Feast of St. Stephen and the death of his namesake, Father Stephen Auad

The Martyrdom of St. Stephen

In the southwest corner of Toronto is the old Village of Long Branch and the Parish of Christ the King. Toronto, originally known as York, is essentially a city of towns and villages amalgamated over the years into one city. Long Branch was a village in its own right until 1967, when it was amalgamated into Etobicoke, meaning “where the alders grow,” which was eventually amalgamated into Toronto.

Parish of Christ the King and Shrine of St.Anthony of Padua 

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Long Branch was a summer resort area for the wealthy of Toronto, eight miles away, they would come on a ferry for the cool lake breeze. With cheap available land and the Canadian National Railway, it would later become an industrial community with companies such as Chrysler, Pittsburgh Paints, Castrol Oil right beside the church, Gabriel Automotive and Neptune Meters, all of which are now gone along with the good jobs and many of them, to Mexico. Long Branch had become a prosperous and pleasant community and it was to this little village that the Pastor of the Maronites, Father Stephen Auad, would come.

French postcard of Maronite militia, c. 1860

As with all immigrants at the time from Mount Lebanon, including my four grandparents to Canada, life in the old country was hard. My grandparents, along with Father Auad, were born just after the then latest wave of Islamic persecution. It was known as the Mount Lebanon Civil War or the Civil War of Syria, as Lebanon was officially part of the Greater Syria Province of the detestable Ottoman Empire. It began as an uprising by the Maronite Christians of Mt. Lebanon against their Druze overlords and culminated in a massacre of Christians at Damascus. Nearly 400 Christians villages and 500 churches were destroyed in a battle by Islamists which eventually spread even to the south of Lebanon. The British backed the Druze for economic reasons and political reasons, the French came to the rescue of the Christians at the urging of the Pope and the Ottoman's took advantage and fomented the strife. It included the Massacre of Aleppo, yes, that Aleppo, when over 5000 died as Mohammedans rose up against its Christians. It seems all too familiar now, no doubt and they may live quietly as your neighbour but as in Mosul, it was the Mohammedan neighbours that pointed out to the ISIS butchers where the Christians lived.

A year after my father was born in 1919 and only a few short blocks from the tenement on York Street where the Toronto Stock Exchange now stands, a Maronite Qurbono, literally "Offering" or Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was celebrated at St. Michael's Cathedral by the Rt. Rev. Shakralla Khoury. Khoury was the Maronite Eparch, or Bishop of Tyre and delegate from Mount Lebanon to the Paris Peace Conference following The Great War. The Qurbono was in Thanksgiving to God for the "virtual independence of Lebanon” from the defeated and vanquished Ottomans -- an independence that would not be totally realized for another thirty years due to the mischief and machinations of King Faisal.

Remarkably, the Qurbono, or Mass, at the Cathedral was reported on September 6, 1920, in the old Toronto World; and the earlier referred to "Pastor of the Maronites in Toronto," assisted at the Divine Liturgy.

Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Church, Toronto

Sadly for the Lebanese of Toronto and in spite of Father Auad being termed in the secular press the "Pastor of the Maronites" there was no Maronite Church in Toronto. The closest was in Buffalo with the result of most Lebanese, my family included, becoming assimilated into the Latin Rite. 

In 1980, Toronto Archbishop Emmett Cardinal Carter assisted the new Lebanese immigrants with the purchase of the former Anglican Church of the Epiphany on Queen Street in Parkdale, now Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church and the Maronites finally had their home. Pope John Paul II had just established the Eparchy of St. Maron in Canada (Montreal). There is now a second Maronite Church in the region with St. Charbel's in Mississauga and given the more recent strife and suffering of Middle Eastern Christians, we also see Chaldean Catholic, Syriac Catholic and Coptic Catholic and Orthodox churches being built throughout the greater Toronto region.

While studying in Rome, Father Auad was able to offer the Holy Sacrifice e in both the Latin and Maronite Rites. He would learn Italian which would prove helpful to his future in Canada. The Church in Toronto was an Irish Church and these first Catholics in Toronto suffered many indignities in what was known as the Ulster of North America. The Church here was hardly prepared for the next waves of immigrants, particularly the demanding Italians.

The old parish of St. Patrick's, built in 1867 the year of Canada's Confederation, had a new church built behind it on McCaul Street with the former becoming Our Lady of Mount Carmel and assigned to the Italians as their first parish. Because he could speak Italian, the Maronite Lebanese Father Auad became their pastor. It still stands today serving Chinese Roman Catholics, the Italians having long since moved on from that community. It didn't seem to go to well. Professor John Zucchi of McGill University who specializes in immigration history wrote in 1983 that:

"In the late 1920's the Parish Committee of Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish filed a complaint in Italian with the archbishop regarding their pastor, Father Stephen Auad."

These Italians were villagers and more accustomed to a more active involvement of the laity in the parish than Toronto Catholics were accustomed to. The Irish were different; they had to escape persecution to forests and cliffs to find a rock to hear Mass. They were quiet in their Masses. Their history was different of course being persecuted on their own soil by the British, it was a different situation and they never questioned the priest or made demands. Given the prevailing climate in Toronto one can understand the Irish mentality. Their ancestors were persecuted in Ireland by the English and Scots and they came to York - later Toronto, and got it good here too in what was an English and Scottish protestant paradise dominated by Anglican, Presbyterians and Methodists.

The Italians were bolder and had their own customs and devotions and made demands unknown by the locals then. Father Auad had clearly adopted the prevailing official Irish culture of liturgical minimalism and flying below the radar for the reasons noted above and this conflicted with the Italians under his care. Professor Zucchi continued; 

"The committee was highly critical of Auad; he was too busy to hear confession; it was difficult to find him in the rectory or in the church; he rarely visited school children; his masses were too short, etc."

It wasn't only the local Italians that criticised the poor beleaguered priest unbelievably, even American Evangelical Pentecostals chimed in.  It was August 5, 1933 at Springfield in the state of Missouri and the Pentecostal Evangel displayed its bigotry and ignorance writing:

“The  following item  taken  from  the Toronto  press  will  show  how  it  is  possible for Christianity to catch the diseases of  the  old pagan religions:  "What  has become  an annual  public religious  function in Toronto will take  place tomorrow, when Rev. Father  Stephen Auad, pastor of  Mount  Carmel Church (notice that they left "Our Lady" out of the title!)  St. Patrick Street,  will bless  motor  cars and  other conveyances  after  the  11  o'clock  Mass. The vehicles will thus be placed under the patronage of St. Christopher,' patron saint of travelers. The time is coming when Christianity will be purged of all alien additions. Matt.13:41.”

It was now 1938 and Father Stephen Auad approached Archbishop James Charles McGuigan, later to be English-speaking Canada's first Cardinal, about building a shrine to St. Anthony of Padua in that old summer resort village of Long Branch now becoming an industrial centre. Finances being what they were at the time, just after the Great Depression and with Canada entering the Second World War, the Archbishop declined the request. Disappointed in the Archbishop's decision Father Auad went home and there he brooded about the situation obviously not happy and still fighting with the Italians until his housekeeper, one Mrs. Maggie Jobin, encouraged him to go back and ask again, but this time, more firmly.

So, he did and did so to the point of pounding on the desk of the future Cardinal. Astonished at the boldness, the good Archbishop, originally from Prince Edward Island, is reported to have laughed until tears flowed down his cheeks and then said, "If you feel so strongly about the church, go ahead, but keep it your responsibility" and on August 4, 1938, Father Auad was appointed the parish priest of the Village of Long Branch and directed to build a church.

Attending one weeknight Mass at Christ the King a few years ago, I noticed a window long overlooked. It seemed an odd Saint in a window here, St. Antony of the Desert. I started to look closer. In addition to St. Anthony of the Desert there was St. Maroun, the great mystic, monk and missionary to the people of Mount Lebanon and Syria who died in 410 A.D.  It is from him that the Maronites are named. The next window was Mar Youhana Maroun, or as we would say in English, St. John Maron who died in 707 A.D., the first Patriarch of the Maronite Church. Then a little further along, there she was, Our Lady of Mt. Lebanon whom the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and All the East declared in 1908 to be "Queen of Lebanon." Knowing that the people of Long Branch would not know these Saints, each one has a little banner with their name under their image and quotes from scripture about "Libanus." Here was a little parish, built by a priest who came from the land named so often in the Psalms, who procured these windows to the greatest of Lebanon’s Holy Ones including the Mother of our Redeemer whose birth we celebrate.

Father Auad had a great personal devotion to St. Anthony of Padua and wanted this new parish at Long Branch to be named the Shrine of St. Anthony. Given that there was already a large church on Bloor Street dedicated to this much-loved Saint, the Archbishop did not agree. It was named Christ the King and a small grotto was built to house an Altar. “Shrine of St. Anthony” remains today engraved in the terrazzo flooring just below the plaque in memory of Father Auad. The first Mass offered there was celebrated by Father Auad on September 17, 1939, and on Sunday, May 26, 1940, the church was blessed by Archbishop McGuigan.



At Midnight Mass on December 25, 1944 and whilst delivering his sermon, Father Stephan Auad suffered a stroke. The next day, December 26, 1944, on the very Feast of St. Stephen, his name-saint, Father Stephen Auad went on to his eternal reward and a little bit of Lebanese history in Long Branch lay hidden.

On this anniversary of his death, may this little Christmas story serve as a tribute to this early and long forgotten priest of the first hundred years of the Church in Toronto. 

May Father Stephen Auad be rejoicing on this day with St. Stephen in the presence of the LORD whom he loved and served.  

Rev. Stephen Auad

Christmas greetings to all

To all of you, a Blessed and

 Merry Christmas.

Paul VI to be canonised a Saint? Oh come on now, you knew this was going to happen.

They waited. 

They waited until Father Luigi Villa died before announcing his beatification.

https://archive.org/stream/PaulVIBeautifiedByFatherLuigiVilla_201606/Paul%20VI%20beautified%20by%20Father%20Luigi%20Villa_djvu.txt

The man who presided over the destructive implementation of the Second Vatican Council from which I cannot honestly say that one good thing has come, is about to be canonised as a Saint. If you can list one thing good from Vatican II, please list it in the combox.

When this destroyer of the Church was beatified over an alleged miracle that a baby was born without amniotic fluid, I stated then that it was a fraud. Yes, it is "miraculous" that a baby can be born without amniotic fluid, but it is hardly a "MIRACLE" on an individual basis. It is not something which cannot be medically or scientifically explained.

Look it up.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=baby+surviving+without+amniotic+fluid&rlz=1C1CHBF_enCA754CA754&oq=baby+surviving+no+amniot&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l3.6300j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

This filthy Berogolian regime will stop at nothing to make a mockery of the Church, Her mission, and Her Saints. 

It started under John Paul II with the "make a saint" machine and it continues. They have now opened the cause for Albino Luciani, whom they state was not murdered. Perhaps out of all the Vatican II Pope "Saints" he may be the only one.

So, we are to believe that every Pope since 1958 has become a Saint? No Pius XII? No Leo XIII?

This boil on the Seat of Peter can declare Giovanni Montini Santa Clause, it won't make it so.

What a fraud.

Pope Paul VI set for sainthood, miracle identified

Medical doctors and Vatican theologians have given the green light. The newspaper of the diocese of Brescia: what better opportunity than the October 2018 synod?

Pope Paul VI

Pubblicato il 21/12/2017

IACOPO SCARAMUZZI

VATICAN CITY

Pope Paul VI, beatified in 2014 by Pope Francis, a step towards sanctification.  

In a special issue entitled “It will be the year of Paul VI Saint”, the weekly magazine of the diocese of Brescia, La voce del popolo, writes that on 13 December, theologians of the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints recognized a miracle attributed to the intercession of Pope Montini, after a first free go-ahead had been given by the medical consultation of the Vatican Congregation itself. At this point it is necessary that the cardinals of the Congregation and, finally, the Pope express themselves on the same miracle.  

The miracle regards the birth of a girl from Verona called Amanda, who in 2014 had survived for months despite the fact the placenta was broken.  

Pope Francis beatified his predecessor on 19 October 2014, concluding the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family.  

“Rumors are so insistent and the next steps so fast to take, that everything indicates 2018 as Blessed Paul VI’s canonization year”, writes the diocesan newspaper of Brescia. The last official stage took place last December 13 in the theological commission. The miracle attributed to the intercession of John Baptist Montini about the healing of a fetus in prenatal age in 2014 was approved. The expectant mother native from Verona, at risk of miscarriage, a few days after the beatification of Montini in Brescia, went to the Sanctuary “delle Grazie”, to pray to the newly beatified Pope.  

Subsequently, a child in good health was born. After the doctors and theologians’ recognition, there are still a few more steps to be taken: the passage in the commission of cardinals, the final approval of the Pope and that of the Consistory with the official announcement and the definition of the date. But at this point, it is more than a hope. The month of October could be the right one. From 3 to 28 October in Rome, the 15th Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on young people will be celebrated and will gather in the Vatican prelates from all over the world. What better opportunity to canonize in front of such a large portion of the College of Bishops, the other pontiff, after Saint John XXIII of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council? It will most likely take place on one of the first three Sundays of October, even if the most accredited date today seems to be the 21. Indeed, sooner or later, in 2018 Paul VI will be Saint! We praise the Lord to Whom we entrust the year that will come”. 

Bergoglio "Cardinal" Maradiaga on the money take!

Update:
In fairness to Don Maradiaga, here is his denial.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/cardinal-maradiaga-responds-to-allegations-of-corruption-48097#.Wj1fAHe-Gws.twitter


Oscar "Cardinal" Maradiaga, one of Bergoglio's fiercest supporters who once called Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke a "poor man" saying his thoughts "don't merit further comment" and again said, that Cardinal Burke was a "disappointed man, in that he wanted power and lost it" is now in for his own major disappointment and on the verge of lusting that power he has so relished and lusted after.

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2017/05/one-will-see-cardinals-opposing-cardinals-an-example-and-a-request/

The pompous, arrogant thug masquerading as a Cardinal is Chairman of Bishop of Rome Bergoglio's "Council of Cardinals" and has been receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars/euros from the Catholic University of Tegucigalpa. Maradiaga, who preaches about the poor and downtrodden has proven to be just one more corrupt, hypocritical and heretical henchmen of the Bergoglio mafia.

The filth and rot of this papacy are being exposed. Bergoglio brought this on himself, it is only a matter of time until he is trapped in his own web of deceit and corruption.

God will not be mocked.

And we His people will not sit idly by any longer with these filthy rats on board the ship.

http://espresso.repubblica.it/inchieste/2017/12/21/news/35-thousand-euros-a-month-for-the-cardinal-the-new-scandal-that-shakes-the-vatican-1.316341

http://espresso.repubblica.it/inchieste/2017/12/21/news/35-thousand-euros-a-month-for-the-cardinal-the-new-scandal-that-shakes-the-vatican-1.316341?refresh_ce

The Homosexualist Archdiocese of Milwaukee continues on

The former Archbishop of Milwaukee, Rembert Weakland, was an active sodomite. He was outed on Good Morning America by his "lover" and stole church funds to pay him off.

Last Sunday, an arrogant, prideful man  who is a "priest" of Our Lord Jesus Christ came out as "gay" during the Sunday Mass. He debased the Holy Sacrifice with his own narcissistic, prideful, debauched evil arrogance and pride.

The current Archbishop Listecki in backing this man and has proven to be a homosexualist himself right out of the school of Weakland. He is the purveyor of a disgraceful scandal. A filthy rotten wolf.

No man with any attraction to men should ever be ordained to the priesthood. Celibacy is not enough. One cannot be chaste and identify as "gay."

Take note: It is conclusive that every boy sexually raped by priests were raped by priests who were sodomites. Just like this pervert above. People of Milwaukee, how dare you give this enemy of Christ a standing ovation. Shame on you.

Voris is right. God will fix this and it is not going to be nice.

https://www.churchmilitant.com/video/episode/vortex-no-end-to-it?mc_cid=e1acc2eb22&mc_eid=435addc094

And all of these filthy bastards will burn in Hell lest they repent of the damage they have done to souls.

Ding Dong! Everybody's High for Francismas

And don't forget your Bergoglian Francismastree ornament.

Still at a special price of $6.66.

Oh look, Bergoglio's "great Italian" friend rejoices at the beginning of Italy's march towards euthanasia

No need to write a blog post.

The photos of Bergoglio's "great Italian" says it all.

Can the Argentian boil on the Seat of Peter really be this stupid? 

http://magister.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/2017/12/21/pope-francis-euthanasia-and-the-exegesis-of-la-civilta-cattolica/

Or is he just evil?

UPDATE:

The Pope's words on the topic were necessary, wrote Corrado Augias in La Repubblica, “to overthrow the last resistance of some Catholics and--probably--to convince at least a group of them to give their consent to [the pro-euthanasia law].”

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pope-francis-credited-with-helping-euthanasia-law-pass-in-italy

Archdiocese of Bombay states that Pope Francis has opened "communion to divorced and remarried Catholics."

The little-known homosexualist Cardinal Archbishop of Bombay, Oswald Gracias, has authorized a poster stating that Pope Francis has opened the door to "communion to divorced and remarried Catholics," -- those living and committing adultery. What can you expect from a homosexualist such as Gracias?

Veni, Veni Emmanuel

Not your grandmother's Nativity Set - heck, it's not even Donald Trump's!

Even the White House has more dignity and class and respect that the cocaine snorting, child-porn sodomite mafioso perverts in Vatican City, all under the watchful eye of the Pope of Mercy.

Oh, look, its the corporal works of mercy all taking precedence over the Nativity of the WORD MADE FLESH, lost somewhere in that menagerie of artistic arrogance.

When you look at this, where is the eye drawn? Who or what is the most significant figure?

Those rigid Three Wise Guys passing by that naked buff man with the six pack abs to worship God come to earth.

Any man with a body like that isn't hungry and isn't incapable of work. Now, if he were beaten and dirty and old and broken the point might have been made.

The point is not made. Instead, it is a god to the homosexual perverts in the Vatican. What a disgusting and revolting situation we are in.

Shame on Bergoglio. May he get a big lump of high sulphur coal in his stocking.

You fundamentalist Catholic you. You "deny the incarnation"

There are many opinions about what is in the mind of the Bishop of Rome. The nearly innumerable insults and inane comments make one wonder; is he stupid? is he deranged? is he suffering from some kind of dementia? In yet another slap to faithful Catholics recorded in Corriere Della Serra, Marco Tosatti is reporting on his blog the following words of Jesuitical wisdom emanating from the mouth and mind of Jorge Mario Bergoglio:

And we Catholics have the honor "to have fundamentalists among the baptized ... Fundamentalism denies the story, the person. Christian fundamentalism and deny the incarnation. "

The whole article from Tosatti is below with a computer translation. If anyone can find the original article in Corriere Della Serra, please do leave a link in the combox.

Marco Tosatti

http://www.marcotosatti.com/2017/12/15/romana-vulneratus-curia-papa-fondamentalismo-che-cosa-scriveva-luciani-ai-gesuiti-nunc-pro-tunc/

Roman Curia Vulneratus (RVC for friends and enemies) was very impressed by the scoop on Civiltà Cattolica by father Armando Spadaro, the Director, and one of several media spin doctor of the reigning Pontiff. And that is the interview with the Jesuits that the Jesuit Pontiff had in recent trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh. There has been talk of fundamentalism. .. and this is on Jesuits today after the letter of RVC we have some little thing to say. Rather: to remember ... But behold RVC:

"Excuse me dr. TAM, but like a true pain in the ass, would like to ask you a RVC tiny intervention to comment on the interview to the courier today. Can't help it, it's getting a little exhibitionist media, envy Antonio Spadaro and then I seem jealous of big shot. Please be merciful.

The Pope says a Spadaro (Corriere della Sera, December 14, p 33): "look, fundamentalism they are everywhere. And we Catholics have the honor "to have fundamentalists among the baptized ... Fundamentalism denies the story, the person. Christian fundamentalism and deny the incarnation. "Wow, that statement misleading! and that sophisticated language used the Holy Father does not seem to him, this is not a language understandable to the poor and the marginalized, this is a Gospel talk too hard.

The field hospital what will understand? Maybe he wanted to address the "neo-referential Pelagians and Promethean purposes" for diffidarli? (diffardarli -- to caution???) But diffidarli to do that? To deny the incarnation? But who, with ambiguous language, confuses rather the incarnation was his teacher Karl Rahner when he decided to rethink the incarnation in new forms, from those used by St. Augustine and from schools, to make it more believable. And to do that he had to assume, instead of an unchanging God, a God, a God becoming, where mutable dialectically incarnation is just implementation of human reality premise of human nature (cf. Karl Rahner – Basic Course on faith, 1990). And more recently, who calls into question indirectly the incarnation, was its theological Adviser Walter Kasper, which brings out (in his "masterpiece": Jesus Christ-1974) all doubts about the credibility of the Gospels, on Biblical Theology Mary's virginal conception on the resurrection of Christ, the Ascension, the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the value of the confession, etc. makes me suspect, considering that anyone who questions dogma and doctrine (Incarnation included), are precisely the people closest to the Pope, which the powerful Antonio Spadaro this time may have had these people aim to punish. If not, you may be dismissed from La Civiltà Cattolica and appointed Director of Christian family (in receivership), with a commitment to relaunching it in 12 months with the collaboration of Luxuria and Vendola ".

To date RVC. But coincidentally, these days, where we talk about the Pope Luciani, whose cause of beatification was started, I was reminded about the message that Papa Luciani had prepared for the Jesuits and which was published posthumously (30 would be made public if ttembre 1978). I looked it up on the Vatican website that hosts the few interventions of Albino Luciani, but I did not find it. Cannot, alas, to say if there ever was, or if a providential hand did disappear over the past four years. As it seems to have happened to the document of the then Superior General of the Jesuits, Father Kolvenbach, who strongly advised against making Bishop Bergoglio for notes human features and behaviour. It certainly is impressive reading these lines now. It was not coincidental that the society of Jesus was Commissioner after not long from Saint John Paul II. 

We offer you a few sentences of that message.

The Pope recalled that the company was "Established primarily for the defense and propagation of the faith and for the profit of souls in Christian life and doctrine" (Formula of the Institute). For this purpose, spiritual and supernatural all subordinated every other activity, which must be exercised in a manner suitable for a religious and priestly. You know well and justly worry of major economic and social problems afflicting humanity today and a lot of connection they have with the Christian life. But, in the solution of these problems, its always distinguish the duties of religious priests than those proper to the laity. Priests must inspire and animate the laity to perform their duties, but should not substitute for them, neglecting their own specific task in the work of evangelization. For this work of evangelization, St. Ignatius demands by his sons a soda purchased through a long and careful preparation, doctrine ".

Pope Luciani recalled that the company was known for "calls to present in preaching and spiritual direction, teaching and publishing books and magazines, a solid and safe, fully in line with the teaching of the Church, for which the initials of the society constituted a guarantee for the Christian people and deserved the special trust of the episcopate. Try to keep this commendable feature; don't let Jesuit teachings and publications have to cause confusion and disorientation among the faithful; Remember that the mission entrusted to you by the Vicar of Christ is to announce, but suitable for today's mentality, but in its integrity and purity, the Christian message, which is contained in the deposit of revelation, whose authentic interpreter is the Magisterium of the Church ".

"This of course means that the institutes and faculties, where young Jesuits are formed, both equally taught a doctrine solid and secure, in accordance with the directives contained in Conciliar decrees and in subsequent documents of the Holy See regarding the doctrinal formation of candidates to the priesthood. And this is all the more necessary since your schools are open to numerous seminarians, religious and lay people, who are attending for the firmness and security of doctrine which they hope to tap into it. "

And finally recommended: "don't let secularizing tendencies penetrate and disrupt your communities, dispel that environment of recollection and prayer in which the Apostle is restored, and introduce attitudes and behaviors with secular, which does not befit a religious. The world does not mean assimilation to dutiful Apostolic contact world; nay, demands that the differentiation which safeguards the identity of Apostle so that he really is the salt of the Earth and yeast to ferment the mass ".
Just a photograph of the Jesuits today, bar none, right?

World's leading Pro-Life leaders accuse Bergoglio and Catholic leaders of being unfaithful to doctrine

PLEDGE OF FIDELITY

FAITHFUL TO TRUE DOCTRINE, NOT TO ERRING PASTORS

https://www.fidelitypledge.com/

Pledge of fidelity to the authentic teaching of the Church by pro-life and pro-family leaders

SUPPORT THE PLEDGE

The number of innocent children killed by abortion during the last century is greater than that of all the human beings who have died in all the wars in recorded history. The last fifty years have witnessed a continual escalation in attacks on the structure of the family as designed and willed by God, which provides the best environment for human flourishing, and, especially, for the education and formation of children. Divorce, contraception, acceptance of homosexual acts and unions, and the spread of “gender ideology” have all done immeasurable damage to the family, and its most vulnerable members.

Over the last fifty years the pro-life and pro-family movement has grown in both size and scope in order to confront these grave evils, which threaten both the temporal and eternal good of mankind. Our movement comprises men and women of good will from a wide variety of religious backgrounds. We are brought together in our defence of the family, and of the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters, through obedience to the natural law, which is written on all our hearts (cf. Rm 2:15). However, throughout this last half century the pro-life and pro-family movement has relied in a particular way on the immutable teaching of the Catholic Church, which affirms the moral law with the greatest clarity.

It is therefore with great sorrow that during recent years we have witnessed doctrinal and moral clarity, on issues relating to the protection of human life and the family, increasingly being replaced by ambiguity, and even by doctrines directly contrary to the teaching of Christ and the precepts of the natural law.

A Filial Appeal, delivered to Pope Francis in September 2015, was signed by around 900,000 people from all over the world and a “Declaration of fidelity to the unchangeable teaching of the Church on matrimony” was presented in 2016. On 19 September 2016 four cardinals submitted five dubia to Pope Francis, and to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, asking for the clarification of certain points of doctrine in the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia. In June 2017, the cardinals made public their request for an audience, which had been presented to the Pope by Cardinal Carlo Caffarra on 25 April 2017, but which, like the dubia, had received no response. On 23 September 2017 a Correctio filialis de haeresibus propagatis was issued by 62 Catholic theologians and academics “on account of the propagation of heresies effected by the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia and by other words, deeds and omissions” of Pope Francis. By 4 November 2017, 250 theologians, priests, professors and scholars of all nationalities had pledged their support to the Correctio. The disorder within the Church is increasing, as witnessed by a letter recently sent to Pope Francis by a prominent theologian, which, the author stated, was prompted by “turmoil within the Church today, a chaos and an uncertainty that I felt Pope Francis had himself caused.” 1

As Catholic pro-life and pro-family leaders, we are obliged to highlight numerous additional statements and actions, which have had a particularly damaging impact on our work for the protection of unborn children and the family in recent years. Representative examples include:

• statements and actions which contradict the Church’s teaching on the intrinsic evil of contraceptive acts;
• statements and actions which contradict the Church’s teaching on the nature of marriage and the intrinsic evil of sexual acts outside the union of marriage;
• the approval of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which effectively call for member states to achieve universal access to abortion, contraception and sex education by 2030;
• the approach adopted towards sex education, particularly in chapter 7 of Amoris Laetitia and in The Meeting Point programme produced by the Pontifical Council for the Family.

As leaders within the pro-life and pro-family movement or leaders of lay movements concerned with the defence and diffusion of Catholic moral and social teaching, we have witnessed first-hand the harm and confusion caused by such teaching and actions. In order to fulfil our responsibilities to those whom we have pledged to protect, in particular, unborn children and those made especially vulnerable by the breakdown of the family, we must provide clarity on our position on these issues. We must also provide leadership to those within our movement who look to us for guidance and advice.

For this reason, we wish to make clear our unchanging adherence to the fundamental moral positions outlined below:

• there exist certain acts which are intrinsically evil and which it is always forbidden to commit;
• the direct killing of an innocent human being is always gravely immoral; consequently, abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide are intrinsically evil acts;
• marriage is the exclusive and indissoluble union of one man and one woman; all sexual acts outside of marriage, including in all forms of non-marital union, are intrinsically evil and gravely injurious to individuals and to society;
• adultery is a grave sin, and those who live in adultery cannot be admitted to the sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion, until such time as they repent and amend their lives;
• parents are the primary educators of their children, and the provision of sex education must be undertaken by parents or, in certain circumstances, “in educational centres chosen and controlled by them”;
• the separation of the procreative and unitive ends of the sexual act by contraceptive methods is intrinsically evil and has devastating consequences for the family, for society and for the Church;
• methods of artificial reproduction are gravely immoral as they separate procreation from the sexual act and, in the great majority of cases, lead directly to the destruction of human life in its earliest stages;
• there are only two sexes, male and female, each of which possesses the complementary characteristics and differences that are proper to them;
• homosexual acts are intrinsically evil, and no form of union between persons of the same sex can be approved in any way.

As Catholic pro-life and pro-family leaders we must remain faithful to Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has entrusted the deposit of faith to his Church. We “are obliged to yield to God the revealer full submission of intellect and will by faith.” We fully assent to all those things “which are contained in the word of God as found in Scripture and Tradition, and which are proposed by the Church as matters to be believed as divinely revealed, whether by her solemn judgment or in her ordinary and universal magisterium.” 

We pledge our full obedience to the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in the legitimate exercise of its authority. However, nothing will ever persuade us, or compel us, to abandon or contradict any article of the Catholic faith or any truth definitively established. If there is any conflict between the words and acts of any member of the hierarchy, even the pope, and the doctrine that the Church has always taught, we will remain faithful to the perennial teaching of the Church. If we were to depart from the Catholic faith, we would depart from Jesus Christ, to Whom we wish to be united for all eternity.

We, the undersigned, pledge that we will continue to teach and propagate the above moral principles, and every other authentic teaching of the Catholic Church, and will never, for any reason, depart from them.

12th December 2017

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

SIGNATORIES

Bernard Antony

President of Chrétienté-Solidarité (France)

Dame Colleen Bayer, DSG

Founding Director of Family Life International NZ (New Zealand)

Judie Brown

President of American Life League (United States)

Patrick Buckley

Director of European Life Network (Ireland)

Georges Buscemi

President of Campagne Quebec Vie (Canada)

Giorgio Celsi

President of Associazione “Ora et Labora in Difesa della Vita” (Italy)

Dr. Anca-Maria Cernea, MD

Ioan Barbus Foundation (Romania)

Greg Clovis

Director of Family Life International UK (United Kingdom)

Rev. Linus F. Clovis

Spiritual Director of Family Life International St Lucia (St Lucia)

Virginia Coda Nunziante

President of Associazione Famiglia Domani (Italy)

Modesto Fernandez

President of Droit de Naître (France)

Richard P. Fitzgibbons, M.D.

Director of the Institute for Marital Healing (United States)

Mathias von Gersdorff

Director of Aktion Kinder in Gefahr (Germany)

Corrado Gnerre

National Director of Il Cammino dei Tre Sentieri (Italy)

Doug Grane

Chief Executive of Serviam (United States)

Michael Hichborn

President of the Lepanto Institute (United States)

Jason Jones

Founder of I am Whole Life

Founder of Movie to Movement (United States)

John Lacken

Founder of Legio Sanctae Familiae

Secretary of the Lumen Fidei Institute (Ireland)

François Legrier

President of Mouvement Catholique des Familles (France)

Vittorio Lodolo D’Oria

President of Famiglie Numerose Cattoliche (Italy)

Samuele Maniscalco

Director of Generazione Voglio Vivere (Italy)

Christine de Marcellus Vollmer

President of Asociacion Provida de Venezuela (PROVIVE)

President of Alianza Latinoamericana para la Familia (ALAFA)

President of Alive to the World, Education in Integrity (Venezuela)

Roberto de Mattei

President of Fondazione Lepanto (Italy)

Jean-Pierre Maugendre

President of Renaissance Catholique (France)

Thomas McKenna

President of Catholic Action for Faith and Family (United States)

Anthony Murphy

Director of Catholic Voice (Ireland)

Marisa Orecchia

President of Federvita Piemonte (Italy)

Philippe Piloquet

President of SOS Tout-petits (France)

Philippe Schepens M.D.

Secretary-General of the World Federation of Doctors Who Respect Human Life (Belgium)

John Smeaton

Chief Executive of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (United Kingdom)

Molly Smith

President of Bringing America Back to Life

Executive Director of Cleveland Right to Life (United States)

Guillaume de Thieulloy

Director of Le Salon Beige (France)

Yves Tillard

President of Action Familiale et Scolaire (France)

Dr. Thomas Ward

President of the National Association of Catholic Families (United Kingdom)

John-Henry Westen

Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of LifeSiteNews (Canada)

Mercedes Arzú Wilson

Founder and President of Family of the Americas Foundation (Nicaragua)

Diego Zoia

Director of SOS Ragazzi (Italy)

LifeSiteNews interviews Marcantonio Colonna, author of The Dictator Pope and to the Catholic Herald, "They will unmask me, eventually"

 The Vatican is reportedly seeking your true identity. Why did you use a pseudonym? And are you afraid of reprisals? 

Sadly, what emerges in the book is Pope Francis’ tendency to vindictiveness. The present-day Curia lives in a state of fear that any criticism of the Pope will lead to dismissal, as it did in the case of three officials of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith who were summarily dismissed by Francis without explanation. Those who wish to tell the truth are therefore compelled to anonymity, to protect not only themselves but those around them.

“A person in England was misidentified as the author at one point and immediately received threatening telephone calls from Rome,” Colonna said. “I now hear that Vatican officials have laid before the Pope a shortlist of six people who they think may be the possible author. I suspect that it’s not for the purpose of awarding a literary prize.”

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2017/12/13/they-will-unmask-me-eventually-says-author-of-the-dictator-pope/

There is much new in this book that fills in many details and brings them altogether from various sources, formally and definitively and puts forth the facts about the man who evil men thrust upon the Chair of Peter.

When we recall the issues and history put forward in this damning expose on the life and times of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, it shows us truly how far from the Catholic faith, how far from supernatural belief and how far from Our Lord Jesus, this man truly is.

From the shaming of people through name-calling to the firing and intimidation of staff to the fact that even as Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires he refused to genuflect before the Lord Jesus in the Most August and Blessed Sacrament on the Altar. Only a man who does not believe would refuse to kneel "At the name of Jesus, every knee should bow on heaven, in the earth and under the earth."

This book must be read by every priest and bishop and cardinal and as many Catholics as possible in spite of the warnings by some against "curiosity." Knowledge is power, the truth is right and just at all times. It must never be hidden. 

It is in the hiding of truth that allowed homosexual perverts to infiltrate the priesthood and episcopacy and sodomise boys. It is in the hiding of truth that covered up these crimes. It is in the deep and dark conspiracy of filthy heretics such as Danneels, Kasper, Nicholls and McCarrick that put this arrogant, rude, vulgar Argentian boor on the throne of Peter and as Vicar of the Christ's Church.

You silly fools who think that every scent emanating from the papal corpus is heaven sent as if his flatulence is frankincense. You fools that put a man above Our Lord Jesus Christ. You fools, you leeches who prey upon the ignorant faithful who you keep in their darkness; the likes of Cupich and James Martin, and Massimo Faggioli and other sycophants of this deranged and evil papacy. You papolaters who give the Orthodox every reason to stay away from us and Protestants every indication that they are right.

All you Cardinals who in your own laziness and lack of faith, in your desire to be on the winning side and to be with the inside team who voted for this Argentinean boor need to repent of your actions. You will be held accountable for thrusting this man upon the Catholic faithful.

And yet, as Hilary White has frequently said, the Church could not have endured another "conservative" pope, another Wojtyla or Ratzinger. The festering puss of James Martin and the sodomite and masonic mafia would have persisted in undermining the faith in stealth. Now, it is out in the open and every Catholic is duty bound to get to the truth and save their souls from these wretched, rotten, evil shepherds.

The Dictator Pope needs to be translated into Spanish, Polish and French and distributed widely. 

Read it, and read this interview.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/exclusive-lifesite-interviews-mysterious-author-of-the-dictator-pope

The Be-Francis Attitudes

We shouldn't have been surprised really.

I mean, if he can suggest adding new Beatitudes, what's the problem with a little tinker to The Lord's Prayer?

• Blessed are those who remain faithful while enduring evils inflicted on them by others and forgive them from their heart. 
• Blessed are those who look into the eyes of the abandoned and marginalised and show them their closeness.
• Blessed are those who see God in every person and strive to make others also discover him. 
• Blessed are those who protect and care for our common home. 
• Blessed are those who renounce their own comfort in order to help others. 
• Blessed are those who pray and work for full communion between Christians.

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2016/11/01/six-new-beatitudes-proposed/