During oral arguments at the Supreme Court last week, Justice Samuel Alito asked Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr., who is arguing in support of so-called “same-sex marriage” on behalf of the Obama Administration, about the possibility of a religious institution losing its tax-exempt status should the Court rule his favor.
The exchange went as follows:
Justice Alito: Well, in the Bob Jones case, the Court held that a college was not entitled to taxexempt status if it opposed interracial marriage or interracial dating. So would the same apply to a 10 university or a college if it opposed same-sex marriage?
Solicitor General Verrilli: You know, I don’t think I can answer that question without knowing more specifics, but it’s certainly going to be an issue. I don’t deny that. I don’t deny that, Justice Alito. It is it is going to be an issue.
Conservative Catholics in the media and elsewhere swiftly warned that if LGBT activists prevail in this case, a day may come when not only Catholic, but also Protestant, Jewish and other institutions will risk losing their tax-exempt status if their ministers refuse to preside over same-sex “weddings.”
Carrie Severino, chief counsel and policy director of the Judicial Crisis Network at the Federalist Society in Washington, D.C., for example, sounded the alarm saying:
A real collision with religious liberty could happen over tax-exempt statuses and state licensure of ministers.
Meanwhile, some 30 miles to the north, rioters were busy pelting Baltimore City police officers with rocks and bricks, burning cars and buildings, and looting local businesses of everything they could get their hands on.
Ostensibly a reaction to the death of Freddie Gray, a young yet notorious drug dealer who died while in police custody, the lawless mob was comprised mostly of high school aged fatherless boys (a great number of which, one may safely assume, have already sired little bastards of their own) who leveraged the opportunity as an excuse for unleashing the multi-generational rage toward authority that was well ingrained in their community long before Gray was even born.
Are these but unrelated events that took place in one unfortunate week?
Not on your life.
The Supreme Court exchange between Justice Alito and Donald Verrilli concerns institutions that “oppose same-sex marriage;” a scenario that clearly goes beyond a given clergyman’s willingness to perform a marriage ceremony and straight to the affiliated organization’s particular beliefs.
In other words, it’s all about Catholic doctrine and one’s willingness, or unwillingness, to abandon it.
Consider, for example, a hypothetical Catholic College that succumbs to State pressure to host same-sex “weddings” in their chapel. Even if these “legal” ceremonies are officiated over by rogue priests, the college could still stand to lose its tax-exempt status simply for “opposing” same-sex marriage in its teaching.
Forget the unlikelihood of such a college actually teaching what the Church holds to be true – the point is that it’s not the behavior of individual clergymen that matters, nor is it even the policies of the individual institutions wherein they happen to operate (like colleges, parishes or dioceses); rather, it’s the doctrine of the religion that the institution represents that will dictate their treatment at the hands of the State.
It is for this reason, properly speaking, that the Catholic Church really is likely to lose its tax-exempt status in the United States if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the homosexualists.
To which I cannot help but respond, in part, so what?
I can hear the outcry now, but please don’t come whining to me about the negative impact this would have on the Church’s ability to carry out her mission.
Let’s be honest; the sacred hierarchy – not just here in the United States, but globally – effectively abandoned the mission that Christ gave to His Church over fifty years ago.
Our Lord did not say, “Go ye therefore to all nations and set up a 501(C) 3 or its equivalent.” Much less did He establish a Church that is subject to the whims of the State.
In sending His Apostles forth to baptize and to teach, in no way did Our Blessed Lord even remotely suggest that they were to submit their cause to the civil authorities in the various nations.
This is noteworthy.
Remember, this is the same Jesus who willingly submitted to the legitimate civil authority that was vested in Pilate, recognizing and affirming as He did that it was given to him from above, and He tells us to do the same, “Render unto Caesar…”
What may appear as a contradiction, however, is anything but.
When Our Blessed Lord issued the Divine Commission, He did so as He to whom “all authority in Heaven and on earth has been given;” i.e., He did so as Christ the King who reigns over every nation – Catholic or otherwise – in such way that “rulers and princes are bound to give public honor and obedience to Him” (cf Pope Pius XI, Quas Primas 32).
No civil authority on the planet has the right to compel His Mystical Body, the Holy Catholic Church (e.g., by using the tax code as a weapon) to act in a way that is inconsistent with her mission, and this for the simple reason that she is the one true faith established by Him who is King of kings.
Pope Leo XIII put it thus:
To wish the Church to be subject to the civil power in the exercise of her duty is a great folly and a sheer injustice. Whenever this is the case, order is disturbed, for things natural are put above things supernatural; the many benefits which the Church, if free to act, would confer on society are either prevented or at least lessened in number; and a way is prepared for enmities and contentions between the two powers, with how evil result to both the issue of events has taught us only too frequently.
In like manner it is to be understood that the Church no less than the State itself is a society perfect in its own nature and its own right, and that those who exercise sovereignty ought not so to act as to compel the Church to become subservient or subject to them, or to hamper her liberty in the management of her own affairs, or to despoil her in any way of the other privileges conferred upon her by Jesus Christ.
(Pope Leo XIII, Immortale Dei – 33, 35)
As such, it is not entirely accurate to imagine that the outcome of the Supreme Court’s deliberations on same-sex marriage might harken a “real collision with religious liberty;” rather, it’s more properly viewed as a potential violation of the Sovereign Rights of Christ the King.
The reason so many sincere Catholics are unable to recognize as much is that our churchmen, from the time of Vatican II and the Declaration on Religious Freedom, Dignitatis Humanae, on forward, have utterly failed to proclaim the Social Kingship of Christ in any meaningful way.
According to Fr. Brian Harrison, one of the most articulate defenders of Dignitatis Humanae to be found among the “conservatives”:
The Church at Vatican II, while never denying her doctrine of Christ’s social kingship, made a prudential judgment to place it on the ‘back burner’ in secularized post-Christian Western nations.
(“Is Christ still King?” – Address given at Credo St. Louis, November 24, 2013)
Let me make sure I got this right…
The sacred hierarchy, charged with teaching “everything whatsoever” that Our Lord commanded, has effectively ceased to preach, for more than half a century, a doctrine that is inextricably linked to the Divine Commission itself, (“All authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to me, go therefore…”), and yet we mustn’t imagine that this is tantamount to the abandonment of both the doctrine and the mission?
I’m not buying it.
In any case, let’s be clear, “the Church” didn’t decide to shelve the immutable truth of Christ’s Kingship any more than she declared the existence of multiple means of salvation beyond herself.
Holy Mother Church, the bulwark of truth, could never so abandon her Founder and Head.
Weak and sinful men, however, can, and indeed they did at the Second Vatican Council.
This is evident in a most noteworthy way relative to the present discussion when the bishops of the Church, in cahoots with the Bishop of Rome, Paul VI, deemed it expedient to adopt the U.S. Constitutional approach to religious liberty in Dignitatis Humanae; thereby placing the Social Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ on the proverbial back burner.
And this, my friends, is one of the primary reasons we find ourselves in the mess described herein at this present moment:
– The President of the United States is pressing the Supreme Court to uphold as sacrosanct a blatant mockery of marriage as part of his ongoing assault against the Holy Catholic Church…
– Allegations of police misconduct, both real and imagined, are growing in number almost daily; giving rise to violent outbursts from unruly mobs that are intent on wreaking havoc in our cities…
The common thread that unites all concerned is that neither those who exercise legitimate civil authority, nor those who are subject to it, have any sense of obligation toward Him from whom all authority comes, and the reason is simple:
The men who occupy the places of authority in the Catholic Church, at the urging of the Second Vatican Council, have ceased to proclaim Him.
Sure, there’s no guarantee that the President of the United States would resist the political pressures brought to bear by LGBT activists; nor is there any guarantee that the citizens of our inner cities would be any more respectful of civil authority if they hadn’t so ceased to proclaim Him, but if the sacred hierarchy had remained faithful to its mission over these past fifty years, all concerned would have at least been afforded an opportunity to know the immutable truth concerning the Kingship of Christ.
What they might have done with that truth once known is entirely irrelevant.
As St. Paul once asked:
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ. (Romans 10:14,17)
My advice?
Whatever energy one may feel compelled to expend praying that our civic leaders will safeguard the truth about marriage, or that the citizens of our cities will behave peacefully, would be far better spent begging Our Lord to move the hearts and minds of the men who speak in the name of the Church, that they will have the courage to unshackle themselves from the earthbound weight of the Council and once more proclaim with vigor the Social Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Until they do, brace yourself for even darker days to come.
“As the Church goes, so goes the world.” Would the hippies, the sexual revolution, and all the rest of today’s insanity have occurred without the Judas Council Revolution? I wonder.
As far as the leading churchmen are concerned it is not “shackles” that attach them to Vatican 2, it is a bright, shiny and much treasured wedding band.
Propaganda in the 60’s and 70’s likened Pope Paul VI as melancholic hero even calling him ‘Hamlet’. Italian socialist propaganda described him as ‘il Papa buono’. He was neither. Forty to 50 years in hindsight and it is clear that Paul VI is more Uncle Claudius than Hamlet using drops of poison in VII to kill the social kingship of Christ. And we, those who attempt to practice our Catholicism in this world gone upside down, we are each of us now the mad Hamlets clinging on to the ghosts of our ancient noble fathers, the Holy Saints of old. Is that how this story has to end, with bloodshed?
“He who lives by the sword, shall die by the sword.”
Matthew 26:52
I believe the removal of the St Michael prayer at the end of mass by Paul VI was also instrumental in releasing legions of demons into the earth, the result of which has been all too evident.
Dear Mr. Louis Verecchio!
Thank you very much for your post. I like reading your blog, here in Germany.
If catholic people had only heard and obeyed the popes before the dreadful “council”.
May Our Lady of Fatima guide us in the true faith and true charity.
Let’s pray for the collegial consecration of Russia by the pope and the bishops.
Dear Fr Reinartz,
–
Thank you for your comment on this blog! We (the readers of this site) always appreciate very much faithful and courageous priests such as yourself who are willing to stand up for the Truth and Christ. I hope you will enlighten us in the future with your comments!
Previous to the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church was the moral compass and authority not just for Catholics, but for the entire world. Modernist in the Church willingly and happily gave up this position after Vat2. I agree with Alphonsus Jr. “As the Church goes, so goes the world.” The institutional N.O. “church” is on a downhill spiral and the world’s morality is going down the drain. This cannot be remedied until N.O. catholics wake up and find shelter in Traditon. Anyone who had the privilege of being in Father Gruner’s company, saw the sadness in his eyes because he know the chastisement was upon us. May he rest in peace and pray for us who may very well experience the warnings of Our Lady of Fatima. Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
Louie writes: “that they will have the courage to unshackle themselves from the earthbound weight of the Council and once more proclaim with vigor the Social Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ”.
I believe that Jorge Bergoglio would find such a thought intolerable, not only diplomatically but intellectually.
To be sure, Bergoglio has enjoined the following:
“We have to be able…to bring them the Gospel, Jesus Christ himself, God incarnate, who died and rose to free us from sin and death”.
All good and Catholic-sounding, but after two years of preaching from the Vatican and elsewhere it is reasonable to ask what Bergoglio actually intends by these words.
For example, of Christ’s Crucifixion, the Catholic Encyclopedia writes:
“By the death of Christ on the Cross the New Covenant was sealed, and the Old was abrogated.”
Jorge Bergoglio, by contrast, states:
“We hold the Jewish people in special regard because their covenant with God has never been revoked” (Evangelii Gaudium, #247).
And when Bergoglio met with these Mohammedans did he “bring them the Gospel”? No! No! No! He counseled the religious reading of the Koran, a book that, among other things, claims Our Lord did not die on the Cross (Surah 4:157).
So, again, what, for Bergoglio, does it mean to “bring them the Gospel”? Reading Jorge through Jorge, we may note that, right after this exhortation, he states the following (insertion in square brackets added for clarity):
“Engaging in dialogue does not mean renouncing our own ideas and traditions, but [renouncing] the claim that they alone are valid or absolute.”
On “Religious Indifferentism”, the Catholic Encyclopedia reads as follows:
“Since various religions are in disagreement, it follows that, wherever they conflict, if one possesses the truth the others are in error.”)
Bergoglio, on the other hand, says:
“You are wrong because you cannot possess truth, we cannot carry it, we must encounter it.”
And, finally, we know from Bergoglio’s interview with an atheist, that he holds:
“Proselytism is solemn nonsense”.
From all the above, and many other instances, I conclude that, for Jorge Bergoglio, Christianity is not objectively true, and that we “bring the Gospel” to non-Christians by searching for truth with them. I conclude that Hell would experience climate change before Jorge Bergoglio would ever countenance preaching the Social Kingship of Christ.
(I am reposting the following comment without any links, because my first draft appears to have fallen foul of the spam blocker. All of the quotes below can be found through Google.)
Louie writes: “that they will have the courage to unshackle themselves from the earthbound weight of the Council and once more proclaim with vigor the Social Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ”.
I believe that Jorge Bergoglio would find such a thought intolerable, not only diplomatically but intellectually.
To be sure, Bergoglio has enjoined the following:
“We have to be able…to bring them the Gospel, Jesus Christ himself, God incarnate, who died and rose to free us from sin and death”.
All good and Catholic-sounding, but after two years of preaching from the Vatican and elsewhere it is reasonable to ask what Bergoglio actually intends by these words.
For example, of Christ’s Crucifixion, the Catholic Encyclopedia writes:
“By the death of Christ on the Cross the New Covenant was sealed, and the Old was abrogated“
(from the article entitled, “Moral Aspect of Divine Law”).
Jorge Bergoglio, by contrast, states:
“We hold the Jewish people in special regard because their covenant with God has never been revoked” (Evangelii Gaudium, #247).
And when Bergoglio famously met with Mohammedans did he “bring them the Gospel”? No! No! No! He counseled the religious reading of the Koran, a book that, among other things, claims Our Lord did not die on the Cross (Surah 4:157).
So, again, what, for Bergoglio, does it mean to “bring them the Gospel”? Reading Jorge through Jorge, we may note that, right after this exhortation, he states the following (insertion in square brackets added for clarity):
“Engaging in dialogue does not mean renouncing our own ideas and traditions, but [renouncing] the claim that they alone are valid or absolute.”
On “Religious Indifferentism”, the Catholic Encyclopedia reads as follows:
“Since various religions are in disagreement, it follows that, wherever they conflict, if one possesses the truth the others are in error.”
Bergoglio, on the other hand, says:
“You are wrong because you cannot possess truth, we cannot carry it, we must encounter it.”
And, finally, we know from Bergoglio’s interview with an atheist, that he holds:
“Proselytism is solemn nonsense”.
From all the above, and many other instances, I conclude that, for Jorge Bergoglio, Christianity is not objectively true, and that we “bring the Gospel” to non-Christians by searching for truth with them. I conclude that Hell would experience climate change before Jorge Bergoglio would ever countenance preaching the Social Kingship of Christ.
Before climate change warms up the cold Irish waters, how about this as a penance……?
“During the winter I have done a penance which I shrink from and dread in a way which I cannot describe. I have had to drive myself by vow to perform it. I set my alarm for three o’clock when it is freezing, slip out of the house in my night-shirt and stand up to my neck in the pond, praying for sinners.”
Fr William Doyle
dear Dumb_ox,
You speak like a Catholic speaks. Thank you for this comment. It’s Catholics like you who nourish the brethren and keep us strong in combat. For combat we must, we do not resist, we reject — the apostate Bergoglio.
I agree 100% – that’s why we all need to say the St Michael Prayer despite what the compromised and hobbled hierarchy says.
Well said, friend.
Prior to VII the world suffered two WORLD wars with Catholic nations killing one another.
As always, louie, brilliant analysis of what is going on in the Church and the world. They are inextricably linked and that cannot be changed because it is ignored. As the saying goes, “As the Church, so the world”. The revolution in the Church began before Vatican ll but that is when the tree burst forth its poisonous fruit which the modern Catholic joyfully eats. This situation will continue to get worse until God in His mercy puts a stop to it.
– “… in their time all things pass under Heaven. A time to…” Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
– “If you have not a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.” Luke 22;36
Dear James the Lesser,
I certainly did not mean to suggest that the world was perfect before Vat 2. However, as the postconciliar church lost its moral fiber, the world followed. Does anyone remember the Legion of Decency? Hollywood knew that a movie found objectionable or condemned by the Catholic Church would be a flop at the box office. What would happen if pro-abortion “catholic” politicians were publicly excommunicated? Would they lose votes? The New church panders to them, invites them to dinners and allows them to speak at “catholic” universities etc. Would the pre-Vat2 Church have had an elaborate funeral for the likes of Ted Kennedy? I don’t think so! The modernist “catholic” church has lost its clout! The new order church does not insist on parishioners dressing properly for Mass. If they can’t do something that simple, how can we expect anything at all???
The “dictatorship of relativism” has been well and truly made official in the Church. One can be sure the NWO banker elites that control UN, EU, big national government policy have bee funding the heretical mainstreamed Protestant and liberal movement in the Church as they have been funding and promoting such movements outside of the Church (such as “women’s liberation”,’ anti marriage and family movement, etc., by means of the systematic (and progressive) unlawful taxation of people paid via “government” to their banking cartel.
It quickly removed and incapacitated the biggest opponent and bulwark (the Church) against the satanic modernist new world order, which has grown exponentially as a result.
Louie,
To help with the “brace yourself for even darker days to come”, Mundy has some encouragement: https://mundabor.wordpress.com/2015/05/05/contra-mundum/ . I also enjoyed his turn of the phrase — WTKHTS.
Dear all,
Father Denis Fahey provided additional food for thought, and guidance on this topic in- “The Kingship of Christ According to the Principles of St. Thomas Aquinas” writing:
— “Charged by Our Lord with the continuance of His mission here below, the Church, though without direct power in temporal affairs as such, has,
nevertheless, by her participation in the Kingship of Christ, the right of intervening in temporal affairs in order to safeguard the interests of the Divine Life.”
__
” ..the temporal is in subordination to the spiritual.. the final end of man, the end which dominates all others, is supernatural.”
–“.. this power of intervention in the temporal order does not confer a new royal dignity upon Christ, but is comprised in the attributes of His spiritual Royalty.
For it is not here question of commanding and legislating in view of conducting human society to its common good in the natural order, which belongs to the civil power, BUT OF OPPOSING EVERYTHING THAT COULD HINDER THE PROGRESS OF THE SUPERNATURAL LIFE AND THE SOCIAL ORDER CONSONANT WITH IT, AND OF OBTAINING FROM THE RULERS in the civil order THE COOPERATION NECESSARY THEREOF. This power forms part of the attributes of the Spiritual Kingship, for it is at its service and is so to say its instrument. ”
__
“thus..we see Our Lord in the Gospel making use of it, when He drove the traffickers from the Temple, thus proclaiming the right of God to be honoured in becoming fashion, even though that meant imposing restrictions upon the commercial liberty of men.”
__
“we must keep in mind the twofold aspect of Christ’s Headship: the negative aspect of His combat against sin and His warring down of evil which belong to His Kingship; and the positive one of uniting souls to God, which is the function of His Priesthood.
–“To Jesus Christ-as King, Spiritual Ruler, it appertains to set before the faithful the common end they should attain and to point out to them the means of
attaining it, thus guiding the exterior and visible movement of the whole mystical Body to Eternal Happiness.”
___
–“Finally, it is for Jesus Christ as King, in virtue of the work of Redemption which He must accomplish, to conquer His Kingdom and defend His faithful subjects against the enemies who strive to overthrow His reign here below. Christ’s Spiritual Kingship is militant and the struggle against moral evil must go on as long as men remain here below exposed to suffering and death, to corruption and sin.
http://www.catholictradition.org/Christ/kingship2.htm
======
And let us never forget that Our Lady calls us to ask for her powerful intercession daily.
As Louie points out, ‘What they might have done with that truth [the proclaimation of Christ’s right to rule over all nations] once known is entirely irrelevant’. The Popes prior to VII proclaimed the Sovereign Rights of Christ the King without fail and the Church was strong and flourishing in the nations, despite those wars, even right up to the turn of the decade between the 50s and 60s. However, after almost an entire generation of Catholic prelates committed sins of spiritual obstinacy/blindness at VII by withdrawing their alliegance to Christ in favour of the world, the Church amongst the nations is all but decimated.
Dear AlphonsusJr.
Something else to consider with regard to hippies and the sexual revolution:
A July 1968 Time Magazine study on hippie philosophy credited the foundation of the hippie movement with historical precedent as far back as the counterculture of the Ancient Greeks, espoused by philosophers like Diogenes of Sinope and the Cynics”
-( it actually goes back even farther, to the moment the Angels revolted) and with humans – in the Garden of Eden. Boiled down, it’s really just revolt against God and His laws.
___
So was the council possibly comprised of some number of people who had already caught the “sickness” from the culture? (Beatnicks of the 1940’s began the hip/hep talk that later grew into the name “hippies” in the 1960’s.)
___
–Not denying it was the job of the Church to counter it…
p.s. Rorate Caeli has a nice inspirational piece on the Queen of May
including citations from St. Pius X:
“the Son of God made man, being the “author and consummator of our faith”; it surely follows that His Mother most holy should be recognized as participating in the divine mysteries and as being in a manner the guardian of them, and that upon her as upon a foundation, the noblest after Christ, rises the edifice of the faith of all centuries.”
http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2015/05/queen-of-may-i-mary-foundation-noblest.html
Ave Mater Maria
VII, otherwise know as the ‘revelation from below’, enthroned something dark and against the common good – temporal and eternal – when it chose existence under a banner other than Christ the King.
–
“But that harmful and deplorable passion for innovation which was aroused in the sixteenth century threw first of all into confusion the Christian religion, and next, by natural sequence, invaded the precincts of philosophy, whence it spread amongst all classes of society. From this source, as from a fountain-head, burst forth all those later tenets of unbridled license which, in the midst of the terrible upheavals of the last century, were wildly conceived and boldly proclaimed as the principles and foundation of that new conception of law which was not merely previously unknown, but was at variance on many points with not only the Christian, but even the natural law.” Pope Leo XIII, Immortale Dei.
–
That error has rights because we cannot know what is True, is the ‘new conception of law’. Error has been put on a dark throne in the name of ‘the rights of the individual’ whether that be a person, a false religion, a satanic philosophy or a nation. As Dumb-ox listed amongst Bergoglio’s magisterium of the errors, he teaches, ‘You cannot possess truth.’ This is a lie. The Catholic Church does and has since Christ established Her.
old Catholic was once an old hippie. Yes the movement brought us “sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll”. But it also brought us a great distaste of the “establishment”. The sex drugs and rock n’ roll was countered by the strength of the spiritual, the religion handed down to us from the apostles through the Baltimore Catechism. We were right to fear the secular establishment. We had “population” control, you have global warming. We had “refer madness” you have gay marriage. The point being there is only one game in town worth anything and that is getting to heaven. My Church abandoned that, abandoned us and let us sink into this secular cesspool. Jumped in bed with the sola scriptura crowd. Can’t wait for the encyclical on the environment. To beg an old hippie phrase that still has immense meaning only in a different way……
Keep the faith
Our Lady appeared at Fatima in the early 20th century. The message was penance, penance, penance. And also that war was a consequence of sin. Remember the roaring 20’s? Berlin was known for it’s decadence. VII is another in a line of chastisements. Humanity already had begun to turn from Christ the King. And corrupted people of influence gained power within the Church. It seems society after VII just shows what the majority of people really wanted. And VII gave them the excuse. With the blind leading the blind.
Apparently, all the things you mentioned are what the people wanted. The prelates are part of humanity, influenced by their surroundings. Living with Christ as King was not satisfying to please man’s sin. Two world wars couldn’t sway hearts to him. So He gave them what they wanted. VII is the excuse.
Good summary there, Dumb Ox.
Let that sink in when you hear Catholics say “I support Israel”.
Louie wrote:
“be far better spent begging Our Lord to move the hearts and minds of the men who speak in the name of the Church, that they will have the courage to unshackle themselves from the earthbound weight of the Council and once more proclaim with vigor the Social Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Thank you for defense of the Faith!!
THE
BEES
SACRED PURPOSE
For centuries beeswax
In the sanctuary reigned
Our sacred purpose
From the first ordained.
Producing honeycombs
All that we handle —
Though our sacred purpose –
The Holy Mass candle.
But at the last council
Of the great Church bee
Man turned to man
Birthed sterility.
Graces for fruits
Crops and offspring
Schools, churches shut –
Can’t pollinate a thing
Until man again
On His altars lets towers –
Candles of beeswax
Sacred purpose –
…all ours!
Empires, societies, etc., they always collapse once they go on a liberal binge. If the prelates of VII had protestant envy, why didn’t they just do a Michael Coren?
P.S. Was Pius XI’s declaration of Christ the King done in a vacuum?
Here is a question I’ve always wrestled with. Why didn’t God allow the US to become a Catholic nation? With all the Catholic missions. Why was the US allowed to be overrun by Protestantism and Masonry? Has anyone written on this?
Thanks for your reminder of Father Doyle. I love him too, and have learned much from his example. I’m afraid many will dismiss his mortifications because they seem extreme – we just have to remember that he was called to perform these very difficult penances by Jesus, in personal inspirations. And the fruits of his penance are obvious – read his life, and his personal spiritual diary. A living saint – he was one of those holy men who ‘glowed’ with grace.
–
We know that we are all called to do smaller things every day that fit with His plan for us. But we have to listen, and DO.
–
Anyone want to join me in fasting Wednesdays and Fridays from midnight to 6pm? Fasting is new to me, outside of Lent, but I feel inspired to begin this now that Father Gruner has died – Our Lady wants penance, fasting, and the Rosary – then She will save souls.
“For 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.”
Ephesians 6:12
My take – in order for God to show the world how horribly wrong things can go when a country doesn’t have a foundation in the only true religion, the catholic religion.
The only book that I know of that treats of a similar topic (I haven’t read it BTW) is Chris Ferrara’s “Liberty, the God that failed”
http://www.amazon.com/Liberty-God-That-Failed-Constructing/dp/1621380068/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1430920877&sr=8-2&keywords=democracy+the+god+that+failed
The great Father Faber has lots to say about Human Respect – which has infected Holy Mother Church and is the result/cause of many of the evils we see today.
–
Here he speaks about the Church of his day (mid 1800’s) “The Church provides remedies (against human respect) for us in two ways; in her general system, and in her dealing with individual souls. She begins boldly pronouncing a sentence of excommunication agains the world, ignores its judgments in her own subject matter of religion and proclaims its friendship nothing less than a declaration of war against God. (Today, these remedies are gone…)
–
“She gives her children different standards of right and wrong from the world, and an opposite rule of conduct.” (Right. Just join the Green Party and all will be well…)
–
NOTHING in this quote rings familiar in our world, in our Church. NOTHING.
–
He goes on to make an astounding statement: “When we give ourselves to God, we deliberately commit ourselves to live a supernatural life. Now what does a supernatural life mean? It means giving up this life altogether, as seeing we cannot have both worlds. Altogether? I hear you say. Yes! Altogether. For how would you have me qualify it? Not that we shall not be a thousand times happier and sunnier even in this life; but it is from out the other life the the sunshine and happiness will come. This life must go, and altogether…
–
Father Faber goes on to say: “To a certain extent we even become unsocial by silence, or solitude, or penance, or seeming eccentricity, or vocation. In a word, we deliberately become members of a minority, knowing we shall suffer for it.”
–
It is obvious that part of the problem with apostasy, heresy, and loss of Faith is because of the plague of Human Respect.
–
Father Faber, Father Gruner, Our Lady Of Fatima ora pro nobis!
The Devil is throwing the kitchen sink in his attempt to kill the Church.
The Church is down but it is far from out, because we know that the Church will always prevail against the Devil.
Take heart people. Consider the travails of the Church throughout time. The persecutions, the attempt to outlaw the Church, the martyrs. Decades and centuries of attacks have been mounted against Her. Secularism, Communism, Fascism, Totalitarianism, Modernism, Consumerism, Enlightenmentism.
Yet the Church remains in the fight throughout. She has absorbed all of the punishment that can be inflicted. But standing She remains.
The Devil is running out of time and running out of options. He will work with might and mane to try to knock out the Church. Bring it on, I say. Bring it on, and we will bring it back to you with interest. Because we have God on our side. And no one in the long run can defy God. Take heart folks, take heart.
Thanks. This a good take on it. It was built on sand. Once any resemblance of Christianity is dissolved it turns into chaos.
Dear all:
If the Church is (as duly lamented by many here) reduced to a “remnant” [“fragment, remains, vestige”] then we need to recall our Lord’s words, our history, and the yet to be fulfilled approved prophecies of Fatima and Akita.
–After the Great flood in the time of Noah, when Our Lord came and fulfilled God’s promise to send a redeemer, He instructed us to stay alert for a SECOND time to come which would be “as in the days of Noah” in which people would be “marrying and giving in marriage” obviously in a moral state that would leave them equally unaware that sudden judgment was about to come upon them–because they had chosen to reject the Truth, as well as the warnings of True Prophecy.
__
Today’s headlines speak of upcoming votes– in the U.S. “Supreme” Court and [St. Patrick, pray for us] in once-Catholic countries like Ireland-about to leave it up to men to decide (May 22nd) whether or not to totally pervert the GOD-GIVEN definition of marriage itself.
-Coincidence? We don’t think so. This strikes at the heart of what God has Created and given as unchangable law. This perversion of truth destabilizes society which then crumbles into hellish anarchy, just as we see happening all around us.
___
We need to shoulder this burden of being a “remnant”. Those who did in the past, played a VITAL role in God’s plan which continues till the end of time, when Christ will come again in Glory. Then, as now, it included the great anguish of betrayal by what should have been trusted, Church leaders–anointed by God. Why should we be an exception, if the Holy Family was not? And if so many of Our Lord’s followers throughout the ages who also died as martyrs or suffered persecution for the same reasons, were not? We certainly have reason to denounce all these evils, but we must never forget to thank God we still KNOW right from wrong, sin from virtue, real Mercy from fake Mercy, and the Mandate of Christ from false ecumenism (to name only a few). And we can let the many testimonies from Sacred Scripture (And Our Lady) remind us of how God has acted in the past and promised to act in our future regarding his “remnant” flock:
===================================A
-Romans 9:27 “And Isaias crieth out concerning Israel: If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.
-Jeremiah 42:2 ” And they said to Jeremias the prophet: Let our supplication fall before thee: and pray thou for us to the Lord thy God for all this remnant, for we are left but a few of many, as thy eyes do behold us.”
-Romans 11:5 ” Even so then at this present time also, there is a remnant saved according to the election of grace.”
=====
-3 Kings (1 Kings) 14:10 “I will sweep away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as dung is swept away till all be clean. 22:47 And the remnant also of the effeminate, who remained in the days of Asa his father, he took out of the land.”
======
Isaiah 10:20-22 …a remnant of them shall be converted, the consumption abridged shall overflow with justice.;
11:16 ” “And there shall be a highway for the remnant of my people”..
Isaiah 15:11 ” Assuredly it shall be well with thy remnant..I shall help thee in the time of affliction, and in the time of tribulation against the enemy.”
– Zachariah 8:12 ” But there shall be the seed of peace: the vine shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew: and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things.” …they shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies, nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed, and shall lie down, and there shall be none to make them afraid. Our Lady: “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will Triumph”.
===
There is much more, including -2 Chronicles 34:21; Isaiah 37:32 ; 46:3; -Jeremiah 31:7; 44:12; -Micah 2: 12; 5:3, 4, ,7-8; -Zephaniah 1:4; 2:9; Haggai 1:12; Amos 5:15 Jeremiah 23:3
-1 Ezra)9:14
Amen!
To me, that after all the graces brought on the world after Our Lord’s redemption there should come days when, “And as it came to pass in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat and drink, they married wives, and were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark: and the flood came and destroyed them all.” Luke 17:26-27, is a great mystery. The sin of those who came after Our Lord’s redemption is MUCH greater than that of those who lived during the days of Noah, when they only had the natural law engraved in their hearts to guide them during their life.
Our Lord’s words appear in total agreement with you:
“Woe to thee, Corozain, woe to thee, Bethsaida: for if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, they had long ago done penance in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you. And thou Capharnaum, shalt thou be exalted up to heaven? thou shalt go down even unto hell. For if in Sodom had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in thee, perhaps it had remained unto this day. But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.”
Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it.
Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.
Jeremiah 6:16
This is so true. Before we got to the current stage of fear of persecution, for several decades the great majority of Church leaders failed to preach and teach the Faith and morals and fight against the prominent public evils as they gained ground, because of their desire to have the “respect” of the powerful enemies of God and morality.
As an Irishman, living in Ireland, the great darkness that is homosexual marriage will be upon us after 22nd May 2015. With the best will in the world, some of the Catholic laity continue the good fight against this abomination.
I look back on my youth 25 years ago and with the benefit of hindsight we lived in a false reality. My parish church every Sunday had Mass on the hour every hour from 7am to 1pm inclusive.
The Mass at 10am, 11am, Noon and 1pm, were all packed with standing room only.
A church that could hold well over 600 hundred souls was packed for those Masses each and every week. Today we have three Masses, and there are empty places in many of those same pews.
What was reality 25 years ago was false. It is clear to me that social pressures, cultural pressures, persuaded many to attend back then. If they had real faith they’d be still there today.
I take heart knowing that those who do attend today, attend because they truly want to be there every Sunday. The storm of scandal which has hit the Church in recent times was strongest in Catholic Ireland. The scandal was the excuse that those who never wanted to be there in the first place needed to abandon the Church. They are no loss, because they were never of benefit in the first place.
But even with the destruction wrought, the Church here is still standing and the work to rebuild the Church is ongoing. If we remain faithful, we can rebuild.
We can rebuild a Church which is better and more genuine than before.
“For where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
Gospel of St.Matthew 18:20
Dear Paul,
What you recount here is a story familiar to many, as it is to us, and a painful one. But contrary to what you say here, we view those who have left the Church -whether because their roots were not deep enough to weather the storms and scandals, or for other reasons– as tragic losses–partly because so many of them were once part of our lives– well known and loved personally– for whose souls we still pray daily; and partly because we know the Church as a great Mother intended by God to be looking not for what “benefit” there is to be gained from her members, but with the greatest concern for what benefits She can bring to each of them , in order to save their souls from the death sin brings, and guide them safely to Heaven for all eternity.
___
If you consider her Triumphant members in heaven -with the Blessed Trinity– the Holy Family, myriads of Holy Angels, all the Saints, including the un-canonized Faithful throughout the ages who died in a state of Grace -some who went through Purgation- you may more easily begin to see how impossible it is for any force on earth to destroy or change the Truths and Sources of Grace established by God – that got them there. There have always been men willing to know, love and serve Our Lord and to carry on His Apostolic succession. He guaranteed He will be with His Church till the end of time. So despite many sinners, His Church remains intact, indestructible.
__
The souls in Purgatory–another branch of the Church, likewise cannot have their paths to heaven blocked or destroyed by anything. They can only be helped by our prayers and sacrifices–as part of the untouchable mechanism God has set in place for love to reach others beyond the visible world we know.
___
We, the Militant may well consist of a smaller numbers than claimed in worldly polls, but God knows exactly who we are, firmly rooted in the same unchanging Truths and depending for our lives on the same Graces and Love from Him as those in those other two branches all do, as we work out our salvation “in fear and trembling” as St. Paul did. So there is nothing to rebuild in this Church Jesus gave us and remains with, except it’s reputation, which has been greatly maligned by those who claim to represent Her, but speak and teach error in Her name.
___
This is why you have seen Cardinals like Burke recently, publicly stating that they are concerned about false ideas circulating–such as that the Church could ever change her unchangeable teachings on marriage. He knows she is not going to change, and boldly proclaims it impossible, because she hasn’t, and can’t.
___
What makes it difficult today is the many false teachers who claim positions of power and authority in the Church today. Perhaps this is why the book of revelations warns us of those who look like lambs but speak like dragons, and of a deception so great it might fool even the elect, if that were possible.
Don’t let it fool you. The Church in Ireland is visible to God. If you are Faithful, then it still stands pure and strong and beautiful as ever, in your soul and the soul of every Irishman willing to live and die in Truth, striving for greater holiness.
No referendum will change that. Keep praying for increased Faith, while spreading these facts to others. Pray the Rosary as our Lady asked, and wait for the Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate heart–with us.
___
Whoever will be saved, will hear us. We pray for more Graces to that end.
___
Dear Indignus,
Now you are talking!
“What makes it difficult today is the many false teachers who claim positions of power and authority in the Church today. Perhaps this is why the book of revelations warns us of those who look like lambs but speak like dragons, and of a deception so great it might fool even the elect, if that were possible.
Don’t let it fool you. The Church in Ireland is visible to God. If you are Faithful, then it still stands pure and strong and beautiful as ever, in your soul and the soul of every Irishman willing to live and die in Truth, striving for greater holiness.
No referendum will change that. Keep praying for increased Faith, while spreading these facts to others…”
Amen.
Dear Peter,
Delighted you feel so inspired. (Of course being “Faithful” includes following Church law by attending a TLM or N.O. Mass on Sundays and Holy days of obligation–unless you’re physically unable) 🙂 🙂
Dear Indignus,
No doubt about it!
You are definitely getting there! 🙂 🙂
” … this Church Jesus gave us and remains with, … which has been greatly maligned by those who claim to represent Her, but speak and teach error in Her name.”
Dear Paul Murphy,
Greetings! I wish the fighting Irish all the best in keeping the faith during these troubled times. How unfortunate so many more Irish souls will not only be further at stake at loosing their faith and their souls but their sanity too due to the onslaught of the new sodomite religion which is taking over and has had taken root due to the misleading false new redefinition of marriage through NFP by the misguided modernist progressivists within our Church that goes back as far as over a century ago.
If you would like to inform yourself , or anyone for that matter who needs instruction on what the Traditional Catholic teachings on marriage were and are, with quotes from saints, the Church fathers, Scripture and Saintly Popes, just go to the forum section on this blog and look under the section “general discussion”. It used to be easier to find this forum on marriage which is a fundamental issue and in serious crisis, under its own catagory with the title “Marriage and NFP”. Unfortunately this forum on marriage has been relegated to “general discussion” along with such topics as goat herding, sports and raising children.
I hope you will find it helpful in strenthening your athenticity as a Catholic.
Saint Stanislaus, Patron of Poland, who reproached king Boleslaus the Cruel for his dissolute life, and while saying Mass, was stangled to death by him in 1079, pray for us.
Dear Peter,
Sorry to disappoint, but we’ve been voicing our strong objections to errors of every kind since we first started commenting on line–especially when the Pope does it, as he is so popular with the unwary. Thankfully none of the errors have been even attempted promulgations, and have been evoking strong responses from some Bishops and Cardinals.
(btw) may we ask where it is you’d enjoy seeing us “get”?
[If it’s St. Gertrude’s don’t hold your breath] 🙂 🙂
🙂 🙂
Amen!
Dear Paul, fellow suffering Irish Catholic, Most of those who attend Sunday Mass in the typical “liberal”, “relativist” Catholic parish do not subscribe to the whole of the Deposit of Faith and morals (led by bishops, priests down) and support and practice contraception, sex outside marriage, sodomy and publicly-enforced sodomitical relationships in every sphere of life, even upon our innocent children in schools (reeducation camps). Blessed Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle . . .
On a serious note, a few Traditional blogs have asked for prayers for
Rev. Fidenzio Volpi (of FFI fame), who it was reported to have had a massive stroke on April 29, 2015, and listed in grave condition yesterday.
We are reminded that Our Lord has taught us to pray for those who persecute us.
May God grant this priest special Graces to know the Truth, repent fully of all sin, and make a full recovery if it be God’s will.
Dear Salvemur, They didn’t do a Michael Coren, because their aim was to take over, corrupt the Church, using its own priesthood, institutions and practices to destroy the content of the Faith and God’s Holy Law.
Fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays is ancient in the Church, among the Jews before that. It is more important than ever before in these evil times.
Hilaire Belloc’ “Crisis of Civilization” explores the root of our societal crisis. http://www.amazon.com/The-Crisis-Of-Civilization-Belloc/dp/0895554623
We’ve all been tainted with liberalism and masonic ideas. It’s the world we now live in. As traditional catholics, part of our battle is discovering this and swimming against the grain.
The Good Lord wins in the end though and the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart is inevitable.
Ain’t that the truth.
Some of us might join Father Ripperger’s prayer group “Auxilium Christianorum.”
–
It’s an opportunity to pray for the priest exorcists who have joined with him in an Association. As St. Paul says we are not fighting men, we are fighting demons. I sometimes forget that Poor Francis (and those poor deluded Bishops) is not the enemy. They have been tempted to worship ‘man’ instead of God – tempted by demons. Intellectual temptation is just as strong and damaging as lustful temptations.
–
Check out Father Ripperger’s prayers and see if they fit into your schedule. Time to start spreading throughout the Catholic world who the real enemy is.
Here’s the link to Father Ripperger’s Association:
http://www.auxiliumchristianorum.org/index.html
I recall Fr. Ripperger cautioning those about to join the Association that they’d better be serious about it, bc all those who did so encountered severe temptations & attacks from The Enemy-a’ la St. John Vianney’s encounters with same at Ars.
I read somewhere that it was the most important…and most ignored…encyclical of the 20th century.
I’ll join you, Barbara. I had a breakfast this morning, but will fast the rest of the day with you. I’ll do this Wednesdays and Fridays from now on. I put it on the calendar. Thank you!
A bit of satire to lighten the load?
http://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/a-cnn/item/1708-breaking-news-pope-assigns-sspx-swat-team-as-missionaries-of-mercy-voris-objects
Michael Matt posted an article about Fr. Paul Nicholson’s condemnation of Fr. Gruner’s Funeral.
http://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/fetzen-fliegen/item/1739-father-nicholson-protests-father-gruner-s-funeral
____
Steve Skojec –one of the commenters responding to it– had this to say:
“Mr. Matt, your response is entirely appropriate, but I would urge you (as I am insistently urging myself) to stop paying attention to this toxic man. It is impossible to discuss anything with him. He goes immediately for the cheap shot, the sucker punch, then retreats behind the skirt of whatever platform he uses to launch his missives and deletes and blocks reasonable responses.
He’s been slandering me and my work at OnePeterFive.com this week, and I had thought to write something about it, but you’re correct – the traffic he would get from it is traffic he doesn’t deserve.
He is a child throwing a tantrum. He is completely unable to defend his points or to muster the slightest shred of charity in his interactions with others. He needs to be left in his room to throw his fit where only the walls can hear him.
He is in need of prayers, but deserving of no more time than that.”
Here is an interesting link. Robert Sungenis, a Catholic apologetist, has announced that he is leaving the country to what appears to be due to Americanism,the “Star Spangled”Heresy and the complete moral decay in the United States. This Interview Michael Voris has with Robert Sungenis on the Social Kingship of Christ the King is worth the watch.http://www.churchmilitant.com/video/episode/micd-up-americanism
In the good old days of yore a holy hermit built him a cell in a spot a few miles from the well, so that he might have a little act of penance to offer to Almighty God each day by tramping across the hot sand and back again with his pitcher. All went gaily for a while, and if the holy man did lose many a drop of honest sweat he knew he was piling up sacks of treasure in Heaven, and his heart was light. But though the spirit was willing, the sun was very warm, the sand most provokingly hot, the pitcher the devil and all of a weight, and the road seemingly longer each day. It is a bit too much of a good joke, thought the man of God, to tramp these miles day in and day out, with my old bones, clanking like a traction engine. Why not move the cell to the edge of the water, save time (and much bad language probably) and have cool water in abundance, and a dry hair shirt on my back?
Away home he faced for the last time with his brimming water jar, kicking the sand about in sheer delight, for the morrow would see him on the trek, and an end to his weary trudging, when suddenly he heard a voice, an angel’s voice he knew it to be, counting slowly One, two, three, four. The hermit stopped in wonder and so did the voice, but at the next steps he took the counting began again, Five, six, seven. Falling on his knees the old man prayed that he might know the meaning of this wonder. ‘I am the angel of God’, came the answer, ‘counting up each step which long ago you offered up to my Lord and Master, so that not a single one may lose its reward. Don’t be so foolish as to throw away the immense merit you are gaining, by moving your cell to the water’s edge, for know that in the eyes of the heavenly court nothing is small which is done or borne for the love of God.’
That very night down came the hermit’s hut, and before morning broke he had built it again five miles further from the well. For all I know he is merrily tramping still backwards and forwards across the burning sand, very hot and tired no doubt, but happy in the thought that the recording angel is busy counting each step.
Fr. Willie Doyle.
I had the privilege of attending Father Gruner’s Funeral Mass this morning. I wish Father Nicholson had been there! Many priests, monks, sisters, many many faithful – lots of families – everyone quiet, kneeling, praying….
–
I had the added privilege of receiving Our Lord’s Body and Blood from the hands of Bishop Fellay.
–
I’m starting to realize what persecution means at this time in the Church. Father Gruner was a faithful warrior, a knight of Our Lady, a faithful priest too – always truthful, never an unkind word – even about those who persecuted him….so too Bishop Fellay – I’ve looked into this ‘problem’ about The Society – from all I’ve read on both sides I conclude Bishop Fellay and his priests are holding back the flood – may God give them strength for the darkness ahead.
–
Bishop Fellay talked after the Mass. He told us to save our own souls – to let the world get on with its work – to stay close to Our Mother Mary and strive for holiness.
–
I’d put that up against the uncharitable rant of Father Nicholson and his ilk any day.
Thanks for this. I love Father Doyle. Imagine hearing one of his missions?
Sungenis sounded serious about leaving. We wonder where he would take his family–Portugal?
Fr ripperger has a website here from sermons that are just a few minutes too conferences over a hour he is a traditional exorcist priest
http://www.sensustraditionis.org/multimedia.html
Now I’m confused. I though Voris had nothing but contempt for “radical traditionalists”…yet here he’s interviewing Mr. Sugenis.
Ah well, maybe something will rub off on Mr. Voris. I’ll give it a listen.
I think it’s important to say that the Bishop of St. Catharines, Bishop Gerard Bergie, did offer a church, and a diocesan priest, to say Requiem Mass for Father Gruner. He considers Father Gruner to be a priest in ‘good standing’ whatever that means in his mind…
–
Unfortunately the church offered is one of those horrible round ones, and is truly ugly – and it would not have held the crowd. Father Gruner’s family are Pius X parishioners and they were fortunate to have Bishop Fellay come over from Switzerland to say the Mass. So they refused Bishop Bergie’s offer. It was generous of him to offer.
–
Too bad Father Nicholson won’t read this, and his com-box is closed. He needs to know that there are many who honour Father Gruner as a good Catholic priest – especially in his death.
Dear Barbara,
Thanks for posting this information, and your experience at the funeral.
Fr. Nicholson accuses Father Gruner of increasing people’s distrust of the Hierarchy in Rome, when so many in Rome and around the globe have done the bulk of that work for the past 50+ years, abetting modernist agendas and downplaying Fatima while ignoring our Lady’s request–never naming Russia in a Collegial consecration, even once, while letting the “word” get out that it was done.
__
Sister Lucia was supposed to have said John Paul’s last attempt, which also didn’t name Russia, was “accepted by Heaven”. Even it that is true, it doesn’t tell us that Russia no longer needs to be consecrated as requested, and the fall of the Berlin wall was the start of the promised “time of peace” .
Right.
And since Our Lord Himself told Sister Lucia it would yet be done, but “late”, we know Father was right in doing all he could till his dying moment, to get the Pope and the rest of the world to realize how dire that need still is.
___
According to his last letter to supporters, Father was planning on being in Washington to greet Pope Francis this September, with more pleas for the Consecration of Russia. If we really want to show our support and appreciation for his 38 years of passionate devotion to God, the Faith and all of us, we can see that Washington is flooded with messages September 23rd (Padre Pio’s Feast day btw) requesting the Pope to do just that.
God Bless Father Gruner’s work by providing souls to carry it on till it is crowned with success, and we see the “real” time of peace beginning with genuine conversion to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Faith.
Yes, I shall join you too…did this many years ago,with tremendous graces resulting
Allowed myself black coffee, but as St Brigitte of Sweden said,”Those who would enjoy that which is sweet, must not flee from that which is bitter”
“Silence,prayer,suffering,waiting…these are the lessons Our Lady is always teaching me.”
St Mary Euphrasia Pelletier (1796-1868)
Dear Louie,
Something we hope you’ll be addressing sometime –we”re hearing more and more “conversion stories” of socialists and communists flocking around Francis all misty-eyed:
Raoul. Castro Sunday at the Vatican after 50 minutes with the Pope:
“If the pope continues to talk in this way, sooner or later I will start praying again and rejoin the Catholic Church, I am not kidding,” the Cuban leader added.
__
Al Gore on Pope Francis:
“I’ve been startled with the clarity of the moral force that he embodies.”
“Well I’ve said publicly in the last year, I was raised in the Southern Baptist tradition, I could become a Catholic because of this Pope,” Gore said. “He is that inspiring to me. And I know the vast majority of my Catholic friends are just thrilled to the marrow of their bones that he is providing this kind of spiritual leadership.”
=====
–this, as press reports say: ” Francis prepares to issue an encyclical on global warming– expected to come out against the burning of fossil fuels for energy and champion decarbonizing the world’s economies. and the Vatican says : “We should be prepared to accept a reallocation of the benefits and burdens that accompany humanity’s activities both within nations and between nations,”
“.The Papacy and the United Nations have joined forces to countries to agree to a global climate treaty when delegates meet in Paris in December. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressing global warming “an urgent moral imperative.”
“It is a moral issue.,” Ki-moon said. “It is an issue of social justice, human rights and fundamental ethics.”
(Like abortion, contraception…population control.?..)
“If ever there were an issue that requires unity of purpose, it is climate change,” he added.
=======
New World Order and the “Marx” revolution …here we go
We don’t think it’s Castro and Gore who’ve changed their tunes…..
For anyone who missed this voice of a good shepherd:
Archbishop emeritus Jan Pawel Lenga on the Crisis in the Church:
(from an exclusive open letter obtained by Rorate Caeli–published February 2015)
Sample quotes:
“In times of the crisis of the Church God has often used for her true renewal the sacrifices, the tears and the prayers of those children and servants of the Church who in the eyes of the world and of the ecclesiastical bureaucracy were considered insignificant or were persecuted and marginalized because of their fidelity to Christ. I believe that in our difficult time this law of Christ is being realized and that the Church will renew herself thanks to the faithful inner renewal of each of us.”
__
“When we wish to remain faithful to Christ in word and deed, He Himself will find the means to transform the hearts and souls of men, and the world as well will be changed at the appropriate time.”
[His own story began with suffering…]
“I completed my priestly studies in an underground Seminary in the Soviet Union. I was ordained a priest secretly during the night by a pious bishop who himself suffered for the sake of the faith. In the first year of my priesthood I had the experience of being expelled from Tadzhikistan by the KGB.”…..
http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2015/02/rorate-exclusive-open-letter-by.html#more
It is diabolical. A diabolical conspiracy. And Elton John thinks Pope Francis ought to be made a saint. When the greatest enemies of God and His Holy Faith, His Divine Law, ecstatically praise the pope and work closely with him, something is well and truly rotten.
These enemies of God and His Church are yet His enemies.
There is only one test as to if Russia was consecrated to Our Lady: nothing has changed! As we used to say in the old days: the proof is in the pudding. No conversion of peoples to the Catholic Church, public sin, abortion, drunkenness rampant, aggressiveness by government, posturing and threatening, yet cozying up to ‘the money.’
–
NO, Russia has not been consecrated. I think this: would you rather have Russia remain friendly to the Vatican, and the Russian Orthodox Church remain in error, or would you rather have Our Lady be pleased with the consecration you have done. Poor Francis: CHOOSE!
Yes, I’m beginning to fear the loss of many millions of souls unless our poor Church leaders are converted.
–
Poor Raoul. Poor Al. Poor Elton. And then if the next pope is not to their liking they would leave? Here we have Michael Coren who ‘converted’ then un-converted himself when the Church was not Protestant enough – gee, how bad do our Church leaders have to apostatize before we are good enough for him? Yet Raoul and Al, and Elton think the Church has finally come around! Lack of logic, lack of belief: CHAOS!
–
If this isn’t diabolical disorientation I don’t know what would be.
Dear Barbara,
Sadly the NO church leaders are the instigators and orchestrators of the diabolical disorientation, so conversion is very unlikely. However, for what it is worth, here is a petition to the Synod of the Family which is being organised by a very fine group of young university students, which many on this site may care to sign:
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?zx=btu9c23darwq&pli=1#inbox/14d48ff607df71f5
Sorry, I think this is the proper link: http://www.tfpstudentaction.org/sign-petition-to-pope-francis.html?utm_source=sm-tfpsa&utm_medium=email&utm_content=SAE0311&utm_campaign=tfpsa_newsletter