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The Novus Ordo Files:
NEWS ARCHIVE for FEBRUARY, 2008 |
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This section revised March 2
 Studies
in implementing the motu proprio
Latin Mass 'indefinitely postponed,' then okayed
until???
"At the end of January,
Bishop [Thomas] McMahon
'indefinitely postponed' the Mass while he explored the provision of the
traditional liturgy in his diocese. Hmm. I don’t recall anything in
Summorum Pontificum
about bishops being able to cancel Latin Masses arranged by a parish. In
fact, removing their power to do so was the whole point of the Pope’s
apostolic letter."
NOW Comments: Of course, this is the
bait of the motu proprio. Traditionally-minded readers like the
above writer, Damian Thompson of London's
Daily Telegraph, don't
see anything in it that permits "bishops" to have the ability" to cancel
Latin Masses arranged by a parish." And that's exactly the
impression
Ratzinger gives in
Summorum Pontificum, but with his background
as one of the chief Modernist
periti at Vatican II, he knows more
than a little about crafting rhetorical vagaries. There is nothing in
the motu proprio and the equally important "explanatory letter"
accompanying it that add up to a Magna Carta for the Latin Mass, though
there is much in the language of those documents that
suggest as
much. Since translations of both can be found in the above link, we will
not go into great detail here, but note the following few representative
declarations made by "Pope" Benedict about how the "bishops" are to
implement
Summorum Pontificum.
First, let's look at a key points from the motu itself:
1. The first limitation is placed on
the declaration
by Ratzinger himself in Article 1: "It is,
therefore, permissible to celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass
following the typical edition of the Roman Missal promulgated by Bl.
John XXIII [sic--NOW] in 1962 and never abrogated, as an extraordinary form of
the Liturgy of the Church." So, the traditionally-minded members of
the Conciliar Church don't have a choice as to which missal they can
use if they are going to toe the line set down here, despite the
fact that any number of missals published prior to "Pope" Roncalli's
election have worked perfectly well for countless Catholics and
seemingly ought to be included. Of course,
one traditional
group, the Society of St. Pius X, uses the '62 missal and it seems to be
Ratzinger's primary target, as it is the largest and most
influential group (though not always the one with the soundest
positions). Of course, implicit in him only mentioning the
Bugnini/Roncalli adulterated missal is the overarching (though
usually unspoken)
raison d'ętre of the counterfeit church:
The Church began with Vatican II. In any case, here is a
stricture that Benedict XVI hands over to the "bishops" from the
get-go: The only option specifically mentioned for those seeking to
have "approved" Latin Masses is to use the 1962 missal.
2. In Articles 2 and 4, Ratzinger
declares that no permission at all is needed for a priest to offer
the Mass from the 1962 missal if offered in private. Article 3
addresses religious communities and congregations, and there the
"Pope" says "the decision must be taken by the Superiors Major, in
accordance with the law and following their own specific decrees and
statues," so very clearly such priests do
need permission.
 3.
In Articles 5 to 8, which is where we get into the situation
described above by Thompson and of most concern to many readers,
Ratzinger, while seeming to give an open playing field over which to
run for the motu crowd, has strewn the way with some very nasty
booby traps that give considerable discretionary power for "Bp."
McMahon (photo, right) and other obstructionists to meddle,
while never saying it in so many words. He writes that if "a stable
group of faithful" wants to have the "extraordinary" [sic]
form of liturgy, "a pastor should willingly accept their requests.…"
Now, that
sounds good until we look for details. What, for example,
does the term
stable group of faithful mean? Is he talking
about a certain number of people who
want '62 missal? Or
perhaps how many people regularly will
attend such a Mass?
Perhaps
stable doesn't refer to numbers at all, but requires
the group to be unswervingly loyal to the Novus Ordo "hierarchy," to
accept the "validity" and "holiness" of the 1970 "mass" and to
acknowledge the supposed force and authority of Vatican II's decrees
and declarations (such points are actually alluded to in the
letter). Good questions all, but nowhere is the term actually
defined, so here's the first wiggle point: "Stable group" is an
ambiguous term that gives a "pastor" (and hence, necessarily, a
"bishop") the call on whether or not a group qualifies as stable
based on his own interpretive prejudices.
4.
Also, in the spirit of
"collegiality" pastors are not
commanded to accede to such
requests, as we'd expect to see in any pre-conciliar papal document
(for example,
"All these things we will and order to be
sanctioned and established by our apostolic authority, aught to the
contrary notwithstanding."
—Pope
St. Pius X, Motu Proprio,
Praestantia Scripturae),
but rather it is recommended that they
should honor such
desires. Nothing binding them at all. At the same time
Ratzinger express his concern that the motu crowd's "welfare" be watched over, and
urges the pastor to see that his care for them "harmonizes" with the
usual care of the parish, while "avoiding discord and favoring the
unity of the whole Church." All this is to be done
"under the
guidance of the bishop." [emphasis added] But what if the
"ordinary" deems that the best attempts to integrate the 1962 chapel
haven't worked and that its continued presence is creating discord?
Does he not also need to see that the "unity of the whole Church" be
preserved? How could this not be, if it's entrusted to his guidance?
This being the case, he would
certainly have the delegated
authority to pull the plug on the '62ers, if he believed them to be a
disruptive force. Of course, this is reading it a certain way, since
nothing is ever spelled out. But, now, only six months since the
motu's promulgation and four months since its implementation,
experience is already showing in instances like Brentwood above,
that Modernist Rome
is giving it's "bishops" considerable
leeway in interpreting
Summorum Pontificum, and the bottom
line is that if your group's local "ordinary" is a liberal and
doesn't really want any Latin Masses going on, then he's probably
going to find something to use in the language of the motu
proprio/letter as an excuse to shoot down your request or make life
miserable for you (just like with "indult Masses" before the motu).
5. Near the end of Article 5,
Ratzinger states that any priest wishing to offer Mass using the
1962 Missal "must be qualified to do so and not juridically
impeded." More booby traps. Presumably, the "ordinary" has a major
say in whether or not someone is qualified, and can create make the
requirements steep if he wants to keep it out of his "diocese." As
for
juridically impeded, you don't imagine he had the SSPX in
mind, now,
do you?!
—
LOL
6. Suppose, however, that the local motu crowd
can't get anywhere with their pastor. Article 7 "solves" the problem
this way: "If a group of lay faithful, as mentioned in art. 5 ő 1,
has not obtained satisfaction to their requests from the pastor,
they should inform the diocesan bishop. The bishop is strongly
requested to satisfy their wishes. If he cannot arrange for such
celebration to take place, the matter should be referred to
the Pontifical Commission 'Ecclesia Dei.'"
Okay, so
must the "bishop" grant their request? No. He's only
"strongly requested" to do so. And if he can't arrange it for them,
then the matter "should be referred" to
Ecclesia Dei. (This
is essentially repeated in Article 8.) Well, "collegiality" strikes
again. The request
should be referred to that commission, but
Ratzinger doesn't say it
must be. In fact, he doesn't even so
much as say it needs to be processed in a timely fashion. (We can
well imagine
a "progressive" Novus Ordo "bishop" sitting behind his desk
with a copy of the request on his desk thinking to himself: "Hmm, let's see. The rest of
this week doesn't look so good. Thursday night I've got the Bishops
for Obama rally to attend and I'll need to conserve all of my energy
for that one, so no lifting any heavy objects such as stamps and
envelopes. Tomorrow, I've got the luncheon where the guy from PETA
is going to make us all feel guilty about leather shoes and belts
and roast beef, but he's pretty funny so I can handle it. Well,
maybe in the afternoon. No wait, not then, I've got the steering
committee meeting concerning Amnesty for Illegal Aliens on Death
Row. Too important to miss. Okay, Saturday, yeah, maybe Saturday
I'll send that request over to Rome. Oops, forgot. Saturday we've
got the annual Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence picnic and that's
always a real wild time. And it gives me a chance to see some guys
from back at the seminary I haven't seen in years. Ah, you know
what? There's nothing wrong with those fanatics going to the regular
liturgy for a while longer; hey, if it's good enough for Papa Ratzi,
it's good enough for them! I'll send that request when I feel like
it…if I send it, of course. Hey, and that's a really
big
"if.")
Next, let's turn briefly to the letter
sent to all of his "bishops" that accompanied the motu. There, Benedict
generally becomes more explicit in his language, especially when he
discusses their duties is carrying out the implementation of the
"universal indult." He reassures them that "these new norms do not in
any way lessen your own authority and responsibility, either for the
liturgy or for the pastoral care of your faithful.
Each Bishop,
in fact,
is the moderator of
the liturgy in his own Diocese…"
[emphasis added] This is pretty strong evidence that yes, a bishop
still can make or break the indult in his own "diocese," just as
before
Summorum Pontificum. The following paragraph in the letter
is the concluding statement on the duties of the "bishop":
Nothing is taken away, then, from
the authority of the Bishop, whose role remains that of being
watchful that all is done in peace and serenity. Should some problem
arise which the parish priest cannot resolve, the local Ordinary
will always be able to intervene, in full harmony, however, with all
that has been laid down by the new norms of the Motu Proprio.
[emphasis added throughout]
 The
ambiguity in determining precisely what are to be considered the
parameters of new norms is what makes this a classic Novus Ordo ploy,
one that's been played out repeatedly over the conciliar decades. The
sequencing of events goes something like this: 1. A policy is
established by Modernist Rome that
seeming favors a
"conservative" individual or groups, only to be roundly ignored at the
"diocesan" level; 2. Believing that an injustice is happening, the
offended parties complain that the relevant authority "isn't being
obedient to the Holy Father"; 3. The victims send a letter or petition
to the "Pope" in hope of getting satisfaction for their grievance. 4.
Nothing is done by Modernist Rome (in fact, sometimes the offending
"bishop" may be promoted, even given a cushy job at the
Vatican); 5. Believing that the letter/petition was
prevented by hostile forces from reaching the "Pope's" desk
(giving them an excuse for his inaction), the victims
continue to suffer the same injustices and when they soon become
systemic, refer to them as "abuses"; and 6. Meanwhile, the perpetrators
are interpreting the same policy in a different light, one that is
equally plausible, given the intentional vagueness (we say
intentional because the same "abuses" go on for years or decades
with little or no effort to clarify the policy, stop the "abuse" and
bring the "wayward bishop" into compliance). So, this latest motu mess isn't anything out of the ordinary
in conciliar circles, but, given the unstinting enthusiasm displayed by
many for the motu so far, a refinement of earlier stratagems:
Ratzinger
simply eems to have built a much better
mousetrap. (Above left, Papa Devious in all his conniving "glory")
Modernist Rome calls for his release
Gunmen abduct Iraqi 'archbishop'
"AsiaNews reported that Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho had just left
Mosul's Holy Spirit Cathedral when he was kidnapped in the al-Nour
district in the eastern section of the city. Three people who
accompanied him were killed."
Background link:
Chaldean Catholic Archeparchy of
Mosul
Group offered $2M to buy another church
Bid to save Ontario church rejected by 'diocese'
"Despite outrage from parishioners, a lawsuit threat and an opportunity
to make $2 million by selling another Windsor church, the Roman Catholic
Diocese of London says it will still close St. Rose of Lima church this
summer and put it up for sale."
Apostasy in the guise of 'inter-religious dialogue'
Malta's 'archbishop prays toward Mecca in a mosque
"The importance of inter-religious dialogue was yesterday highlighted by
Malta's Archbishop who prayed side by side with the Muslim Imam at the
Corradino Mosque. Standing barefoot in the carpeted Mosque, Archbishop
Paul Cremona and Imam Mohamed El Sadi faced Mecca when they immersed
themselves in a few moments of silent prayer."
LEST WE FORGET
HERE CREMONA'S MENTOR
PRAYS AT THE BLUE MOSQUE
CALLED A FRIEND OF TRADITION,
BUT
WHICH TRADITION!
Culture war update
Prayer warriors at 'gay' fest on trial
"A trial is scheduled to begin today in Elmira, N.Y., and
lawyers for the defendants say it will be a test of whether the First
Amendment affirmations of freedom of speech and freedom of religion
still are valid in the United States. 'Choosing to exercise your First
Amendment rights in a public place is not a crime,' Joel Oster, senior
legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund said. 'The government has no
right to arrest citizens for exercising their First Amendment rights in
public.'"
NOW Comment: Liberal bigotry in action. These closet Marxists
literal want to destroy free speech in this country for anyone who has
traditional values. If they're allowed to succeed with their evil plan
and kill free speech, then they'll march in to our churches and shut
them down for preaching and teaching Jesus Christ. We need to stand up
to them and fight!
True colors come through…surprised?
Colorado 'bishops' backstab personhood amendment
"The Colorado Catholic Conference said it has not endorsed a Colorado
ballot measure that would grant personhood and constitutional rights to
humans from the moment of conception. The conference, which speaks for
the state's three Catholic bishops, issued a statement Thursday
contradicting the petitioners — Colorado for Equal Rights — which
claimed Wednesday that the church's state leaders are on board."
NOW Comments: It makes perfect sense. These hirelings essentially
distort St. Paul's comment that he "became all things to all men, that I
might save all (1 Cor. 9:22)" so they won't alienate pro-death
Democratic candidates and fundraisers. (Hey, kind of tough to rub elbows
with Obama or Hillary at $1000 a plate fundraiser if you've come out
officially taking a tough pro-life stand, huh?
"It's a
political, gutless position," said Judie Brown, president of the
American Life League of such betrayals, which began earlier in the month
when Georgia "bishops'"
Marxist thugs run amok
Protestors storm 'chancery' in Caracas
"The Archdiocese of Caracas
was taken hostage for several hours by supporters of Venezuela President
Hugo Chavez who staged a protest against the Church. Catholic News
Agency reports the group of 15 Chavistas violently took over the
chancery of the Archdiocese of Caracas, expelling the officials working
inside, including Bishop Jesús González de Zárate."
Planned promiscuity = big $$$ for abortion/contraception providers
Politicians call for defunding Planned Parenthood after
reports of pornography promotion
"Following recent revelations that a Planned Parenthood youth site has
been promoting pornography to teenagers, three House representatives
have called for the termination of Planned Parenthood’s federal funding,
Cybercast News Service reports. A 2007 article on the Planned
Parenthood-sponsored Teenwire.com website advised pornography use as a
“lower-risk form of outercourse.' 'Many couples can read or watch sexy
stories or pictures together,' the article stated. 'They can also share
or act out sex fantasies.'”
Related link:
Planned Parenthood teen site encourages pornography as 'harmless fun'
VIDEO/TEXT
Culture of abortion pervades British medical profession, say English
pro-lifers
"A British proposal to limit further the circumstances in which abortion
can be performed has won acclaim from some in the British pro-life
movement. However, pro-life leaders also lamented the British medical
establishment’s support for loose abortion regulations as the new embryo
research and fertilization bill nears a vote."
Some clear thinking in the Society
SSPX priest on Motu: Under appearance of good, Devil poses as angel of
light
"Therefore, the declaration by
Benedict XVI affirming that the true Mass was never abolished appears,
at first sight, to be a victory. However, after closer examination of
the declaration, one perceives both the subtlety and the intelligence of
this action. Benedict XVI is attempting by an audacious and effective
way to accomplish his most profound and desired goal according to his
Modernistic mindset, so that many critics of Modernism have not been
able to appreciate fully the vastness of his aims or the subtlety of his
strategy.
"Benedict XVI, who has a keen and
penetrating intellect, intends to legitimize the New Mass by attempting
to portray it as a legitimate and faithful development of the ancient
Roman rite. To be successful, he had to heal the rupture created by the
attempted suppression of the Traditional Mass, first by denying that the
Traditional Mass had been abolished. For the Traditional Mass was the
faithful expression of the ancient Roman Mass, both in its historical
development and in its dogmatic content, promulgated in perpetuity.
" [see Feb. 27 entry]
Related commentaries:
High church, Low church
"One and the Same Rite": How Benedict XVI tries to
destroy the Traditional Mass
THE ULTIMATE GOAL: A HYBRID MASS
Background quote:
“I believe that in the
long term the Roman Church must have a single Roman Rite…The Roman Rite
of the future should be a single rite, celebrated in Latin or in
vernacular, but standing completely in the tradition of the rite that
has been handed down…”
"Cardinal" Joseph Ratzinger
(The Tablet, February 16,
2008, p. 36). Cited,
Heading to a Hybrid Mass
 Tainted results for previous test?
New tests for Shroud of Turin at Oxford
"The Oxford laboratory that declared the Turin Shroud to be a medieval
fake 20 years ago is investigating claims that its findings were wrong.
The head of the world-renowned laboratory has admitted that carbon
dating tests it carried out on Christendom's most famous relic may be
inaccurate. Professor Christopher Ramsey, the director of the Oxford
University Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, said he was treating seriously
a new theory suggesting that contamination had skewed the results."
Related link:
Shroud of Turin on Wikipedia
(additional links included)
"For those who believe, no proof is necessary; for those who don't
believe, no amount of proof is sufficient."
—
St.
Ignatius of Loyola
Gee, is there a section on global warming?
Third encyclical to cover modern 'social issues'
"Pope Benedict will soon finish his encyclical on social issues, the
Vatican's Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has confirmed."
'An enemy has done this' [Matt. 13:28]
Freemasonic table replaces altar in Irish church
Openly gay ambassador given 'Catholic' award in India
"Cardinal Telesphore Toppo, the immediate past President of CBCI,
presented the first Blessed Mother Teresa International Humanitarian
Awards to Dr. Peter Piot and Ambassador
Mark R. Dybul (in absentia) on Feb. 26 at the Taj Hotel, New Delhi."
Not that
his exorcisms would do any good
anyway
Aussie 'archbishop' rejects claims of exorcism increase
"Brisbane Archbishop John Bathersby has debunked claims of a spike in
exorcisms in Queensland. The
Catholic Leader reports
Archbishop Bathersby said the claims of an increase of demonic
possession were a 'complete surprise' to him."
Related features:
The new rite of exorcism critiqued
Possession epidemic in Indonesia
(Okay, what about
these, "Archbishop?")
From our 'A world gone insane' department
Legal expert claims that unborn babies are really
chimpanzees
"A former attorney general and human rights commission chairman is
claiming that unborn children in the earliest stages of development are
not human, and are in fact chimpanzees. Dr. Jorge Carpizo McGregor
claims that "for the topic of abortion, there are very important
scientific advances that prove that the DNA of chimpanzees is 99 percent
identical to that of a human being. The difference between ourselves and
chimpanzees is one percent, this quantity that makes the difference is
the central nervous system."
Dwindling attendance cited as reason for closing
Vatican high court rejects latest effort to save 132-year-old Buffalo
church
"For the second time, the Vatican has upheld a decision by Bishop
Edward U. Kmiec to close St. Adalbert Catholic Church in the
Broadway-Fillmore area. "
 'Death
of Communism' update
'Cardinal' Bertone and Raul Castro conclude meeting with hopes for
better ties
"The historic meeting between Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican
Secretary of State, and the new president of Cuba, Raul Castro, came to
an end on Tuesday with the hope of better relations between the Catholic
Church in Cuba and the Communist government, although without concrete
promises."
Background link:
The Real Cuba
(a site that exposes what the news media is silent about)
NOW Comments:
All this amounts to is a great propaganda coup for the Communists in
Cuba. Raul Castro is another dictator with the misleading title of
"president," who was put into power not by an democratic election, but
by the the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party. Reality
check: This is
Fidel's brother we're talking about, who's been a
professed Communist all of his adult life, participated in a bloody
revolution that persecuted and martyred Catholics, and has been his
ruthless sibling's right-hand during nearly 30 years in power. The only
change going on, aside from the transition of power being relinquished
by a charismatic tyrant and turned over to a nondescript one, is one in
the perception of the gullible that is being assiduously advanced by the
news media at every turn that there is the possibility of real reform.
(A link on the Real Cuba site shows that Raul's second-in-command is
regarded as a hardliner, a Stalinist.) Our only question is whether
Bertone is merely a useful idiot of the Communists or a sympathizer.
(And if Barack Obama isn't secretly a card-carrying Communist, then he's
cheating the CPUSA out of membership dues. It has now been revealed that
his great friend and political influence, someone he's simply identified
publicly as "Frank,"
was literally a card-carrying member! See
Obama mentor identified as communist)
23% of 'Catholics' are divorced and 11% also
remarried
USCCB Poll: Those who attend 'Mass' less likely to divorce
"A poll commissioned by the USCCB Subcommittee on Marriage and the
Family Life and conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the
Apostolate has found that Catholics who attend Mass frequently are less
likely to get divorced and are more likely to have large families,
reports Lifesite News."
NOW Comments:
Before anyone try toot the horn for the "new Mass," it is noteworthy
that the report states: "Older Catholics, especially those who came of
age prior to Vatican II, are typically more involved in Church life and
more frequently attend Mass than younger generations of Catholics." We
submit that such couples simply retained what they had been taught in
the pre-Vatican II Church about the sanctity of the Sacrament of
Matrimony and also retained something of their worship habits, albeit
not all of them, as they compromised their faith by falling away
from the true Mass. Still, most of these aren't the sort of Novus Ordo
churchgoers we'd typically expect would attend a "clown mass" or "gay
mass."
Apology rings hollow to successor
'Priest' stole money for secret family
"A retired Catholic priest will serve 63 months behind bars for stealing
hundreds of thousands of dollars to support his secret family in the
Philippines. AP reports Rodney Rodis, 51, plead guilty to money
laundering and mail frauds for theft of more than $650,000 from St Jude
Church and Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Virginia, United
States between 2002 and 2006.
Liberal rabbi plays 'guilt' card
Revised Good Friday prayer fuels Jewish walkout of German 'Catholic'
meeting
"The new Catholic Good Friday prayer for the conversion of Jews has now
affected the upcoming German Catholic Church Congress. The
representative of the World Union for Progressive Judaism in Germany,
Walter Homolka, has cancelled his participation in the Christian meeting
in Osnabrück in May. The Catholic prayer for 'enlightenment of the
Jews,' after the guilt of the Catholic Church 'in the history of their
relationship with the Jews' and most recently in the time of National
Socialism, is 'totally inappropriate' and "should be rejected in the
strongest terms,' he said on Monday in Potsdam."
NOW Comments:
Well, we guess
those Jews won't be converting anytime soon.—
LOL Not that
they had anything to fear along that line from their Novus Ordo partners
in dialogue. What sticks in the craw is Homolka's ignorant calumny that
the Church's traditional prayer for Jewish conversion can be linked in
any manner to Nazism. Nothing short of an acknowledgement of the
supposed
absolute equality between Catholicism and Judaism,
between church and synagogue will suit such a one!
The Vatican II meltdown continues
Pennsylvania 'diocese' to shutter four churches, last school
"Four of the five Roman Catholic churches in Johnstown’s historic
Cambria City section will close next year, and the last remaining
Catholic school in the neighborhood is shutting in June. The
announcement of the closings, made by Bishop Joseph Adamec late Monday
after word leaked during the weekend, rocked the neighborhood best known
for its annual church-based ethnic festival.…Adamec also stressed
that church closings have been taking place since 1994 'as the result of
a declining number of priests and a dwindling population in the area.'"
(Click
here for a photo of one of the doomed churches.)
School suspends teens for wearing crucifixes
 Bringing
about 'the social transformation that Roe began'
Pro-Abortion
'Catholics for Free Choice' endorses subversive Obama
"Not all pro-abortion feminists from the heyday of the Sexual Revolution
are behind Hillary Clinton as their abortion candidate. Frances Kissling,
former president of the abortion advocacy group, Catholics for Choice,
has instead come out swinging for Barack Obama, whom she believes is the
best abortion candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.…'It
is no longer about winning the culture war. It is about completing the
social transformation that Roe began but did not solidify,' Kissling
concluded. 'That task, I believe, will best be accomplished by a
president who sees her or his role as calling us to greatness ... I
think Barack Obama is the person who can do that.'"
VIDEO
Liturgical dance by conciliar 'Benedictines'
We can well imagine what St. Scholastica would say about
these women posing as her spiritual daughters—and
it wouldn't be very pleasant!
The revision of the revision
Genuflecting to the Jews
"In fact it is not a prayer for the
conversion of any Jews, since
it does not speak to of the abandonment of unbelief and their entering
the Church. It should not be forgotten that in the Novus Ordo theology
the Jews have their own covenant with God, still valid despite their
rejection of Christ, which covenant will bring them
to salvation."
Related article:
'End of the JP2 era': Benedict's revised
prayer attacked at Seton Hall (Here is the kind of
attack that allows Ratzinger to position himself falsely as a friend of
tradition.)
It doesn't
get any lower than this
Loyola Marymount film attempts 'multi-part rebuttal' of
Biblical strictures against homosexuality
He says he's being libeled
Murphy-O'Connor's aide 'was behind this abortion'
"The ex-lover of a former spokesman for the Catholic Church
was rushed into an abortion by the man and his mother, the High Court
was told yesterday. Moyra Bremner, a writer, said she was 'horrified' to
return from a holiday to India in 1989 and hear that her daughter,
Siobhan, then aged 26, who had become pregnant by Austen Ivereigh, had
gone through with the abortion.
'New springtime' update
Irish directory shows Ireland heading toward major priest shortage
Correction: Ireland already has a severe priest shortage; what it's
heading toward is a
"priest" shortage.
Caught in another heresy
Benedict XVI: Catholics in communion with Lutherans
See entry for February 27th. (If
the link has been changed when you read this, it will be necessary to
look for
the week in question either at
Some of the Recent Feature Articles
page or
The Heresy of the Week Archive
for those from years back.)
Related link:
Kasper to participate in anniversary of Lutheran school of theology
Fostering 'ethical and religious values'…yeah, right
'Jesuit' University to host obscene rapper Ludacris
"A Jesuit University has invited the rapper Ludacris to perform at a
campus concert, despite the rapper's very obscene, violent and sexually
explicit lyrics.…Fairfield University in Connecticut, which claims to
foster 'ethical and religious values and a sense of social
responsibility' in its mission statement, invited Ludacris to perform a
concert on February 15. The university promised $85,500 to bring
Ludacris to campus, despite the fact that the university has an official
concert budget of only $33,000."
NOW Comments:
Can anyone seriously maintain that Fairfield University a Catholic
institution of higher learning in anything but name? Quite plainly, for
parents to knowingly send their children to a school that throws its
students into harm's way like this (not to mention the myriad
heresies and other errors they teach while misappropriating the name
Catholic) are necessarily committing mortal sin.
'New springtime' update
Religion in America poll: Novus Ordo sect suffers most defections
"While those Americans who are unaffiliated with any particular religion
have seen the greatest growth in numbers as a result of changes in
affiliation, Catholicism has experienced the greatest net losses as a
result of affiliation changes. While nearly one-in-three Americans (31%)
were raised in the Catholic faith, today fewer than one-in-four (24%)
describe themselves as Catholic. These losses would have been even more
pronounced were it not for the offsetting impact of immigration.…"
Related link:
One in ten, three out of ten
NOW Comments:
Ever wonder what is behind the fanatical support of the U.S.
"bishops" for the invasion of illegal aliens into the country? Wonder no
more. Gullible replacements are needed to help replenish the collection
baskets made bare through graft, child abuse payouts and the
ever-emptying pews.
 Yes,
it's sad,
however…
Colorado faithful grieve over church
closures
"For more than 50 years, Lucy Martinez has been a faithful parishioner
at Bessemer's Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church. 'All five of
my kids made their First Communion and were confirmed there,' she
said.…In five weeks, Martinez and hundreds of other parishioners of
Assumption and nearby St. Patrick's Church (photo, left, in better
times) will be forced to leave their longtime parishes - where
many have worshipped for decades - when the Diocese of Pueblo closes
their doors for good on March 30."
Related article:
Catholic diocese to close two parishes in Pueblo
NOW Comments:
It's easy to sympathize at a certain level with these people (who
number so many), but when we read of someone like Lucy Martinez, who
started attending church there in 1957when Pope Pius XII still reigned,
we need to recall that she was a young mother at the time, so she
clearly knew what worship and Catholic life was like well before all of
the destructive changes of the ensuing decades. Yet she
embraced
those changes, and apparently
still embraces them. While like
many Catholics, she quite possibly was lulled to accept them through the
gradualism with which they were introduced in the early-to-mid-1960s
(and to a degree before 1960), later to be crystallized in Vatican II
revolution and Bugnini/Montini's liturgical monster, the "new Mass."
Perhaps Our Lady of the Assumption was one of the more "conservative"
churches, so she didn't have a steady stream of "abuses" to suffer, but
the
"non-abuses" of a "mainstream, middle of the road" church are
still quite significant. They could include (but not limited to): the
"table," no tabernacle, no altar rail, no ladies' head coverings, casual
dress, throwaway missalettes instead of missals, elimination of Rosaries
and other traditional devotions, the Sacred Heart being replaced with
representations of Sr. Faustina's Divine Mercy devotion, crucifixes
and/or statues removed (and perhaps destroyed), these being replaced
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