At Jihad Watch I saw a photo of a “protester” (read = thug) in Ferguson, MO, holding up an ISIS sign.
He and his discontented buddies should go – right now – to join the caliphate!
Once they are there, let them try their looting, blasphemy and drinking.
The present ISIS personnel would have special ways to school them.
I think it is pretty much certain now that Islamic terrorists of ISIS murdered an American journalist, James Foley, by beheading him.
From BBC:
Islamist militants ‘kill reporter James Foley on video’
The militants said the killing was revenge for US air strikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq.
Foley’s mother Diane said on Facebook she was proud of her son: “He gave his life trying to expose the world to the suffering of the Syrian people.”
[…]
Here is an image I grabbed from Twitter with her statement:
I cannot fathom her pain and grief, but I admire her poise in this horrible moment.
Please keep James Foley and his grieving family in your prayers.
Sts. Nunilo and Alodia, pray for us.
Sts. Lawrence of Brindisi, pray for us.
UPDATE 20 August:
I just saw some of a presser with the parents of James Foley.
Prayerful… classy… poised. This family seems, from the very little I have heard of it, to be God loving patriots and decent human beings.
On the other hand, I watched the necktie-less President’s comments from his vacation spot, Martha’s Vineyard.
All his words and images were proper. POTUS spoke about terrorists and the horrible inhuman things they do. He also said that people like the ISIS terrorists “ultimately fail”.
Do they? If they “fail”, they fail because other people stop them.
They need to be stopped permanently.
Again, prayers for the Foley family. And now, prayers too for Steven Sotloff and his family, who may be the next victim of these Islamic barbarians.
Ann Carey, author of the thoughtful and balanced Sisters in Crisis Revisited: From Unraveling to Reform and Renewal, masterfully dissected the astonishingly myopic and self-centered speech given at the recent LCWR meeting by Sr. Nancy Shreck. I urge you to read Carey’s autopsy report in full HERE.
Here are some snips… with my emphases, comments:
The LCWR Doubles Down on Dissent
Sister Nancy Schreck’s keynote address to the LCWR 2014 annual assembly was equally confused and defiant.
“We have been so changed that we are no longer at home in the culture and church in which we find ourselves.” [There’s a home for you in the Anglican church.]
This quotation from the keynote address (PDF) of Franciscan Sister Nancy Schreck to the August 12-15 annual assembly of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) is startling, considering that it comes from a vowed member of a religious order who is speaking for other sisters. While Catholics should not feel at home in this modern culture, not feeling at home in the Catholic Church is indeed another matter.
Yet that quotation and many of the other statements in Sister Schreck’s keynote do help explain why the LCWR has resisted the reform that was ordered two-and-a-half years ago by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and reaffirmed in April 2013 by Pope Francis. [Shreck claims that those who don’t work with or care for the poor can’t understand where the LCWR types are coming from. But… Pope Francis reaffirmed the CDF’s examination of the LCWR.]
[…]
Rather than indicating any conciliation with the Holy See and the US bishops, the assembly keynote address by Sister Schreck, who was LCWR president in 1995, tried to explain why the LCWR was justified in taking the road it followed, implying that the Holy See had misjudged and misunderstood the LCWR.
Unfortunately, her reasoning was convoluted, confused, and unfounded in many respects, and she indicated that maintaining close ties to the Church was somehow incompatible with service to the poor and marginalized, the only ministry that she seems to believe is worthy of attention by today’s sisters.
Sister Schreck began by taking selected quotations from Perfectae Caritatis, the Vatican II document on the proper renewal of religious life. She summed up by saying that the document focused on four areas: the call to follow Christ; the return to the original spirit of religious institutes; adapting to changed conditions of our time; and promoting among members adequate knowledge of the social conditions of the times and the needs of the Church.
The sisters have faithfully implemented that document, Sister Schreck contended. [Does anyone believe that? Does Shreck? I doubt it.] “We have become more faithful not less, more clear about who we are, not less, and more free to give expression to our call, not less,” she said. [And yet the are under the scrutiny of the CDF and US bishops. And does anyone think that the CDF and the US bishops wouldn’t rather be doing something else with their time and energy?]
Sister Schreck neglected to mention some other crucial elements in that council document, including the close relationship to the Church that is to be maintained by religious: “All institutes should share in the life of the Church, adapting as their own and implementing in accordance with their own characteristics the Church’s undertakings and aims in matters biblical, liturgical, dogmatic, pastoral, ecumenical, missionary, and social” (PC 2c). And: “Since the Church has accepted their surrender of self they should realize they are also dedicated to its service” (PC 5). [I wonder how much talk about “self surrender” there was during the LCWR meeting. How will we ever know, since they straight-armed the people who could have helped them to be more transparent?]
Yet Sister Schreck indicated that implementing Perfectae Caritatis meant leaving long-established Catholic institutions and “habits, and convents, and schedules,” in order to minister to “margin dwellers.” [NB: The CDF is not interested in whether sisters wear veils or live in convents. They are interested in their spirituality and formation.] She seems to have overlooked the directive of Perfectae Caritatis that “religious communities should continue to maintain and fulfill the ministries proper to them” (PC 20) while looking for new applications of those ministries in a changing world.
[…]
Instead of reflecting this classic understanding of religious life, Sister Schreck spoke with disdain for the “institutional church” and “royal theological positions,” seeming to prefer instead the “underside” of theology:
We came to know Jesus from the underside of theology, [Does that mean anything?] in the inner cities and homeless shelters, from immigrants and prisoners, with a view from prostitutes and from the children of slaves, from the scarred places on the earth, the places of environmental racism. We are continuing to explore who Jesus is and the meaning of the incarnation in the new cosmology. [Would that be the new cosmology of the 2012 keynote speaker? HERE and HERE. Maybe their underside theology involves synergistic convergence or cosmogenesis or even, wait for it… noosphere…! And last year’s speaker, HERE, took them on a trek through the cosmos to the edge of the universe. They learned that they were “stardust”. Remember that? Weird. But it seems that the lessons were deeply imbibed.]
She claimed that “the authority of those who suffer has a special claim on the obedience of religious congregations,” as if fidelity to the Church is somehow incompatible with helping the suffering. [Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity are well-known as being faithful to the Church’s teachings. They qualify as helpers of the poor, don’t they? I think that if Sr. Shreck and Co. are so focused on the poor, they should spend some time living like the Sisters of Charity.] She also seems to have forgotten that thousands of sisters who went before her ministered to the suffering precisely because they were motivated by the teachings of the Church.
[…]
The keynoter also claimed that LCWR sisters have a “clarity of identity and purpose which we cannot expect those who have not taken the journey and done the work ever to be able to understand.” [Pope Francis reaffirmed the CDF and US Bishops oversight of the LCWR… in case you had forgotten.] Conversely, she spoke of sisters being in a “middle space,” a state of “both creativity and disorientation” [The… noosphere… ?!?] in which “much of what was is gone, and what is coming is not yet clear.” [Perhaps it will synergistically converge on them from the theological underneath side of the, wait for it…. ]
This does not sound like clarity of identity and purpose. Sister Schreck said in the “middle space” [… YES! The “middle space”!] in which she locates religious life, “all of our theological categories are re-defined: concepts like love, divine presence, incarnation, and world view are reshaped.” [It’s the result of a cosmosynergism of the middle underside.]
Yet, in spite of this confusion and lack of clarity, the sisters are determined to “use what we know from this mysterious middle place as wisdom for other organizations and institutions not because we are right but because we are faithful to the work of the middle space.” [ALL HAIL THE MIDDLE SPACE! WE SERVE THE MIDDLE SPACE!]
It is as if Sister Schreck is claiming that in all the chaos and confusion sisters have experienced since they put their own interpretation on Vatican II renewal and completely changed the concept of vowed religious life, they have discovered rich truths unknown to anyone else in the previous 20 centuries of Christianity. “Many keepers of the great religious traditions now seem frightened by what we have come to know, they seem to find it difficult to converse with the complexities and hungers of our vision,” she claimed.
[…]
No, that’s not narcissistic. Nope, not at all.
Read the whole dissection for more.
What a train wreck.
And to think, LCWR denied me credentials.
Over at Sancte Pater I found what must have been the next frame, or photo, shot after the one I posted HERE.
You might remember the photo. The new prez, or co-mentor, or whatever she is called, between two women with short hair dressed in what look the chasubles appropriate for worship of Gaia, stands with her upturned hands held out.
Vincenzo found the next shot in the photo series.
Who knew?
I suppose the accompanying acolytes are taking her into custody for deprogramming. Sister obviously has gotten into the wrong books!
You might visit Vincenzo’s online store for his Pius Clocks. They are great!
Click me!
More love from the Religion of Peace.
Is the use of military force justified to stop this?
From Jihad Watch:
Islamic State forcibly circumcises Christian men, sells 700 Yazidi women
[… I won’t post this part…]
“ISIS Forcefully Circumcised Assyrian Christian Men in Mosul, Sold 700 Yazidi Women,” AINA, August 18, 2014
(AINA) — The Tunisia Daily is reporting that the Islamic State (ISIS) forcefully circumcised Assyrian men in Mosul, without anesthesia. The report does not specify the number of men that were affected but does state that it was an organized mass circumcision. ISIS has ordered the circumcision of all Christian children and adults who remain in Mosul.
Very few Assyrian Christians stayed in Mosul after ISIS gave them a deadline to convert, pay jizya, leave or die (AINA 2014-07-20).
The report also states that ISIS sold 700 Yazidi women for $150 each in a public slave auction in Mosul.
Perhaps we need a new religious order along the lines of the Trinitarians or Mercedarians, with a strong streak of heavily armed US Marine in them.
Sts. Nunilo and Alodia, pray for us.
St. Lawrence of Brindisi, pray for us.
Just for contrast!
From a reader…
QUAERITUR:
One of our priests is moving on, and yesterday he gave his farewell at Mass.
Instead of a homily, he talked up St. Francis’ contributions to social justice, and about how our faith is represented in the many programs our church has.
He segues into a story of a ‘composer’ he knows of, who was struggling to write some lyrics for a song. He asked his daughter, “what would you say to a friend you will never see again?”
And then from the choir area, a sentimental piano chord sounds…
And the priest proceeds to sing, from the lectern, a love theme from the Broadway musical Wicked.
“”I’ve heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason Bringing something we must learn And we are led To those who help us most to grow If we let them And we help them in return Well, I don’t know if I believe that’s true But I know I’m who I am today Because I knew you…Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes the sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good”“And just to clear the air
I ask forgiveness
For the things I’ve done you blame me for But then, I guess we know There’s blame to share And none of it seems to matter anymore”It was just awful. Is there anything we can do?
Say a prayer of thanksgiving that he’s gone.
Offer up mortifications of your flesh for the parish upon which he has been inflicted.
Pray for all priests, even the ridiculous and silly ones.
And, please, accept my apology for all the goofy things priests have done, are doing, and will do in the future.
Rep. Gowdy of South Carolina speaks to the issue of enforcement of federal laws and the President’s cavalier approach to law.
Samples:
“I want us to talk as colleagues, because our foundational document gave us as the House unique powers and responsibilities. We run every two years because they intended for us to be closest to the people. The President was given different duties and powers. The President was given the duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, so my question, Mr. Speaker, is what does that mean to you?”
“We know the President can veto a bill for any reason or for no reason,” he continued. “We know the President can refuse to defend the constitutionality of a statute – even one that he signs into law. We know the President can issue pardons for violations of the very laws that we pass, and we know that the President has prosecutorial discretion as evidenced and used through his U.S. attorneys.
Mr. Speaker, that is a lot of power. What are we to do when that amount of power is not enough? What are we to do when this president, or any president, decides to selectively enforce a portion of a law and ignore other portions of that law? What do we do, Mr. Speaker, regardless of motivation, when a president nullifies our vote by failing to faithfully execute the law?”
[…]
“You know, in the oath that brand-new citizens take, it contains six different references to ‘the law.’ If it’s good enough for us to ask brand-new citizens to affirm their devotion to the law, is it too much to ask that the President do the same?
If a president can change some laws, can he change all laws? Can he change election laws? Can he change discrimination laws? Are there any laws, under your theory, that he actually has to enforce?
What is our recourse, Mr. Speaker? What is our remedy?”
[…]
“Mr. Speaker, the House of Representatives does not exist to pass suggestions. We do not exist to pass ideas. We make law. And while you are free to stand and clap when any president comes into this hallowed chamber and promises to do it with or without you, I will never stand and clap when any president – no matter whether he’s your party or mine – promises to make us a constitutional anomaly and an afterthought. We make law.”
I saw this from Reuters:
Islamic State message to America: ‘we will drown all of you in blood’
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – The Islamic State militant group that has seized large parts of Iraq and drawn the first American air strikes since the end of the occupation in 2011 has warned the United States it will attack Americans “in any place” if the raids hit its militants.
The video, which shows a photograph of an American who was beheaded during the U.S. occupation of Iraq and victims of snipers, featured a statement which said in English “we will drown all of you in blood”.
U.S. airstrikes in northern Iraq have helped Kurdish fighters take back some territory captured by Islamic State militants, who have threatened to march on Baghdad.
The latest advance by the Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot, sent tens of thousands of members of the Yazidi ethnic minority and Christians fleeing for their lives and alarmed the Baghdad government and its Western allies.
Unlike al-Qaeda, Islamic State has so far focused on seizing land in Iraq and Syria for its self-proclaimed caliphate, not spectacular attacks on Western targets.
U.S. President Barack Obama said at a news conference on Monday that the Islamic State posed a threat to Iraq and the entire region.
(The story was refiled to correct the third paragraph to remove reference to airstrikes on Kurdish fighters)
During the presser on the airplane returning from Korea, the Pope spoke of the role, rather the “institution” of Pope Emeritus. He also spoke of his own death.
Keep in mind that some time ago I predicted that Pope Francis, now 77, would resign when he reaches 80 years old. And before any of you go running around declaring that I want him to resign, please note that I simply think that that is what he will do.
I, frankly, am not pleased about this Pope Emeritus thing. I greatly respect Benedict XVI. I think I understand why he abdicated, but I can’t say I am happy about it, for various reasons I need not go into here.
Let’s have look at some things the Holy Father Pope Francis said on the airplane. HERE
First, the Pope Emeritus stuff. It’s a little disjointed, but you can get what he is driving at:
German journalist from KNA:
What type of relationship is there between you and Benedict XVI? Is there an habitual exchange of opinions and ideas? Is there a common project after this encyclical?
Pope Francis:
We see each other. Before leaving I went to see him. He, two weeks prior, had sent me an interesting text and he asked me an opinion. We have a normal relationship because I go back to this idea and maybe a theologian doesn’t like it. But, I think that the pope emeritus is not an exception. After so many centuries, he’s [Benedict’s] the first emeritus and let’s think that if i am aged and don’t have the strength, but it was a beautiful gesture of nobility and also humility and courage. But, I think that 70 years ago also the bishops emeritus were an exception. They didn’t exist. Today, the bishops emeritus are an institution. [NB] I think that the pope emeritus is already an institution. Why? Our lives are getting longer and at a certain age there is not the capacity to govern well, because the body tires and health perhaps is good but there is the capacity to carry forward all of the problems like those in the governance of the church. I think that Pope Benedict made this gesture of popes emeritus. I repeat that maybe some theologian would say this isn’t just, but i think like this. The centuries will tell if it’s like this or not, we’ll see, but if you can to say to me, ‘but do you think that one day if you don’t feel like it, will you go on?’ But, I would do the same. I would do the same. I will pray, but I would do the same. He opened a door that is institutional not exceptional.
[…]
Pretty clear.
On the other hand, when answering a question about how he handle’s his popularity…
French journalist Anais Martin, French Radio:
In Rio, when the crowd yelled “Francesco, Francesco!” you responded “Cristo, Cristo!” Today, how do you manage this immense popularity? How do you live it?
Pope Francis:
I don’t know how to tell you. I live it thanking the Lord that his people are happy. I really do that, hoping the best for the people of God. I live it as generosity towards the people. On the inside, I try to think of my sins and my errors not to flatter myself because I know it won’t last long. Two or three years and then (makes a sound and gesture) up to the house of the of the Father.
[…]
I have the sense that His Holiness doesn’t think he will be Pope after another 3 years or so, that he will either have died or he will be in bad enough shape that he will resign.
Please pray for His Holiness daily.
I recommend prayers for the Holy Father and members of his family. Some of the Holy Father’s relatives were killed in an auto accident in Argentina.
According to police reports, the car was being driven by the pope’s nephew, 38-year-old Emanuel Bergoglio, when it slammed into the back of a truck at 12:30 a.m. The family had been returning from a holiday weekend when the accident occurred. Killed in the crash were the wife and two children, two-year-old Antonio and eight-month-old Jose Bergoglio. The pope’s nephew remains hospitalized in serious condition.
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
Greg Hlatky on Some notes for your Sunday Mass in the Vetus and the Novus Ordo: ““By pursuing perfection we will achieve excellence.” – Vince Lombardi”
on Some notes for your Sunday Mass in the Vetus and the Novus Ordo: “Regarding memorization, I read a book about the man who became the leader of the Christian democrats in West Germany…”
on ROME 26/10-11 – Day 36: Ultimate: “Have a safe trip Father! After my recent trip I understand how hard it is to leave Rome.”
on ROME 26/10-11 – Day 36: Ultimate: “Right you are, revueltos67. Back to the board: 1. f2f3+ Kh5 2. g3g4+ Kxh4 3. Qe7+ Qg5 4. Qe1++”
on Germans… “for many” in the Consecration formula, rather than “for all”: “That part of OS has been poorly translated. It does not say the Church has no authority. It said the…”
on WDTPRS – 5 November: Feast of the Holy Relics. These bones shall live again. Wherein Fr. Z rants.: “That reminds me of a story I read. St. John XXIII visited the convent of the Holy Spirit in Rome;…”
on YOUR URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS: “The parents of Gemma Faustina are asking for prayers for their unborn daughter. We are asking for the intercession of…”
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