Of anti-Catholic bigots and attacks on the Catholic Church

Posted on 26 February 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A couple legislative items to ponder…

At Fox we read about the Party of Death, enslaved to Big Business Abortion:

Dems block ‘born alive’ bill to provide medical care to infants who survive failed abortions

Senate Democrats on Monday blocked a Republican bill that would have threatened prison time for doctors who don’t try saving the life of infants born alive during failed abortions, leading conservatives to wonder openly whether Democrats were embracing “infanticide” to appeal to left-wing voters.

All prominent Democratic 2020 presidential hopefuls in the Senate voted down the measure, including Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. The final vote was 53-44 to end Democratic delaying tactics — seven votes short of the 60 needed.

Three Democrats joined Republicans to support the bill — Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Doug Jones or Alabama. Three Republicans did not vote, apparently because of scheduling issues and plane flight delays — including Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Tim Scott of South Carolina.

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would have required that “any health care practitioner present” at the time of a birth “exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and conscientious health care practitioner would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age.”

[…]

Next, we read at CNA about a bill introduced in California:

California bill would remove reporting exemption for priests in confessional

Sacramento, Calif., Feb 21, 2019 / 09:00 am (CNA).- A state senator in California introduced a bill Wednesday which would seek to force priests to violate the sacramental seal of confession in suspected cases of child abuse or neglect. Clergy are already mandatory reporters in the state of California, but there is a legal exemption for material disclosed in the confessional.

Senator Jerry Hill announced Bill 360 in the California senate on Feb. 20.

“Individuals who harm children or are suspected of harming children must be reported so a timely investigation by law enforcement can occur,” Hill said in a statement announcing the bill.

More than 40 professions, including clergy, are already covered by state law requiring them to notify civil authorities in cases of suspected abuse or neglect of children. The current legislation provides an exemption for “penitential communications” between an individual and their minister if the requirement of confidentiality is rooted in church doctrine.

The Code of Canon Law states that “The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason.” A priest who intentionally violates the seal incurs an automatic excommunication.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “every priest who hears confessions is bound under severe penalties to keep absolute secrecy regarding the sins that his penitents have confessed to him,” due to the “delicacy and greatness of this ministry and the respect due to persons.”

Despite the centrality of the sacramental seal to Church teaching and discipline, Hill insisted that there should be no recognition of the privileged nature of confession in the law.

[…]

And also, from Media Report:

Latest State Witch Hunt: Michigan AG Nessel Proudly Makes Her Hatred of Church Known, Catholic Media In Hiding

When she was elected Attorney General last November, Dana Nessel became the first openly ‘LGBTQ’ candidate to win a statewide office in Michigan. She had been a fierce advocate for gay marriage in the state and then married another woman. The pair have custody of two children.

And when Nessel ran for office, she even touted the fact that she “didn’t have a penis” as a primary reason to vote for her. (Don’t believe it? See for yourself.)

These indisputable facts alone give pause as to whether Nessel might have some animus against the Church in light of its teachings on sexuality.

But then last week at a press conference in which she announced the continuation of a criminal investigation against the Catholic Church over allegations of abuse from many decades ago, it was a remark from Nessel that left little doubt about where her mind is. Nessel announced:

“If an investigator comes to your door and asks to speak with you, please ask to see their badge and not their rosary.”

Obviously, a public official could never get away with such a clearly bigoted remark against another religion. If a law enforcement official investigating a Jewish group said, “If an investigator comes to your door and asks to speak with you, please ask to see their badge and not their yarmulke,” the outrage would be rightfully swift and furious. That individual’s career would be finished. Kaput.

But when it comes to the Catholic Church, anything goes. Nessel clearly has it out for the Church. In a television interview a couple weeks ago, she even referred to the Church as a “criminal enterprise.”

And the cowardly Catholic media stays cowardly

In the 1950s, historian Arthur Schlesinger, Sr. called anti-Catholicism “the deepest-held bias in the history of the American people.” That was not only true then, but the bias has clearly become much, much worse as liberals get angrier and angrier that the Church keeps resisting their demands to accede to the latest fads in human sexuality.

And in reviewing so-called “Catholic” media, we have yet to see a single voice criticizing Nessel’s bigoted remark. This is a problem.

Dear Catholic media: Stop being such cowards. The Church is under relentless attack, and just like the apostles on the day of the trial of Jesus, you all are nowhere to be found.

Man up.

Posted in Si vis pacem para bellum!, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice |
19 Comments

Another reason for ‘Anglicanorum coetibus’: Church of England says Sunday services no longer mandatory

Posted on 25 February 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I think it was the late Fr. Neuhaus who quipped that the purpose of the Church of England was to make irony redundant.

Today I read this at AP.  No, this is not Eye of the Tiber or the Onion.  It’s AP.

Church of England says Sunday services no longer mandatory

LONDON (AP) — The Church of England has acknowledged the reality of shrinking congregations and overworked priests and lifted a 400-year-old rule requiring that all churches hold services every Sunday.

Canon law dating from 1603 required priests to hold morning and evening prayers and a communion service each Sunday in every church they oversaw.

But after decades of declining attendance, many priests are now responsible for multiple churches, especially in rural areas. Until now, they have needed permission from a bishop not to hold Sunday services in each church.

The change was approved Thursday at a meeting of the church’s governing Synod.

Bishop of Willesden Pete Broadbent, who proposed the change, said it “just changes the rules to make it easier for people to do what they’re already doing. It stops the bureaucracy.”

There it is, folks!

“Just change the rules to make it easier for people to do what they’re already doing!”

Remind you of something?

Trick question: That’s how libs have ruled the Church since after Vatican II.  That’s how they want to work now, more than ever.   By “rules” they mean things like the Ten Commandments, what Christ says in Scripture, the constants of mathmatics such that 2+2=5… though I don’t see how that makes things easier.  I digress.

To all my Anglican (etc.) readers out there, I have two words for you…

Anglicanorum coetibus.

Thanks to Benedict XVI, the “Pope of Christian Unity”, there’s a wonderful place for you in this side of the Tiber.

And, just to show that we are fair-minded, you libs who are envying (or already putting into practice your non-practice) Anglicans for their spirit-filled and prophetic anti-institutionalism, you could have your own Romanorum coetibus as we begin the Herculean task of clearing our the Augean Stable that Holy Church has, under your mis-guiding hands, turned her into.

Romanorum coetibus would be that document by which we Catholics might offer a safe-haven to liberals who want to keep their large puppets and pottery, their 60’s music and the ordination of women, their prayer to the earthmothergoddess… all without the spirit-repressing domination of masculine Rome! And they can use whatever translation they want!

Posted in Benedict XVI, Pò sì jiù, Pope of Christian Unity, You must be joking! | Tagged , , ,
25 Comments

About Clown Masses and what we are up to today.

Posted on 25 February 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

There’s an old chestnut about how you can rate as “successful” the Masses of various religious orders.  For example, the Mass of Benedictines is successful if more than half of the notes were sung properly.  Its successful for the the Dominicans if more than half are still there at the end.  Success is claimed by Jesuits if more than half show up in the first place.  Franciscans are successful if fewer than half are injured during the course.    Mind you, that bit of sport originates from at least 30 years ago, and surely from diocesan priests.  I hope my religious friends and readers out there will forgive the jocularity at their expense.  Things are, in some groups at least, much better than that now.  Really.

Then there’s the one about how the different religious groups adored the Baby Jesus in the manger….

Thus today’s offering from the often amusing Eye Of The Tiber, originally from 2013, but recently made visible to me again… mysteriously.

Speaking of 2013… and success…

Pastor of St. Genesius Catholic Church Fr. Edmond Harrington confirmed this afternoon that at one point during his first ever Clown Mass, he looked down at his oversized checkered shoes as he was praying and thought to himself, “Edmond, what in the world are you doing?”

“I mean, don’t get me wrong, I don’t feel a shred of guilt about it or anything,” Harrington told EOTT as he brushed away a lock of bright red hair from his painted face. “But I mean…who could deny how freaking weird the whole thing was. As a kid I never imagined myself saying a Mass. I also never imagined myself exerting so much time and effort trying to pick up a host off an altar with oversized white gloves. Definitely harder than it looks.”

Harrington went on to say that there was another point during the Mass, just moments after he had said the words of consecration and raised the host, when he just paused there a minute, gazing, “not in adoration, but in absolute disbelief” of what in the damn hell he was doing.

One deacon said that he knew the Mass was going to be a touch unusual after Harrington handed him a rubber chicken, and asked him to slap him in the face with it some time during the homily.

Harrington also told EOTT that he had gotten frustrated during the dismissal, after having spent a good minute or so trying to maneuver his plastic red nose so that he could kiss the altar. “It was humiliating,” he said, before smacking himself in the face with a pie.

Seriously…

We have to start treating our sacred liturgical worship as the most important thing we do.

No reform or initiative in the Church will succeed until we revitalize our liturgical worship of God.

There are a few things we can do right away to start the process.

  1. Begin programs of sound liturgical catechesis.
  2. Eliminate Communion in the hand.
  3. Celebrate Holy Mass ad orientem.

After that we must get our priests into shape to start celebrating also the older, traditional form of Holy Mass.  We must recover communal observance of devotions, such as the singing of the liturgical hour of Vespers on Sundays and Feasts, Forty Hours, Exposition, Novenas, etc., with opportunities for confession.

And, friends, it’s ad orientem…. not tum or tim or tom.

Posted in Lighter fare, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000 |
19 Comments

Run, don’t walk, to Crisis…. NOW!

Posted on 25 February 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Run, don’t walk, to Crisis…. NOW!

Francis Allies Reveal Their Plans for Revolutionary Change

HERE

Read the whole thing.  Take careful notice of all the links in the text.

Discuss.

Moderation queue is ON.

Posted in Francis, The Drill |
26 Comments

From contact to shots fired in 3 seconds

Posted on 25 February 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

This is the Sword of Damocles that hangs over the heads of law enforcement officers, who deserve our thanks.

Here is an amazing video of how cops can go from contact to shots fired in 3 seconds.

The reader who sent this rightly commented: “One must be prepared spiritually at all times.”

We don’t have to be cops to be in spiritual danger. Remember that “mortal sin” is called “mortal” for a reason. And spiritual death is a lot more serious than physical death.

Go to confession!

19_02_25_shooting

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Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, GO TO CONFESSION | Tagged ,
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A Pope Speaks: Pius XII on something the #PBC2019 summit didn’t discuss. AUDIO

Posted on 24 February 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Two things drive this post.

First, the Roman “summit” rammed a major aspect of The Present Crisis into a smaller box than reasonable people allow.  They excluded many things that could have been addressed.  One of them is the devolution of morals and the lost of the sense of purity.

Second, most people today have heard and would recognize the voices of recent Popes. Who can forget the great bass with the Slavic tinge of John Paul II and his particular cadences? However, most of us have not had a chance to hear the voices of Popes of deeper into the last century.

Both of those issues come together in this snippet from the sermon Pius XII gave for the canonization of St Maria Goretti.  Pius, from about 1950 onward, seeing what was going on in society called for greater purity.  What would he think about today?

Here is a snippet of Pius XII, the last Roman Pope.

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The place: St. Peter’s Square, completely jammed
The date: 24 June 1950
The occasion: the canonization of St Maria Goretti

Full text HERE.

 

What you hear Pius XII say in the recording:

Perchè, diletti figli, siete accorsi in così sterminato numero alla sua glorificazione? Perchè, ascoltando o leggendo il racconto della sua breve vita, così somigliante a una limpida narrazione evangelica per semplicità di linee, per colore di ambiente, per la stessa fulminea violenza della morte, vi siete inteneriti fino alle lacrime? Perchè Maria Goretti ha conquistato così rapidamente i vostri cuori, fino a divenirne la prediletta, la beniamina? Vi è dunque in questo mondo, apparentemente travolto e immerso nell’edonismo, non soltanto una sparuta schiera di eletti assetati di cielo e di aria pura, ma folla, ma immense moltitudini, sulle quali il soprannaturale profumo della purezza cristiana esercita un fascino irresistibile e promettente : promettente e rassicurante.

Why, beloved children, have you rushed in such boundless numbers to her glorification?  Why, hearing or reading the account of her brief life, so much like a pristine gospel narrative for the simplicity of its line, for the painting of its setting, for the very flaming violence of the death, were you touched even to tears?  Why has Maria Goretti conquered your hearts so quickly, even to the point of becoming your favorite, your darling?   Thus, there is in this world, manifestly overwhelmed and sunk into hedonism, not only a sparse crowd of the chosen, thirsting for heaven and pure air, but a throng, but an immense multitude, upon which the supernatural fragrance of Christian purity works an irresistible and promising allure: promising and encouraging.

Some visuals to go along with the sound.

YouTube thumbnailYouTube icon

Maria Goretti was murdered in the course of an attempted rape, which she resisted to the point of being mortally wounded.  The Church teaches that those who die bearing witness to Christ, to the Faith, or to some virtue or quality inseparable from the Faith, in that moment manifest the virtues in a heroic way and are, therefore, able to be proposed even for elevation to our altars.  Something about St. Maria Goretti captured the imagination of the Catholic faithful in the early 20th c., as did, for example, St. Therese de Lisieux.  Their lives show us that we can, in fact, try – with the help of grace – to be clean in a world that is fallen and fallen far.  It is not hard to understand why even some Catholics react with strong negativity about Maria Goretti.  They’ve gone the way of the world.

Also, my contact with exorcists informs me that St. Maria Goretti is a mighty intercessor and a serious terror of demons, surely after the heart St. Joseph… known for his purity.   Joseph most chaste… Guardian of virgins… Solace of the wretched… Patron of the dying… THE Terror of demons.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Just Too Cool, Linking Back, Saints: Stories & Symbols | Tagged ,
12 Comments

@RobertSRoyal on the Vatican Sexual Abuse Summit #PBC2019

Posted on 23 February 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Robert Royal of The Catholic Thing went to Rome for the Vatican “summit” on abuse. He has an excellent summary piece today, which I warmly recommend.

Three things in particular stood out for me in his piece.

First, try this on…

But like many Catholic prelates, including the Holy Father, [Card. Gracias] also leaned too heavily, in my judgment, on inequities of power – the clericalism gambit – which I believe betrays a wish to make the abuse crisis into more about social justice than personal sin.

It strikes me that so many movers and shakers in the Church, both ordained and in chanceries and plum posts and lay in academia, have become so mesmerized by “social justice” that they have nearly completely forgotten about personal sin. These same types, libs, are inclined to talk about sinful structures that have to be changed, etc.

No. Fail. If a structure lends itself to evil actions, it was built on the foundation of personal sins. People sin, not structures.

You will also find interesting Royal’s comments on the chatter about structures.

Next, speaking of structures, Royal recounts Card. Cupich’s caution that changing structures isn’t enough. Royal adds,

“True enough, but even changing structures, for many of us, would be a good – a real – start. Let it be noted, in fairness, even if it does not lead to any effective action, that Cupich ended with no fewer than twelve suggestions about how to hold a bishop accountable. These included structural and procedural changes that he elsewhere played down.”

This leads to the observation that, as it seems, Cupich’s talk was inherently incoherent.

Lastly, Royal gives a summary of questions asked by journalists during the presser on Friday. They are, in fact, more to the point of The Present Crisis than what the agenda of the “summit” set out to discuss.

Posted in Clerical Sexual Abuse | Tagged , ,
19 Comments

Something light for Friday

Posted on 22 February 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Because it’s Friday, and because we have all had terrible news all week, here’s what I consider to be one of the five funniest Bugs Bunny cartoons.

One of my favorite lines is contained herein.

And watch the hooves when the bull really takes off and the little surprise beams that shoot out of his head on the hill. Comedy gold, folks.

I’ll add that I have been to the bullfights in Madrid and look forward to going again. So there.

Posted in Lighter fare | Tagged
16 Comments

The appallingly stupid “gay” book about the Vatican by the “gay” French writer

Posted on 22 February 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I received a Kindle copy of the appalling “gay” book by the “gay” French writer – and I use the term writer loosely.

Damian Thompson’s review says it all better than I could:

An exposé of high-ranking gays in the Catholic Church bears the fingerprints of the Pope’s closest advisors
Team Francis are playing a nasty game in encouraging this attack on their conservative enemies

[…]

Martel is, to put it charitably, an odd fish. He is besotted with Rimbaud, sleeping beside a volume of his poetry, and the generation of tortured French gay artists and intellectuals who followed him. He presses a ‘white volume’ (he won’t say what it is) into the hands of his inter-viewees. On almost every page he outs himself as a raging bore.

He’s more than an odd fish, though. He’s a menace, because he hasn’t bothered to equip himself with basic theological knowledge.

[…]

I know why the Pope’s hardline allies, known as Team Francis, indulged Martel.They wanted a hit job on their conservative enemies; he was writing this book and they saw their chance. [….]

Unfortunately for Team Francis, they have landed themselves in The Pink Panther rather than The Day of the Jackal.

[…]

Posted in REVIEWS, Sin That Cries To Heaven | Tagged
5 Comments

Blog maintenance underway now and for some time to come

Posted on 22 February 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Right now and in the foreseeable future, work is being done on the server, back end, of the blog.

It is possible that there may be some outages or bumps along the way.

Some big changes are on the horizon.

Please say a prayer to your Guardian Angel to help every thing go smoothly, to guide the minds and insights of those working on things, and to keep the Enemy at bay.

FYI.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes |
3 Comments