Rosica lectures: What really happened at the Synod

The Windsor Star has a fascination with Father Tom Rosica. Their first foray together was whilst Father was still a Deacon in Amherstburg, Ontario at the Parish of St. John the Baptist. Perusing that old article reveals much about this man and his heterodox Catholicism, contradicting even then the clear teaching on the Holy Eucharist. He criticized his local bishop and promoted a disordered ecumenism then and even recently with Anglicans in Toronto. It may come as a surprise to Father Rosica, but Pope Benedict XVI was the true ecumenist with Anglicanorum Coetibus. If Tom Rosica wants to present on Salt + Light anything to do with Anglicans in Canada and ecumenism it should be to preach to them that the door is open and the place for Anglicans who want the truth and who find themselves within the dying and heretical Anglican Church is in the Ordinariate. Instead, Rosica chooses to continue with the same error, the same useless "sharing" of his days at Amherstburg.


Last year, in November 2013 Rosica gave an interview to the same newspaper where he opined that the Church was entering a "radical" period, he in fact applauded it. He later spoke on this theme as part of the Christian Culture Series.

In November of this year, Father Tom Rosica appeared again at that same conference and gave a dissertation on the recent Synod on the Family. He again was interviewed by the same newspaper.

Let us remember the attempt by many to manipulate the synod in favour of an adulterist and homosexualist agenda undermining two millennia of Catholic teaching coming itself from Our Blessed Lord and the Holy Spirit.

Rosica tells the reporter that the recent Synod was perhaps the "most discussed in history," a short history I might add since it is a post Vatican II phenomena. Rosica indicates this in particular because of the impact it is "having on the world." 

The greatest problem in the world right now is Christian persecution and the beheadings and kidnapping of innocents by Islamist fascists. The Synod has had no impact on the world. Ninety nine point nine percent of people couldn't care less; others are simply trying to survive today. Even most Catholics did not know it happened but might have heard something about changing teaching. However, the changing of doctrine through pastoral stealth will have a deleterious affect on an already decaying and suffering world. As goes the Church, so goes the world.

"Having been the spokesperson (spokesman perhaps?) for the synod on the inside, this will be the first major public lecture in Canada to tell people what really happened at the synod, the implications for the Church and what is the process, the journey that we are on right now" said Rosica.

Priests and bishops conspired to distort Catholic teaching for their own ends, for their own visions. The Church and this Synod were infiltrated by modernists, heretics, adulterists and homosexuals with an agenda to change the doctrine of the Church through stealth, by changing pastoral practice. I do not believe that this was part of Father Rosica's revelation to the people of Windsor.

"Groups have it" I assume he means the final report to the bishops conferences, "and it is a really good rallying point to focus on important issues."

So what are these "important issues?"  

Are they the high rate of divorce and the abandonment of children by their fathers resulting from an incorrect understanding of Catholic matrimony because you and the bishops did not properly catechise? Is it perhaps the burdensome tax systems and urban expenses that cause mothers to leave the home to assist in the support of the family? Is it perhaps the homosexualist agenda of the corruption of our education system to take our children even further from our faith? Is it rampant contraception violating the sanctity of marriage or the use of abortion by Catholics? Is the problem in the Church really Holy Communion for the divorced and remarried or that we have no respect for individuals suffering from same-sex attraction? How about the affect of pornography upon the family?

Once again, Rosica's style is to issue little phrases and snippets of truth without explaining the reality and actuality of that truth. He goes on to say that "I feel that deep down something has to change here." 

I could care less about what this priest "feels." I care about doctrine and faith and what Our Lord expects of us and His Church. It is not about what Tom Rosica "feels" or anyone "feels." It is not up to him, it is not about what he feels!

"There should be a real dialogue, and that dialogue, that exchange was present in the early church, " says Roscia. Here we see again from that first article as a Deacon, he returns to that concept of "sharing." Where has the Church not had dialogue?: He speaks as if we've only now emerged from some dark age. What exactly is this dialogue that seems lacking? If Father Rosica or anyone else wants a synodal and democratic church then join the Church of England. How about a Romanuorum Coetibus from the Archlayman of Canterbury?

"A lot of people who were on the fringes have said, wow, there might be a place for me."..."I'm divorced and remarried and I felt disenfranchised and all of a sudden there's a place for me. Or somebody who's struggling with homosexuality and they realise that they have a certain dignity and value. The church is not saying anything goes by any means, it's saying every single person has an inherent dignity and value which cannot be underestimated."

This is poppycock!

Again, it is about "feelings." When did the Church "disenfranchise" anyone? People "disenfranchise themselves.

I was divorced, I was never "disenfranchised" for it. I followed Church teaching and when I failed, I had a remedy. I sought a decree of nullity and was granted it. I am now married to a beautiful and supportive Catholic woman. (As an aside, let me add something for my detractor who continues to express gossip and calumny in writing to others now even that my blogging means that I am "neglecting" my wife. I'm not good enough for his slander, he now belittles himself by going after my marriage and my wife. Well, her message to Barkin up the Wrong Tree is "if this is neglect, bring it on!")

Where is the lack of dignity for those suffering from same-sex attraction?

Has our good priest heard of Courage or what they thought of Archbishop Forte and his homosexualist shenanigans?

I have a friend who was a serious gay activist for many years. He came home to the Church and I was honoured to have been a lector at his marriage to a Catholic woman! He was always treated with dignity and respect by everyone in what some would consider to be an "extremely" orthodox Catholic community where both Forms of the Roman Rite are celebrated. I may be wrong but certainly, I know of nobody who ever chastised him or insulted him because of his former ways. As the Psalmist wrote, "my sins are always before me" and in reality, "who am I too judge?" as I have so many of my own of which I am not proud. This lie that the Church hates homosexuals must be put to rest. If a person truly repents and endevors to live a Christian life, even falls but gets back up through the sacraments, that is what we all strive for. This is not new, it is what the Church has always taught. For Rosica to suggest otherwise is a fallacy and an attempt at manipulation of the facts and is evident of the machinations in Rome.

At the conference, Rosica said "You may have heard or read that this Synod has been about changing the teaching of the Church on marriage family life or sexual morality. This is not true! It was about pastoral care that we try to offer to each other..."

It was exactly about changing the teaching through stealth by changing pastoral practice. 

How did belief in the Real Presence change? By changing the practice with communion in the hand and standing. How did belief in the Mass as a sacrifice change? By changing the practice so that it resembles a communion meal and is a commemoration of the Last Supper.

If you wish to read the rest of Father's address, it is posted at Salt + Light.

As I've written previously, those of us that see through what was happening at the Synod, through the manipulation and the spin, even from highly-placed clerics are not going to let this go unchallenged. Every article they write, every speech they give that we can find will be responded to publicly.

We are in a fight for the truth, there will be no let up from those who will seek to change doctrine and teaching through pastoral manipulations and there will be no let up from those of us who believe what our Lord taught and the Holy Spirit has revealed.

Our Lady of Wisdom, pray for us.

Ave Virgo Gloriosa!

  v

   

  A sermon by St. Anselm

O Virgin, by whose blessing all nature is blessed!

     Blessed Lady, sky and stars, earth and rivers, day and night – everything that is subject to the power or use of man – rejoice that through you they are in some sense restored to their lost beauty and are endowed with inexpressible new grace. All creatures were dead, as it were, useless for men or for the praise of God, who made them. The world, contrary to its true destiny, was corrupted and tainted by the acts of men who served idols. Now all creation has been restored to life and rejoices that it is controlled and given splendour by men who believe in God.

     The universe rejoices with new and indefinable loveliness. Not only does it feel the unseen presence of God himself, its Creator, it sees him openly, working and making it holy. These great blessings spring from the blessed fruit of Mary’s womb.

     Through the fullness of the grace that was given you, dead things rejoice in their freedom, and those in heaven are glad to be made new. Through the Son who was the glorious fruit of your virgin womb, just souls who died before his life-giving death rejoice as they are freed from captivity, and the angels are glad at the restoration of their shattered domain.

     Lady, full and overflowing with grace, all creation receives new life from your abundance. Virgin, blessed above all creatures, through your blessing all creation is blessed, not only creation from its Creator, but the Creator himself has been blessed by creation.

     To Mary God gave his only-begotten Son, whom he loved as himself. Through Mary God made himself a Son, not different but the same, by nature Son of God and Son of Mary. The whole universe was created by God, and God was born of Mary. God created all things, and Mary gave birth to God. The God who made all things gave himself form through Mary, and thus he made his own creation. He who could create all things from nothing would not remake his ruined creation without Mary.

     God, then, is the Father of the created world and Mary the mother of the re-created world. God is the Father by whom all things were given life, and Mary the mother through whom all things were given new life. For God begot the Son, through whom all things were made, and Mary gave birth to him as the Saviour of the world. Without God’s Son, nothing could exist; without Mary’s Son, nothing could be redeemed.

     Truly the Lord is with you, to whom the Lord granted that all nature should owe as much to you as to himself.

I Saw Santa Punching Arius

You'll need to turn the volume of the Wikiplayer off at the top left to enjoy this little treat...

Vox's well-laden Christmas Fruitcake

Here we are in the First Week of Advent. No Christmas decorations up yet, we'll leave that for after the Fourth Sunday but it is time to begin some of the preparations. I love Christmas, always have; and I love fruitcake. Is that weird or something? What is it about fruitcake that prompts so much derision? I think I know, lousy, dry, overly sweet fruitcake mass produced bought in a grocery store.

Now, what about making your own? It's not that hard and this recipe is one which I've used and modified here and there. Note that except for orange peel, there is no candied fruit with all that added liquid invert sugar. As a tip, when making Christmas Pudding or mincemeat that require candied fruit, soak it in water from the kettle for a few minutes to melt off the gooey syrup and sugar. Just use the brown sugar of your recipe to sweeten and not all that chemical stuff.

One word of caution. Do not cover the pot while its cooking. I did the first year and the alcohol escaped all at once with the steam. Yes, I lost part of my eyebrows!

So, here it is, enjoy.

1 cup chopped dried apricots                                 

1 cup dried cranberries

1 cup chopped dried pineapple                  

1 cup chopped pitted prunes

1 cup yellow raisins                                    

1 cup Thompson raisins

½ cup candied orange peel                                   

½ cup chopped dried figs

1 cup spring water

½ cup dark rum                                                     

½ cup brandy

½ cup port                                                               

½ cup Cointreau

1 teaspoon bitters                                                   

1- 3 inch cinnamon stick

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon                            

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

½ teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg                      

¼ teaspoon ground allspice

1½ cups Demerara sugar                          

¼ teaspoon salt      

1 cup softened, unsalted butter               

4 large eggs, beaten

1½ cups self-rising flour                                       

1-teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine fruit in a large pot.  Stir in rum brandy, port, Cointreau, water and bitters.   Add cinnamon stick, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice and salt.  Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes.  Remove fruit mixture to large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let sit for five days tossing it once a day. 

Prepare cake pans.  This is a large amount of cake and will fill 4 loaf pans or 2 – 8inch square pans.  Butter pans and line with parchment paper. 

Preheat oven to 275. F.  Beat together butter and sugar until well mixed.  Gradually beat in eggs a little at a time, adding some of the flour if the mixture starts to curdle. 

Stir in remaining flour.  Add fruit mixture with liquid to flour and egg mixture.  You may want to use your hands.  Spoon into prepared pans and smooth the surface.  Loosely cover top with a double layer of parchment paper.  Bake for about 2 hours for small [pans and up to 3 hours for large ones.  Test with a toothpick.  It should come out clean although the cake will be quite moist in center. 

Cool pans on rack.  Un-mould and wrap with foil.  Do not cut for at least three days.

John Michael Talbot: Ignorant, liturgical heretic!

For nearly thirty years I have followed my vocation in liturgy and church music. Over those years, I have been part of a few excellent choirs. This included the Toronto Oratory Choir where we sang the propers and polyphony for the Latin Mass in the Ordinary Form (Missal of Paul VI), and the use of Latin and proper English liturgical music in the sung English Mass according to the same Missal as well as Sunday Vespers in a combination of Latin and English, chant, hymnody and polyphony. I sang with Canada's leading male-vocal ensemble for three seasons, The Victoria Scholars, though secular, singing sacred music. I've lead small scholas and little choirs for the traditional liturgy. I served as the Schola Master and Cantor for the glorious 19 months when we had the FSSP in Toronto and have sung the EF almost every Sunday for a decade. Weekly, for seven years, I have sung Saturday night in the OF and as well as Sundays in the EF and I will continue to do so with God's help until I can do it no longer. Suffice to say that I know a thing or two about liturgy and church music. 

John Michael Talbot and his ilk have destroyed church music and continue to do so. "Better music at Mass means a closer encounter with Christ" says Talbot. I agree, but not on what he says next. "Catholics are notoriously known for having the worst music anywhere" he adds, along with his disrespect of the corrected translation on the Nicene Creed and the word "consubstantial."  On both of these John Michael Talbot and this writer are going to differ sharply and drastically. His arrogance is astounding.  However, I will agree on one thing, church music is bad because of John Michael Talbot and others like him.

Read this again, according to this aging hippie and lay leader of a religious commune, we have the "worst music anywhere." 

Really John Michael? 

Listen to the music playing on this blog for Advent. Go search on the Internet for something by Palestrina or Tallis or a simple Gregorian chant, the proper music for the Church even in the Novus Ordo Missae according to the Second Vatican Council! Then after doing that, come back to the combox here and tell me that Catholics have the "worst music anywhere." That is nothing more than a self-serving lie. Strong words John? Well, maybe it is the first time in your career that someone had the courage to state publicly that you have done enormous damage to Catholic liturgical praxis. Yours is an opinion formed out of self-interest. You have no liturgical credentials, no training, no scholarship. I doubt that you've even read or understood Sacrosanctam Concilium. How much money do you make from all these Catholic parishes buying your music and bringing you in for these talks? Seems pretty lucrative if you ask me.

You, John Michael Talbot are a liturgical heretic.

There is no singing this music by congregations. There is no "active participation." Talbot is a singer-songwriter born out of another era. If you want his music fine, play it in the church hall, or around the campfire, buy it, put more money in his pocket; knock yourself out with it; but it does not belong in the Holy Mass! 

Talbot is a convert from Methodism. It is too bad that he did not immerse himself in liturgy of the faith he came to. 

Instead he made it all about himself because it is all about him and not Him. When the history is written on what went wrong in the Church's liturgy, they'll be a whole chapter on this ageing hippie.

And all the talk about Our Lord Jesus Christ is not going to fix that John.

Five Traditional Latin Masses in Toronto for the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Laudetur Jesus Christus!

Yes, that is really what you see. Five Masses in Toronto for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

An open letter to Pope Francis - our sister Asia's blood will cry out from the ground

Most Holy Father, Francis, Bishop of Rome.

I write to you publicly here as a scandalised Catholic. 

Yesterday, you entered into the Blue Mosque in Istanbul and you prayed alongside a Mufti. While I cannot know your prayer or what was in your heart. you have created a scandal by bowing your head and praying silently inside a hall of a religion that denies the Most Holy Trinity, denies the Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, denies His all-atoning Sacrifice and denies His bodily resurrection. 

Later, you attended the Hagia Sophia, the ancient Cathedral of Byzantium which was stolen by the Mohammedans, desecrated and now sits as a museum. While there, the Muslim call to prayer rang out -- prayer to a false god.

Is there any coincidence that after you invited and prayed with an Imam in the Vatican, all hell broke loose in the ancient land of Chaldea, Ur and Babylon where we have seen people beheaded, children cut in half and churches burned.

Our sister, Asia Bibi still languishes in a jail in Pakistan. She is sentenced to death. 

Holy Father, you need to speak out. You need to speak out publicly to the Government of Pakistan and to the Islamic world to free our sister Asia, to free the 200 girls in Nigeria and to stop the violence against Christians and all peoples.

No more Holy Father; no more bowing to those who worship a false god.

You must defend the faith.

You must defend our sister Asia. You must use the full weight of the Holy See's diplomacy to rescue our sister Asia. If the Pakistani Government refuses your diplomatic overtures then you must go public and proclaim for the world to hear that our sister must be set free.

To do less, will cause her blood to scream out from the ground for vengeance and her blood will be on all of those who sat by while this crime is committed.

May your eyes be opened.

Sincerely,

Vox Cantoris

Pakistan/Aleteia (Aleteia.org/ar) – Asia Bibi, the Christian woman who has received the death penalty for being accused of blasphemy made an appeal to the Supreme Court of Justice in her country to change her sentence. Her sentence is considered “unfair” and excessive in light of the insufficient evidence and weakness of the testimonies against her.

On the 16th of October, the Supreme Court in Lahore rejected the appeal that Bibi’s attorney submitted to overturn her imminent death sentence. According to the Italian news agency, ANSA, Bibi’s husband wrote a letter to the Pakistani president, Mamnoon Hussain, asking him to pardon her and allow her to leave the country and go to a neutral country like France.

The most significant charge against Aisa Bibi is that she is Christian; for which she has been languishing in prison for five years. According to the Italian newspaper, La Stampa, she sent a letter on the 27th of October to Pope Francis asking him to pray on her behalf and to aid her on a spiritual level.

From her prison cell in Multan, Asia Bibi has become a symbol of the struggle for religious freedom in the world. The mother of five children who was sentenced to hang in late October told Pope Francis, “I know that you are praying for me with all your heart. I am hopeful that thanks to your prayers I might be free one day. I sincerely thank you in the name of God Almighty that you are close to me.”

What is Asia Bibi’s crime?

Asia Bibi, who is 50 years old, has received the death penalty for allegedly blaspheming the Prophet Mohammad. The Supreme Court of Pakistan last October 16th confirmed the earlier ruling in 2010 that she receive the death sentence for blasphemy. Bibi’s lawyer, Sardar Mushtaq told journalists that there were no more options remaining except to use the time that she has left to help remove this bitter cup from her.

Asia Bibi was arrested after a group of Muslim women from her town informed a cleric that she had made offensive comments about the Prophet after an argument over trivial matters.

Anti-blasphemy laws are being used against enemies

Human rights advocates on a global level have demanded that the law pertaining to blasphemy in Pakistan be changed. It is worth noting that this law was issued by the military dictator Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in 1980.

Human rights experts have criticized the existence of laws that condemn those who speak negatively about the Quran or the Prophet Mohammad to prison for life or are given the death penalty. They state that these laws are being used to achieve personal gain in disputes with enemies or those with whom they have a problem.

This article was originally published in Aleteia’s Arabic edition. It was translated by Donald Puhlman.

No pope should ever visit a mosque, period!

No pope should ever kiss another religion's "holy" book because there is no other Holy Book other than the Bible. While we cannot know what was in his mind when he did it or if he even thought about the implications, that photo to this day would have potentially aided the now non-existent "Devil's Advocate" to stop or slow the canonisation of John Paul II.

No pope should ever visit a mosque. Benedict XVI did this in his visit to Istanbul, once known as Constantinople. While in the Blue Mosque, he stood holding his pectoral cross, He did not bow his head, nor did he pray in contemplation. He could be seen moving his lips, perhaps invoking the Lord's Prayer or a blessing to convert the Mohammedans, one can only hope.

No pope should ever pray in a mosque with head bowed and eyes closed as Pope Francis did. By doing this, one is creating scandal and affirming heresy. Islam has been called the "worst Christian heresy" and has been condemned by many Saints. While modernists suggest that they "profess" the God of Abraham, at best they have a distorted and false view of the Triune God and at worst they worship the ancient god of the moon (hence the crescent) which was the norm throughout Arabia.

Did I write, "no pope should ever visit a mosque?

There would be an exception as was pointed out by a reader on Twitter. He could visit a mosque to proclaim Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He could do the same in a Synagogue as St. Stephen did in the Temple of Jerusalem. He could visit a Hindu temple, no doubt as St. Thomas the Apostle did in India two thousand years ago.

However, that is the problem.

This Pope and all others since Vatican II have all visited mosques and synagogues and not proclaimed Christ and we all suffer for that today, especially the Moslems and Jews and Hindus and all others who do not hear from our Popes that there is no salvation outside the Church and no other Name on which we can be saved.

On other note, when we go to greet our host in his house can we dress for the occasion?

Too much chant?

At Southern Orders, Father Alan MacDonald muses about the amount of chant in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite. I left a comment there which I reprint below.

The fundamental problem is the 1967 document, Musicam Sacram. This document, in its desire to remove the strictness of the Read, Sung and Solemn Masses, put forward the practice of "progressive solemnity." Sing what you can without regard to the previous structure. It encouraged that the whole Mass be sung but sanctioned that one could sing what one could manage.

The second problem and perhaps the worst of it was the permission to actually substitute the Sung Proper (Introit, Offertory and Communion) with a hymn.

Up to that point (and remember, this was not the manufactured (quoting Pope Emeritus Benedict) liturgy of Paul VI but the slimmed down "tridentine" rite; the Proper had to be said (in a Read Mass) or sung (chanted melismatically or in psalm tone or in polyphony). That wretched document and that one paragraph is where we can point to for the destruction of the chant and the propers.

It also admonished choirs who sang all the Propers without the people. The people have no business singing the Propers, that is the domain of the choir/schola; the people's part was the Ordinary.

Until we get over this idea that the people must sing everything we can never restore these liturgical sung texts.

In the EF Masses which I lead and conduct on a typical Sunday, the people sing the following:

Processional Hymn in English

Sprinkling Rite

Kyrie

Gloria

Credo

Agnus

Sanctus

Marian Antiphon

Recessional Hymn

Until that is revoked and the Propers (said or sung) in the Ordinary Form with the restored Offertory chant (now only permitted if sung) are mandated, we will not see a restoration of the sacred liturgy.

On a further note, it is incumbent upon every layman or laywoman working in the Extraordinary Form to follow the rubrics and norms and to humble themselves to them. If you are not able to man up to that then stop doing it. We don't need the errors of those who destroyed the liturgy in from 1964 to 1967 and then again in 1969 to creep in to the venerable rite. If you can't do the rite, right, then don't do it at all!

http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_instr_19670305_musicam-sacram_en.html

Roberto de Mattei: "You must defend the Faith received in baptism against heresy..."

Over at Toronto Catholic Witness, Barona has translated from Polish this article.

BREAKING NEWS: Report from Warsaw on the Conference, "The Synodal Earthquake", featuring Roberto de Mattei: "you must defend the Faith received in baptism against heresy...the synod....a ceasefire..."

The compass and guide for us simple faithful should always be the sensus fidei. One must defend the faith received in baptism against heresy, both in theory and in practice. We also have an obligation to deepen our faith " appealed Professor Roberto de Mattei during the Warsaw conference, "The Synodal earthquake" 

The following is a translation of a report on the Conference,"The Synodal Earthquake", November, 25th at the University of Warsaw. Special guest presenter was the renowned Italian historian, Professor Roberto de Mattei. 

Read all of it at Toronto Catholic Witness.

Homosexualists target Catholic Bishops!

This is a stunning campaign. It is filled with evil, lies and distortions from the homosexualist lobby which has even infiltrated the Vatican as we have seen from the Synod on the Family. Now, they have in their sites, specific bishops.

The individual afflicted with same-sex attraction suffers from an intrinsic disorder and must be pastorally cared for as a human person.

The homosexualist movement is nothing more than Hell unleashed as in the days of Sodom.

In Synod-Related Effort, Homosexual-Rights Activists Target Eight U.S. Bishops (16663)

A coalition of well-funded groups is lobbying against prominent bishops in hopes of changing Church doctrine and practice.

by KEVIN JONES/CNA/EWTN NEWS 10/15/2014 Comments (51)

Synod-related Human Rights Campaign poster

– Facebook/Human Rights Campaign

ROME — The start of the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family has triggered a wave of activism from well-funded LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered) activist groups in the U.S., who are targeting “outspoken” Catholic bishops in hopes of changing Catholic practice and moral doctrine.

“Most important is the opportunity to create a precedent for change,” the Human Rights Campaign said in its pamphlet on the synod.

The LGBT group has announced an activist effort targeting eight bishops in a pamphlet that labels them as “the best of the worst Catholic bishops across the country.”

Its campaign will target Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Archbishop Dennis Schnurr of Cincinnati, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., the president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore and Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Ill.

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/in-synod-related-effort-homosexual-rights-activists-target-eight-u.s.-bisho/#.VHOgcQ3NfVR.facebook#ixzz3K6aRfbTM

New Prefect of Divine Worship!

The Holy Father has appointed the new Prefect of the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, he is Robert Cardinal Sarah of Guinea in Africa. It seems now that this African will tell us a little about "what to do" in spite of some that wish they would not. Perhaps in this appointment, Pope Francis has sent a little message to a certain German and to the rest of us, the first being, "you were wrong" the second, "I have heard you."

His Eminence has distinguished himself throughout his priestly life. 

Courtesy of Rorate, here is a quote from Cardinal Sarah:

The spirit of the Council has at times been understood in a wrong way, as, for instance, in the temptation of making use of the criteria of the world to engage in dialogue with the world. I think in particular of liturgical deviations, of the downsizing of salvation to a temporal messianism, to an understanding of the Christian life as a sort of humanitarian commitment, to the foundation of social actions inspired by dialectic, and therefore losing the originality of the Christian message. But "opening up to the world" does not mean abolishing the contradiction between the Gospel and the world, nor to tone down the Christian message. It is rather to present to our world the message of the Gospel in all its purity. It is Christ who is the light of the world, as the Council affirms.

We can be thankful that His Eminence is a man of great faith and love for Christ and His Church.

May God bless him abundantly in his service to the liturgy and the sacraments.

Thank you Holy Father.

Deo gratias!

There is no such thing as a Sung Low Mass

I cannot count the numbers of Masses which I have attended and chanted as Cantor or Schola Master according to the more ancient use. I chant every Sunday and have personally organised over 30 Solemn or Sung Masses since Summorum Pontificum including a Mass in the Presence of a Greater Prelate. I say this not to boast but to indicate my level of experience. 

Never, ever have I heard of a Sung Low Mass, it simply does not exist. 

Here from the  Una Voce Toronto blog, the Toronto Traditional Mass Society.

Pope Francis and the will of the Holy Spirit

Pope Benedict XVI was asked a few years ago about the actions of the Holy Spirit at a Conclave. He remarked that the Holy Spirit does not so much elect the pope as much as He prevents the Cardinals from electing someone who would totally destroy the Church. There is no magic taking place, not even in Cardinal Mahoney's pen directing him to write Jorge Bergoglio on the ballot.  

I was disturbed at the brevity of the conclave that elected Pope Francis. In my view, the Cardinals did not seem to be docile to the Holy Spirit. It seemed too fast which indicated, at least to me, that a great lobbying effort of a certain faction before the Conclave had taken place.

John Bingham, Religious Affairs writer with The Telegraph writes about a new biography of Pope Francis wherein it is disclosed how "Team Bergoglio' reformists lobbied cardinals 'below the radar' ahead of the Vatican Conclave." If true, it is greatly disturbing.

Of course, one would have to be a fool to think that politics and factions never came together to elect a pope. How could it be otherwise? 

How?

By docility to the will of God and His Holy Spirit.

Can there be any doubt that certain groups of Europeans had an agenda and it is now being carried out  by their undue influence and manipulations at the Conclave so evident at the recent Synod on the Family?

Turning over the tables?

Tomorrow, Pope Francis addresses the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Sandro Magister reveals a speech delivered by the Holy Father recently to European bishops. It is not politically-correct, even referring to Europe being invaded a second time by "barbarians." 

In fact, it is astounding given some of the confusion of what has been coming out for nearly two years. If the above is true, perhaps they are about to get their comeuppance. 

Fundamentally what is wrong with Europe and the West is the fault of the bishops of the Catholic Church. They failed in their mission and the evidence is all around to see. Instead of preaching Christ and Him Crucified and all of the Truth, they have become nothing more than social workers and NGO do-gooders.

The Holy Father also said last week at a Vatican Conference on marriage many things that are necessary. Let us pray for the Holy Father that on the family issues and on Europe, he is awakening to the grace of the Office of Peter ; and let us pray that grandma Europe and all of us "Return to Jesus!

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“EUROPE, RETURN TO JESUS!”

by Francis

Dear brother bishops,

I greet all of you with affection on the occasion of the plenary assembly of the Council of the Bishops' Conferences of Europe. And I thank Cardinal Peter Erdõ for the words with which he introduced this meeting. I will have this address distributed to you and permit myself to say a few things that are in my heart and that the words of His Eminence have brought to the surface.

What is happening today in Europe? What is going on in the heart of our mother Europe? Is she still our mother Europe, or grandma Europe? Is she still fertile? Has she fallen into sterility? Is she unable to give new life? (It takes some getting used to the Holy Father's style but I have to admit, "grandma Europe" is pretty good! He calls out here its disastrous birth-rate not only literally but perhaps he also means, spiritually.) For one thing, this Europe has committed a few sins. We must say this with love: it has not wanted to recognize one of its roots. And because of this it feels and does not feel Christian. Or it feels Christian somewhat in secret, but doesn't want to recognize it, this European root. (How can Europe be anything but Christian and specifically, Catholic! Europe is dying because of itself. It must reconvert itself and its immigrants or it's culture, the greatest of all cultures, will be dead in a century or less)

The Europe of today has been invaded. It may be the second invasion of the barbarians, (who does he think that these "barbarians" are? or do we know ... have the events of the last few months opened his eyes? Let us hope.) I don't know. First it opened its doors in order to profit from labor. But now it feels this “invasion” of people who are coming to look for work, who are fleeing from their homeland in search of freedom and a better life. (Yes! Fat, lazy, rich and spoilt Europeans would not do the work and they imported immigrants to do it. The Germans from Turkey, the French from their former African colonies and these were Moslems who have more babies. Did they think it would not happen??)

Europe is wounded. I'll go back to that image that says so much to me, and I say that the Church today seems to me like a field hospital because there are so many wounded in the Church. But Europe is wounded too. Wounded by all the trials it has undergone. (The wars of history but particularly those of the 20th. century and communism all with their roots in the Masonic French Revolution which spread to Spain and Portugal early in the 20th century and Protestantism have unleashed upon Catholic Europe, hell on earth -- it is now paying for its sins and crimes against humanity.) It has gone from the time of prosperity, of great well-being, to a worrying crisis in which young people too are discarded. In the newspapers the other day it said that here in Italy youth unemployment is up to 43 percent, I think. In Spain it’s 50 percent. And the Spanish bishops have told me that in Andalusia it is almost at 60 percent. (Because they imported Muslim immigrants to do the work and now their own children have no future.)

Cardinal Erdõ talked about the discarding of children and the elderly. And it's true. But now there is also the discarding of a whole generation of young people. I don't know if it is only in Europe, or in Europe and in the developed countries, that there is talk of 75 million from the age of twenty-five and down. But it's a whole generation. As European bishops, what are we doing for the young people? (The bishops of Europe have on the most part for half a century preached a Gospel not of Christ but of another god; a god of false social justice. They have reaping what they have sown and souls have been and continue to be lost, the Holy Father understands this.) Giving them something to eat? Yes, that's the first thing. But that doesn't give dignity to a young person, to anyone. Dignity comes from work. And there is the danger that the children of mother, today practically grandma Europe, are losing their dignity because they do not have jobs and cannot bring bread home. Europe has discarded its children. (ABORTION!) A bit triumphantly. I remember that when I was studying in one country the clinics that did abortions then prepared everything to send it to cosmetic factories. Makeup made with the blood of innocents. And this was something to brag about, because it was progressive: the rights of the woman, the woman has the right over her body. (Yes, her right to kill her baby and her right to have a pretty face from its fetal tissue -- where were/are the bishops in this, particularly those of Germany who continue with their pornographic publishing empire. Pornography leads to abortion)

I don't know about here in Italy, I don't want to say because I'm not sure, but what will happen when the state is unable to pay the pensions, because there aren't enough young people working according to the law, (he understands the economic impact of a low-birth rate.) because there is that black market for labor that they do, not always but… And the elderly - I've said this about Latin America, about my country, but I believe it's a universal problem or of many countries or some other continents - the elderly are discarded with stealth euthanasia. The social services cover medical treatment up to a certain point, and then you're on your own! (Barack Hussein Obama's death panels?)

A Europe weary with disorientation. And I don't want to be a pessimist, but let's tell the truth: after food, clothing, and medicine, what are the most important expenditures? Cosmetics, and I don't know how to say this in Italian, but the “mascotas,” the little animals. They don't have children, but their affection goes to the little cat, to the little dog. And this is the second expenditure after the three main ones. The third is the whole industry to promote sexual pleasure. So it’s food, medicine, clothing, cosmetics, little animals, and the life of pleasure. Our young people feel this, they see this, they live this.

I liked very much what His Eminence said, because this is truly the drama of Europe today. But it's not the end. I believe that Europe has many resources for going forward. It's like a sickness that Europe has today. A wound. And the greatest resource is the person of Jesus. Europe, return to Jesus! Return to that Jesus whom you have said was not in your roots! And this is the work of the pastors: to preach Jesus in the midst of these wounds. I have spoken of only a few, but there are tremendous wounds. To preach Jesus. And I ask you this: don't be ashamed to proclaim Jesus Christ risen who has redeemed us all. And for us too that the Lord may not rebuke us, as today in the Gospel of Luke he rebuked these two cities.

The Lord wants to save us. I believe this. This is our mission: to proclaim Jesus Christ, without shame. And he is ready to open the doors of his heart, because he manifests his omnipotence above all in mercy and forgiveness. Let's go forward with preaching. Let's not be ashamed. So many ways of preaching, but to mama Europe - or grandma Europe, or wounded Europe - only Jesus Christ can speak a word of salvation today. Only he can open a door of escape.

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This is what we need to hear from Pope Francis. This is what the European Parliament needs to hear.