Once upon a time there was a super-Catholic land called Quebec.

Once upon a time there was a super-Catholic land called Quebec.

[… insert here MODERNISM – SPIRIT OF VATICAN II – WET NOODLE BISHOPS …]

And, boys and girls, the moral of the story is corruptio optimi pessima.

From UCANEWS:

Canadian police seize altar wine, say it’s illegal to import it

Seizures in Quebec appear related to laws governing the resale of alcohol within provinces

Police have seized large quantities of altar wine in the Canadian province of Quebec, creating a situation where buying a bottle is nearly impossible[One wonders if that is not the point.]

On April 9, police officers seized sacramental wine from Bertrand, Foucher, Bélanger, Inc. in Montreal, Procure Ecclésiastique, Inc. in Quebec City and Chandelles Tradition MB, Inc. in Saint-Constant.

Sandra Dion, spokeswoman for the Quebec City Police Department, said the wine was seized following an investigation. The seizures appear related to laws governing the resale of alcohol within provinces, although some distributors claim they are within the law and have licenses.

The altar wine available in Quebec comes from two Californian producers: Mont La Salle Altar Wines and Cribari Premium Altar Wines. However, since the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) — the provincial liquor board — does not sell these products, the wines had to be imported from other Canadian provinces. Although that was the practice for many years, police now says it’s illegal.

“Officers from the Montreal Police Department showed up with a warrant,” said Alain Denis, general manager at Bertrand, Foucher, Bélanger, Inc., a store specializing in church goods. The warrant mentioned illegal possession and selling of alcohol. Chandelles Tradition MB did not return calls.

The Catholic Church says the wine used for Mass must be natural, made entirely from grapes, uncorrupted and free of foreign substances. A locally produced altar wine was available for a few years, but it is not produced anymore, so distributors in Quebec resort to American-produced wines. The specialized wine made in California is imported to Ontario or New Brunswick before resellers can get it in the province of Quebec.

“This issue has been dragging on for 40 years,” said Jacques Laroche, general manager and co-owner of Procure Ecclésiastique, which had its entire stock seized.

“The SAQ, since at least the 1980s, has been trying to prevent the distribution of altar wine in Quebec,” he added. “This forces parishes and religious communities to buy from other provinces.

Last December, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario warned permit holders that selling alcohol in other Canadian provinces is prohibited.

“I can confirm there has been no change to the terms of the sacramental wine appointment issued by the LCBO,” an LCBO spokesman said April 22.

So important was it to enforce this law that they confiscated altar wine from parishes.

There are various types of “wine” which are valid for Mass.  More HERE.

Meanwhile, in another formerly super-Catholic place, Ireland… from The Burkean:

Shocking Footage as Gardaí Storm Church for Violating Lockdown Regulations

Another week and another outrage has emerged in lockdown Ireland as a Latin Mass ceremony was gatecrashed by members of An Garda Síochána implementing NPHET edicts. In harrowing footage released this afternoon, congregants of the SSPX operated Corpus Christi Church in Athlone can be heard rebuking members of the force for breaking up the socially distanced Mass.

Following the arrival of Gardaí parishioners were forced to give their names and details for fear of arrest. This embarrassing act of policing comes in the wake of the incessant harassment of the faithful in Limerick at the behest of Councillor Elisa O’Donovan.

[…]

Corruptio optimi pessima.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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

  1. Gaetano says:

    Ireland is the only nation is Western Europe that still prohibits public worship as a Covidcrestriction.

    On her website, Councillor Elisa O’Donovan states that she is “a founding member of Limerick Feminist Network and Limerick Pro Choice.”

  2. The Egyptian says:

    I believe it’s time for a Limerick
    there was an old witch
    who had a great itch

    anyone, take the next lines
    {;>)

  3. JustaSinner says:

    Dark One is ramping up its scummy activities. On a positive note, that means goodness is about to explode world-wide. A lot of suffering in the mean time? Probably, BUT, it’s a real sheet sandwich made while most did nothing, so everyone needs to take a big bite!

  4. Irish Timothy says:

    Americans: please pray for your northern neighbors. We are day after day headed for communism here in Canada, no joke. You will soon border a communist country but of course our ‘leaders’ won’t call it that. Build Back Better BS is in full swing up here. 10 people max at a mass vs Wal Mart wide open. Restricted travel from some provinces. A curfew in Quebec. Masses cancelled vs fighting back. Health passports coming in the fall. And on it goes. And we all know from history how communist countries go after the Church and then some. Unbelievable. Pray the rosary and pray it daily. It’s the only hope as Canada and the world goes more and more into ‘reset mode’. But…….God is still in charge…….and will ALWAYS be in charge no matter what and Our Lady’s Immaculate Heat will triumph in the end!

  5. Semper Gumby says:

    Gaetano: Good eye. Also, Mzx. O’Donovan has participated in at least one rally of the Marxist and racist BLM. This is as good a time as any to revisit that perennial question: do women have souls?

    First Things in 1997:

    “Josh Billings remarked profoundly that “the trouble with people is not that they don’t know but that they know so much as ain’t so.” There are those who know John Chrysostom said that “the image of God is not found in Woman.” (Actually, he said that “the image of God is not found in Man or Woman.”) There are those who know that Thomas Aquinas said that a woman is a defective male. (Actually, he explicitly denies this no fewer than five times.) There are those who know that Aristotle said that a woman is a deficient male—a description based on an appalling mistranslation.

    “And there are those who know that an early council of bishops, held at Macon in Burgundy, France in 585 decreed that women do not have a soul. The bishops of course decreed no such thing, for if women do not have a soul how could they be baptized, how receive the Eucharist, how be venerated as martyrs in heaven? Yet it may be worthwhile to look at the story of this alleged decree, for one can see a myth in the making.

    “The story begins, innocently enough, in the late sixteenth century. A young scholar, Valentius Acidalius, was working as a teacher in Silesia, and, like many young scholars, he was short of money. He thought to turn an honest penny by publishing a “diverting” pamphlet. In Latin the word homo, like the word man in English, primarily means “a human being, male or female, young or old,” but has the secondary meaning of “adult male.” Valentius thought it would be fun to use this ambiguity to “show” that in the Bible only adult males have souls.”

    The Egyptian: “Limerick”- good one. But lemme’ get back to you on that.

    Irish Timothy: You bet.

  6. Mac in Calgary says:

    @Irish Timothy, I don’t know what province you live in, but in Alberta, where I live, most businesses open to the public have a limit of 15 per cent of fire code capacity . . . . Walmart, church, or whatever. That means 60 people at my parish. Travel restrictions in B.C. — I hope they fall to a Charter challenge, but that province is called the Left Coast for more reasons than geography.

  7. Kathleen10 says:

    How did these tyrannical fascists get into office? Did they force their way in through a window and no one can get them out? Someone put them there.
    I grow frustrated. It is for absolute certain that in 1775 if the 3% of the American populace had not grown tired of tax tyranny and revolved America would be speaking English right now…oh wait…well, we’d have a King and not a faux-president…and right now a King looks very good.
    If people do not want tyranny, I hate to break this to them, they must resist and fight for freedom! I’m a woman, I certainly hope I have a soul, but whatever I’ve got, I pray to God that when the fascists come (and we’re swimming in them here in the states) that I do whatever I can humanly do to thwart them. I want to be the porcupine that if he does get eaten by the python puts his quills out on the way down to make that python sorry.
    There simply is no other way. It is the same in the US, Canada, Ireland, elsewhere. It is up to the people. Pray. But act. The 3% of the Americans who fought the British got it done.

  8. Kathleen10 says:

    sorry, revolted.

  9. Irish Timothy says:

    @Mac

    I’m in Ontario, live north of Toronto. 10 people max for mass so they just said no masses in the diocese. Some churches still offer confession. Stupid rules that make no sense. Ontario now has some of the strongest lock down measures in North America. This is our 3rd province wide shutdown in a year. Not about a virus about control but the push back is minimal – from citizens and bishops sadly.

  10. Liz says:

    Oh, that’s so horrible. I’m so sorry. Prayers those of you in Canada.

  11. Liz says:

    …and Ireland and other places where Catholics are oppressed.

  12. Public Savant says:

    Regarding the raid on the church in Athlone. I used to go to Mass there when I lived near there so I know it well. I also know the regulars there and the priest. Now anyone who knows anything about the history of Ireland knows that for centuries we were plagued by what we call “the informer” (also the title of a 1935 film by John Ford). The “raid” on the church in Athlone was in response to a complaint made by a member of the public. The Gardai (the national police force) station, is only a few hundred feet from the church, and they went to investigate as they’re obliged to do when anyone reports any violation of the law. They entered before Mass and saw people not socially distanced and not wearing masks. Now, I’m not going to argue the rightness or wrongness of outlawing Mass, insisting on social distancing or wearing asks but I will say that every adult in full possession of their faculties knew that they were breaking the (unjust) law.
    The person you hear shouting is not a regular member of the faithful and the regulars did not recognize him. The regular faithful complied with requests to leave, they also cooperated with the Gardai afterwards. No fines were issued even though it would have been lawful to do so. Also a certain rabble rouser was present on the day. A person who has approached several traditionally minded priests in the past year urging them to offer a public Mass in defiance of the law, actually trying to persuade them how it would be a publicity coup for the police to stop the Mass and drag the priest away.
    There are faithful who love Christ, His Church, the priesthood and know they need the sacraments and there’s political operators who would use all the above for their own reasons. Then there’s some who can’t tell the difference.

  13. JonPatrick says:

    I don’t understand what is going on with Canada. Their reactions seem all out of proportion. Where I live the number afflicted with the Wuhan virus is very low, as it is in the neighboring province of New Brunswick. However residents of Campobello Island NB whose only year round access to the rest of Canada is via the US and whose residents have to travel to the US to buy gas or groceries, now have to jump through numerous government imposed hoops to do so. They require them to apply through an app each time they need to cross the border (which means 2 separate applications if they are traveling through the US to the NB mainland). The area is poor and not everyone has smart phones plus cell coverage and internet access is spotty. At least they do have the Mass – our priest travels over there every Saturday afternoon to the little church on the island.

  14. Archlaic says:

    @Kathleen10 (et al):

    Saw a bumper sticker the other day: “We can vote ourselves into socialism – but we’ll have to shoot our way out!”

    As for the complete disintegration of the Faith in Quebec, in a nutshell the “elites” pushed a progressivist movement after the death of longtime Conservative Premier Maurice Duplessis in 1959 which sought (successfully) the decoupling of Church and state and the concentration of control over Quebec’s institutions in the government. They succeeded in demonizing the previous government and got enough of the clergy and bishops to co-operate with the result that they were able to thoroughly marginalize the Church – which had indeed been the center of life in Quebec – in less than ten years. Google “Quiet Revolution”… the fact that this whole movement overlapped another horrifically-destructive event in the Church does not seem to me to be a complete coincidence…

  15. Bob says:

    ” creating a situation where buying a bottle is nearly impossible. [One wonders if that is not the point.]”

    One no longer needs to wonder if it is the point or not. The persecution of the Church is no longer hidden and the pandemic has made it easier for Satan and his secular minions to restrict the Church. The Churches voice has been a pain in the butt for the secular world since Christ founded it. It teaches virtues, truth and morals contrary to the world. Today the world with its increased demonic infestation and feeling its oats against God it is no wonder that the Church is again the target. I would worry more if the Church was approved by the world and not targeted for persecution.

  16. GregB says:

    Canadian attorney and YouTube blogger Viva Frei has been posting commentary on the situation in Canada. He flat out says that Canada has become a police state. His content is also available on Rumble.

  17. oremus777 says:

    Yes, please remember the nation of Canada in prayer. Here in the province of British Columbia, all indoor religious gatherings have been banned since Dec.7(as also April through June last year.)
    Health Authorities were going to allow 10% attendance for Triduum, Passover etc, but when hospitalization numbers jumped up they cancelled that also, so two Easters and one Christmas in BC with no congregational indoor Worship for any Religion.
    Only recently have indoor group activities like dining in restaurants, gyms etc been banned.
    Allowed though are 50 people spaced out, and masked outdoors only however.
    Therefore many Parishes have a “Drive’Thru’ “Communion…(ugh.), and some have set up a under tent sanctuary outside

    PAX

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  19. truthfinder says:

    While I agree that there has been some ridiculous and inconsistent rules in Canada, I’d wager that this is far less about religion than it is about the government seeing liquor money escaping from its hands. Canada has some weird liquor laws when it comes to importation as well as transport, even across provinces. In many cases it goes back to our own prohibition in 1915-30 (which varied by province, PEI last in 1948). When the prohibition lifted, it did so at different times, and each province had its own rules. Some kept the strict transport rules to keep provincial ‘protections’ on alcohol.
    I’m sure someone caught wind that there was a decent trade in alcohol that wasn’t getting sufficiently taxed and they went after it. Although there are many things in Canada, and in Quebec in particular, with a recent partial upholding of their ridiculous secularism law, this is probably much more about money than religion.

  20. APX says:

    The Liberal Government in Canada is trying to pass a bill to make it legal for the government to censor ordinary people on the internet and social media.

    Alberta has a least one underground church now after the government shutdown their church building for not obeying covid restrictions. Their pastor was also arrested and jailed for over a month.

    My employer is now telling workers he doesn’t want them going to church.

    The Government also removed the international religious worker permit visa at the same time they closed the boarders at the start of the pandemic.

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  22. Semper Gumby says:

    Archlaic: “Saw a bumper sticker the other day: “We can vote ourselves into socialism – but we’ll have to shoot our way out!””

    God willing it won’t get that far, but the situation is trending, like it has many times before when socialists run amok, in that direction.

    Kathleen10: “How did these tyrannical fascists get into office? Did they force their way in through a window and no one can get them out? Someone put them there.”

    Yes, the Installed Death Party Regime in the White House is an example.

    A number of factors combine to produce the situation today in Canada, Ireland and throughout the West. Briefly: Vatican II and the Spirit of Vatican II; schools and universities falling prey to “Progressivism”; socialist nonsense broadcast constantly by TV shows, the “news” and the movie industry; the gradual subversion (much of it intentional by nefarious groups from the KGB to Freemasons to the ChiComs) of a significant part of the West; the pagans and the occultists, who have been resisting Jesus Christ and A Better Way for two thousand years, have been resurgent from the French Revolution to Pachamama in St. Peter’s Cathedral.

    Here’s another factor, a post and discussion from 2019 regarding the Family:

    https://wdtprs.com/2019/12/studies-when-highly-developed-cultures-undergo-sexual-revolution-and-license-they-collapse-with-monotonous-regularity-within-three-generations/

  23. Semper Gumby says:

    “The Burkean” is linked above, here’s an insightful quote from Edmund Burke:

    “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle. It is not enough, in a situation of trust in the commonwealth, that a man means well to his country.”

    “Associate” does not mean a perfect meeting of the minds in a harmonious and permanent alliance, there is room for disagreement, correction and debate. Additionally, political programs based on appeals to the “common good” appear to be detached from both historical experience and present reality. Closer inspection reveals two problems: defining the “common good” and determining who will enforce the “common good.”

  24. Semper Gumby says:

    Excellent comments here to this post and its news items. Elements mentioned here include: state repression, religious strife (broadly speaking, Paganism vs Christianity), abortion and feminism, taxation and greed, tribalism, and harassment of Christians at worship.

    Our current predicament is unfortunate, but all those elements are as old as the hills. This is the human condition. Jesus Christ specifically informs us that “we will have trouble.”

    Far more is going on these days than the “liberalism” that panics certain narrow-minded and agenda-driven journalists, and who would answer the tyrannical, pagan political-religion of the Left with their own theocratic tyranny.

  25. Semper Gumby says:

    An example of “certain journalists” (see comment above) can be found today at the Spectator. The volatile Sohrab Ahmari unleashed an outburst regarding “Liberalism” and Tyranny.

    There’s plenty to criticize in that opinion piece, but just two items here.

    1. Ahmari: “Does our marketplace of ideas resemble anything like that promised by the bewigged liberals of the late-18th and 19th centuries?”

    Ahmari is skipping along hand-in-hand with the Death Party political religion, mocking the Founding Fathers who wrote a Declaration of Independence at great risk to themselves followed by a Constitution unmatched before or since. Elsewhere in his opinion piece Ahmari refers to the Founders as “powdered-wigs.” In addition to cheap anti-Americanism, Ahmari’s grasp of American history is quite weak, for starters he should recall that Benjamin Franklin and the Founders gave us “a Republic, if we could keep it.” Ahmari is also confused about the “separation of church and state,” the Founder’s intentions, and the origins of that phrase.

    For example, John Adams: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Ahmari would benefit by dropping the tribal, crypto-socialist regime he yearns after (Ahmari somehow thinks his “common good” regime would be “Catholic”, that said, such a scheme appeals to the inner revolutionary in Ahmari and his comrades). Instead, Ahmari could assist his neighbors and fellow citizens in strengthening the Republic against the current onslaught- offering solid catechesis and accurate history would be a good starting point (of course, that’s not as exciting or attention-getting as an outlandish political scheme).

    2. Ahmari, a classic liberal himself until a couple years ago (and apparently a Marxist earlier), now rages against classic liberals, comparing them to the “Trotskyites” who explained away the crimes of Marxism. In the Spectator Ahmari pounds the table against Silicon Valley and social media “repression,” reminding the reader, again, of an incident involving Twitter and the NY Post (Ahmari’s stomping grounds) last autumn. Ahmari somewhat has a point, it could be better made.

    However, also last autumn Ahmari and one of his comrades wrote a papalotrous article defending the Vatican’s China policy- a policy that betrayed Christians in China to ChiCom control and censorship, that repression is obviously more serious than a Twitter suspension. Ahmari should be more careful with the “Trotskyite” label, and recognize that Chinese Christians are infinitely more valuable than a social media account.

    Eccentric analysis, cheap anti-Americanism and tribal agendas are a dime a dozen these days. May Ahmari persevere, and may he and his comrades go from strength to strength in service to God and Country.

  26. Semper Gumby says:

    “Seek the peace of the city to which I have caused you to be carried away captives; and pray to the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall be your peace.” – Jeremiah 29:7

    From the last several days, various statements by Sohrab Ahmari:

    1. “I didn’t immigrate to an “idea” — but to a place, a state.”

    A sincere welcome to this country, these United States on behalf of its citizens.

    2. “America is a truly grotesque “civilization” (mere technological advancement a true civilization doesn’t make).”

    Well, if Ahmari is so offended by Americans, he is free to decamp for the bright lights and soft music of, say, Pyongyang or Tehran and leave us in peace. Ahmari apparently has yet to notice that this country and its citizens are not merely a collection of gadgets. That “technology,” by the way, though it can be misused given human nature, allows Ahmari to type and publish his often toxic manifestos in air-conditioned comfort, and afterwards smoke cigars and dine on steak.

    3. “My blockbuster essay in the Spectator.”

    *chuckle* Sohrab Ahmari, a legend in his own mind.

    4. “Remove the rosy glasses of liberalism…” If Ahmari is taking yet another ill-considered swipe at the Founders, he is reminded that the Founders were well aware of the misfortunes of ancient Greece and Rome, and the causes and carnage of the Thirty Years War.

    5. “Americans are cowed into upholding liberal order (usually under the guise of “democracy”).”

    In our current predicament Ahmari’s ambition, panic and elitism are on full display. Ahmari should meet more Americans, many are “uncowed” and recognize fully the gravity of our situation. Ahmari should read quality history books, and thereby notice that many Americans have sacrificed for these United States so that “government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”

    Here are the names of a few Americans down through the centuries for Ahmari’s edification: Charles Carroll and Abp. John Carroll, Harriet Tubman, Sr. Deirdre Byrne, Col. Joshua Chamberlain of the 20th Maine, Martin Luther King, Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, Thomas Sowell, Abp. Fulton Sheen, the Buffalo Soldiers, Ernest “Chief” Evans, the Tuskegee Airmen, Virginia Hall, the 442nd Infantry Regiment, the 54th Massachusetts, Capt. David Dorn, Petty Officer Michael Monsoor, and Fr. Vincent Capodanno. Then there are the Americans from all walks of life across the generations who fulfill little miracles of charity with no expectation of recognition. God bless them all.

    God and Country. All these faithful Americans were aware of America’s flaws, yet all sacrificed in her defense and in her improvement. Sohrab Ahmari, fixated on his pet political project for which America is merely a handy “state” for him to “remake anew,” should be grateful for the many faithful Americans who defended and advanced this Republic, thereby providing Ahmari with the security and bounty he enjoys today.

  27. Semper Gumby says:

    Sohrab Ahmari several weeks ago:

    “We all seek happiness by nature…”

    Ahmari should define “we” and define “happiness.” He should take into account, for example, hardened criminals, occultists, anarchists and Marxists who have their own idea of “happiness.”

    “…The question is whether we can be mistaken about the good and whether the law should enshrine the pursuit of the common good and authoritatively help people in the discernment of it.”

    Communists, Nazis and the Left today also “authoritatively help people in their discernment of it.”

    To Ahmari’s problematic statement Gladden Pappin, professor of politics at U. Dallas (and a proponent of “Catholic Sharia” along with others such as Adrian Vermeule of Harvard Law School) responded with the typical anti-Americanism of the Catholic tribalist:

    “Exactly. Either it’s subsequently enshrined in law or, well, America happens”

    So, apparently, it’s: To hell with the Great Commission, Take political power and Force people to be “virtuous.” These men have learned nothing from the 20th century- political religions staffed with utopian zealots always end badly.

    From yesterday, Catholic University professor CC Pecknold approvingly quoting Pope Gregory XVI (early 19th century):

    “Experience shows, even from earliest times, that cities renowned for wealth, dominion and glory perished as a result of this single evil, namely, immoderate freedom of opinion, license of free speech and desire for novelty.”

    Pope Gregory XVI was also against street lights and railroads, so Pecknold is merely demonstrating the intellectual deficiency and totalitarian menace of present-day Catholic anti-American tribalists.

    CC Pecknold last week:

    “We’ve lived so long with the political consequences of various heresies, we’re exhausted and unhappy. Seems like there’s no better time to propose a genuinely Catholic political vision.”

    Again, define “we.” If it’s Pecknold and his fellow tribalists who are “exhausted and unhappy” then these gentlemen should pull themselves together, realize that this World was not Created for their amusement nor did God promise us a rose garden, and rid themselves of their secular and crypto-socialist totalitarian yearnings (which are tarted up by borrowing Catholic terminology).

    Instead, these gentlemen would benefit by focusing on being Catholic, being a Light Unto the World in the public square, and contribute to making America a better place for all (one suggestion for starters, have a read of Bradley Birzer’s “American Cicero”).

    A Catholic Sharia Theocracy in these United States will not happen- the great majority of Catholics are opposed to it, along with basically everyone else. In the meantime, Catholic tribalists and theocrats, broadcasting daily their anti-Americanism and their anti-Gospel, are in fact advancing the cause of the totalitarian anti-Christian and anti-American Left.

    The Catholic theocrats are in a panic as their secular political project has met resistance from the majority of Catholics- who are repulsed by the theocrats’ historical ignorance, belligerent demeanor and general disdain of their fellow citizens. Perhaps they could calm down, and recall that imposing a utopia by force, a characteristic of the hyper-active Left, has bloody consequences.

    Fortitude. Patience. Christians must assert themselves in the public square- this Republic was “made for a religious people”- while also pointing out and resisting error. The Great Commission and seeking the welfare of the City and of its citizens’ souls is the work of a lifetime, this work will continue until the end of time. God bless.

  28. Semper Gumby says:

    Here is a social media comment from a young Catholic woman in England yesterday:

    “only recently started following the work of Christian Climate Action within XR [Extinction Rebellion] but there are so many laudato si baptisms waiting to be harvested”

    The young lady is reminded that Christian baptism is “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”- not in the name of a problematic 2015 encyclical or a secular political agenda. Poor catechesis and misappropriation are among the factors that produced the situation in Ireland and Canada noted by this post. God bless.

  29. Semper Gumby says:

    From today, another example of the danger crypto-socialist theocrats (also known as Integralists or Common Good Zealots) pose to Christianity and liberty.

    Sohrab Ahmari on Twitter earlier today:

    “I’m at peace with a Chinese-led 21st century. Late liberal America is too dumb and decadent to last as a superpower. Chinese civilization, especially if it recovers more of its Confucian roots, will possess a great deal of natural virtue.”

    Ahmari, who is fascinated by Power, and fond of telling people to “look around” should have a look around himself. The Chinese Communist Party rules the people of China. Ahmari may have heard of a few things such as: the Cultural Revolution, Tiananmen Square, the Uighur concentration camps, the Wuhan Virus and ChiCom disinformation campaign, and subversive ChiCom Confucius Institutes on U.S. campuses.

    When a commenter rebutted Ahmari, pointing out that Maoists are anti-Confucian, Ahmari replied:

    “Dude, there are neo-Confucian scholars working on the Mainland today, a whole movement.”

    Ah, “a whole movement,” like the Catholic Church in China that Ahmari threw overboard last autumn in his papalotrous article with Vermeule.

    Ahmari soon deleted his original tweet and followed with this:

    “Deleted the China tweet; it became a magnet for morons. My wife is Chinese-born, so I don’t need lectures on the horrors of the CCP. ”

    Ah, “a magnet for morons”- the crypto-socialist power-obsessed Ahmari was confronted with the facts and now lashes out. Ahmari also played the race card- though he clearly needs to educate himself on the CCP and Christianity.

    Ahmari is off the rails. The suggestion is that he get right with the Lord and his fellow citizens.

  30. Semper Gumby says:

    “Several authors see New Age spirituality as a kind of spiritual narcissism or pseudo-mysticism.”

    “…individuals and groups are living out their own fantasies of power…The principal characteristic of this is attachment to a private world of ego-fulfillment.”

    “An invitation to meet Jesus Christ, the bearer of the water of life…is a matter of letting people react in their own way, at their own pace, and letting God do the rest.

    – “Jesus Christ: The Bearer of the Water of Life” Pontifical Council for Culture

  31. Semper Gumby says:

    More names. The Four Chaplains: Lt. Alexander D. Goode- Jewish, Lt. John P. Washington- Catholic, Lt. George L. Fox- Methodist, and Lt. Clark V. Poling- Dutch Reformed, Kalpana Chawla, MSgt. Raul “Roy” Benevidez, Col. Young Oak Kim, Col. Ruby Bradley, Ensign Jane Kendeigh, Nancy Harkness Love, Fr. Emil Kapaun, Cook Third Class Doris “Dorie” Miller, Jessica “All Lives Matter” Whitaker.

  32. Semper Gumby says:

    At The Stream John Zmirak and Jason Jones have begun a series on “Integralism”- a small sect within Catholicism lusting after a theocratic police state to enforce their distorted version of Catholicism. Here’s a few quotes from Zmirak and Jones:

    “The Catholic parallel to the Muslim Brotherhood is the Integralist movement. Like any good opiate, it can numb our pain and dull our perception of the top-down, bottom-up chaos and corruption that afflicts the Catholic Church today. In effect, it relieves us of the responsibility to take part as faithful citizens in US politics, in defense of unborn life, the natural family, and the Natural Law. Instead of diagnosing and trying to fight the ills that afflict the church, it urges us to blame all those on…freedom, especially religious freedom. The US was founded on evil premises, it claims, precisely because it did not enshrine an intolerant Catholic government.”

    “Why would we want to give, say, Cardinal Blase Cupich [of Chicago] the power to arrest his critics such as Michael Voris for heresy? Or even random Protestants who might happen to pass through Chicago, like Franklin Graham? Religious persecution is the logical and necessary implication of Integralist ideas.”

    “Do you really want an America where bishops with long track records of covering for sex abusers like Theodore McCarrick, and lavender seminaries, and a deep financial dependence on federal contracts passed by pro-choice Democrats, would have the power to arrest nosy investigative reporters, if they had ever been baptized, for “heresy?””

    “Whenever we (either of us) pressed self-styled Integralists on this question, they admitted it: Yes, the church through its bishops should have the power to censor the press, enforce attendance at Mass, and forbid public worship by Protestants and Orthodox. If you doubt us, ask them. Ask any Integralist to renounce any of these abuses of power. He won’t.”

    “We can’t infuse the virtue of Faith; only God does that. And it’s not our place to play God.”

    “Political theory really shouldn’t offer the same satisfactions as porn.”

  33. Semper Gumby says:

    CC Pecknold (mentioned above) provided an observation from the excellent St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) on his Twitter account Tuesday. Here it is:

    “In former days, tyrants sought to rid the world of the Saints by violence…but in our day, the enemies of God work by cunning counsels…in the hopes, that their condition may thus be rendered burdensome and ignominious, and that they may, finally, cease to exist.”

    Thus St. Thomas. Interesting. CC Pecknold no doubt is aware that certain members of the Catholic Church, unfortunately, maltreated more than one future saint. Human error. It happens. We must learn from history.

    St. Thomas Aquinas provides an excellent argument against the Integralist regime fantasy which would persecute, with the power of the modern state, any who differ (including future saints) from the belligerent Integralist Sect. The Integralist Sect differs from Catholic teaching on several important points.

    For example, “Coercion” is a favored buzzword of Integralists. Emotions favored by Integralists toward their fellow citizens include Disdain and Disgust. Such malice is often tucked away in their concealed counsels, but it occasionally reveals itself, such as on Twitter.

    For example, when Ruth Bader Ginsburg died last year CC Pecknold tweeted, then soon deleted, “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead.” And if I recall, in Crean and Fimister’s Integralism Manual there is a passage about capital punishment for spiritual offenses against…the common good.

    This was a helpful St. Thomas Aquinas quote provided by CC Pecknold for the edification of us all. It is easy to see why St. Thomas Aquinas’ reflections on the Virtues, along with Freely Choosing The Good, was an important influence on the Founding Fathers. Thanks to CC Pecknold for this excellent quote, and God bless.

  34. Semper Gumby says:

    Ah, it’s spring once again. April showers have brought May flowers. The dew is on the leaf, the lark is on the wing. And in spring, the thoughts of Integralists turn to…a conference.

    In June Integralists are meeting in conclave from Thursday the 10th through Saturday the 12th at Alexandria VA (across the river from Washington DC, *nudge nudge wink wink*). The conference title: “The Future of Christianity, Law & Politics.” (Hopefully the Integralists will let God get a word in edgewise.)

    Integralist social media has been crackling the last day or two with communiques:

    “This is going to be an amazing conference!”

    “So this looks like it’s going to be fun – register now!”

    “This will not be recorded or live streamed [so…a “cunning counsel”- see St. Thomas Aquinas above]. The only way to enjoy this conference is to register for it!”

    Tickets are $100-200.

    Let’s take a look at the schedule.

    Thursday June 10

    Opening Song and War Dance: “I’m Having the Time of My Life.”

    Opening Address by Patrick Deneen: Patrick Swayze Could Have Been an Integralist.

    Sohrab Ahmari: Heretics Be Damned- And Everyone Is A Heretic

    CC Pecknold: And Everyone Is A Liberal

    Panel Discussion: How To Kidnap Jewish Children For The Common Good In Three Easy Lessons

    Elena Attfield: Integralist Agit-Prop, Or How To Accuse Everyone, Especially Those Meat-Eating Americans, Of Calumny For Political Profit And Emotional Satisfaction

    Patrick Deneen: Why Integralism Is Not A Cult. Not A Cult. Not A Cult.

    Gladden Pappin: Patiently Cultivating Individual Virtue Is Highly Overrated

    After-Dinner Coffee with Sohrab Ahmari: Ein Kirche, Ein Volk, Ein Fuhrer!

    Friday, June 11

    CC Pecknold: My car, computer and cellphone? L-I-B-E-R-A-L

    Patrick Deneen: The Politburo Successfully Integrated The Religion Of Marxism-Leninism And The Power Of The State To Achieve Glorious Coercion

    Adrian Vermeule: Justice C’est Moi!

    Gladden Pappin: You Must Be A Flagellant- or else America Happens

    Patrick Deneen: Barack Obama Favorably Reviewed My Book, He Is Probably An Integralist

    Breakout Sessions: John Calvin Was A Wuss; Rabble-Rousing on Social Media and in Esoteric Journals; More Caffeine!; Everyone Is A Liberal, Arrgghh!

    After-Dinner Coffee with Sohrab Ahmari: Arrgghh!

    Saturday June 12

    Patrick Deneen: Sam Kinison Was Probably An Integralist

    Panel Discussion: Why Theory Is More Important Than People And Historical Experience And The Great Commission

    Patrick Deneen: Saul Alinsky Was Probably An Integralist

    Keynote Harangue by Sohrab Ahmari: Death to America! Arrgghh!

    Closing Bonfire and Guitar Strumming: This Conference Was Groovy And Will Surely Catapult Us To Power And Heaven On Earth
    _____

    Until several years ago, and at about the time they converted to Catholicism, Sohrab Ahmari and Elena Attfield identified as “classic liberals.” Whether they then hopped on the Integralist bandwagon out of impatience or opportunism or self-righteousness or misplaced zeal or flirtation with zany politics and utopian schemes- time will tell. One suspects, given Integralists’ penchant for the same old playbook from the 18th-20th centuries (though Integralists are motivated by many unhinged elements across the political and religious spectrums), that all Integralists are…Liberals.

  35. Semper Gumby says:

    CC Pecknold quotes GK Chesterton:

    “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity have come to mean Plutocracy, Publicity, and Pornography.”

    Well, it’s not that simple.

    There is a distinction to be made between the “Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite” of the disastrous and bloody French Revolution and the Liberty of the American Revolution and the Founding Fathers.

    Integralists are reminded that ordering our lives together in these United States is, given human nature, always a contentious affair. There are virtuous and unvirtuous citizens, there are the patriotic and the unpatriotic or even tribal. There are the faithful and those opposed to faith. There are the informed and the uninformed. It’s quite a blend.

    Then there are those Christians who close their churches to the faithful but open their churches as vaccination centers, who call the police on their parishioners, who set up pagan idols on the altars, who transfer parish collections to risky real estate ventures or Leftist causes antithetical to Christianity, or who do not encourage the faith in their children.

    Integralists today would respond to the vice, corruption and Socialist tyranny of our present moment with their own Theocratic corruption and tyranny.

    God created humans with Free Will. Integralists, because of a hyperactive need for control and from intellectual laziness, would resort to the French Revolution guillotine to deal with “spiritual offenses” against their distorted vision of the “common good.”

    God put us here at this time and in this place because He saw fit to do so. It’s a grand adventure: Liberty contending with Tyranny; Virtues tested by Vice; the patient and satisfying development of personal faith, personal discipline and community citizenship; attending to the Great Commission while avoiding panic and utopian schemes; serving the Lord as best one can amidst the adversities and disappointments of the world; sharp debate among allies; and resisting (no matter how long it takes, and it’s always an uncompleted task) the plots and schemes of pagans, Marxists and globalists addicted to ego and power.

    Christians are called to seek the welfare of their city. But “in this world you will have trouble.” Victories tend to be temporary, but they are a glimpse, a glimmer of the eternal home in the New Jerusalem.

  36. Semper Gumby says:

    On the editorial board of “New Polity Magazine” sits, among others, CC Pecknold and Patrick Deneen. From the New Polity website:

    “New Polity Magazine aims to deconstruct [the goal of “deconstructionism” is to undermine Christianity and the West] the keywords and categories of liberalism [“liberalism” refers to whatever Integralists hate] and reconstruct them according to the logic of Christianity [not “Christianity,” instead “the logic of Integralism.”]

    The New Polity website has a May 5, 2021 article titled “The End of Politics: Politics is all about virtue because virtue is all about preparing for Heaven. Read on to see how politics is a theological project.”

    That sounds familiar. New Polity is repeating the same mistakes of 20th century political religions such as Communism and National Socialism when they were in their early journal-and-conference phase.

    New Polity is based in Steubenville, Ohio (the location of Franciscan University of Steubenville, and Scott Hahn who believes American citizens have “Stockholm Syndrome”). New Polity recently hosted a conference. Here is an account by James Diddams writing at the blog of the Institute on Religion and Democracy on March 29, 2021:

    “The conference, entitled “Founding the Christian Society” took place March 19-20 in Steubenville. The largest panel included First Things Editor R.R. Reno, Professor D.C. Schindler of the John Paul II Institute in Washington, D.C., University of Dallas Professor Gladden Pappin, Cistersian monk Edmund Waldstein and St. Louis University Professor Andrew Jones. Though Protestants were absent, postliberal Anglican theologian John Milbank serves on the New Polity board, indicating politics takes precedence over Catholic purity [not necessarily…there is a Wahabbi element to Integralism].

    “The panel opened with the question of whether Christians should strive to move the orientation of the state towards being explicitly Christian. Jones responded no; using an analogy from Lord of the Rings, he said that while Christians may seek the “ring of power” for themselves to keep it out of the hands of evil, “to use it against Mordor is a mistake” because “in the long run we will become the bad guy.””

    “Not everyone was so indecisive, though. An audience member asked the panel: “from an assumption of reasonable pluralism, that people can reasonably disagree about the temporal good and the religious good…if we accept a maximal integralist position does that just mean tough luck for the people who reasonably disagree with us?”

    “To great laughter and applause, Waldstein immediately responded with a resounding “Yes.””

    Let’s take a closer look at Waldstein.

    From the website of “hochschule – heiligenkreuz”:

    “Edmund Waldstein, O.Cist. is a monk of the Cistercian Abbey of Stift Heiligenkreuz in Austria [near Vienna], lecturer in moral theology at the Abbey’s theological college, and parish priest of Gaaden and Sulz…He edits The Josias [Integralist] and blogs at Sancrucensis.”

    Two excerpts from Waldstein’s “Sancrucensis” blog, March 20, 2019, “Integralism and the Lamb that was Slain”:

    1. Waldstein supports burning heretics at the stake:

    “In certain circumstances, this can mean that [the Catholic Church] needs to call in the secular arm to put heretics to death. This power can be abused, but it also has a legitimate use. In fact, one of the errors of Martin Luther, condemned by Pope Leo X, is the proposition “That heretics be burned is against the will of the Spirit.”

    2. Waldstein supports kidnapping Jewish children:

    “The Mortara Case did not involve the kidnapping of a Jewish child, but rather the rescuing of a Christian child from the custody of those who would have defrauded him of the inheritance that he was promised in Baptism by teaching him to deny Christ. This has been amply demonstrated [in a problematic February 2018 article at the once-great First Things magazine founded by the eminent Fr. Richard John Neuhaus and edited by him until his death in 2009] by Fr. Romanus Cessario.”

    Integralism is wicked. It is in the initial stage of the tribal and barbarous political-religions of the 20th century such as Communism and National Socialism. Integralism apes Christianity and steals Christian terminology. The goal of Integralism is to turn healthy Christian citizens into grumpy and angry anti-American political zealots, then into totalitarian tribalists. Integralism leads not to Salvation but to Destruction.

  37. Semper Gumby says:

    Interview of Adrian Vermeule (see above, he is a constitutional theorist and a convert to Catholicism in 2016) by First Things (edited by R.R. Reno, see above). This 2017 interview is titled, “The Catholic Constitution.”

    Q: “Your final recommendation is Roman Catholicism and Political Form, by the German theorist Carl Schmitt.”

    Vermeule: “This is my favorite work of Schmitt’s, and one of his own favorites. It offers both a grim vision of the spiritual and cultural wasteland of technological and economic liberalism, on the one hand, and a grand vision of the Church’s eventual triumph and universal dominion, on the other. While liberalism curiously attempts to deny its own political character, in a colossal society-wide system of bad faith, the Church is authentically and autonomously political, precisely because it is rooted in the transcendent.” [Note the political-religion element.]

    Carl Schmitt (1888-1985) was an “amorally clever” German constitutional theorist, he left the Catholic Church around WW I. Schmitt eventually supported the National Socialist Party and played a key role in the validation of the 1933 Enabling Act (an important step in the transformation of Adolf Hitler from Chancellor to Fuhrer).

    Vermeule deleted numerous tweets from his Twitter account referencing Carl Schmitt.

    Note: National Socialism is a Leftist political religion (totalitarian regime, no private property, anti-Christian). See, for example, Dinesh D’Souza’s “The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left” and Jonah Goldberg’s 2008 book “Liberal Fascism.”

  38. Semper Gumby says:

    The Integralist Edmund Waldstein (see above) is currently a monk at Heiligenkreuz Abbey near Vienna, Austria.

    In 1893 Lanz von Liebenfels (aka Adolf Josef, aka Jorg Lanz von Liebenfels) entered Heiligenkreuz Abbey as a novice. One of Liebenfels’ motivations appears to have been his interest in the Knights Templar. While at the Abbey Lanz studied zoology and became convinced that evil had a sub-human or animal nature. Lanz’s teacher at Heiligenkreuz Abbey, Nivard Schlogl, viewed Jews as an exclusive and prideful group (Schlogl may have had one of his books banned by the Vatican for its anti-Semitism). In 1899 Lanz left Heiligenkreuz Abbey, immersing himself in Ariosophy (the “wisdom of the Aryans”) and the German occult revival. Briefly, Lanz built on the work of Austrian occultist Guido von List and Wotanism.

    In 1905 Lanz founded and edited the magazine “Ostara”- named for an old Germanic goddess. In 1909 Adolf Hitler visited Lanz at the Ostara office in Rodaun, a Vienna suburb (Knoll and Daim interview with Lanz, 11 May 1951). Hitler told Lanz he had been purchasing copies of Ostara at a kiosk, and would now like to purchase the early issues to complete his collection. Lanz, noticing that Hitler had little money, gave him the issues for free. In Ostara issue III-1, 1930, Lanz wrote that he (Lanz) was a Christian and that the Catholic Church contains the hidden wisdom of Ariosophy.

    During WW II Heiligenkreuz Abbey was placed on a list of buildings to be demolished, but the Abbey was spared by the Nazis.

    Heiligenkreuz Abbey immediately after WW II was a way station on the “rat line” used by escaping Nazis bound for South America. The majority of monks at Heiligenkreuz were unaware (several rogue monks were involved in this activity) of the true identity of their occasional temporary visitor.

  39. Semper Gumby says:

    CC Pecknold (see above) provided a quote two days ago:

    “”Just like someone who has never tasted honey has no true knowledge of its flavor…so also he who has never exerted himself in the works of faith formed [by charity] can’t even recognize theology, even though he knows how to speak about theology.”
    — Roland of Cremona, OP”

    Let’s keep in mind there is Theology, then there is “theology.”

  40. Semper Gumby says:

    Another GK Chesterton quote from CC Pecknold:

    “We do not want, as the newspapers say, a Church that will move with the world. We want a Church that will move the world.”

    Define “we.” Define “Church”- there is a distinction to be made between the current problematic Vatican with its own secular agenda and Christians.

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