@JamesMartinSJ shovels scandalous rubbish to justify sin

Posted on 10 November 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

UPDATE:

I wonder if this changes the issue somewhat.  HERE  Bolger apparently wrote to someone about his regrets.     Private letter, not a public statement.

No… it doesn’t change much.

Originally Published on: Nov 10, 2018
_____

Here is yet another example of scandalous Jesuit homosexualist activist James Martin, LGBTSJ committing scandal and undermining the morals of Catholics.

Whitey Bugler, mobster and murderer, died and, for some inexcusable reason the Archdiocese of Boston permitted a funeral Mass for him, though that is explicitly contrary to Canon Law.

What Boston did caused scandal. That is, their action brought on other sin, especially in the case of homosexualist Martin’s arguement below. This is how scandal works: one person sins and another uses that sin to justify his own sin.

Look at that #sodojesuital argument.   If Bulger gets a funeral, and he was a sinner, then all sinners get funerals.  And since all of us are sinners, we all should get funerals, including homosexual couples.

Not so fast.   The Church’s law, can. 1184 § 1 n. 1, says “manifest sinners who cannot be granted ecclesiastical funerals without scandal”. If the sin is manifest (as it surely was in the case of Whitey Bulger), then funerals must be denied lest scandal result. There was, apparently, no sign of repentance on Bulger’s part that was made public. Hence, he was and remained a manifest public sinner.

Homosexuals who civilly marry are manifest public sinners. Unless they give public signs of repentance they remain manifest public sinners and they must be denied ecclesiastical funerals lest scandal result.

Prof. Peters has a great piece about this whole pile of rubbish and Martin’s shoveling of it. HERE

Peters says that the fact that the Archd. of Boston violated the law that doesn’t mean that everyone else can (that’s the point about “scandal”). Martin the Jesuit, who knows better – he’s not stupid, even though his intellect and will seem to be darkened with the fascination of sodomy in its various forms – comes right out and says, “if mobsters, then homosexuals”. Never mind that the law was violated in the first instance and in the second instance. Who cares?

See how devious Martin’s message is?

The Archdiocese violated the law.  Martin sees that violation and then tells you to violate the law.

The serpent deceived Eve.  Eve offered the apple to Adam.

“Did the Church’ssssss law really sssssay that you can’t do that?  Really?  Never mind the law.  Go ahead.  Do as you pleassssssssse.”

Peters makes the point that so long is the law, then the law must be obeyed.  If the Legislator wants to change the law, the Legislator is free to do so.  However, until then, we must follow it, particularly in important points such as these.

UPDATE:

BTW… perhaps Martin didn’t notice that he drew a straight line between a mobster murderer and homosexuals.  Perhaps he had in mind the Latin word ferox or perhaps even  the fact that the infamous Stonewall Inn was run by the mafia precisely for that sort of sinner.

Posted in Canon Law, Sin That Cries To Heaven | Tagged , ,
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GERMANY: Catastrophic! USA next? @USCCB bishops meeting and YOU. ACTION ITEM!

Posted on 10 November 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

An image to consider.

Two rays extending from the same point get farther and father apart the longer they extend.   If the one ray is the trajectory of Christ’s true Church, then the other ray, that departs from it, get’s farther and father away with every moment of its “progress”.

This comes from Focus.de:

According to a media report, the Evangelical and Catholic Church in Germany will be missing around 14,000 pastors by 2030.
The Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) expects that by then about 7,000 of the current 13,500 clerical posts can no longer be filled, writes the “Focus”. This development is “catastrophic,” said ZDK President Thomas Sternberg the news magazine. “We will not be able to keep the usual structures. Lay people have to be able to take on much more tasks in the future. ”

The Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) have similar problems, writes the “Focus” on. The pastor’s association assumes that the number of currently about 21,000 pastors will reduce by about one third. According to this, around 7,000 jobs could not be filled by 2030. “This leads each pastor to its limit – and beyond,” said the chairman of the pastor’s association, Andreas Kahnt.

Catastrophe.  Catastrophic.  That’s the situation in Germany.

To paraphrase Card. “Accompany” Kasper to the world about African bishops, I don’t think Germans should be telling us what to do.  Everything they do is wrong, it seems.  German bishops and theologians seem to be the caput malorum omnium.

“But Vater! But Vater!”, some of you libs are hooting, “You don’t understand anything about what’s going on.  This is the time of change and innovation.  Surely it is clear even to someone as backward as you that you have to break eggs to make omelets.  So the Church in Germany is broken.  So the Churches in Europe are demographically diminishing.  It’s quality we want, not quantity!  We are living the dream of the new Vatican II springtime!  We are forward looking visionaries blue-skying and singing a new church into being!   But you…. YOUUUUU…. don’t get that because YOU HATE VATICAN II!”

What I get is this.

According to one smart German speaking, one definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

It is at least stupid, if not insane.

We have serious choices to make.  How conscious I am of the poignancy of reading that piece and writing these words I am, since we are on the brink of another plenary meeting of the USCCB.   One meeting of bishops can’t solve The Present Crisis.  However, one meeting can suggest to us who watch from the outside just what our bishops are made of.

Will they stand upright and set their jaw and take their hands out of their pockets?  (Perhaps I should say “take their hands out of our pockets”?)

Or will they produce the same old same old.

On the other hand, perhaps the “same old same old”… the real “same old same old” is exactly what we need.  We need a recovery of Tradition in order to produce a revitalization of our Catholic identity.

Folks, before the bishops meet, may I make a couple suggestions about what YOU can do?

  1. Go to confession.
  2. Make a good Holy Communion and offer it to God with your petition that the Holy Spirit prompt the bishops to true pastoral care, the kind that shepherds summon when the wolves are circling.
  3. Pray to your Guardian Angel and the Guardian Angels of your own local bishop to protect him, during the meeting, from the influence of The Enemy, the attacks of the demonic through their attachments to the place they are in, the food they may eat, even the oppressors of their brother bishops if they are in that sorry state.
  4. Find out the times that the bishops are meeting next week and prayer a Rosary for them during that time or stop at church and pray before the Blessed Sacrament for them.
  5. Take on some penance, some mortification during their meeting and offer it that the Holy Spirit increase in them, through the sacrament of confirmation and through orders, their strengthened sense of vocation and of the Four Last Things.

Tolkien wrote about the eucatastrophe, the catastrophe that has to happen so that greater good can result.

Posted in "But Father! But Father!", "How To..." - Practical Notes, ACTION ITEM!, Si vis pacem para bellum!, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices | Tagged , ,
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To US Bishops before their @USCCB meeting: Do not be afraid!

Posted on 10 November 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

At First Things more good advice has been offered to their collective Excellencies before their upcoming plenary meeting, which begins next Monday.  Just the other day, another piece of advice was extended by a writer at The Catholic Thing.  HERE

However, at First Things, the director of the Augustine Institute, Jayd Henricks, has pointed words. He is also a former senior staffer at the USCCB, so he knows what he is talking about.

Let’s see a sample with my usual treatment:

[…]

There is, however, something wrong with how the body of bishops functions as an assembly and how bishops relate to and interact with one another. Far too often, fear appears to govern what is done or not done by you as a body. There is the fear of disunity, fear of conflict, fear of disrupting a superficial collegiality, and today, more than ever, fear of Rome. Though the pressure you face—each in your dioceses and together as an assembly—is intense, the bottom line is that it sometimes appears that many of you are governed by fear of each other and of the institutional order more than by the fear of God.

It has also been my observation that your work as an association of bishops leads many of you to value the appearance of unity over adherence to principle. This habit, in turn, leads to patterns of conflict avoidance. In some instances, this is the path of charity. Conflict and division are not good things. Far too often, however, I watched good men back away from conflict when what was needed was confrontation and forthright debate. This culture of fear enabled the likes of Theodore McCarrick to attain power and to scheme and maneuver at the highest ecclesial and political levels.

All serious observers of the Church see that the current ecclesiastical situation stands on the edge of a cliff. It seems to me that there are two dominant camps among the bishops in the United States, and perhaps worldwide. One regards the Church as a platform for political interests. My professional experience taught me that this group includes key authorities in Rome. The other regards the Church as a pastoral reality. This second group, while genuinely desiring to serve, is reluctant to address critical issues if doing so would entail conflict with Rome.

The curial advisors of the Holy Father have failed to understand the nature of the present crisis. They have chosen a path that only exacerbates it. [It could be that they do understand it and they chose that path with that understanding in mind.] They have failed to undertake a swift and full investigation of the McCarrick case. The Vatican’s failure to act is now aggravating the real harm done to the Church. In the end, however, the faithful in the United States will hold you—and not the curial officials—responsible for what does or does not happen in the wake of the most recent scandals.

I urge you to petition forcefully for an open investigation led by the laity. Do not allow a false notion of unity to prevail, a false unity in which your integrity as bishops is sacrificed to expediency.

[…]

There is quite a bit more, which you should read over there.

As far as that point about curial advisors is concerned, …

… I am more and more of the mind that, beyond the usual and always valid explanation of sheer incompetence, real malice has been revealed.

I say “malice” because those involved seem to hate what the Church has been and, by their directives and their urgings around Francis, they want to transform the Church into something it has never been and which Christ never intended.

You can get more of what I mean by going back to what I wrote in June 2017 about the vision of one of the key players in Francis’ dugout, the creeps-inducing and plagiarist Víctor Manuel Fernández.  Call to mind the “governing principles” – or Four Guiding Postulates – Fernández included as ghostwriter of Evangelii gaudium.   One of them concerns constant conflict of positions which will, over time, produce lasting change.

If you want to understand what Francis and Co. are doing, you have to review those things that I linked.

Posted in The Drill | Tagged
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Happy 243rd Birthday USMC!

Posted on 10 November 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

This note I received seems a fitting way to salute the Marines who read this blog.

Marines: Happy 243rd Birthday! To commemorate not only the Birthday, but also all veterans’ service and the Centennial of Armistice Day tomorrow, please enjoy this excerpt from John W. Thomason’s Fix Bayonets, from the story “Battle Sight.” I think it’s an appropriate and succinct summary of the Corps’s essential role in bringing about victory in the Great War.

The Americans of the 2nd Division* were new troops, untried in war, regarded with uneasy hopefulness by the Allies. Their successes came when the allies very greatly needed a success; for not since 1914 had the Boche appeared so terrible as in this, the spring of 1918. For a space the world watched the Bois de Belleau uneasily, and then with pride and an awakened hope. Men saw in it, foreshadowed, Soissons, and the 8th of August, that Ludendorf was to call “the black day of the war,” and an event in a car on a railroad siding, in the misty November forest of Senlis.

* notably commanded by Brigadier General Charles A. Doyen, USMC, and Major General John A. Lejeune, USMC – the only time an army division was commanded by Marines

Charge your glasses and Toast Those Who Have Gone Before.

Semper Fidelis,

The Battle of Belleau Wood is just one of the Corps great moments.  Also, this was the battle during which a couple of legendary phrases were uttered.

The French, who were in retreat (go figure) repeated told the Marines to withdraw from their position. The Marines commander responded, “Retreat? Hell, we just got here”.

Also, Sgt Dan Daly, who had already won two Medals of Honor, had to get his men across a wheat field and into the woods. That’s when he shouted, “Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?” The casualties were bad but they took their position in the forest.

After this Battle General Pershing said, “The deadliest weapon in the world is a United States Marine and his rifle.”

It was after this Belleau Wood that the Germans simply called the Marines “Teufel Hunden… Devil Dogs”.  (Teufelshunde)

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ASK FATHER: Some say Advent is not a penitential season.

Posted on 9 November 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

I’m reaching out because I’m doing a bunch of research on Advent. I have been reading a number of things on Advent and about living liturgically in general and I’m trying to get a few things straight that I’m not totally clear on (and youtube isn’t helping). Fr Mike says it’s not penitential: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA-gx-PWB0A

Another video that I found first said that based on the liturgy (but not canon law from 1983) it is penitential (vestments, church decorations, etc). Where does a new Catholic (with young children) start?

Yes, there is something to the issue that canon law does not prescribe additional penance for Advent.   However, liturgically Advent is clearly penitential.  “Fr Mike” is wrong.  He has points that are right, of course.  He’s not wrong in everything.  But, he’s wrong, I think, in saying that it is not penitential.

As far as what a new Catholic might do… I would definitely observe it as being penitential, if not to the extent that Lent might be.  “Fr Mike” did suggest not celebrating Christmas too soon.  He is right on that point, of course.  Let Advent be Advent.  Let Christmas be Christmas.   Let there be penance and then let there be celebration.

While there is an intimate connection between Cult (liturgy), Code (law) and Creed (doctrine), of all three we are our rites.   Our Catholic identity is most powerfully shaped by our rites.

Advent is a penitential season.  This is clear from the loss of the Gloria and the color of the vestments (violet).  Once upon a time we used black vestments for Advent and the season was longer.  This is partly why Advent dovetails so closely with the ending of the liturgical year.  The nature of our prayers and readings during Advent having to do with the Four Last Things.  Advent, in many ways, is more about the Second Coming of the Lord than the First Coming.  It’s about both, of course.   And let’s not forget that the Roman Rite has its traditional expression but also its… well, lightened and less complicated expression.  Moreover, according to rubrics, instrumental music is limited during Advent and there should be no flowers on the altar.  Just like Lent, a penitential season.

Yet, the tone of the shorter season of Advent is not like Lent.  I often describe Advent as a season of joyful penance, or penitential joy.  Lent is not against joy, by the way.   We don’t have to mope.

“Fr Mike” is also wrong about Advent not being about having a Merry Christmas.  Of course it’s also about having a Merry Christmas.  We Catholics fast before we feast.   In ancient Christian Rome, for example, people would cut back on their food on fast days (obviously), but they would also give the difference to the poor.  We traditionally deny ourselves things in a spirit of preparation and purification and, then in the right moment, we feast!   Even though Christmas is a comparative newcomer among the great feasts, we do what Catholics do.  First we fast and then we feast.  The lights are bright and the cheer cheerier because we have denied ourselves beforehand.

I will drop this now and let you readers chime in with your resources.

 

 

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000 |
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FEEDBACK: “I went to confession for the first time in nine years tonight.”

Posted on 9 November 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I suspect that most of you readers know that I often shout at you: GO TO CONFESSION! I did so yesterday, several times. This morning I received this.

From a reader:

I wanted to thank you for always pushing confession. I went to confession for the first time in nine years tonight. It was my son’s first confession night, and I wanted to both set a good example for him and cleanse my soul. I used your steps for making a good confession, which really helped. Afterwards it was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I do not plan on waiting nine years – or even nine months – before I return to confession.

My confessor tonight was patient and kind. He listened, gave me some brief but useful advice and encouragement, and then absolved me using the proper form. Nothing too lovey-dovey, nothing too harsh, nothing to hokey-pokey – just respectful and proper responses. The priest almost seemed to admire me for my strength for confessing my sins.

To your priest readers, I encourage them to please be like this confessor. Be strong, be respectful, and encourage those who confess. Say the Black, Do the Red. Nothing more, nothing less.

Thanks for all that you and all the good priests do. Many prayers!

If this blog ever served any purpose, THAT, dear friends, is it.

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Blog milestone: 90 Million

Posted on 9 November 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

An alert reader sent a note saying that the “StatCounter” button on the sidebar shows that we reached another milestone.  This must have happened sometime during the night.

The blog is older than that and I don’t put huge stock in these stats, but this is not nothing.

Blogs are not pulling the traffic that they once did.  I think people are putting more of their time into less challenging fare, such as Twitter and, blech, Fakebook.  That said, there is still great potential in blogs.

I’ll keep going, if you keep reading. Even if we need Catholic Samizdat, this will keep going.

This is something that the Holy See’s prospective “General Directorate for the Protection of Papal Secrets in the Press” and it’s concomitant “Goskomizdat” should think about before attempting to shut down free thought and speech.

For 100 Million, I think I’ll have to have another challenge coin!

Posted in Just Too Cool |
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ASK FATHER: If I am in the state of mortal sin, is there any point in praying?

Posted on 8 November 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

Thank you for the good work you do through this blog. I check it once or twice daily, because I always look forward to your insightful and incisive commentary.

May I ask: If I am in a state of mortal sin and thus lacking charity, will my prayers avail of anything? In a word, and please pardon the bluntness, is there any point in praying while in a state if mortal sin?

Oh my, yes!  There is always a point in praying and your prayers are always attended by God who is mercy, love and patience.

Prayer for good things is never in vain.  Prayer that God’s will be done is never not effective.

When we commit a mortal sin, it is true that we kill the life of grace in the soul.  That’s why we call the sin “mortal”: it kills us spiritually, insofar as the indwelling of the Trinity is concerned.

However, mortal sin does not remove our baptismal, or confirmed or ordained or married character.  We still pray as baptized children of God and God listens.

In these cases, we open ourselves to the graces that God is constantly pinging us with.  Think of something like sonar… ping ping ping trying to get our attention to bring us back up out of the dark depths to which we dropped ourselves.  God offers us the sort of graces that help our a) self-understanding (“Rats, I really am a sinner who has deserved Hell and who has offended a loving God.”), and b) realization that there’s a way out (“I could go to confession.”) and c) the strengthening of resolve to get off our backsides and actually go to seek reconciliation (“Let’s DO this thing!”).

The Lord’s parable about the foolish young prodigal son of his father shows us these stages.  First, he realizes what a horrid state he is in.  Then, he remembers his father’s house.  Then, he resolves to go home and actually gets moving.  Meanwhile, the father isn’t just hanging around, he is watching for his son’s return and, before the foolish kid even gets to the house, the father goes to him.

God offers us what are called prevenient graces… graces that “go before” so that we can then accept the sanctifying grace that returns with confession and absolution.

There is no sin that is so great that we little mortals can commit that God won’t forgive provided we ask for forgiveness.

He wants to forgive.  He’s waiting to forgive.  He’s listening for our plea.

It is as if while with one hand he pours subtle graces into our minds, with the other hand cupped to His ear He listens for even the slightest reaction so that He can give us more.  Our conversions are truly our conversions, but they also come with God’s helping hands.  Think of a child who has offended.  Dad says, “What do you say?”  “Sorry!”

Pray especially when you are pretty sure that you are not in the state of grace.   Ask for all the graces you need to understand yourself better and then to be strong to get up and go to confession.

While there is breath and heartbeats in our bodies, God is showering us with graces, even those who have virtually hardened their hearts through neglect or conscious resistance that becomes habit.  He offers the graces even though we pridefully armor ourselves against them.

Everyone… if you have not been to confession for a while and you are pretty sure you are in the state of mortal sin – BECAUSE YOUR PROBABLY ARE! – take this post as a poor tool that God may be using to tweak you into action.

GO TO CONFESSION!

Has it been a long time since you said those words to the confessor?

“Oh my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee…”.

Has it been a long time since you heard those words of the confessor?

“EGO TE ABSOLVO…. I absolve you…”.

GO TO CONFESSION!

Remember the freedom of the newly reconciled.  Think of the lightness of spirit and the relief and the knowledge that you can make good Communions again.

GO TO CONFESSION!

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, GO TO CONFESSION | Tagged ,
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SCOTUS Justice RBG falls, breaks ribs, hospitalized

Posted on 8 November 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

According to accounts, 85-yr old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg had a fall, broke some ribs, and is not in the hospital.

While one mustn’t wish ill on another, it could be that this episode might prompt in the Justice some thoughts of retirement.   Also, hospitals, with their growing super-bugs, are not always the best places for older people to linger.

I am imagining, as every one of you are right now imagining, a THIRD Trump nominee for the SCOTUS.

Amy Coney Barrett?

Imagine the WAR in the Senate Judiciary Committee, especially now that numbskulls like letter-leaker and Chinese employer DiFi (D-CA), “Flatulence” Whitehouse (D-CA), Crazy Mazie (D-HI), Franken-backer Klobuchar (D-MN) have won their re-elections and now must feel off even the flimsy chain they were on.

 

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“I had the image of a bishop sinking head downward…. sinking… sinking… clawing at the heavy miter on his head”

Posted on 8 November 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Even as I stared at the title of the piece I am about to recommend, this passage from Luke about millstones came to mind.   I had the image of a bishop sinking head downward…. sinking… sinking… clawing at the heavy miter on his head dragging him relentlessly into the ever greater pressure of the depths… sinking… clawing… wild-eyes bulging.

Miter as millstone.

The annual plenary meeting of US bishops is coming up.  I suspect that there are going to be large crowds of lay protesters near their venue.  I suspect that the bishops may tip toe up to the real core of The Present Crisis, but that, in the end, they will do little or nothing.  I doubt that they have the collective cajones, especially when the brow-beating from the papalatrous favorites begins, the subtle messages and warnings that their opinions must conform or else be “noted”.

Miter as millstone.

One writer at The Catholic Thing has a piece a calm but penetrating cri de coeur directed at their collective Excellencies.  His well chosen title is highly suggestive of his central message:

Miters and Millstones

You get, I trust, the point.

Remember the Lord’s warning in Luke 17:1-6 about the fate of those who cause others to fall into error.

“Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the one through whom they occur. It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.

The writer the provocative article is Stephen P. White, and he’s got some game.   He gives the US bishops an ear full before their meeting.  And rightly so!

Some may squawk under – under their miters – “Who is this guy to tell Us what do to?!?”

Clearly, it’s a guy who doesn’t want to see our bishops sinking… sinking… clawing at the end.

BTW… the Novus Ordo Gospel Reading on the Monday when the US bishops hold their meeting is, exactly, Luke 17:1-6, about leading little ones (us) astray and millstones.

I hope that a few of the ideologues in the conference will try to wrap their heads around that millstone image as they put on their headgear.

UPDATE:

Perhaps it would be good to read the above-mentioned in tandem with, in dialogue with so to speak, another piece at Crisis:

“Cometh the hour, cometh the man.” The saying means that a time of crisis invariably brings forth the man to meet the challenge.

Well, the hour is here, but where’s the man? That’s what many Catholics must be wondering. The Church is in the midst of what may be the worst crisis of its existence, yet the man of the hour is nowhere in sight. The pope and the men around him—the ones we would ordinarily expect to lead us out of the crisis—are the ones who have led us into it. By all appearances they are not up to the challenge. They are over their heads in the mess they have helped to create.

Perhaps the distinguishing characteristic of the men who now lead the Church is a lack of seriousness. Because they are not serious men, many if not most of them do not even comprehend the seriousness of the current situation. Although they make statements expressing regret over past mistakes, they blithely continue on the course that has led to the “mistakes.”

[…]

Posted in Cri de Coeur, Dogs and Fleas, Hard-Identity Catholicism, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices | Tagged , , , ,
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