Consecration 'not the exclusive right or power of the priest'
Dutch 'Dominicans'' pamphlet calls for laity to 'celebrate Mass'
"The Dominican Order in the Netherlands has issued a radical recommendation that lay ministers chosen by their congregations should be allowed to celebrate the Eucharist if no ordained priests are available. In a booklet posted to all 1,300 parishes in the country, it says that the Church should drop its priest-centered model of the Mass in favor of one built around a community sharing bread and wine in prayer."

NOW Comments: First, it's amazing that these supposed Dominicans have discovered something that in nine centuries no one in that order, including St. Dominic's most brilliant spiritual son, St. Thomas Aquinas, could figure out. If these 21st Century "master theologians" had any sense about them, they'd yield to the Angelic Doctor (not to mention, the Magisterium) and back off of such insanity. Given the sacramentally dubious nature of the Novus Ordo 'priests,' it could be argued that they already have laity saying the "new Mass" anyway, but this proposal would be another step in the attempted destruction of the Church. It's interesting that this heretical idea was advanced by the radical "Dominican" theologian Fr Edward Schillebeeckx (pronounced Skill-uh-becks) over twenty years ago and though he was warned about his "erroneous" view by Modernist Rome, there was no censure against him. In fact, in the Vatican document (which had "Cardinal" Joseph Ratzinger as its principal author) Schillebeeckx's position was actually praised to some extent in a passage that itself manifests an error condemned by Pope Pius XII (false antiquarianism) and another in its suggestion that the Church could somehow lose a constituent part of her identity: "The rediscovery of a eucharistic ecclesiology, though being of undoubted value, has however sometimes placed unilateral emphasis on the principle of the local Church." So we're talking about something that is at worst only an "abuse" of what Vatican II set in motion. According to the above article, a "Dominican" interviewed on the order's website, Fr Harrie Salemans, goes so far as to attack the very foundation of Catholic parish life, declaring: "The Church is organized around priests and actually finds the priesthood more important than local faith communities. This is deadly for local congregations."

Schillebeeckx's teachings are still widely held in the counterfeit church. For example, "Sister" Marie Gertrude Roldan, who while lecturing on conciliar canon law for San Jose's "diocese," stated: "Lay people can preside at Sunday service in the absence of a priest. Can we consecrate? No, but we will get there yet!" (For more, see "Relativism, Ecclesial Style") Like the Dutch "Dominicans" cited above, Schillebeeckx is one of Roldan's sources for defending this new liturgical model. Besides his "advanced" views regarding the priesthood of believers, Schillebeeckx's book, Jesus: An Experiment in Christology, was criticized by then-"Cardinal" Ratzinger for denying the divinity of Christ. In the same book he writes that the biblical account of Christ's resurrection is not to be regarded as a historical fact, but rather as a faith experience, as an "aetiological cult-legend." Much like his Swiss counterpart Hans Küng, Modernist Rome went through the motions of disciplining Schillebeeckx, to give the illusion that his heresies were frowned upon by the new order, yet also like Küng, he was not declared excommunicated. Indeed, this very same book is still used (even recommended) in theology classes, given place in libraries and praised in lecture halls at once-Catholic colleges and universities around the world, such as (limited here to a few in English-speaking nations) Australian Catholic, Creighton, Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology, John Carroll (where his "innovative" thinking was the subject for the 10th Session of the 2005 Catholic Theological Society of America Convention), LaSalle Loyola Marymount  Notre Dame (where an entire post-graduate course is devoted solely to Schillebeeckx!), Seton Hall (where his "innovative" thinking was the subject for the 10th Session of the 2005 Catholic Theological Society of America Convention) and Spring Hill College. So his influence is still quite pronounced in the post-Vatican religion, despite the feigned concern seen in some quarters.

Reality Check: The    PHOTOS   (Warning: Immodest, irreverent attire) The promotion of "priestless parishes" and "Eucharistic ministers," such as the one shown in action here and here at once-Catholic Villanova University, represent stages in the process of liturgical desacrilization that commenced with the reforms implemented under suspected Freemason, "Archbishop" Annibale Bugnini. The lay celebrant concept is also prevalent with so-called "stealth priestesses," as seen in the photo above from Africa and at this German-speaking Novus Ordo church in Malaysia. Whatever mild protests might come from Benedict XVI or other conciliar authorities (call it "plausible denial"), this is a development that has picked up considerable speed and there shows no signs whatsoever of being derailed anytime soon.

Background link: Fr. Schillebeeckx explains the democratic essence of communio in the Church

 

S.D. Supreme Court to decide if school sex-abuse lawsuits continue
"The Catholic Diocese in Rapid City is a defendant in one of two lawsuits involving alleged sexual abuse awaiting decisions by the South Dakota Supreme Court."

Milwaukee 'archbishop' named Green Bay 'diocese's' interim leader
"Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan has been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as apostolic administrator of the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay. Dolan will continue as archbishop of Milwaukee while helping to oversee the Diocese of Green Bay."

NOW Comments: And as we all know, "Abp." Dolan has shown himself to be very adept at wearing other hats.

Ecumenical Buddhism
Is the Reverend Father Robert Kennedy a Jesuit priest or Zen master? Both!
"The Reverend Father Robert Kennedy, S.J., Roshi, is a Jesuit priest and Zen teacher in the White Plum lineage. He studied with Yamada Roshi in Kamakura, Japan, with Maezumi Roshi in Los Angeles, and with Glassman Roshi in New York. Glassman Roshi installed Kennedy as sensei in 1991 and conferred Inka (his final seal of approval) in 1997, making him a roshi (master)."

Related link:
Catholic priests serving Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka

'He embodies our university's mission'
New Loyola Marymount prof: 'I don't have the sort of temperment that submits to Christianity'
"The first African to receive a Nobel Prize for Literature has joined the faculty at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles as the President’s Marymount Institute Professor in Residence, according to a university news release."

Couldn't the money have gone to another group? Apparently not!
Cincinnati 'Catholic' schools leader won't bar donation over abortion link
"The Catholic schools superintendent in southwest Ohio says he won't stop a student volleyball league from giving money to a breast cancer charity."

 Hindu dances at Lourdes

Pseudo-Marian cult too far out for even Novus Ordo
Six 'nuns' in Ark. 'excommunicated' for heresy
"Six Catholic nuns have been excommunicated for heresy after refusing to give up membership in a Canadian sect whose founder claims to be possessed by the Virgin Mary, the Diocese of Little Rock announced Wednesday."

Reality Check: An interesting sidebar to this story came in 2005, when Dr. Mark Miravalle, a professor of theology at the notrious "charismatic" hotbed, Franciscan University of Steubenville, OH, publicly defended the most controversial part of a prayer that the above cult claims came from the Blessed Virgin herself. Miravalle argues that the passage "who once was Mary" can be interpreted in an orthodox sense, such as "St. Peter, who once was Simon." The obvious problem, of course, is that we pray to St. Peter, not to St. Peter, who once was Simon, as that would be absurd. And so, too, is the false Lady of All Nations appartion.

Abandoning Catholic sacred traditions
Does simple music form simple faith?
"A ceremony at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Sept. 11 offered some patriotic music and a few dabs of the classics, but everything else made me wonder whether I should be listening as a critic or as a Christian. A lot of liturgical music these days asks you to choose between the two. With its hand-clapping, inspirational, just-folks character, how different this music is from a tradition that ran from plainchant through Josquin and Palestrina to Mozart and Beethoven, and finally to Messiaen and Britten. Without the church to inspire — not to mention finance — great composers, how diminished the history of music might seem to us."

Reeds shaking with the wind
Connecticut 'bishops' agree to law demanding abortifacient pill use at 'Catholic' Hospitals
"Connecticut's Roman Catholic bishops have changed course and agreed to administer emergency contraception to all rape victims at Catholic hospitals just days before a new state law requiring them to do so takes effect. The church, which runs four of the state's 30 hospitals, has been fighting the legislation for the past two years, arguing that lawmakers were forcing medical personnel to violate their religious beliefs and perform chemical abortions by providing emergency contraception, sold as Plan B, to women who are ovulating."

Reality Check:
Plan B manufacturer admits 'morning after' pill can cause death of an embryo

This just in from the 'restorer of tradition'
'Pope' praises "prophetic" legacy of Paul VI
"Pope Benedict XVI said that the "prophetic insight" of Pope Paul VI helped the Church survive the "uneasy times" after Vatican II."

Thanks for the reminder!
Pro-life groups asks 'bishop' to stop radical 'nun's' fundraising for ACLU
"Idaho Choose Life (ICL) has issued a public call for Idaho's Catholic Bishop, Mike Driscoll "to intervene quickly and forcefully in the brewing scandal involving Sister Helen Prejean." Sister Prejean is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at an event to raise money for the Idaho ACLU on Friday, September 28th.  (see ACLU website announcement: http://www.acluidaho.org/ )"

NOW Comments: It's pretty pathetic when a supposed shepherd of souls needs to be told to intervene.

Defense or cover-up?
Modernist Rome rejects John Paul II euthanasia charges
"A doctor alleged Wednesday that Pope John Paul II violated Catholic teaching against euthanasia by refusing medical care that would have kept him alive longer — a charge immediately dismissed by Vatican officials."

Pope St. Pius X's testament for our times
Celebrating the Centennial of Pascendi
"A hundred years ago, on September 8, 1907, Pope Saint Pius X (1903–1914) published the Encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis (Feeding the Lord’s Flock) against the devastating doctrines of Modernism. It was the culmination of an offensive that caused irreparable damage to Modernism. A month earlier, the Congregation of the Holy Office had published the Lamentabili Sane  Decree condemning 65 distinct modernist propositions. [The author is mistaken here, as Lamentabili was actually issued nearly two months before Pascendi, on July 3.] Thus, it is fitting to celebrate the centennial of this great document that changed the Church’s history. 

"In these times of historic revisionism and political correctness, it becomes all the more necessary to celebrate the centennial of this great document since there are those who downplay the importance of Pascendi by denying the very existence of a Modernist conspiracy or even the errors Saint Pius X condemned. They claim the whole controversy was a misunderstanding caused by the pope’s excessive zeal. To their view, the saintly Pontiff simply did not understand the “genial” ideas of the new Church reformers who proved true precursors of the new times."

Related Links:
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Modernism
100th Anniversary of 'Pascendi Domini Gregis' - Pope St. Pius X
Fighting Modernists, a Decree Shaped Catholicism

Bail is set at $1M US
Vegas priest pleads guilty to battery
"A Roman Catholic priest who smashed a wine bottle over the head of a woman in church pleaded guilty to felony battery with a deadly weapon. The Rev. George Chaanine admitted Thursday in Clark County District Court that he smashed the bottle over the 54-year-old woman's head at Our Lady of Las Vegas Catholic Church in January."

Offering false relics to fight false relics
Click online to make John Paul II a 'saint'
"Just click online to make Pope John Paul II a saint. Yes, as part of efforts to promote sainthood for John Paul, the Vatican is offering 'relics' of the late pontiff free on the internet."

NOW Comments: This is supposed to be to counter people selling his "relics"; of course, this doesn't stop Modernist Rome from asking for a "Free-Will Offering for the Cause". (Question: Why does it need money to promote a cause that we all know is a fait accompli?)

More Novus Ordo-style 'apologetics'
German 'cardinal' apologizes over Nazi term furor (no pun intended)
"Cologne's Cardinal Joachim Meisner has expressed regret over his use of the word 'degenerate,' which has Nazi era overtones.¼He had said: 'Where culture is uncoupled from ... the worship of God, religion becomes moribund in rituals and culture degenerates.'"

NOW Comments: Here is an instance where the desire to yield to political correctness overrides principle. What Meisner initially said was correct and sounded much as one would expect a Catholic prelate to sound. And when one examines decadent German culture during the Weimar Era, particularly the notorious cabaret scene (we considered adding a link here to demonstrate the point, but the vileness of the few viewed was so pronounced that we thought twice and declined), it is evident that by speaking out against decadent "art" the Nazis exploited what was the utter revulsion and outrage of the average German toward the culture war.

Technology, like fire, is a good servant but a bad master
Cosmos: Can there really be Artificial Intelligence?
A computer can check our spelling as we type, calculate our taxes, and help us predict the weather or put a man on the moon. It provides some appearance of thinking, but we know that a computer really is not any closer to us than an abacus. It is a tool for manipulating numbers, nothing more. The letters on the computer screen, the tax figures, indeed all of the computer’s operations are nothing but the electrical representation of numbers and patterns of numbers – they are not thoughts, let alone intelligence.

Abstract Heresy?

How Pope St. Pius X condemns Benedict XVI
The more things change: Modernism then, Conciliarism now
"Joseph Ratzinger has noted repeatedly that his views now are essentially the same that he has held throughout his priesthood, meaning the views of the "New Theology," which is nothing other than repackaged Modernism, that he assimilated so well in his seminary days in Germany. He has never repudiated his views on anything. Anything. He is the same in his current "position" as he has been throughout his priesthood, which means he holds to his rejection of the binding nature of Pascendi Dominici Gregis, something that no one can do and consider himself a Catholic. Ratzinger repeated as late as last year, on August 14, 2006, that he is essentially the same now as he has always been. Why do so many traditionally-minded Catholics want to ignore the inescapable conclusions that follow from Ratzinger's candid admission below?"

Schismatic enemy of God and man 'in communion' 
Beijing's New Bishop: Commie-Tested, Ratzi-Approved
"Arguably the most-watched episcopal ordination in recent years took place yesterday in Beijing, as 41 year-old Fr Joseph Li Shan was made its archbishop at the hands of prelates of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, the state-controlled church in the People's Republic.

"Succeeding Michael Fu Tieshan, who died in April, Li -- the former rector of Beijing's seminary -- already boasts a credential that eluded his predecessor: the consent of the Holy See, formally announced yesterday on the cover of the Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano, which also extended papal approbation to another recent ordination by the Patriotic church."

Related Article:
Bishop Li Shan in communion with Pope, reports Vatican
Benedict’s support for Communism and the Fatima Prophecy

Reality Check:
Pope Pius XII: Ad Apostolorum Principis (Encyclical on Communism and the Church in China) June 29, 1958
On the schismatic status of the Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA) in China
China's Schismatic Church

 VIDEO
Catholics, Where has our Church gone? (by Hutton Gibson)
This rarely seen analysis, filmed in the early 1990, examines the novelties expounded by post-Vatican II church in light of the perennial teaching of the Catholic Church.

By 'confession-cam'?
Internet enhances traditional worship
"Skeptics said that folks would never give out their credit card numbers to buy a pair of shoes on the Internet. Others sneered at the prospect of obtaining a college diploma from an online university. With those realities as ho-hum as e-mail, could online churches be far behind? Will Catholics eventually confess their sins to a priest via videocam? Will Baptists log on for Sunday services?"

Victory for Christ haters
Judge orders removal of veteran's memorial cross
"Last week's decision by the 9th Circuit Court to remove a solitary Roman cross from a World War I veterans memorial in California's Mojave Desert has drawn an angry response from the American Legion, a major association of U.S. veterans."

MEXICO: Novus Ordo leaders lashes out at sex abuse victim
"Catholic Church leaders in Mexico accused a victim of sexual abuse, who brought charges in a U.S. court against Mexican Cardinal Norberto Rivera for protecting an alleged pedophile priest, of seeking economic gain."

Premeditated Merger
North American Union driver's license created
"The first 'North American Union' driver's license, complete with a hologram of the continent on the reverse, has been created in North Carolina. 'The North Carolina driver's license is "North American Union" ready,' charges William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration."

Related Links:
The dismantling of America on the fast track
 VIDEO  The Amero - North American Currency

'Catholic' university conference features Zen, radical feminist speakers
"Besides featuring Zen Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hanh as keynote speaker on Oct. 2, the Catholic University of San Diego’s 18th Annual Social Issues Conference will showcase a speaker associated with an organization that promotes 'reproductive rights.'
Andrea Smith will give the 2007 Labovitz Lecture on Oct. 5. Smith is co-founder of Incite! Women of Color Against Violence and the Boarding School Healing Project. She will talk on 'Human Rights, Social Action, and the Path to Peace.'” Warning: Immodest attire in photo

Benedict XVI to visit to US
"Pope Benedict XVI will visit the US in April 2008, for a major address at UN headquarters in New York. Although rumors about a papal visit have circulated in the US media for the past week, the Vatican has not yet confirmed the trip. However informed sources have told CWN that plans are quickly taking shape for a spring trip to eastern US."

Another victim of 'Marxist/Catholic' Mugabe
Zimbabwe 'archbishop' resigns over sex claims
"Zimbabwean Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube, an outspoken critic of President Robert Mugabe, resigned on Tuesday, two months after being sued for adultery in a case which he called a vicious government-backed attack."

Related feature: See NOW's extensive coverage of the Ncube smear and Mugabe's Novus Ordo-backed reign of terror at the top of last month's archive.

Temple-goers appreciative of 'papal' guilt trip
Benedict XVI offers 'repentance' to Austrian Jews
"Pope Benedict stopped at the memorial in Judenplatz, or Jews' Square. The appearance was brief and drenched in rain. With Austria's chief rabbi, Paul Chaim Eisenberg, at his side, the pontiff meditated and then heard the rabbi's prayer. He bowed twice before shaking hands with several elderly representatives of the Jewish community.

"Speaking earlier to reporters accompanying him on the papal flight from Rome, Pope Benedict said he wanted to show 'our sadness, our repentance' for the Holocaust and 'our friendship with our Jewish brothers.' The pope's use of the word repentance was especially important, because it recognizes guilt and responsibility, something that Jewish leaders have been seeking."

NOW Comments: For him to apologize for the Holocaust is an insult to the memory of Pope Pius XII, who did more to protect European Jews than any other world leader of the day. There is no evidence that Rabbi Eisenberg acknowledged the fact. Nor is there any apology on the part of the rabbi for any of his people's misdeeds through, as though they are somehow above reproach. Also, we see "Pope" Ratzinger praying with infidels again. First, there was Cologne Synagogue; then, Turkey's Blue Mosque; now, Judenplatz. It's really gotten to be a habit with him; perhaps he wants to outdo John Paul II in that department, but, if so, he still has a long way to go catch "garrulous Karolus." (LOL) Seriously, his statements concerning the Jews have amounted to some of the most conspicuous errors and heresies in his thick portfolio of unorthodox teachings. "Whoever meets Jesus Christ meets Judaism," he said at Cologne, an outrageous remark that echoed John Paul II and ignored our Lord's continual condemnation of the Jewish leadership of His day, who represent the religious ancestors of the modern Jews.   "The Jewish religion as it is today traces its descent, without a break, through all the centuries, from the Pharisees." — Universal Jewish Encyclopedia (For more salient quotations, see Who's [sic] interests does the Vatican represent today?)

Related Links:
Benedict's ritual subservience toward Judaism
 VIDEO   The amazing heresies of Benedict XVI (part 1 of 7) (his false teachings regarding the Jews begin at 2:34)

Pushes total to $1B for just California!
San Diego 'diocese' settles abuse claims for $198M
"The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego said Friday it has agreed to pay $198.1 million to settle 144 claims of sexual abuse by clergy, the second-largest payment by a diocese. The agreement caps more than four years of negotiations in state and federal courts."

So to speak¼
Pavarotti returns to the 'Catholic faith' before dying
"Luciano Pavarotti, the world renowned tenor was laid to rest in Modena’s cathedral with a grand funeral which paid tribute to the opera legend and gave witness to his return to the Catholic faith.

"The diocese had received criticisms that it had gone overboard in honoring a remarried divorcé. But Pavarotti's parish priest, Fr. Remo Sartori, said the twice-married singer had been reconciled with the Catholic faith, reported the Sydney Morning Herald. Pavarotti had received the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick before losing his battle against pancreatic cancer last Thursday, aged 71."

NOW Comments: After being married to the same woman for 35 years, in 1999 Pavarotti divorced her and made public his adulterous relationship with his secretary, who was literally young enough to be his daughter. When she gave birth to his illegitimate child, they "married" in 2003. When it was a Pavarotti scandal the whole world knew, but to his death there was no evidence of that he'd repented his sins. Nevertheless, his funeral "Mass" was celebrated in white vestments, as is typical of the Novus Ordo, for he'd made it to Heaven with no stop on the way. Pavarotti may have felt remorse at the end for what he did (and we certainly hope that is the case, in fact a perfect act of contrition, given the worthlessness of the Vatican II church rites), but, in any case, the criticisms mentioned above were in order, because there was no public statement from the singer stating sorrow for the international scandal he caused nor is there any indication that the conciliar sect required one from him—and a scandal of such proportions as his should to be remedied in the same manner, publicly. There are, however, clerics in the Novus Ordo, happy to say, who have still retained enough of the Catholic Faith (or, perhaps, just basic decency) to publicly challenge the decision to give him a church burial (warning: photos of immodest attire in the cathedral). The whole event more resembled one of the tenor's concerts than it did a service for the dead, with a video of a Pavarotti performance played on a widescreen TV, followed by a four minute standing ovation from the audience, er, congregation. Italian jet fighters flew in formation over the cathedral. All in all, it was a celebrity event with many of the world's richest, most powerful and most famous in attendance, but not a one of them could so much as lift a finger to help him. Great for the paparazzi, then; not so great for the one lying in state. Of course, there was not a word from clergy asking the assembled to pray for him or warning them of the last four things that neither wealth, nor power, nor fame can help them escape, but why, then, from the standpoint of Novus Ordo should there be such gloomy talk? After all, this was a goodbye party for one who gave many people some fond memories of his beautiful voice and now he was "going home." Comments update: Since the posting of the above item a reader wrote to question the correctness of certain assertions made. One correction regarded a detail of the service, where we state that it had been "celebrated in white vestments. This is wrong; in reality, the vestments were purple, as is clearly shown in a linked photo above. Although mistaken on the point, the thinking behind the error was nonetheless correct, because, as we mentioned, the "Mass was far more celebratory (a widescreen television, a standing ovation by those in attendance for the video of a performance, a flyover above the cathedral by the Italian Air Forces, etc.) Of course, black (not violet) is the color worn by Catholic priests at funerals, a point missed by our critic, but no matter. A second objection by NOW's critic was that the statement Pavarotti divorced his real wife should have been that she divorced him for infidelity. In this case, the critic was mistaken, for it was the singer who went to court, while his wife, who certainly had grounds for separation, tried to save their marriage. Finally, there was the suggestion that we were editorially consigning Pavarotti to Hell. This was another distortion, however, as we clearly express the hope that he saved his soul. We did question whether there are grounds for good hope, however, given the circumstances and we are confident that that is the correct Catholic position to take. What makes the allegations of our self-righteous critic so troubling and sad is that they come from someone who ostensibly is a traditional Roman Catholic, but whose view of salvation, which seems to take for granted that Modernist "sacraments" were sufficient to save the tenor, appear more in line with the Novus Ordo than with anything worthy to be called Catholic. And this was made all the more distressing when it was learned that said critic is employed in the (mis)education of traditional Catholic children.

It supports 'greener' abortions, as in revenue
Planned Parenthood’s recent hypocrisy
"Planned Parenthood and its cheerleaders have long claimed they want abortion to be 'safe, legal, and rare.' Let’s examine the recent evidence. Do they promote things that make abortion 'safe, legal, and rare' or do they actually support dangerous practices, ignore legal restrictions, and make decisions likely to increase the rate of abortion?"

After 55 years in same convent, it's "Hasta la vista, sisters!"
Mahony evicts Santa Barbara nuns to pay abuse settlement
"'We're just so hurt by this,' [Sister Angela] Escalera, the order's local superior, said this week. 'And what hurts the most is what the money will be used for, to help pay for the pedophile priests. We have to sacrifice our home for that?'"

NOW Comments: In answer to the question: Yes, you must sacrifice. It's called wiping out any trace of Catholicism from the face of the Earth. Our sympathy for the elderly, disabled nuns is tempered somewhat in knowing that they've accepted other destructive changes that have come with Vatican II. The photo accompanying the article juxtaposing a downcast sister passing a portrait of the smiling Benedict XVI without looking at it ought to be the sister's attitude toward the Novus Ordo church. Leave it without looking back, much as God instructed Lot to do when fleeing Sodom.

New abuse case looms for Orange 'diocese' as judge deposes Brown
"Bishop Tod Brown must testify about what he knew about past cases of sexual abuse in the Orange diocese, ruled a judge on Sept. 5. In Jan. 2005, the Orange diocese settled claims with 90 sex-abuse victims for $100 million. But retired Superior Court Judge Robert Jameson has ordered Brown to give a deposition in the first post-settlement sex abuse case, filed in July 2005, involving the diocese."

Exorcism, apostasy in Calcutta
Did Mother Teresa's 'dark night' lead her to religious indifferentism?
"In its report on the new book, ABC News says that Mother Teresa described the 'emptiness' she felt and confessed her struggles with faith and the existence of heaven in pages she had planned to have destroyed. A decade after her death, they have been published in the book, Come By My Light, as part of the petition for her sainthood.

"The letters’ release comes days after the archbishop of Kolkata, the city formerly known as Calcutta, said church officials performed an exorcism on Mother Teresa at a hospital later in her life. This act and the letters showed Mother Teresa was 'both holy and human,' making her even more special, Archbishop Henry D’Souza said."

NOW Comments: While exorcisms are hardly uncommon in Church history, we're not aware of any be performed on a future saint. This isn't to say that saints haven't been tormented, as is well-known in the lives of such holy individuals as St Anthony of the Desert and St Jean Baptiste Marie Vianney, but the torments were inflicted upon them from without; we haven't heard of a saint who had at any time also a demoniac, that is to say, had been one inwardly taken over by an evil spirit. This should not to be confused with St. Mary Magdalene, who was possessed before her conversion, before she attained sanctity. For the archbishop, then, to say some one needing exorcism is a sign of holiness, then, is beyond strange. As for Mother Teresa's writings evidencing doubts about God and Heaven, it is true that some saints have struggled through such dark nights of the soul, but they battled through them courageously and came out the other side stronger than before. She came out of it much changed for the worse in terms of her faith, now adopting the religious indifferentism that would be her trademark in such quotes and deeds as:

• "If in coming face to face with God we accept Him in our lives, then we are converting. We become a better Hindu, a better Muslim, a better Catholic, a better whatever we are, and then by being better we come closer and closer to Him...What God is in your mind you must accept."
• "All is God -- Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, etc., all have access to the same God."
• "I love all religions. ... If people become better Hindus, better Muslims, better Buddhists by our acts of love, then there is something else growing there."
• Of her care for an old Hindu priest it was said that "She nursed him with her own hands and helped him to die reconciled with his own gods."
• Her longtime friend and biographer Naveen Chawla said that he once asked her bluntly, "Do you convert?" She replied, "Of course I convert. I convert you to be a better Hindu or a better Muslim or a better Protestant. Once you’ve found God, it’s up to you to decide how to worship him"

From these and other such apostate remarks and acts (of which there are many, her corporal acts of mercy notwithstanding), it appears that instead of battling against the dark night, Mother Teresa somehow embraced it. If she and her Missionaries of Charity, whose religious formation is patterned after hers (after all, she founded the group), were correct, then all the pre-Vatican II Catholic missionaries who risked their lives to bring Christ to the pagans simply wasted their time and, indeed, Christ's own great commission for the Apostles to preach the Gospel throughout the world would have been pointless, because in the end all paths lead to God. For someone to have uttered such rubbish in ages past would have led, not to a person's beatification, but to their excommunication!

And about that exorcism? In scripture St. Paul teaches: "But the things which the heathens sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God. And I would not that you should be made partakers with devils (1Cor 10:20)." Yet that's precisely what Mother Teresa did for so many years, telling Hindus, Buddhists and other pagans that it was okay to continue following their false gods, that Christ is optional. Along these lines it's interesting to note that Mother Teresa was on friendly terms with and received funding and an award from the ruthless Haitian dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier and his wife Michèle, who was a divorcée. The "saint" told the latter that "the country vibrates with your life work," when what it really vibrated with, in fact, were terror and voodooism. Dying voodooists were, according to Mother Teresa's thinking, also to be comforted by the presence of their gods. Is it any wonder she had demonic torments?

Sources:
Wojtyla gets a Third Eye
Tradition in Action - Mother Teresa files
(Below - Protestant sites with relevant quotes)
'Mother' Teresa - General Teachings/Activities
Mother Teresa's successor worships Hindu idols
Mother Teresa--Wikipedia

Bush pooh-poohs critics as engaging in 'scare tactics'
Canadian summit: Another step towards North American Union
"The three-nation summit at Montebello, Quebec, was held behind closed doors, well guarded behind an intimidating fence and plenty of police, but the news conference that followed on August 21 revealed more than the three heads of state had planned. President George W. Bush, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Mexican President Felipe Calderon all refused to deny that the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) is a stepping stone toward a North American Union.

"The $64,000 question was posed by a Fox News reporter, Bret Baier. He asked all three heads of state, 'Can you say today that this is not a prelude to a North American Union, similar to a European Union?'"

Related column:
Residents of planned union to be 'North Americanists'

More eco-mania from the Novus Ordo at Greenpeace gathering
'Priest' offers festival-goers chance to confess their green sins
"Forgotten to recycle any newspapers or tin cans recently? Feeling guilty because you neglected to carbon offset your flight to somewhere, anywhere, outside England this summer? The Roman Catholic Church is at hand with a new line in 'green confessions' to help eco-sinners to find forgiveness."

Related article: 'Roman Catholic Church' to offer Green confession booth


NOW Comment: An interesting article for a number of reasons. "Dom" Anthony Sutch, the British "Benedictine" who "hears confessions" while wearing "a green chasuble-style garment made from recycled curtains, and in a booth constructed of recycled doors." He admits that some people have questioned whether he's making a mockery of the concept of confession. “It is not, I hope, blasphemous to do this. I do not think it is. It is just an attempt to make people conscious of the way they live," Sutch is quoted as saying. What Catholic priest worthy of the name would do something that he thinks even might be blasphemous? Sutch takes the furthers the  Of course, the eco-confession is blasphemous no matter how it's intended, for, if taken seriously, people are confessing and doing penance for things that aren't even sins and,  but if, on the other hand, it is to be taken lightly, then it is an even graver sin, because a purported priest is play-acting the administration of a sacrament, which is akin to simulating a sacrament. Sure, it can be argued that what's being simulated is a false sacrament of the conciliar religion, but that's a distinction lost to most of the festival-goers, no doubt, especially since Sutch engages in false advertising by claiming to represent the Catholic Church. In fact, it's just as bad in its way as a "Mass" being celebrated by someone dressed like Ronald McDonald. Then there's the Novus Ordo fixation with the "environmental movement," which we touched on earlier this month. Don't worry about saving your soul (after all, everyone's saved anyway), they're telling people, SAVE THE PLANET!!! Is that overstating the case for Modernist Rome's ecological hysteria? Well, take a look at this and be convinced. Ironically, Benedict XVI's shrill alarm is coming on the heels of more and more hard scientific evidence that's is completely debunking the global warming panic. For example:

On August 15, 2007, meteorologist Joseph D’Aleo, the first Director of Meteorology at The Weather Channel and former chairman of the American Meteorological Society’s Committee on Weather Analysis and Forecasting, said, “If the atmosphere was a 100-story building, our annual anthropogenic (man-made) CO2 contribution today would be equivalent to the linoleum on the first floor.” (For entire article, see The year the global warming hoax died. Also visit the website of the group D'Aleo heads, ICECAP, (International Climate and Environmental Change Assessment Project), which is made up of an international panel of experts from various scientific disciplines (meteorology, climatology, astrophysics, atmospheric physics, geology, oceanography, etc) seeking "to spotlight new findings in papers and reports and rapidly respond to fallacies or exaggerations in papers, stories or programs and any misinformation efforts by the media, politicians and advocacy groups.")

The counterfeit church's obsession with pushing people to think they must tackle such concerns is consistent with the man-centered, "humanistic" religion it fosters, but it doesn't reflect the mind of the true Catholic Church. In fact, in January 1958 Pope Pius XII, though speaking in another context, made remarks that are worth noting here. In audience with a group encouraging large families, His Holiness dismissed the myth of a "population explosion" that would cripple the Earth's resources. "God will not require men to give an account of the the general destiny that falls within His care, but for the single acts willed by them in compliance with or in violation of the dictates of conscience" and that "providence has reserved for itself the future destiny of the world." (1959 Catholic Almanac, p.47)

A 'post-partisan' solution argued by 'Catholic' politico
Gov. Schwarzenegger wants weaker GOP abortion stance
"California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is coming under fire today from pro-life advocates there because of his desire to weaken the Republican Party's pro-life stance. He is asking for a new state Republican platform that removes any mention of abortion."

Allegedly stolen for his wife and family
'Priest' pleads not guilty to fraud charges
"A Roman Catholic priest accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from two Louisa County churches pleaded not guilty to federal fraud and money laundering charges Thursday."

'True church' 'false church'¼it's all relative to Modernists!
Vatican representative tones down 'one true Church' statement
"The head of the Vatican's office for Christian unity has responded to concerns among Europe’s Protestant church leaders over the Vatican’s recent statement asserting that the Catholic Church is the only true church of Jesus Christ.¼In an attempt to temper the assertion, Cardinal Walter Kasper, the president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, told reporters at the Third European Ecumenical Assembly currently taking place in Sibiu, Romania, that by claiming other communities “were not churches in the proper sense, we did not mean that these others were somehow false churches.”

NOW Comments: For all those neo-traditionalists who leaped on the July statement as the strongest affirmation of the Church's traditional teaching since the First Vatican Council, guess again. An unintentionally humorous take on this development came from someone writing in to the pro-SSPX weblog, AngelQueen. "Well its good to know that Kasper knows more then the Pope," wrote "gimli" (screen name), apparently a sarcastic dismissal of Kasper's remark, as if the "cardinal" was somehow misinterpreting (or worse) Benedict XVI's meaning. This is a common reaction of those who want to somehow isolate the imaginary good, orthodox "Pope" Ratzinger from all the mischief emanating from Modernist Rome, as though his thoughts constantly are being manipulated by all those terrible heretics around him intent on betraying his trust. The first thing to consider is the status of Kasper. This isn't some backwater cleric who can say and do things without much public scrutiny, but a high-ranking official in the Novus Ordo church who's making international news on a monthly basis, if not even more often. In the second place, he is attending an ecumenical conference as "president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity" and is thus the official spokesman for Ratzinger at that gathering, so if he said what he did under those circumstances, the "pope" knew what he was going to say and quite likely told him to say it. Furthermore, it isn't Benedict's name at the bottom of the Vatican document alluded to here, but that of "Cardinal" William Levada, so technically Kasper isn't even interpreting the "pope's" words, but those of one of his lackies. (For the record, the word "false" is not used to describe Protestant churches in that document; rather, it says that they are not churches "in the proper sense," which is exactly the language used by Kasper.) But to play devil's advocate, suppose Kasper really did misrepresent the "pope's" intent. Ratzinger has the biggest soapbox in the world and would certainly be heard if he didn't agree with what Kasper had said. In fact, Kasper would be back in front of the very same reporters the next day to say that he has been told to issue "a clarification of his clarification" (as per usual in the conciliar church—LOL). But it's good that Kasper has clarified the point, when he stated that Modernist Rome "did not mean that these others were somehow false churches," because Pope St. Pius X wrote of the forerunners of Ratzinger, Kasper, Levada and their motley crew: "Modernists do not deny, but actually maintain, some confusedly, others frankly, that all religions are true." (emphasis added—from the Encyclical Pascendi,1907) Thanks for the clarification, 'Cardinal"!

To woman with year-old son
Italian priest to announce 'platonic' engagement
"Italian priest Sante Sguotti, despite his vow of celibacy, has fallen in love and intends to announce publicly his being engaged.  Remarkably, the pastor in love has been supported by over 200 members of his parish at Monterosso near Padua. At a referendum he himself arranged, they spoke in favor of his remaining to be a priest, and only 17 people plus the local bishop wanted him to leave the office, the BBC Russian Service has reported."
 
'Green Church' update
Aussie 'bishop': 'Priestly duty to care for this planet'
"We’re facing consequences that will influence the way human beings live on this planet in the future,” says Bishop Christopher Toohey. “So when people say climate change is a political, scientific issue with nothing to do with the Church and the sacraments, my answer is this: something predicted to affect the entire human family, indeed all life on earth, must be placed above political lines of division; it’s a global issue demanding global solution."

NOW Comments:  Whatever happened to the care of souls! Of course, Toohey isn't breaking step in any way with Modernist Rome, but, rather, emulating the "pope" himself. The Vatican II revolution has always emphasized activism in the world to the detriment of the interior life (read Americanism), which, all but forgotten in the post-conciliar religion, is a prime reason why no holiness is seen there. Another official nod to ecological hysteria came back in July welcomed Hollywood producer Lawrence Bender  to St. John Lateran Cathedral. Bender, whose morally reprehensible films include "Kill Bill," "Pulp Fiction," "Dirty Dancing 2" and the "From Dusk to Dawn" series of vampire movies, thanked Benedict XVI and Co. for their support of ecological issues as part of the Live Earth  VIDEO  (warning: immodest attire shown off and on throughout), a benefit that features some of the most worldly of celebrities (warning: immodest attire in photo), which is fitting for the Novus Ordo (see, for example, previous official guest performances by the likes of Bob Dylan and Lou Reed). It's almost amusing to watch the video as a mixed audience of "cardinals" and Live Earth activists listened intently as if the maker of degenerate films were some voice of high moral authority. Of note, the Bender's Vatican appearance occurred on July 7th, the same day Benedict set out the tempting motu bait for the Society of St. Pius X and other potential victims. Also that at St. John Lateran day an eerie mock-Romantic era requiem was performed (see end of Bender video above) . How eerie? Eerie as in would not sound out of place on the soundtrack of one of Bender's vampire flicks.

Saint Paul's Epistles get feminist makeover
After years of inclusive language war, Bible gets Vatican recognition

Voodooists on the prowl
Not even the dead are safe in Caracas
"In the past when graves were robbed, the primary objective was to steal personal effects such as jewelry or gold dental fillings, said Odalys Caldera, an investigator in the city's judicial police. Today, thieves are pillaging the graves for darker reasons. The buyers of the bones are paleros, the practitioners of a black magic cult related to Santeria whose rise in popularity here is fueled by a strange brew of faith and politics".

NOW Comments: Not so surprising considering the fact, well-established by missionaries down through the ages, that incidences of the diabolical, such as possessions and occultism, decrease as presence of the Catholic Church grow in a region, and, conversely, increase as the Church's influence wanes. Since Vatican II and the subsequent growth of the counterfeit Catholicism instances of black magic have grown significantly in historically Catholic countries such as Venezuela. There the situation is exacerbated by the Marxist government of Hugo Chavez, which has actively encouraged the import of Santeria from Cuba. There are suspicions that Chavez is himself an adherent of a such devilish cult, but this has yet to be be proven and Chavez denies the charge.

40 years of "abuse, cover up and double talk"
Judge orders Tod Brown to come clean about pedophilia in San Digeo
"A judge issued a ruling Wednesday requiring Bishop Tod Brown and other top officials with the Catholic Diocese of Orange County to divulge knowledge of past child sex abuse allegations and how they were handled, an attorney said Wednesday."

Censorship sought for 'priest' who has attacked Jewish influence
Former JP2 confidant: 'Churches should rein in Rydzyk'
"Pope John Paul II's former personal secretary has called on his fellow Polish church leaders to rein in a Roman Catholic priest accused of anti-Semitism, according to a report published Tuesday."

"Cardinal" Kaspar to represent Modernist Rome
European Ecumenical Assembly opens in Romania
"More than 2,000 delegates representing European Christian groups met in Sibiu, Romania, on September 4 to open the 3rd European Ecumenical Assembly. The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople offered the opening prayer for the assembly, which will continue through Sunday, September 9. The gathering is co-hosted by the Conference of European Churches and the (Catholic) Council of European Bishops' Conferences. Together, those two groups represent most of the Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican churches of Europe."

Reality Check:

9. These pan-Christians who turn their minds to uniting the churches seem, indeed, to pursue the noblest of ideas in promoting charity among all Christians: nevertheless how does it happen that this charity tends to injure faith? Everyone knows that John himself, the Apostle of love, who seems to reveal in his Gospel the secrets of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and who never ceased to impress on the memories of his followers the new commandment "Love one another," altogether forbade any intercourse with those who professed a mutilated and corrupt version of Christ's teaching: "If any man come to you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into the house nor say to him: God speed you." For which reason, since charity is based on a complete and sincere faith, the disciples of Christ must be united principally by the bond of one faith. Who then can conceive a Christian Federation, the members of which retain each his own opinions and private judgment, even in matters which concern the object of faith, even though they be repugnant to the opinions of the rest? And in what manner, We ask, can men who follow contrary opinions, belong to one and the same Federation of the faithful? For example, those who affirm, and those who deny that sacred Tradition is a true fount of divine Revelation; those who hold that an ecclesiastical hierarchy, made up of bishops, priests and ministers, has been divinely constituted, and those who assert that it has been brought in little by little in accordance with the conditions of the time; those who adore Christ really present in the Most Holy Eucharist through that marvelous conversion of the bread and wine, which is called transubstantiation, and those who affirm that Christ is present only by faith or by the signification and virtue of the Sacrament; those who in the Eucharist recognize the nature both of a sacrament and of a sacrifice, and those who say that it is nothing more than the memorial or commemoration of the Lord's Supper; those who believe it to be good and useful to invoke by prayer the Saints reigning with Christ, especially Mary the Mother of God, and to venerate their images, and those who urge that such a veneration is not to be made use of, for it is contrary to the honor due to Jesus Christ, "the one mediator of God and men." How so great a variety of opinions can make the way clear to effect the unity of the Church We know not; that unity can only arise from one teaching authority, one law of belief and one faith of Christians. But We do know that from this it is an easy step to the neglect of religion or indifferentism and to modernism, as they call it. Those, who are unhappily infected with these errors, hold that dogmatic truth is not absolute but relative, that is, it agrees with the varying necessities of time and place and with the varying tendencies of the mind, since it is not contained in immutable revelation, but is capable of being accommodated to human life. Besides this, in connection with things which must be believed, it is nowise licit to use that distinction which some have seen fit to introduce between those articles of faith which are fundamental and those which are not fundamental, as they say, as if the former are to be accepted by all, while the latter may be left to the free assent of the faithful: for the supernatural virtue of faith has a formal cause, namely the authority of God revealing, and this is patient of no such distinction. For this reason it is that all who are truly Christ's believe, for example, the Conception of the Mother of God without stain of original sin with the same faith as they believe the mystery of the August Trinity, and the Incarnation of our Lord just as they do the infallible teaching authority of the Roman Pontiff, according to the sense in which it was defined by the Ecumenical Council of the Vatican. Are these truths not equally certain, or not equally to be believed, because the Church has solemnly sanctioned and defined them, some in one age and some in another, even in those times immediately before our own? Has not God revealed them all? For the teaching authority of the Church, which in the divine wisdom was constituted on earth in order that revealed doctrines might remain intact for ever, and that they might be brought with ease and security to the knowledge of men, and which is daily exercised through the Roman Pontiff and the Bishops who are in communion with him, has also the office of defining, when it sees fit, any truth with solemn rites and decrees, whenever this is necessary either to oppose the errors or the attacks of heretics, or more clearly and in greater detail to stamp the minds of the faithful with the articles of sacred doctrine which have been explained. But in the use of this extraordinary teaching authority no newly invented matter is brought in, nor is anything new added to the number of those truths which are at least implicitly contained in the deposit of Revelation, divinely handed down to the Church: only those which are made clear which perhaps may still seem obscure to some, or that which some have previously called into question is declared to be of faith.

10. So, Venerable Brethren, it is clear why this Apostolic See has never allowed its subjects to take part in the assemblies of non-Catholics: for the union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it, for in the past they have unhappily left it. To the one true Church of Christ, we say, which is visible to all, and which is to remain, according to the will of its Author, exactly the same as He instituted it. During the lapse of centuries, the mystical Spouse of Christ has never been contaminated, nor can she ever in the future be contaminated, as Cyprian bears witness: "The Bride of Christ cannot be made false to her Spouse: she is incorrupt and modest. She knows but one dwelling, she guards the sanctity of the nuptial chamber chastely and modestly." The same holy Martyr with good reason marveled exceedingly that anyone could believe that "this unity in the Church which arises from a divine foundation, and which is knit together by heavenly sacraments, could be rent and torn asunder by the force of contrary wills." For since the mystical body of Christ, in the same manner as His physical body, is one, compacted and fitly joined together, it were foolish and out of place to say that the mystical body is made up of members which are disunited and scattered abroad: whosoever therefore is not united with the body is no member of it, neither is he in communion with Christ its head. [Emphasis added throughout]

—Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Mortalium Animos  (1928)

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Next exit: World Government
North American Superhighway cover-up
"A 1998 document which WND has obtained shows the North American SuperCorridor Coalition, or NASCO, was originally named the North American Superhighway Coalition. The document plays into an emerging debate in which a number of critics, including President Bush, want to deny that a NAFTA 'Superhighway' exists."

Alan Keyes on the 2008 Election
Church and family: scapegoats for welfare state?
"The government exists to represent, secure, and serve the liberty of the people. But the family is the building block of human society, the social unit on which the existence and strength of the people first depends (a fact that, at least in their rhetoric, most of our politicians pretend to recognize). Weaken the family, and you weaken the society of the people. Weaken it enough, and you eliminate the people's ability to control the form of government ordained and established by their strength. (Literally, you destroy its democratic element. The term democracy is, in the original Greek, a compound of two words which refer to the strength or power of the people.) Eliminate that control, and you altogether destroy government of, by, and for the people — i.e., the republican form of government established and required by our Constitution."

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