Two ADW Priests Channeling Their Inner Andrew Greeleys

Two priests in the Archdiocese of Washington have collaborated on a theological dissertation.. No, wait, scrub that!  It's a murder mystery novel.  Knowing who the authors are, I suspect the book would be good for a paperweight and that's about it.  Who are these two priests?

Long-time readers of this blog will be familiar with the name of Father Peter Daly, pastor of St John Vianny in Prince Frederick, MD.  He is on record as disregarding the Church's teachings regarding homosexuality. Why he retains his position might constitute its own mystery novel.

The second author is Father John Myslinski.  During the autumn of 2002, he was pastor of St. Mary's Church in Rockville Maryland.  When the first 9-11 anniversary was approaching, he announced plans to commemorate it with a Mass.  He had retained two Catholic pro-abortion politicians to speak from the pulpit.  I do not recall if they were to speak during Mass or afterwards; either way was bad enough.  One of them was Connie Morella.  She was the US Congressperson for that district and she was Catholic; neither of them are currently true.  A number of us committed to a street protest at the church if that appearance wasn't cancelled.  We advised both the parish and the DC chancery of the same.  Wiser heads must have prevailed for Morella's appearance was indeed cancelled.

On the Amazon link at the top, you can take a peek at the forward.  That gives an idea of the flavor and progressive bias of the book.  It is a flavor that warrants a one-word response - BLECH!!!  One might hope it doesn't channel Greeley's stuff entirely; the latter was know to contain pornography.  So now in this "year of mercy" they are letting loose with screed that decries the "increasingly dysfunctional papacy of Benedict XVI" (some of the first words of the forward).  But of course the timing is just a coincidence, right?  Might we also assume that this kitty-litter is being released with the knowledge, if not approval, of Cardinal Wuerl?

What other goodies await us during this "year of mercy"?

Petition To Pope Francis - Please Uphold Traditional Faith Or Resign

On December 8, 2015,  a group of faithful Catholics associated with The Remnant newspaper put forth a petition to Pope Francis.  In effect, it asks him to either start to assume the real duties of the Vicar of Christ or resign his office.  As evidence to corroborate the necessity for such a change, the petition lists some of the most egregious offenses against the One True Faith that had been perpetrated by the pope at the time of the petition.  It is a long list, and we have witnessed these atrocities being committed.

To those of my readers who insist that the pope is "being misrepresented, etc", I adjure you to immediately remove the happy-clappy rose-colored glasses.  Your attempts at self-deception simply cannot withstand the evidence, and such attempts may be inherently sinful.  It's time to grow up and face reality as it presents itself, not as we might wish it to be.  I too am pained to see this, but face it we must.  Else, how on earth can we pray for our Church in an intelligent fashion?

As I said, the petition was promulgated last December.  It predates the horrific heresy that the pope uttered during his most recent flight between Mexico and Rome regarding the allowance of contraception to prevent zika-infected children from coming into being.  That heresy only adds to the necessity of asking the pope to change course: either by upholding Church Tradition or resigning.

For close to 30 years I have been involved in pro-life activism as well as pursuing a faithful Catholic life.  To be frank, we must admit that the culture of death is advancing.  We will never have a snowball's chance in hell of reversing that trend unless and until the slime and corruption is removed from the One True Church.  We must be resolute in our efforts to do so, even if that corruption is to be found with the reigning pontiff.

Thanks to Thinking Catholic Blog, I have just become aware of this petition.  Already it has gone to Rome but we can still add our names to this.  I myself have done so.  I link to it now for your prayer and consideration.

Will We Be Like Hans And Sophie Scholl Or Will We Cower In Our Own Narrow Worlds?

Sophie Scholl was a member of the White Rose, a student group advocating resistance to the Nazis during World War 2.  She, along with her brother and other White Rose members, was beheaded on Feb 22, 1943.  She was 21 years old.

In her statement, Sophie embellished upon what Edmond Burke famously said about 200 years prior to Sophie's death: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

Do the statements of Burke and Scholl describe you?  Be advised that if you are focused only on your own isolated world and you don't put any effort into fighting the atheistic culture of death, then that culture will come crashing into your world with devastating effect.  In that case you will bear much of the blame.  Look around you, please and wake up.

Lent is an appropriate time to change that.  An excellent way to do so would be to participate in 40 Days for Life.  Click on the link for a location near you.

Francis Effect And Seattle Metropolitan See - Out With Faithful Catholics, In With Baby Killers

The two incidents on which I'll speak below would seem unrelated to each other on the surface but for two things:

1. They both occurred within the metropolitan see of Seattle (Washington) AND
2. They closely resemble two recent actions by Pope Francis.

Because this is a very long post, I'm placing a jump break here.  So...

Denial Runs Strong In Surprising Places

As I mentioned yesterday, too many good Catholics are in denial regarding the reality that we currently have a pope who poses a danger to souls every time he opens his mouth.  Am I saying that the pope intends this damage?  I of course cannot say one way or the other, although common sense indicates the affirmative.  I will say, however, that regardless of his motives, he indeed is causing real damage.

Therefore it troubles me greatly when prominent Catholic pro-life leaders advocate the continuance of denial.  When they do so, they unwittingly act as to dissuade their readers from discerning the input that feeds their souls.  Thus these deniers contribute to the spiritual damage already being wrought by the pope's harmful words.

A sad "case in point" is found in an article by Judie Brown, co-founder and president of American Life League.  ALL has always been in the forefront of the Catholic pro-life movement as they have correctly pointed out the spiritual destruction caused by contraception.  The article is to be found in RenewAmerica entitled "The Pope Francis Effect".  While I respect Mrs. Brown highly, I have no choice but to refute this.

Let's bring in the first two sentences:  "Over the last week, considering all the events that Pope Francis participated in during his six-day visit to Mexico and the many lives he touched with his words, his actions, and his very presence, it seems so sad that only one or two sentences from one interview captured our attention. It is as though nothing else happened that week."  The effects of his trip to Mexico are debatable at best, but I won't broach that for now.  Suffice it to say that any (debatable) benefit from his trip was far outweighed by the heresy against morals in his "one or two sentences".  No amount of benefit will mitigate the immense harm and scandal caused by his stated approval of contraceptives.  For example, consider the morning of April 15, 1865.  Can you just imagine someone asking Mary Todd Lincoln, "Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?"  Well the notion that we should dismiss the outright heresy because of the "lives he touched" is similarly preposterous.  Let us consider that his heresy is "touching lives", too.

Proceeding down, she says "the pope was speaking off the cuff".  So what?  It was still the pope who was speaking.  "What he said or didn't say really isn't the problem."  Yes it is, when Humanae Vitae, Casti Connubi and Evangelium Vitae are undermined in the eyes of the world by the Vicar of Christ, the "problem" cannot be overestimated.  Perhaps I'm wrong, but I suspect that if it weren't Pope Francis on that plane and instead we had Cardinal Dolan, Cardinal Wuerl or some other progressive shepherd on that plane uttering those exact same words, Mrs. Brown's take on the matter would be decidedly different - and rightly so.

She said that "it is troubling to realize that all the good (?) Pope Francis did during his visit to Mexico was so easily overshadowed by one or two silly comments made to reporters".  I'm glad she acknowledged that, at best, the comments were "silly", but actually they constituted heresy.  Refer to what I wrote of Mrs. Lincoln's experience at Ford Theater.  She might have watched a lovely performance, but when the shots were fired, what constituted the real impact of that evening in her life?

Toward the end she says, "it makes me so sad that we are always so prone to jump on something negative rather than embracing the positive.  No, the positive will never take top billing on the nightly news."  A few things..

• It seems that Mrs. Brown, at least in this case, has fallen for the "positive versus negative" codswallop.  I've said this many times and now will say so again.  The "positive versus negative" paradigm has nothing to do with objective truth or falsehood of a given statement or situation; rather it is a paradigm that focuses on the emotional impact that said statement or situation has on its beholders.  Obviously whether a situation is "positive" or "negative" depends on whom you ask and their particular disposition - not the objective merits of the same.
• As far as "top billing on the nightly news", the problem is that the news is abuzz about the whole mess, and viewing what we would consider a "negative" as a "positive".  To wit:
• ABC News
• Inquisitr
• Los Angeles Times
• Wall Street Journal
• NBC News
• The above news sites are on the first page after I googled "pope Francis contraceptives".  Can we all now see the scandal caused by the pope's utterance of heresy?  Please - let's not blame the media for this.  They didn't "bait" him into a trap.  He's a grown-up who is responsible for what he says, just like the rest of us.

My friend at Tenth Crusade, in writing about these matters, states that "we are going to get louder".  Many of the other writes I cited yesterday said the same thing.  I say "amen".

Shedding The Shackles Of Denial - Faithful Catholics Finding Their Voices

As we all know by now, the pope let loose with a statement regarding contraception that can only be classified as heresy.  This happened on one of his now-infamous plane interviews this past Thursday.  There are still Catholics who insist that the pope caused no harm.  Here are their arguments and my refutations in "bullet form".

• "less than 25% of Catholics really know what the Church teaches or even cares, what the Pope says or doesn’t say isn’t going to matter one bit" This is an actual quote from a recent exchange regarding the contraception heresy matter.  Now is this supposed to be comforting to be told that no one cares what the vicar of Christ says?  What really does that say about the crap coming from the pope's mouth?  And by the way, I hold that the world isn't entirely oblivious to papal sayings when those words tickle their ears with justifications for their mortal sins.  In that case the world is all too quick to glom onto the errors; therein lies the scandal.
• "It's becoming obvious that he doesn't fully grasp his international role, where a casual comment is elevated in importance."  While that would be nice to believe, we must realize that if he doesn't understand the gravity of the papal office then he's an absolute moron.  I might concede that point if we were talking about some 20-year old kid whose Catholic education was thoroughly dumbed down by the "spirit of Vatican II" but NOT in the case of someone who was educated before Vatican II AND who went through seminary and rose to become a cardinal.  No, Pope Francis has been "around the block" a few too many times for us to really believe that he doesn't appreciate the weight of his office.
• Then we have the folks on Facebook who sniff "if you criticize the pope I'm going to unfriend you, so there!"  Well, they can go ahead and do that if they can't handle the facts as they present themselves.

But many are waking up and smelling the coffee - and saying so publicly.  I salute them.  In an article that she wrote a few days ago, Jenn Giroux said that "this week was the straw that broke this faithful Catholic's silence".  World Net Daily's columnist Barbara Simpson weighed in, as did the blogger Non Veni Pacem who writes why he/she will no longer consider his/her anger against the pope's misdeeds as matter for confession.  LifeSiteNews has quotes from other Catholics and pro-life leaders who are rightly appalled at the pope's utterance of heresy.

Now many of you are aware that Michael Voris has, in the past, taken to task some of us who've voiced our criticisms of the pope's bloopers.  I've had to contradict him in response.  However, it seems that the heresy uttered by the pope is so blatant that he cannot ignore it.  In today's Vortex he all but says the pope committed heresy.  By the way - I did download this so it won't disappear as did the video from the synod.  I'm going to expound on the video beforehand, again in bullet format.

• At the 2:24 mark, Voris directly refutes the notion that "the Holy Spirit selects the pope".
• At 3:09, he begins a litany of popes who were true reprobates.  I'm surprised he neglected to mention Alexander VI.
• At 5:20 he states the obvious truth that "men in the office of the pope can be wrong".
• At 5:49 he asks "Why should reporters even be allowed to pop questions at the pope?  Any pope?  Always a bad idea."  The short obvious answer to the first question is because this pope says so - and even invites the questions.  We agree that it's a bad idea.  Most of the previous popes did as well, and that is why they gave few (if any) interviews.  So perhaps that first question should be phrased "Why does this pope invite these interviews on a regular basis?"
• At 6:04 Voris says that what the pope says about climate change, etc has no magisterial weight.  That is something that most educated Catholics understand.  However, progressive clergy, bishops' conferences, etc actively promulgate the hoax that everything coming from the mouth of Pope Francis is of Divine inspiration.  Therein lies the reason why many faithful Catholic bloggers MUST take issue with this pope's ever-increasing errors and now heresies.  Perhaps now Voris can admit that we play a vital role.
• At 6:30 Voris says "Jorge Bergolio can easily misspeak, especially if he's conflating his thoughts with what amounts to a hypothetical theological discussion point about nuns in the congo which no one can find any actual evidence of .."  True enough, but when he speaks while wearing those papal robes, he is not just some ordinary guy on the plane running his mouth.  Were that the case, the reporters wouldn't be one bit interested in what he has to say.
• At 7:16 we hear "we must suffer as He did, even if that suffering comes at the hands of His shepherds."  But we do not suffer in silence, lest others be led astray.
• He continues, "It is absurd to think that the men who are popes are perfect in their understanding, thoughts and so forth."  Most of us aren't asking for perfection from our pontiffs.  But is it too much to expect that our popes not constantly insult the devotions of faithful Catholics, not embrace progressivism and not utter heresies against basic Catholic morality?
• At 7:35 he correctly says that "it has become..a cult of the pope, driven by media, which turns it into a feeding frenzy from every side.."  Every side?  I can see it from the progressive side.  However, many of us must call out the errors for the express purpose of disarming the "cult" aspect of the matter and to keep objective truth in front of the world's eyes.  Those who incessantly try to excuse the pope's errors, minimize them, or stifle our attempts to refute errors are just as responsible for the "cult" problem as are the media.
• The "danger of the media driven papacy" can be controlled and even diffused.  The primary responsibility for that lies with the pope himself, with his Vatican staff.  That brings us back to a question asked here and elsewhere: "Why does the pope see fit to grant these impromptu interviews?"
• At 8:31 he brings up the example of Pope Benedict's interview, when the condom remark was taken out of context.  Yes, Pope Benedict made a mistake when granting that interview.  Now here's the really important point.  Pope Benedict XVI never repeated that "papal interview: error!  "Popes make mistakes!"  Yes, but if they keep making the same mistakes repeatedly, with devastating consequences, it's quite fair for us to ask why.
• "Private thoughts that are wrong.." cease to be private when they are spoken before reporters who will literally broadcast these thoughts to millions.  I do congratulate Voris for acknowledging those remarks of the pope as being "wrong".
• "For the first 1900 years we were spared.  From here on out, we're on notice".  True enough; for the first 1900 years the errors could not be widely promulgated.  Now they can be, and thus faithful Catholics must contradict those errors as they occur.

Kudos to Michael Voris for acknowledging that the pope's remarks on this latest plane interview were decidedly off the mark.  But let us not trivialize the damage potential that they do have.

From The #Rosicagate Department - Father Rosica Interviews Bernie Sanders

Highly-placed Father Thomas Rosica is once again making news for all the wrong reasons.  Vox Cantoris reveals that Rosica, on his Salt and Light network, interviewed Bernie Sanders, Democratic candidate for the US presidency.

In his post, Vox mentioned that Sanders dabbled in porn writing.  I googled that and sure enough, he did precisely that in the 1970s.  I wonder if that topic was broached in the Rosica interview?  Has anyone seen or heard of this as Sanders conducts his campaign?  Probably not and I take a dim view of that omission.

Ladies and gentlemen, our governmental system is that of a constitutional republic bound by rule of law.  That said, the moral character of our elected officials really matters.  We elect human beings, with their own sets of principles and convictions.  It behooves us to know whom we are electing to high office.  If Sanders' porn dalliance matters little to the voters, that says more about the voters than it does Sanders.

Getting back to Rosica himself, do you think he'll be interviewing the other US candidates?  Me neither!

#no$2crs - Not In The Rice Bowl Nor In The Second Collection

About eight days ago I posted a suggestion for faithful Catholics regarding the Operation Rice Bowl campaign conducted by the Catholic Relief Service during Lent.  It is one of their biggest fundraisers; regrettably CRS has seen fit to divert millions of these dollars to organizations that distribute contraceptives and abortifacients.  In some cases, CRS personnel have been caught committing the mortal sins themselves.  I hope many of you are implementing that suggestion.

Today the USCCB announced that the second collection to be taken during the weekend of March 5-6, Laetare Sunday, will be for CRS.  That will be the case in most parishes.  For the Archdiocese of Washington, the CRS collection will occur during the weekend of May 14-15.  Please check your local calendars to ascertain when that collection will be held in your parishes.

In my post regarding the CRS, I suggested putting in that "rice bowl" a flyer created by Lepanto Institute.  That same flyer would do nicely for use in your CRS envelope in lieu of money.

Baltimore's Bishop Madden Said What??!!?!

Three months ago, I wrote of St. Matthew's Church in Baltimore Maryland.  It is a Catholic parish that has been taken over by gay activists, with the cooperation of its pastor, Father Joseph Muth.  More troubling is the apparent approval of Auxiliary Bishop Denis Madden and the willful silence of Archbishop William Lori.  The Baltimore chancery has been contacted about this matter numerous times; none of us who did so received the courtesy of a reply.

Defend Life is a Catholic pro-life organization that is based in Baltimore.  They publish a bi-monthly newsletter.  The Jan-Feb issue came out a few days ago and has an expose on the moral rot that has infested St. Matthew's.  It also details the depths of depravity to which Bishop Madden seems to have sunk in his support of the gay infestation at that church.  The article is here and you can read the first few lines to get an impression as to how low the bishop has allowed himself to fall.

The bishop is reported to have congratulated two women for engaging in acts that will most likely condemn them to hell for all eternity.  The author of the article made plain throughout the article that they attempted to contact the chancery for clarification on this matter.  As before, the chancery has not given the author any reply.  I agree that "silence implies consent".  At any rate, the bishop did exactly the opposite of what a real successor of the apostles would do, e.g., explain to the women that they are endangering their souls, that they should break off the sinful relationship and get to confession immediately.  If these women die unrepentant, Bishop Madden will have these souls to his charge.

I am again urging that we all contact the Baltimore chancery and politely but firmly demand that they take corrective measures lest the goings-on at this parish facilitate eternal damnation for hundreds of poor souls.

Spirits Of 1930 Lambeth Conference And Eugenics In Yesterday's Papal Interview

Many people think that Roman Catholics (and maybe a smattering of evangelical denominations) are retrograde neanderthals when it comes to allowance for contraception.  Well, let's face it.  Our Lord entrusted to the One True Church His infallible teachings.  One of those teachings is that sexual activity is to be conducted by one biologically-born man and one biologically-born woman united in faithful matrimony and open to the generation of children.  Any deviance from that constitutes grave matter for mortal sin.

Until 1930, all protestant denominations adhered to that Christian teaching.  But during that year, the Lambeth Conference (of the Anglican denomination) occurred.  They passed a resolution allowing for limited usage of contraceptives.  Thus the fissure opened, allowing floodgates of immorality and leading to the plagues of baby-murder, all manners of perversion and all their attendant evils.

Please refer to my post from yesterday.  Today, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi (who was on that plane) confirmed that yes indeed, the pope was saying that contraception usage could be allowed "in cases of emergency".  Here is Lombardi's exact quotes via LifeSiteNews (again, Lombardi was there).  As you read these quotes, recall that Casti Connubii calls contraception "intrinsically vicious".  (Aside - I'd suggest reading this encyclical, along with Huamae Vitae and Evangelium Vitae, all available on the Vatican website)

"The contraceptive or condom, in particular cases of emergency or gravity, could be the object of discernment in a serious case of conscience. This is what the Pope said."  And  “the possibility of taking recourse to contraception or condoms in cases of emergency or special situations. He is not saying that this possibility is accepted without discernment, indeed, he said clearly that it can be considered in cases of special urgency."

The pope's spokesman made very plain that the pope's intentions were right in line with the 1930 Lambeth Conference.  However, this time the demonic disorientation is not coming from a heretical sect but from a successor of Peter.  Already I'm hearing of misguided people justifying contraceptive sex because "the pope says it's ok".  Such scenarios will only multiply, owing to the horrid scandal that the pope is now posing for deluded people.

But let's examine another troubling aspect to this debacle.  The pope uttered his dissidence from Church teaching when asked about pregnant women exposed to the zika virus.  It is in that context that he said "avoiding pregnancy is not an absolute evil".  So what would he propose to be a more overwhelming evil in that context, if not the birth of babies with microcephaly?  So this "serious case of conscience" could be ordered to preventing the existence of sick babies.  This is eugenics, ladies and gentlemen!  I link now to a post in which I put the Maafa 21 video.  Watch that and see how the eugenics movement has been spreading its vile poison with advocates such as Margaret Sanger.  Do we now see that bile oozing from the Vatican?  The short answer is "yes".

Not only must we pray, but we must call out error so that others aren't led astray.

From The Flighty Interview Department - Pope Francis Slandered Donald Trump And More

While returning to Rome from Mexico earlier today, the pope gave yet another disgraceful interview.  Rorate Caeli has the full text of the interview.

When asked about Donald Trump's proposals to curb illegal immigration (Note - The word "illegal" was not mentioned in today's conversation.  That omission, both on the part of the reporters and pope, is utterly disingenuous.), the pope remarked that Trump is not Christian because of his policies.  Ladies and gentlemen, his meaning is clear for he was asked about Trump by name.  My!  Whatever happened to "who am I to judge"?  Or is that phrase reserved only for those who engage in mortal sin that is applauded by progressives?

Those questions are not merely rhetorical.  When was the last time Pope Francis denounced any of the Democratic candidates as being "not Christian" owing to their support of baby-murder, gay perversion of marriage, etc?  For that matter, when did he openly upbraid Obama for ensconcing the funding of abortion in his Obamacare hell-care bill?  I didn't think so.  As evidenced by his chiding of those who adhere to Catholic tradition over the years, the pope is merely continuing his trend of rebuking those holding to common sense if not the Faith handed to us by Jesus Christ.

Ladies and gentlemen, every decent Catholic knows that nations have not only the right but the morally-binding duty to control their borders for the sake of their citizens who have first claim on their solicitude.  In an anthology of posts here, I've linked to a number of sites giving authentic Catholic teaching on the matter, including Summa Theologica.  Quite frankly, it is Trump who seems to be of like mind with the Angelic Doctor as opposed to Pope Francis.  By the way - look at Vatican City via Google Earth.  Yes, it is surrounded by (gasp!) a wall!

Moving down a few paragraphs, the pope is asked about "abortion" and "avoiding pregnancy" for those exposed to the zika virus as a means of settling for the "lesser of two evils".  The pope rightly threw out abortion as a "lesser of two evils", calling it a crime.  He then spoke of "avoiding pregnancy", citing Pope Paul VI's permitting of the use of contraceptives to nuns who were raped.

This is the first I heard that any pope condoned the use of contraceptives for any reason.  I frankly find that difficult to believe.  Most, if not all, contraceptives have abortifacient qualities; that is, they cause the death of the newly-conceived child.  That is why the Church specifies that the only means of spacing children is periodic abstinence during a woman's fertile period.  The pope, by introducing contraceptives into that plane conversation, left an erroneous impression that the usage of contraceptives is now morally permissible.  It is not, by any stretch of the imagination.  Now did the pope mean to leave that impression?  If we say "no", then we must conclude that he's a dunderhead who has no idea what he's saying.  However, after three years, there can be no more room for doubt.  He knows what he's doing and saying.  This bodes ill for Holy Mother Church.

By the way - his trip to Mexico raised some eyebrows.  Rather than rehash it here, I'll link to Catholic World Report.  Read the comments.  They give evidence that many people are waking up and realizing that there is a menace in the Vatican.  Pray for our pope and Church.  Keep your eyes open and rose-colored glasses off your faces; and help others remove their blinders.

Maryland School Officials Cower Before A Muslim Student Making Bomb Threats

At Chesapeake Middle School in Pasadena, MD (Anne Arundel County), a muslim student made a bomb threat.  Now remember; this is the state of Maryland where any hint of threat is taken very, very seriously!  Prior examples of their unceasing vigilance include:

• Giving a two-day suspension to a seven-year-old after he bit his pop-tart into the shape of a gun - in Baltimore
• In Calvert County, when a five-year-old brought a cap gun to school, he was subjected to a two-hour interrogation.  His parents were not notified.  He was suspended for the rest of the year.
• In Montgomery County, another six-year-old was suspended after he pointed his finger at another child and said "pow".
• In Talbot County, two other six-year-olds were suspended for the "high crime and misdemeanor" of playing cops and robbers
• In Owings Maryland (Calvert County) an eleven-year-old was overheard on the school bus talking about guns.  That conversation occasioned a questioning by a sheriff's deputy who then wanted to search his family home.

Now one might think that if the state of Maryland is so scrupulous as to hammer little boys who even talk about weapons, that they might be even more concerned about an older boy talking of bombs.  Nope!  Read that first article again!  They are sitting on their hands, not raising their voices, doing absolutely nothing!  Why?  Because the "bomb-threat" kid is muslim!  They are a protected class of individuals per the politically-correct, progressive cabal.  The Maryland school officials can bully five-year-olds but they behave like spineless wimps in the face of a muslim adolescent.

When the Maryland elections next roll around, we need to vote out the whole lot of them.  In the meantime, if little boys want to play "cops and robbers", I'd suggest they voice the phrase "allahu akbar" when the grouses come to hound them.  If that muslim phrase is difficult for them to pronounce, perhaps they can substitute the phrase "hello snackbar"; that should get the point across and send the school officials running with tails between legs.

Father Guarnizo On Troublesome Rubio Donors

Father Marcel Guarnizo has released an article in today's issue of Townhall.com, entitled "The Rubio-Singer Molotov Cocktail For Conservatives".  He details the donations made to the Rubio campaign by one Paul Singer, founder and CEO of Elliott Management Corporation.  As you read Father's article and the links, you'll get an idea of what Singer's true agenda is: the furtherance of the gay agenda.  It does appear that Singer has spread his "influence" far and wide.   Sill, as the old adage goes, "he who has the gold, rules".

Please read and circulate this.

Missionary Mish-Mash

I speak of these "missionaries of mercy".  Last April, Pope Francis said that these priests were going to be mobilized to facilitate the jubilee of mercy somehow.  Actually there is no sin that your ordinary parish priest cannot absolve.  I believe at one time abortion was reserved for the bishop, but most bishops have given their priests faculties to absolve that.

Hilary White is a Catholic writer/blogger.  You'll often see her writings at LifeSiteNews and I have linked to her on occasion.  A few days ago she put out an excellent analysis of the real conundrum that will be caused by these missionaries.  I needn't rehash her points here; I urge you to read her, along with my April piece, to see why we and others think that this stunt with the missionaries will actually serve to undermine the importance of Confession and real repentance in the eyes of Catholics.  In her piece, she posted a video that is an excerpt of one produced by Chris Ferrara and Michael Matt.  I'm posting the entire thing below for what they say is of vital importance.  Before the video I will voice some concerns about one of these "missionaries of mercy".

About thirteen years ago, Steve Brady of Roman Catholic Faithful issued a call to several Catholic bishops to block the priestly ordination of one Patrick Baikauskas to the priesthood and to have him expelled from the Order of Preachers (Dominicans).  He was divorced from his wife and was a gay activist, who lived with his accomplice in mortal sodomite sin until the latter died of AIDS.  Brady's plea fell on deaf ears.  Baikauskas was ordained and eventually became pastor of St Thomas Aquinas Church in West Lafayette IN.  During his time there, the parish participated in a local "gay pride" event, showing that Baikauskas was still quite the gay-rights advocate.  Judie Brown of American Life League took the Archdiocese of Lafayette to task for this, 

Yes, this gay-activist priest is a "missionary of mercy".  One wonders what business he has being a priest, let alone someone invested with special faculties.  God help the poor soul afflicted with same-sex attraction who seeks him out for guidance in living chastely according to the Church's teachings.  This begs the question "how are these priests vetted"?  Why was he selected despite his own obvious struggles with intrinsically disordered inclinations?  Or..was he selected because of them??  What abut the other "missionaries"?  I'm not suggesting that they're all to be avoided, but we see obvious causes for concern here.

How Faithful Catholics Can Do Operation Rice Bowl - #no$2crs

Today is the first Sunday of Lent.  On this day, the ubiquitous cardboard "rice bowls" from Catholic Relief Servcies are in all Church lobbies to be picked up by unsuspecting parishioners.  I say "unsuspecting" because many, if not most, of these parishioners have no idea that CRS is funding the distribution of contraception, abortifacients and "population control" propaganda to the people whom they are ostensibly assisting.

The Lepanto Institute has done stellar work in exposing the malevolence of the Catholic Relief Services.  They recently published a piece outlining some of their most egregious violations of Catholic moral teachings.  In that post, Hichborn published a slip that can be used during CRS collection times.  Please keep that page open; I'll return to it in a minute.

Hichborn didn't include every wrong of the CRS in his litany; others can be found here (and this is most likely not exhaustive either).  Let me highlight a few other "lowlights" from CRS's checkered record.

• Thanks to Lepanto, we learned that a CRS vice president was "married" to his accomplice in the mortal sin of sodomy.  The man made no secret of it, blasting it all over his twitter page.  It was only after public scrutiny was brought to bear on the situation that the man resigned.
• In 2005, while Terri Schiavo was being deliberately starved to death in the Diocese of St Petersburg Florida, the local bishop, Robert Lynch gave thinly-veiled approval to her murderous husband to have his way with her.  At the time, Bishop Lynch was chairman of the board of CRS.  That brings us to the third "bullet".
• The pro-euthanasia crowd in Florida was being heavily funded by George Soros during the struggle for Terri's life.  If you read the link from the second bullet, you'll see that Soros was also funding CRS (along with other progrssive "katholyc" organizations).
• Please read my anthology of prior posts and follow the links to learn more of CRS.  Clearly they are utterly unworthy of one penny from faithful Catholics.

So how do we faithful Catholics do Operation Rice Bowl?  First, we give them not one red cent.  As Lepanto stated in that first link, there will be more information released; I'll notify you as it becomes available.  So here are the steps to our Operation Rice Bowl.

1. Pick up one of those "rice bowls" from your church lobby and assemble it.
2. At the bottom of the Lepanto article is a note that you can use to let CRS know why you'll not contribute.
3. Place that note in your now-assembled "rice bowl".  I intend to sign mine, but that's optional.
4. When your parish announces that it's time to return the rice bowls to church, please do so.  Yours will have the note and no money.

Like most progressive "katholyc" organizations, the only language CRS seems to understand is that of $ka-ching$.  Well, let's speak it and encourage all faithful Catholics to do the same.  Give the money that you would have donated to CRS to a worthy organization, such as your local pro-life pregnancy center.  Please spread the word on your own social media cites and among your contacts.

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Has Died

I just saw this on the blog of my colleague at One Peter Five.  Justice Scalia was found dead this morning.  He was a faithful Catholic and as such, one of the sane voices on the United States Supreme Court.  I needn't tell you the significance this lends to this election, and to the need for the decent US Senators to stop a nefarious nomination by Obama to fill Scalia's seat.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.  May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, rest in peace.

What Is Going On At The Mount?

I am referring to Mount St Mary's University in Emmitsburg, MD.  It is a Catholic university, with ties to Mother Seton.  Several of the Seton family are buried next to the grotto attached to the Mount.  While the school itself has had an unfortunate reputation as a "drinking school", its seminary has been touted as being one of the most orthodox in the country.  In his book "Goodbye Good Men", Jimmy Akin (correction: author is Michael Rose) sang its praises.  I've known many faithful priests; more often than not, they have graduated from the Mount.

Over the past few days, controversy at the Mount has been made public.  It seems to revolve around its president, Simon Newman.  He apparently made a crude remark about some students whose dismissal he was planning to pursue, based purely on surveys that projected failure for the students, calling them "cuddly bunnies" who should have a "glock to their heads".  When an independent student newspaper took umbrage with that, he fired some faculty who was an advisor to the paper, along with other faculty.  After massive uproar over those dismissals, Newman reinstated them.

Newman also took potshots at the school's Catholic identity, saying there were "too many bleeding crucifixes" in an employee's office and referring to some students as "Catholic jihadis".  The Mount seems to have two web pages; one that is devoid of any reference to the Catholic faith and another that still acknowledges its heritage.  Who/what are they trying to attract with the first?  Newman also is alleged to have said "Catholic doesn't sell".  If true, that last quip may be more telling than one might think.

I googled Simon Newman to see what he might have brought to the school.  One might think that a candidate for Catholic school administrators might be experience in a Catholic institution and even perhaps some theology degrees. Nope!  None of that!  He was, however, a past president of Cornerstone Management Group and Senior Advisor at JP Capital Partners.  His education includes an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.  That's nice, I suppose, but how does all that equip him to lead a Catholic institution that has as its mission to educate its students in the Faith?  Of course it doesn't.  While Newman might be qualified to govern a business enterprise, there's no indication of credentials for suitability in leading a Catholic apostolate.  That leads to this question: What on earth was the Board of Directors of the Mount thinking when they hired this man?  What were their priorities?  It's not too difficult to imagine that Newman must have connections to substantial money.  Is it possible that the lure of easy money might have colored the board's perception of Newman?  While much ire is understandably directed at Newman, the board of directors must also come under serious scrutiny, as evidenced by this ongoing debacle.

While I've been in the process of writing this post, the Cardinal Newman Society has released its statement, and it links to an article detailing the non-binding resolution of the Mount faculty in urging Newman to resign.  From what I gather, I can only hope and pray that Newman does the decent thing and resign.  Then the Board of Directors must seriously examine their own priorities before they invite another disaster upon the Mount.

From The Carhart Carnage Department - Number 12!

On February 4 at his Nebraska hell-hole, Leroy Carhart caused another woman to go to the hospital.  Recordings obtained by Operation Rescue indicate that the woman was bleeding heavily and that the abortion may have been incomplete.  This poses a life-threatening condition for the woman.  Her condition remains unknown.  This happened less than one month after he caused the hospitalization of a woman at the Germantown mill.

Ladies and gentlemen, these two incidents bring his current "hit list" of brutalized women to twelve.  Operation Rescue counts eleven women butchered between the Nebraska and Maryland mills since 2012 - with one of the Maryland incidents resulting in death.  Recall that Christin Gilbert died at his now-closed Kansas location.  Two women died at his hands - at least that's all of which we are aware at this time.  Mark my words - there will be more - and I do mean fatalities.

These numbers, horrendous as they are, are by far dwarfed by the thousands of tiny children ripped to pieces by Carhart in their mothers' wombs.  The state governments are complicit, to be sure.  Nevertheless, each and everyone of us needs to ask if he/she is doing everything within his/her power to bring this carnage to a halt.  Are you regularly offering witness in front of your local abortion chamber?  If not, I'd suggest participation in 40 Days For Life.  Go to their website and join an outreach local to you.  If you're looking for a worthy Lenten exercise, this would be an excellent choice.

From The Ecumenicide Department - Death By Dialogue

Via Church Militant, I learned today that the USCCB is launching a new group called "National Catholic-Muslim Dialogue" to establish "mutual esteem", "greater understanding" and a "deep sense of trust".  This organization will be co-chaired by a Catholic and a muslim.  While the muslim is yet to be announced, the Catholic co-chair will be Archbishop Blaise Cupich.  Given what I've written about him in earlier posts, we can well wonder what could possibly go right with this looming debacle.

In that list of oh-so-lofty goals, there is no mention whatsoever of preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the One True Faith to the lost souls that are the muslims.  As mentioned in yesterday's post, the Church's one mission is to save souls (Clergy!  Burn that into your memories!).  With all this jibber-jabber about "dialogue", the saving of souls will not be happening at these little gab-fests.  "But Jesus dialogued with people!", some might protest.  No He didn't.  He certainly had conversations with people, but they were not "dialogues" between equals.  He always taught, preached, exhorted, rebuked - always the conversations were between Master and disciples (unless the exchanges were malevolent, as with Caiaphas, Pilate, Pharisees, etc).  Never did He condescend to be regarded as "just one of the guys".

It seems like all sorts of substitutes are being put before our eyes to distract us from the salvation of souls.  With yesterday's post we see the distraction-du-jour was thinly-disguised gaia worship.  Today's revelation by Church Militant points to indifferentism.  I'm going to post below a commentary by Michael Matt regarding the yesterday's homage to environmentalism for he suggests a larger context to all of these pet projects of the vatican.

The Genius Of NARAL

Ladies and gentlemen, we have uncovered a secret video taken at NARAL headquarters as they strategized and planned their brilliant responses to the Dorito ad during Sunday's superbowl.  Here they are, the geniuses at work!

Where Is The REAL Care For God's Creation???

My colleague at One Peter Five put up the pope's latest video regarding environmentalism.  As he stated in this commentary, this video explicitly extols the idolatry of "earth worship" before the worship of the One True God.  The stench of idolatry billows forth from the first few moments of the clip till the very end.

Notice that "believers and unbelievers" are told that they "agree that the earth is our common heritage".  Then the pope asks, "however, what is happening to the world we live in"?  In a word, it's called "sin" and it manifests itself in much more significant ways than in some trash on a beach.  Its spiritually deadly effects are manifest in sexual immorality, murders of babies, elderly and other innocents, the persecution of Christians in once-civilized countries.  Please note that it is the latter group of sins that can and will damn souls to hell; trash on a beach won't do that.

Let's look at that phrase "earth is our common heritage".  No, that's not why God created man.  Let's hearken back to the Baltimore Catechism.  Why did God make man?  God made man to know, love and serve Him in this world and to be happy with Him in the next.  God created man to be with Him in heaven, not to be focused on this earth (good as it may be in and of itself).  It is the God-given mission of the Church to help souls get to heaven - that's it!  Anything else is ancillary and must be explicitly aimed at the ultimate end of eternal salvation.  Watch the video carefully.  Are the words "heaven", "soul", "repentance", "salvation" mentioned therein at least once?

At the 0:48 mark, the pope states that "we need a change that unites us all".  That change is the conversion of every person to the Roman Catholic Church.  Unless that happens, any unity will at best be very temporary and at worst, a cheap and dangerous facade of true unity.  Read the book of Genesis. It's worth noting that in the very beginning, there was true earthly harmony in creation.  It was only after the sin of our first parents that creation fell out of harmony.  That harmony won't be restored until there is conversion to the One True Faith and attendant obedience to the Church in matters of faith and morals.  At the 0:57 mark, we see the pope hoping that we "be free from the slavery of consumerism".  Well, how about "freedom from sin"?  

The absence of the call for conversion to Catholism in this video constitutes true indifference to the pinnacle of God's creation, i.e., man for if there is no explicit and overt effort to bring about conversion to the One True Faith, there is no real concern for God's creation.

Video Of Pope Leo XIII

This is the earliest recording of a pontiff.  Taken in 1896, this takes place in the Vatican Gardens.  What you hear is the pope chanting the Ave Maria.  It was Pope Leo XIII who composed the Prayer to St. Michael and the other prayers that at one time were prayed after Low Masses prior to Vatican II.

Pope Leo XIII - Oldest Vatican Film (Rome, 1896)
Pope Leo XIII in the Vatican Gardens in 1896. This is the oldest known video footage of a Pope and the oldest Italian film in existence. Pope Leo XIII chanting Ave Maria in Latin is the oldest known audio recording of a Pope (Rome, 1903)."Sua Santità papa Leone XIII" è un film del 1896. Oltre ad essere il primo filmato in cui compare un papa è anche la più antica pellicola italiana tuttora esistente. Leone XIII recitando l'Ave Maria in latino è la più antica registrazione della voce di un papa (Roma, 1903).
Posted by This is Christian Italy on Friday, February 5, 2016

Mardi Gras - A Diabolical Insult To The Holy Season Of Lent

Next Wednesday, Feb 10, is Ash Wednesday - the beginning of Lent.  Already on social sites we are seeing reminders and reflections regarding this sacred time of penitence and preparation for Easter.  Of course I frequent the Catholic circles in Facebook and other venues.  That said, I was quite taken aback when I saw the picture on the right.

It reminded me of a homily that I heard at least 10 years ago at my church on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday (known as Quinquagesima Sunday in the Extraordinary Rite).  It was excellent.  Father stated that there were mistakes that Catholics often made in their approach to Lent.  He said the first mistake is called "mardi gras".  He said it was indicative of the attitudes of too many Catholics towards the remedial disciplines of Lent: that they saw Lent as a time to be accepted with, at best, a begrudging acceptance as opposed to gratitude.  Such people are, at heart, willfully attached to their pleasures and comforts.  They tend to not take seriously their eternal destinies, seeing little need to prepare for death, judgment and either heaven or hell.  Hence they observe Lent grudgingly, often lamenting the temporary reduction of pleasures.

Another time when I've seen such attitudes is when St. Patrick's Day has fallen on a Lenten Friday.  Hankering for their meat on Friday (as if there weren't 6 other days of the week), they've often petitioned their bishops for dispensation from the lenten practice on those Fridays.  All too often, the bishops themselves don't take lent seriously so they blithely let them have their way.  When that happened one year, I might have thought they were acting like naughty children who had gotten permission to raid the cookie jar at will; their gloating was that ridiculous to behold.

Take a look at the language in the picture.  Leaving aside the sloppy grammar, what we see here is an insult to faithful Catholics - and to the holy season of Lent.  It is an illustration of the careless Catholic who accepts Lent only with resentment.  The person in the picture has made himelf into a disgusting slob.  That is indeed what happens when one does not approach Catholic life and discipline with the reverence that it deserves.  One one takes a cavalier, jocular attitude towards the provisions that the Church has provided for our salvation, we degrade ourselves.

The Catholic writing this post will not align herself with the nod to gluttony suggested in this meme.  I trust many of you are like-minded.

Latest CMP Video Exposes PP Affiliate Where Asst DA Sits On Board Of Directors

By now you may have heard David Daleiden, director of Center for Medical Progress, has been indicted by a Texas district attorney who was charged with investigating Planned Parenthood.  You may recall over the past few months the postings of various videos that caught Planned Parenthood officials red-handed in the sale and trafficking of the bodies of babies whom they murdered.

The DA in question is Devon Anderson of Harris County, TX.  Right from the get-go, her handling of this case has shown signs of corruption and cronyism.  Anderson was originally tasked with investigating Planned Parenthood; that means bringing evidence before a grand jury for their vote.  It appears that the grand jury never took a vote on the charges against Planned Parenthood; rather, they turned on CMP.  Ladies and gentlemen, even if the grand jury honestly found no basis to charge Planned Parenthood, they still should have taken an official vote accordingly.  They didn't; why?

Now consider that Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, sits on the board of directors of CMP.  At about the same time that Anderson assumed office in 2013, OR lodged a complaint against Houston abortionist Doug Karpen for especially grisly methods of baby murder.  Karpen was represented by Chip Lewis.  He at the time tried to turn the tables on OR; that move went nowhere.  OR's complaint prompted Texas to pass abortuary regulations known as HB2.

This same Chip Lewis is a close friend of Anderson's - and one of her largest political donors!  Coincidence?  How about the fact that one of Anderson's assistant DAs, Lauren Reeder, sits on the board of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast?  Oh, my!  All sorts of "coincidences" abound!

Your prayers are needed that real justice may be done in this situation.  Daleiden isn't letting this matter stop him.  Today CNP released another video in which Planned Parenthood admits to issuing padded invoices to research organizations to increase their blood money profits from the sale of tiny children.  The video is below.  Note at the 3:15 mark the words of Melissa Farrell are recorded.  She is Director of Research at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast - the same PP outlet that has Lauren Reeder, Harris County Assistant DA, on its board.  If you want to see the unedited video with PPGC personnel, go here.

Laudato Si And Paris Agreement - Spawned From Same Progressive Agenda

Cardinal Peter Turkson, who had a major role in the drafting of Laudato Si, granted an interview to a news outlet called Mongabay.  In it, he unabashedly admitted that the preamble to the agreement and Laudato Si bore very striking resemblances.  I've no doubt that they are very similar.  This only goes to show how the current Vatican leadership - including Pope Francis - are taking their marching orders from progressive puppet-masters.  Turkson might attempt to pretend that Laudato Si was some sort of inspiration for the Paris Agreement.  However, could it be that the drafters of Laudato Si and the Paris Agreement are simply taking their talking points from the same sugar-daddies?  They certainly aren't basing their theories on solid science!

The Church hierarchy has no moral right to try to cram the "climate change" ideology down our throats.  The mission of the Church is to save souls; that's the mandate given to her by Jesus Christ Himself.  The Church disgraces herself when she lets that divinely-ordained mission play second fiddle to progressive pet projects that are designed to insinuate one-world government as the world's de facto deity.  That disgrace is being allowed by, if not perpetrated by, the pope.

For instance, the Church must uphold Christ's teachings on marriage and the evil of homosexual conduct.  The Italian Parliament is deliberating bills to legalize sodomy and the adoption of children by perverts.  Good people are taking a stand.  This past weekend, an organization called "Committee to Defend Our Children" organized a rally in Rome, dubbing it "Family Day 2016".  Hundreds of thousands of good people made their voices heard.   Cardinal Angel Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa and president of the Italian Bishops' Conference played a key leadership role and was present at that rally.  Pope Francis, however, distanced himself from the rally, going so far as to cancel a meeting he had scheduled with Bagnasco. The Remnant has more details.  They give their opinions on the "whys and wherefores" of the pope's reluctance to stand with faithful Catholics.  They are opinions but I believe they are well-reasoned.

I mention all this to remind us all that it is outside the Church's realm of expertise to pronounce on "climate change".  We are free to disagree with the hierarchy's progressive take on the matter.  In light of the flimsy scientific basis for it and the progressive ramifications of it, I'd suggest we disagree with it vigorously.