Omnium Gatherum: Francis falling, beans in flasks, Fishwrap’s Defarge, sexual abuse by nuns

Carracci, The Beaneater – Il Mangiafagioli, painted in Bologna, now in Rome

I am making my way through various links which the trusted and not so trusted have sent for my attention.  It is like mucking out a stall each day.

That said, here is an Omnium Gatherum post with some comments.

The Great Roman today alerted me to a fascinating post which is sure to have Great Beans simmering in his fiasca.  At Politico.eu there is a piece about how Catholics in Italy, particularly those who go to Mass once a week, are turning on Francis because of his immigration stance.  Their Interior Minister is taking a harder line about the literal invasion of Italy from North Africa.

If Italian Catholics were following Francis’ example, one would expect them to shy away from [Interior Minister] Salvini. Instead, they, like the rest of country, are flocking in his direction.

Among Catholics who attend mass at least once a week — about a third of Italians — support for Salvini has doubled, from 15.7 percent in March to 31.8 percent in July, according to a poll by Ipsos.

[…]

He took his oath, holding a Rosary.

[…]

Meanwhile, the pontiff’s popularity in Italy has dropped from 88 percent in 2013, when he was elected, to 71 percent, according to a recent poll. Among the key reasons, according to the poll’s author, Ilvo Diamanti, is migration.

“The atmosphere has worsened, and Catholics are not immune from it,” said Oliviero Forti, head of migration policy at Caritas Italia, the umbrella organization for Catholic aid agencies. “For many of these Catholics, the Holy Father is not perceived anymore as a spiritual guide. On the contrary, in some cases he’s accused of being far from the real problems people are facing.”

In June, after Salvini refused to allow a ship carrying migrants to dock in an Italian port, Francis tweeted out a message of solidarity with its passengers. The response was a flood of attacks, asking “Why you don’t take them to the Vatican?” and accusing the Catholic Charity Caritas of making money off of migrants in the country.

[…]

Italy is in big trouble in a lot of ways.   It is noteworthy that some have proposed that Crucifixes should be displayed in public offices.

Frankly, as a response to a certain mangiaprete this makes me want to make Fagioli al fiasco.  I shall take steps and report back.

Sticking with Italy, I read that in July there was a Requiem Mass celebrated for the celebrated author of thebeloved “Don Camillo” booksHERE Pretty good movies were made from them, staring a French actor as the cantankerous parish priest.

The Mass.

I wonder if anyone will do that for me.  Hope so.  The priest, don Marino Neri (one thing I do miss about being in Rome is “don”) gave a sound sermon.  A couple tastes in my translation:

Dear faithful, by this solemn liturgy of suffrage, which marvelously praises and implores Divine Mercy upon the soul of the deceased, we are spurred to reflect on what is the end (purpose) of a man’s life, from which it can ultimately, be said to have been fully realized or irretrievably failed!

[…]  He pointed out that Guareschi, a great gentleman, saw vast changes in the society politically and in the Church… […]

… [A]s a Catholic he saw the advancement of “the new” in the Church, which seemed to promise a springtime of the Spirit, only to have been discovered to be a cold winter.

[…]  He quoted from a letter the writer penned to his character, don Camillo… […]

Still speaking of “his” don Camillo, with Catholic commonsense, he said: “Everyone has his own personal issues to confide to God (during Mass).  And we come to church precisely because Christ is present in the consecrated Host and, therefore, we sense His nearness.  You do your job, Reverend (celebrating Mass) and we’ll do our job (praying).  Otherwise if you are the same as we are, what is a priest for?” And for us, 50 years after his death, we bring ourselves to recall, liturgically, the loss of a great man, a great Italian and a great Catholic.  What are we supposed to do?

[…]

Channeling my inner don Camillo, I’ll say…

What are you supposed to do?

GO TO CONFESSION!

Then TAKE UP YOUR CROSS!

And please work for the wide and frequent celebration of Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form and, for the Novus Ordo, ad orientem.

BTW… what Guareschi wrote about Latin is precious:

“Latin is a precise, essential language. It will be abandoned, not because it is unsuitable for the new requirements of progress, but because the new men will not be suitable for it. When the age of demagogues and charlatans begins, a language like Latin will no longer be useful, and any oaf will be able to give a speech in public and talk in such a way that he will not be kicked off the stage. The secret to this will consist in the fact that, by making use of words that are general, elusive, and sound good, he will be able to speak for an hour without saying anything. With Latin, this is impossible.” 

In any event,…

US HERE – UK HERE

We turn to the oily dumpster fire that is the present scandal tearing at the Church in these USA.   An interesting contribution to the discussion comes in the form of a video interview by Fr. Rosica with Card. Wuerl at the KofC convention.   I won’t comment on it other than to point out an interesting reaction from Fr. Rosica about UnCard. McM after Card. Wuerl speaks of what’s going on as not being a “massive crisis” but rather a “disappointment”.  About 3:00.

You decide.

Decide about this, too.   On the same theme, this is a tweet from Rocco Palmo, who is experiencing a transfusion of new energy these days.


What’s up with this?

First, if you hadn’t heard, former Fr. Richard Sipe, who has been battling clerical abuse for decades, has gone to his reward. May God be merciful to him.  HERE

However, in that tweet you read a blurb about San Diego’s Bp. McElroy. While bishops have fallen over themselves to say that “They knew nuh-sing!” about L’Affaire McCarrick, it seems that McElroy was, in fact, alerted to the details some time ago.

McElroy likely owed his rise to the UnCardinal. I also remember with fondness how he compared faithful Catholics to a “cancer” in the Church. Bp. McElroy has also championed homosexualist activist Jesuit Fr. James Martin. McElroy thinks that the term “intrinsic evils” should be dropped. He also has allowed the divorced and civilly remarried to receive Communion.

There had been rumors that Most Rev. McElroy would be moved to Washington DC or perhaps New York City.

In the meantime, at Fishwrap Madame Defarge has called the reaction to L’Affaire McCarrick a “witch hunt”.  Of course the Fishwrap is a long-time promoter of homosexualism.

This seems a good transition point…

Folks, I admit that I forgot this year to submit my press credentials for the annual conflab of the LCWR.  Fishwrap, HERE  Apparently I missed their support for Black Lives Matter and their reflections on shared visions:

Stare and the “mandala of communion”.  You are getting sleeeeeepy.  A mandala is a Buddhist symbol.

Read that slide aloud a couple of times.  Try not to get woozy.

In the article, I found this interesting quote… granted, out of context:

Invoking Catholic theologians throughout history, she added, “The persons of the Trinity do not have relation to one another; their divine nature is relation. … We are patterns that connect,” said the professor and chair of the department of theology and philosophy at Barry University.

Ummm…

BTW… wasn’t it now-Card. Tobin of McCarrick’s former Archdiocese of Newark who, as then Secretary for Religious in Rome, torpedoed the investigation of US women religious?  Perhaps I remember that incorrectly.

Here is some more:

An associate professor at the Institute of Pastoral Studies at Loyola University Chicago, Russell said, “God who is Love means we are called to confront the evils and fragmentation of the world. … God’s promise is not to fix it for us, but to be with us and in us.”

Russell cited physicist David Bohm, who “has an image of the way in which wholeness enfolded, meaning folded into, and then unfolded in the world.”

“Bohm’s idea of implicate order is the idea that the whole creates and organizes the parts in such a way that the order or design of the whole is enfolded in each part,” she said. “The whole dwells at the core of each part and then unfolds itself in and through all of the parts. Each part is unique, in that it unfolds its own independent yet interconnected existence, but as it does so, it participates in the unfolding of the whole.”

Try to read that aloud, too.  Especially that last part.

I wonder if someone checked the carbon monoxide levels in the hall.

Also, at the LCWR site there is a press release about clerical sexual abuse against nuns.   It wasn’t long ago that the nuns were being called out for abuse of children by nuns.  Right?  HERE and HERE (cover up by Fishwrap?) and HERE.  The late Richard Sipe looked into this.  SEXUAL ABUSE BY NUNS

Finally, a well-formed source told me recently that, at this time, for the Archdiocese of Chicago, there is only ONE man going into major seminary, theology, and he is for the Canons of St. John Cantius.  Of course the Canons, at this point, belong to the Archdiocese.  Still, if we consider them as a group within but separate from archdiocesan efforts at promoting vocations, then Chicago would have, unless the situation changes, ZERO new guys for the major seminary this season.  I hope this is not the case, but my interlocutor has impeccable credentials as a source for this.

One guy for Chicago.  And he is in a traditional group.

See how this is going to play out?

This is why we have to double-down in our support for seminarians and young priests who are interested in our Traditional Rites.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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27 Comments

  1. Chris in Maryland 2 says:

    The serpent McElroy and “his girlfriends” in the LCWR are well represented by Ms. Laurie Brink O.P., erstwhile “keynote speaker” at one LCWR convention, when she declared that the “sojourning sisters” of LCWR had “moved beyond Christ.”

    That’s the McCarrick/McElroy/Mahony establishment: they have “moved beyond Christ.”

    Pretty gutsy of you…your Excellencies.

  2. Ivan says:

    Some sharing options…
    Fr.Z, have you ever read this article/interview/testimony which the title is “WE OVERCAME THEIR TRADITIONS, WE OVERCAME THEIR FAITH” (from 1994), which is to find in EWTN archive:
    http://www.ewtn.com/library/PRIESTS/COULSON.TXT

  3. mepoindexter says:

    I enjoy your yearly takes on the meeting of the LCWR. Always insightful. I am still, a full year after the last one, trying to let the full weight of just what exactly a “presidential triumvirate” is sink in.

  4. acardnal says:

    It appears to me that Cdl Wuerl and others in the episcopacy are living in a bubble. Bishops having sex with their seminarians is not a “disappointment.” It’s a problem! I don’t think he gets it!

    Remember the two bishops of Palm Beach, Florida who got caught with their pants down? HERE

    How many more are/have been packing their seminaries with homosexuals? It’s gotta stop.

  5. Benedict Joseph says:

    “… not being a “massive crisis” but rather a “disappointment”.
    A major intervention is required. He is not alone in diminishing the gross gravity of this moral carnage. He is symptomatic of the problem, the comportment which allowed it to happen, and indicative of the fraudulence which will be brought to bear upon it.
    No need to bury corpses — after a few years years they will basically blow away.
    This is a jaw dropper.

  6. pbnelson says:

    Thanks for the Don Camillo recommendation. I had never heard of it. I just finished reading the first story using the “Look Inside” feature on Amazon. The book is titled, “The Complete Little World of Don Camillo (The Don Camillo Series)”. What a treat! Good laughs! And the main antagonist was a Leftist!, heh, heh. I immediately ordered a copy, to read to my kids in the car. They’ll love it!

  7. Chuck Ludd says:

    Regarding Chicago…

    The Archdiocese has a holy priest as vocations director, Fr. Tim Monahan. He is doing his best. Pray for him. His vocation story started as a young person attracted to the Real Presence. He has a brother who is in the wonderful Franciscan Friars of the Renewal.

    It is not Fr Tim’s fault that across the Archdiocese there seems to have fallen…what was it that Jimmy Carter called it?….a malaise. There are many good (usually young and early middle-age) holy priests in the Archdiocese. If they persist and we pray for them, they will be around long after the malaise.

    Watch Fr. Monahan in a short video of 3 priests.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIHMGaMPjSs

  8. bartlep says:

    While I wouldn’t wish Bp. McElroy on anyone — would he please just go away from San Diego? Or, better yet — just go away??!!*

  9. Lisieux says:

    I wonder if someone might point out to Cardinal Wuerl that there is no commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ (otherwise quite a lot of the OT would make no sense) but ‘Thou shalt do no murder’ – two completely different Hebrew words. As for ‘sticking to Peter’, it would be easier if Peter would wriggle less.

  10. Dismas says:

    It would seem that there is so much spinning going on within the Cardinalate, that hooking them to a generator would provide cheap electricity for millions.

    They are doing everything possible to cover their own fingerprints now that their dear “uncle” has been brought low. Let them squirm on the hooks that they have fashioned, and God willing, let us all hear names named from bottom to top.

  11. GregB says:

    Current crisis = New Paradigm = New Normal appears to be the general direction some members of the hierarchy are wanting things to go.

  12. Arthur McGowan says:

    McElroy has much in common with McCarrick and Wuerl. He wrote an infamous article in Amerika mag promoting Communion for pro-aborts.

    Sacrilegious Communion is the source and summit of their church’s spiritual life.

  13. surritter says:

    “He was a friend to all of us.”
    Um…would you care to elaborate, Fr. Tom?

  14. Charles E Flynn says:

    Here is a vivid description of a recent blow struck for common sense and the science of biology by the Italian Interior Minister, Matteo Salvini:

    https://gloria.tv/article/VcoHMv8GFkJo43QRADoaXyXNN

  15. Suburbanbanshee says:

    Fr. Z — I was just watching an ep of America’s Test Kitchen (“Pub-Style Favorites Revisited”), and they had an interesting cooking technique that might carry over to mini versions of UK puddings!

    They were making something called “Boston Brown Bread,” which is a sort of soda bread cooked by steaming, like a pudding. The cooks used clean tin cans coated with cooking spray inside, filled them about 2/3 to 3/4 full of batter, sealed the tops with foil, and then set them up to steam in a big soup pot with a water level about halfway up the cans.

    I know I’ve seen UK puddings in cans, and it seems as good a way to steam and simmer as anything else. Probably you could do this sort of pudding in a crockpot, also. So if you want to make Aubrey-Maturin type food for one, maybe this would be nice for you!

    Fr. Z's Gold Star Award

  16. Kathleen10 says:

    These men don’t understand this crisis in the least, and here’s unsettling proof. I am greatly disturbed by this and word needs to get out there.
    On the brave Joseph Sciambra’s site he has shared information, including the advertisement, at an upcoming conference in England called “the Quest Conference”. “Father” James Martin is to speak at this conference.
    Go look at the header before they take it down, it is one of the most revolting images I have seen, and I don’t mean graphic. It portrays two hands at the top of the header, one, a boy’s hand, and the other, a man’s. They are flirting with each other by using their fingers to “walk” toward the other. This is a clear reference to the sexual molestation of boys by men, and this is something “Father” James Martin certainly understands. At the very, very least, this is a conference no Catholic priest should be speaking at AND, in light of our current situation with Uncle Ted, this is an outrageous affront to every single Catholic man and woman and child.
    These men are blatantly saying, there is nothing to see here, continue on your way stupid Catholics, all is well, and do put your checks in the basket on the way out….
    These disgusting, disgusting, predators and perverts.

  17. Joy65 says:

    Kathleen10

    Saw the graphic you are referring to and it is so obvious what the conference is all about and having a Catholic Priest speak there is truly wrong. They might as well have just put in big bold letters clearly and without question what they were saying. WHEN WILL this end. When will certain Priests and those above them in authority call this for what it is. God Have mercy on our world, our Catholic Church, all who serve in the Catholic Church and all who belong to the Catholic Church.

    Father Son Holy Spirit, Blessed Mother Mary, All Holy Angels and Saints PLEASE surround and protect ALL Priests, religious Brothers and Sisters, Deacons, Seminarians, our Pope, Bishops, Cardinals and all discerning a vocation to the Priesthood or Religious Life from satan and all his evil way. PLEASE give us MORE HOLY GOOD DEVOUT PRIESTS and RELIGIOUS LORD who only do your will not their own and not the world’s. AMEN!
    3 Our Fathers
    3 Hail Marys
    3 Glory Bes

  18. KateD says:

    Thank you, Father for this post.

    I love Don Camillo and his conversations with Christ. He is so courageous, honest and forth right in his combat against the Communist/Socialists. No being clever and cowardly, sneaking around….just marching straight down Main Street with Jesus. AS WE ALL SHOULD DO. We must each embrace our crosses heroically.

    Is it any wonder that we have the McCarick scandal? Pope Benedict XVI provided the Church a remedy, but the pederasts and the power hungry pushed it back out synodal again. They need not form committees….there are plenty already in Rome. They need to quit trying to out think Jesus and just go with what He has already provided.

    It makes one wonder, though, why Our Lord would allow the Church to become synodal in this time? Does He know something we don’t?

  19. Julia_Augusta says:

    I got The Complete Little World of Don Camillo on Kindle. Very funny! An antidote to the depressing news concerning certain cardinals.

  20. hilltop says:

    Kathleen10 wrote:
    “Go look at the header before they take it down, it is one of the most revolting images I have seen, and I don’t mean graphic. It portrays two hands at the top of the header, one, a boy’s hand, and the other, a man’s. They are flirting with each other by using their fingers to “walk” toward the other. This is a clear reference to the sexual molestation of boys by men, and this is something “Father” James Martin certainly understands.”
    Notice too that there are two little flags in the background. The Vatican Flag on the right behind the adult male’s finger-walking and, on the left, the rainbow flag behind the boy’s hand… chaaaaaarming, I’m sure.

  21. Semper Gumby says:

    Kathleen10: I’ll take you’re word about that website, yikes.

    Heidi Russell, before rambling on about “parts” at the LCWR, should have consulted The Patriarchy and the world’s experts on “parts”:

    Groucho Marx: Now pay particular attention to this first clause, because it’s most important. There’s the party of the first part shall be known in this contract as the party of the first part. How do you like that, that’s pretty neat eh?

    Chico Marx: No, that’s no good.

    Groucho Marx: What’s the matter with it?

    Chico Marx: I don’t know, let’s hear it again.

    Groucho Marx: So the party of the first part shall be known in this contract as the party of the first part.

    Chico Marx: Well it sounds a little better this time.

    Groucho Marx: Well, it grows on you. Would you like to hear it once more?

    Chico Marx: Just the first part.

    Groucho Marx: What do you mean, the party of the first part?

    Chico Marx: No, the first part of the party, of the first part.

    Chico Marx: Oh sure. You bet. Hey wait, wait. What does this say here, this thing here?

    Groucho Marx: Oh that? Oh that’s the usual clause, that’s in every contract. That just says, it says, ‘If any of the parties participating in this contract are shown not to be in their right mind, the entire agreement is automatically nullified.’

    Chico Marx: Well, I don’t know.

    Groucho Marx: It’s all right, that’s in every contract. That’s what they call a sanity clause.

    Chico Marx: You can’t fool me, there ain’t no sanity clause.

    That Fishwrap article also says:
    “While women religious are reflecting on white privilege and their role in whitewashing their histories…” One wonders if the 2019 LCWR will decide that the word “whitewash” is racist. Struggle Sessions will ensue.

    These silly people have too much time on their hands. Which reminds me. There is a bit of a debate these days in the occult world about whether the phrase “black magic” is racist. Apparently, the phrase “dark magic” might be the one to use around the cauldron these days.

    Joy65: Amen.

  22. Sandy says:

    I was just wondering recently when things would explode in San Diego. Bp. McElroy keeps making the national news and here he is again in your piece today, Father Z. There must be a lot going on here under the radar, but the ominous signs are there. I am still sad that we lost Bp. Cordileone, and I pray that he is receiving powerful prayers in San Francisco, where he is under attack.

  23. Semper Gumby says:

    Re: my last comment and “dark.” A colleague suggested an excellent Bible verse, John 1:1-5.

    1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God; 3 all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

  24. rdb says:

    While I needed a shower after reading it, I was impressed by the honesty of the sister president of the LCWR. She spoke of their vision and that they “did everything we were supposed to do by taking the (second Vatican council) renewal to heart.” The result she admits is that their vision of religious life is living close to “a final eruption that will wipe out what we have come to know, struggle with and love about this life…”.

  25. hwriggles4 says:

    While there have been some good bishop appointments during the last 5 years (Matano, Scharfenberger, Barres, Caggiano, Parkes, and the newer Cheyenne bishop), others my thoughts were – what? San Diego got a lemon after their good bishop (Cirilio Flores) passed away, and Lexington (KY) , Chicago (it would have been nice for Auxiliary Bishop Perry to be elevated) ,and Memphis (TN) received a step down, while Arlington (VA) and Dallas (TX) seemed to get a better deal.

    I am concerned where these recommendations come from for bishops. There are some good ones (Morlino, Conley, Chaput, Aquila, Foys, Swain, Schnurr, Olmsted, Kemme), but there’s a backlog in Rome of auxiliary bishop appointments for several U.S. dioceses. There’s also a few bishops that are close to the 75 mandatory retirement age. Some of those it would be nice for them to retire early, but there are a few that I would of liked to stay (like Bruskewitz) that were over 75 but in good health.

    If bishops were involved in cover ups, that is bad news. Priests who were transferred to the sticks for doing the right thing should be vindicated. Looks like more housecleaning is in order – I for one thought 95% of it was finished.

  26. jaykay says:

    A mandala of communion. Ahh, and there was I wondering why they were displaying a jellyfish.

    Which it’s likely less harmful. Aaargh.

  27. JesusFreak84 says:

    The Vocations director may be a great and holy priest, but the fact of the matter remains that Cardinal Cupich is the public “face” of the See. It’s also worth noting that several other Sees send their seminarians to Chicago, so if only ONE man is entering seminary, that doesn’t just speak to Chicago, but a great many other places as well =-\

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