (to give as well as to receive!) gifts and qualities that are very useful for the Christian community; and in particular for its bishops, who in the past had the eyesight of eagles (as its etymology implies), but who now seem to be as blind as moles, or who are maybe sending the pathetic winks of an old harlot in the direction of political correctness. This, in the language of Revelation, is called fornication with the kings of the earth [cf. Rv 17]; in the language of the Gospel, to render unto Caesar what is God's; and, in clear vernacular, to honor the world.

Considering that all persons, as God's creatures, have valuable gifts and qualities, what is the reason for this special mention of homosexuals? Is it implied that, by the sole fact of their being so, they are more gifted and qualified than the rest of mortals? Is it intended to affirm that, by being a homosexual, a person is freed from being envious, proud, vulgar, boring, an idiot, or completely stupid? Such a nonsensical and sophistic wording, so mellifluous and corrupt, reveals only a foolish eagerness, as that of a little puppy wagging its tail, to praise servilely the mindset of our age, to burn incense to Caesar; and, additionally, it dodges, in a very soft and pusillanimous way, the call to conversion of Christ -- who undoubtedly saw extremely valuable gifts and qualities in the adulterous woman, to whom he said nonetheless: "Sin no more."

But there certainly are homosexuals filled with gifts and qualities! Through the pen of some of them, the Holy Spirit speaks, and it would be good that the bishops, instead of reading kasperite monstrosities, dedicated themselves to read these illustrious homosexuals, in order to free themselves from their degrading slavery to political correction. Pier Paolo Pasolini, for example, in his Scritti Corsari [Corsair Writings], turns against the cynics and the moderates who have tried to adulterate the radical sense of the famous evangelical line, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and unto God what is God's": "Because what Christ wanted to say could not be, in any way whatsoever, 'please them both, don't look for trouble, conciliate the practical aspects of social life with your religious life, try to swim and keep your clothes on while being in peace with both, etc.' " These bishops in the Synod could also read that sublime passage of the De Profundis in which Oscar Wilde, regretful for his sins, affirms: "Of course the sinner must repent. But why? Simply because otherwise he would be unable to realise what he had done. The moment of repentance is the moment of initiation. More than that: it is the means by which one alters one’s past. The Greeks thought that impossible. They often say in their Gnomic aphorisms, ‘Even the Gods cannot alter the past.’ Christ showed that the commonest sinner could do it, that it was the one thing he could do."

Pasolini and Wilde: two homosexuals filled with the divine gift of saying undeniable truths. Some swindlers wearing skullcaps could learn from them.

Saturday, 1 November 2014

Ontario Residents! Petition on Government's Sex-ed Curriculum from PAFE

Two years ago, the Ontario Government attempted to bring in a new educational curriculum which would have also included Catholic schools on sex-education. This curriculum would have been mandatory as early as Grade 1. It would include blatant sexual language and practices to children far to young to understand and presented with no moral guidance that relations are reserved for married couples and that there are consequences to certain behaviours. I will not discuss here the details, it would simply not be appropriate, however, here is their first attempt under the former "catholic" Premier. The current Premier is a lesbian.

Remember friends, elections have consequences. Remember this if you are in America this coming week and my fellow Canadians next October.

If you are an Ontario resident, please sign this petition at PAFE, Parents Are First Educators!

Here is their statement:



TORONTO, November 1, 2014  -
Just days after the conclusion of the 2014 school board elections, the Kathleen Wynne Liberal government announced that a new “sexual health” program will be implemented in Ontario schools in less than a year, but with no input from parents, no input from the elected school boards, and no input from Ontarians at large.
The President of Parents as First Educators (PAFE), Teresa Pierre, PhD, expressed concern: “We can only assume that the Wynne Liberals are deliberately trying to limit the extent of public input because they want to silence their critics – ordinary Ontario parents who wish to have a say in what and how and when their children are introduced to sensitive material,” said Dr. Pierre.
In its circular published in the last week of October, the Ministry of Education revealed that the new sex-ed curriculum will be fully “implemented” in September 2015, and will be developed and “fact-checked” by “third-party academic experts”. The only non-experts who will be consulted for input will be one hand-picked individual parent representative from each of Ontario’s elementary schools, to the exclusion of every other parent.
Dr. Pierre also expressed concern that the Wynne Liberal plan for a radical new sex-ed plan would make no effort to accommodate various cultural and religious sensitivities in the province. For example, in the case of the Catholic school boards, the news will provoke concerns that the Liberal government is once again determined to override the constitutionally guaranteed right of Catholic parents and school boards to maintain Catholic teaching in their schools.
“This is exactly what happened when the McGuinty Liberals forced the establishment of ‘gay-straight alliance’ clubs into Catholic schools in 2012,” said Dr. Pierre. 
Updates to the sexual curriculum have been dogged with controversy since they were last proposed back in 2010 when Kathleen Wynne was Education Minister under then-Premier Dalton McGuinty.  Parents objected to the young ages at which graphic content and morally contentious topics were being introduced.
“Now, it seems, the Wynne Liberals are determined to re-introduce similar measures, but with as little fanfare as possible,” said Dr. Pierre. “By waiting to release the announcement until just after the school board trustee elections concluded, the province is doing an end run around school trustees too.”  
    We urge concerned residents of Ontario to sign our online petition against the proposed changes! 

Stop the Implementation of the New Sex Ed Curriculum

Wednesday, 29 October 2014

All Souls Sunday - A Conflicted "Commemoration"

As you no doubt know, November 2 is the date on which falls the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed -- or All Souls. This is the Church Suffering in Purgatory. Yes, there is a purgatory and yes, those in purgatory will one day enter the beatific vision of Heaven; one might describe it as the Mudroom of Heaven. We are saved by Christ and His blood atonement and we are "washed in the blood of the Lamb" and notwithstanding those that say "we have a reasonable hope that there is nobody, or very few, in Hell" this is simply not true. There is a Heaven and a Hell and for those of us who through God's mercy and His grace, merit heaven, there is place of purification, of purgation. This is what the Church has taught, it is part of our Sacred Tradition and it is found in Sacred Scripture and to say otherwise is error and heresy.

According to the traditional calendar last revised in 1962 with the Missal of St. John XXIII, the Commemoration is transferred to November 3. Note that this is a "Commemoration" it is not a First Class or Second Class Feast as in the Johannine Missal nor is it a Solemnity, Feast, Memorial or Optional Memorial as in the Pauline Missal, -- the Missal of Bl. Paul VI of 1969. In fact, it has "no assigned rank" -- more about this absurdity later.


Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite


Why is the Commemoration transferred off of the Sunday to November 3 according to the traditional calendar? 

First, it is a Requiem Mass, a Mass of Rest for the all the faithful departed, it is very close to enactment of a funeral and we don't do funerals on Sunday! The liturgical chants are that of a Requiem Funeral Mass as are most of the prayers though there are variances in these and the Readings as no body is present and it is for "all the faithful departed." The basic liturgical norms, however, apply -- black vestments, no Gloria or Credo, the Dies Irae sequence, the catafalque prayers with some minor modification from the funeral. The fact that it is a Commemoration which by its nature cannot outrank the Lord's Day a complete irony. Funerals are not permitted on a Sunday, nor are black vestments and the Gloria and Credo are always sung when the vestments are not violet. 

Simple, eh? Sunday is Sunday and we have our Requiem on Monday.


Distortion 


Then came along Annibale Bugnini and the liturgical destructionists who put before the recent Blessed Pope a series of conflicted and destructive documents. As has been told, Bugnini would go to him and say "Holy Father, the Concilium has decided this" and he would agree. Then some from the Concilium would come to him and say "Why did you agree to this" and he would reply, "Because Bugnini said you wanted it!" What a mess the poor man had on his hands, not unlike today. He was manipulated and deceived and for reasons known only to him and the Lord, he could not or would not take control of it. He "wept" over the loss of the Octave of Pentecost and most of us have been weeping ever since. 

Now, after that little diatribe, back to the matter at hand. 


Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite


The absurdity in the Pauline Calendar is that a "Commemoration" which according to the Canadian Ordo calendar has "no assigned rank" actually outranks a Solemnity which is what every Sunday happens to be! When another Solemnity falls on a Sunday, -- Epiphany, Ascension and Corpus Christi being ridiculously transferred off their proper date of January 6 and 40 days after the Resurrection and Thursday, or as we have seen this year, Candlemas and Holy Cross as well as Sts. Peter and Paul, the Birth of St. John the Baptist, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and All Saints, these Solemnities are celebrated on Sunday rather than the normal Sunday Propers (readings and prayers). These Solemnities (mostly old Holy Days of Obligation somewhere) took precedence in both the old and new over the Sunday texts and sequential day. In the Extraordinary Form it includes Immaculate Conception when on a Sunday as in 2013 which is actually a Solemnity transferred off of Sunday in the current calendar as it was last year as we can't replace an Advent Sunday in the new. 

There, are you confused yet?

How then is it possible for a Commemoration of "no assigned rank" to ever displace a Solemnity of any kind, let alone a Feast a Memorial or an Optional Memorial! 

Want more?
A priest in both Forms is permitted to say three Masses of All Souls, each with its own readings and propers, (the antiphons/psalms are consistent in the EF, varied in the OF, because we can). How does this affect a Sunday? If the parish has three Masses, does he do one of each? What if it has only one? Does he add two?

Worse!

How do you have a Sunday which is a Solemnity outside of Advent or Lent without a Gloria or Credo? It is not part of the Commemoration of All Souls. 

Well, not in Canada. In its usual tentanda via, the Canadian Ordo specifies a Gloria and Credo even though the Universal Ordo does not, it is silent. Actually, I think the Canadian bishops are right on this. How can you have a Sunday outside of Advent and Lent without a Gloria and Credo? It simply points out more the absurdity of All Souls on a Sunday.


What of the vestments?


We have a green Sunday in Ordinary Time, that is usually a Solemnity and now is a Commemoration, Though it is Sunday and it is absurd to wear black! The Canadian Ordo normally states for All Souls, White, Violet or Black vestments; this year, black is left out -- I can't believe I am admitting this, they are right -- black vestments are not a Sunday colour, in fact, it is the absence of all colour.

So, what of violet, or purple? Well, it is penitential and some choose to wear it on All Souls, though I would say it is worse than wearing white because All Souls is not about our penance as in Advent or Lent or Vigils (as in the EF) but it is about the suffering souls, black is obvious. Since 1965 though, white has been the overwhelmingly predominant colour for funerals and it is the norm generally now throughout, though black is always the norm the EF. 

So what colour to wear then on Sunday, white or purple?

Far be it from me to advise any priest but it would seem to me that if one is singing the Gloria and Credo then one is not wearing violet!

A further note, the Requiem can still exists in the OF but you have to open the chant books to find it. A funeral could have the proper antiphons, Requiem aeternam, Requiem, Absolve, the mournful Offertory Domine Jesu, and the Lux aeterna. The Dies Irae was summoned off to the Liturgy of the Hours but one could chant it as prelude or communion "hymn". This could also be the case for this Sunday - absurd.


Irony



The reforms were so determined to trim all additions to the calendar and all things that took away, in their minds, from Sunday. Even in the Ordo a few years ago when Assumption fell on Sunday we were cautioned not to make too much of Mary, as it is the Lord's Day. Yet, here we have a simple Mass of Commemoration that actually displaces the Sunday! It is absurd, no? Well, let us ask why or at least try to determine, their rationale. It will be argued that it is suitable to do this on Sunday because Sunday is the Lord's Day, the Day of the Resurrection. While the funeral Mass is properly referred to now as the Mass of Christian Burial, many priests and liturgical nazis refer to it as the "Mass of the Resurrection" which is of course, Easter Sunday's proper liturgical name. White is the colour because there is no Hell, or if there is, nobody really goes there and there really is no purgatory. "Good old Uncle Buck, he's now playing golf on the heavenly green, just like he did every Sunday instead of being at Mass." Recently we've been told as well, that people don't need to "convert" and we are not to "proselytise" and people should be true to all of their other religions. We can see now why this confusion which Michael Voris speaks about was so rampant at the Synod and even stems from the top. Those Cardinals, bishops and priests were formed in this heretical and protestant ethic that invaded the seminaries of the 1940's onward. They did away with black because it made us think of death. They got rid of the Dies Irae because it was scary and not pleasant

They changed our beliefs without changing doctrine and they did it through pastoral means, through a change in the liturgy and then an abuse of it to be even more pastoral. Sound familiar? Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi!

Annibale Bugnini said that it would take two generations to rid the Church of the traditional liturgy. He was right, but something happened. Along came two men that would ensure that that situation would never happen. One was Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (and this writer firmly believes that one day, it may be a century from now, this holy man will be exonerated and raised to the Altars notwithstanding what in the fullness of time, I believe will be considered, holy disobedience. The second happened on the 7th day of July in 2007 with Benedict XVI gloriously reigning and that was the promulgation into law of his motu proprio, Summorum Pontificum!


What do we do?


It is clear to me that those who put this together must also have struggled with this. They must have recognised that Sunday must take precedence which is why there is a Gloria nad Credo called for; so we sing or recite the Gloria and Credo, we try to do sing the Propers, at least at Holy Communion and if we are selecting hymns, let them be appropriate to what we are doing. CanticaNova is a great place to begin. If we do anything, we follow the norms and in Canada that means we follow what the Ordo states. If we do not, then we are guilty of doing what the liturgical destructionists have long done. We follow the rules and we seek a better way out of this and that is coming, notwithstanding, and it begins below.

Saturday is All Saints Day. At 11:00 I will chant the Mass for the Feast in the Extraordinary Form (see below) and then at 5:00, I will chant an Ordinary Form Mass of the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed and sing the Gloria and Creed. I will be psychologically conflicted but I'll get over it and will offer it up for the Holy Souls. On Sunday, I can return to sanity after a two-hour drive two dioceses away to sing the XXI Sunday after Pentecost and mercifully on Monday, November 3; a proper Requiem Mass for the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed.

Someday, a Pope will fix this mess.

In the meantime, we carry on and we seek out the truth and beauty of that which came before even whilst we labour in the vineyard where we have been placed.




Tuesday, 28 October 2014

Hey, how did I get here?




What's that, dear chap? You say that you shouldn't have fetched up in hell because some Cardinal told you it was ok to start off considering the good things about your life, despite your living in a state of mortal sin, as, that way, you would eventually move towards conversion...?

Read the rest at Mulier Fortis.

Brilliant.

Monday, 27 October 2014

Coming Out of Sodom - The faith and humilty of Cardinal Burke

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

It was written by a man named E. Hess in Celebrate Life Magazine. Originally titled "Coming Out of Sodom" it was written in 2011 based on the man's actual conversion in 1998 in La Crosse. In spite of the 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, Cardinal Burke is in fact, a gentle and prayerful and humble pastor. 

Here is the story now since removed from the magazine.

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.

Sunday, 26 October 2014

Holy Father! What of Asia Bibi?

Your Holiness, Pope Francis,

We've heard a lot from you in the last eighteen months about mercy. Yet, during all of that time, our Catholic sister has languished in a prison in this failed state while you invited a cleric of the political-religio fascist cult that put her there to pray to its god in the walls of Vatican City.

With all respect Holy Father, what are you doing, to see this woman freed from the earthly hell which she is in? You have spoken out about the death penalty and life imprisonment for people who have brought this upon themselves. 

Our sister has written you a letter; does she not deserve at least some consideration as you did for woman living in adultery in Argentina?

What will you do?

Vox.


Sentenced to death Asia Bibi wrote a letter to the Pope

Date of publication: 2014-10-26 7:00
Date updated: 2014-10-26 7:49:00
Sentenced to death Asia Bibi wrote a letter to the Pope
Convicted for alleged blasphemy against Muhammad Pakistani Asia Bibi wrote a letter to the Pope. Christian asks him to pray for his release - reports Internet portal "Vatican Insider".

"Pope Francis, I am your daughter Asia Bibi. I urge you: pray for my salvation and my freedom. At this point I can only entrust to God Almighty who can do anything for me" - we read in the letter.

Last week, the Court of Appeal confirmed Lahaurze released in 2010, sentenced to death for alleged blasphemy against Muhammad at Asya Bibi. The 43-year-old woman, mother of five children, in fact, told only her friends - Muslim about their faith in Christ. For more than five years in prison.

Lawyer Asia Bibi, Naeem Shakir, said that the appeal presented by the defense was rejected. The writing explains why the witnesses are unreliable and false accusations. At the same time announced the appeal to the Supreme Court, which is the highest court of Pakistan's judiciary.

Asia Bibi was imprisoned based on allegations neighbor, the wife of a local imam who could not, however, provide any evidence. Two Pakistani politicians who have been pushing for the release of Asia Bibi, paid with his life: Governor Salman Taseer of Punjab province and the Minister. Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti. Its complete release appealed on 17 November 2010, Benedict XVI.

About as soon as possible to grant the appeal against the death sentence on Asya Bibi's appeal to the Supreme Court of Pakistan Christian non-governmental organizations from different countries of the world. They also call to the prison afforded her better, and above all, safety.


Source: IAC
Vulnerabilities


Read more: http://www.pch24.pl/skazana-na-kare-smierci-asia-bibi-napisala-list-do-papieza,31722,i.html#.VEzPNvd8hrw.facebook#ixzz3HFuDa0VD

Friday, 24 October 2014

Michael Coren flips the bird to Catholic Truths

Michael Coren sad departure from Catholicism and the truth of Our Blessed Lord's teachings has been written about elsewhere on Vox Cantoris. My old friend and former Knight of Columbus brother (he has mercifully left before the movement to boot him out) has spent the better part of the year besmirching Church teaching on same-sex behaviour and mocking any Catholic faithful to the teachings of Christ and His Church that would have the temerity to question him.

The fact that this man does it in the secular media compounds the problem.

In his latest column, Coren writes:

"Now, lo and behold, the preliminary report from the General Assembly of the Synod of the Bishops has stated that gay people have "gifts" and qualities to offer the Christian community."

I will not belabour the sham of the Synod or go any further into Coren's article except to say this that this sentence says more by what it does not say and it convicts Coren as an author of deception.

Michael Coren has distorted not only the teaching of the Church but the reality of the Synod to his readers. The "preliminary report" which caused a firestorm for its heterodoxy was not accepted. Coren gives the impression that it was.

Michael Coren is doing severe damage to the Church and any Catholic organisation that continues to provide one penny to him for conferences is sharing in his hypocrisy and heresy.

Michael, you can call me any name you like. You can mock me on SUN TV or in the Catholic Register as you already have; but I am not going to be silent in the face of your scandalous manipulation of the truth.

If you think this blogger and others are going to be silent whilst you drag our faith through the mud of the secular-humanist, sodo-fascist world of modernity you might as well stop now. My pen is just as big as yours and you can't bully or silence me as you did last week on CHCH to someone else. We are not going to let you continue unchallenged. If you cannot be Catholic and then stop perverting the facts and the truth for your own pathetic objectives. 

You Michael, are the real hater.

+++

I apologise to all for writing this previously and promoting his book; it has since been removed:


This new book will do more for Catholicism in Canada and I dare say a good portion of the English-speaking world than many media-clericalist talking heads who suffer scarlet fever. I am honoured to know Michael Coren personally and I am very pleased to recommend this book.

Twenty years ago I met Michael Coren in the now defunct, Frank Magazine. He was on the back pages if my memory serves. Every two weeks, I grabbed that magazine for $2 and read Coren first. I was impressed with his wit, his sarcasm and his intellect. A few years later, I was the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto with my now 22 year old son. There outside one of the buildings was a CFRB trailer and a live broadcast of the Michael Coren Show. He was kibitzing with the small crowd gathered around and we exchanged a few words back and forth; he of course would not remember. Imagine my surprise a few years later, whilst still following him on the various rounds of media outlets in Toronto and in the newspaper, I found out about his conversion and that it was at the Church where I was involved with the choir. He is now a Brother Knight of Columbus.

Enough of the personal recollection. Go here to the National Post and read an excerpt from Michael's new book. It is in the bookstores now and I'll be getting my copy soon. And I'll take it with me to our Clergy Appreciation Night for a signing.

Congratulations Michael, and thank you for doing this.

And what happened to the man I wrote this about?

+++

Of all the articles that have appeared in the media about Summorum Pontificum, most have been laden with histrionics, half-truths, inaccuracies and outright lies. This one is an exception!
"The Second Vatican Council or Vatican II was intended to be an organic progression of 2,000 years of Church tradition and teaching. Windows were supposed to be opened but an assortment of 1960s academics and left-wing priests preferred to smash them. Continuation became breach and a legion of abuses were allowed and even encouraged."...Michael Coren
Thank you Michael Coren (whole column) for your clarity!

Michael Coren is the author of twelve books, including biographies of GK Chesterton, HG Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis. He has contributed to the Dictionary of National Biography and several other anthologies. He is published in many countries and in more than a dozen languages. He has received several honorary doctorates and awards for his writing. In 2005 he won The Ed Murrow Award for Radio Broadcasting, in 2006 The RTNDA Radio Broadcasting Award and in 2007 the Communicator Award in Hollywood for his television show.