Fr. Z's Blog | Catholic commentary by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

ACTION ITEM! Helmet for one of the Swiss Guards – UPDATES

Posted on 25 November 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

ACTION ITEM! Helmet for one of the Swiss Guards - UPDATES We’ve all had the experience at some time of spending time in poorly fitting clothing, perhaps with little opportunity to move about for relief. We just have to bear it.

Now imagine that the ill-fitting clothing is completely unyielding, because it is made out of steel.

Try to get your mind around wearing for hours steel armor that doesn’t fit.

Some of you will remember the fundraiser we had to have “bespoke” armor made for one of the Pontifical Swiss Guards. Back in 2015, we raised money so that CPL Bergamin could have armor made that fit him… rather than armor that once fit someone else. The project was successful and he was able to have his armor before the important “swearing in” ceremony which is the anniversary of the great stand made by the Swiss at the Sack of Rome. Engraved on the breastplate are images of St. Joan and St. Joseph.

Lot’s of great photos HERE, including his bride, Joanne, a friend of mine. I spoke with both Dominic and Joanne about this project when I was in Rome during October.

That completed project in 2015 included the breastplate and shoulder pieces.

It did NOT include a helmet.

Again, I ask you to imagine wearing, for hours, perhaps in the sun, a steel helmet – not kevlar with liners – that doesn’t fit and during the ceremonies not being able to adjust. Some of you may resonate with that.

NEW PROJECT

A GoFundMe page has been created to make 15-year veteran CPL Bergamin a helmet that will fit.

The goal is

€5,000

We can do this.

HERE

The motto to be engraved:

Transit dolor, manet honor.

Pain passes, honor remains.

The helmet is worn with the body armor on multiple days throughout the Swiss Guard calendar – over the 6 May swearing in ceremony and surrounding events, Easter, Christmas and other special occasions in the Vatican and the Swiss Guard. It is vital to capture the artisan tradition of metal-working while it still exists. The Swiss Guard armor has been made by a family of blacksmiths in upper Austria since the 18th century. This family will produce the first helmet of this kind in the traditional style of the Swiss Guard with the family crest of their founder, Pope Julius II.

Remember: These guys put their lives on the line. And they are real targets because they are so visible. And they are pretty devout, given my conversations with them. The Swiss I’ve spoken to really appreciate the Combat Rosaries they get.

A helmet that fits is a good thing.

Here’s where we are now.

UPDATE

After a few hours.

Well on our way. C’mon! By day’s end!

UPDATE 23 Nov

UPDATE 24 Nov

Alright folks, let’s move this!

UPDATE 25 Nov

Can we make this the LAST day for this project? We are almost there!

UPDATE 25 Nov

WE DID IT! Thank you, everyone who contributed!

Posted in ACTION ITEM!, Linking Back | Tagged Pontifical Swiss Guard
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Your Sunday Sermon Notes: Last Sunday after Pentecost – Christ the King 2019

Posted on 24 November 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Was there a good point made in the sermon you heard at the Mass that fulfilled your Sunday Obligation?

What was it?

For my part, I spoke of the beauty of the Christian soul in the state of grace and then moved to correptio optimi pessima, corruption of the best thing is the worst kind of corruption. The Christian soul in the state of grace is so very beautiful, but the soul in the state of mortal sin….

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
10 Comments

24 Nov 2018: Bp. Morlino – 1st anniversary – R.I.P.

Posted on 24 November 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Today, 24 November, is the 1st anniversary of the death of Madison’s former Bishop, Robert C. Morlino, the Extraordinary Ordinary.

While I am confident in his eternal destiny, for he was deeply devout and he received the Last Sacraments with the Apostolic Pardon, and he has had many Masses said for him, nevertheless, please pray for the repose of his soul.

Frankly, I think that it was partly – mostly? – through his intercession with Mary, Queen of the Clergy … and maybe St. Ann, to whom he was devoted… that we received the wonderful new bishop, Bp. Hying.

Here is a video made just before, and obviously after, the death of Bp. Morlino, reposted for today.

Posted in Linking Back | Tagged Bp. Robert Morlino, The Extraordinary Ordinary
5 Comments

ASK FATHER: Visiting priest says don’t receive Communion on the tongue because of colds and influenza

Posted on 23 November 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

Today at Mass, a visiting retired priest sat down after communion and proceeded to admonish those of us who receive the Holy Communion on the tongue saying that we should cease to do so because it is unsanitary especially in flu season. I felt quite dejected after this and wondered why he would feel it necessary to do so…at a parish he is simply visiting because one of our parish priests is gone. What are your thoughts about the health issues of receiving on the tongue? He represents my spiritual father, but I wonder what my responsibility is to obey him.

Firstly, what he said was absurd. However, it is a good moment to remind people how to receive well directly on the tongue. I can’t do better than this great old graphic from an old, dependable catechism.

Mind you, in different parts of the world there are slightly different customs, such as taking the Host with the teeth. I don’t think that a very good practice. If you put your tongue out, and stay still, the priest has a good target. He will know how to place the Host on your tongue without touching you.

You don’t have to reach with your tongue for your chin, like that oddball in that ridiculous big-hair rock band. Just put out enough so the priest has a good target surface. And stay still.

Also, if the visiting priest did that on his own, without consulting with the true parish priest, then he overstepped himself. It has always been cold and flu season.

Also, Redemptionis Sacramentum 92 reiterates your right to receive on the tongue.

Lastly, and most important, don’t be dejected. These are times we have been given. Turning the sock inside out, you have been given to these times. God wants us to be active now. You were given an opportunity to be, in this Church Militant, on the “front line” for a moment. This is not a matter for dejection. This is a matter to feel honored but the experience of the ongoing struggle for reverence for the Blessed Sacrament.

Go the next step now.

Pray and fast for that priest. Make some act of reparation.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000 | Tagged Communion in the hand, Communion on the tongue
34 Comments

ACTION ITEM: Feedback Project

Posted on 22 November 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

During the last few weeks, we had to move the blog from one provider to another. It was a little harrowing. However, the necessity provided the opportunity to assess how well the blog was functioning.

If that pertains to the back end of the blog, the part you don’t see, it applies to the front end, too, the part you do see.

I’ll take a risk. It occurs to me to assess some of the fruits this blog has produced.

This is where you come in.

May I ask you, please, to write to me and to describe briefly how this blog has affected your life of Faith?

I occasionally get notes from people to say that, because of something they read here;

they took steps to, for example, get their marriage straightened out;
they returned to confession after many years, or came back to the Church;
priests have said that the blog helped them decide about seminary or helped them to stick it out;
other priests have written that they determined to learn the TLM because of their reading here;
people have written that they’ve learned a great deal about the Church and about our Catholic Faith;
others now participate at Mass in a different way because of reading about the content of the Latin prayers;
some people like the podcasts and seasonal audio offerings, such as those during Lent.

Perhaps there are other things. Maybe what happened was recent. Maybe it was a while ago. I’d like to know.

Other than the occasional note a person writes out of kindness, it is hard to know what’s up.

Will you please write to let me know how this blog has been of help?

Let me know if any of it could be quoted (anonymized of course!) in a blog post. Posting some of these “testimonials” could encourage others to take similar steps that you might have taken.

I’d like to use the rest of this calendar month, until the end of November, for this project.

[si-contact-form form=’3′]

Posted in ACTION ITEM! |
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More on “foot washing”.

Posted on 22 November 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I saw this at ChurchPop:

Husband Washes Wife’s Feet at Wedding Reception Instead of Tossing Garter: “You Deserve to Be Cherished”

How beautiful! Have you ever seen anything like this before?

Catholic speaker, podcaster, and television personality Stacey Sumereau shared an experience she had with her husband at her wedding reception – and the post went completely viral!

Instead of throwing her garter, her husband washed her feet.

Sumeraeu explained that “the garter toss signifies Eros,” which is “sexual attraction and a public hint of the private intimacy the newlyweds will enjoy.”

Her husband washed her feet because it signifies Jesus’ sacrificial love.

“Jesus washed his disciples’ feet the night before he gave his life for them on the Cross…Husbands vow to love their brides like Christ loves the Church. To be the leader of our family is to be a servant.”

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Just Too Cool, One Man & One Woman, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged washing of feet
16 Comments

Grim surveys about decline of Christianity in USA, Italy

Posted on 22 November 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A while back we learned through the Pew Research Center that about 30% of practicing Catholic believe the Church’s teaching about transsubstantiation.

Pew now tells us more about Catholic in these USA and in Italy. Sandro Magister writes about it. HERE

Churches Ever Emptier. Two Shocking Surveys in the United States and Italy

In Japan, where Pope Francis will land tomorrow, those baptized into the Catholic Church are just 0.4 percent of the population. Without any sign of numerical growth.

But also in two Western countries with a solid Catholic presence the statistics are heading decisively lower. These two countries are the United States and Italy.

IN THE UNITED STATES

In the United States there is a noteworthy survey by the Washington-based Pew Research Center, to which on November 13 “L’Osservatore Romano” also dedicated an article:

> In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace

On the whole, Christians of all confessions have dropped from 78 percent of the population in 2007 to 65 percent in 2019, while during the same years those who identify themselves as atheist, agnostic, or without religion – the “nones” – have increased from 16 percent to 26 percent.

Separating the Christians into Protestants and Catholics, the former have dropped over the past twelve years from 51 to 43 percent, and the Catholics from 24 to 20 percent.

Christians who said they had gone to church for Mass or another ceremony at least once a month fell from 54 percent to 45 percent. While those who said they had done so a few times a year or never, apart from marriages or funerals, grew from 45 to 54 percent.

This drop in religious practice almost across the board involves both men and women, whether white or black or Hispanic, college graduates and the less educated. What marks a strong difference are above all age and political proclivity. The “millennials,” meaning those born in the 1980s and early 90s, together with those who vote for the Democratic Party are the Americans who show the strongest drop in religious practice and the most decisive growth of the “nones.”

Among the “millennials” today Christians are 49 percent and the “nones” 40 percent. Those who go to church at least once a month are 35 percent and never or almost never 42 percent.

Among American citizens of Hispanic origin, ten years ago Catholics were the majority, 57 percent. Today they are less than half, 47 percent, with the “nones” rising in the meantime to 23 percent.

The area in which the drop in Catholics is most pronounced is the Northeast, where over the past ten years they have fallen from 36 to 27 percent of the population. Almost unchanging, instead, is their slight presence in the South, where they were 17 percent ten years ago and are 16 percent today. In the South, however, there has been a more marked drop among the Protestants, who have fallen in ten years from 64 to 53 percent of the population.

Among the Protestants, the only index on the rise is that of the “born again” and “Evangelicals,” who went from 56 to 59 percent of the total over the last ten years.

While among Democratic Party voters the most glaring change is the growth of the “nones,” who jumped over the past ten years from 20 to 34 percent.

[…]

You can read all the great post-conciliar springtime news about Italy over there.

The reaction of some people will be to push to adapt the Church and her teachings to a changing world.

There are a lot of reasons why the Church is in decline. Worldly adaptation, however, is one of the reasons why we see what we see today. We fell into the trap that Paul warns of and conformed to the wisdom of “this world”. Alas, we were guided into this trap by our leaders, some of them knowingly, for theirs is a project of conversion of the Church into an NGO.

My proposal remains the same. Recovery of our tradition. No project of renewal we undertake in the Church will have any effect if it is not flowing from and back to revitalized sacred liturgical worship. We must give God what is due, by the virtue of Religion. The first way we do that is through worship. Recovery of our traditional forms of worship will guide other efforts. Together with our sound sacred worship, we must graft works of mercy. Over all, we must envelop our offerings to God and neighbor with evidence of joy at our Catholic identity in deed and word even while also performing many acts of reparation. In short, a Catholicism that integrates what our forebears bequeathed with our whole day, everywhere.

Also, and I’ve written this before, I think we will see the slow convergence of traditional Catholics with the more charismatic sort. That will be a rocky process, but many good things will come of it, for both elements.

Posted in Our Catholic Identity, The Coming Storm, The Drill, The future and our choices | Tagged Pew Research
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6 December: Exorcists call for Fasting, Prayer, Reparation

Posted on 21 November 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

At National Catholic Register see the article about a call from exorcists to pray and fast in reparation for the demonic idol worship in the Vatican and during the Synod (“walking together”) on the Amazon.

Four Exorcists Urge Day of Fasting, Prayer and Reparation Dec. 6
The priests suggest the Rosary and prayers to the Sacred Heart, as well as “some form of penance, such as fasting, abstinence and other forms of mortification”

Bree A. Dail

WASHINGTON — Four exorcists have issued a joint statement asking Catholics worldwide to dedicate Dec. 6 as a day of fasting, prayer and reparation, “for the purpose of driving out any diabolic influence within the Church that has been gained as a result of recent events.”

The exorcists, who have requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of their ministries, cited in a particular way the controversy that took place during the recent Pan-Amazon Synod, when statues purportedly of Pachamama, a goddess worshiped by indigenous Andeans, were incorporated into various synod events.

“These events bring home the reality that we are in spiritual warfare,” they said in their statement, “and that warfare is happening with the Church itself.”

The full statement follows:

In light of recent events regarding the Pachamama ritual in the Vatican Gardens, the subsequent procession of the idol into St. Peter’s, as well as placing the idols in St. Maria in Traspontina church, we are reminded of the words of St. Paul (1 Corinthians 10:20), “Do I say, that what is offered in sacrifice to idols, is anything? Or, that the idol is anything? But the things which the heathens sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God. And I would not that you should be made partakers with devils.”

The Psalms (95:5) tell us that “all the gods of the Gentiles are devils: but the Lord made the heavens.” These events bring home the reality that (Ephesians 6:12) “our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.” These events bring home the reality that we are in spiritual warfare and that warfare is happening within the Church, itself.

We are, therefore, encouraging all Catholics who recognize the evil of the events to join us in a day of prayer and penance on December 6th, for the purpose of driving out any diabolic influence within the Church that has been gained as a result of these recent events — along with any other events.

We are asking all of those who participate to do the following for this intention:

1.) say the Rosary;

2.) take on some form of penance, such as fasting, abstinence and other forms of mortification;

3.) to offer the prayers to the Sacred Heart, as seen below.

Other recommended acts which we encourage others to do for this intention is make a Holy Hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament and attend Mass that day, offering the merits of the Mass for this intention.

May the Divine Mercy rest upon all of us.

Act of Consecration of the Human Race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Most sweet Jesus, Redeemer of the human race, look down upon us humbly prostrate before Thy altar. We are Thine, and Thine we wish to be; but, to be more surely united with Thee, behold each one of us freely consecrates himself today to Thy Most Sacred Heart. Many indeed have never known Thee; many too, despising Thy precepts, have rejected Thee. Have mercy on them all, most merciful Jesus, and draw them to Thy Sacred Heart.

Be Thou King, O Lord, not only of the faithful who have never forsaken Thee, but also of the prodigal children who have abandoned Thee; grant that they may quickly return to their Father’s house lest they die of wretchedness and hunger.

Be Thou King of those who are deceived by erroneous opinions, or whom discord keeps aloof; call them back to the harbor of truth and unity of faith, so that soon there may be but one flock and one Shepherd.

Be Thou King of all those who are still involved in the darkness of idolatry or of Islamism; refuse not to draw them all into the light and kingdom of God. Turn Thine eyes of mercy toward the children of that race, once Thy chosen people: of old they called down upon themselves the Blood of the Savior; may it now descend upon them a laver of redemption and of life.

Grant, O Lord, to Thy Church assurance of freedom and immunity from harm; give peace and order to all nations, and make the earth resound from pole to pole with one cry: Praise to the Divine Heart that wrought our salvation; to It be glory and Honor forever. Amen.

Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

O sweet Jesus, Whose overflowing charity for men is requited by so much forgetfulness, negligence and contempt, behold us prostrate before Thy altar eager to repair by a special act of homage the cruel indifference and injuries, to which Thy loving Heart is everywhere subject.

Mindful alas! that we ourselves have had a share in such great indignities, which we now deplore from the depths of our hearts, we humbly ask Thy pardon and declare our readiness to atone by voluntary expiation not only for our own personal offenses, but also for the sins of those, who, straying far from the path of salvation, refuse in their obstinate infidelity to follow Thee, their Shepherd and Leader, or, renouncing the vows of their baptism, have cast off the sweet yoke of Thy Law.

We are now resolved to expiate each and every deplorable outrage committed against Thee; we are determined to make amends for the manifold offenses against Christian modesty in unbecoming dress and behavior, for all the foul seductions laid to ensnare the feet of the innocent, for the frequent violations of Sundays and holidays, and the shocking blasphemies uttered against Thee and Thy Saints.

We wish also to make amends for the insults to which Thy Vicar on earth and Thy priests are subjected, for the profanation, by conscious neglect or terrible acts of sacrilege, of the very Sacrament of Thy Divine Love; and lastly for the public crimes of nations who resist the rights and teaching authority of the Church which Thou hast founded.

Would, O divine Jesus, we were able to wash away such abominations with our blood. We now offer, in reparation for these violations of Thy divine honor, the satisfaction Thou didst once make to Thy eternal Father on the cross and which Thou dost continue to renews daily on our altars; we offer it in union with the acts of atonement of Thy Virgin Mother and all the Saints and of the pious faithful on earth; and we sincerely promise to make recompense, as far as we can with the help of Thy grace, for all neglect of Thy great love and for the sins we and others have committed in the past. Henceforth we will live a life of unwavering faith, of purity of conduct, of perfect observance of the precepts of the gospel and especially that of charity. We promise to the best of our power to prevent other from offending Thee and to bring as many as possible to follow Thee.

O loving Jesus, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our model in reparation, deign to receive the voluntary offering we make of this act of expiation; and by the crowning gift of perseverance keep us faithful unto death in our duty and the allegiance we owe to Thee, so that we may one day come to that happy home, where Thou with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest God, world without end. Amen.

Posted in ACTION ITEM! | Tagged Pachamama, reparation
9 Comments

21 Nov: Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. With a prayer of my own.

Posted on 21 November 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Today is the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Presentation in the Temple.

The Collect for the Mass in the traditional form:

Deus, qui beátam Maríam semper Vírginem, Spíritus Sancti habitáculum, hodiérna die in templo praesentári voluísti: praesta, quaésumus; ut, eius intercessióne, in templo glóriae tuae praesentári mereámur.

O God, who desired that the Blessed Ever-virgin Mary, dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, be presented today in the Temple: grant, we beseech Thee; that by her intercession, we may merit to be presented in the temple of Thy glory.

Such a simple, and straight forward prayer.

As I read it, I consider the present state of crisis in the Church.

I ask the Blessed Virgin, Queen of the Clergy, to take all the bishops under her protecting mantle and to shield them from the attacks of the Enemy.

Under her protection, as Queen of the Clergy, I pray that she will then bring them to whatever crosses they must endure in expiation and in reparation and in the right guidance of the flock to that heavenly temple of God’s glory which we have longed for in the prayer.

21 Nov: Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. With a prayer of my own.

CLICK for more

Posted in Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Our Solitary Boast, WDTPRS | Tagged Presentation of the BVM
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Worthy reading. More Pachamama and more from Archbp. Viganò.

Posted on 21 November 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

At the Pontifical Mass at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception last week (HERE with VIDEO), you could tell that quite a few of the congregants were unfamiliar with the Traditional Mass by the fact that they sang the Pater Noster with the celebrant (at 1:29:30 in the video). (And the person who directed the choir also didn’t have a clue what to do either.)

I was struck by the large presence of the unfamiliar. It added to my growing suspicion that The Present Crisis of the Church in this pontificate is bringing more and more people to explore the option of the TLM rather than or in addition to the NO. It could be that the blatantly weird things perpetrated in Rome and elsewhere, especially in October, are starting to get to people. The phrase “red pill” is showing up more frequently these days. I am reminded of something I saw in a gun store a few years ago: a framed picture of Pres. Obama with various prize ribbons appended with the sign, “Salesman Of The Year”. Something like that is going on right now, it seems to me, in the Church as well.

My friend Fr. David Nix has a good piece today which touches on this. In reference to a podcast he heard with the author of Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging (US HERE – UK HERE), He cites the experience of the British during WWII, when the Blitz brought people together. Facing adversity together knit them together in a way that many would long for after the war. We in these USA also had a few fleeting moments of that after 9/11. Nix applies this to The Present Crisis with a couple of bullet points. Here they are. Go there for his fuller explication.

1) Stop blaming God for the crisis of bad leadership in the Catholic Church, even implicitly in your heart, since “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose.”—Rom 8:28.

[…]

2) Welcome the stragglers into traditional communities. Many neo-cons tell me they don’t go to the TLM because trad families are too judgmental. Now, half of this is an excuse (as there really are many humble families at the TLM) but half of it is true: Some TLMers reject neo-con stragglers as Johnnies-come-lately. Some newcomers are rejected from the TLM as “less-holy” for having come from the Novus Ordo.

[…]

On the point of “belonging”, I guide the readership to my ranting about how “We Are Our Rites”. Think about how the Novus Ordo has atomized Roman Catholics into smaller communities with hardly any points of contact. Think about how there is a Rite which cut across boundaries, cultures and even centuries into a common body of worshiping believers. That Rite produced the saints we venerate and many patrimonies which have been denied to so many for so long since the 60s.

I am also reminded of Anthony Esolen’s book Nostalgia: Going Home in a Homeless World. My post HERE. Nostalgia, as the Greek indicates, a pain (algea) we feel for our “return home” (nostron): “pain for the return, ache for the homecoming.” It is an essential longing. It has nothing to do with the wacky charge often leveled at those who desire traditional liturgy.

One of my frequent correspondents happens to be in Venice right now. As you may know, there was record flooding recently which shut down the unique city. I was sent the photo of a sign on a shop door.

Such is life. You fall seven times and you get back up eight. We need a few days to get back on track… with a smile and energy as always.

In the matter of birettas… some people ask me if seminarians can or should use them when in choir.

Yes, I think so.

It looks like those birettas have four, rather than three, points.

Please consider the ongoing BIRETTAS FOR SEMINARIANS PROJECT.

Next, if you haven’t seen it, check out a piece by George Weigel at First Things about a week ago. He offers a summary in the wake of the disastrous Amazon Synod (“walking together”), which clearly also involved veneration of a pagan, demonic idol. I wish we had in English as apt a word as the Italian smascherare… to unmask. That’s what Weigel does to the synodal rhetoric and the fawning gobbledygook from the papalotrous camp followers, in particular relentless tweeter and self-promoter Massimo “Beans” Faggioli.

Finally, read about an amazing little Chinese girl martyr who loved the Blessed Sacrament. HERE She inspired Fulton J. Sheen, who will be beatified in December.

UPDATE:

This, in Spanish, from INFOVATICANA. A week or so ago in Madrid, some Jesuits had a conference at a parish in which members of REPAM participated. REPAM was a driving forcing behind the crazy stuff, and the pagan stuff, at the Synod (“walking together”). There were, at that conference, Pachamama idols. Some people who call themselves “Comando San Bonifacio… St. Boniface Commandos” took pamphlets and posters and dumpsterized them.

Also, Archbp. Viganò has issued at Inside the Vatican an essay about the danger of syncretism. He is especially concerned about the inter-faith project in Abu Dhabi.

“[T]he Temple of the world syncretistic Neo-Religion is about to rise with its anti-Christian dogmas. Not even the most hopeful of the Freemasons would have imagined so much!”