Most of what Michael Sean Winters posts at Fishwrap (aka National Schismatic Reporter) gets my yawn, but it’s Saturday and I have three free minutes. HERE
If this isn’t a case of a pot saying “You’re black!” to the kettle, I don’t know what one would be.
People might instantly focus on MSW’s call for “niceness”. People should be “nice”. I guess that means schilling only for the Left.
And they are soooo good at being nice over at NSR, aren’t they? Leaving aside the “nice” people in Fishwrap’s combox, MSW himself perpetually calls people venomous (must read for a chuckle) and yahoos (in which he oozes “niceness”) and the like. But I digress.
MSW criticizes some cardinals for fundraising for certain causes:
I would like to hear Cardinal Burke, Archbishop Vigneron and Bishop Paprocki use their next fundraising gala to reiterate the Blessed Mother’s words in the Magnificat about the rich being sent away empty.
And where does MSW get his history? What does MSW know about St. John Paul or Pope Benedict NOT applying can. 915? What about Card. Ratzinger’s 2004 letter to Card. McCarrick, that McCarrick didn’t bother to send around to the other bishops, and then, indeed, edited? Ratzinger cited can. 915 in that… I can’t remember… is that the paragraph that McCarrick cut out? I thought that, under John Paul and Benedict theologians were snuffed out like so much vermin. But, hey, I guess they are now nice Popes.
As opposed to mean-old Francis.
Former-Father Greg Reynolds is still excommunicated.
Let us, upon our knees, pray in a special way to God the Holy Spirit during this time between Ascension Thursday and Pentecost.
This is one way to pray. I invite the readership to join in.
MANNER OF PRAYING THE NOVENA
Each day the meditation and prayer for the particular day is said, followed by 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary and 7 Glory be to the Father, followed by the Act of Consecration and the Prayer for the Seven Gifts.
SECOND DAY OF THE NOVENA
Come. Father of the poor. Come, treasures which endure; Come, Light of all that live!
The Gift of Fear
The gift of Fear fills us with a sovereign respect for God, and makes us dread nothing so much as to offend Him by sin. It is a fear that arises, not from the thought of hell, but from sentiments of reverence and filial submission to our heavenly Father. It is the fear that is the beginning of wisdom, detaching us from worldly pleasures that could in any way separate us from God. “They that fear the Lord will prepare their hearts, and in His sight will sanctify their souls.”
Come, O blessed Spirit of Holy Fear, penetrate my inmost heart, that I may set Thee, my Lord and God, before my face forever; help me to shun all things that can offend Thee, and make me worthy to appear before the pure eyes of Thy Divine Majesty in heaven, where Thou livest and reignest in the unity of the ever Blessed Trinity, God world without end. Amen.
(Our Father and Hail Mary ONCE. Glory be to the Father 7 TIMES. Act of Consecration, Prayer for the Seven Gifts)
ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE HOLY GHOST
On my knees before the great multitude of heavenly witnesses, I offer myself, soul and body, to Thee, Eternal Spirit of God. I adore the brightness of Thy purity, the unerring keenness of Thy justice, and the might of Thy love. Thou art the Strength and Light of my soul. In Thee I live and move and am. I desire never to grieve Thee by unfaithfulness to grace, and I pray with all my heart to be kept from the smallest sin against Thee. Mercifully guard my every thought and grant that I may always watch for Thy light, and listen to Thy voice, and follow Thy gracious inspirations. I cling to Thee and give myself to Thee and ask Thee, by Thy compassion, to watch over me in my weakness. Holding the pierced Feet of Jesus, and looking at His five wounds, and trusting in His Precious Blood, and adoring His opened side and stricken Heart, I implore Thee, Adorable Spirit, Helper of my infirmity, so to keep me in Thy grace that I may never sin against Thee. Give me grace, O Holy Ghost, Spirit of the Father and the Son, to say to Thee always and everywhere, “Speak Lord, for Thy servant heareth.” Amen.
PRAYER FOR THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST
O Lord Jesus Christ, who before ascending into Heaven, didst promise to send the Holy Ghost to finish Thy work in the souls of Thine Apostles and Disciples, deign to grant the same Holy Spirit to me, that He may perfect in my soul the work of Thy grace and Thy love. Grant me the Spirit of Wisdom, that I may despise the perishable things of this world and aspire only after the things that are eternal; the Spirit of Understanding, to enlighten my mind with the light of Thy divine truth, the Spirit of Counsel, that I may ever choose the surest way of pleasing God and gaining Heaven; the Spirit of Fortitude, that I may bear my cross with Thee and that I may overcome with courage all the obstacles that oppose my salvation; the Spirit of Knowledge, that I may know God and know myself and grow perfect in the science of the saints; the Spirit of Piety, that I may find the service of God sweet and amiable; the Spirit of Fear, that I may be filled with a loving reverence towards God and may dread in any way to displease Him. Mark me, Dear Lord, with the sign of Thy true disciples, and animate me in all things with Thy Spirit. Amen.
Let us, upon our knees, pray in a special way to God the Holy Spirit during this time between Ascension Thursday and Pentecost.
This is one way to pray. I invite the readership to join in.
MANNER OF PRAYING THE NOVENA
Each day the meditation and prayer for the particular day is said, followed by 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary and 7 Glory be to the Father, followed by the Act of Consecration and the Prayer for the Seven Gifts.
FIRST DAY OF THE NOVENA
Holy Spirit! Lord of Light!
From Your clear celestial height,
Your pure beaming radiance give!
Only one thing is important — eternal salvation. Only one thing, therefore, is to be feared — sin. Sin is the result of ignorance, weakness, and indifference The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Light, of Strength, and of Love. With His sevenfold gifts He enlightens the mind, strengthens the will, and inflames the heart with love of God. To ensure our salvation we ought to invoke the Divine Spirit daily, for “The Spirit helpeth our infirmity. We know not what we should pray for as we ought. But the Spirit Himself asketh for us.”
Almighty and eternal God, Who hast vouchsafed to regenerate us by water and the Holy Ghost, and hast given us forgiveness of all sins, vouchsafe to send forth from heaven upon us your sevenfold Spirit, the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and fortitude, the Spirit of Knowledge and Piety, and fill us with the Spirit of Holy Fear. Amen.
(Our Father and Hail Mary ONCE. Glory be to the Father 7 TIMES. Act of Consecration, Prayer for the Seven Gifts)
ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE HOLY GHOST
On my knees before the great multitude of heavenly witnesses, I offer myself, soul and body, to Thee, Eternal Spirit of God. I adore the brightness of Thy purity, the unerring keenness of Thy justice, and the might of Thy love. Thou art the Strength and Light of my soul. In Thee I live and move and am. I desire never to grieve Thee by unfaithfulness to grace, and I pray with all my heart to be kept from the smallest sin against Thee. Mercifully guard my every thought and grant that I may always watch for Thy light, and listen to Thy voice, and follow Thy gracious inspirations. I cling to Thee and give myself to Thee and ask Thee, by Thy compassion, to watch over me in my weakness. Holding the pierced Feet of Jesus, and looking at His five wounds, and trusting in His Precious Blood, and adoring His opened side and stricken Heart, I implore Thee, Adorable Spirit, Helper of my infirmity, so to keep me in Thy grace that I may never sin against Thee. Give me grace, O Holy Ghost, Spirit of the Father and the Son, to say to Thee always and everywhere, “Speak Lord, for Thy servant heareth.” Amen.
PRAYER FOR THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST
O Lord Jesus Christ, who before ascending into Heaven, didst promise to send the Holy Ghost to finish Thy work in the souls of Thine Apostles and Disciples, deign to grant the same Holy Spirit to me, that He may perfect in my soul the work of Thy grace and Thy love. Grant me the Spirit of Wisdom, that I may despise the perishable things of this world and aspire only after the things that are eternal; the Spirit of Understanding, to enlighten my mind with the light of Thy divine truth, the Spirit of Counsel, that I may ever choose the surest way of pleasing God and gaining Heaven; the Spirit of Fortitude, that I may bear my cross with Thee and that I may overcome with courage all the obstacles that oppose my salvation; the Spirit of Knowledge, that I may know God and know myself and grow perfect in the science of the saints; the Spirit of Piety, that I may find the service of God sweet and amiable; the Spirit of Fear, that I may be filled with a loving reverence towards God and may dread in any way to displease Him. Mark me, Dear Lord, with the sign of Thy true disciples, and animate me in all things with Thy Spirit. Amen.
Yesterday I posted an ACTION ITEM! for your kind attention, a poll on a Michigan media site (please go an vote!) about an upcoming fauxdination of a woman that was to take place at a Congregration Church. You could tell how the paper/site was biased in favor of this offensive fake ordination.
Our own eagle-eyed Elizabeth D, frequent commentatrix here, saw this followup story:
Harassment forces relocation of Womenpriest ordination Saturday
THREE OAKS, MI — Lillian Lewis, who is to be ordained [nope] as a priest [nope] Saturday by a dissident [yep] Catholic group, says harassing phone calls have forced relocation of the ceremony. [HUZZAH! But… harassing? *ring* “Hello, this is First Congregational, How may I direct your call?”… “Good morning. I’m Catholic and I strongly object to your hosting the fake ordination of a woman. This is an offense to all Catholics and harmful to ecumenical dialogue.”… “You are harassing us!” … “No, I am only calling you to tell in a civil manner you that I am offended. I ask you not to host this insulting event.” … *click*]
The event originally was to be held at the First Congregational Church in Three Oaks, where Lewis resides.
Lewis, 75, said she is moving the ceremony to her home because “Catholics have been harassing the (Congregational) parish and they were harassing me to such an extent that I had to take it seriously.”
She called the harassment “mean-spirited and vituperous.” [*ring* “Hello.” … “I’m Catholic and I think that this fake ordination is an offense.” … “You are mean-spirited!” … “I am merely telling you, who wrongly aspire to be a priest, which is impossible, that you are about to commit a grave sin by an action that is offensive. I pray and wish for every good thing for you, and in charity I ask you not do this thing.”… “You are vituperous!” … “Even if ‘vituperous’ were a word in the English language”, I would not be put off by your name-calling. I ask you, in charity, to reconsider this terrible plan. Have a blessed day.” *click*]
A man who answered the phone at First Congregational Church told a Kalamazoo Gazette reporter the church “has been been receiving theatening and harassing calls because of the media circus.” He hung up before giving his name. [Well… that’s a good source.]
Lewis, 75, a longtime Catholic who worked 25 years as a pastoral associate for Catholic congregations in the Chicago area, [figures] is being ordained [nope] by Joan Houk, a bishop [nope] of Roman Catholic Womenpriests. The dissident Catholic group was founded in Germany in 2002 as a reaction against the Catholic ban [Jesus’s ban] against women priests.
Bishop Paul Bradley of the Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo is warning Catholics not to participate in Saturday’s ceremony Saturday.
In a two-page letter inserted in the weekly newsletter distributed at Catholic Masses over the weekend, Bradley strongly criticized the upcoming event as one that will “undermine the unity of the Church.” (Click here for a pdf of Bradley’s letter.)
The letter does not name Lewis, but says she [I thought she wasn’t named…] and direct participants in the ordination will be excommunicated, and those who “give witness and encouragement to this fundamental break with the unity of the people of God place themselves outside of the full community with the Church.”
“Bishop Bradley got his wish,” Lewis said Thursday about the harassment. [Notice how the “reportrix” simply accepts the assertion that there was “harassment”. What a pro!]
This is, at least, a step in the right direction for that Congregational “Church” (more precisely “eccesial community” – HERE). If the wywyn want to play dress-up, let them do so at home.
There is another silly wymyn thing taking place in Kalamazoo -zoo-zoo-zoo-zoo! HERE
The local bishop, Most Rev. Paul Bradley, wrote clearly to the diocese as to the consequences of participating in a simulation of a woman’s ordination. His full statement HERE.
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“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
dPilk on YOUR URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS: “The complete prayer. I apologize it was missing a few lines. Thank you. PRAYER FOR HELP WITH PREGNANCY through the…”
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“Until the Lord be pleased to settle, through the instrumentality of the princes of the Church and the lawful ministers of His justice, the trouble aroused by the pride of a few and the ignorance of some others, let us with the help of God endeavor with calm and humble patience to render love for hatred, to avoid disputes with the silly, to keep to the truth and not fight with the weapons of falsehood, and to beg of God at all times that in all our thoughts and desires, in all our words and actions, He may hold the first place who calls Himself the origin of all things.”
Everyone, work to get this into your parish bulletins and diocesan papers.
The most evident mark of God’s anger and the most terrible castigation He can inflict upon the world are manifested when He permits His people to fall into the hands of clerics who are priests more in name than in deed, priests who practice the cruelty of ravening wolves rather than the charity and affection of devoted shepherds.
St. John Eudes
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“He [Satan] will set up a counter-Church which will be the ape of the Church because, he the devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the anti-Christ that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ. In desperate need for God, whom he nevertheless refuses to adore, modern man in his loneliness and frustration will hunger more and more for membership in a community that will give him enlargement of purpose, but at the cost of losing himself in some vague collectivity.”
“Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops.”
“The modern habit of doing ceremonial things unceremoniously is no proof of humility; rather it proves the offender's inability to forget himself in the rite, and his readiness to spoil for every one else the proper pleasure of ritual.”
- C.S. Lewis
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As for Latin…
"But if, in any layman who is indeed imbued with literature, ignorance of the Latin language, which we can truly call the 'catholic' language, indicates a certain sluggishness in his love toward the Church, how much more fitting it is that each and every cleric should be adequately practiced and skilled in that language!" - Pius XI
"Let us realize that this remark of Cicero (Brutus 37, 140) can be in a certain way referred to [young lay people]: 'It is not so much a matter of distinction to know Latin as it is disgraceful not to know it.'" - St. John Paul II
Let us pray…
Grant unto thy Church, we beseech Thee, O merciful God, that She, being gathered together by the Holy Ghost, may be in no wise troubled by attack from her foes. O God, who by sin art offended and by penance pacified, mercifully regard the prayers of Thy people making supplication unto Thee,and turn away the scourges of Thine anger which we deserve for our sins. Almighty and Everlasting God, in whose Hand are the power and the government of every realm: look down upon and help the Christian people that the heathen nations who trust in the fierceness of their own might may be crushed by the power of thine Arm. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen.
Almighty and eternal God, who created us in Thine image and bade us to seek after all that is good, true and beautiful, especially in the divine person of Thine Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, grant, we beseech Thee, that, through the intercession of Saint Isidore, Bishop and Doctor, during our journeys through the internet we will direct our hands and eyes only to that which is pleasing to Thee and treat with charity and patience all those souls whom we encounter. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Most of what Michael Sean Winters posts at Fishwrap (aka National Schismatic Reporter) gets my yawn, but it’s Saturday and I have three free minutes. 
OrdainedButStillbeingFormedDiakonos on “Sometimes the scalpel is the honey.” Wherein Fr. Z rants about “the parable of the wheat and tares”.: “I’m finally reading the Divine Comedy. I’m through the Inferno and halfway in the Purgatorio. I often wonder if someone…”
