How the Left rolls

Posted on 14 October 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Watch this video news story and consider how crazy things are getting.

Play video

And then…

Play video

Posted in Liberals |
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#Synod2018 underway but there are no rules. Making it up as they go?

Posted on 14 October 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

At the UK’s best Catholic weekly, the Catholic Herald – soon to have a US version! – comes this alarming report about the workings of the Synod (“walking together”).

My emphases:

Analysis: Will bishops push for clarity on the synod’s procedural rules?

Two weeks in, decisions about the synod’s rules have still not been announced

Recent changes to canon law have left some bishops attending the 2018 Synod of Bishops uncertain about the meeting’s procedural rules. Unanswered questions about the synod’s norms could have significant effect on how the meeting’s final documents are regarded in the Church, and by the synod fathers themselves.

The synod’s undersecretary, Bishop Fabio Fabene, told reporters in early October that because of changes Pope Francis made to synod policies Sept. 15, the Vatican had not yet decided on the exact rules for this month’s synod.

Asked whether synod participants would be able to vote on individual provisions of the document as they have in prior meetings, Fabene said it would depend on what emerged from the synod, adding that “as we move along, we will decide.”  [I see.  If we have this result, we’ll do this.  If we get that result, we’ll do that.  So lons as we get the result we desire.]

But two weeks into the gathering, decisions about the synod’s procedural and voting rules have not yet been announced. Several synod fathers have told CNA they are confused about the rules, or uncertain about how the synod’s voting process will actually work.

In the absence of clear norms, some observers have begun to ask whether the 2018 synod will prove to be an authentic consultation of the world’s bishops, or an exercise only in the appearance of “synodality.”  [Could it be that there was a predetermined outcome?]

[…]

But the 2006 rescript Ordo synodi episcoporum established the most detailed procedural rules for every aspect of a synod of bishops, among them the election of members; the appointment, work, and authority of the general secretariat and general relator; and the voting on proposals (modi) and documents, including the points to be included in the final report.

Ordo synodi episcoporum required that modi and documents be voted on according to a procedure allowing bishops to make additional amendments, and delineating specific cases when a 2/3 majority of voting bishops would be required, and others cases that would require only an absolute majority (50 percent+1) of bishops.

According to those procedural rules, synod fathers were able to vote on proposals made for amendments or additions to the document, and eventually to vote on their approval of the document as a whole; those votes would require 2/3s majorities.

Though these procedural norms were tweaked in recent years, they remained largely intact. [BUT!…] But on Sept. 15, they were abrogated- revoked– when Pope Francis promulgated a new document governing synods, the apostolic constitution Episcopalis communio.

Episcopalis communio eliminates nearly all specific procedural norms pertaining to the synod, including the established procedures for proposing amendments and for voting, and sets no specific approval thresholds for documents generated by the synod.

Instead of establishing specific rules, the September document calls on the General Secretary for Synod of Bishops, now Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, to issue instructions on those matters, and “regulations for each Synod Assembly.”

No such instructions or regulations seem to have been issued for the current synod, at least not publicly.

[…]

Can you imagine a business or the military or even a family going forward like this?

How many ways are there to rig a Synod, again?

 

Posted in Liberals, Synod | Tagged , ,
6 Comments

ASK FATHER: Coalition in Support of “Ecclessia Dei” – What’s up?

Posted on 14 October 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

Several weeks ago, I noticed that attempts to access the TLM directory at the Coalition in support of Ecclessia Dei website, were coming up with nothing. I dismissed it as a server error, but it has persisted, and my searching has given me no explanation.

Do you have any insight? If not, do you know of an alternative directory, that is kept up to date?

As always, thank you for your good work.

So, folks.  What’s up with this?

http://www.ecclesiadei.org/

Anyone know what’s going on?

 

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | Tagged
7 Comments

Your Sunday Sermon Notes

Posted on 14 October 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Was there a good point made in the sermon you heard during your Mass to fulfill your Sunday Obligation?

Let us know.

For my part, I was deacon for a Solemn Mass.  I heard five Aquinas’ five points about the wicked, ungrateful servant in the parable, whose debt was forgiven but then who throttles the first fellow servant he runs into (Matt 18:23-25).

1) The shortness of time. He punishes his fellow servant as soon as he leaves the King’s mercy.

2) Sanctimony. He was humble with the King but prideful with the fellow servant.

3) Unkindness. How horribly he treated his fellow servant.

4) Insignificance. The fellow servant owed him an insignificant sum, compared to his own debt.

5) Cruelty. He treats his fellow servant with extreme harshness.

How often do we seek forgiveness from God and then right away fall again.   And yet God in His mercy forgives those who ASK for mercy.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
3 Comments

Dodging Global Extinction Events

Posted on 13 October 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

These days it is hard to look around and not wonder if we are at last really in the End Times.  We seems to be experiencing the Great Falling Away.  Signs and signs and signs of faster and faster autodestruction flow over us.

Just to brighten your day…

First, I read at the always cool Spaceweather that your planet just ran the gauntlet.

DRACONID METEOR OUTBURST: On Oct. 8-9, Europeans outdoors around midnight were amazed when a flurry of faint meteors filled the sky. “It was a strong outburst of the annual Draconid meteor shower,” reports Jure Atanackov, a member of the International Meteor Organization who witnessed the display from Slovenia. Between 22:00 UT (Oct. 8) and 01:00 UT (Oct. 9), dark-sky meteor rates exceeded 100 per hour. In eastern France, Tioga Gulon saw “1 to 2 meteors per minute,” many of them shown here in an image stacked with frames from his video camera:

[…]

“It was a rare and impressive event,” says Atanackov.

It could easily have been 10 times more impressive. In fact, Earth narrowly dodged a meteor storm.  [Meteor STORM.]

The European outburst occurred as Earth skirted a filament of debris from Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner. If that filament had shifted in our direction by a mere 0.005 AU (~500,000 miles), Earth would have experienced a worldwide storm of 1000+ meteors per hour. These conclusions are based on a computer model of the comet’s debris field from the University of Western Ontario’s Meteor Physics Group. Here it is, showing Earth shooting the gap between two filaments of comet dust:

Dodging Global Extinction Events

Western Ontario postdoctoral researcher Auriane Egal created the model and predicted the outburst before it happened. Egal’s model was in good agreement with a rival model from NASA, so confidence was high. Meteors seen over Europe came from the larger filament on the right.

[…]

It goes on to describe how meteor forecasting allowed NASA to shut down some satellites and reposition them so that their harder sides were toward the comet dust.

So, that’s one bullet, or a gazillion, dodged.

Another comes in the form of damn scary story in German sent by a Doctor/Scientist/Researcher of my acquaintance.

At Christliches Forum:

Besorgniserregende Abnahme männlicher Fruchtbarkeit durch immer mehr Östrogene

Worrying decrease in male fertility due to more and more estrogens

This is a world-wide phenomenon and the consequences could truly be dire.   You can use translation tools for the whole article.  Here are a few pulls:

It was not until September 2018 that the US newspaper Newsweek wondered who was responsible for the death of America’s sperm. Vox published seven questions that we probably did not dare to explain for fear.

Professor Shanna Swan of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York wrote, “In the past 40 years, the sperm count has been halved.”

The danger that we would no longer be able to have children by natural means is still a long way off, yet male fertility provides an indication of his health: those with the lowest sperm quality had the highest probability of dying soon. Whatever restricts the fertility of the man is responsible for premature death.

[…]

Feminization has been going on for the last ten years. Alpha males are no longer there. Instead, they wear tight-fitting jeans, a topknot and behave increasingly like little girls. Real men are dying and women no longer want to deal with effeminate men.

Strictly speaking, this means that our Western civilization is dying out because it simply fails in the fulfillment of the task of creation.

Actually, one observes the loss of sperm count already in early 1990. Whether it is a coincidence that we began genetically manipulating our crops in these years, is an open question. In the 1970s and 1980s research focused on atomic and other carcinogenic environmental toxins.

[…]

Synthetic estrogens come from animal husbandry. Phytoestrogens are found mainly in soy, but also hops (beer). Estrogen-like chemicals are found in pesticides and plastic products. In addition, you can not filter out estrogen-containing contraceptives or pills hormones from the treatment plants, which we consume it with our drinking water.

We live in a “lake full of estrogens,” say the scientists. First and foremost, Colborn, who was the first to speak of genital malformations, which develop before birth and result in a lifelong reduction in sperm quality. The threatening, rapidly spreading evil is a flood of estrogens that feminize the drowning men in the end.

Whomever you blame, be it our mobile phones, rising temperatures, agriculture, pill or petrochemistry, it’s clear that in 2017, 3.85 million babies were born in America. With six births in 100 women of childbearing potential, blessing is as low as in a long time.

[…]

This is a real thing.  More and more I hear of… problems.

And in the Church and priesthood… there are those like James Martin, LGBTSJ, going around promoting effeminacy and sterility.  Then we are engulfed in the artificial soup being brewed up by tinkering and tinkering and tinkering.

And if you don’t think there is a connection between the two, then you are, so to speak, nuts.

Posted in Global Killer Asteroid Questions, Look! Up in the sky!, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices | Tagged ,
12 Comments

VIDEO: Pro-abortion propaganda v. Catholics in NYC

Posted on 13 October 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Take a look at this propaganda video from a pro-abortion group in NYC.

Listen to what the respective sides chant.  Listen to the claims.

Think of how the Left and the Democrat Party of Death is calling for public action that is, in effect, violence.

NYC4AR – This Church Harasses Women from Erin Sheridan on Vimeo.

\

Their sacrament is abortion, which feeds directly into the demonic forces that demand human sacrifice.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | Tagged , ,
13 Comments

JUST TOO COOL: The ‘tricolours’ ensign of Le Généreux, captured by Nelson on display

Posted on 13 October 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

JUST TOO COOL: The 'tricolours' ensign of Le Généreux, captured by Nelson on display

Which it’s a post For you fans of the Aubrey/Maturin series. Which it’s all about that monstrous ol’ flag Nelson got off the Frogs at Malta but was at the Nile where Aubrey distinguished himself.

In another story, I read that, when they unrolled it, they could smell gun powder.

From The Mirror:

Huge flag captured from French battle ship by Admiral Lord Nelson to go on display for first time in 100 years

The ensign of Le Genereux, which is roughly the size of a tennis court, was taken by Nelson and his men in 1800 and is believed to be one of the earliest Tricolours in existence.

A huge flag captured from a French battleship by Admiral Lord Nelson is set to go on display for the first time in more than 100 years.

The ensign of Le Genereux, which is roughly the size of a tennis court, was taken by Nelson and his men in 1800 and is believed to be one of the earliest Tricolours in existence.

Volunteers are currently carrying out painstaking conservation works prior to it being unveiled to the public.

The 217-year-old flag is a remarkable survivor from the days of sea battles when national flags played a vital role in naval engagement so warring ships could identify who was the enemy through cannon smoke and the chaos of battle.

Le Genereux was one of only two ships to escape the British attack at the Battle of the Nile in August 1798 – the battle that sealed Nelson’s reputation as England’s hero.

The British caught up with warship in February 1800, the Battle of the Malta Convoy.

On the morning of February 18, the English fleet chased the French squadron and Le Genereux covered allowing three French ships to escape before surrendering.

It is believed it could be the oldest surviving Tricolour, as it is thought it was present on the ship at the Battle of the Nile in 1798.

[…]

The Complete Aubrey/Maturin Novels (Vol. 5 volumes) (Aubrey/Maturin Novels)  UK link  HERE

Posted in Just Too Cool | Tagged
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ASK FATHER: Pastor won’t allow TLM wedding in “his church”

Posted on 13 October 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

We were in a situation where
(a) my fiancee and I had already booked a time slot in a Church for the Rite of Marriage and Nuptial Mass
(b) After this, we requested from the parish priest to have Rite of Marriage and Nuptial Mass done in the extraordinary form. We informed the parish priest that we had a priest (qualified) who was able and willing to officiate.
(c) Parish priest refused, saying it was ‘his church’ and that he wouldn’t have that happening in ‘his church’.

Is this contrary to Summorum Pontificum and/or Universae ecclesiae?

With a Mass, it seems more straightforward: stable group + qualified priest + no schismatic allegiances = request must be granted

But with the other sacraments such as marriage is it that straightforward?

First, you might have checked about this before you “booked”.

The legislative document for the whole Church, including your parish, called Summorum Pontificum says:

Art. 5 – § 3 For faithful and priests who request it, the pastor should also allow celebrations in this extraordinary form for special circumstances such as marriages, funerals or occasional celebrations, e.g. pilgrimages.

Of course pastors have power and you don’t.  You can go to the bishop about this, as is your right.  The same document says:

Art. 7 – If a group of lay faithful, as mentioned in art. 5 § 1, has not obtained satisfaction to their requests from the pastor, they should inform the diocesan bishop. The bishop is strongly requested to satisfy their wishes. If he cannot arrange for such celebration to take place, the matter should be referred to the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei”.

Of course, if the bishop is not inclined to be helpful, there’s not much you can do because they have power and you don’t.  Rather than be pastors, shepherds, fathers to you, they lord it over you, giving you stones instead of bread.

So, assess your situation and the people involved.

Your best approach may be to persuade, diplomatically.

And pray.

And get ready to be disappointed.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, One Man & One Woman, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM | Tagged
22 Comments

The unhinged Left now turns to satanism, witchcraft to fight Pres. Trump, Justice Kavanaugh

Posted on 12 October 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Under another post I mentioned something about libs, Dems, turning to witchcraft to fight Pres. Trump.

Several of you have sent notes about a plan for “witches” to gather in Brooklyn and… and… sorry, I just had an image of hipster witches – hipches – witchsters … to curse SCOTUS Justice Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh, as you know, is a practicing Catholic.

The Daily Caller:

WITCHES PLAN TO GATHER IN BROOKLYN TO CURSE KAVANAUGH AND THE PATRIARCHY

Occultists in Brooklyn are inviting practitioners of witchcraft to place a hex on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the patriarchy.

Catland, an establishment that describes itself as “Brooklyn’s premiere occult bookshop & spiritual community space,” recently issued an invitation on Facebook which read, “Please join us for a public hex on Brett Kavanaugh, upon all rapists and the patriarchy at large which emboldens, rewards and protects them.”

“We are embracing witchcraft’s true roots as the magik [sic] of the poor, the downtrodden and disenfranchised and it’s [sic] history as often the only weapon, the only means of exacting justice available to those of us who have been wronged by men just like him,” the statement, noticed by CNS News, continued. (RELATED: Anti-Trump Witch Compares Casting Hexes To Singing The National Anthem, Saluting The Flag)

“He will be the focal point, but by no means the only target, so bring your rage and and all of the axes you’ve got to grind. There will also be a second ritual afterward – ‘The Rites of the Scorned One’ which seeks to validate, affirm, uphold and support those of us who have been wronged and who refuse to be silent any longer.”

Though it claims that “no one will be turned away for lack of funds,” Catland is suggesting a $10 donation to participate in the event. Fifty percent of the proceeds will be donated to charity, split equally between Planned Parenthood and the Ali Forney Center, which provides housing for LGBT youth. As of the writing of this article, over 10,700 respondents have shown interest on Facebook, and the event claims to be “sold out.”

The group hex is the latest attempt by some to magically “bind” President Donald Trump and his administration. Shortly after the 2017 presidential inauguration, the content of the ritual purportedly used by members of the “#MagicResistance” was published online, according to the BBC. Its author, a self-described “magical thinker” named Michael M. Hughes, recently published a book called “Magic for the Resistance: Rituals and Spells for Change”.

[…]

They post an image of Kavanaugh in Hell. That’s what sort of people these are. No one should ever wish that someone will go to Hell.

Notice what I put in bold.

The money raised will go to fuel big-business abortion and sodomy.  Abortion and sodomy thwart God’s desire for humanity, to be fruitful, to bring children into the world so that souls may reflect God’s goodness and bring glory.

Abortion is the sacrament of the Left and sodomy is its sacramental.

And, remember, the Devil always works in the open.  He tells you what he is doing, so that you will be complicit when you let him do it.  The Devil … il diavolo non può noscondere la coda… can’t hide his tail.

Now, witchcraft, which is manifestly satanic, connected to sodomy and their version of human sacrifice.

It might seem funny, and indeed there is something comically stupid about them.  The problem is that, no matter how goofy these people sound, the Enemy can use what they do.

Posted in Liberals, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices, Throwing a Nutty, You must be joking! |
19 Comments

SSPX Superior Fr. Pagliarani interview: “we have to have souls ready for all sorts of sacrifices”

Posted on 12 October 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

SSPX Superior Fr. Pagliarani interview: "we have to have souls ready for all sorts of sacrifices"The new Superior of the SSPX, Italian Fr. Davide Pagliarani, has given a hard-hitting interview.   Originally in Nouvelles de Chrétienté, it is in English HERE

Samples:

The Society holds a treasure in its hands. […] Our fondest wish is that the official Church will stop considering Tradition as a burden or a set of outmoded old things, but rather as the only possible way to regenerate herself. However, major doctrinal discussions will not be enough to bring this work to completion: first we have to have souls ready for all sorts of sacrifices. This is true both for consecrated persons and for the lay faithful.

And…

What are the important topics today? Vocations, the sanctification of priests, the care of souls. […]  Now the Society has all the necessary means to lead the movement of the return to Tradition. More precisely, we have to confront two demands:

– on the one hand, to preserve our identity by recalling the truth and denouncing error: “Praedica verbum: insta opportune, importune: argue, obsecra, increpa.” “Preach the word: be instant [persistent] in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke” (2 Tim 4:2);

– on the other hand: “in omni patientia, et doctrina,” “in all patience and doctrine” (ibid.): attract to Tradition those who are walking in that direction, encourage them, introduce them little by little to the battle and to an increasingly courageous attitude. There still are authentically Catholic souls who thirst for the truth, and we have no right to refuse them the cup of cold water that is the Gospel by an indifferent or haughty attitude. These souls often end up encouraging us by their own courage and determination.

AMEN.  This is what so many of you do for me every day.

And…

The less connected we are to the Internet, the more we will rediscover peace of mind and serenity of judgment. The fewer screens we have, the better we will be able to make an objective evaluation of the real facts and of their exact import.

And…

Now the problem is right here, always at the same place, and we cannot shift it to somewhere else: what is the dogmatic authority of a Council that intended to be pastoral? What is the value of these new principles taught by the Council, which have been applied systematically, consistently and in perfect continuity with what had been taught by the hierarchy that was responsible both for the Council and for the post-conciliar period? This real Council is the Council of religious liberty, or collegiality, of ecumenism, of the “living tradition”…, and unfortunately it is not the result of a wrong interpretation. The proof of this is that this real Council has never been rectified or corrected by the competent authority. It conveys a spirit, a teaching, a way of thinking about the Church which are an obstacle to the sanctification of souls, and its tragic results are right before the eyes of all intellectually honest men, of all people of good will. This real Council corresponds at the same time to a doctrinal teaching and a lived-out practice that have been imposed on the “People of God”; we refuse to accept this as just another council like the others. This is why we discuss its authority, but always in a spirit of charity, for we want nothing but the good of the Church and the salvation of souls. Our discussion is not a mere theological joust and, in fact, it has bearing on subjects that are not “debatable”: the life of the Church is at stake here, indubitably. And that is what God will judge us on.

This, then, is the perspective in which we stick to the official documents from Rome, with respect but also with realism; it is not about being on the right or the left, hard-line or lax: it is simply about being realistic.

And…

At Mass, the faithful discover the echo of the ephpheta, “be opened”, pronounced by the priest at Baptism. [Optional in the Novus Ordo.] Their soul is opened once more to the grace of the Holy Sacrifice. Even when they are very little, children who attend Mass are sensitive to the sacred meaning that the Traditional liturgy expresses. Above all, attending Mass makes fruitful the life of married couples, with all its trials, and gives it a profoundly supernatural meaning, for the graces of the Sacrament of Matrimony flow from Our Lord’s sacrifice. Attending Mass is what reminds them that God wants to make use of them as cooperators in the most beautiful of His works: sanctifying and protecting the souls of their children.

BEAUTIFUL!

And…

Father General, before concluding, allow us to ask a more personal question. Didn’t the responsibility that fell on your shoulders on July 11 of this year frighten you?

Yes, I must admit that I was somewhat afraid, and I even hesitated in my heart before accepting it. We are all vessels of clay, and that is true also of the man who is elected Superior General: even though it is a somewhat more visible and somewhat larger vessel, it is nonetheless fragile.

The thought of the Most Blessed Virgin is the only thing that enabled me to overcome the fear: I place my trust in her alone, and I do so totally. She is not made of clay because she is of ivory; she is not a fragile vessel because she is an impregnable tower: turris eburnea [as it says in the Litany of Loreto]. She is like an army set in battle array, terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata [Canticle of Canticles 6:3], which knows in advance that victory is the only possible outcome of all its battles: “In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph.”

You mean… you don’t think she is “normal”?

So, reading the whole of the interview – worthwhile – you get the sense that the brakes have been applied and a strong spiritualized approach is underway, at least from the office of the Superior of the SSPX.

Posted in SSPX | Tagged ,
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