Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Two fabulous shake-downs of Amoris Laetitia




Official response of Bishop Athanasius Schneider to Amoris Laetitia

Unfortunately, AL contains no verbal quotes of the principles underlying the moral teaching of the Church

And that pretty much summarizes the papacy.

Here is another written by canon lawyer Fr. Gerald Murray.

Outstanding.

Thus ending any speculation that this document is faithful to the teachings of Christ Church.

Restoring a Sense of the Sacred


I am loving this blog!


“Strike the shepherd and the sheep scatter” (Zec 13:7). There’s no doubt that the devil has focused his assault on the religious leaders of our day. While these leaders may have had noble intentions of charity and pastoral sensitivity, the results have been devastating. Decades of lenient, non-confrontational leadership have left the faithful feeble and prone to be “conformed to the pattern of this world” (Rom 12:2). St. Augustine once said, “Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.”

The unfortunate laxity of discipline has permitted confusion and strife where there should be clarity and harmony, an authentic unity based on the truth. As a result, the modern trend among those who believe and teach falsehoods that directly contradict the Church’s teaching is to consider these pockets of dissent as merely “differing tribes” within the Catholic Church. In this deceptive tribal system, those who believe in and teach all that the Church teaches are then considered extreme among these tribes.

Right or wrong, religious leadership seemed to calculate that it is better to refrain from “charged issues” for fear of offending some or even losing members. However, St. Peter Canisius cautioned: “Better that only a few Catholics should be left, staunch and sincere in their religion, than that they should, remaining many, desire as it were to be in collusion with the Church’s enemies and in conformity with the open foes of our faith.”

It is time to “rally the troops” … to get on the same page. It’s time to assemble a coalition of leading experts in our time to formulate “the plan” to “Restore a Sense of the Sacred.” There are obvious names that come to mind: Cardinal Burke, Bishop Schneider, Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, and a score of Cardinals, Bishops, priests and laity who understand this critical need in our time; a time that is witnessing a mass exodus from the pews, and is allowing a multitude of souls to be in peril of eternal damnation.

Another fabulous post HERE.

Love, Love, Love the St. Benedict Medal




As the medal is a prayer of exorcism against Satan, it is used to call down God’s blessing and protection upon us, through the intercession of the great saint. It is also a reminder of our baptismal rejection of all that is evil.

Don't be without this powerful sacramental.

May the 4th be with you!



Fr. Heilman is organizing a cyber consecration commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Our Lady's visits to Fatima:


May 13th of this year marks one year until the 100th anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady to three shepherd children in the small village of Fatima in Portugal in 1917. She appeared six times to Lucia, 9, and her cousins Francisco, 8, and his sister Jacinta, 6, between May 13, 1917 and October 13, 1917. But, in the Spring of the year prior to Our Lady’s appearance, an angel appeared to the children to prepare them. That would make this, right now, the 100th anniversary of that angelic visit.

For those who are tuned into dates such as these, and tuned into the tumultuous times in which we live, there is a sense that “something is coming.” For more and more people, there seems to be an urgency to “prepare.” I wrote about this HERE.

In order to prepare for the “something coming” St. Maximilian Kolbe sensed, he modified the St. Louis de Montfort 33-day preparation for consecration to just 9 days, to make it more accessible. He simply had to get as many as possible consecrated in the shortest period of time. Hundreds of thousands of people were consecrated to Jesus through Mary, seemingly overnight.

I've done the 33 day consecration numerous times - it's intense. Intense in prayer, intense in spiritual attacks and intense in the gifts it brings to the Consecrated.

When things were really bad in the local Church and I turned to the internet for spiritual nourishment, I remember hooking up for various spiritual events in Boston and almost EVERYONE I met had done the Consecration to Christ through Mary.

At one prayer event, someone spontaneously suggested we do a mystery of the rosary for an intention. There were a few dozen of us and every single person reached into their pocket or purse and pulled out Rosary beads. I was not unfamiliar with the presence of the Blessed Mother but I was really blown away with the observance of the prayerful army she was gathering.

I encourage each of you join this consecration/renewal. Let's do it!

Sunday, April 24, 2016

God makes all things new again.



I read a few things in Christendom about the Voris story (including a comment that I did not publish) I thought worthy of mention. Namely, that the retaliatory act of the Archdiocese of scrounging up people whistlblower's slept with is justified, because after all, if you report corruption, spiritual abuse or rape, you deserve it.

In a perverted display of 'mercy', one individual went so far as to smear whistleblowers by claiming the reporting of abuse is a smear worthy of comeuppance. I bet that BroomHilda chants the Divine Mercy Chaplet every day while riding the stick up her butt. A regular St. Faustina, that one. Very inspiring.

A formally-affiliated priest is now calling a cease and desist on whistleblowing holy corruption. More astounding, he has alleged Sanctifying Grace is insufficient healing for homosexual sex.

In his disclosure, Michael himself implied that evangelists and whistleblowers should stand in the public square and announce details of our sins before teaching Catholicism or reporting abuse.

Folks, I think we are getting a little daft here.

Look, is there conduct that would make a post-conversion career in evangelism and whistleblowing ill-advised?

Of course.

But do you remember when Christ chose sinless people to 'smear' Herod and Herodias?

No?

I don't either. The Bible I have has Christ calling John the Baptist the greatest man who will ever live.

Spiritual abuse of children is much worse than raping them. So said Christ.

We have spent 60 years trying to get the corruption, spiritual and physical abuse stopped through the ranks of the hierarchy. It was a bust. We were threatened and bullied. The only thing that works is public disclosure and lawsuits. Egg on the face and emptying wallets are the only proven methods of stopping the abuse and corruption.

Exhausting internal methods and after failing to remedy abuse, publicly warning the people, these are the instructions given to us in Scripture. This is not the same thing as having perps hunt down the sexual lovers of a whistleblower to shut them up.

During my days of defying the Church on contraception, I led people astray. I am trying to make up for it and prevent other women from being misled by wayward priests and bishops. The zeal and fire is probably overdone but I offer it as reparation. The same motive holds true for nearly every evangelist. God makes all things new again. Completely.

Keep your powder dry and your intellect clear with Sanctifying Grace.

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Priest doing that stupid thing where he walks up and down aisle during a homily.



A fun post for a Saturday morn.

According to reports, he’s doing that Protestant thing where he walks up and down the aisle, trying to get people excited and more engaged in the Mass.

Johnnie Carson used to do this, remember?

He'd go up and down the aisles with a microphone and play games with the audience. He was a great entertainer. Funny, funny man.

Every time I see a priest doing it, I think of Johnnie. I also think 'this is what this poor addlepate is doing instead of teaching people what's happening in the Sanctuary'.

At press time, Bunnell is squeezing through a tight pew to give a high five to a boy that said that Jesus meant that we should be nice to mean people and to love Jesus like the disciples did “in the times of Jesus.”

I'm so allergic to asshattery!

We don't come to be entertained.

Just take me to Gogoltha and dissolve into Christ. Let me keep the company of Christ, Mary and the Apostles, the angels and saints. Let me stand in front of the tomb as Christ emerges to be illuminated by the blinding Light of Divinity. Let me touch His Cloak and draw Sanctifying Grace. Let me intercede in prayer for my family, friends, the Church, the sick, the poor, uncatechized and persecuted Christians. Let me just huggle with Christ for 45 minutes.

That's how you get people 'more excited and engaged in *the Mass*".

Big weekend in my family, my grandaughter's original sin is being washed by the Blood of Christ in His Sacrament of Baptism. WooHoo! I will remember all your intentions in prayer.

(Always remember to bring an empty holy water bottle and fill it with the holy water of baptism. Powerful stuff!)




Friday, April 22, 2016

Looks like Cardinal Dolan and the Archdiocese of New York Recruited Voris' Past Sexual Partners to Go Public




If you haven't already watched, do take the time now to read the transcript or view the video.

Truly, this is a non-story. Nobody gives a rat's patoot.

Say what you will about diddling and heretical priests, they know exactly how to scorch the earth around whistleblowers to keep their debauchery going like the energizer bunny. They are experts at it. Slander and calumny are always their first line of defense. When that doesn't work they turn to bullying and threats. The best thing to do is keep your hand to the plow. Expose everything they say and do -- and it all backfires on them. They eventually give the gig up and realize that when corruption is exposed, the appropriate response is to take care of it so people will stop being harmed by it.

Cardinal Dolan has never had a real warrior in his diocese. He is used to Bill Donohue who has been coddling the corruption for decades. Mikey's got to put both of his hands back on the plow and forge ahead.

Thursday, April 21, 2016

John Allen Ponders: Is Franno making it harder for heretics to stay on the payroll?



I always find it interesting when enemies of the Church call the Holy Father "Francis", as if the moral bankruptcy they see happening in Rome unites them in a familial brotherhood. It's noteworthy that they never take that liberty from respecting the office with Barack.

Here is a fun story: Is Francis making it harder for liberals to stay on the payroll?

Some Catholics cheered last week, while others were either depressed or outraged, when news broke that Tony Spence, editor of the Catholic News Service (CNS) since 2004, had resigned unexpectedly. The move followed a controversy over three Tweets he posted about religious freedom bills, which critics saw as promoting a pro-LGBT agenda.

Kudos to Michael Hichborn, Voris and John Henry Weston for exposing this wolf among sheep.


To begin, an observation: Despite impressions that the laid-back ethos of the Pope Francis era means anything now goes – or, perhaps, precisely because of those impressions – there’s a strong element in the Church determined not to let that happen.

That would be us!

In a similar vein, the diagnosis of some Catholic leaders today may be that Francis does not want to upend Church teaching or tradition, since he’s said so repeatedly, but that some of his words and deeds may inadvertently seed confusion. They may feel an extra responsibility to make sure the Church doesn’t toss the doctrinal baby out with the pastoral bathwater.

What this thought suggests is a potentially grand irony: At least in some circumstances, it may actually become harder for liberals – even of the moderate, color-within-the-lines variety – to survive on the Church’s payroll in the Pope Francis era.

Under Pope Benedict XVI, there was relatively little burning concern within officialdom about “reform” getting out of control. Today those fears may seem more real, potentially inducing greater vigilance.

That spirit of “vigilance,” by the way, is less pronounced among the bishops themselves than in the broader Catholic universe.

Among some of the blogs and media platforms that went after Spence, there’s a heightened “hermeneutic of suspicion” today for anything that might smack of dissent. It seems unlikely they’ll desist patrolling for heterodoxy out of a sense that they can rely on this pope to do the job for them.

And that's the way it is.

Perverts at Fourth Circuit Court Ban Separate Rest Rooms and Locker Rooms on Basis of "Biological Sex"





The case involves a biological girl who identifies as a boy. The court’s majority explains it this way: “G.G.’s birth-assigned sex, or so-called ‘biological sex,’ is female, but G.G.’s gender identity is male.”...“the majority’s opinion, for the first time ever, holds that a public high school may not provide separate restrooms and locker rooms on the basis of biological sex.”

What damage the perverts are inflicting upon young children by forcing them to expose themselves.

I thought somebody on facebook was hysterical when they predicted some moonbat judge would eventually ban any declaration of gender at birth, but it appears they might try it.

Did you see Kurt Shilling was fired for posting something on Facebook in opposition of the potty madness?

ESPN said they are an 'inclusive' employer and proceeds, in the same sentence, to say they will fire anyone who holds opinions different than theirs.

Did you see this from the UK?


Parents of preschoolers received a letter from preschool telling them to initiate conversations with four-year-olds about rejecting their genitalia and gender swap.

The sh*tshow of the morally bankrupt is really something to watch.



Tuesday, April 19, 2016

BREAKING NEWS: Pope Francis Doesn't Remember Footnote 351!




In his return-flight press conference this past week from the island of Lesbos, Pope Francis told a reporter who asked him about the footnote that he doesn’t even remember it, and lamented that so much attention has been paid in the media to that footnote - and, indeed, the entire issue of Communion for the divorced and remarried. Instead, he said, the media should focus on the current “crisis” in the family.

You wanna know what the current crisis in the family is?

With all due respect and charity, it is every time Pope Francis opens his piehole or writes something down without accepting the advice of the people who have the gifts to anticipate how content and syntax will be received as contradictions to Church teaching.

I find it impossible to believe that advice is not being given to the Holy Father, which leads me to the conclusion he is poo-pooing it.


“Don’t we realize that the falling birth rate in Europe is enough to make one cry?” he said, as translated by the Catholic News Agency. “And the family is the basis of society. Do you not realize that the youth don’t want to marry? ... Don’t you realize that the lack of work or the little work (available) means that a mother has to get two jobs and the children grow up alone?"

“These are the big problems,” he concluded. "I don’t remember the footnote..."

That would be because families have suffered 50 years of undisciplined heretical priests, nuns and lay teachers leading them from the Sanctifying Grace necessary for right judgment. And he thinks he's helping us out to summon the circus of clowns to help develop an illicit and meaningless document that expounds upon 50 years of spiritually lethal ideas?

Why do we consistently hear the message those who articulate damage done to their families means nothing to him?

The problem with the document is not just the footnote. But I'm a bit stunned that dust up in Christendom over the footnote is so insignificant to him, he has not bothered to put on the stink of his sheep?

How a pope, a priest, a parent or in fact any of us, articulates Church teaching is the most critical responsibility for teaching, sanctifying and governing.

If after you get done talking, millions of people think you are telling them it is ok to live in a perpetual state of mortal sin, receive communion sacrilegiously, lure your civil wife into committing sin because if you don't you will go out and lure another woman into mortal sin, use the Sacrament of Confession without the commitment to refrain from committing the sin when you get home, use contraception if there is a chance of having an imperfect child, dismiss the fiat of the magnificat because having children like gerbils is sucking too much oxygen from the planet, don't worry about going to Church on Sunday, your children should pick any religion they want - - etc, etc, -- it's time to look in the mirror.

The problem is not the people receiving the message.

Neither is problem those raising concerns are in love with the law. What we are madly love with our relatives and friends being lured to the base of Mt. Sinai by Pope Aaron into the friends with benefits tango. He who has cometh to release them from the 4000 year covenant of keeping the Commandments.

What is so hard about admitting this would be upsetting?

Our friends from LifeSite make some astute observations:

Indeed, to those involved in or following the debate, the fact that Pope Francis himself was apparently unaware of the controversial footnote, let alone the flap that it was almost certain to cause in the media, is bewildering, and provokes any number of uncomfortable questions.

For starters: If not the pope, who, then, was responsible for drafting and inserting that footnote? Were they not aware of its implications? How did the many advisors who undoubtedly read the final draft of the exhortation fail to understand the furor the footnote would undoubtedly provoke? And, finally, why didn’t they warn the pope that the errant footnote would almost certainly take center stage in the media, and distract from what he intended to be his central message?



Somebody read it and told him. He's responded to it with the same tin ear and razor tongue we've experienced for three years.

It's as clear as mud.


Apparently, Cardinal Schonborn gave an interview to tell us that the exhortation is very clear that the Holy Father is talking 'first and foremost' about the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Fr. Z has a fun post up HERE.

Card. Schönborn: I think it is fairly clear: [Please, Your Eminence, make it clear! And is it “fairly clear” or “very clear” (above)?] there are circumstances in which people in irregular situations may really need sacramental absolution, even if their general situation cannot be clarified. [Ummm… “clarified”? What does that mean? Also, these people either have a firm purpose of amendment (in regard to sinful behavior) or they don’t, even if they must stay together for some good reason (e.g., care of children, care of the sick, etc.).] Pope Francis has himself given an example: when a woman [in an irregular marital situation] comes to confess her abortion – the sin, the grave sin of abortion – not to relieve her, even if her situation is irregular – the discernment of the shepherd can be, and I would say, “must be”: you have to help this person to be freed from her burden, even if you cannot tell her that her marital situation has been regularized by this absolution – but you cannot [let her leave] the confessional with the burden of her grave sin she finally had the courage to come to confess. [Ummm…. you can’t target one mortal sin among others for absolution, leaving the others unabsolved. Censures, yes. Sins, no. It’s all or nothing. So, is he saying that even in the absence of a firm purpose of amendment regarding sexual relations in that “irregular” relationship, the priest “must” still give absolution?] That was the example he had given, and I think it is a very good example for what this little note could mean in certain cases: i.e. “[…]even the help of sacraments.”



There's a fabulous synopsis in the comments section at Fr. Z's:

Let me try to thread it all together: If a penitent persists long enough in serious sin, he must be given absolution (and thus Holy Communion) irrespective of a firm purpose of amendment, lest the confessional become a torture chamber.

Let there be no confusion. The Holy Father changed the practice of Confession by eliminating the necessity of firm purpose of amendment when seeking and obtaining absolution. You can now go ahead and break Commandments, just schedule the Sacrament of Reconciliation afterward.

That ought to liven things up!

I somehow missed this attack on the Sacrament of Confession.

I have a hard time believing they think the document clearly conveys a perpetual state of adultery requires the Sacrament of Absolution.

That's almost as good as the fable that all the production drama of this document was about not changing anything about Church teaching.

Monday, April 18, 2016

Raymond Arroyo on Pope Francis disasterous theological errors in Amoris Laetitia





We are Catholic







Love it.







You're all batpoop crazy. Get a shrink.


When the pope was in the US, he astoundingly took the position that Donald Trump was not a Christian because he does not support illegal immigration. Something, by-the-by, which is not a teaching of the Catholic Church.

When his politically-charged statement blew up, he said his statement wasn't intended to dissuade Catholics from voting for Trump.

This week, the communist candidate whose agenda includes killing sick and imperfect people and children who are 'not wanted' was invited to blow the smoke of satan from the highest perch of Christ's Church, Vatican City.

When thinking people responded that this action gives the appearance the Pope is throwing the support of the Chair of Peter towards Bernie Sanders, the Holy Father went straightaway to his Divine Mercy spirituality and said giving the US presidential candidate a platform in St. Peter's Square to teach the culture of death wasn't political and you better go find a shrink if you think it is.

I wonder if we'll see ISIS or the klu klux klan giving a papal seminar.

Sanders and his wife stayed overnight at the pope's residence, the Domus Santa Marta hotel in the Vatican gardens, on the same floor as the pope.

It wasn't political? I guess he expects us to believe Bernie Sanders was invited to the Vatican teach theology.

We've grown accustomed to Church leaders overlooking the empirical murderers of children to advance a political agenda and then defend their misfeasance by insulting the righteous people who pointed it out. Admittedly, I'm pining for the days when the occupant of the Chair of Peter was safe from this graceless spiritual poison.





Thursday, April 14, 2016

Fr Rutler's take on Amoris Laetitia


I salivate every time I see Fr. Rutler's taking on a subject!

"Here we go!", I say to myself.

I shut everything off that could be a distraction and I let every sentence run over my parched soul several times. Sometimes he builds momentum and fires a zinger or several of them. Other times he starts off with the zinger. Sometimes the zingers are subtle. Sometimes he does all of these things

Here's how he starts his thoughts on Amoris Laetitia:

There was a Victorian member of the Royal Academy who boasted that his paintings were the best because they were the biggest. More perceptively, Cicero and Pascal and Madame Recamier and Mark Twain made opposite apologies: each had written a long letter because they did not have the time to write a short one. Not only is verbosity indicative of muddled thinking, it is the rhetorical indulgence of the modern age.

Get yourself some popcorn and lemonade and read his thoughts on the exhortation.

I'm still only 1/3 of the way through the painful exhortation, but I was shocked to read Fr. Rutler enlightening us that Martin Luther King, Jr. is quoted in the exhortation.

Seriously? With all the saints and doctors of the Church...Martin Luther King, Jr?

Fr. Rutler's honesty and forthrightness is always so dependable and refreshing.

Among such mediocrities are those who replace prophecy with political correctness. You can tell who they are by what they say about Amoris Laetitia. Like those bishops whom Chrysostom disdained for trimming their sails to gain preferment, the careerist cleric knows what he must say and what he must not say. For years I have saved the Punch magazine cartoon of the sycophantic curate timorously telling his bishop that parts of his bad egg are excellent.

Here's something is indisputable: The Holy Spirit does not lead by causing a perpetual state of confusion.

Sunday, April 10, 2016

We have a front row seat to the harvest of the antichrist.



How do we walk out on this terrible movie! LOL.


I stopped paying for the sh*t show when the drunk of a priest told my young children Confession was not necessary about 15 years ago, but check out what was printed on collection envelopes for the Third Sunday of Easter:


Have a look at the quote on our offertory envelopes for the Third Sunday of Lent: “Everyone has his own idea of good and evil, and must choose to follow the good and fight the evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world a better place.”

They are picking up the pace of grand larceny.

Some good reminders on this blog post from the saints:

Now when [the Pope] is explicitly a heretic, he falls ipso facto from his dignity and out of the Church, and the Church must either deprive him, or, as some say, declare him deprived, of his Apostolic See.”
St. Francis de Sales, “The Catholic Controversy”

“…a pope who is a manifest heretic by that fact ceases to be pope and head, just as he by that fact ceases to be a Christian and a member of the body of the Church; wherefore he can be judged and punished by the Church. This is the judgment of all the early fathers, who teach that manifest heretics immediately lose all jurisdiction.”
St. Robert Bellarmine, “On the Roman Pontiff”

“If God permitted a pope to be notoriously heretical and contumacious, he would then cease to be pope, and the Apostolic Chair would be vacant.”
St. Alphonsus de Liguori, “The Truths of the Faith”

I know, I know. Our beloved Fr. Z is taking the position that the pope has not changed Church teaching and consequently we are all overreacting to the pope's written instructions to our family to contradict Church teaching and practice adultery and receive Christ's Blood in a state of perpetual mortal sin.

Let's just put our imaginations to use with this peculiar suggestion.

Let's imagine Pope Francis decided to add a chapter about celibacy of priests, perhaps suggesting celibacy is a serious misuse of conciliar teaching as it endangers a vocation and causes priests to make a booty calls at highway rest stops - and in a footnote suggests a subscription to Tinder and a room be set aside in rectories for an afternoon delight

Do you think for five minutes Fr. Z would be telling people to smoke the Church-teaching-hasn't-changed crackpipe?

Come on!

What's that you say?

You think this is far-fetched?

I don't think Fr. Z has come to grips with what this does to PEOPLE. The people we love and care about.

It hasn't hit Fr. Z. where it hurts. He would have a whole new perspective if the pope's theological errors were put into a context that would affect his immediate family.

Let's think about the theological error:

Speaking of divorced-and-civilly-remarried Catholics, Francis writes: “In such situations, many people, knowing and accepting the possibility of living ‘as brothers and sisters’ which the Church offers them, point out that if certain expressions of intimacy [i.e., sexual intercourse] are lacking ‘it often happens that faithfulness is endangered and the good of the children suffers’ ( Gaudium et spes, 51).” AL fn. 329. I fear this is a serious misuse of a conciliar teaching.

I am honestly stunned by the spiritual bankruptcy of this suggestion.

What's next? Fasting makes people fat?

The prohibitions in the Commandments cause people to sin so that must mean the Commandments are against 'conciliar' teaching?

The Holy Father doesn't seem to get the spiritual intimacy and power of fasting and how voluntary fasting from sex in irregular situations, single people and most especially priests is kryptonite against the devil. He seems completely clueless about one the most lethal weapons against the devil in our arsenal.

I digress.

In this paragraph, Pope Francis suggests the root causes of adultery can be found a couple who have been converted and enlightened and refraining from mortal sin on their journey to making their situation regular and tells these couples the Commandments are a misuse of Church teaching and to go ahead and commit adultery with each other. As if that makes it better.

You want to talk about a burden being foisted upon a marriage?

The pope has written a thesis that mandates the commission of sin based upon the relationship identity of a person struggling with lust and tempting a practicing Catholic to commit adultery.

What about women abstaining from adultery before marriage?

Don't they cause cheating and destruction?

This pope has started a list of who should commit adultery in accordance with 'conciliar' Church teaching. Just my luck I'm not on it. It's a cruel world!

This is a good time to re-post Fr. McCloskey's article on the rhetoric of the antichrist. He posted it last year on facebook with a link that said 'Are you ready?'

I don't think Pope Francis was ready. It's a crying shame because it is going to get ugly. I was hoping this spiritual confrontation would be foisted upon another generation. Getting ready for it is a lot of spiritual work and I really wasn't up for rallying for it.

But the publication of this turd has reminded me that I am much more than willing to rise to the challenge. Worthy is the Lamb.

Excellent and timely advice from our friend "Ever Mindful":

You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.

We were born to live in this hour in Christendom. Let's roll!










Saturday, April 9, 2016

Stick a fork in this papacy - it's done.



I certainly have a better understanding why Pope Francis celebrated Martin Luther's stampede of millions into heresy.

That is all.

Don't worry folks, the exhortation only teaches how to ignore Church teaching and live in a perpetual state of mortal sin. Nothing to see here!

Trustworthy sources are excerpting the exhortation and the news doesn't seem to be very good.

I confess that I'm having some trouble mustering up the courage to read the pope's exhortation. I seem to be experiencing some of the same repulsion and resistance my soul generates when I encounter a cultural message from Bruce Jenner. I think it's critical we approach reading it with the mindset that gives the Pope every benefit of the doubt.

I was finally able to set aside my own convictions about Pope Francis early this morning and began to read it with the hope that it would not be as bad as the stuff we're reading.

I got to paragraph 3:

Since “time is greater than space”, I would make it clear that not all discussions of doctrinal, moral or pastoral issues need to be settled by interventions of the magisterium. Unity of teaching and practice is certainly necessary in the Church, but this does not preclude various ways of interpreting some aspects of that teaching or drawing certain consequences from it. This will always be the case as the Spirit guides us towards the entire truth (cf. Jn 16:13), until he leads us fully into the mystery of Christ and enables us to see all things as he does. Each country or region,moreover, can seek solutions better suited to its culture and sensitive to its traditions and local needs. For “cultures are in fact quite diverse and every general principle… needs to be inculturated, if it is to be respected and applied”.3

Given the context, what the Holy Father is saying is once a culture descends into Sodom and Gommorah,it is seeking solutions better suited to inculturate sodomy and adultery and this turn of events does not preclude the Church from the practice of deception. Because my friends, time is greater than space.

This paragraph, at least to my reading, convicts the intentions of the Holy Father.

I am working my way through it, am on Chapter 3 and there is much to parse.

Does this mean that sex is a property of God himself...? Naturally, the answer is no.

Sex is not a talent and gift which people are free to use as they desire.

Sex was created by God and is endowed to us as a talent and gift. On our day of reckoning, how we used that talent and gift is taught to us in Matthew 25. One man squanders, another doesn't use it and one uses it as intended and gives back to God the fruit.

The gift is His. The talent is His. The vineyard is His. The fruit is His.

The Church is there to teach resistance to the immorality and sins of Sodom and Gommorah. It does not obstruct and twist Church teaching to bring about the consequence of having the family respect and apply demonic cultural practices to their lives.

We have long thought that simply by stressing doctrinal, bioethical and moral issues, without encouraging openness to grace, we were providing sufficient support to families, strengthening the marriage bond and giving meaning to marital life. We find it difficult to present marriage more as a dynamic path to personal development and fulfilment than as a lifelong burden. We also find it hard to make room for the consciences of the faithful, who very often respond as best they can to the Gospel amid their limitations, and are capable of carrying out their own discernment in complex situations. We have been called to form consciences, not to replace them.

What support?

The bulk of the job of ordained men is not the 'formation' of consciences. It is doing what it takes to keep consciences in a state of Sanctifying Grace. The teaching from the pulpit is supposed to drive the people in the pew to the Sacrament of Confession.

If there are no lines in the Confessional, the priest is doing a lousy job 'supporting' families in the parish.

There are a handful of priests in every diocese 'supporting' families.

The family has suffered five generations of the hierarchy ordaining immoral men who contradict the Catechism. We have five generations of children who received that advice and acted on it. They are positively NOT capable of carrying out discernment.

Our children were taught adultery, sodomy and contraception were ok and the Sacrament of Confession is unnecessary. When parents reported it and asked to have their children's consciences corrected, I don't know any practicing Catholic family who wasn't told to go scratch their backsides with a broken bottle. In several parishes.

That's the support we have all received.

Here we seem to find the cause of their shocking ineptitude:

Here I would also like to mention the situation of families living in dire poverty and great limitations. The problems faced by poor households are often all the more trying. For example, if a single mother has to raise a child by herself and needs to leave the child alone at home while she goes to work, the child can grow up exposed to all kind of risks and obstacles to personal growth. In such difficult situations of need, the Church must be particularly concerned to offer understanding, comfort and acceptance, rather than imposing straightaway a set of rules
that only lead people to feel judged and abandoned by the very Mother called to show them God’s mercy. Rather than offering the healing
power of grace and the light of the Gospel message, some would “indoctrinate” that message, turning it into “dead stones to be hurled at others


He believes the slavery of communism he is forcing down the throats of every nation, which forces mothers and fathers to work 10 hours a day to put food on the table, only affects 'poor households'. But that is not the shockeroo. When our children are exposed to the dangers of uncatechized and misled, they think their role is then not to inform, teach and sanctify.

The stupidity leaves me speechless.

More later, but I encourage you to read it yourself...

Friday, April 8, 2016

First Responders to Pope Francis Joy of Sex



I am short on time but a few things -

The piggies at the National Catholic Distorter are caricaturing the 'exhortation' as Pope Francis giving orders to obstruct Church teaching and point people to see adultery as their personal prelature of how to save souls and to feed the sheep moral confusion without concern.

I wonder if they will come up with a name for this personal prelature. I can think of plenty.

NBC is caricaturing Pope Francis as softenging bans on mortal sin.


I haven't read the thing - but it seems consistent with the tenor of the papacy of Pope Francis. Flooding our homes and family with moral confusion and obstructing Church teaching.


More later!

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Fr. Z thinks we have dodged a bullet in The Joy of Sex!



Good reading, though it still sounds like there is a sentence or two that can be taken out of context to grant the Jesuits and diocesan wingnuts license to continue to pastorally lead into temptation and sin.

I could be reading into this but it even sounds like the Holy Father has heard and responded to our pleas:


Tomorrow I will watch with interest how certain unnamed liberal writers (go look at the National Schismatic Reporter) who have built up the importance of Amoris laetitia as if it were the new iteration of the … I don’t even know what, because they don’t adhere to truly important magisterial documents … will do when they actually read the thing.

No wait… they won’t read the whole thing. They will ignore 90.3077% of it (I picked that percentage for a reason).

They are not going to like some bits at all. Thus, they will ignore those bits.

Also, some on the other end of the spectrum, the more traditional and conservative side, will not be able to indulge fully in their descent into grand mal Schadenfreude. There are some good bits in it.

No… wait … what am I saying?!? Yes, they will.

Though he does issue this warning:


Try not to freak out when you reach the end.

Tomorrow could actually turn out be a great day for unity in Christ's Church.

Incidentally, we have really learned of the presence of some magnificent priests and bishops during this nightmare - including this one in Germany!


The Cardinal says: “It is the Church’s magisterial teaching (Dogma) that a validly contracted and consummated marriage cannot be dissolved by any power of the world – also not by the Church herself.” Brandmüller reminds the readers that this teaching has been re-affirmed by both the Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio (1981) by Pope John Paul II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1997).

Brandmüller clearly says that he “who, in spite of an existing marriage bond, enters after a divorce into a new civil union, is committing adultery” and that – as long as that person “is not willing to put an end this situation” – he “cannot receive either absolution in Confession nor the Eucharist (Holy Communion).” Any other path, the cardinal insists, would be “bound to fail” due to “its inherent untruthfulness.” He continues: “This is valid also with regard to the attempt to integrate into the Church those who live in an invalid ‘second marriage’ by admitting them to liturgical, catechetical and other functions.” This path, in his eyes, would lead to “conflicts,” “embarrassments,” and an “undermining of the Church’s sacred proclamation.”

The Cardinal continues by saying that such newly attempted proposals “reveal themselves as attempts – with the help of ‘salami tactics’ – to finally admit these couples to the Sacraments.” He adds: “The ‘way out’, in order to allow exceptions, is an impasse. What is fundamentally impossible for reasons of Faith, is also impossible in the individual case.”

The German cardinal concludes his statement with the important sentence: “The post-synodal document, Amoris Laetitia, is therefore to be interpreted in light of the above-presented principles, especially since a contradiction between a papal document and the Catechism of the Catholic Church would not be imaginable.”

This is so good I read it several times to give my soul several meals of solid food!

It's the kind of stuff practicing Catholics turn to instead of booze!

Sunday, April 3, 2016

April 8th s the Big Day We've All Been Dreading



Pope Francis is releasing his post-synodal document on the family this week on April 8th.

Pope Francis is making sure Cardinal Christoph Schönborn's lifetime of misdirecting and misleading souls with heresy is given validity with his appointment to convey the document to Christ's people.

That's what a Pope would do, right?

Pick a heretic to give guidance to our children?

Larry Flint must have been busy.

This is kind of a fun story: Who am I to fudge?

The Romans have a little more hope than can be found in the rest of Christendom.

Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the prefect of the Papal Household, told the German news service Deutsche Welle that he is convinced that Francis will hold to the line of his predecessors and that his upcoming letter would not represent a departure from traditional Catholic teaching on the matter.

Finally, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, recently reemphasized Church teaching on the necessity of being in a “state of grace” to receive Holy Communion, and the importance of the sacrament of reconciliation to recover lost grace.

Müller has presumably read through the text of the pope’s letter, since a draft was sent to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s doctrinal watchdog agency, for its review and suggestions.


Mother Angelica - send help!

Saturday, April 2, 2016

What happened to the conviction of the heart in the prolife community?


Sometime earlier this week, Donald Trump was asked a question about the consequences of outlawing abortion to women who would seek them illegally. Should there be some form of punishment?


He answered yes.

Chris Matthews of MSNBC, recorded for broadcast on Wednesday night. Mr. Matthews pressed Mr. Trump, who once supported abortion rights, on his calls to ban the procedure, asking how he might enforce such a restriction.

“You go back to a position like they had where they would perhaps go to illegal places,” Mr. Trump said, after initially deflecting questions. “But you have to ban it.”

He added, after a bit more prodding, “There has to be some form of punishment.”

Naturally, the feminists exploded with indignation. And to my surprise, some of our friends in the prolife community joined the chorus.

Look, this is a very difficult question to navigate, even for a seasoned prolifer.

What Trump should have said was, I'll never be an advocate of the non-enforcement of laws. The prolife community would work against legislation that would incarcerate the mother but we would want to see something written into the law that mercifully addresses the mother's violation of laws against the murder of the child in the womb. Perhaps a mandated course on human life that focuses on ultrasounds of life in the womb and and invitation to resources in Project Rachel. Our focus is education and support of at-risk mothers in our communities.

It is not unprecedented to hold a person legally accountable while using the opportunity to re-educate and heal. We do it for drunk drivers.

Trump's response was poorly executed but the response of the prolife community complicated the confusion. I'll get to that in a minute.

Trump's political advisers then tried to tuck it in:

Hours later, Mr. Trump recanted his remarks, essentially in full, a rare and remarkable shift for a candidate who proudly extols his unwillingness to apologize or bow to “political correctness.”

If abortion were disallowed, he said in a statement, “the doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman.”

..and here comes the kicker:


“The woman is a victim in this case, as is the life in her womb,” he continued.

No. Women who seek abortions are not victims.

Is this vulgar putana a victim?

How about this long-suffering feminist seahag. Is she a victim?

Let's talk about what an abortion is for a minute.

A woman has an unplanned pregnancy and makes a decision that a living person needs to die so her plans will not be imposed upon. That is what abortion is. She is upset, suffering from stress, is not in her right state of mind, may not have support around her - but she is no more a victim than a mother who throws her children from a bridge because her children are impediments to her plans with a new boyfriend.

Both mothers want to make other plans for their lives and their children have to be disposed of to carry out the plan.

There are situations that can involve coercion. For instance a very young girl or a weak woman can be coerced into abortion by family members or a baby-daddy. On the spiritual side of these situations, the people doing the coercing are charged with the sin. The mother is exonerated. But all crimes involve coercion of some sort.

There are young men in the city who are coerced into gang violence. Women are coerced by a lover into killing their husbands.

The coercion may implicate others into criminal prosecution and spiritual accountability, but it does not exonerate the party who commits a crime.

Crimes involve sin and behind sin lies an ancient tempter. Sometimes he uses people. Sometimes he uses deadly sins.

There isn't a single crime in the history of civilization that didn't involve coercion.

Adam was coerced into sin by Eve. His sob story did not convince God to exonerate him.

David was coerced by the deadly sin of lust for Bathsheba. David tried to distance himself from culpability by sending Uriah to the front lines of battle and ordering others to withdraw. David and Bathsheba were held accountable by God for the murder, not the people who slayed Uriah.

Watching the prolife community respond to Trump's statements, I wondered for the first time if our prolife community really has the conviction of the heart that abortion is the murder of a child. Do we have the courage to rise above the objectives of the political machines to put the babies and mothers ahead of political ambition?

Instead of writing the law so that it gives the mom the best resources we have to offer and the chance for real healing, the prolife community seems willing to let the mother go off into the air like a big fat balloon filled with helium of her spiritual suicide and political rhetoric of feminists and GOP neocons. Knowing she will eventually crash to the ground when she comes to grips with her own guilt in the murder of her own flesh and blood.

Bye bye balloon, we are setting you free because you were a victim!

Please.

We can never erase guilt that will lie dormant in her soul and intellect with the cheap fix of telling her we think she was a victim. It will eventually consume and destroy her.

Here is a very thoughtful and logical assessment from Deb Esolen grabbed from Facebook:

If a woman were to pay someone to kill her newborn baby, under the present law, she would be prosecuted for murder. But if she hires an abortionist to kill her baby in the womb, under the present law, she is not legally culpable. It is up to God to forgive the sinner. The state's job is to enforce the law and to protect the innocent. At present, our state is enforcing a law which permits the murder of the innocent and protects those who actively participate in the killing. Looked at in one way, much of what is causing the decimation of civil society is that paying the consequences of what some of us are still old-fashioned enough to call "immoral" has been shifted to the innocent, while those who commit the act are shown mercy. But while God's mercy is reformative and restorative, the state's misapplied mercy actually encourages the sinner (oops, there I go again!) to persist in his sin. A law without consequences is worse than useless.

Let us give to God something that is worthy of Him.