It's Still Open Season on Men: Neophyte Back From Suffragette City

We can't all be "real" Men

Editor:  The following is some kind of rant by a woman with a Doctorate in Music who reads all of the approved authors.  She is what we'd call a, "Suffragette Catholic".   She's real big on left coast hauteur and very small on sympathy for the sensus catholicus and those boys and girls who are disposed to try and live accordingly, some of whom she dated.

We're not saying she's a homosexual, but there are some troubling dimensions to what we can only describe as her homophobia, since she claims to know what a real man is but never explains what it's supposed to be.  What's her idea of the perfect man?

Someone mature... self-confident

How would she know what a real man was?  This has been posted because it addresses a real concern about self-flagellation from Catholics and those outside.  This individual is a neophyte from a fairly rarefied professional millieu in New York.  Those  wishing to feel sufficiently and duly chastised by the ruminations of an unsuitably qualified analyst with an axe to grind might take a look.  Suffice it to say that this is a specimen of that polite late Twentieth Century hobby of  venting that ever-popular man hating spleen.

It's common enough, be prepared to counteract it by swift action on your part which might include shrugging your shoulders and going back to work on whatever it is you're supposed to be doing.

Have a nice day and take it for what it's worth.

Real Men

When, after a lackadaisical childhood catechesis, years spent doing my own thing, and a dramatic conversion experience, I came back to the Catholic Church in 2002, I found that there was a New York City subculture I had never known existed: the subculture of young orthodox and Traditionalist Catholics.  Many of this subculture’s adherents were actively looking for a mate, and I dated a few of them, which was an experience unlike anything I was familiar with from my own long romantic struggles. 

Link to Pentimento...

Cardinal Marx Reaffirms the Church's Teaching on Homsexuality and Divorce

Cardinal Marx Tricks The Homosexuals

Homosexually disordered persons may be certain: the Church will not "accommodate a negative pastoral approach" -- and the same goes for sodomites.

Clever as a Snake

(kreuz.net, München)  Yesterday Reinhard Cardinal Marx of Munich and Freising explained his most recent statement primarily related to the Munich Diocesan paper, that adulterers and homosexually perverse are "failed and broken people".

On the same day he made a statement to the ‘Süddeutschen Zeitung’, with which he took the  homosexual paper for a ride.

He employed a similar tactic for his own homosexual paper.

The Cardinal began by deflecting the comments, saying, He was "very unhappy" with the reportage of his statements.

You would supposedly "not say that homosexuals-- or even the divorced -- were failed people."

Because: people can always begin again.

Actually, he presumed that an unrepentant, homosexually disturbed individual is a failure.

The Homosexually Perverse Go with Hair and Skin to Hell

Somewhat curious is the Cardinal's insistence, to this that such a person only "Fails in one's course of life, but not actually in his person, because that itself is the creation and likeness of God".

Saintly Doctor of the Church Petrus Damianus († 1072)

"The [homosexual]contagion undermines the foundation of the Faith, weakens the strength of hope, destroys the bond of Love. It removes justice, undermines strength, banishes chastity, enfeebles refinement and prudence."

If the Cardinal were to desirous to deny the existence of Hell with this statement, he would no longer be in the bounds of the Gospel.

So answered Jesus Christ in the 13th Chapter of the Gospel of Luke to the question if few are saved:

"Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able."

That is applicable especially to homosexual depravity, which according to the witness of the Old Testament highly prized by the Jews is a sin which cries to heaven for vengeance.

Actually, it follows from the context that the Cardinal simply said that the person, so long as he lives in this world, at least has the chance, theretically speaking, to do penance before the end.

God to Catherine of Sienna († 1380): "The sin against nature is even repulsive to the Demons, not because they abhor the evil or rejoice in the good, rather because of their angelic nature and therefore is repulsed, if they see, how such an enormous sin is committed."

Thomistically Well Formulated

Finally, the Cardinal explained: "A homosexual may be condemned as any other person, not actually, therefore, how he is."

That is well formulated thomistically.

Because sin -- even homosexual degeneracy -- is not a part of being, rather a disorder and therefore a deficiency of being.

They are also to be condemned for their deficiency in being.

The Cardinal then explained joyfully on this, that "in our present time" homosexually disordered people are no longer condemned.

The phrase "no longer" is a suspicious appeal to the Enlightenment, that people are damned solely on the basis of their own being.

This is how the Enlightenment thinkers mistook blacks for animals.

No one will be "accompanied in a pastorally negative way"

In reality and Church teaching Cardinal Marx doesn't skim: "As the Church we clearly say that the fulfillment of human sexuality is expressed by a person in the matrimonial bond of man and woman, which is a life-long connection and open to the procreation of life."

In other words: perversity is unfulfilled sexuality.

Saint Pius V († 1572)

Every horific crime, for which the corrupt and obscene cities (Sodom and Gomorrah) were burned by Divine punishment, fill us with the most bitter pain and spur us considerably on, to quell such crimes with the utmost zeal.

Then the Cardinal acknowledges that for "many people" -- as the Cardinal expresses it -- is not possible.

With the expression "many people" he means adulterers and the homosexually disordered. The turn of phrase "not possible" is a description of their failure.

These failed people must "receive a positive pastoral accommodation" by the Church.

That is the truism which is valid for every manner of pastoral accommodation.

Because the Church doesn't want to greet anyone on his way through life with a "accommodated to a negative pastoral approach".

Weigel the Gallican, Weigel the Febronian, Weigel the Jacobin?

Garibaldi, the Scourge of the Church

Unlike some of the following bloggers, Weigel just can't seem to get it straight whose side he's on. Shall we take him at his word?

Vatican Accuses Enda Kenny of attacking the Church to divert attention from euro crisis [Tablet]

Ego te Absolvo...

Father Zuhlsdorf's commentary on Intimidation...

Even the left listing Allen of NCR gets it, here.

But the critics of the Church and the Vatican conveniently and repeatedly refuse to acknowledge what underlies the problem in the first place, here. They repeat the lie often enough and plenty of people believe them.

Erin Go Bonkers - George Weigel - National Review Online

H/t: pulp.it 

In case you're wondering what Febronianism is, it's here.

The politico-ecclesiastical system outlined by Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim, Auxiliary Bishop of Trier, under the pseudonym Justinus Febronius, in his work entitled "Justini Febronii Juris consulti de Stata Ecclesiæ et legitimâ potestate Romani Pontificis Liber singularis ad reuniendos dissidentes in religione christianos compositus" (Bullioni apud Guillelmum Evrardi, 1763; in reality the work was published by Esslinger at Frankfort-on-the-Main). Taking as a basis the Gallican principles which he had imbibed from the canonist Van Espen while pursuing his studies in Louvain, Hontheim advanced along the same lines, in spite of many inconsistencies, to a radicalism far outstripping traditional Gallicanism. [u]He develops in this work a theory of ecclesiastical organization founded on a denial of the monarchical constitution of the Church. [/u]The ostensible purpose was to facilitate the reconciliation of the Protestant bodies with the Church by diminishing the power of the Holy See.

^Underlining ours.

USCCB Response to Budget Vote in the Legistlature

Editor: Old Bishop Hubbard went to the cupboard ...

11-148
July 27, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bishops to House: Budget Cannot Rely on Disproportionate Cuts in Services to Poor Persons, Requires Shared Sacrifice by All

WASHINGTON—In a July 26 letter to the U.S. House of Representatives, Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, California, and Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany, New York, called on Congress to remember the human and moral dimensions of the ongoing budget and debt ceiling debate.

The bishops wrote, “A just framework for future budgets cannot rely on disproportionate cuts in essential services to poor persons. It requires shared sacrifice by all, including raising adequate revenues, eliminating unnecessary military and other spending, and addressing the long-term costs of health insurance and retirement programs fairly.”

Bishop Blaire and Bishop Hubbard respectively chair the Committees on Domestic Justice and Human Development and International Justice and Peace of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

The bishops wrote that every budget decision should be assessed by whether it protects human life and dignity, how it affects “the least of these,” including the hungry and homeless, and how well it reflects the shared responsibility of the government and other institutions to promote the common good of all, especially workers and families struggling in the current economy.

The full text of the letter is available online: www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/economy/upload/budget-debate-letter-to-house-2011-07-26.pdf
---
Keywords: Bishop Stephen E. Blaire, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, budget, deficit, debt ceiling, U.S. Congress, U.S. House of Representatives, Justice, Peace and Human Development, Domestic Justice, International Justice and Peace, human life and dignity, homeless, hungry, poor, essential services, disproportionate cuts, USCCB, U.S. bishops

Link to USCCB...

H/t: Roccopalmo

Franciscan Imitates St. Francis, Rebuilds Church Alone for Fifty Years

Editor: Franciscans are "friars" not monks.

God Willed It

The unbelievable story of Father Pietro Lavini: From 1954 to 2003 he rebuilt a monastery completely alone, in an untraveled mountain area in the Apennines.

Montemonaco (kath.net) In the spring of 1954 Father Pietro disappeared without a trace from his Cloister to rebuild a ruined Monastery in the Apennines Mountains. In the summer of 2003 the Bishop of Father Pietro received a letter with the sentence: "The Monastery is finished."

Andreas Englisch told the story of the Italian priest in his book "Traces of God: Miracles of the Catholic Church". Englisch had also related this story to the Hamburg evening news.

In the spring of 1954 the Abbot of the Franciscan Cloister by Ascoli Piceno in Adria noticed that Father Peitro had vanished. After a fruitless search he was removed from the list of priests, which entitles them to government support. He was reported as missing.

In the Summer of 1971, in the mountains near Gola del Infernaccio, a deep canyon in the middle of the Apennines mountains, which are famous for falling stones and avalanches, a mountain climber met the monk and told his Bishop: "The priest had very long, matted hair and a filthy beard. He lived in the cold of the high mountains in a kind of improvised hut made only from a few branches and a torn plastic tarp."

He sustained himself with heavily moldy bread, greens and tree bark. With self-made tools, he broke stones from the cliffs, there he was completely alone, without money or machines, where he wanted to rebuild the ruins of a Monastery. He had even built an aqueduct which carried water across the canyon. He collapsed from work many times, suffered broken bones, which he cured by himself with herbs. He showed me his serious injuries. I feared, the man was severely mad."

The Bishop then sent an inspector with the mission to bring the priest to a psychiatric clinic of the Franciscans. After his expedition, the inspector reported to the Bishop that after many discussions attempting to persuade Father Pietro, that "the brother isn't mad, rather he is a saint. I bid his blessing and hope that the Church will leave him there, where he is, completely close to God. I fear our time is mad, so that for us, the example of a man like Father Pietro is so rare." All attempts by the social office of the Bishop to induce the Priest to return, were unsuccessful.

Father Pietro had contact with a family from the village of Montemonaco, which lays some 20km from Father's abode. The father, Franco D'Agonsino, then wrote to the Bishop, "I don't wonder that he doesn't starve up there! The climb is difficult, and I bring Father Pietro something to eat, and every time his larder is bare. he appears not to be concerned by it. When the snow falls, he is cut off for months at a time. I don't know how he endures."

In the summer of 2003 a letter arrived at the Diocese of Ascoli Piceno: Father Pietro wrote only one sentence: "The Monastery is finished." The Bishop traveled by helicopter to the place and wrote a report to the Vatican thereon only one sentence: "What I have seen, is a wonder."

The Village of Monemonaco in central Italy has about 700 inhabitants and lays about two hours by car from the beaches on the Adriatic. And suddenly visitors from all parts of the world came to the village to ask the way to the Gola del Infernaccio
canyon in order to see "a saint". Great gaps in the cliff walls are witness thereto, how over decades of work by hand, block upon block had been separated from the cliff.

After four hours of climbing the visitor suddenly arrives at a beautiful Monastery building. Father Pietro Lavini receives visitors happily and says: "Naturally, I could never have built these great buildings alone. That was beyond the power of a man, God desired it. God had given me this life's dream: 'Build me there, where it is impossible, a house under impossible conditions, and I will sustain you, heal your sickness and give you to eat, even when you think you must starve.'

The video in Italian is here.



From kath.net...here.

The Young Swiss Guard in Spain

Edit: In order to make the Pope feel at home when he comes to Spaain, seamstresses have worked up to 5,000 hours to make the uniforms for 60 children to stand guard many hours in the hot Madrid sun.

Breivik Worshiped the Israeli State and its Army

Editor: Surprisingly, it doesn't seem like anyone's mentioned the obvious connection between this individual and Varg Vikernes, who essayed to blow up Norway's oldest church with 150kg of explosives and was implicated in numerous church burnings. The Wikipedia seems to lose sight of the fact that he is a convicted murderer, but that's Wiki for you.

The Norwegian Butcher fantasized about a return to the past in order to kill Hitler: "If there is a single person who I hate, then that is Adolf Hitler".

(kreuz.net) The Norwegian perpetrator Anders Breivik, didn't make an enemy Islam as an enemy, but also made a friend, - "the Jewish World, which he views as a sure anti-Islamic bulwark".

Sect Specialist, [and Sociologist] Massimo Introvigne (56), said this on the 25th of July for the Italian website, 'labussolaquotidiana.it'.

Breivik Loves the Israeli Army

The terrorist indicated in his 1500 page book "2083, A European Call to Independence" an "actual cult for the State of Israel and its Army".

This Israel Cult involved a deep animus against the National Socialists:

"If there is a personality that I hate, then it's Adolf Hitler" --wrote the mass murderer.

He fantasized about a return to the past in order to kill Hitler.

The Purest and Noblest Inhabitants of the West

Breivik was a participant in a Norwegian neo-Nazi Internet forum.

There he explained that certain National Socialist statements about the ethnic salience of the West were correct.

But: "Hitler's most obvious error consisted, according to Breivik, that he hadn't understood, that the purest and noblest inhabitants of Europe were the Jews" -- recapped Introvigne.

If National Socialism should have killed anyone, they would have better sorted out the Muslims in the near east.

Breivik Canvasses the Homosexuals

For Breivik, National Socialism, Communism and Islam were three sides of the same anti-Western doctrine.

He wouldn't to abolish all three.

But actually, the emphasis was all on the battle against Islam.

For him, every actual or potential enemy of Islam is a potential ally.

Breivik not only encouraged Christians, rather also militant Atheists, who are seemingly all too common in Norway, as well as homosexual deviants, to combat Islam.

The latter he pointed out, would be "persecuted" in a world ruled by Islam.

Contacts to "The Church of Satan"

Introvigne is not astonished by Breivik's contact to the "Church of Satan".

This organization preaches a form of "rationalist" Satanism and values the mastery of the strong over the weak as well as a wild Capitalism.

Breivik also cites the theories of the Jewish-Russian US-Writer, Ayn Rand († 1982).

Breivik even believes that the Gypsies are not as the majority of Historians see them, from th Hindus, rather outcasts from Islamic societies.

Breivik is well-disposed to gypsies.

He calls them to the war against Islam and promises them a free and independent state in his new Europe.

Link....to kreuz.net article...

The Oslo Butcher is For Abortion: Satanism

For a time Anders Breivik wanted to be Catholic.  Actually he remarked that Benedict XVI is a "cowardly, incompetent, corrupt and illegitimate Pope".

(kreuz.net) It is "thoroughly tedious" that the police continuously and immediately describe the Oslo Butcher, Anders Behring Breivik (32) as a "Christian Fundamentalist".

This revelation comes from the famous Italian specialist in cults and sects Massimo Introvigne (56) on the 25th of July.

According to Introvigne, who studied at the Vienna Observatory for Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians, insists that the concept "fundamentalism" can be a tool of anti-Christian discrimination.

Introvigne insists that the concept has a precise definition. It describes a very anti-Catholic current in protestantism.

Actually Brevik must be understood according to the following sources:

-his profile on the social networking site 'facebook.com'
-sixty site posting on an anti-Islamic, Norwegian website
-his 1500 page book "2083, A European Declaration of Independence", which he sent a few hours before the massacre to friends and the media.

A Fundamentalist Looks Differently

Breiviks membership in the anti-Catholic Masonic Lodge was made known by an entry in his 'facebook.com'.

Introvigne explains that his present Lodge practices the Swedish Rite. This "Christian belief" is explained by his membership.

Fundamentalism is very ill-disposed to Freemasonry according to Introvigne.

Otherwise it comes from Breviks 'Facebook' profile that he has a friendship with the operator of the largest Norwegian porn-site -- "despite his decrpit morality" -- added Breivik.

It is also the case that Breivik had sent his book to an ordained minister of "The Church of Satan".

He published the botch job on the 23rd of July on the Internet. The "Church of Satan" is very widespread in Scandinavia.


He dreamt of a prostitute

The tone which Breivik struck reminded Introvigne of the Dutch Homosexual, Pim Fortuyn († 2002).

Fortuyn founded an anti-Islamic party in his country.

Still more, Breivik indicated in his book that abortion is acceptable.

The supposed fundamentalist reported additionally that he laid down two million Euros on the site.

He wanted to pay the money for the execution of his "mission" with a prostitute "of high quality, a real top-model".

The great hierarchy-free Oecumene

According Introvigne's assessment, Breivik's biggest concern isn't religion, rather the 'war against Islam', which in his mind threatens to overwhelm Europe.

Breivig wrote that he had received baptism and confirmation at the age of fiteen.

He himself comes from a wealthy and Godless family, who allowed him "free choice".

Some years after veering into Protestantism Breivik came to the view that the Protestant community was dead and that it had fallen to multi-culturalism and philo-Islamic ideology.

For a time Breivig desired to become a Catholic, according to his own admission.

Actually, in his opinion the Church was sold to Islam, as the Pope then had decided, to engage in so-called inter-religious dialogue with the Moslems.

About Benedict XVI, he said, that he had lost "Christendom and the European Christians".

He must be termed as a "cowardly, incompetent, corrupt and illegitimate Pope".

For that reason Breivik wanted to eliminate the protestants and the Church, and a "Christian Congress of Europe".

From that he expected a completely new "European Church" to arise.

Link to kreuz.net...

The SSPX Talks Are Not a Failure

The Italian District Superior of the Society of Pius X: "the goal of the talks were never conceived to produce a settlement. "

(kreuz.net)  It is a "judgement afflicted with error", to characterize the talks of the SSPX with the Vatican as broken.

This was explained by the District Superior of the Society of Pius X, Father Davide Pagliarani, on the 26th of July in an interview with the famous website 'blog.messainlatino.it'.

This Danger Never Came to Pass

This impression could only be had by someone whose expectations of the event, were not part of its intent in the first place:

This Dossier is reserved for the Pope and the General Superior of the Society.

"In view of the fact that both commissions worked patiently and essentially touched all of the daily points of order, I don't view that one could hold that the talks were a failure" -- said Father Pagliarani.

For him, the talks would have been a failure, if the representatives of the Society had prepared a proposal, "which didn't exactly express, what the Society believed, for example, if they had said that Collegiality or Religious Freedom which are in the modern world, can be joined completely with Tradition."

Father believes, however, that this fear did not come to pass.

Still A Few Years?

On the contrary Father Pagliarani stressed the importance of the witness of the Society and its mission for the health of the Church and Tradition during its talks with the Vatican.

As related the integration of the Socieety with the Conciliar Church he thinks:

"The canonical situation, in which the Society presently finds itself, is a consequence of its resistance against the errors, which are overflowing the Church."

For that reason the Society depends on the possibility, to reach a regular Canonical situation, not from that in itself, "but rather upon that which the hierarchy accepts the mission, with which it can accept the contribution to Tradition for the renewal of the Church."

If one succeeds at canonical regularization, then it only means "that the Hierarchy it still not sufficiently convinced of the necessity and importance of this contribution."

In this case, one must still wait for a few years.


Link to kreuz.net...

Hippie USCCB Advocates Solidarity Fast with Farm Laborers

Always a big hit with the NCR Sandalistas

USCCB Hippies Can Take Good Ideas and Wreck Them With Faux Radicalism, here on their site. They'd be better off lobbying for an end to invasive planned economies like Rhodesia which has driven the country into famine, or against "green" fuels which increase the cost of food, and also promote world hunger.


H/t: AQ

Curial Bishop Carlo Maria Viganò Will Be Nuncio to the USA

Editor: his slot in the Governorate of the Vatican will be taken up by someone who's close to Cardinal Burke, Msgr Sciacca, a judge in the Roman Rota. Understanding that this is an earlier release and that some of the other blogs were reticent about Nuncio Sambi's replacement, Katholisches sounded certain about it.

[Washington from July 13] Curial Bishop Carlo Maria Viganò the Secretary of the Governorate Council of Vatican City, will be the new Apostolic Nuncio of the United States of America. The present ambassador to Washington, Archbishop Pietro Sambi will be recalled back to Rome and undertake a new leading role in the Roman Curia.

The Curial Bishop has been leading a restrictive organizational reform for various areas of the Curia over the past two years. That has not made him many friends. In the long run it involved friction with the Secretary of State, so the current personnel changes are intended to bring peace again for all sides. The role of the Papal Ambassador in Washington is as much a step up in rank and is also an important as well as sensitive position.

The successor as number two of the Governatorial Advisor will be canon lawyer, Msgr Giuseppe Sciacca, who is at present judge of the Roman Rota. Of him it is said that he also has earned the trust and praise of both the Holy Father and the Cardinal Secretary [+Burke].

Archbishop Viganò would be the third Apostolic Nuncio in the United States of America and only the fifth representative from the Holy See. It was first under President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II that in 1984 full diplomatic relations were established between the Holy See and the United States. In the same year the USA sent William Wilson as its first ambassador to the Holy See in Rome. Since 2009, Miguel Diaz who was appointed by President Obama has occupied this post.

In the USA there is a longstanding opposition against diplomatic relations. At first in 1893 the first contact at this level was established. The representatives of the Holy See had however only the rank of apostolic delegates.

Link to katholisches...

Hamburg Archdiocese Features Occult Items For Educational Materials

Do you need a pendulum book, rune stone, tarot cards and a glass ball? In the educational media area of the Archdiocese of Hamburg you can get all this and also get a trunk about Buddhism and even one about Islam.

Hamburg (kath.net) At the Archdiocese of Hamburg there is a package of occult items in their educational media area, as reported by a kath.net reader. On the Homepage of the Archdiocese there is this explanation: "For the understanding of rites and symbols in world religions, the following educational materials are available to religion instructors as well as established pastoral assistants in the need of the respective educational material. It is available free of charge".

In the trunk about Occultism you will find the following content: 1 red silk purse with 24 rune stones of wood, 1 book of "RUnes" (Andy Baggott), 1 witchboard with a blue wood Ouija planchette, 1 book "Wisdom from Another World" (Marion Röbkes), 1 pendulum in a red carrying case, 1 book "The Great Pendulum Book" (Anton Stangl), 1 "Rider Waite" - Tarot (78 Tarot cards, 2 additional cards, 1 guidebook ), 1 Crystal Ball in plastic film with red carton, 1 stand for the ball in three parts, plastic bag, 1 black drapery (30x30cm) in bag, 1 folder "Information for the use of the Crystal Ball"(1 Page). Otherwise there is a "guide to the manipulation of the Witchboard" (3 pages) and 1 large black drapery to cover the trunk ( 12 parts in all).

Even the trunk about Buddhism with prayer wheel, prayer chains, ritual knife, prayer fans, incense sticks and bronze Buddha figure as well as a trunk about Islam with golden brown prayer rug, brown head towel, 1 dark blue hijab, kafira, 1 Tabih (prayer chain) and 1 Q'uran in German-Arabic portions can be found in the Archdioceses' offerings.

Kath.net has written a statement to the Archdiocese of Hamburg about these offers in the Educational Media section, but till now has received no answer.

Contact the Archdiocese, here...

Link to kath.net original...

Ongoing Vandalism in Munich Church

The St.-Georgkirche in the North Munich neighborhood of Milbertshofen: Youth disturb evening Mass, ignite paper and throw it on the pews, they even urinated in the baptismal fonts.

Munich (kath.net) The ongoing vandalism in the church of St. George in the North Munich neighborhood of Milbertshofen is becoming more than a nuisance. Youth have disturbed the evening Mass, ignited paper and threw it on the pews, they even urinated in the baptismal fonts. The youth are known by name, according to the "Süddeutsche". Pastor Olivier Ndjimbi-Tschiende has written a letter to local politicians in the area, receiving immediate support as well as the advice to turn to the police.

The Pastor of St. George, Olivier Njdimbi-Tshiende, had withdrawn an ad that described the church community as child friendly. Anton Peter of the church administration reported that the church community has tried to work with the families of youth, but these have shown "no interest".

Link to kath.net...

Loreto: No Altar for the Old Mass

It is sad but true: Pope Benedict XVI is not in any position to correct the situation in Italy. by Claudia Bucker

(kreuz.net) In the middle of July, a German priest visited the Italian pilgrimage site near the border, Loreto.

The Basilica of Loreto is next to the St. Peter's Basilica, the second most important pilgrimage destination in Italy.

The Basilica contains the house of the Holy Family of Nazareth.

The Guilty Party is Archbishop Giovanni Tonucci

Immediately after his arrival the priest visited the Basilica.

In the Sacristy he asked if he could say Holy Mass in the Old Rite.

The concern for the Basilica has been entrusted to the dying Capuchin Order.

The standing Prelate for the Basilica is Archbishop Giovanni Tonucci (69).

He was named in 2004 and was previously the Apostolic Nuncio in Scandinavia.

The Sacristan was a grey haired Capuchin.

On instructions from Msgr Tonucci the Sacristan began to lecture the priest.

Hunted by the Devil

The celebration of the Old Mass is only available to be said in the Basilica at the altar of the Polish Chapel -- and this only between the hours of 13.00 und 14.00 hours.

That is the point of the Italian midday meal.

There the Polish chapel, however, is closed due to restoration work, so there is no altar available for the celebration of the Old Mass.

The astonished priest then dared to suggest that it really should be possible to use another one of the approximately thirty altars of the Basilica.

Then the Capuchin waved him briskly aside and admonished the pilgrim in the Sacristy.

Link to kreuz.net...

photo: © gemeinfrei

The Basilica Block Party in Minneapolis Actively Promotes Sodomy

Purple Lights on Basilica Look Gay

Editor: [Minneapolis-St. Paul] We thought that a very small and ineffective contingent of homosexual activists did protest too much as they stood outside an infernal event held for the last decade or so to raise money for a parish so devoid of Catholicism that if the supports for the building were Catholicism, it would have fallen in long ago, irrespective of the fund raising attempts.

Now the Archbishop is protesting the insignificant and mostly elderly CCCR, but he'd probably be better off getting rid of those people who say they are Catholic and work for him. This is most quixotic since the Archbishop assigned the homosexual enabling pastor of the Basilica to oversee the parish closings this winter, but still, they weren't even publicly admonished for allowing a Reform Rabbi to "preach" on Good Friday from the ambo. The homosexual enabling pastor of the Basilica was permitted to close one of the parishes offering the Immemorial Mass of All Ages at St. Augustine's parish in the Archdiocese.

The following is an eyewitness descriptions of events are links from various publications about what took place at the Basilica Block Party... which is gay.

We've been sent purple lights highlighting the dome on at least two occasions, we've shown how the Basilica gives tacit approval of homosexuals by participating in a booth of area churches that are ,promoting, not so much as admonishing sinners who have fallen to the sin of Sodomy as is the duty of the pastor and his staff.

Degenerate Art

Even fired artist Lucinda Naylor, who was relieved of her post as "artist in residence" last year during the Bishop's campaign in defense of marriage, where she took a collection of as many of the informational CDs she could find and made a sculpture out of them. For a few weeks, her "artwork" which was briefly taken down, have now been put back up on display for almost a year now, although they don't resemble the story of the passion in the slightest.

Alleged Fifth Station

Basilica Block Party Best moment from day 2: During a song break in
the Drive By Truckers show, the Basilica bells began to chime, and the
band launched seamlessly into an amazing version of Hell's Bells by
AC/DC, as reported from the anti-Catholic Tribune.

"Let's party as if we already have marriage equality," read one of
the signs belonging to Catholics for Marriage Equality, whose stickers
("I support marriage equality") were plastered all over concertgoers.
Co-founder Michael Bayly said his group did not want to discourage
people from attending. "We want people to feel welcome and know that
there are many, many Catholics who believe in equality," a homosexually disturbed activist said, according to the Tribune.

One headliner, Michael Franti, met with members of the gay rights group OutFront.org and pledged his support to them, here.

Local rockers the Jayhawks dedicated a new song, "Hide Your Colors,"
to "free choice in marriage."
http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/music/125251709.html

Illinois songstress Lissie drew cheers when she said, "It's really
not anyone's business how people choose to love one another. Love is
always a good thing."
http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/music/125251709.html

"I'm taking 10 percent of the fee that we're getting, and I'm
donating it to a pro-gay-marriage organization," said Franti, and here.


At every one of my shows, I speak about equality. I have a song I
wrote recently called "Love Somebody" that is specifically about
equality in marriage and people being able to choose whoever they
choose to love. In 1991, with the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, I
put out a song called "Language of Violence" that was about
gay-bashing. In 2000, [Spearhead] had a song called "Do You Love?"
that's about loving whoever you choose to love.
http://www.vita.mn/story.php?id=125095344

Scandal-Diocese Linz Prepares to Showtrial Another Conservative Priest

Editor: A religion instructor has been organizing a smear campaign against the pastor of a small parish near Linz, Austria. She has brought in an Austrian radio broadcaster, part of Hitler's propaganda machine, the anti-Church Reichssender. Of course, this brings to mind the persecution the conservative Father Wagner of Linz suffered when he was named as Auxiliary Bishop last year.

Priest Will Be Publicly Executed by Reichssender Vienna

This clergyman has a full church in his parish.  But that won't help him.  Because the media monopoly have chosen him as a victim.

(kreuz.net)  Old Liberal circles are leaping to a witch hunt against Pastor Andrzej Skoblicki of Kopfing in the Diocese of Linz.

They are supported in this by the anti-Church 'Österreichischen Rundfunk", which is the successor of the anti-Church, 'Reichssender Wien" of the Nazi era.

Yesterday, the broadcaster published a hit piece against the priest.

The population 2000 village of Kopfing is located seventy kilometers northwest of Linz.

A "retreat to the Middle Ages" would be a great leap forward

The clergyman is reproached for teaching the Catholic Faith.

In familiar jargon the 'Österreichischen Rundfunk' explained that Fr. Skoblicki's community is "divisive" or "being led back to the Middle Ages".

The concept "divisive" is a codeword which the media monopoly uses because Father Skoblicki doesn't tell them what they want to hear.

The "retreat to the Middle Ages" means that he declares stone solid morality and doesn't just say yes and Amen.

In the schools there would be concerns about the pedagogical capabilities the clergyman lacks.

An anticlerical religion teacher is behind the campaign

For over two years there have been -- according to the Österreichischen Rundfunk' -- 431 signatures against the priest.

There is an anticlerical religion teacher behind the campaign.

She has allegedly gathered about thirty persons around herself, who have taken up the fight with the monopoly media against the priest.

The priest from Poland is "arch-conservative" -- cursed the 'Österreichischen Rundfunk'.

He demands -- like Christ -- absolute faith and will not allow any question -- is how the 'Österreichischen Rundfunk' characterized his own conduct.

The work with youth is supposedly "disrupted" by this.

The question is, if this is the case in the surrounding country parishes.

The elected Pastoral Council is standing behind this priest

The parish of Kopfing exhibits an above average level of church attendance.

The Catholics of the area are reviled by "Österreichischen Rundfunk' as "hangers on" of the Pastor and "sectarian".

The Hammer: Even marriages are broken up because of "his teaching" -- slanders the broadcaster.

There has been no word from the pastoral council -- because this board stands behind their pastor.

The 'Österreichische Rundfunk' ascribes evil motives to the Priest, that he had said, "The wages of sin is death".

Actually, that is from a citation from the Saint Paul's Epistle to the Romans.

The Bishop receives the enemies of the priest

As expected the powerful slanderers of the Priest have been received with open arms in the scandal Diocese of Linz.

There has already been a discussion between Bishop Ludwig Schwarz, the Pastor of Kopfing and the General Vicar Severin Lederhilger.

In the meantime, ‘Österreichische Rundfunk’ have only interviewed the enemies of the Pastor.

Because here is exactly what the monopoly broadcaster company is accusing the clergyman of doing: that the former Fascist Broadcaster will not admit that its attempt at manipulation can be questioned by anyone.

You can see the video of the Divine Mercy sermon given by Father, where he explains a sick call where he witnessed a little miracle from a person who wasn't much of a church goer, but while in terrible pain was able to utter the words, "Jesus, I trust in you" before they died a few days later. Unfortunately, it's in German, but you can really see a devoted and sincere man of God, here...

Bulgarian Church in Constantinople to Be Restored to Bulgarian Orthodox Church

Istanbul, July 19, 2011

The Istanbul Municipality and the provincial administration have joined efforts to restore the Bulgarian "St. Stefan" church.
According to Hurriyet Daily News, "the parts of the church that have become dirty and sooty will be cleaned thoroughly with detergent water, while the missing ornaments on the façade will be replicated using original material. The crooked parts of the roof will also be renewed."
The same publication informs that the restoration is scheduled to begin next month and will cost TRL 2.5 M

Read further, here...

Iranian-American Judge Presides Over Pact With Sodom in New York City

I'm so bored

Editor: Just look at the bored expression on Judge Sabrina Kraus' face. Is she Catholic? If so, she shouldn't be going to Communion. Check out the NYTs fawning article, "after a long wait". What's the difference anyway? It's just a piece of paper, no? Anyhow, most of them will be divorced by next year any way after complications from financial arrangements and the sheer ridiculousness of their position becomes too much to bear.

Of course, Sabrina Kraus is of Iranian ethnicity and belongs to the Jewish Lawyers Association, so the local ordinary is unlikely to have anything to do with that.

Link, here...

NYTs Photo

New Church in Kirkuk Consecrated -- Sign of Hope

[Kirkuk] In Kirkuk a new Chaldean Church has been consecrated. The church blessing took place yesterday in the neighborhood of Sikanayan, around ten kilometers from the old city. The new church will be dedicated to the Apostle Paul, because the Kurdish place name of Sikyanayan means "at the three springs" and lies outside of the city walls, exactly like the Church at the Three Springs in Rome, which recalls the same site, where the Prince of the Apostles suffered martyrdom. Sikanayan is a new neighborhood, which was built by Christian families, who came to Kirkuk from other parts of Iraq. In the mean time there are already 200 homes and others are in a state of construction. The floor will be built free of charge at the disposal of the families.

The church was consecrated by the Archbishop of Kirkuk, Msgr Louis Sako. In his sermon he encouraged the Christians to remain in the land and witness their faith with courage and confidence. Even members of the provincial government, local sheiks and some Imams took part in the celebration. The Chaldean Schola sang hymns and psalms. Intercession was also recited for the Moslem-Arab Sheik, Kurds and Turkmen. An Imam spoke in prayer the petition that the place, "will be always holy" that the Christians might honor and praise God.

The Archbishop of Kirkuk bid reconciliation and cooperation between the Muslims and the various peoples with the following "In this connection I would not only like to thank those who have taken part that this church could be built, rather also all who have cooperated to make this mosaic of Kirkuk."

Original, here...

Butcher of Oslo is Freemason

(kreuz.net) Anders Behring Breivik (32) is a Freemason. Here he is depicted with his butcher's aprons.



This was reported by the Website ‘Daily Mail’ on 23. July
Just imagine if the Oslo Butcher had been a Catholic... Kreuz talks about a bishop in the Philippines who refused to bury a Masonic Politician. Get it? Catholicism and and Masonry are incompatible.

http://www.kreuz.net/article.13589.html

Chinese Government Ordains 7 More Bishops

g papal approval. By GILLIAN WONG Associated Press BEIJING —China's state-controlled Catholic church is considering ordaining seven more bishops, a senior official said Friday, in spite of a deepening rift with the Vatican over recent elevations lacking papal approval. China last week named a third bishop in eight months without the approval of the Holy See, which has escalated tensions. The Vatican insists the pope has sole right to appoint bishops, but Beijing's Communist leaders see that position as foreign interference. China's bishops' council is considering seven candidates who were chosen through local bishops' elections, said Liu Bainian, honorary president of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which runs China's Catholic churches.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2015691869_apaschinavatican.html

Aussie Bishop Wards off the State's Manipulation of Abuse Hysteria and Defends Confession

Edit: this is simple, but it's courageous and edifying. The message is, "hands off the Church, you vulgarians."

Ballarat bishop says confession is sacred

BY TOM MCILROY

BALLARAT’S Catholic bishop has rejected calls to force priests to report admissions of child sexual abuse taken during confession, to police.

South Australian independent senator Nick Xenophon this week called for priests to be required to report all admissions of child abuse to police, breaching the confidence of a priest and his parishioner.

Bishop Peter Connors called on law makers to respect the sacrament of confession...

Link to original...

You may also read the letters being written in Ireland about this orchestrated dog and pony show, thanks to Father Levi, who doesn't approve of everything we're about here, but provided us with the link, thank you very much. Here's a sample:

Sir, – In the maelstrom of criticism directed at the Catholic Church and some of its hierarchy, we should not forget that it is the State that has ultimate responsibility for the protection of our children. It is right to criticise the shortcomings of the church and set to rights the appalling wrongs that have been perpetrated by some clerics against children. We must not forget, however, that the problem of child sexual and physical abuse is as big (in fact, bigger) in the lay community than it is in the clerical community.

I am no apologist for the shortcomings of the church, but the almost exclusive focus on those shortcomings fails to address the overall problem. I would now like to see an equally powerful light shone on the issue of state protection of children. I have very little doubt that another appalling vista of inadequate procedures, dereliction of duty, protection of self-interest and inadequate resources will be revealed.

No doubt our politicians feel a certain sense of moral gratification in wrapping the knuckles of the Vatican and basking in the political dividends of doing so. The overall problem will not be solved,however, until our politicians are prepared to examine the failures of the State in this area with a similar intensity. – Yours, etc,

FELIX McTIERNAN,

Fitzwilliam Place,

Dublin 2.

Irish Government Will Get Its Comeuppances

(Irish Guardian) The reaction of the Irish government to the Vatican's 1997 letter to the Irish bishops as outlined in the Cloyne Report has been one of almost complete hysteria. Taoiseach Enda Kenny's statement to the Dail on Wednesday was delivered against this background. In the sort of language normally associated with a Richard Dawkins or Ian Paisley, he accused the Vatican of "dysfunction, disconnection, elitism . . . narcissism" and effectively of not caring about the "rape and torture of children". Among other things, Kenny's speechwriters included a wildly out-of-context quote from the then Cardinal Ratzinger.

There is a difference between necessary and valid criticism of the church on the one hand, and unrestrained church-bashing on the other. In a similar vein, Kenny added his voice last week to those who believe the breaking of the seal of confession should be required by law. Kenny is obviously no anti-Catholic, but he needs to realise that, historically, only the most anti-Catholic societies have ever done such a thing. I was going to write this week about the need for the church in Ireland to do something very dramatic in order to categorically demonstrate it is deadly serious about child protection.
_
Read more http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/news-analysis/knives-will-be-out-for-the-irish-government-soon-enough-16026394.html

...be a swingeing reduction in the number of dioceses and a new generation of bishops should be appointed to lead the church here. Something along these lines is badly needed, but the sheer intensity an..

Romanian Catholics Persecuted and Martyred by Communists

Johannes Habsburg

In 1950 a prisoner of the communist authorities, held in a Franciscan monastery, Bishop Janos Scheffler managed to send one last message to his flock: "Remain faithful … even up to a martyr's death." Two years later th8e unbreakable man of Satu Mare, Romania, was dead. A bishop who lead by example remained true to his word. (Photos of the Rumanian bishops made at the time of their imprisonment) At the end of the Second World War Romania found itself among those countries dominated by imposed communist regimes. In keeping with communist methodology Georgiju Dej's dictatorship, and later that of Nicolae Ceausescu, was characterized, amongst other things, by an intense stifling of all manifestations of religious life. The main aim of its religious policy was the wholesale nationalization of all Churches.

In 1948 Romania broke off diplomatic relations with the Holy See. As so often under communism, the worst repressions befell the Greek Catholic Church, in full communion with the Bishop of Rome by virtue of the Act of Union of 1700. In October 1948 the authorities rounded up thirty-six Greek Catholic priests from Transylvania in the town of Cluj and induced them to sign a document pursuant to which the Greek Catholic Church would "return" to the Orthodox Church. All of Romania's Greek Catholic bishops were arrested, and on December 1st the government issued a decree by which the Greek Catholic Church officially ceased to exist. Over five hundred priests, nuns and members of the laity were imprisoned.

The state confiscated all Greek Catholic churches and property, handing most of it over to the Orthodox Church. It was at that time that the government also banned the Roman Catholic Bishop Janos Scheffler (1887-1952) of the Satu Mare diocese from performing any public duties. Two years later, he was interned in a Franciscan monastery, though he still managed to maintain contact with his diocese, secretly appointed several replacements and was able to send a final message of consolation to his faithful. Because of his moral strength and unbending attitude, in 1952 he was transferred to a secret underground prison in Bucharest. While bathing, guards released boiling water causing serious multiple burns. He died from his wounds on December 6th 1952. 

http://members4.boardhost.com/acnaus/msg/1311221587.html

Guardian Gloats Over the End of Confessional Ireland

Editor: the Guardian would never enable elements hostile to Catholicism, would it? The Irish Republic continues to dismantled and put away the remnants of an Irish confessional state with the blessing of a people saturated with media hysteria.

[Guardian] There are two parallel revolutions taking place on either side of the Irish Sea that will radically alter the relationship between government and non-state institutions that exercise major temporal power.

In Britain the ongoing revelations of wrongdoing within the Murdoch empire and the public humiliation of a media baron and his son may result in re-alignment in the relationship between politicians and the press, with the former becoming less supplicant to the latter.

One of the most important by-products of the last few incredible weeks has been the end of fear. Specifically, fear of media tycoons who used to boast that some of their newspapers had "won" elections and had left the prime ministerial ambitions of party leaders in ruins. The humbling of Murdoch Senior and Junior this week marked the end of that fear.

Link to Guardian...

Catholic Cartoon blog, here.

Kevin Myers: There's never been a safer time for children - Kevin Myers, Columnists - Independent.ie

Edit: this is the first major journalist talking any sense.

Kevin Myers: There's ne
ver been a safer time for children - Kevin Myers, Columnists - Independent.ie

Prelate Makes St. Pius X Pilgrims Stand in the Rain:

Prelate Ludwig Limbrunner refused to allow the pilgrims to Altötting to use their Grace Chapel for adoration. Only silent prayer is allowed. As some suggested according to the kreuz.net article, it's a shame that other Faiths are allowed to use the chapel, but not Catholics.

[Kreuz.net]The Society of Pius X is to blame: had they been a homosexual friendly group of protestants, they would have been invited into the chapel to the fanfare of trumpets.

[kath.net]Prelate Ludwig Limbrunner forbid pilgrims of the Society of St. Pius X into the Grace Chapel of Altötting to venerate. Indeed, they were informed by Prelate Ludwig Limbrunner, that they would only be allowed to pray silently in the Grace Chapel and otherwise must leave their banners outside. Thereupon the Pius Pilgrims said their prayers, despite pouring rain, in the courtyard of the Grace Chapel. For a short time there were some tumultuous disagreements in front of the Grace Chapel, according to the Neue Passauer Presse.

Kath.net...

The Good Shepherd Institute Establishes Itself in Colombia

Edit: Now for something completely different: good news.  The Good Shepherd Institute has been approved for war-torn and besieged Colombia.

Good news. The Good Shephed Institute (GSI or IBP in Spanish) has recently been allowed to set up a public apostolate in Bogota.  They were also allowed to have a TLM in the Basilica.  To my knowledge, outside of Campos, this is the first official TLM at a major Church/Basilica in South America in the last 30-40 years or so.  Here are some pictures of the TLM.

Source, here...

Assault on Altar in Irish Republic Continues: Sacrament of Confession

Presidential Candidate David Norris: A True Irish Republican in Every Sense

Editor:  They don't mind taking seriously men like David Norris, who are not only advocates for homosexual depravity, but he actually supports pederasty,  and it's hardly surprising since the politician campaigned successfully to abolish the law that jailed child predator Oscar Wilde and the libertine and anti-Clerical James Joyce.  But the double standard is in full play here.  Entertainment and political figures, like Roman Polanski, Micheal Jackson or Peter Yarrow or France's Minister of Culture, Frederick Mitterand, get a get out of jail free card while the Catholic Church's property,  personnel and liberties are under persistent attack.

Meanwhile, the assault on Ireland continues as the Republic sheds crocodile tears over the "problem" of clerical sex-abuse.

Let us remind you that this has been done before in Nazi Germany, Revolutionary France and the Soviet Union.  It's going on in the United States and Communist China.  Of course, there are many interests involved, but fifth columnists within the Church's walls are playing this crisis for all it's worth.  If the Bishops were as adamant at defending Catholic Orthodoxy as they are defending socialist agendas, they might have an easier time maintaining credibility.  Instead, like the homosexual enabling Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, they collaborate on the abuse issue rather than treat the accusations for what they're worth.  They refuse to challenge them, but use them as a means to promote more liberalism, sex-education and political correctness.

The abuse-hysteria has even aroused outcries for the recall of the Vatican Ambassador.

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny said the government will not exempt priests from reporting evidence of child abuse obtained in the confessional, under a strengthened legislation, reports the Irish Times.

But the Independent.ie reports that the Church is expected to counter any effort to break the traditional seal of the confession box.

Ian Elliott, the CEO of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, said he welcomed the tough new legislative package announced by Justice Minister Alan Shatter in the wake of the publication of the Cloyne Report. But Mr Elliott said he saw no justification for breaking the confessional seal, which is known as sacredotal privilege.

Read further, here...

Troops march in San Diego's gay pride parade | ajc.com

<>

SAN DIEGO — About 200 active-duty troops and veterans wearing T-shirts advertising their branch of service marched Saturday in San Diego's gay pride parade with American flags and rainbow banners, marking what is believed to be the first time a military contingent has participated in such an event in the U.S.

Sean Sala poses in front of a statue of a Navy sailor kissing a nurse Thursday, July 14, 2011, in San Diego. Sala, a former sailor, is organizing a military contingent of hundreds of former and active-duty troops to lead San Diego’s Gay Pride March set for July 15th, in a show of unity to honor those who serve the country and have died for it. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

A Marine marches past a small group while yelling anti-homosexual comments during the Gay Pride Parade, Saturday, July 16, 2011, in San Diego. More than 200 active duty troops and former service members marched Saturday in San Diego’s gay pride parade with American flags and rainbow banners, marking what is believed to be the first time an identifiable group involving active duty troops participated in such an event in the U.S. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Two women, both active duty sailors in the Navy who gave their names as Nikki, left, and Lisa, kiss as they march in the Gay Pride Parade in San Diego Saturday, July 16, 2011. More than 200 active duty troops and war veterans waving small American flags alongside rainbow banners marched in San Diego's gay pride parade in what is believed to be the first time an identifiable group of active duty troops has participated in such an event in the U.S. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

A Marine who did not give his name laughs as he marches past a small group yelling anti-homosexual comments during the Gay Pride Parade Saturday, July 16, 2011, in San Diego. More than 200 active duty troops and war veterans waving small American flags alongside rainbow banners marched in San Diego's gay pride parade in what is believed to be the first time an identifiable group of active duty troops has participated in such an event in the U.S. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Many of the active-duty troops said they were moved to come out because it is time to end the military's ban on openly gay troops. The march comes a day after a federal appeals court reinstated "don't ask, don't tell" but with a caveat that prevents the government from investigating or penalizing anyone who is openly gay.
National Guard member Nichole Herrera, 31, said she didn't think twice about marching, even though the policy is back on the books. She said she was "choked up" several times as she walked down a main thoroughfare in San Diego, a major Navy port.


Troops march in San Diego's gay pride parade | ajc.com

P.Hall

Fostering Distortions: Anti-Clerical Paper Attacks Father Echert With Fisheye Lens

A More Accurate Psychological Portrait of Father Echert

Updatsky: We were told by a tipster that the print edition features an advertisement for a Polka Mass right next to this story.  Roll out the barrel... Perhaps the irony will be lost on most?   We also neglected to stress that this is one of the few parishes where the Immemorial Rite of the Mass is celebrated with Diocesan approval.

Local Paper Makes Father Echert Look Distorted, Weird and Scary

Editor:Some may recall a story about the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima where the Masonic, anti-Clerical newspapers came to scoff at the "fools" who came to see a Miracle, well, history has a way of repeating itself, perhaps.


The outgoing Diocesan Communications Director, Dennis McGrath, contacted us and asked us to remove a photo of Father Echert on the story from a Parish in South Saint Paul, Minnesota, about the possibly miraculous Host which did not dissolve and became surrounded by what appears to be blood.  Since then, there has been  a story in the provincial Saint Paul Pioneer Press, describing the event with citations both from the Vicar General, Father Laird and the Communications Director, Dennis McGrath and some comments from Father Echert who was, we presume, photographed for the interview by a professional staff photographer.  Aside from omitting clerical titles in a jarring and offensive way, and not capitalizing the word "Host", which is Christ present in the Eucharist, even when He's been put in a ciborium of water, they also didn't credit us for our observations on a possible scientific explanation for the phenomenon and even misquoted us.  They write:

BACTERIA TO BLAME?
One blogger has raised the red bacterium, Serratia marcescens, as a possible explanation for the communion wafer turning red. According to Microbe Zoo, a website developed by the Center for Microbial Ecology at Michigan State University, the bacterium grows on bread and communion wafers that have been stored in a damp place.

We never said probable, we said "possible".   The quote we took to explain the phenomenon was from the unreliable on controversial and religious subjects, Wikipedia, which, of course, has little to no sympathy for the transcendent, but gave a basic idea of the phenomenon itself. Even the Wiki article didn't say Serratia marcescens was the probable cause of the miraculous Host of Bolsena...   Pioneer Press writes: 

The site goes so far as to cite Serratia marcescens as the probable cause of the bloodlike substance that a priest discovered on communion bread in 1263, referred to as "The Miracle of Bolsena."

 Check out the reporter's anti-Catholic bias here as here, almost gleefully describing the poor Catholics who "flocked" to the apparition site only to have their expectations dashed later when the Diocese proclaimed that it wasn't miraculous. 

More-recent incidents have pointed to bacterium contamination, including a highly publicized instance in 2006 when people flocked to a Dallas-area church after a host turned red in a glass.

It would be nice if  anti-Catholic journalists, who routinely flock to the sites of banal celebrities and rock stars, would engage in a little visual as well as factual accuracy in their reporting.

Exibit B

Instead of the attractive photograph of Father Echert which appears on his parish website, we were treated to a bizarre fisheye shot from below which gives a strange effect implying menace and even mental aberration.  It looks frankly nightmarish and spooky like some people imagine Catholics to be.  We'd like to be gracious and assume that the Archdiocese didn't know what the Pioneer Press would do with Father's image, but it's hard to be that generous:

Appalling Fisheye Shot of Father Echert

Apparently SOLT Needed Money to Settle Substantial Abuse Claim Against Another Priest

Tuesday, July 12, 2011
The Plot Thickens: SOLT and the Diocese of Corpus Christi
Folks,

• I was not going to comment on this topic again, however, the plot thickens and the readership has a right to know what little facts that are known. A report from January 28, 2011 states that the Diocese of Corpus Christi, others settle in suit alleging molestation. These others are the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT), the order of which Fr. Corapi was a member. A reader at Facebook suggested the following:
• SOLT in conjunction with the Diocese of Corpus Christi has just shelled out 1.96 million dollars to a young man who a priest in SOLT raped and then contracted a murder on. Bishop Mulvey then conveniantly receives a letter of accusation of everything from sex to drugs - from a pair of down on their luck losers, who for two years were quietly content to live off the departure money they accepted -who are now in financial straits, whose very house is about to be foreclosed while the head of SOLT then orders Father Corapi to "come home" and give his fortune and be a good little priest. It's inexplicable. It's improbable. It's unbelievable. There is something in this for everyone except Father Corapi and we have not seen one shred of evidence to back up SOLT's nameless investigation trio's sweeping claims. Father John has done nothing but maintain his innosense and told the people who have been touched by his ministry to be faithful to the church and to follow Jesus Christ. Frankly, if I were Father, I would tell Mulvey and Sheehan to go climb a tree....

 Link to original, here...


H/t: Gerard on FE

Exorcists Meet in Poland to Discuss Evil Contagions and, Well, Vampires

Edit: the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has one of the longest standing flirtations with Modernism in the New World, but it's also a fairly irreligious place, at least Minneapolis is with a proliferation of Masonic Lodges, New Age non-sense and homosexual advocates, and yet, according to Father Robert Altier, there has never been a single exorcism performed in the Diocese, except an unauthorized one that seems to have brought enough international attention to embarrass Bishop Harry Flynn's homosexual enabling policies and force an end to Homosexual Activists trying to jam sodomy down everyone's throat.

Over three hundred exorcists are meeting in Poland to discuss Vampires and other demonic disturbances.  Perhaps they should dispatch some Vampire Hunters to the Archdiocese of St. Paul?  They could well start at the Chancery and work their way down.  Who knows, perhaps Archbishop Ireland leaves his grave at Calvary Cemetery and stalks the dark alleys and wreckovated churches, Colleges where evil doctrine is taught, and the various remaining witnesses to his fading legacy at his Seminary Library in search of fresh blood?

[yahoonews] Vampires, the devil's deceit and mental illness are among the hot topics for some 300 exorcists who flocked to Poland this week from as far away as Africa and India for a week-long congress.

Held at Poland's Roman Catholic Jasna Gora monastery, home to the venerated Black Madonna icon, this year's congress "examines the current fashion for vampirism in Europe and the world-over, schizophrenia and other mental disorders as well as the devil's deceit during exorcism," according to the monastery's radio station.

Also attending are "priests and lay people who work with exorcists or who are themselves practitioners in cases which do not involve possession but rather other forms of harassment by evil spirits," Polish exorcist, Father Andrzej Grefkowicz was quoted as saying.

Link to remainder...

Archbishop Nichol's Private War on Catholic Truth

Archbishop Nichols' pastoral centre to host conference for dissenting Catholic gays

[SPUC]Next week Quest, "a group of lesbian and gay Catholics", will be holding its annual conference. The conference venue is the All Saints' Pastoral Centre at London Colney. The centre is both owned by, and part of, the Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster, headed currently by Archbishop Vincent Nichols. Quest's website gives a clear indication of how Quest and those commentators who support it dissent defiantly from Catholic teaching on sexual ethics*:

• "[H]omosexual sex is not an incomplete or less perfect expression of human sexuality ... I also want to affirm that I regard heterosexual and homosexual sex as having the same potential and value ... I disagree fundamentally with Church teaching on this issue." [link]
• "[T]he teaching of the Vatican Congregations....is incompatible with the Gospel" [link]
• "Quest, an association for lesbian and gay Catholics, welcomes in general the government's proposals to provide for legal recognition of same-sex partnerships." [link]

German Bishops Denounce Unnatural Selection in Germany

Bishops Denounce Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis
Edit: Yet another avenue of attack against the Church and Her teachings which we'll later come to discover were right all along, after the unintended consequences involved with these things have had their tragic consequences.

It falls into a similar category with condom use. Incidentally, AIDS is down in Rhodesia. Do you know why?


ROME, JULY 14, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Germany's bishops responded to the July 7 government go-ahead for Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis with a reminder that the selection of a "healthy" embryo always entails the rejection of "unhealthy" human embryos -- and thus a violation of human dignity.

This was part of their response to the intense Lower Chamber debate that resulted in a 326-260 vote to allow PGD.

Archbishop Robert Zollitsch of Freiburg im Breisgauand, president of the German Bishops' Conference, reminded in a statement that the "selection of human embryos violates the precept of human dignity, which respects all human beings from the beginning."

"Every human being is unique as a person and the bearer of a dignity that is not disposable, notwithstanding his level of development, his actual capacities, his talents, his strong and weak points or his social position, and this in all the phases of his existence," the bishops affirmed.

Link to Zenit...

Venezuela's Chávez Given Anointing of the Sick

Editor: We'd heard earlier that he was deathly ill. Despite propaganda footage of himself and Castro hanging out in sports attire, it seems those initial reports were true. Perhaps now the Venezuelan government will stop persecuting the Church?

Bishop Highlights Spiritual Strength That Comes From Sacrament

CARACAS, Venezuela, JULY 14, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The bishop of San Cristobal de Venezuela administered the sacrament of anointing of the sick to the nation's president, who is recovering from cancer.

Bishop Mario del Valle Moronta Rodríguez gave Hugo Chávez the sacrament at a Mass to mark the nation's bicentennial, July 5.

The bishop said that the anointing should not cause alarm.

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Cardinal Schönborn Compares Dissident Priests to Poor Employees

Editor: Interesting, someone else has pointed out that these priests who disobey their superiors would be immediately fired.  Good job Mirus, you finally located this story.   Archbishop Nienstedt who heads the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul made a similar analogy between business, but he refuted it saying that he doesn't have that kind of relationship with his priests.  We think the kind of relationship either prelate has with his priests is largely contingent on the level of orthodoxy.  If you're heterodox, but not very noisy or outspoken, you are awarded the appearances of Catholic orthodoxy, and then can continue spreading your errors and Sunday morning Catholicism from the pulpit, but if you're orthodox and outspoken, look out.  All of a sudden the Mitre comes out and the prelate becomes the very soul of authority and weighs down on the poor offending priest with whatever he has in his administrative tool kit to send the offender packing.

Of course, some people too are allowed to return home after a period of time and things have cooled off.



[Catholic Culture] Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna plans to meet with a group of dissident priests , sometime in late August or September. Why is he waiting so long?

When the Initiative of Parish Priests was launched in Austria in June, Cardinal Schönborn waited a few days before issuing a public statement. He explained that he was shocked by the group’s bold statement, which called for open defiance of Church teaching and discipline. The cardinal said that he took a few days to get over his initial shock and anger before responding. Then he spoke in carefully measured tones:

“The open call to disobedience shocked me,” Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna said in a July 7 letter, noting that many professionals would have “long since lost their jobs” if they had called for disobedience. Reminding priests that they had freely promised obedience to their bishop at ordination, he asked, “Can I rely on you?”

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